Somewhere Between Laramie and London

By Janel Seeley

 

In spring 2026, thirteen University of Wyoming students and I packed our bags for a semester in London. Theatre and dance majors, kinesiology students, social work scholars, and more, united by curiosity and two courses offered through UW: one on Positive Psychology, the other on Everyday Teaching and Learning.

 

We’ve had a year now to reflect on our time there. Last month some of the students and I gathered together over a meal to share those reflections and memories from our time in London. The experience has definitely had a lasting impact on us all.

 

We discovered a particular kind of homesickness that hit after we came home. We left London ready to return to familiar faces and our own beds. Then, almost immediately, we found ourselves missing the city we just fled.

 

The dichotomies are interesting. London offered something we don’t find in Laramie: anonymity. In a sprawling metropolis of 9 million people where no one knows your name, there's a quiet freedom that's hard to find in a close-knit campus community. Yet that same anonymity made us ache for friends and family we left behind. The city gave us space; home gave us belonging. We appreciated both.

 

Then there were the practical discoveries that are hard to let go. Hop on a train and you're in Paris. Walk out the door and stumble into a free museum, a street market, and a world of food that makes a dining hall feel a bit bland. After experiencing those types of opportunities, the ordinary world back home looks a bit smaller than it did before.

 

Maybe that's the whole point of studying abroad, however. It’s not just to see a new place and take the selfies that check the boxes to prove you’ve seen the castle or cathedral. But, rather, to come back slightly unable to fit into one’s own familiar world. The discomfort of that gap is where growing and learning happens.

 

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Janel Seeley is the Director for the Ellbogen Center for Teaching & Learning.