Studying Abroad Opens Experiences and Friendships
I must admit, the first time the idea of traveling to London popped into my head was in seventh grade when I was endulging my slightly obsessive crush on Prince William. Whether or not that (or the guarantee of the English language everywhere I wandered) was the driving influence behind my decision to study abroad , I will never know. All I do know is that studying in London has been one of the few ideas I have fervently stuck to since my freshman year of high school.
During my second year at Capital, I began to really buckle down on getting things in order so my idea could become a reality. I met with the International Education Office more times than I can count and was very fortunate that they were incredibly welcoming and receptive to my incessant stream of questions.
They directed me toward a few programs with several schools to choose from, and advised that I look into an organized program instead of just randomly picking a school and trying to coordinate all of my own transportation, housing arrangements and class scheduling. I chose to go through Arcadia, a program and university based out of Philadelphia. Twenty-five forms, a few meetings and several e-mails later, I was in business.
My two biggest concerns were could I handle this financially and would I still graduate on time. Now, let me say that at first I was pretty discouraged by the amount of paperwork I was required to fill out. However, as taxing as it seemed at the time, I was incredibly grateful that the International Education Office went through every measure to ensure I scheduled classes that would transfer, that I was financially set through our university, and that I was prepared to handle the culture shock of living in a country that did not bleed red, white and blue. I also had several meetings with the Finance and Financial Aid offices to confirm that all of my financial aid transferred. My semester ended up costing the same as it would have at Capital, plus the added expenses of a flight and spending money.
I studied in London during the fall of 2005. My program arranged a weeklong orientation for all of the American students studying at different universities in London. We spent our first three days in Notting Hill (I did not see the apartment with the blue door), where we were encouraged to meet one another; attend seminars on British life, education, politics and culture; and take advantage of a few fun activities, including seeing "Death of a Salesman," taking a boat tour on the Thames, and eating a fancy meal together.
For the remainder of the week, my program organized home stays in a wide variety of places so we would see British culture firsthand. I was very lucky to have been assigned a family in Swansea, Wales. Not only did we stop in Bath for a few hours on the way, but I was also given the chance to travel to another country and be in a gorgeous coastal city, home to the poet Dylan Thomas.
It was in Wales that I began to grow very close to some of the American students who were going to the same university as I was. I was paired with Anna from Philadelphia, and we were assigned to stay with a humble family that consisted of an Indian man, a French woman and their gorgeous little girl. During our stay, we learned a lot about life in India and Bali as well as how to cook vegetarian Indian food. It wasn't quite the British culture I was expecting, although I would soon learn quickly that there is no single culture in London.
After spending a few days in the affluent or, as the British say, "poncy" side of London and in a scenic part of Wales, we were driven to our university, Goldsmiths College in New Cross, where we were in for quite a surprise. For those not quite familiar with the socioeconomic set-up of London, the part of London south of the Thames has been the poorer side of the city since the disadvantaged were practically pushed to the south side of the river during the plague. Since then, southeast London has been home to the poorest of the British and to the influx of immigrants. Simply put, my school was in the ghetto.
Although we were surrounded by fried-chicken shops, liquor stores and some graffiti-splashed abandoned store fronts, the area ended up growing on me immensely. The school itself is mainly an art school with an emphasis in music, literature and theatre programs, which basically leads to a mix of ultra-trendy, eclectic, right-brained students from around the world.
During my term, I took four classes: three literature courses and a communication class. Each class was held only once a week, and for each, we had an hour of lecture and an hour of group discussion. One thing that ended up being ironic is that my Shakespeare class was taught by a slightly senile and rather random American man, and my Modern American Fiction class was taught by an opinionated British professor. I think it was through that class that I learned most about the British perspective of American life and "the American dream."
As much as I would like to sit here and tell you that studying abroad is about learning through your classes and coursework, the real education lies in the outside experiences and interaction. We were assigned to live in flats, which ended up being their equivalent of on-campus dorms. Our dorm buildings were basically international houses, although in every flat (floor of the building with single rooms), there were usually a few British students to offset the countless Americans. It was here that we met the most people.
I became close with a few of my British flatmates and actually went to my friend Collin's house in Liverpool one weekend where his mum cooked for us and his grade school friends still hung out in the pubs. I also had the chance to meet a lot of American students from all around the United States, including New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Vermont, Michigan and California.
Although I wasn't as focused on classes as I tend to be back home, I spent a lot of time trying to learn as much as I could about London. Some of the things I was able to do in this huge city were visit several famous art and history museums, eat every food you can imagine (especially a lot of Indian), see plays, shop in vintage stores and endless markets, walk through many parks, take pictures of numerous sites, go to different concerts, hang out in pubs, etc.
My greatest learning experience while abroad, though, was traveling. I don't think there was a single weekend in three months that I didn't travel outside of London. I traveled to Swansea and Mumbles,Wales; all around Scotland on a bus tour; Oxford, Cambridge, Liverpool, Bath and Brighton in England; Granada, Malaga, San Sebastian and Barcelona in Spain; Rome, Italy; Dublin, Ireland; Hamburg, Germany; and Paris, France. I must say that I am still quite proud of myself (and still in debt).
One thing that was neat about studying abroad was that I was able to get in contact with a few other Capital students who were abroad as well. I met up with my friend Julia in Edinburgh, Scotland near her university; Kim gave my friends and me a tour of her college within Oxford, which included access to some buildings and green lawns only open to students; and Kristen cut her return trip from Perth, Australia, in half by coming and staying in London for a few days and traveling with me to Paris on our last weekend abroad. Who knew that in the midst of meeting new friends in a different country, one could strengthen pre-existing relationships?
I could write for pages and pages on the three-month experience that changed my life and led me to change my degree from education to international communication. Studying abroad changed my life and can do the same for anyone considering it. Did I have qualms at first? Yes. Was it a little scary to think of being thousands of miles away where you don't know anybody? Of course. Was it a daunting task to tie up all those loose ends to be able to leave? You bet.
However, if you are having any kind of hankering to study or even travel abroad, do it! Although it takes a bit of planning, organizing and adjusting, nothing outweighs the opportunity to embark on an amazing adventure. Trust me.