Emmanuel Kiese is a second-year undergraduate student who is interested in studying abroad on one of the programmes offered by the Global Opportunities team as part of his degree at Queen Mary. We caught up with Emmanuel to find out his motivations for studying abroad and what he hopes to gain from the experience.
I’m currently a second-year Film Studies student in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film.
All of my flatmates in first year were year abroad students, so living with them and hearing about their experience was a big motivation for me. They told me how great it was that they have had the opportunity to meet a diverse range of people at Queen Mary. Because I study film, I’m hoping to get some kind of work placement in this industry and I didn’t know where to start in the UK. One of my flatmates was from San Diego in California, and she told me about many of her friends back home who were working at Disney, Warner Brothers, Marvel and places like that. The industry is all around you there, so that’s what really inspired me to want to go.
I think it allows you to get a different perspective on things. If we’re talking about film specifically, because the film industry is so huge in America, it would be interesting to be taught by the leaders of the industry. Apart from the academic side, I think you can get a lot of life experience from moving to a different country in general. I like to get things from different perspectives, explore new arenas and get myself out of my comfort zone. You learn and progress by challenging yourself and seeing things that you’ve never seen before and meeting new people. My flatmates said this is where they developed the most. They came away thinking that the year they spent here in the UK was one of the best years of their life and I really want to experience that as well.
There are some things that I’m both nervous but also excited for, such as settling in and making new friends. That’s a bit nerve-wracking but also exciting as well. I imagine America would be bit more expensive to live than the UK so finance is also something to bear in mind. I’m not the greatest when it comes to saving money so the finance workshops arranged by the Global Opportunities team will be a great help in alleviating some of those worries.
I don’t have a solidified plan for what I want to do after graduation but ideally, I would like to wait a bit before I start working to hopefully travel some more and see other places. I want to visit more countries with good film industries – I know China is a big one as well. My ideal career would be to create films, so I would like to have a bit more experience in making my own films before I start working properly and my time is taken up by that.
If you are interested in studying abroad, as part of or in addition to your degree, visit the Global Opportunities website to find out which options are available to you and how to apply. You can also visit the Go Abroad Fair taking place on Wednesday 17 October 2018 in the Octagon, Queens’ Building, Mile End campus to speak with members of staff and students and have your questions answered.