Looking back on my journey:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I arrived back in Miami, FL two weeks ago after studying abroad in London for five months. I was able to extend my trip for one month to visit family and friends. I\u2019m still processing my experience, and I\u2019m already beginning to miss the British accents. What I can say about my time abroad as of now is, wow! I had so many amazing experiences in such a short time that I will cherish and carry with me for the rest of my life. I met so many people and even reconnected with family in England and Germany that I hadn\u2019t seen in over 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the process leading up to my travel, I had great help from my university\u2019s study abroad office, advisors, and encouragement from my friends and family. The idea of visiting England had been on my mind for quite some time, but it wasn\u2019t until I started at Rollins College and found out I could receive college credit and explore London simultaneously that I even considered it a real possibility. I spent about five months at Queen Mary University of London studying Architecture, History, Modern Art and Spanish, all while making the best memories that would change my life for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before embarking on my journey, I thought of the sentiments of George Washington Carver, \u201cEducation is the key to unlock the golden doors of freedom.\u201d I love this quote because I believe education can take us anywhere as long as we set goals, focus and work hard. Almost everyone who has experienced some form of higher education would probably agree that being limited to a classroom can get very repetitive, even if you love what you\u2019re studying, but when you study abroad, everything changes. Suddenly, everything you know, becomes what you knew and you must encourage yourself to see things from a different perspective. For me, it was discussing American versus English media, their differences in politics, business strategies, and the way societal norms are reflected. I was able to not only provide a different perspective for the rest of the class, but I was also able to learn from the other students. I heard many interesting perspectives, especially about colonialism that I hadn\u2019t heard before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During my time in London, I took advantage of various opportunities. I was able to attend Phantom of the Opera in Her Majesty\u2019s Theatre. Her Majesty\u2019s Theatre is one of the oldest playhouses in London dating back to 1897, though the site has been home to a succession of theatre venues since 1705. I visited the palace, Natural History Museum, many art museums, beautiful parks and gardens and was even able to attend festivities for Platinum Jubilee weekend. During this weekend, I was able to witness England\u2019s culture, pride and history intersect in a poignant display that was incredible moving and memorable. Everyone came together to celebrate the Queen and it was truly magical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another one of my most memorable days in London was visiting the countryside. We started off by seeing Stonehenge, the 2,000-year-old Hadrian\u2019s Wall. Then, we toured beautiful Roman baths in the city of Bath. Later, we visited Oxford University. To top it off, we said hello to the royal family at the beautiful Buckingham Palace. Being a tourist is certainly never boring, so let out the adventurous spirit within you and don\u2019t miss out on an unforgettable time learning about the culture of the country where you are studying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Looking back on my journey: I arrived back in Miami, FL two weeks ago after studying abroad in London for five months. I was able to extend my trip for one month to visit family and friends. I\u2019m still processing my experience, and I\u2019m already beginning to miss the British accents. What I can say…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[369],"class_list":["post-20851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qmul","tag-rollinsabroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20852,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20851\/revisions\/20852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}