{"id":6818,"date":"2026-09-15T14:27:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/?p=6818"},"modified":"2026-09-15T14:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:29:14","slug":"meet-the-go-ambassador-2026-27-natasha-payne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/meet-the-go-ambassador-2026-27-natasha-payne\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the GO Ambassador 2026\/27 – Natasha Payne"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Name: <\/span><\/strong>Natasha Payne<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nSchool, degree programme and year of study:<\/strong> School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Physical geography, Year 4<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nHost destination: <\/span><\/strong>Queens University, Canada<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Your experience abroad<\/h3>\n
Tell us about your global opportunity\u2014where did you go, and what did you do?<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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For my year of study abroad, I went to Kingston, Ontario in Canada. Here I took a range of modules from the schools of Geography, Environmental sciences and Geology. Queens University is in Kingston which is a university town on the shores of Lake Ontario. Some of my favourite activities in Kingston were going to sports games and wondering around all the cute, independent shops in Downtown Kingston.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What surprised you the most about your host country\/programme\/time abroad?
\n<\/strong>The incredible school spirit at the university, with most people attending football games and other sporting matches to cheer on the University. The pride Canadian students had for the university made the atmosphere at Queens amazing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What is the one thing you miss about your time abroad?
\n<\/strong>The people I met. Whether it is friends I have made for life or random Canadians I met on my travels, everyone in Canada is so friendly and kind. I was lucky enough to meet the most amazing community on my YOSA with both exchange friends but also Canadian students. I am so grateful to my friendships I have made in Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A bit about you!<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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What\u2019s something you\u2019re passionate about outside of your studies?<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Travel and Hiking<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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What\u2019s your favourite place on campus\/in Cardiff?<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe main building. The building is so beautiful.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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If you could live anywhere in the world for a year (a dream destination)<\/i>, where would it be\u2014and why?
\n<\/span><\/strong>New Zealand. I don’t really know why but I have always been drawn to that country. I like the mix of mountains and beaches. There are some incredible hikes that i would love to do around there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s a fun fact most people don\u2019t know about you?
\n<\/span><\/strong>I’ve ran a marathon.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Reflections and Advice<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Describe your global experience in three words<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Beautiful, Fun and Unforgettable<\/div>\n
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\nWhat advice would you give to students considering a global opportunity?<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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DO IT DO IT DO IT! You will never regret it. You will make friends for life, experience a completely new way of living and grow as a person so much. I think everyone should do a year abroad or live abroad at least once in their life. I am so grateful for my opportunity to study and live in Canada for a year.<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name: Natasha Payne School, degree programme and year of study: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Physical geography, Year 4 Host destination: Queens University, Canada     Your experience abroad […]","protected":false},"author":7101,"featured_media":6820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[475,269],"tags":[535],"class_list":["post-6818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-go-student-ambassadors","category-international-exchange","tag-go-ambassador-profile"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4QQbz-1LY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6515,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/meet-the-exchange-ambassador-mathilda\/","url_meta":{"origin":6818,"position":0},"title":"Meet the Exchange Ambassador – Mathilda","author":"Global Opportunities Globetrotters","date":"June 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Name: Mathilda School and Degree programme: SHARE Archaeology Bsc Host University: Tubingen Host Country: Germany Tell us about why you chose to study abroad One of the reasons I chose Cardiff university was due to the fact I could undertake a study abroad. 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