Lynley Bowen studied abroad in Sweden in Summer 2024.
Studying abroad is a life-changing experience, one that broadens horizons, fosters personal growth, and creates lasting memories. For me, this transformative journey was made possible through the support of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. Reflecting on my time abroad, I’m reminded of the countless ways the scholarship shaped my experience and made my dream of studying in another country a reality.
My name is Lynley Bowen and I am a 2024 Gilman Alumni from Farmington, Arkansas studying communication sciences and disorders. Without the help of the Gilman Scholarship, I never would have been able to live out my study abroad dreams. I had the opportunity to participate in the Health Teams Abroad Sweden program. We visited different healthcare facilities in the United States prior to our departure, and visited the facilities in Sweden for a comparison.
As a first-generation college student coming from a single parent household, college has already been initially difficult to navigate. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to study abroad. The Gilman Scholarship made it possible. Getting to study abroad is an experience that has forever shaped my college experience and has helped me become a more well-rounded person. Getting immersed in a culture other than your own is a powerful, character-building opportunity.
When I first decided to study abroad, the financial aspect felt like a weight on my shoulders. As a college student in charge of the majority of their financials, I worried that this incredible opportunity might remain out of reach. That’s when I learned about the Gilman Scholarship, a program designed to assist students with financial need in pursuing international education. Applying for the scholarship was not only an opportunity to potentially fund my study abroad program, but also a chance to reflect on my goals and professional aspirations.
During my time abroad, I grew in ways I never anticipated. I made lifelong friends along the way. My peers and faculty leaders helped me grow personally and academically. Studying abroad allowed me to experience different ways of healthcare that I never would have seen without going.
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Communication sciences and disorders major Lynley Bowen spent the summer 2024 term abroad with the U of A Faculty-led: Health Teams Abroad in Swedenprogram with support from the Gilman Scholarship.
Amelia Hirsch is an honors English education major and theatre minor from Kansas City, Missouri who studied in London, England, this summer through the Theatre in London program at the University of Arkansas. While abroad, Amelia discovered a wider range of what education can be outside of the traditional classroom setting.
I’m minoring in theatre, so naturally, I was very interested in the program as theatre is in the title. But I was also excited to have the opportunity to see London, which is an experience that doesn’t come by very often. I have grown up surrounded by art and theatre, but due to cost, going to see shows or attend concerts is a very rare opportunity. At the very least, there were multiple productions and experiences that were included in the study abroad program cost. But the cost of tickets for nearly everything in London was significantly more affordable and allowed me the opportunity to see a wide variety of shows, including a spontaneous ticket to see Harry Styles at Wembley Stadium.
Shawn Irish, Head of Design & Technology and Lighting Design in the Department of Theatre, and Susan Marren, an associate professor of English, were amazing program leaders. They were so insightful and thoughtful about our lessons and teachings. In our class discussions the week before flying to London, Susan was incredibly well-versed in everything Shakespeare, which made analyzing the texts more manageable. Shakespeare is an incredible poet, but his writings are sometimes difficult to understand. Susan’s explanations and our classes’ open discussions about the text created a positive environment to understand Shakespeare without judgment. Then, when we were in London, after watching the shows at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, hearing Susan and Shawn talk about the shows so passionately made me smile. Because of our class discussions over the text, when we finally saw the show, we were able to get into the story more as we knew what was going on.
Our classes abroad were very well structured and allowed us prior knowledge to build upon while we gained experience outside the classroom. I loved how our class was structured so I could go off independently and learn about things that interested me. As a student with ADHD, I like to explore independently as I find it difficult to focus on long lessons in a group setting. This structure really helped keep me engaged. This is a very different environment than any class at the U of A, as I had the opportunity to move around and look at things that may interest me more. Although a majority of our activities were self-guided, our blog posts gave us a goal to reach without being too demanding. I could still explore on my own without feeling that I wasn’t meeting the assignment requirements. We had a blog post that we completed prompts based on the class discussions and our activities. But, we were able to talk about anything that fits into the prompt instead of there being only one right answer.
A wild bloom!
This trip helped me understand a wider range of what education can be. I don’t have to be a teacher in a “traditional” classroom where my students listen to me lecture and they regurgitate information back to me for a pass-or-fail test. Instead, I can use their curiosity and create lessons that interest them. I want to create that variety so no student feels forced to fit into a box. Based on our class discussions, I want my students to explore their interests and relate what they’ve discovered to them. Those connections strengthen the pathways of learning and create deeper and stronger connections that promote their learning. I think it was an amazing format for instruction and inspired me in ways I can’t describe.
Bath time!
I have made so many memories on this trip. The blog helped me stay organized and created documentation of my memories. I was worried that after this trip, I wouldn’t be able to remember all the little details. So, I bought a journal to write down each day’s progress to ensure I didn’t forget anything. Naturally, with my ADHD, I forgot about the journal completely and didn’t write any entries. But, when I look back, I could tell you about every activity we did each day. Instead of being in a classroom where all the lectures seem to bleed together, I was out doing something different every single day. Each day had new foods and places to experience. Memories create such a strong emotional connection and make learning enjoyable and last. I only hope to create that environment in my classroom.
Outside of our meetings, I tried new foods I would have never had the guts to try. I also took a trip to Warner Brother Studios and Chessington World of Adventures. At both locations, I made so many amazing memories with a few people from our group I had only met a few weeks before. My bonds with these people grew to enormous lengths throughout the trip. We would take walks through London after dinner in a pub. A group of us went to Amsterdam for our free weekend, where we had a picnic in a park and explored yet another new city. In every city we explored, witnessing the locals be themselves was such a beautiful experience. I felt so lucky to witness a little boy get so excited over a plane landing with his father. I watched an older woman imitate a statue in the Victoria and Albert Museum. I overheard a grandfather explaining to his granddaughter how bees pollinate.
Woo pig!
After the flight back to the States, I first went home to my air-conditioned apartment, which was such a luxury. I have looked through all the videos and pictures I have gathered throughout my trip, and I will hopefully start and finish my journal soon. To be honest, this whole month has felt like a dream. I have always wanted to live in a big city, and London was an actual dream that became a reality. I would 100% recommend this trip to other students. I’m not a theatre major, and there were people who were on the trip with me who weren’t theatre majors either; we still had an absolute blast. Theatre aside, the experience of seeing so much history and learning about such a different lifestyle was so unique. Being there for a month allowed me to fully immerse myself into their lives in a way that other study abroad or rare vacations fail. This trip allowed me to learn about others, learn about myself, and learn to live.
11.30.22 and 12.01.22 Studying! I didn’t do much this Wednesday and Thursday other than studying for my biochemistry final, but I was able to get out of the host house and study at Starbucks after my Spanish oral exam. On Thursday, after K and I’s class, we headed to our favorite burrito place for dinner as a sort of “good luck on your final tomorrow” dinner. They were amazing as always!
12.02.22 Biochemistry Final!
I finally took my biochemistry final exam! After an ungodly amount of studying and memorizing cycles, which weren’t even on the exam, I took my final and am officially done with my biochemistry class. Once the final ended, K and I celebrated by going shopping for mittens and her coat for our upcoming vacation. We also realized we only have two more weeks left as roommates 😦
12.03.22 and 12.04.22 Relaxing weekend!
K and I did absolutely nothing but watch holiday movies on Saturday during the day. We did leave the host house to go shopping for her suitcase and Christmas gifts for our friends back home later in the evening, but it was a lazy day.
On Sunday, we went to the orange fields of our host family’s friends. K and I got to spend the morning with our host dad picking and eating oranges. They were amazing and we ate at least six oranges while picking three bags worth of them. Once we finished up in the fields, our host dad took us to Port Saplaya for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. After lunch, we walked around the town, nicknamed “little Venice,” for half an hour before returning home for a siesta. We rounded out our day by watching movies since we had a busy two weeks ahead of us!
12.05.22 Classes!
My first class was canceled today so I ended up watching holiday movies on Netflix until my evening class with K. It was a nice day to be cozy under the blankets, waiting for my class. Once class ended, K and I headed to our favorite grocery store, Mercadona, to pick up salads and hummus for dinner. We watched Pretty Little Liars while we ate and then packed for our trip starting tomorrow. Then we called it a night a little early since we had to wake up and travel all day on Friday.
12.06.22 Valencia to Munich!
This morning K and I met up with E at the train station for our 9:30am train out of Valencia to Madrid. We arrived in Madrid a little before 11:30am and grabbed some Starbucks before heading to an Asian place for lunch. The noodles and spring rolls were delicious. We sat and caught up for a couple hours before heading to the Madrid airport. Security and check in were smooth sailing and we just had quite a few hours to sit and waste. We got more Starbucks while we waited for our 7:40 flight to Munich. Our flight landed a bit after 10:00pm, so we were looking at Ubers (85 euros) or using the public transit system (13 euros each). Obviously, we chose to take the train system from the airport to the stop near our hotel (Centro Hotel Mondial). We checked-in around 11:30 pm and went straight to bed since we were all super tired and also had a full day of exploring ahead of us!
Wednesday was a super normal class day! On Thursday, I had a Spanish oral exam and my program celebrated Thanksgiving at a local restaurant. For my oral exam, we were to choose a topic we could talk about for a minimum of seven minutes in Spanish. I chose to present about Arkansas Gameday and I was able to talk for 15 minutes and answer multiple questions, all in Spanish! Thanksgiving dinner was super fun, it was nice to all get together as a group. I ended up leaving a little early to celebrate with my host family and K back home as well!
11.25.22 to 11.27.22 Studying!
This weekend was extremely boring. I stayed in Valencia and spent the entire weekend studying for my biochemistry exam and then also working on a human physiology assignment. On Saturday night, K and I joined her dad and his friends for tapas and drinks in the city center! Overall, it was an extremely productive weekend!
11.28.22 to 11.29.22 Classes!
On Monday, my roommate and I realized we have less than 3 weeks left here in Valencia. While I am sad my time here is coming to an end, I am so excited to go home and see all my people! Classes were normal on Monday and Tuesday. I continued studying for biochemistry and began prepping for the second part of my Spanish oral exam this Thursday! It was a pretty normal and laidback week with not a lot going on!
K and I had been planning to go shopping for weeks now because we were wanting to buy clothing you could layer or keep warm in. This included looser pants to fit leggings under and turtlenecks. Since we are going to Munich and Prague in December we figured keeping warm there would be difficult given we packed for a Valencia winter (50 degrees F lowest during the day). After shopping, we did our roomie dinner date that we started doing once a week so that we could try different types of restaurants. This week was Buga Ramen. We ordered gyoza, edamame, and ramen. It was delicious but I’m not sure we will go back since we want to try a different restaurant each week.
11.17.22 school!
Thursdays are my longest day of classes with Spanish at 10:30am, followed by Biochemistry, and then Spanish culture ending at 7pm. I’m always exhausted after a day of classes and walking but I am also excited after Thursdays because that usually means we have a trip coming up and we did. K and I got ice cream after our last class before heading home to pack our bags for Barcelona!
11.18.22 to 11.20.22 Barcelona!
Day 1! K and I took a train out of Joaquin Sorolla at 6:55am and arrived in Barcelona a little before 10:00am. Our Airbnb was right next to Sagrada Familia, less than 5 minutes, so perfect location, but an hour walk from Barcelona Sants train station. I found a cute little brunch place halfway between the two and we stopped there for two hours while waiting to check into the airbnb and drop our bags off. We walked by the Sagrada Familia on the way to our airbnb and took a couple pictures of it with the cloudy sky.
We headed in the direction of her dad’s hotel but we had 3 or 4 hours to kill so we explored the shops and the different streets. After walking and window shopping for a bit we stopped at one of those restaurants with bread and toppings where you pay by the slice of bread. It’s a style very common in the north of Spain and this restaurant had “Bilbao ” in the name. It was delicious and the perfect use of time while we waited for her dad to get all checked in!
For dinner, we met up with her dad and his friend at a Vietnamese restaurant and ate amazing Pho. Since we had been up since 6:00am, we headed for an early night. We did pass the Sagrada Familia again in the dark!
Day 2!! One of the most constant struggles K and I have had literally in Spain, is how to unlock the doors. It took us 40 minutes this morning to unlock and open the front door of the airbnb so that we could go meet her dad at the Sagrada Familia. We had planned to eat a full breakfast before going but we didn’t have time to so we stopped at 365 cafe and ordered lattes and croissants. We were still on time to meet up with her dad, thank goodness.
We had a 9:00am entry ticket to the Sagrada Familia and 9:45am entry to the Nativity Tower. The outside of the basilica was amazing, the height of the towers, the intricate designs of the stonework, you couldn’t capture it all in one photo. But, my favorite part was the interior ceiling of the church. It had the tops of the tree pillars, stained glass, and beautiful arches. The walls of the building were covered in stained glass, but the inside had only 3 or 4 statues which was a lot less compared to the exterior surfaces. We accidentally missed the huge overlook of the Nativity Tower. Nonetheless, we were able to look out the tiny windows on the staircase and see the whole city and the statues way up there! The ticket price was extremely worth it and I think this is a must see location in Spain.
After touring the Sagrada Familia, we all headed to a brunch place nearby. I ordered the breakfast taco without cheese and it was amazing. The side of guac and hot sauce reminded me of my breakfasts back home this summer. Next up, we headed to a busy street to see two more buildings designed by GaudÃ. These two were Casa Milà y Casa Battló . Gaudà definitely was brilliant but personally, I would not want to live inside either of those buildings because of his interior design ideas.
We spent hours just walking around the city. K and I ate gyoza and chocolate covered strawberries at the BoquerÃa and drank coffee in a square. I truly believe the best thing to do in any city is to just wander around, walk in random places, and try new things. I also bought jeans at Zara that are super cute and comfortable. K and her dad shopped around for a coat for a bit before returning to his hotel so we could all rest a little before dinner. We met up at a smaller tapas place with some of his friends. It was amazing and I couldn’t even tell you all the different things we tried there. K and I were exhausted from a long day of walking and exploring so we returned back to our Airbnb to study for 30 minutes before calling it a night.
Day 3!! K and I had a 1:00pm train out of Barcelona Sants so we were able to explore a little more of the city this morning. We headed to Cafe 365 near our airbnb before starting a 35 minute walk to Park Guell. We definitely entered on the wrong side and exited too early, but it was okay because we were still able to see the huge Dragon staircase entrance, just from the outside. While on the inside, though, we were able to see the gardens, the viaducts, the laundry room, and the nature square. After wandering in the park for an hour we started the hour-long hike to the train station. We stopped near the end of our walk for coffee and sandwiches before heading to the correct dock for our train to Valencia Nord. Overall, an amazing trip and definitely made some of my top memories here.
11.21.22 and 11.22.22 studying and classes!
Monday and Tuesday were normal days with classes and lots of studying for my upcoming presentation and test. Overall week 12 was amazing, but I can not wait to go home!
