I took four studio classes, Floral Print, Knit, Weave, and CAD. Classes were set up differently as you only had class once a week and work was very independent. We would meet one-on-one with professors and spend the rest of class time freely working. As a textile design major, I thought it was really beneficial to be able to learn in a new way. My professors focused very heavily on research and we kept sketchbooks, research folders, research journals where we would write about our ideas, and created multiple mood/color/research boards for each project. Each class had one semester long project which was nice to focus on one topic and spend a lot of time perfecting our work.
We had a month off for Easter break, and during that time, I was able to travel throughout Europe for a two week trip. I traveled to Paris by myself, I went to London and stayed with my best friend I met at Heriot-Watt, I went to Rome to visit my Jefferson friends who were studying there for the semester, I spent two days in Florence, and I went to Milan with a friend from Heriot-Watt on holiday. For St. Patrick’s Day, the other American student and I went to Dublin and we stayed with some of her family that was living there. I also went on a weekend trip with ISUK and the University of Glasgow to the Isle of Skye and was able to meet a friend from Austria.
The response I received from all the people I met was not only surprising but also heartwarming. People everywhere I went, at the grocery store, in the shops, and at Uni were extremely friendly, helpful, and easy to understand once I grasped out the Scottish lingo and accents. Overwhelmingly the best part of my experience was meeting the couple of girls who I now consider to be some of my best friends in my life. The group of girls who took me in helped me every step of the way to learn what Scottish/English culture was like, what the best food/sweeties were, what type of tea to buy (PG is the best..), and show me around Galashiels, Glasgow, and Edinburgh.
