Tomorrow I head off to England! I am very excited but very nervous. I am taking two classes, Political Economy in a Globalized World and History of Modern Warfare at Exeter College at University of Oxford. I will be staying there for three weeks and then vacationing in London for a week.
The classes are going to be tough; the textbooks were very dense and took weeks to get through. I have heard that their grading scale is different in that a C is like an A and a B is like an A+ in American schools. The professors are highly qualified and I will be interested to see what their teaching style is.
I am most excited about the structure of this study abroad trip. Last year I went to Greece through KIIS and it was the best experience of my life. But England will be very different because I am going on an independent scholarship through the English Speaking Union. KIIS was set up in a way that seemed more like a vacation; we stayed in hotels and traveled to different places almost every day. At least half of our time was structured for us and everything was already paid for in the upfront cost. This trip is much different. Oxford will be more like dorm life and side trips will be tough to plan. London will be a real vacation. There will be no one to plan my days out and I will have no limit on the things and can go see.
In Greece there were around 25 of us and we traveled around so much that we never really made friends outside of our groups. This trip I will only be traveling with two others, Ryan and Ashley. Ryan is currently traveling Europe so I know very little about him. I have gotten to know Ashley very well this summer and am looking forward to hanging out with her. But obviously we will have to go outside of our comfort zones and meet our international classmates.
If this experience comes anywhere near as amazing as Greece was, I am sure it will be highly rewarding and entertaining. My next post will be when I get to Oxford, hopefully with pictures!
The classes are going to be tough; the textbooks were very dense and took weeks to get through. I have heard that their grading scale is different in that a C is like an A and a B is like an A+ in American schools. The professors are highly qualified and I will be interested to see what their teaching style is.
I am most excited about the structure of this study abroad trip. Last year I went to Greece through KIIS and it was the best experience of my life. But England will be very different because I am going on an independent scholarship through the English Speaking Union. KIIS was set up in a way that seemed more like a vacation; we stayed in hotels and traveled to different places almost every day. At least half of our time was structured for us and everything was already paid for in the upfront cost. This trip is much different. Oxford will be more like dorm life and side trips will be tough to plan. London will be a real vacation. There will be no one to plan my days out and I will have no limit on the things and can go see.
In Greece there were around 25 of us and we traveled around so much that we never really made friends outside of our groups. This trip I will only be traveling with two others, Ryan and Ashley. Ryan is currently traveling Europe so I know very little about him. I have gotten to know Ashley very well this summer and am looking forward to hanging out with her. But obviously we will have to go outside of our comfort zones and meet our international classmates.
If this experience comes anywhere near as amazing as Greece was, I am sure it will be highly rewarding and entertaining. My next post will be when I get to Oxford, hopefully with pictures!