Study abroad in London

Spring 2019

It was literally a dream come true to get to study in London. I remember tacking the flyer for the program to my bulletin board freshman year when it was handed out in English 202 in my very first quarter. I had planned my coursework and job prospects out for the year to be able to make it work, and I even coordinated with my partner, who was studying at Oxford at the same time. (Needless to say, I had created a situation of intense pressure to get into the program, which I had heard was a bit competitive. Thankfully, I did get in and was able to secure some scholarship funding to make sure it was feasible.) 

I was especially excited by the courses offered in theater, and the excursions to different parts of the country that contained various literary landmarks. My favorites included Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath, and Brighton. In addition to the coursework-related travel, my partner and I also devised our own weekend trip itinerary around Europe -- Geneva, Barcelona, Paris twice, and Stratford-upon-Avon again -- to further explore. During the week, I was often spending many nights in the theater, seeing some of the most breathtaking performances of my life. Since high school, I’ve been very interested in Shakespeare and also fascinated by all things theater, so getting to tour Shakespeare’s birthplace, seeing plays performed in a replica of the original Globe (just a stone’s throw away from where the original stood) and in the Royal Shakespeare Company theater, and studying the plays in class concurrently was just a magical experience. It was especially exciting as it built onto much of what I had learned the previous quarter in my Victorian-era English class and crystallized my understanding of English literary history -- there’s nothing like getting to actually visit the sites you’ve read about and imagined. My academic passions felt so real, and alive.