Ava Barnes
ISEP Direct Study in Belfast & Northern Ireland – Academic Year 2026
Majors: Ancient Studies and Visual Arts
Minor: Art History
Jump To: Pre-Departure Post, In-Country Post 1, Post 2, Post 3
Pre-Departure Post
Hello, everyone!
My name is Ava Barnes and I am a third year student double majoring in Ancient Studies and Visual Arts with an Art History minor. As I write this, I am just over 48 hours away from boarding my very first flight to the United Kingdom and I could not be more excited! I have spent nearly every day this summer counting down until my study abroad and telling myself to “just make it to Belfast” until the word no longer sounds like English.
Studying abroad has been my dream since as long as I can remember. Though my family is very firmly planted in the United States, I have always felt a call toward the United Kingdom. Whether it’s in pop culture, beliefs, humor, social values — even weather! — I have yearned until my heart is sore. To study anywhere else would be a betrayal of my truest self as the UK is where all my future plans are set. It is where I make a name for myself as an artist, where I grow my family, and where I will settle for the rest of my life. I cannot be anywhere else. That is why I am immensely grateful to UMBC and ISEP Direct that I will spend my next nine months at Ulster University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
My first day of classes is on September 21st, which means I have one entire week of welcome activities to enjoy before the hard work even begins. I will speed friend, ethnic food shop, meet the mayor, visit the North Coast, and learn Céilí dancing all while adjusting to jetlag. I love whoever made this itinerary! And I know this sounds like a lot, but it is nothing compared to my biggest study abroad fear. Public. Transportation. Don’t get me wrong, I am the biggest supporter of public transportation of anyone. I hate driving as much as the next person and I’ve had my fair share of parking lot… incidents. However, the directions they give to the train are vague at best and Google Maps does not have photos of the walkway and I’m kind of freaking out! I am the biggest planner you’ve ever met in your life, so this is not great for me. But I must be calm. Just because I cannot plan every moment of my day does not mean something bad will happen. I am strong and capable and I believe every word I am writing (no, I do not). At least if I end up in rural Ireland missing class, everyone reading my next post can have a nice laugh. Other than that though, I have done everything I need to do. I got my student visa MONTHS in advance, I have planned my grocery shopping, budgeted my entire bank account, found a phone plan that’s affordable. I am almost the most prepared girl in the world.
But, I feel weird. When you are bombarded with blog posts and stories of people saying how much they’ll miss home, it can put you on the outside by not having that experience. For me, studying abroad has always been a way out. I am a Humanities Scholar and I chose the program specifically for the study abroad component. This has always been my single-minded goal and I just want anyone who reads this blog to know that it is normal. It is normal to feel more excited than you are scared. It is normal to live in the future for months, just dreaming about the life you’ll live rather than savoring the life you’re in now. Studying abroad is the most important thing I have ever done and I get freedom like I’ve never known. If I fail, I have to pick myself up but when I succeed, I am solely responsible and get to feel 100% of the accomplishment. With that understanding, it is hard to feign tearful goodbyes or regurgitate the same anxieties as everyone else.
When I get to Belfast, I am looking forward to a new start. Being in a place where no one knows me, not a single soul. I arrive as “Ava the Artist” and nothing else. The entire city is my canvas and I am ready to show everyone there what I can do. I can be funny, be smart, be friendly, be creative. I can make art that I am proud of and spend time around people who make me feel good about myself. Everything in my life has led up to this moment.
And maybe I am saccharine and I’ll need an ice cold glass of water after writing this. But, this is all I can think about. When I get there, I will have more interesting and less introspective things to say; but for now, I encourage anyone who wants to study abroad to do so. Do it as many times as you can and go where your heart is tied with an invisible string. UMBC offers so many great programs and this is my third time traveling with them. I can’t wait to see what’s there for me!
In-Country Post #1
Welcome (or welcome back), this week on Ava’s Belfast Diaries is “Crying in Public.”
We’ll get to the title in just a second, but first I want to catch you up on everything you missed in the last two weeks. I arrived in Belfast on 12 September 2026 after a 14 hour travel day. I go through customs, catch a taxi, arrive on campus with a cute little goody bag, and life is great. I then enter my home for the next 9 months and it is HUGE — the Harbor Hall singles look like a broom closet in comparison. But, I do not unpack as I am incredibly lazy and proceed to live out of my suitcase for the next week.
Sunday, the 13th: I have to figure out public transportation because my kitchen is empty and my bathroom has no mat on the freezing cold concrete. I hop on the train to Carrickfergus and spend an hour in a Tesco Extra debating between mug colors that 100% do not matter. And once I am properly stocked up with a 15lb bag on my shoulder, I hoof it back to the station. Successful trip and a successful day! I also locate the nearest grocery store and browse every single aisle. It is small but gets the job done. I end the day feeling full of accomplishment.
Monday, the 14th: The first meltdown over public transportation. The morning starts off great. I attend orientation and meet up with some other international students. We are feeling good, eating Nando’s, and that night we made plans to get together. The night is fun (though raining) and at 10:30pm, I decide to head home since enrollment is the next morning. I book my train ticket and get on the second to last run of the night. But… disaster! When the train stops and I stand to get off, the doors do not open. Weird. I click the button. Once, twice, thrice. No such luck and the train begins to move again. I panic and nearly sprint through multiple cars to find the conductor. I tell him the doors did not open and he has the audacity to tell me that all of them did. I insist otherwise, now nearly hyperventilating, and he stares me dead in the eye with the most unsympathetic expression I have ever seen and tells me that my own experience was wrong. So, like any perfectly sane person, I ride to the next station and get off in Greensisland. The Greensisland platform is outdoors and devoid of light. I mean, there is not a single street light in the vicinity. So I sit down on the bench and I cry. I cry very VERY loudly with tears streaming down my face. My makeup smudges and I scroll, hands shaking, through the train schedule hoping I can get on the next one when it comes in 30 minutes. Time passes and eventually I am able to get on another train and make it home, but I am forever traumatized. The worst thing that could happen, happened at 11pm on a Monday night. But, it was a learning experience that trains cannot be trusted and I should probably download Uber. And maybe carry some self-defense as I am a woman. We will see.
Tuesday, the 15th: I enroll for my classes which are Studio Practice and a faculty-led internship of my choosing. I also attend an induction which is basically just syllabus day but it happens before the first day, so as to not waste class time. Overall, a pretty simple day.
Wednesday, the 16th: The time change attacks me with a sickness I am still suffering from. Going from 90 degrees to 60 degrees might sound like heaven, but it also sounds like Freshers Flu. All the international students are together and mingling their own person strains of sickness until eventually everyone has the same cough and same sniffles. It’s disgusting and I hate hacking in class, I am an embarrassment.
Thursday, the 17th until Monday, the 21st: I then spent the next few days as a hermit. I unpacked my room, watched movies, went on walks by the water, and tried to decompress before classes. Completely uneventful and I could not have been more grateful. Maybe on some level I was hiding from the world, but it is what I needed after an eventful week. Moving across the world will not make me any less of a homebody than I already am. I continue to love my bed and I even have cute hedgehog bedsheets!
Then today, Tuesday, the 22nd: We are introduced to our professional placements and I have meltdown #2. Apparently, everyone in the arts program had been receiving emails over the summer to start thinking about their internships. I wasn’t even on the email list so imagine my surprise when I showed up to class and half the spots were already filled. I want to work in museums and curate, but of course, that program only has 3 spots and I was the last to know about it. I am devastated and I leave the non-mandatory meeting early to find a quiet stairwell to cry in.
The world felt like it was crashing down around me and I was watching my future career disappear into a black hole. But, once my pity party was over, I sent a few emails despite being 4-8 weeks behind everyone else and I am determined to find another placement I enjoy. I have to, otherwise I will hate my life and book the first ticket out of this city. And at least the students union had a petting zoo today that I could use to soothe my aching heart.
So, what have we learned? Public transportation is #unreliable which I expected but I didn’t know I would come face to face with the horrors in my first week. My classes are fun and really free. We call the professors by their first names and I get my own studio space that I can do whatever I want with! My flatmate is from Sydney, Australia and she’s super nice. It’s just us two in the apartment and I already like how lowkey everything is. And finally, Belfast is a super fun city. There’s so much to see and do in the arts district. I’ve put so many galleries on my bucket list and located all the best spots for movies (my absolute favorite thing to do). The food is really nice and you should definitely believe the hype that UK Indian food is better than American Indian food. And despite everything, I am really happy to be here (just with less rose-colored glasses)!
Tune in next time to see how my taster session tonight goes with the Ulster Poms team. I cannot dance, this should be fun.
In-Country Post #2
Hello, everyone!!
It is now week three of classes and things are going well, I think. First thing’s first: an update on the Poms team. I did not like it and will not be joining. It’s just not for me. I am still thinking about other clubs though and I’ll find something that suits me soon enough.
Other than that, what’s happened these past two weeks?
Thursday, the 24th: I attended Freshers Fayre which is kind of like Involvement Fest, but even local restaurants and shops are there. I got a bunch of free food, student exclusive coupons, and learned about clubs on campus. For example, I chatted with the Film Club and found out their mascot is Danny Devito. They had a to-scale cardboard cutout of him at their station and I won a free poster by spinning their wheel. Clubs here have a membership fee though, so I can’t just show up to a meeting and try it out. I have to commit for the year.
My sickness was also reaching critical conditions at this point and I was dragging my lifeless body to class each day. But I had an induction for the mould making workshop which is free for students to use and I found out I can also try out woodwork and metalwork if I want to. It’s a lot of freedom and I feel really excited to try out new things in my artwork. Then later on, we had an artist talk in my lecture from some of the MFA students to show us what they’re working on. It was motivating to see how someone’s art can develop and there’s kind of no rules, especially for switching up mediums.
Friday, the 25th: I once again brave the bus to a craft store to stock up my studio. I drop WAY too much money on air dry clay, paint brushes, markers, anything you can think of really and my shoulder hurt so much carrying it across the city. But, my studio got all filled and I made a little motivation corner of all my old films/photographs on the wall. Just to remind myself what I am capable of and to show how my work has progressed over the years. I then spent the weekend trying to get better and eating so much soup, I never want to look at a canned good ever again.
Monday, the 28th: My tutors give a lecture on Serra Verbs which is basically just this list of words by Richard Serra to make you hone in on the process of art, not just the product. Things like “to cut” or “to wrap” or “of time.” I borrowed a DSLR camera and spent nearly two hours just watching all the things my classmates made and finding new ways of looking at them.
Tuesday, the 29th: Once again another class day. My seminar was about performance artists and how time is used in art works. I saw lots of disturbing and gruesome things, but that’s just being an artist isn’t it? Then I had a lecture on global opportunities which was completely useless to me, but I did have a bit of a laugh over how much they hyped up study abroad. Like yeah I think I know already. I then went home and started to apply for a bunch of different jobs because looking at my bank account was making me so sad.
Wednesday, the 30th to Sunday, the 4th: Wednesday was another studio day and on Thursday there were just more MFA talks from different students. Then I spent the whole weekend in my room. Legitimately, I did not speak to anyone for 3 days straight. But I promise it’s not as depressing as it sounds. It’s peaceful actually. And I needed a break from all the creative juices flowing through me.
Monday, the 5th: Back again for another 6 hour class and I got my hands on a 35mm SLR!! I am so excited! I learned how to load film and it’s my tutor’s personal camera from the 1980s. It’s so cool and I can’t wait for it to stop raining so I can take some photos in the city and on the water. I feel so cool and professional.
My homework for the next week is to make a pinhole camera. I took a few pinhole photos while I was in Visual Concepts II, but I am curious about making my own. A classmate told me it is best to use a corn can, so I am going to try that. And they told us we’ll get into the darkroom next week to develop everything we’ve done. I also started work on a new doll. I don’t really know where my art is going yet, I’m waffling between two ideas right now. One is doing ancient Roman style ivory dolls and one is trying to do more stop-motion work. We shall see.
Tuesday, the 6th: And we’ve come full circle to the 2 week mark. No lens seminar this week as instead we went to a show at the MAC, a gallery of contemporary art. There was a really interesting exhibit on that surrounded the intersection of rave culture and traditional Irish stepdance. I’m so mad I missed the live performances that happened at the end of September, but it was still really nice. And later on, I had a lecture on marketing myself as an artist. We got to ask questions to a woman who works as a PR contractor for public art and it was really insightful.
And that’s been my time in Belfast. It was a lot of school stuff because obviously that’s what most of my time is being taken up with. But I want to include some rapid fire observations that I think are kind of funny/strange/embarrassing:
- People are less outwardly polite here. Sometimes I am the only one to say “bless you” when someone sneezes or “excuse me” when places are crowded. I feel kind of self-conscious sometimes and like I’m making a social faux pas.
- All the marshmallows are pink and white. I don’t understand why, but there are no bags of all white marshmallows. And they have the capability to make them white, it’s a choice to make some of them pink. Where does this come from? I have no idea, but it’s kinda funny to me.
- I needed an ID to buy a pack of craft scissors from a dollar store but not to buy cold medicine. How strange is that?! I was so caught off guard, I was rummaging through my bag to find my wallet like a crazy person. I didn’t think I’d need a photo ID for some simple scissors. What’s the worst thing that could happen?
- People do not actively listen. In the US, everyone is taught from a young age to nod and maintain eye contact and add a little “mhm” or “oh yeah” while people are talking. But here, if you talk to someone, they are dead silent. It’s so embarrassing because why am I doing all of this? I feel overexpressive.
And that’s it from me for now. Bye!!
In-Country Post #3
Hello again all!
I can hardly believe it’s almost halfway through the semester, but here we are! We are really getting into the weeds now and I hardly have time for anything besides schoolwork, so my apologies in advance for a very academic heavy post this week!
Starting off with Thursday, the 8th: We had a two hour artist talk from a painter living and working around England named Benjamin Senior. He took us through his creative process from his undergraduate work in 2010 up until what he does now. It’s very focused on exaggeration, symmetry, and the movement of women’s bodies. I liked looking at it quite a lot, but I was also falling asleep. Oops.
Monday, the 12th: I got to develop the photos I took with the SLR and it was so scary. I thought developing film was something you did in the dark room under red lights… Nope. You are closed in a light-tight room that is pitch black and you fumble around opening the camera, removing the film, winding it, cutting it, and loading it into the canister. I honestly felt really dizzy coming out because it’s such a surreal experience to be without a sense of sight. Especially being in the room with my tutor because she was talking and instructing me and we both just patted around looking to hand things to one another. But, when we came out, I was able to actually begin the chemical process of developing, fixing, and drying. My photos ended up being underexposed since I took them indoors and it was too dim. I still want to print them out just to see if there is anything worth salvaging. That will be next week.
Tuesday, the 13th: I had to skip my lens seminar this morning to make a treacherous journey for my Professional Practice internship. If you are not all too familiar with the geography of Northern Ireland, let me break it down for you. I am in Belfast and in Banbridge there is a gallery dedicated to 20th century sculpturist F.E. McWilliam. To get there from Ulster University you must walk 30 minutes to Belfast Grand Central to catch a bus, then you ride that bus for an hour and get off at the Banbridge Bus Station, then you walk 30 minutes uphill to the gallery which is undergoing construction and hidden in the corner of the car park. So, that was my Tuesday morning in the rain.
Then once we got to the gallery, we had a very nice talk about who F.E. McWilliam was, the history of his work, along with being introduced to the piece we will be presenting in our November exhibit. It is one of his protesting women sculptures which is fun since much of his work was very apolitical.
Thursday, the 15th: This week we had a talk from Susan Hughes whose work I saw in the MAC last week. She played her fiddle for us and took us through the different places she’s been led — primarily for birdwatching, but also showed the resulting artworks. She has a big interest in transcribing and editing language which I found very interesting as a lot of my work also often begins with the written word. Super inspiring.
Monday, the 19th: My cohort and I spent six hours critiquing each other’s work going one by one through people’s studio spaces. I really enjoyed seeing what my classmates were working on although I felt quite embarrassed showing my unfinished work. I am someone who really hates to present anything less than perfect and I was dying inside the whole time. I don’t think anyone could tell. At least, I keep reassuring myself of that so I don’t shrivel up in shame.
Tuesday, the 20th: Today is the day I teach you how to be effectively annoying.
So, I am a student visa holder, yes? And as a student visa holder I must attend 100% of my classes, which is not an issue for me, except that my university uses an absolutely evil platform called SeatS to take attendance. To keep things brief, SeatS does not work at all. It functions that I, as the student, must check myself in every class using bluetooth on my phone to ensure I am in the room of my class. It’s a good idea in theory, but being in the art college means we spend some classes visiting exhibitions and there are multiple departments all together. My timetable tells me to go to the ceramics room to check in, but I am in the sculpture and lens group, so that is not where my tutorial is meeting. Confusion ensues and I send an email to have it corrected. IT replies there is nothing they can do. Timetabling replies there is nothing they can do.
Through the weeks as I see my attendance dipping lower and lower, I email my tutors to manually check me in as they see me every single week without fail. I am told it is no problem, but it all comes to a head on this Tuesday morning. My attendance had not yet been fixed and I received an email from UKVI (aka the GOVERNMENT) telling me that I am in violation of my visa. I start spiraling and thinking I am going to get deported because I am supposedly not attending classes that I definitely am. I immediately email all of my lecturers with a forward of the email begging on my knees to “please please please update my attendance.”
Suddenly, everyone snaps into action! I receive at least 10 emails within the span of an hour trying to find solutions. New and different people get looped in every message until eventually it reaches the highest bureaucratic worker at the university who tells me that I must… email UKVI with written evidence.
EXCUSE ME!?! After all of this, I am the one who has to email UKVI!? How is this my fault? I emailed the timetabling team on the day it was issued to tell them it was wrong and they told me there was nothing they could do. Repeatedly, I was brushed aside with a pat on the head like a needy toddler. Now, all of a sudden when my status in the country is on the line, I have to be the one to fix it as if I haven’t been trying to fix it for weeks. I am rage personified.
All of this to say, if you are a student visa holder, you must be as annoying as possible! Do not be afraid to email back and forth with everyone you can think of and CC people who might not even have any power (because you never know). Sometimes people who get paid to do their job still do not want to do their job and it is all up to you to be the catalyst. Make a change in your life before it’s too late! The visa process is the worst thing about studying abroad and you will want to jump into a volcano, so I am writing this as a warning. No- it is a plea to just go be annoying about it. Make people do their jobs. There is always a solution for those who have 0 unread emails and receipts for every interaction.
Okay, sorry, I don’t want to leave this on a bad note. Later that day, my professional practice group also had a meeting with contemporary artist Joy Gerrard who will also be showing in the November exhibition. I missed the bus and was able to turn a 35 minute estimated walk into a 20 minute mini sprint to arrive on time. Sweaty and gross, but 100% on time and attended. Joy Gerrard is a very fascinating woman who does a lot of prints and paintings on protests. She has covered gatherings in Belfast, Paris, Washington DC, and more and she has an interest in wide angle groups. We went into her studio space and it was really quite beautiful. It was a very satisfying end to my chaotic day.
Thank you. That is all from me this week. Bye!