From Texas State to Scotland: Tori Pickett's Study Abroad Story

Judy Oskam: 0:03

Welcome to Stories of Change and Creativity Scotland Edition. This is a short series where I explore how people navigate change and embrace creativity even when the path isn't clear. I'm Judy Oskam and in this edition I'm coming to you from Queen Margaret University near Edinburgh, scotland. I'm teaching a three-week public relations course as part of Texas State University's Education Abroad program and along the way I'm sitting down with students, faculty and local professionals to capture their stories. From first-time travelers to creative pros. These conversations reveal how global experiences can shape who we are and how we communicate with the world. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Tori : 0:59

So I'm Tori. I'm going to be a sophomore next year, so yeah. Advertising and studies in popular culture what a great combination right great combination, so fun.

Judy Oskam: 1:11

Well, Tori, tell us about why. Why did you choose this study abroad program?

Tori : 1:18

okay. So I was in fluker's class my first semester and you would come in and you would talk to us about it and a I just like fell in love with you, basically. And I also had a friend situational friend in that class and she was obsessed with Harry Potter. So I was like, oh, we can go together. That would be so cool, it'd be so fun. So I went home, I talked to my parents, I looked over everything, made sure they would be able to afford it and registered like right then and there. And then I text my friend a few days later. She's like oh yeah, I'm not doing that, but it worked out really well for me. My parents were very upset that I got to come to Europe before them.

Judy Oskam: 1:57

Oh no, oh no. Well, talk a little bit about how you have experienced Scotland. Talk a little bit about how you have experienced Scotland.

Tori : 2:05

It's been so fun. My least favorite thing about this is definitely the hills. Texas State did not prepare me for that, but it's been amazing. I love the weather, even the rain I got absolutely pelted by rain yesterday, yeah, and the people are so nice. The campus is great, even when the beds kind of suck well, what have you learned about yourself?

Judy Oskam: 2:29

you've put yourself in a new culture, a new, a new country, same language, but what have you learned about yourself so this is my.

Tori : 2:36

Actually it was actually my first time both flying alone and flying out of the country and my parents were so anxious they were watching me while I was in line to go through the TSA. They were watching me from the mezzanine freaking out, but I did fine. My dad used to work for United before it was United and he was like I was impressed by how well you did that. So honestly, that was probably the hardest part about being here was just getting here. Getting used to Scotland and the culture was really easy. I'll say it's a little expensive but it was really easy to get used to.

Judy Oskam: 3:18

Yeah, yeah. Well, what did you learn when you did get on that plane by yourself and you did, you did navigate all of that? What did it tell you about yourself?

Tori : 3:26

I feel like I've learned how resilient I can be. It's definitely it's been interesting. I only really came here knowing Jamin and even that was like didn't really know him, I just bumped into him a few times. So I've definitely made some friends here, like Ava and Angie-- love them so much. I'll be keeping in touch, for sure, and it just it showed me that I am capable a lot more than I thought I would. Yes, especially by myself. I'm an independent person. However, I'm not used to navigating things on my own.

Judy Oskam: 4:00

Well, you've really done some great project work, thank you. And in here, part of one of the projects that the class has done is you've worked in teams and you've gone out in the community and kind of explored how public relations works at a small business or talk about what that experience was like.

Tori : 4:20

So I think it's definitely been fun, especially because in the two group projects I'm the only person that's changed groups, so it's been fun getting to work with them and getting to go out and interview people the good, the bad and the ugly, all of it. People are a lot more eager to say no here.

Judy Oskam: 4:36

Yes.

Tori : 4:37

It's fine, it's just an adjustment. The first project was really fun. We actually got to go out and talk to a business owner and she was the sweetest person I've ever met. If you haven't gone, definitely go to that cafe, um, but that was really fun. It was interesting to learn a lot more about PR. I definitely didn't know much about it to begin with. This was just like oh, I'll go toward my major right and it'll count.

Tori : 5:02

It'll be fun, yeah be in Scotland for three weeks, why not? Yeah, um, and then the second project. It was a lot more difficult. Like you've been very hands-off with us, you just want us to learn by teaching ourselves, which is great. I think that's awesome and it's allowed us to explore more of PR and understand better, like what it actually is.

Judy Oskam: 5:25

Yeah, what about the independence that you've had here? Because to me this is more like a we're teaching class on another campus and then you're living your life outside of the class, just like you would in San Marcos. How has that?

Tori : 5:40

been. It's been really cool. I love, love, love the trains and the buses. I wish that we were that good with our public transportation. I've done it a few times myself. I've caught the last train just barely. I really like that part of it. The living by myself isn't anything new.

Tori : 5:59

Like last year, I had two roommates, I was in Blanco, so we have three people in one room, but even then it was like I was still very independent, but I made friends that way, so that wasn't difficult, necessarily. Yeah, um, as far as the independence here, it was like just learning. All of the outlets have their own switches. You have to turn the oven on. Yes, yes, yes, um, that part's been really fun. I like that we get to spend so much time in the city. I'm more of a home party, so I definitely have spent a lot of time here too, which isn't bad it's a beautiful campus, beautiful, a lot of nature everywhere, yeah yeah,

Judy Oskam: 6:46

Yeah, and it made me wonder. Oh, my goodness what's going on.

Tori : 6:50

I know that a lot of people have been going out a lot already, which isn't my scene.

Judy Oskam: 7:04

What's been the favorite place that you've been?

Tori : 7:09

honestly, I really loved going to the Hollawood palace. I found that a lot more interesting than the castle, just because there was a lot more history we actually got to see and it was still in use, so it was still had all the decorations and everything that we got to see. Also really enjoyed the bus tour yesterday which you told us about.

Tori : 7:29

Yeah, yeah it was a little expensive but honestly I felt like it was the cheapest way to see that much of scotland and I wouldn't I wouldn't have gone out otherwise, and I kind of thought that it was just going to be me and Ava, maybe Jamin and I was waiting outside yesterday morning for everyone to hop outside and I was like, oh, there's six of us.

Judy Oskam: 7:49

Oh good, yeah good, and and that was the Highlands tour, where you went out to the Highlands and Loch Ness and Loch Ness and you saw the Harry Potter, yeah thing, yeah that was really the the train.

Tori : 8:00

Ava and I were sitting together and she was so excited.

Judy Oskam: 8:04

That's good. Well, you know, when you're on an experience like this, you get the chance to and I told you guys this in the beginning you get to be whoever you want to be in this new country. You're not bringing baggage with you. Yeah, how has?

Tori : 8:17

that been. It's been fun. I will say I've had a few like communication issues back at home with my partner. But aside from that it's been kind of weird, like my mom wants to talk every day but there's some days that I don't have anything to tell her and I've told my dad.

Judy Oskam: 8:35

That's how we are. Moms are like that. That's how we are.

Tori : 8:40

Yeah, it's been. It's been really cool and we joked at the beginning of the trip like, oh, where are you gonna be from on this trip? Yeah, yeah, oh, it's just, it's been really cool getting to separate myself from who I am at home because, again, I am very much a homebody. I don't have a lot of friends, so being able to like put myself out there more, like I'm trying I'm still trying to learn everyone's names and we are on the last week. Yes, like I don't have to.

Judy Oskam: 9:06

I can do it, you can do it.

Tori : 9:07

That's why I have friends with everyone, but I don't want to not know them exactly, exactly, and that's been really interesting because I will be going back knowing more people than I came here with and knowing that PR might not be what I want to do, but I understand it. And back at home I'm actually helping a family friend like start not necessarily start a business, and it's kind of like an MLM. She's trying to create her own brand within it. I'm learning a lot about that to go back and help her good. So, like when Nadia was showing us her website on Canva, I was like, oh my gosh, show me how to do that right. I can show her how to do it exactly. And it's just, it's been a lot of fun.

Judy Oskam: 9:55

That's good. Well, you have a real good design. Look, you have a real good. Your Instagram is a real good aesthetic when you post some things. I don't know about that, but you have a good idea, like what you did at the National Gallery. Oh, I loved that. That was a great idea.

Tori : 10:13

Talk about that idea so I did a quote unquote study of beautiful women at the National Gallery.

Tori : 10:25

And I was just taking a bunch of pictures of some of the girls that I've met on the trip in our class, outside of our class, and a bunch of the absolutely stunning portraits that are in there. And it was nice because it was the first week we had barely met each other and I was able to just go up to people that I recognized and be like, hey, do you want to be part of this? And I feel like that was really special to make them feel beautiful, make them feel included. Yeah, and I got to meet a few more people and get closer with people. That was kind of my first time talking to Angie and Ava, yeah, yeah, so it was just. It was really fun to be able to interact with more people, to see so much art. I even got a picture of you which I was so excited to get.

Judy Oskam: 11:06

I was honored to be asked.

Tori : 11:08

I was so excited for that. It was fun. And then just to be able to come back and compile everything and I remember trying to like get everyone's Instagrams to be able to tag them. And one of the girls from the other class was like hey, just wanted to ask, is there any order? Or like, did you choose specifically where everyone was going to go? And I was like, oh my gosh, please don't feel insulted, it was literally just wherever you fit in, right right, so right.

Judy Oskam: 11:33

So do you think that being in a new place, a new country, a new campus, do you think it makes you more confident or more ready to take a chance? I would say so.

Tori : 11:48

I would say so. This is definitely an opportunity that I just jump on and I feel like I definitely second thought a lot before, especially in the two weeks leading up, because I was going back to work during the summer, I had my old job and my boss didn't realize that I still had that last week to work. I was like, hey, why am I only working for one week and then I'll be gone for a month, and it was just. It was really uncomfortable, kind of having that conversation with him and then thinking to myself, should I? Should I stay? Should I try to work to build up my savings more? Should I go?

Tori : 12:30

this is a really great opportunity that I'm probably never going to get again, and so you really thought about not going at the last minute. I kind of did. I was so anxious about it I and I didn't know anyone really. Sure, Um, it was just and again, having three weeks for a class was kind of overwhelming.

Judy Oskam: 12:51

I didn't know how hands on.

Tori : 12:53

We were going to be in class.

Judy Oskam: 12:54

Sure.

Tori : 12:55

And you know I said a few times I'm a homebody and I knew that there were going to be people a I don't have the stamina for that and b I don't have the money for that right. So it's been really nice to be able to just stay behind sometimes be by myself.

Tori : 13:11

Campus stay on campus in this gorgeous weather. So there's been. There's been some times that I've second thought it, especially like when I was packing, when I was on the way to the airport. I was up at like 5.30 in the morning before anyone else in my family was. I was taking my backpack, my carry-on, into the bathroom, so I didn't wake up my boyfriend.

Tori : 13:38

And I went and I had to go steal the scale from my parents' bathroom.

Judy Oskam: 13:42

Oh, to weigh it, to weigh it, I was so anxious To weigh it. Oh my gosh. And that's how I accidentally woke up my parents, oh my gosh. So now you made the decision.

Judy Oskam: 13:52

You got on the plane you're here.

Judy Oskam: 13:54

We're in the last week,

Tori : 13:57

It's honestly so sad, yeah, and there's a lot of people that are staying longer, and I really wish that I could yeah, well, next time, but next time.

Judy Oskam: 14:05

So when is the next time? What are you going to do next? I don't know.

Tori : 14:08

I really, I really wanted to go to London one weekend but it just kind of kept falling through and I just felt like you know what? It's not the right time it's a different trip.

Tori : 14:18

Yeah, I'll come back with my mom, or?

Tori : 14:20

right, my sister when she's older, my boyfriend at some point we'll come back and we'll be able to enjoy it and make it a little more financially effective right, um, and it's been. It's been really cool, because I was a little upset that it didn't happen the first weekend. And then the second weekend, when we were talking about it was like you know what, even if y'all go, I'm gonna stay behind. I don't want to go right, I don't want to stress over it, sure, I just want to like have fun here and again.

Tori : 14:49

my parents were a little bummed that I was coming before them, but I definitely think that it will help them also. Want to go?

Judy Oskam: 15:00

Yeah, and you can show them the way. Yeah, exactly, I love that.

Tori : 15:04

And I remember saying at the end of the first week or the beginning of the second I feel like I should be going home right now. I've never had a vacation longer than a week, yeah, and now being here for over two weeks, it's definitely bed different.

Judy Oskam: 15:20

Yeah, well, and going back now, are you going back the same person? How are you what's, what's Tori like now going back?

Tori : 15:34

I feel like I've definitely become more confident and grown and matured a bit Just being surrounded by the different personalities, getting to understand a little bit more about myself.

Judy Oskam: 15:49

but you go back, and you go back and you take it with you you know, and I think who you are is whatever you want to be, right, yeah. And so I think you guys, the students in this class, you guys have done some phenomenal work that you probably don't even realize how big a deal it is that you've gone and you've connected with business owners and business managers and you've talked to them, and getting out and doing that is a is really fantastic. I'm just so excited about you guys.

Tori : 16:20

So I remember whenever we were interviewing Maggie and your client, yeah, the client, the client um, and I was the only one out of the three of us I wasn't really asking the questions because I didn't have them on me and I just remember she kept looking toward me for the for your question yes, no, not even for my question.

Tori : 16:40

She was looking at me when she was answering. Oh, because I feel like she felt a lot more comfortable with me because I was just sitting there taking it in. Yeah, and I wasn't harping on a conversation.

Judy Oskam: 16:51

Well, you were, you were there for the conversation, maybe.

Tori : 16:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah and it was just, it was so interesting to see that and understand that kind of clued me in on their culture, yeah, um, of how it's more relaxed here, so she might not have felt the most comfortable being asked so many questions so suddenly, sure, which I understand. Sure, I don't know that I would feel comfortable with that either, but it was nice to understand that like, oh, I am, in a way, her comfort at the moment and and I feel like I'm going to take that back with me and allow myself to just be the comfort for some people.

Judy Oskam: 17:34

You connect very well with the content.

Tori : 17:35

You get it.

Judy Oskam: 17:37

You know your design work very well. You might not give yourself credit for that, but you need to. You need to, you need to understand that.

Tori : 17:58

I'm just happy that I came here confident with Canva.

Judy Oskam: 18:00

Nice, nice, nice, nice. Well, what advice would you give other students that might be on the edge of not going or not taking that chance or taking that trip?

Tori : 18:11

Just do it, you'll come back a better person. Well, maybe not better, but you'll come back a different person and it's an experience and there's no reason not to. If you can do it, there's no reason not to.

Judy Oskam: 18:27

Yeah, if you can do it, there's no reason not to yeah, yeah, and again, it's such a, such a financial and a time commitment and we do realize that, but we hope to make it worth your time and worth your while, and I think that time and that time and that travel, you can never get it back. Yeah, you know, you know.

Tori : 18:46

I remember whenever I was going at the very end of the year, I had to go talk to the financial aid office. Oh my goodness, I was sitting in there for like an hour and I went and talked with someone about the scholarship that I had gotten, because everyone I talked to said like, oh, you need six hours to be eligible. And no one could give me a straight answer. And even the person that I was talking to there was like oh yeah, like you, if you don't take another class, you're not eligible. I was like okay, can I just drop the scholarship so that I don't have to pay back?

Tori : 19:18

at some other point. And then I remember getting the email from Emma saying like oh, we were notified that you're dropping in class. I said, no, no, it's not what's happening, please don't drop me. Yeah, and then she was able to tell me like oh, no, you're, you're good, this is the exemption. And I was. I feel like that was kind of the turning point in me being so confident in coming. I still questioned it a couple of times when I was at home finally by being able to say like oh, this makes me a little more financially confident that I can go, because that's my spending money, that's what I'm going to be living off of, right.

Judy Oskam: 19:56

Right, right. And also when you're out, you have that experience to talk about to employers. You have that, that just that worldview, that that is just so important. And we've had some good speakers in class. Hopefully you've gained some information from the speakers and you've done project work for for the university as well.

Tori : 20:18

So that's been fun and even like for my scholarship. I'm required to take pictures and I'm I've told y'all so many times I'm not good about taking pictures. I was relying on Jamin that kind of first week and I was like and I'm I've told y'all so many times I'm not good about taking pictures. I was relying on Jamin that kind of first week and I was like I just I need to take my own pictures. So that's also made me a lot more confident in that and like in social media, because I have made a few posts and it's just, it's been really fun.

Judy Oskam: 20:42

Good, so well. I'm excited you came.

Tori : 20:45

I'm so excited you came.

Judy Oskam: 20:48

I'm so excited you came. Thanks so much for joining us on Stories of Change and Creativity Scotland edition. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure and follow the podcast and give us a like and a review. It really helps more listeners discover these inspiring stories. Thanks for listening.