Student Exchange and Study Abroad: One UH Hilo student’s story on how the programs changed her life
Hilo High grad Koryn Castaneda-Sako, who studied abroad while an undergraduate at UH Hilo, notes her time in Alaska, South Korea, and England was “a very eye opening experience for me.”
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo graduate student Koryn Castaneda-Sako says her experience studying abroad when she was an undergraduate at the university had a huge impact on both her career path and life. With her bachelor’s degree in psychology received in 2024, she has now returned to her alma mater to earn her master of arts in teaching.
Castaneda-Sako, who participated in both the National Student Exchange and Study Abroad programs at UH Hilo, notes her time in Alaska, South Korea, and England was “a very eye opening experience for me.”
When she graduated from Hilo High School, she initially hoped to explore a new environment by going out of state for college. However, graduating at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic made her reconsider her plans. She entered UH Hilo with plans of later transferring but grew to love the UH Hilo community.
“Meeting people here and finding my place, I found my sense of belonging here. I had a lot of great advisors and professors,” she says.
It was the National Student Exchange and Study Abroad programs that allowed Castaneda-Sako to keep her communal ties in Hilo while exploring the world.
“Working with both the National Student Exchange and the Study Abroad programs I was able to make connections. It helped open me up to networking and meeting new people [at home and abroad].”
Alaska
Castaneda-Sako didn’t rush straight into her study abroad experiences. She took things gradually, starting in the spring of 2022 with a semester in Alaska through National Student Exchange. The UH Hilo program has exchange agreements with more than 150 campuses across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands for students to choose from.
While Castaneda-Sako notes the change in weather from Hawaiʻi to Alaska was a major difference — “That was one of the reasons why I wanted to go, was to see the snow and I wanted to see the Northern Lights,” she says — the campus she chose in Alaska was similar to UH Hilo in terms of class-sizes and rigor.
She took three psychology courses that were within the scope of her major. One course required a service project where she chose to volunteer at a children’s museum, and she notes this experience sparked her interest in teaching and education.
Living on her own in Alaska also helped her form a new sense of independence. “I learned a lot of skills to take care of myself that I wouldn’t have learned living with my family. Just balancing school with the responsibilities of everyday life helped me grow up and be independent.”
This adventure built her confidence to travel to other countries. “Being away from home and not having anyone in close proximity to me was a challenge but it helped me become more courageous to want to explore more,” she says. “It gave me the courage to be like, ʻI can do that. I can go to another country and experience a whole other culture.’”
South Korea
Inspired by a friend who had studied in Hong Kong and guided by “great advice” from UH Hilo’s Director of Global Education Carolina Lam, Castaneda-Sako decided to try a summer in South Korea where she enjoyed exploring on her own and trying new foods like kimchi. She notes she only spent a short time there, yet the experience left her with valuable life skills.
“Something that I learned was navigation,” she says. “Here in Hilo everything is kind of close together. Going to Seoul, it’s such a big city, was a change for me. Trying to navigate public transportation when I didn’t know the language was a challenge.”
She learned to use a map, utilize public transportation, and manage her time. She says she found value in “learning to navigate where I wanted to go on my own without having to rely on someone else,” observing that Asia was a particularly safe place for her to explore by herself.
England
After her time in South Korea, Castaneda-Sako decided to go abroad for a full semester in England, studying at the University of Birmingham where student life proved challenging. She found the courses more rigorous, and it was difficult to ask questions during lectures in classrooms with 50 to 100 students. Also, instead of coursework consisting of different small assignments throughout the semester, grades were totally dependent on one all-encompassing final exam or paper.
Even just finding her way around campus could be hard. “The campus was huge. I had to navigate my way around every day. I got lost a lot in the beginning,” she says.
Despite the challenges, she enjoyed living with other exchange students. Each week, she and her 11 flatmates would take turns cooking foods for each other from their countries. Castaneda-Sako shared some of her home Filipino culture by cooking lumpia as well as sharing some Hawaiian flavor by preparing haupia.
“It made me value where I’m from more because everyone was so excited to learn about where I’m from and I was also excited to learn where they’re from. Just sharing that part of ourselves,” Castaneda-Sako fondly remembers.
- Read an essay by Koryn Castaneda-Sako about her study abroad in England: Beyond Brum (Study Abroad Newsletter, Fall 2023).
She also had the opportunity to travel outside England. Making the best of the cheap airfare from England, she took weekend trips with friends to Ireland, Spain, Italy, and France. She saw sights like the Sagrada Familia and the Eiffel Tower as well as trying traditional Irish dancing and making pasta from scratch.
Castaneda-Sako says if she could have changed anything about the experience, it would have been to stay a full year instead of just one semester.
Final reflections
Still, even with its challenges, Castaneda-Sako recognizes both the fun and value of her experiences overseas.
She credits her time in Alaska, South Korea, and England as greatly contributing to her growth and she hopes that other students will also take advantage of the great opportunity to explore the world through UH Hilo’s National Student Exchange and Study Abroad programs.
“It’s okay to be nervous, but have the bravery to try something new,” she says.
Story by Sophia Kim-O’Sullivan, a graduate student in library science and information at UH Mānoa.
