I Want to be a Londoner--my summer study abroad trip

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I went to London this past summer since I posted about it almost every waking hour, I apologize for that. I also mentioned in a post in February that I was going, but never followed up on it. I feel like I owe my trip a worthy blog post as I posted about it non-stop and received numerous questions regarding my trip. As basic as this sounds, participating in a study abroad is life-changing as is traveling abroad in general. I now fully understand why all of the sorority girls I rolled my eyes at who claimed this experience as life-changing feel. I was lucky enough to have this study abroad as my last college credit to graduate and even luckier that the program was called "Literary London" which was right up my alley as English was my major.

The program being called Literary London focused on the literature that was written in London and surrounding areas. The study abroad program was short, but we luckily got to have two excursion days to Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace) and to Canterbury, which were probably the most exciting places to visit as Shakespeare and Chaucer are so well-known. For me, this trip was like a course wrap up in my undergraduate career. All of the things that I have been reading about for the past four years, I got to see and witness the environment in which it was written and inspired by.

To answer some questions I was asked... The small group of us stayed at Regent's University London which is located right in Regent's Park across from Queen Mary's Rose Garden. Imagine the smell of roses every single time you arrived and left school. While we were students at the university, we were not locked up in a small classroom all day the way that I have heard other programs work. This trip was more of an independent study. We met up in the morning and then took the tube to wherever our destination was that day. We were assigned readings and then went to corresponding places and museums to see artifacts.

London is so rich in history and if you don't know your British history, you can literally walk past in on the streets never knowing. I visited London through a literary lens. As fun as it was to see the iconic things in London like the London Eye, Big Ben, Tower Bridge--it's even better when you've read the literature that was written and inspired by the city--at least for the literary nerds that is me, anyways.

It's hard to choose what my favorite thing I saw or did in London was, but if I had to pick only three, I guess I would say... Tower Hill, Chaucer's tomb, and the Canterbury Cathedral.

The Tower of London. To think, Anne Boleyn walked the very same paths that I walked here and climbed the very same towers. 

Tower Bridge from Tower Hill. 

Tower of London in comparison to the new modern buildings. I love the temporality in this picture. which one doesn't belong?

Chaucer's tomb. The first poet buried in Poet's Corner. Coming here is like an Homage since I've spent too many semesters reading Chaucer and writing about the Canterbury Tales endlessly.

The Canterbury Cathedral--where so many pilgrimages were made in which I feel like I made one myself 

I suppose I could very well go into the details of every single day I was there since I was required to keep a travel journal. Instead of posting a day-by-day entry, I will post the essay that I had to write at the end of my program. I feel like the essay is much more insightful than if I go into details of every day of my trip. So if anyone cares, below is a textbox with my reflection paper that is more self-actualizing and pretentious than I imagined.

I have already experienced my moment of realization of exactly how big this world is and my impending insignificance to it. I did not anticipate crossing the pond and exploring London to have such a huge impact on me, but it did, and I am glad because it gave me a new sense of self. I’ve explored big cities before; I grew up in Fort Worth and I’ve traveled to the big American tourist cities. These cities, however, never gave me a new sense of wonder and realizations about myself. They simply felt like another place. I never understood how people could fall in love with cities and talk about them endlessly until I came to London. I now fully understand why London is so literary. There is so much to be inspired by. Being in London gave me a new sense of freedom and independence that I did not know that I could ever need or feel.

 One of my favorite days was the day we spent in Hampstead Heath. The day felt like a proper London day with the weather being gloomy and by us exploring a cemetery. I can understand why a number of writers lived in Hampstead. I love the area. While Hampstead is still in London, being there did not feel the same as being in the City of London. Maybe it was the change of weather or maybe it was the trees and I felt like it was more peaceful in comparison to the hustle and bustle in the city. I loved being in Hampstead and being in the place where Keats wrote “Ode to a Nightingale” which is my favorite ode by him. Being and seeing the environment of where literature is written provides such a different impact to the context when reading it in comparison to sitting in a classroom where London feels so far away. To me, I almost feel a part of the literature or feel as if I can understand it more.

 I also loved being in Highgate Cemetery. Normally, I find cemeteries to be creepy and haunted, but this cemetery did not feel this way. Highgate Cemetery felt so untouched and peaceful instead of the spooky feeling that I was anticipating. I’m not sure what it is with seeing literary figure’s graves, but they feel almost like a pilgrimage. I love “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti in how it seems like a children’s story, when it is in fact not. I love the complexity in the symbolism and the interpretations that come along with it. To me, when I find these artist’s graves, it feels like a homage to them. I felt this way with not only Rossetti’s tomb, but Chaucer and Shakespeare’s as well. The Hampstead day was not only one of my favorites because of the Keats House and Highgate Cemetery, but it was also the day I got lost with a dead phone in which I found my new sense of independence and freedom all while feeling lost. After we ended collectively as a group, I headed toward Notting Hill.

In order to get there, I needed to: take the Northern line southbound, take 4 stops to Euston, switch platforms on the same line to King’s Cross, transfer to the Circle line train westbound to get to Westbourne Park. Embarrassingly enough, I found myself lost and walking in circles at Euston’s tube stop as I was searching for the correct platform. I was at the point where I was getting on the wrong tube and actually going back and forth between Camden Town and Euston. Even though I never felt so lost in my life—at least location-wise, I surprised myself by not having an ounce of fear in me. This feeling of being lost and figuring out where I needed to go without anyone’s help was actually endearing more than it was terrifying. I almost gave up and headed back toward the Baker Street tube stop, where things were familiar. Instead, this thought of, “Oh, you can figure out where to go by yourself in a large city” went through my head and gave me an empowering feeling of being alone. Knowing that my phone was going to die, I transcribed everything that my Maps was telling me to go and drew a quick sketch of the area of where I was going in my notebook.

 Luckily, I found my way to Notting Hill all in one piece. I explored Portobello Road and looked at all the street markets, found the travel book shop and the blue door from the movie Notting Hill all before my phone died! By the time I made it to the Notting Hill Gate tube station to Kensington, my phone was dead, but if anything, it made the journey all the more interesting having to figure things out as I go. I think I enjoyed exploring without any technology. I feel like it allowed me to take in more of London, instead of capturing and remembering everything through my phone’s camera. Without relying on technology for directions or as a camera, navigating my way through the streets of London felt more satisfying. As much as I love seeing London with the group, I love seeing and experiencing London by myself. When I am with the group, I feel like such a tourist depending on Dr. Taylor and Dr. Sharpe for directions. When I am actually by myself, I feel like I am exploring London as I have to figure out everything by myself.

 This class, Literary London, is my last class before graduating. By this being my last class, it feels like my undergraduate studies have come full circle. I have read all of this literature in the classrooms of Witherspoon at Arkansas Tech, but never in my dreams did I ever think I would actually get to see London with my very own eyes. London just felt like such a faraway place. Now having been to London, I feel like I can understand the literature written there even more by having seen and experiencing the city. Being back home has been strange for me. Even though I was only in London for a short time, I feel like I have gotten too used to the hustle and bustle of the city. I miss the noises of the city and the crowds of people. I don’t think I will ever be the same again. I have had many life experiences that I would have thought would change me or my outlook on life, but London truly did change me in a good way. I have gained this new sense of freedom and independence that I never knew could exist and that I didn’t know I could need. I feel as if I left a piece of my mortal soul in London and I must go back to retrieve it if I am ever to be whole again.

I think I wrote more than I anticipated, but oh well. This trip was amazing, so I owe it some justice.