Edith Tse, BA English student, spent her Year Abroad in the bustling metropolis of New York City, studying at Hunter College. Her Year Abroad was an opportunity to reflect on her passions, explore her creativity and eat delicious bagels – the perfect combination!

I knew I would be going abroad as I’d applied for a degree with one, and never will I regret this decision. As someone who’s been quite unsure about my future in general (after all, pursuing a degree in the arts is always a bet you place on yourself despite the odds) this year abroad gave me time to really pursue more of what I’m interested in. Writing, for one. I study English Literature for one half of my degree, Film Studies for the other, because of a deep love of personal and creative expression, and of storytelling.  After studying it for two years at Queen Mary, I had a chance to take creative writing classes; throw my hat into the ring. I took more Film Production classes at Hunter, too. Film production classes just furthered my adoration for being onset, as well as for postproduction processes that further expanded my skillset. Having so much more hands on experience on my year abroad, it makes me feel more confident in my abilities of making the creative work that my higher education is building me up towards. Queen Mary taught me research, and for my year abroad I tried application.  

So, I’d gotten the chance to try out what I had studied. In a city bursting of creativity and creative energies, I could work these facets of myself. I’m still not entirely sure what career exactly this means for me. But I feel more confident, more informed, more experienced. It makes me more excited for my final year back at Queen Mary too.  

I think I have finally realised that being uncertain is okay as long as you keep allowing yourself to experience. That’s what my year abroad has really taught me. To take the chance on myself- to allow myself to learn through some instinct of “this is what I enjoy doing, and what I want to do more of”- and work with that. I’m a student, and I will do what students do: learn. There’s no obligation other than to yourself. I’ve been thinking recently how I am, at this point in life, the youngest I’ll ever be. And I’m at a time in my life where interests I fuel myself into will be recognised as potential to greatness if I continue to love what I do, feel fueled by what I do, and make good work from something that I simultaneously give to, and gain satisfaction from. It can be a lot. But it can also be very exciting. I just have to put in the work and believe; try. And at that point, it just has to work. I’ll bet everything on it, and if it fails (worst case scenario) then I still have time to do something about it. At least I would’ve tried rather than regretted or wondered “what if?”. 

And of course, this year abroad I moved to one of the biggest bustling cities in the world. Definitely the most expensive I’ve been to. This year abroad, I lived and studied in a place of a different working mechanism, somewhere with more frantic energies to do and make something of each minute- and you can get caught up in it if you’re not careful! – but there’s so much around to take respite in. There’s so much of anything and everything a person may be interested in- even those of the nichest interests.

There’s wells of joy in the friendships made here, of watching the sunset/ sunrise on the pier, eating a bagel with a friend (I will never be able to eat a bagel ever again if I am not in NYC- which sounds absolutely pretentious to say- but I promise the bagels in New York are the best you’ll ever have), of walking around in the many, many art galleries that you’ll never finish seeing in New York. There’s free shows, community events. You could even showcase in them. And the thing about New York most of all, is that no one cares. It’s very freeing that you’re one of millions here. You can do anything, and you can fall and rise without having to worry about what others think of what they see. You get to grow in that place. To be seen and to have privacy at once. It’s a very interesting paradox to live- very unique to NYC, I believe. It feels somewhat supportive in that way. To exist as you are because only you care at the end of the day. And you should care deeply because even more greatly, your life is your own. And you have the power to move it to work in tangent to you.