Welcome to Champlain Abroad

I learned a lot about myself while I was abroad, but the most important thing was that I am capable of almost anything I put my mind to. Studying abroad was always a dream of mine growing up, but I never expected to do a full year abroad. I always thought I was too timid or lacked experience to go on the adventures I dreamed about. But for once I did not let that stop me.

Taking Modern Irish Social History with Professor Liz Gillis was amazing! Her teaching style is very much focused on cultural immersion which is fantastic because it allowed us to really get out of the classroom a lot and go meet members of the Irish community and venture to various sites in Dublin for example the Irish UN Memorial. After taking Liz's class I can basically walk around Dublin and give an entire historical tour about locations in the city, she's absolutely brilliant!

One of the most fulfilling academic experiences I had in Montreal was in my Applied Ludology class, as one of the longer-form assignments was to carry out research and analysis on a specific self-chosen topic. Through this series of assignments I was able to dive deep into the historical basis and evolution of a particular interest of mine within games, and I still use what I learned from that project in my current work.

Advice I would give to anyone considering going abroad is to be prepared to do things alone and to embrace that. There will be times where friends will be around to go and explore together, but in the moments when no one is around you should also go out and explore. Some of the best memories I made while in Dublin occurred when I took the initiative and went out on my own.

A great academic experience I had was traveling to see all the different game development studios in the Montreal area.

Piazzale Michelangelo is a must see. It's a hike to get there, but the view overlooking Florence and the River Arno is breathtaking!