My Best Life Decision: Studying Abroad in London

Entering a study abroad program was a personal challenge for myself. College had not been fun up until that point, I was looking for excitement. As a junior in college, I felt disconnected from everything and everyone. I had overcome an illness and felt it was time to take life by the hand. After meeting a guy who loved to travel, he convinced me that studying abroad was one of the best decisions he ever made and that I should try it. Immediately I visited my study abroad office on a whim one day between classes and discovered the array of options. I only spoke Spanish, but not fluently enough to feel comfortable in a program that was based in Spain or Mexico. This meant I needed a country that spoke English, I thought this would help ease any anxiety over the trip. Ultimately I joined a study abroad program with AIFS. I studied at the University of Central London (UK) through my home school, the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. The application process was easy, just a short form with an essay about why I wanted to study abroad.

Many people hesitate before studying abroad because they think they can’t afford it. I went to college on loans, so a semester abroad would be no different. In fact, it really was no more expensive than a semester in Milwaukee. The additional expenses, such as food and travel, were the most expensive part of the trip. Any student traveling abroad received part of a grant donated to our school as well. This took almost $2,000 off the cost of my trip. If I wanted to, I could have applied for other scholarships offered through my school as well. I chose to rely on financial aid and money I saved from working part time. Overall I spent around $10,000 (in 2006) for my classes, housing and living expenses.

Looking back on my experience years later, I am grateful that I took a chance and studied in London. Though I never connected much with my fellow classmates, I made a number of friends in London with locals. I never felt unsafe because I had friends who showed me how to live in London, where to go and how to get anywhere I needed to go. My favorite memories in London revolve around my class work. When studying abroad I took an English class for my minor that focused on British humor. During this class we watched British film and TV, read books and went to live performances. Before this class, I never understood British humor, and now I enjoy it more than American. I also took a world religions class. Though this is also offered as an elective at my home college, I would not have had the same experience as I did in London. The city is large and diverse, so we spent little time in the actual classroom. My professor, from a college in Wyoming, spent one week in the classroom giving us the background of the religion, then we would go to a place of worship the next week and discuss the religion with actual spiritual followers. We were given tours of mosques, Buddhist temples, Catholic churches and more. In Milwaukee, we don’t have these opportunities. Our classes are too big to travel to such locations and we don’t have the wide variety of worship sites.

My favorite class was art history. I cannot express to anyone how exhilarating of an experience it was taking art history in London. Though Milwaukee has access to a number of important pieces of art, it’s nothing like what is at your finger tips in London. The only time we spent in the classroom was during quizzes or as a meeting point to walk to galleries. I felt so blessed that I had the opportunity to visit artwork we were studying and discuss it in person at The Saatchi Gallery or Tate Modern instead of looking at a flat photo on a slide. Finally, I had a class called British Life and Culture. This was a weekly class with our entire study abroad group. Each week we had to write a paper about British culture and our experiences in the city. If we took day trips (which were offered every Friday from our program to Bath, Stone Henge, etc..) we were to write about what we learned. During this time we also went on tours of significant buildings and structures or areas of the city. We had a personal tour guide to truly help us appreciate what was at our finger tips.

When people ask me if I would study abroad again, I exclaim, “yes!” There’s not a single moment I regret, even if I am still paying off my trip! You will never learn any lessons or information like you do when traveling abroad to a foreign country. As a person you will grow independent from everything. You will earn how to make friends and survive solely on your own. You will also learn to respect and understand other cultures.


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