Submitted by Anne Grae Martin on the 2015 fall semester study abroad program in London, England…
This was our first week of official classes. It was a little stressful, but overall exciting. All of the classes I am taking focus on topics that I am very passionate about, so the work won’t seem as daunting because it’s fun! The CAPA program also encourages all of its instructors to use London as a teaching tool. This means that a lot of my classes won’t even be meeting in the classroom most of the time. It looks like we will be doing a lot of field trips and excursions to parts of London that tourists typically don’t get to which I am excited for.
On Friday, I went to Kensington Palace with other girls in my building. It was one of London’s 3 sunny days a year, so we thought we would make the most of the gorgeous weather. We took a double decker bus over to the palace. Once there, we enjoyed the beautiful gardens outside, the amazing displays inside, and then Hyde Park.
Saturday, we had a group trip to Stonehenge and Bath. We got to see the gorgeous Roman Baths whose waters reportedly have healing powers. We all just thought it tasted metallic and weird. Who knows? The architecture of Bath as a whole is beautiful, too. So many different groups of people have called it home, and this conflict of cultures has resulted in a very pretty town. But what made Bath the most special for me was that the day we were visiting was also the day of the annual Jane Austen Festival. This meant that we got to see lots of people dressed up in Jane Austen-era clothing. You could walk by a restaurant or tea shop and see ladies and gentlemen fraternizing as they might have in the 19th century. One of the reasons I had wanted to come to England was my love of Jane Austen, so this was a very special day for me.
Stonehenge was great, too. It was exactly as I thought it would be. Crowded, fenced off, but mysterious and beautiful nonetheless. It amazes me the technology and knowledge it required of the builders to construct something as amazing as this.
