As an English major, I have become somewhat accustomed to the frequency with which I am asked to devour and digest literature. Not uncommon is the request that one breeze through a novel of three hundred pages in a weekend, and this for a single class. Therefore both comforting and taxing is the fact that a similar tempo exists in the British education system. For one of my classes, a study of gender and sex in nineteenth century literature, I…
Though I’ve been in Bologna for almost three months, I’m still far from knowing all about this city. For example, after seeing a play, my friend and I got lost on our way home, took a random bus headed in the general direction we needed, and tried to find our way back to the center of town without any maps. I saw the white and black lights of Sephora like a beacon in the distance that led me home (pretty…
Hi, Vassar! I hope you’re all enjoying settling into spring break for a well-deserved midterms reward. Up until now I’ve mostly blogged about my international travels from my study abroad experience in London, but now I want to spend some time telling all y’all about how much I love living in the city! For variety’s sake, here’s a “listicle” about my favorite parts of living in London. 1. How easy it is to access culture! In London, the transit is…
While spring break at Vassar is just starting, I already had my break two weeks ago, which I used as an opportunity to do some travelling outside of Paris! This is my first time in Europe (and abroad in general), so there are so many amazing places to see that it was really difficult to decide where to go first. I reached out to some friends who are studying abroad this semester as well, though, and decided to prioritize going…
The popular song “7 Years” by Lukas Graham represents my study abroad experience a few ways. To start, they are a Danish band; so as Danish-made music is reaching American culture, this American is experiencing and enjoying Danish culture. It also references speeding up from being seven to 60 years old just in the few minutes of the song. I have been in Copenhagen for two months, and that seems like way too little time to be halfway done with…
Time has been flying by at an unbelievable pace here at Oxford. Cold weather and clouds aside, Oxford has continued to prove to be an amazing adventure. Last time, I left off with my buddy Walter visiting me here, where we climbed to the top of University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, the highest point in Oxford. The tower offered awe-inspiring vistas of the University, including this view of All Souls College, home to the “hardest exam in the…
A list of things I’ve done since my last blog, i.e., since I got back from Paris: I saw a completely improvised musical. I visited Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford upon Avon. There, I saw the first preview of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Dr. Faustus, two of the best plays I’ve ever seen. I turned 21! For my birthday, I saw Wicked and had a fabulous dinner with some friends from my program here. I hit the halfway mark—and then some—for…
When I said I was going to do a blog from abroad, I’m sure my online editor Kelsey and all of my friends back at Vassar expected me to, you know, do a blog about being in London. Where I am studying abroad. And I promise I’ll get to those things before my time in London ends, but I’m having such a great time traveling abroad in Europe while I have the chance that I keep blogging about that! Since…
Now that I am almost two months into my time in Bologna, I’m finally following a regular academic schedule. My course at UniBo, Sociolinguistics, is pretty interesting, but the professor basically whispers when he lectures. He also lectures for the entire two-hour period; one time he even went through an article in class and summarized it instead of us having us read and discuss it. This didactic style is typical at UniBo, but it takes some getting used to coming…
It is only after two months of residence across the pond that I can say with some certainty that the euphemism “where the sun don’t shine” refers, in reality, to Exeter, England. Although I’ve been assured on multiple occasions that this winter has been particularly harsh, and that such volumes of rain are atypical even by British standards, this does little to alleviate the pervasive dampness that seems to creep its way into every available nook and cranny, indiscriminate in…