Honors College Study Abroad – The London Experience!
Before coming to college, I always knew that I wanted to study abroad but I was unsure of how it would fit into my degree plan. When I attended the Honors College Spring Preview, I learned about a short study abroad program to London that was during the summer before the fall term began. After learning more about the trip I decided to take a chance and go.
I was a little scared to participate in the program at first because I had never been out of the country and I would be traveling by myself. After getting to the airport, I realized there were quite a few people from the program on the same flight, so we started getting to know each other. The flight from Portland to London was long but it gave a lot of time to start making friends with the people I would be spending the next three weeks with.
Once we were all settled into our rooms, a large portion of the group got dinner together to become more familiar with each other before classes started the next morning. There was one class that everyone took together that was a Baccalaureate Core course about the History of Science and then two HC Colloquium choices: London, Sugar, Slavery or London Design. I was in the London, Sugar, and Slavery class which was very interesting and included a lot of fun field trips to different museums around London. One of my favorite parts of the study abroad program was all of the activities that were included. A day on the London trip for me would be to go to class for two hours, have a lunch break, and then go do an activity with the entire class. The activities included anything from a river boat cruise, a museum, or a tour of London bus ride. I looked forward to these every day because they really allowed me to explore and learn about London.
Another aspect of the program I liked was that weekends were usually free which allowed for some other fun activities. One weekend I went to Paris and another I visited the Harry Potter studios. There was a good balance of school and getting to do other activities you normally would on a vacation.
The Honors College Study Abroad was one of the best experiences I have had in college so far. Not only did I get to study abroad before I even started school, but I also made connections with people in the Honors College and still talk to friends I made on the trip to this day.
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