‘Amazing’ Study-Abroad Experience in Northern Ireland Helps Lindsey Wilson College Senior Caitlin Higdon Start Her Own Box

COLUMBIA, Ky. – During her first three years as a Lindsey Wilson College student, Caitlin Higdon ’25 met a lot of students from other countries as the college’s student body routinely includes students from as many as 50 countries outside of the United States.

Last semester, Higdon got to experience what it was like to be an international student as she spent the 2024 fall semester as an Irish American Scholar studying at Ulster University’s campus in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

“It was one of the best I've ever had in my life,” said Higdon, the daughter of Aaron and Colleen Higdon of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. “It was absolutely amazing to experience all the different cultures while immersing myself in a different one as well. It is just hard to put into words how amazing it was.”

Ulster is one of the top universities in the United Kingdom, recently named “University of the Year 2024” by Times Higher Education, an award known as the Oscars of the United Kingdom’s university sector.

While at Ulster, Higdon took courses in psychology and biology – which were a perfect complement to her double major in biology and psychophysiology.

A 2021 graduate of Central Hardin High School, Higdon said she learned a lot about Northern Ireland culture, as well as five other European nations where she traveled while in Coleraine – England, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Scotland.

And although she studied in a country where English is the main language, Higdon learned that the meaning of an English word can depend on your location.

“I walked up one day at a coffee shop and asked for a to-go box, and the woman looked at me and said, ‘Are you OK?’ And at first I panicked, I was like, do I look like I’m about to pass out?” she said. “But I realized she was just asking, ‘Can I help you?’ She was trying to be helpful.”

In addition to learning about Northern Ireland’s culture, Higdon said that she and other U.S. college students studying at Ulster also shared American culture with the Irish natives, especially the quintessential autumn American holiday Thanksgiving.

“We wanted to experience Thanksgiving and they wanted to see what it was like,” she said. “So we made a traditional American Thanksgiving, or at least as much as we could as college students. We had ham, green beans, mac and cheese, and, of course, pecan pie and apple pie. And they loved it. They loved the experience, and they were super curious about what Thanksgiving means to us. … We all made our plates and we sat around, and they were like, ‘So what is Thanksgiving?’ And, of course, I told my story – for me, it's about family.”

Later in the day, Higdon FaceTimed with her sister and watched her great-grandmother cut a turkey with an electric knife for the first time. She experienced another serendipitous moment while exploring Scotland. After a busy day in Glasgow, she and friends returned to Edinburgh on a cold day and found refuge on the second floor of a Starbucks – and that was when she was swept away by a breathtaking view.

“So, I was sitting down in a cafe in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a hot latte staring at the Edinburgh Castle, and I just broke down crying,” she said. “I was so just filled with happiness and just amazed.”

After she graduates this spring from Lindsey Wilson, Higdon plans to head to graduate school to become an advanced practice registered nurse so she can work in pediatric medicine. She said she’ll take her memories of studying in Northern Ireland with her, in a special box.

One reason Higdon came to Lindsey Wilson was because of the college’s study-abroad opportunities. She was also inspired by the study-abroad experience in Germany her mother, Colleen, had as a college student.

“When I was a kid, I would always look through her box of stuff – she had different memorabilia from her time in Germany,” said Higdon. “I was like, ‘I want to do that, that's what I want to do.’ Now I actually have a box as well with all of my train tickets, postcards and different things that I collected from my travels. So that I can hopefully inspire my kids to do the same one day.”