For my entire first year of university I decided to study abroad in Hailsham, England at the Herstmonceux Castle. I had a serious amount of anxiety going into it and struggled for months with my decision to go. When I was making the decision to go I really wished that I could have had some first-hand experience from a student that had gone there. So, in order to help other prospective students, I’m going to outline all the things I wish I had known, both positive and negative.
The opportunity I was given to live abroad in Europe as an 18-year-old is an experience that some people dream of having, but my experience was not what I was expecting. This could easily be due to a lack of research or misunderstanding of the circumstances; however, most of my friends felt the same way in terms of the size, location and setup of the castle. In no way am I writing this to tear the BISC program apart, but instead to inform other students of the facts I would’ve liked to know when deciding to go.
1. The number of students is shockingly low
When first arriving at the castle, you’re probably thinking about all the people you’re going to meet and friends you’re going to make. The website was realistic in saying that there would be about 120 students, including both first years and upper years studying abroad for one semester. Coming from a small high school, I was used to having a lower sized pool of students, but the castle’s population felt extremely tiny. I made some really great friends, but the student body felt pretty limited. You have the opportunity to get to know everyone very well from the sparse environment, but if you’re interested in being in a large setting with the ability to meet tons of people, the BISC might not be for you. I definitely struggled with wanting to meet more people and have a bigger social surrounding.
2. It is very isolated
When you think of a castle, you probably picture a stunning architectural building with rolling greens and unbelievable views. This is definitely true of the Herstmonceux Castle; it is candidly stunning. However, it is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The campus consists of the castle which holds all of your classrooms, dining areas, and the pub, along with Bader residence which is about a five-minute walk from the castle grounds. There is also a café near the entrance of the castle. That’s about it.
I do not mean to sound ungrateful in any way, because studying in a castle is one of the most unimaginable things you could ever do. However, after a few weeks, it starts to feel very remote. To get to the center of town, you have to take a minibus which is free and picks you up from Bader Hall, or you must take a taxi. The amount of money I spent on transportation to go out in a nearby town or travel to the airport was significant. There are numerous great areas to explore around the castle, such as Eastbourne and Brighton, but it takes about 20 to 40 minutes to get to them. London is about an hour and a half train ride away. Granted, I still went to London as often as I could, but the distance definitely impacted my ability to enjoy the city to its fullest potential. For me, feeling isolated on campus, and lacking the ability to travel without spending nearly $80 to get to and from the airport, was definitely a negative. Also, when you really need to escape first-year antics, you don’t really have anywhere to go unless you wait for a minibus.
3. The classes are limited and BISC 100 is wack
During my year at the castle, one of the main complaints from the students was that the classes were not exactly what they were expecting. My friends had heard of the awesome ones in previous years, such as archaeology and history. However, during our year, the administration had removed them. The classes are back now and available to take, but this greatly impacted some people’s interest in their academics. Also, importantly, a good number of my friends were in the pilot Science program. I cannot speak entirely on their behalf, but they did not feel that the courses met their quality expectations. Their classes were disorganized and very difficult. This can be expected from a pilot program, but it is definitely something any science student should consider when looking at the BISC.
Every single student at the castle had to take BISC 100, which is a full-year course that encapsulates multiple subjects like Sociology, History, Film and Media, and Geography. This class, overall, was frustrating to take because even though it was interesting at times, most of us did not feel that we should be required to use a full year credit on a course that we might not be interested in. I really enjoyed the Sociology aspect, but I have little to no interest in Geography or History and found it difficult to like the class when I was forced to take it. Furthermore, the science students used some of their elective credits towards it, which some thought was useless and unnecessary to their degrees. This might sound harsh, but it was just another aspect that frustrated me about the structure of the BISC.
4. The food situation is pretty rough
I felt worried about adding this to the list because I don’t want to offend anyone, but the food was pretty hard to get down. I think of myself as pretty open to trying new cuisines and flavors and I typically like most kinds of food. However, at the BISC I usually felt disappointed and not interested in eating. Having said that, the options at breakfast, lunch, and dinner were very limited. For example, when I was there the salad dressing offered was called salad cream and it wasn’t super appealing. This may have been improved since I have been there, but if not, be prepared to eat an enormous amount of bread and Cadbury spread. You very may well like the food a lot, but overall the consensus was that most people did not enjoy going to meals, and I personally slept through a lot of them.
5. Extracurriculars are basically nonexistent
This is obviously going to happen at a school of 120 people, but it was still disappointing. Once you get to school, the administration gives you the opportunity to create your own clubs. This was creative and fun, but not many of the clubs stayed together and they didn’t have the best organization due to the size of the student population. This was a let-down mainly in comparison to the substantial array of well-structured and exciting clubs that you could be getting involved with at Queen’s.
6. The field studies can be really great but may take away from traveling
One of the obvious major incentives to study at the BISC is the opportunity to easily travel around Europe. Another selling point is that every course you take offers some really cool field studies. For my politics class, we were able to have a tour of the EU headquarters in Brussels during our reading week which was one of the most profound gifts the BISC gave me. Having said that, field studies were almost always on the weekend and are mandatory. This commitment interfered with traveling on weekends. Either way, the field studies are extremely interesting, but it’s important to think about when considering how much you’ll want to travel.
7. You will need to save quite a bit of money
You will hear this advice in every article on going abroad, but it is especially true for the BISC. Since the duration is an entire year, it is very important that you make sure to save as much money as possible. This is key for England because the exchange rate really takes a toll on the Canadian bank account, and the things you will want to be doing will not be cheap. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the cost to travel to the airport is expensive on its own. So, my best advice is to save lots of money.
8. You basically have two first years
When looking to the future, I didn’t find the transition back to main campus too difficult, but I know that people have struggled. Not knowing any other students outside the Bader bubble, and having no idea where you’re going makes it feel like it’s first year again. The Bader bubble is difficult to break out of and I’ve heard many people say that they feel like they missed out on making a bigger group of friends on main campus. It also sets you back a year when looking at clubs and getting involved.
9. If you make it a priority you can see tons of places in Europe
This is definitely the biggest positive on this list. Despite the negatives, this one truly outweighs all the rest. During my time at the castle, I was able to travel to Germany, France, Ireland, Scotland, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and Croatia. I got to drink out of a beer stein at a beer garden in Munich, eat five crepes a day in Paris, live on a boat in Amsterdam and swim in Santorini. I am not listing these aspects to brag; I am listing them because I am truly grateful for all the amazing places I was able to experience while at the BISC. Even though you may live in the middle of nowhere, you are still in England and have the resources to fly from one country to the next. Flights and hostels are cheap, and you will gain some of the most amazing memories that you will talk about for years into the future with your friends (I still do constantly).
In all honesty, the best way that I can describe my experience at the BISC is this: I did not necessarily enjoy every moment on the campus and there were some hard times, but I would not take back the once in a lifetime opportunity to become independent, make some great friends and see the world. I hope that anyone reading this now has a better idea of what the BISC is like and understands the drawbacks along with the benefits. It is also important to keep in mind that I went two years ago, and since then the common rooms have been renovated, the archaeology class has been reinstated, and I heard a rumor that there is a new catering service. Choosing to go to the BISC was truly one of the most influential and exciting decisions I have made so far, and I would not change it. I am neither recommending nor discouraging going; I just hope that if you are reading this and are thinking of going, that you seriously consider and weigh all the aspects of life at the castle.