Passport, Please: Alum Goes to Grad School in Scotland

“I had always wanted to travel abroad since I was young,” says English major Katarina Dulude ’21. “When I got to RIC, I realized it was something I could actually pursue.” 

At the end of her sophomore year, she took a summer course called “Shakespeare’s England,” taught by RIC Professor of English Jennifer Holl. The class included two-and-a-half weeks in London. 

Reliving the Elizabethan era, the class toured historical sites, including​ Shakespeare’s birthplace and burial place, Warwick Castle, Westminster Abbey and The Tower of London. The whole experience whetted Dulude’s appetite for more. 

Confident that she could make it on her own in a foreign country, she applied for grad school at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Why Glasgow? Because the University of Glasgow is the first educational institution in the world to offer the Master of Letters in fantasy literature and also boasts the first dedicated research Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic. It’s the genre Dulude is most interested in. What’s more, the university offered her a scholarship that paid half of her tuition. She literally sold her car to pay for the other half.

But there were a few adjustments she had to make upon arriving in Scotland.

First, there was the weather. 

“In Scotland it doesn’t rain all day every day,” Dulude says, “but on most days, at some point in the day, it is going to rain. And that’s throughout the year. Along with the rain comes a lack of sunlight.” 

Scottish folk enjoy making jokes about the weather:

I love sunny days in Scotland. This year it fell on a Wednesday. 

Hello officer I wanna report an unidentified flying object – oh hang on, it’s the sun. 

(Sign outside a church) Whoever is praying for rain can stop.

“Once you get to the summer months, the weather’s totally fine,” Dulude reassures. Still, she was a stranger in a strange land and that, too, required an adjustment. 

“No matter how gregarious you are,” she says, “when you move to a new country, you’re starting over and making new friends.” 

To connect with other humans and to indulge in her love of acting, she joined two on-campus theatre clubs and one off-campus theatre company. 

“I made a lot of friends, both American and foreign,” she says, “but I didn’t become really close to anyone right away. When I flew back to the United States for Christmas and returned to Glasgow at the start of the second semester, I felt really homesick.” 

However, once Dulude had acclimated to the climate and found a solid support system of friends (a group of Dungeon and Dragons aficionados and her significant other) she felt more at home. She toured Denmark, Poland, Portugal and Spain; frequented cafés; and fell in love with Scotland.

After a year and a half, she earned her Master of Letters in fantasy literature. Her dissertation is titled “What If I Choose the Dream? Fantastic Other Worlds in Queer Neo-Victorian Texts.” Her ultimate ambition, she says, is to become a novelist.

In reality, Dulude did choose fantastical other worlds. She intends to make Scotland her permanent home. It’s a bold move. 

“At the end of the day, it’s the people of Glasgow who make me want to stay there,” she says. “Glasgow is called one of the friendliest cities; and it’s true. The culture is welcoming and the social scene is very active. There’s a lot to do and experience.”

It takes tremendous courage to step out of your comfort zone and live in a foreign country, but Dulude highly recommends it. “I’ve grown exponentially. I’m more adaptable. And my perspective of people has broadened.” All the more reason for you to dust off your passport.

For information about study abroad opportunities at RIC, visit the Study Abroad Office.