{"id":75862,"date":"2025-09-30T12:54:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T19:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=75862"},"modified":"2025-09-30T12:54:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T19:54:22","slug":"lumberjacks-abroad-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/lumberjacks-abroad-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Lumberjacks Abroad: United Kingdom edition!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\">What\u2019s<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\"> it like studying abroad with a disability?<\/span><\/span><strong><span class=\"TextRun MacChromeBold SCXW208039406 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\"> Civic Gomes <\/span><\/span><\/strong><span class=\"TextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\">can tell you. A junior majoring in photography, Gomes is partially blind, but he <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\">didn\u2019t<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\"> let that stop him from <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\">participating<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW208039406 BCX8\"> in the program NAU in the U.K.: Psychology of Food. Over three weeks, the NAU Food Recovery Network treasurer learned about how food, identity and place are intertwined while exploring London and Canterbury. Learn more about what Gomes loved most about the program, how he funded his experience and how it felt to navigate London with a disability.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW208039406 BCX8\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Where did you study and why did you choose this particular country for your study abroad program?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">I went abroad to the United Kingdom with the Psychology of Food program. We lived in a college town called Canterbury and stayed at the University of Kent. I chose this country because it had decent disability awareness when it comes to navigation within the community and on campus. I also chose this country because I have always wanted to visit the U.K. and experience what it is like to be in another country, with different people and customs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"No Limits | NAU STUDY ABROAD | From a Disability to All Disabilities \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KVAtaqHgK50?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What classes did you complete while abroad?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">I completed the Psychology of Food classes that were required while in the program, and these happened a few times a week. Each week we had different classes. The first week, we focused on the psychology of food and the self, and how food is more intertwined with how we act, present and carry ourselves from where we came from and where we plan to go. The second week, we talked about the social aspects of food and psychology. The third week, we focused on food insecurity in communities that do not have equal access to food and the same qualities as others. For example, some communities have higher-quality food and better advertisements compared to more impoverished areas that have fattening food and simple foods rather than high-quality foods. In the final week, we focused on different cultures and food. This program was only a month long, but there was a lot of information and different things that we learned within that one month.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">How did you fund your study abroad experience?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">My tuition and main fees were covered mainly by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gilmanscholarship.org\/\">Gilman Scholarship<\/a>, which is offered to those who are Pell Grant recipients. A scholarship community that I was granted into after graduating high school called Panthera Edge granted another sizable portion for the tuition for the program, and the rest was funded by me and my family, who helped with what contributions they could.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_75864\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75864\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2717-rotated.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-75864\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2717-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"trees in a fruit orchard \" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_2717-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_2717-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_2717-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_2717-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_2717-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75864\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gomes traveled to the UK as part of NAU&#8217;s Psychology of Food program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What expectations or preconceived notions did you have about your chosen country? How has your experience compared to those perceptions?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">I knew a lot about the U.K. before I left and before I saw this opportunity, so I never really had expectations about it. I thought it would be hard to navigate London and Canterbury with my disability, which is being partially blind. Going there and experiencing all I was able to; my expectations were both exceeded and also proved right. For instance, the University of Kent was more than prepared for someone with a disability by their effort in helping and the way the campus was laid out. The security office gave me a pendant that I carried with me, and that pendant was linked directly to them in case I needed assistance or an emergency. The university also had very well-kept sidewalks and concrete for the most part, and most buildings had operational automatic doors and elevators. Some public areas were both easy and difficult to navigate since they have narrower sidewalks or simply uneven ones due to them being built primarily from bricks and cobblestone. Some public buses don&#8217;t verbally announce the stops, so that is difficult to manage if you are unfamiliar with them. The city of London is hard to navigate because of how busy it is and how many things are going on at once.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What was your language-learning process, if any? Can you tell us about a humorous language-related situation you encountered?<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">There were not really any language learning barriers I went through apart from the accent and the terms for some things. It was funny listening to other students try to mimic what they heard and hearing how different it sounded. It was also funny to observe how the language of English changes based on the area. The language is the same, yet different.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_75867\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75867\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_6287-1-rotated.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-75867\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_6287-1-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"Parliament building in London\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_6287-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_6287-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_6287-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_6287-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2025\/09\/IMG_6287-1-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75867\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gomes said he found London tough to navigate with a disability due to its crowds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Tell us about your favorite\u2014and least favorite\u2014dish abroad.<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">My favorite dish is a traditional English breakfast, which may be generic, but it is a well-rounded, full, hearty meal that keeps me full. A least favorite dish would be the tap water, which was warm and had a more \u201cthin\u201d taste. When water is cold, to me it tastes better and feels \u201cthicker,\u201d making it more satisfying to drink.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">How has this study abroad experience influenced your personal, academic and career goals? Has it opened up new possibilities or changed your direction?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">This changed a lot of how I valued myself and my abilities because. I was very hesitant about this program before I left. By traveling abroad alone and navigating a city and country myself, I surpassed my personal goals. I also achieved my academic goal of going abroad. These two goals, while small, play a big role in building a better version of myself through my work ethic and my way of carrying myself. This program allowed me to gain many experiences and abilities to talk to other people in different places.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>For more information about study abroad programs and funding at NAU, <a href=\"https:\/\/nau.edu\/study-abroad\/\">visit the Study Abroad website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-56007\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514.png\" alt=\"Northern Arizona University Logo\" width=\"134\" height=\"95\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514.png 905w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-768x546.png 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-600x426.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 134px) 100vw, 134px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"><br \/>\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications<br \/>\n(928) 523-2282 | <a href=\"mailto:jill.kimball@nau.edu\">jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/lumberjacks-abroad-uk\/\">What\u2019s it like studying abroad with a disability? Civic Gomes can tell you. A junior majoring in photography, Gomes is partially blind, but he didn\u2019t let that stop him from participating in the program NAU in the U.K.: Psychology of Food. Over three weeks, the NAU Food Recovery Network treasurer learned about how food, identity&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":75869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1821,1829],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lumberjacks-abroad","category-student-edition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}