Arcadia Scotland

written by suSAN SPINA, a student at the scottish business in the arts program in summer 2016. 

And what a long journey it’s been. I’ve been planning for this summer since last fall, when I first stumbled across Arcadia’s summer study brochure at a study abroad fair at my college. For much of my college career, I had resigned myself to the assumption that I wouldn’t be able to go abroad. Switching majors late (second half of my sophomore year) meant that all the research I had invested in biology-related programs was useless as I now looked for humanities-oriented courses. Not to mention struggling to find programs for my non-traditional passions. American Studies doesn’t necessarily lend itself to finding programs abroad – unless your definition of abroad means the other side of the country.

I knew I wanted to spend a significant amount of time in another country, learning to live with another culture and learning something meaningful. Over the past two years, I’ve become more and more interested in putting together concerts. Having been General Manager of the campus radio station, I was poised to move into a position on the College Entertainment Committee. On CEC, I’m able to work on the Spring Arts Music Festival, bringing together artists and musicians for a day of musical celebration. The process – though tedious, long, and oftentimes frustrating – is worth it for the absolute exhilaration I feel when I stand in the middle of a successful event, watching hundreds of my peers having an amazing time.

So I knew I wanted to keep bringing people music, and I knew I wanted to study abroad. And – lo and behold! – I come across the perfect program in a country I’ve never been to! Scotland is home to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a month-long festival featuring theatre performances, music, spoken poetry, and art all over the city. Arcadia offered a program where I would study business courses related to the music industry at the University and then intern at the Fringe Festival. You heard me right: intern at the world’s largest arts festival.

I had to do this. I needed to do this. I spent the rest of the year applying for any grant that I was eligible for, taking on extra hours at my job, doing paid grunt work for seniors working on their honors theses, until finally I had enough money to afford the program. Then followed the long process of applying for a student visa, renewing my passport, finding an international cell phone, and making sure my medications were in order.

And now we’re here. It hasn’t hit me until recently that this trip is actually happening. I’ve spent so much of my time working on all the logistical details that to fantasize and imagine what it’ll be like to live in Scotland for two months hasn’t really crossed my mind. Now with five weeks before I board my plane to hop the Atlantic pond, I’m starting to imagine what my favorite Scottish food will be, which places I’ll go hiking in Scotland, which Scottish bands I’ll see, the coolest Scottish castles I can visit,, the most interesting Scottish museums I’ll explore…

I can’t wait.

Su is a student at Franklin & Marshall College and is blogging from her summer abroad with the Scottish Business in the Arts Program in Scotland.