England

Stephanie Thies
MU in London at the University of Westminster (Journalism), Winter Semester 2004

"I'll never forget my study abroad experience because I feel like I used my short time abroad well and had amazing experiences. I went to Westminster University, located in Harrow, a borough that's a 45-minute tube ride away from central London on the Metropolitan line. Harrow was like a little college town, where I ran into friends from uni at the local pubs and shops, but it was great that the city was not far. It was the best of both worlds.

"Lots of people will tell you that you should study abroad because it will be the time of your life. They're right, it will be, but it's important to be prepared that what you experience may not always be what you expect. I was surprised at what a challenge it was to live with people from another country.

"The first six weeks I was there, I didn't leave London. I wanted to use the time to hang around uni, get to know the students, figure out the system and enjoy the city. London's a great place for that - I could have spent my entire time abroad there and never have gotten bored. I went to lots of museums concerts, plays and movies in the city.

"I knew, however, that while abroad, I wanted to have a chance to travel through mainland Europe. The best thing about Westminster was that they gave students three weeks off for spring break. We had a wonderful time and made it to many cities in Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belguim, the Netherlands, France and Spain.

"When I returned from spring break, I had four more weeks of class. After school was over, I spent a week traveling through the UK before I went home. I saw some of the most beautiful countryside ever as I traveled to Brighton, Bath, Stratford, Oxford, York and Edinburgh.

"If you have a chance to study abroad, don't pass it up. The cheapest way you will ever live in another country is as a student, and the experiences you have will enrich the rest of your life!

"If you have any questions, please contact me at stephanieethies@hotmail.com."

Sarah Protzman
MU in London at the University of Westminster (Journalism), Winter Semester 2003

"Hands down, this was the best five months I've ever had. This program is everything a semester abroad should be - complete cultural immersion. I learned to listen to people who grew up in different countries with different world views - sometimes agreeing with them, sometimes disagreeing with them, but always laughing with them. Plucked from familiarity, our continent, our culture and, in some cases, our native tongues, a group of about seven of us became best friends. I also spent many weekends and breaks from class backpacking in Europe, meeting amazing people and seeing the great cities of the world. You can do it cheaply and effectively. There is nothing better you could do with a semester than the Westminster program. You're on a real campus with students from all over the globe. It's the best of both worlds - Harrow as a quaint, endearing town with everything you'd need; and exciting London, a 20-minute tube ride away. Both in retrospect and when I was there, I can effectively say it was absolutely perfect. I would go back tomorrow.

"If you have any questions about the University of Westminster or my experiences abroad, please e-mail me at: smpad9@mizzou.edu."

Shari Andrews
MU in Reading at the University of Reading, Fall Semester 2002

"My major at MU is Psychology. While in Reading (near London), I was able to take classes that were in my major and were extremely different in terms of teaching style. I went to a small university in Reading (University of Reading), so the classes were small, and the teachers were kind. I lived in the dorms, which was a great way to meet and spend time with people from all over Europe who were studying abroad in Reading also. I made many friends and even went home with a few people to meet their families! It was amazing how open and friendly everyone was. Initially, I was worried about going by myself and traveling alone, but I made so many friends that I traveled with different people all the time. It was definitely a great and memorable time! If you have any questions about the Reading program, please drop me a line: sla5f9@mizzou.edu."

Lindsay Long
MU in Lancaster at the University of Lancaster, Academic Year 2001-2002

"'Ello! My name is Lindsay Long, and I have spent the fall term of 2001 in Lancaster, England and plan on returning for the winter and summer terms. Studying abroad has been the best experience of my life so far. I'm a Psychology major with an emphasis in sports, and living in England really helped me to get motivated for my career. I had the chance to take sports science classes in Lancaster that aren't offered at MU. I learned so much more in the classes there because the classes are small, and you also break into even smaller seminar groups where you get to discuss the topics of the week's lecture with your classmates. I never really had homework, and essay writing is almost always how you are tested. I know it's rough, but no more multiple choice! Apart from schoolwork, I was able to take a weekend trip to Paris, see the ocean everyday, hike up the highest peak in Great Britain and just hang out and have a cup of tea with some really sweet, interesting people. I also met students my age from all over the U.S., so I'll always have somewhere new to take a road trip. Since I've been back in the U.S., I've noticed that I am just a little bit more curious about the rest of the world and have a greater appreciation for my friends, family, and Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. If you've made the decision to study abroad, I'm so excited for you! You'll have the time of your life, see things that most people only dream of seeing, and learn so much about yourself and the world. Good Luck!" Email: sillycorn6@hotmail.com.

Andrea Murphy
University of Wisconsin - Platteville (Partner Program) in London at St. Mary's College, Academic Year 2001-2002

"St. Mary's is great. To be able to learn about the British while living with them and amongst them at the same time is awesome. Everyone there is extremely welcoming and friendly. The small atmosphere of St. Mary's makes being there as an American visible, yet you are not belittled or isolated in any way because of it. Most welcome you open-heartedly and are just as eager to find out what your interests and background are as you are interested in finding out about theirs. The faculty and staff are fantastic and very accommodating to the American students if needed, but you also have the freedom to do anything and everything you would like to do on your own. The student union and refectory (cafeteria) as well as church, class, and school clubs are all great ways to socialize with friends and become acquainted with other British students and your professors. It's an excellent opportunity for you to get to see what their daily lives are like.

"The classes offered allow for flexible schedules. Most classes only meet once a week with one hour of lecture time and another hour of seminar/discussion. The British students usually just have one midterm paper to write and then a final exam at the end of the semester, but since the American program doesn't extend into finals week, you must make other arrangements with your professors in each of your classes. The majority of professors ask that you write an extra or extended essay on a specific topic covered in class. You get the freedom to choose which classes you want to take, no matter what your major is. My major is biology here at MU, however, I only took history and literature courses while at St. Mary's. The classes I took were "Britain Transformed: 1790-1990," "Irish Women: Image and Experience," "Modern Short Stories," and "Contemporaries of Shakespeare." They were all very interesting, but not too difficult. I highly recommend them. Another perk is that you are offered the same courses that the British students are offered, plus you get to take them in regular class settings with other British students and with British professors.

"Outside class, there will still be plenty of time for you to do any sightseeing and traveling you want to do. Every Saturday and Sunday there are day trips offered by an area touring company to places outside of London. They also provide a two-week spring break trip during the semester. None of them is required, but I recommend going on at least a few of them. The tour guides are extremely knowledgeable and you learn so much more about each city or area you visit than you would if you traveled to that place on your own. Plus it saves you a lot of time because you don't have to do any planning on your own! I signed up for almost every trip they offered. I went to Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Winchester, the Cotswolds, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Windsor, Stratford-upon-Avon, etc., etc. Many Americans didn't have class on Mondays or Fridays so were able to go to these places at their own convenience as well as plan long weekends away to Ireland, Scotland, or western countries on the main continent. The required British history class will take you to a few museums in central London, but of course you should make many more trips of your own to check out all the other sights, theatres, clubs, and shopping it has to offer. You should keep in mind, however, that if you travel too often, you will not have as many opportunities to become very well acquainted with the British students.

"At St. Mary's, it is required that you live with a host family or landlord. For some this arrangement works out perfectly, but for others, it doesn't work out at all. Luckily, I was one of the fortunate ones that had a great living arrangement. My host family was awesome. I lived with a husband, wife, and their 12-year old daughter. They always asked me how my day went, if I was doing okay, and how my friends and family were. Any night I was home they invited me into the living room for tea and to watch the television and even offered dinner to me a few times. They also did my laundry as well as occasionally offered to give me a ride to school. I was truly welcomed in as another member of their family. They made me feel so at home and at ease with being so far away from my real home. We became fairly close in the short time I lived with them and have kept in touch ever since I left in May. I even met them in Florida this past August to visit them while they were there on vacation! My host family lived approximately two miles from St. Mary's in a very quaint, friendly, and peaceful neighborhood. It was about a 30-minute walk to campus from their house, which may seem awful, but it really wasn't. I think I became more familiar with the surrounding areas than those who only lived 5-10 minutes away from campus.

"Walking is probably the best form of transportation you have when you are just doing things around campus or in Teddington and Twickenham. There are bus stops everywhere and hundreds of different lines, but they are so unpredictable. You never know if they will be on time or not, or if there will be major back-ups in the regular flow of traffic. It was always a lot quicker and much less complicated just to take off walking, as long as you weren't going anywhere too far away. To get into central London, however, you have to take a bus to Richmond and then get on the "tube" (a.k.a. the underground). There are trains that go into central London and run from several stations around the college, but you'd probably have to get off and switch to the tube at some point anyway, so getting on the tube in the beginning is much easier.

"No words can truly express what it's like to study abroad- the only way really to find out is just to go and experience it for yourself. You may have vacationed or toured in the UK, but it is nothing compared to what you will learn and experience by studying abroad and living in and amongst the British day in and day out. It is absolutely amazing! You must go with a very flexible and open mind, expecting the worst possible scenario. That way you won't be as disappointed about anything that doesn't turn out the way you had hoped it would. It makes the experience much more exhilarating and enjoyable- especially since pretty much everything you will encounter will be new, different, and unexpected. You must learn how to expect the unexpected and be able to overcome many challenges on a daily basis. Take advantage of everything- there's way too much out there to see and do to waste even a second!!!" E-mail: alm391@mizzou.edu.

Elizabeth Bell
University of Wisconsin - Platteville (Partner Program) in London at St. Mary's College, Fall Semester 2001

"It was a Thursday night, the second to last night I had with all the friends I made in London. I waited over a year for this, anticipating getting to be a part of a culture I had only read about in all my history books, and it had circled around me the way the leaves chase each other around on a mild fall day. The kind of day where clouds suspend themselves in the air as the wind moves them across the sky. It was all coming to an end. The end of my stay. My three months. I had studied creative writing and Shakespeare and British history and literature of the great war, the war that was suppose to end all wars. It was different. I was different. And you always know you're going to be different after an experience like this one, but you don't even have any clue even though you think you do. You don't see the change come. You see the friendships form and twist and mold into each other. You see the leaves turn colors and fall to the ground. You see hundreds of people walk by in a few hours while sitting in Trafalgar Square, people who will never walk by you again. You hear the hum of airplanes over head as you stroll down the uneven sidewalk each day, you hear the trains pass by twice during each hour that you are at home, which is only to sleep and eat breakfast. But it wasn't until I looked at myself one last time in the mirror in my walk-in closet room that I saw any difference. What that difference is doesn't really matter, it's the fact that it happened. It's not what was said or seen or heard, it's what happened and what happened was that I met future roommates, and I've seen places that some believe only exist in paintings in museums in big cities, and I've become more comfortable with me, as trite as that sounds, it's the truth. So if you're ready to see something different around you and inside of you then studying abroad would be an excellent opportunity. There's no regrets in my story and trust me, the how, what, when, and why are being written down so when someone asks me "to recall the thrill of it all," I'll remember the moments in this place I lived for a while where time stood still, and I was all that was moved." E-mail: bethyb27@hotmail.com.