There’s a specific kind of magic that happens when you pull yourself out of your familiar rhythm and drop your life into a different latitude. Studying abroad in Wales and London wasn’t just a break from routine; it was a reset, a creative ignition, and the moment I realized I was stepping into the next chapter of my writing life. Thanks to the Sigma Tau Delta Short-Term Study Abroad Scholarship, I spent my days studying at Cardiff Metropolitan University and immersing myself in landscapes that felt ancient and electric. That funding didn’t just make the flight possible; it made the transformation inevitable.
Wales greeted me with rolling, kelly-green hills dotted with sheep—the kind of scenery born in an old storybook, painted with soft brushes and impossible shades of emerald. I spent my downtime exploring castles pulled from the pages of a novel: from the red-stone spiral staircases of Castell Coch and the massive, imposing fortress walls of Caerphilly Castle, to the centuries-old history of Cardiff Castle and the quiet, ivy-kissed beauty of Bute Castle tucked in next to the City Centre. Each ruin felt like stepping into a different century, cracking open something new and wild in my imagination.
From the bustling tents and colorful triangle-bunting banners of the Hay-on-Wye book festival to the Senedd, the cathedrals, and museums, I let myself get beautifully lost. At St. Fagan’s Museum, I wandered through round cottages with thatched roofs, smelled the sharp sweetness of foxgloves, and rolled the prickly husks of European beech nuts between my fingers. I mingled with sheep boasting plumes of woolly fur and stood beneath towering trees that filtered the afternoon sunlight into pools of soft gold while birds held lyrical discussions above me. Walking those paths, I felt my writing brain spark in ways it never had before.
Then, in London, I stood inside Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, watching A Midsummer Night’s Dream under an open and rainy sky, the actors’ voices rising and dissolving into the warm air. I walked across Abbey Road like a star-struck tourist, wandered slack-jawed with awe through Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, and let the city’s relentless noise and grit shake something loose in me. London was loud, alive, and beautifully impossible to ignore, and it dared me to be braver on the page and in my life.
Another gift of the trip was learning how to write in motion: on trains, in airports, on park benches, and in cafés tucked between old buildings. It taught me how to observe people with real curiosity, how to trust my instincts, and how to let a place change me. These are the kinds of skills a textbook can’t synthesize, and they’re the instincts I’ll carry into the Johns Hopkins MA in Writing program in the fall.
Creatively, this journey shifted my baseline. Travel forces a sharper awareness of the senses, asking you to notice new textures, unfamiliar dialects, sharp smells, and the tiny details that make a place feel alive. Those observations have already strengthened my work and given me confidence as I prepare for graduate school and my future as a fiction writer.
None of this would’ve happened without the Sigma Tau Delta Short-Term Study Abroad Scholarship. The funding allowed me to step away from my everyday responsibilities and immerse myself fully in the work. It gave me room to grow, to explore, and to discover another version of myself.
If you’re considering applying for this opportunity, take this as your sign. Say yes! Let the world crack you open a little. Let it change your writing and your life. It certainly changed mine.
Karrie Wortner
Short Term Study Abroad Scholarship Recipient, Spring 2026
Alpha Lambda Iota Chapter
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Study Abroad Scholarships
The scholarship provides funding for the purpose of studying in a program that furthers the applicant’s engagement with Sigma Tau Delta’s mission. Students may apply for either a Long-Term or Short-Term scholarship. Applicants should demonstrate academic scholarship and chapter service; they also must explain the relevance of their study abroad program and activities to fostering the discipline of English, including literature, language, writing, or literacy.
Long-Term Study Abroad Scholarship
The Long-Term Study Abroad Scholarship provides up to $3,000 for students studying for a full academic term or year in a certified, undergraduate program outside the country in which the nominating chapter is located.
Short-Term Study Abroad Scholarship
The Short-Term Study Abroad Scholarship provides up to $1,500 to support participation in an undergraduate study-abroad program of less than an academic term. The program must be a certified, undergraduate program outside the country in which the nominating chapter is located.
Scholarship Eligibility Criteria
- Currently an undergraduate student
- Plan to study abroad in a certified undergraduate program for all or part of an academic term
All applications will be submitted via the AwardSpring Online submission process.
Application Deadline: October 12 – 26, 2026, 4:00 p.m. CT
Past Study Abroad Scholarship Recipients
Words Carried Me through Oxford: A Short-Term Study Abroad Experience
Short-Term Study Abroad: A Study in Perspective
Study Abroad in London: A Broader World
Studying Abroad in Dublin, A City of Literature
My (Literary) Euro Summer: Short-Term Study Abroad Scholarship
Granada, Que te Quiero Granada: How Studying Abroad Opened a Whole New World of Literature
Pura Vida: My Four Months Studying Abroad in Costa Rica
Blooming from the Pages: Studying Abroad in Ireland
English Connections through Arcades and Gachapon Shops during a Study Abroad
Fulfilling a Fantasy Dream with a Study Abroad
English Connections through Arcades and Gachapon Shops during a Study Abroad
Lo Spirito Impressa: A Study Abroad Experience
Publishing, Passion, and Paris: My Study Abroad Experience in Paris
Studying Abroad: From Museums to Host Moms
Study Abroad, Or How to Succeed during the Unexpected
Study Abroad Scholarship Sparks Creativity in Nottingham
Study Abroad Scholarship: English Education in Maastricht
Study Abroad Scholarship: Royal Holloway-University of London
Study Abroad and Diversify Your College Experience
On Studying Abroad
Summer Stories from Abroad
Sigma Tau Delta
Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society, was founded in 1924 at Dakota Wesleyan University. The Society strives to
- Confer distinction for high achievement in English language and literature in undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies;
- Provide, through its local chapters, cultural stimulation on college campuses and promote interest in literature and the English language in surrounding communities;
- Foster all aspects of the discipline of English, including literature, language, and writing;
- Promote exemplary character and good fellowship among its members;
- Exhibit high standards of academic excellence; and
- Serve society by fostering literacy.
With over 900 active chapters located in the United States and abroad, there are more than 1,000 Faculty Advisors, and approximately 9,000 members inducted annually.
Sigma Tau Delta also recognizes the accomplishments of professional writers who have contributed to the fields of language and literature.
