Revealing, Reflective, Self-Growth May 18, 2025

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Unfortunately, I can say that I didn't learn much from my professors. Many of them lectured us for the entire class period without engaging us. I struggled to be engaged in the class material, especially in my creative classes. It was hard to tell what we were supposed to learn. There seems to be confusion about the kind of academic approach they want to take. Whether or not to educate American students with American pedagogy or British pedagogy.

On-site administration of your program

The admin, for the most part, was good. There is a conscious effort by many staff members to support students with their adjustments to English culture and academic balance while abroad. I do belive the program as a whole did the best they can to work with us as American students in adjusting to the culture that is england. However, the lack of presence of some members of leadership, effected how I viewed the delivery of certain messages being told to us. It also plays into my belief in ASE not necessarily being the best option for black students. The administration didn't really know how to address situations that came up that delt with race. Some of the cultural activities we engaged in, such as watching two plays, for example, the admin failed to recognize some of the racial tension both plays exhibited. This is also seen in some of the communication and word choices/phrases used by staff that were a topic of conversation brought up by me as one of two black students in the program.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I enjoyed a great deal of tea. I don't know if I have integrated in Bath's social culture. Once I found my comfort in my people in Bath, for safety purposes, I really stuck to that. I learned how to survive and manage out there. Despite making friends with locals, I experienced a good deal of racism. I was called the "N" word by a local, followed in a grocery store, and experienced a couple of microaggressions from my peers in the program, was yelled at and talked down to by a white peer who was also in my program, and fettisized a couple of times in predominantly white spaces for being a black man.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Bath was pretty chill. Quiet and calm for the most part. I always felt safe roaming late at night. Of course, you have a couple of questionable people here and there, but for the most part, they were cool.

ASE isn't for me. ASE taught me one of the most important life lessons of, when a space isn't for you, remove yourself. Because of this, I found my own comfort in Bath that wasn't ASE when I didn't have to be there. I found myself integrating into England culture through local friends I made with strangers. I don't believe the program is ready to take on black students. There is a lack of support and it seems cultural understanding on their end. Despite introducing an Intercultural Role, this is quite new, so I won't see the impact of this role on ASE. I hope that role supports with the ASE's understanding on having students who aren't white. I found more comfort from the locals of Bath than I did the program. I felt a huge disconnect from my peers, and also experienced a different side of being in a predominantly white space. Many of my peers lacked basic social and cultural understanding. Making comments that was disturbing to here, but seemed to be quite normal for them to make.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

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• Apartment

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• Americans

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• Americans

• Locals
• My Internship
• Tea and Scones

• Staffing
• Lecture Series
• Professors