‘My favourite moments as a Chevening Scholar in Scotland’

From receiving my final award this time last year to officially commencing my master’s at Edinburgh Napier University in September, my Chevening journey has been filled with unforgettable moments.

Some of my favourite moments have included:

• experiencing clear blue skies and sunshine after 9pm
• joining the hockey team (12 years after I finished playing with my school team!)
• showcasing a TV commercial I produced.

The list could go on and on, but for the purpose of this article, I’ve narrowed it down to my top two:

Becoming a leader at my university

To really throw myself in the deep end, I became a programme rep in the very first week of my studies! A month later, I was selected as one of the international student ambassadors, where I had the privilege of representing Africa within the broader student community.

Upon recognising how large the African student community at my university was, I founded a new society for African students, and with it, the very first ‘Napier African Festival’.

The festival was astounding, generating a crowd of around 500 students not just from the African student community but from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

As a result of my contribution to the student community, I was advised to run in the students’ presidency election.

This was an amazing experience that eventually led to me being voted as the president of the Edinburgh Napier Student Association.

The support I received from both lecturers and students during the campaign still leaves me in awe. And as for the opportunity to lead the entire student body at my university… well this is something I had never even dreamed about!

But amid all these exceptional experiences, let me tell you my favourite of them all.

Finding an extraordinary community of colleagues and friends

A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from one of the Ghanaian Chevening Scholars (who is automatically my friend as he studies in Edinburgh). It had been a while since we had met due to our busy academic schedules, but we finally found a time that worked and agreed to have a little get-together at my apartment. I invited some colleagues from my school, whom I had not had the opportunity to show my appreciation for after the election, to come and have a taste of Ghana.

We cooked several Ghanaian delicacies like jollof rice, waakye, fried plantains, soups, and many more. It was so satisfying to have different people from different cultural backgrounds experience a piece of Ghana and to see them enjoy it so much.

I am sure this moment also ended the Ghana-Nigeria jollof war as the Nigerians among us highly enjoyed the Ghana jollof!

Getting to indulge in Ghanaian food after so long also made me realise just how much I have missed home… if I had the money, I would be preparing a feast like this every week!

Looking ahead, I am really excited to be speaking at the summer graduation of my university as the student president. I am sure this will be a highlight of my time in the UK; I am in high anticipation!

But for now, I’ll finish by saying that my Chevening journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. Living and studying in the UK has provided me with more incredible experiences than I ever thought possible, and it has opened the door to new opportunities and connections that I intend to make full use of when I return home…

This is just the beginning!