Case Study: Tom Kirkham – China, 2017-2018
As much as I learn, I’ll always be mesmerised by China. It didn’t take long for the country to become the target of so much curiosity. A distinctive culture with a great ancient history, a dramatic recent past and an exciting future, the decision to spend a year in China…
Holly Henry: Case Study – Mexico 2017
During the first semester of my year abroad, I spent 5 months studying at UNAM in Mexico City. Looking back, I see in as both a turbulent but very exciting time. I experienced almost the worst weather the world could throw at me: hurricanes, tropical storms and earthquakes, along…
Case Study: Anam Rahman, China – 2017
During my second year of university I wrote a paper on the Chinese economy. It was here where the magnitude of the inevitable global macroeconomic shifts, finally sunk in. Within the next 10 years China will be the biggest economy in the world. By 2050 its GDP per capita will…
Case Study: Gavin Vine – China 2016-2017
I began my year in China working at the British embassy in Beijing, before starting university at Peking University, one of China’s top universities, as part of my year abroad. It was at this time when my John Speak scholarship started, providing me with extra money that enabled me to…
Case Study: Alexandra Boulton – Beijing, China, 2016- 2017
I am very grateful to the John Speak Trust for their support over the past year which I spent studying in Beijing as part of my undergraduate degree in Chinese Studies. This grant has helped me travel over my school holidays, something I feel is very important in a country…
Case Study: Charlotte McGarry – China, 2016 – 2017
The third year of my university degree took the form of a year abroad spent studying Mandarin in Beijing, China. Along with eight other classmates from Cambridge, I moved to Beijing’s student district of Wudaokou in September 2016, ready to embark on a ten month journey of cultural immersion and…
Nathan Randerson, Case Study: Spain 2016-2017
John Speak Trust Report – 2017 Its been an incredible last 18 months, my experience in Spain has surpassed all my expectations and is something which I will never forget. I’ve spent six months studying in Córdoba and one year working in the Corporate Procurement Department of NH Hotel Group…
Sinead O’Connor: Case Study, China – 2016
I began receiving the John Speak travel grant in September 2016, when I began my third year abroad in China as part of my university degree. As there is very little in way of any other monetary help for students choosing to study abroad, especially in this part of the…
Eleanor Winstanley – Case Study: Berlin, Germany 2015
My name’s Ellie Winstanley and I am a 21 year old language student in Manchester, although following my period abroad I am currently living in my home town of Worcester. For the German side of my year abroad I spent 4 months in Berlin working in a nursery. In late…
Case Study – Richard Freeman Germany 1961
In January 1961 (age 20) I boarded the train from Harwich via London followed by a short ferry journey to Holland. Another train journey took me to Breman Germany where I would stay for six months. On arrival in Bremen I was very homesick having never been away from home…
