Posts by Debra Patchett
Case Study: Olivia Pettitt, Madrid, Spain – 2019-2020
In July 2019 I left the UK to begin my placement year at BT in Madrid as part of my Languages and International Business degree. Although briefly interrupted by the lockdown in March where I went back to the UK to work from home for a while, I was able to return to Madrid and…
Read MoreCongratulations!
Many congratulations to our recent lucky applicants on receiving John Speak Trust Scholarships to assist your study abroad programmes. Our new students will be studying in: Geneva Germany Tokyo Austria Costa Rica Granada Well done on receiving John Speak Trust Scholarships. We hope you enjoy your time abroad and good luck! Thinking of studying abroad? Check…
Read MoreCase Study: Lorenzo Webster, Sevilla – 2019 to 2020
Now back in London, I am able to fully reflect upon my time abroad in Sevilla. Over the 9 months, I grew a great deal both as a person as well as academically. I found myself in so many new situations and even lived through the global pandemic from a Spanish perspective. But above all,…
Read MoreMia Marchant: Goals and aspirations, July 2020
I’ve been concentrating on making sure I do all the things I wanted to do this year. I made goals of things I wanted to achieve. It’s so easy to get lost with what’s going on and forget to concentrate on the things important to you. My main goal was to learn Spanish and Portuguese…
Read MoreMia Marchant: Staying in Brazil, August 2020
My last month in Brazil. That was the plan anyway but things change. I’ve decided to continue on in Brazil due to coronavirus as the laws on tourist visas have been relaxed and also I wanted to stay and do all of the things I’d originally planned to do. My dance classes have been going…
Read MoreCase Study: Jonathan Ferguson, Beijing, China –
As part of my undergraduate degree in Chinese Studies, I spent the last academic year abroad, initially in Beijing at Peking University. The course in Beijing covered a broad range of areas, from newspaper reading and 20th century literature, to more advanced speaking classes and classical Chinese. Upon the outbreak of COVID-19, my UK university…
Read MoreCase Study: Sandy Perkins – Beijing, China, 2019-2020
In September 2019 I landed in Beijing to begin 11 months of living in China. I had been awarded two Scholarships, a John Speak scholarship and a Confucius scholarship, and as part of the Confucius scholarship was enrolled in the Chinese Language Program at Beihang University in Beijing. While I had visited Beijing before for…
Read MoreLorenzo Webster: Summer in Sevilla – My final month
In Sevilla the month of June is when it begins to get really get hot. While it usually only gets above 40 in July, June is still incredibly warm with constant temperatures of over 35 degrees Celsius. While getting a haircut I quizzed my barber on how he puts up with this every year, to…
Read MoreLorenzo Webster: My Sevillian quarantine – April 2020
My Sevillian quarantine At first, we were told it would only be 2 weeks, and even that felt like an insufferable time frame. In the end, extension after extension was passed and I racked up a total of 49 days under a complete lockdown and a further 10 days of highly controlled movement. The first…
Read MoreCase Study: Jack Marshall Oldfield, Leipzig, Germany – 1934
In February 1934, at the ripe old age of 19, I left the UK to begin a German language scholarship in Leipzig, Germany. My Scholarship was awarded by the John Speak Language to study German from February to October. My journey began by boat from the UK to Bremerhaven During my stay in Germany,…
Read MoreLorenzo Webster: Enjoying Spain before lock down – March 2020
Enjoying Spain before the lock down – My sixth month in Sevilla Having not seen the sea for a considerable amount of time, I signed up for an ESN (Erasmus Student Network) trip to Malaga at the end of February. The image I had of Malaga from my visit over 3 years ago was one…
Read MoreLorenzo Webster: Sevilla, February 2020
The history behind the city’s walls – my 5th month in Sevilla As 2020 got underway it was time to pick my new modules for the next semester. As a politics student in London I searched out for any modules with political aspects and what I found was an interesting mix of early and contemporary…
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