Trinity University College
Jessica Ledbetter (USA), MA Creative Writing 
I have to admit, I’d only heard about Wales in passing before I applied to Trinity College. My fascination with the United Kingdom always seemed to veer towards England (mainly London and Nottingham; good old Harry Potter and Robin Hood) or Scotland (who could pass up on some hot tempered clans?) But when the economy crashed, I found myself at a crossroads: I was about to lose my job due to lack of funds and Los Angeles had literally fallen to its knees. Work was almost nonexistent and rent prices were increasing. So instead of “sticking it out” and being poor and miserable for a few years, I went with plan B and applied for graduate school. I was intrigued and quite pleased when I stumbled over an advertisement for Trinity University College in Carmarthen, Wales.
The big draw at first was the program: Come and study with the famous welsh poet Menna Elfyn! It promised small classes, a unique environment and it fulfilled a life long dream of mine to live in the UK. The second bonus point about Trinity was the submission deadline: even though it was January and all the other MA Creative Writing courses had closed their doors for that year, Trinity was willing to take my application. When the acceptance letter arrived not a month later, my joy had to be secretly exclaimed in the back room, as shouting was frowned upon in my office building. By that time though, I knew everything Wikepedia and the local websites could tell me about Carmarthen, and was finding that more people knew about Wales than I’d suspected.
The college made it extremely easy to settle into my new life, some nine thousand or so miles away from sunny Los Angeles. The town was small, quaint, and had a feel about it that welcomed outsiders. The Welsh language was a surprise; I’d read about it, certainly, but had assumed it was like the Irish in Ireland: a present language, but sort of resented and suppressed. But walking the streets in town square or shopping the aisles of the local Tescoes, I would overhear everyday people having full conversations in Welsh- and caught myself a couple of times staring, so fascinated was I by this. Way out in West Wales, Carmarthen has a high percentage of native Welsh speakers- my course director, Menna Elfyn, speaks Welsh as her first language and writes all of her poetry in Welsh. It’s a difficult language to learn because it sounds like nothing we have in the states- Spanish, English, even French and German can’t compare.
My program turned out to be everything you could hope for in an MA Creative Writing course: ten people per lecture, a dedicated staff of experienced and multiple-times-published writers, a variety of topics and discussion points, not to mention dedicated workshop time and personal tutorials anytime I wanted them. I was allowed the freedom to explore my own interests, read my own authors, and find my own inspiration throughout Wales. And let me tell you, inspiration was everywhere, from the sheep in the fields, to the wildly tangled forests to the people and their strong national pride.
The campus of Trinity is perfect too; small, with a mixture of more recent buildings and the old church that has been here since the college’s beginnings. The students at Trinity help make the atmosphere easy and welcoming; everybody talks to everybody and you quickly learn faces if not all the names. The Student Union is a great hang out spot with a bar and a dance club, not to mention free sausage and chips during rugby games. The dorms were fantastic and more like an apartment shared by 8 friends than assigned living. I had my own room and my own bathroom which was unbelievable to me when I first opened the door and despite the legend of only cloudy skies, I was extremely pleased to find that I had sunshine streaming through my window more often than not.
My time in Wales has certainly changed who I am and what I believe. I couldn’t have asked for a better exchange experience nor better people to spend the year with. We see the news and read the papers but I don’t think we can ever truly understand the world or the other people in it until we have immersed ourselves in their culture, their country, and their lives. I like to think I am a better person because of this experience; not only am I more willing to adapt to the situations around me, I’m more willing to try new things and talk to new people. The course itself has made me a better writer and has seen me published not once, but twice! It has allowed my writing to progress and blossom so that when I return to the United States, I’m confident to try my hand in the US markets too.
Trinity College is a gem almost hidden away in the Welsh hills and I feel like I’ve found the treasure after my time here. I would recommend anybody thinking about doing a study abroad program to go for it. The whole wide world awaits us out there if we’re only brave enough to take it!
To read "Sense of Place" written by Jessica Ledbetter for her course assignment select here
To view other Trinity student profiles select here or to go back to the main student profiles page select here. Further information on Trinity University College is available here.