St. Cloud State University

Memories of Alnwick

Mark McCleary ’95, Minneapolis, Alnwick 1993

Alnwick is a wonderful place and my time on the program was truly foundational to my lifelong dreams of travel and constant learning. I have many fond memories of people on the programme, the cities and historical sites we visited and the city of Alnwick itself. During my time in Alnwick, I volunteered my time at the Alnwick Youth Centre to work with disadvantaged children – who ended up teaching me more about British life and spirit than I could have ever learned in a classroom. I thoroughly enjoyed learning from Marjorie Deakin and Christine Mitchell. I was so sorry to hear of Marjorie's passing. She was a kind and brilliant woman who gave a large portion of her life toward the British Studies program and we all will be indebted to her for that forever. The friendships, travel experiences, and fun that I had in Alnwick will always be the most important when I think of my entire college experience – it was a wonderful time that I will never forget.

I have been back to Europe twice since Alnwick and continue to travel to other places around the world – always bringing a piece of that adventurous spirit of my study abroad experience with me. I have made it a mission of mine to spread the word of the importance of international travel and study for other students – and hope that one day my children get to experience the incredible opportunities that I had.

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