Study Abroad Experience with Psych Student Kendra Kelly
November 13, 2023 - Shelly DeJong
Kendra Kelly is a second-year Psychology student from Grand Ledge, Michigan. This past summer, she had the opportunity to study abroad in London. While there, she studied the Psychology of Women in a variety of diverse contexts in London. Read on to learn more about Kendra’s study abroad experience and what it was like learning outside of a classroom.
Can you tell us about your study abroad experience?
This past summer, I participated in a three-week study abroad program called Gender, Sex, and Feminism. I was actually committed to another study abroad program originally. But when I saw the Gender, Sex, and Feminism in the UK option, I canceled my application for the other trip and then applied to this one. I don't know what came over me, it just called me. I had the professor, Dr. Lucy Thompson, in my Psych 101 class so I already knew that I liked her. And the topic sounded really interesting.
The experience itself was amazing. There were 12 of us that went. We stayed in student housing in the central London area. We explored a lot of issues surrounding gender and sexuality in different contexts around London. We met at museums, galleries, and libraries around London for our classes and we typically had one lecture a week, so it wasn’t just sitting in a classroom. We had weekends off, so we were able to explore on our own, too.
Did you have any favorite moments?
It's so hard to choose just one favorite. All of the program activities that we got to do were really cool. For one of our last days we went to see Six the Broadway musical so that was amazing to see it in London. We went to see the Barbie movie when it premiered and we got interviewed by The Daily Mail, so we're in an article which was cool!
We went to a bunch of different art museums like the Tate Modern, the National Gallery, the British Museum, all sorts of other like tours and different museums and things that we got to go to.
Would you recommend the program to others?
Absolutely. Yes. It was amazing. Everybody was so welcoming and inclusive. Our group felt so connected, and it made it a lot easier to talk and learn with each other. Even outside of the classroom, we were thinking about the things that we were learning in class and talking about it just because we wanted to, and we all genuinely liked doing it.
I feel super grateful that I was accepted as a first-year student.
Have you had any psych professors that have had an impact on you? Any favorite classes?
Dr. Lucy Thompson has had a huge impact on my progress as a student and as a person. She challenged us to think critically of mainstream psychology, while also being very encouraging.
Dr. Weaver is also one of my favorite professors. He and Lucy co-taught my online Psych 101 class. I then took Psych 235 with him in person for Social Psychology and it was an amazing class. Psychology of Women over summer was amazing. And right now I'm in Cognitive Psych with Dr. Becker which I’m really liking so far.
I love all different aspects of psychology. I feel like I really found my niche. Psychology is definitely where I’m supposed to be.
Want to give a shoutout to anybody in the psych department?
Andrew Murray, one of the department’s academic advisors, has really helped me out a lot. I was really stressed out my first semester last year trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Everybody tells you as a psych major that you can't really do much with a bachelor's in psychology. But that's not true. I talked with Andrew and he was really helpful in showing me my options. And you can do like so many different things with a psychology degree! He really helped show me all my options. I’m so glad that I made that connection with him early on. It made it so much easier.