It is with a heavy but optimistic heart that I write this, my final blog post abroad. Time certainly flies when you’re trying desperately to assimilate into a culture that is not your own, as evidenced by the last five months that are more of a blur than a memory. But that’s not to say that my stretch in Exeter has not lived up to every expectation: I’ve made new friends, learned new things, had new experiences, and explored new…
Of all the Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, polaroid-camera-toting, fanny-pack-strapping experiences I’ve had since being in England, my most touristy encounter thus far has come only recently, when I had the chance to visit the enigmatic Stonehenge. After arriving by train to Salisbury, I waited patiently at the nearby bus stop, the crowd around me growing steadily. In my hand I held my official all-access pass for a tour of Salisbury and the surrounding area, including Stonehenge. I hoped deep down inside that the…
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…
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…
As I scrambled to finish packing my bags the night before I was scheduled to depart for Exeter, England (procrastination helps to settle my nerves), I had some time to reflect on my impending adventure. I was set to achieve two personal milestones: one immediate, the other more long-term. To begin, I had never traveled alone, and the next day’s journey promised to be the globetrotting equivalent of joining the Polar Bear Club as a means of learning how to…