I relocated from New York City to Belfast in 2021 just as Covid had begun waning and we looked at what’s next. I had reached a pivotal point in my career and in life, and I knew something had to change. I don’t come from money and as a public servant living in New York City, I understood what it meant to live nearly paycheck to paycheck. I was desperate to pursue a master’s degree, and it had been something I considered for months. It wasn’t until a friend confided in me that he was able to make use of federal student loans to study abroad that I began to realize that I could finally pursue my dream and achieve a first for my family: live abroad and gain a master’s degree at the same time, and set myself up for doctoral studies and make the shift towards academia that I had dreamt of for so long, but never imagined would become a genuine possibility.
After my friend disclosed his use of federal student loans, everything changed. I had long-mapped out which universities I would apply to, and quickly began planning my next steps. I have to say: no amount of planning can help with the radical transformation one can expect when moving abroad. The cultural shift. The terrifying economic impact. The visa hurdles and the fear navigating the new legal dynamics of a foreign host country. Learning the logistics: navigating public transport, embracing a new communication style, setting up a new home. As much as I had planned, I learned quickly how much it all would change.
But, all that aside, I am living my ancestors’ wildest dreams. I am pursuing an advanced degree; something that I will earn and that cannot be taken away from me. I am living abroad in a country so unlike my own but not completely dissimilar to my understanding or expectation of the world. In the three years I have lived in Belfast, I have earned a master’s of international public policy degree, was elected to a one-year post as a sabbatical student officer in my students’ union, and I have begun to make progress in my doctoral program.
As part of my research, I engage with the concept of belonging and inclusion. I study social discourse, literature, theories and people to explore the lives of people from traditionally marginalized and excluded communities. Fundamental to my research is the ‘why’ do people who are actively excluded fight and push to be included? Inherently, we all want to belong and we all want to actively contribute towards a community, and in my instance, I study Black America, the queer community, and the scholarship of intersecting identities with the hope that we may be able to better understand the human experience.
There are some advantages to studying abroad, particularly for those in the humanities and the social sciences. In my case, distance from the US and American politics makes it easier to critically reflect and examine my homeland through a slightly different lens. The pace of life here has brought a new degree of peace into my life, and an emphasis on community has helped bring me a calm and a period of healing that I, quite frankly, was not aware I needed after spending nearly a decade in American national and local politics.
I would strongly encourage more Black Americans to consider the opportunity to study abroad. Find a way to make it work. Find a friend to help champion your success abroad. Once I got over the hurdle of the financial aid process (arguably the most stressful component), everything else fell into place. If I could offer any advice so someone in a similar position, I would say: embrace the risk, live adventurously, allow yourself to take up space and live unapologetically. I delivered a talk at the 2023 TEDx QUB conference titled, ‘take up space’ and I encourage more people to adopt that mantra. Consider studying overseas towards a degree. Connect with other Black scholars who have followed that path. Work towards building a support network off-campus, and remember to prioritize your mental and emotional wellbeing. And, have faith in yourself.
Don’t be afraid to leverage your real-world and real-life experience, too. As a mature student, I found that my practical experience in the working world was incredibly advantageous. I implore anyone who holds real-world experience to leverage that experience at university. Industry experience empowers us with fundamental knowledge, gives us the advantage of understanding how to set expectations for ourselves and our colleagues, and strengthens our interpersonal skills. American secondary and higher education invests significantly in students’ interpersonal skills; we can leverage that expertise in our studies abroad. You can do it! Four years after my first visit to the UK – where I made a promise to myself that I would pursue postgraduate studies there if and when I could – I made the big move to be the first in my family to live and study abroad, and I’m now the first in my family pursuing a doctorate.
My inbox is open to all who may want to inquire about the logistics of studying abroad, the academic challenges, the application process, and some of the key differences between the US and the UK.
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Contact Jamie-Lukas at [email protected]