Senior Ava Chuppe had the opportunity to travel to London, England, for 14 days through the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad (CCSA) this past summer. Since the organization pools students and faculty from several universities, her professor and most of her classmates did not come from Murray State. Here, she shares her experiences.

Having never been outside the U.S., I was thrilled to cross the trip off my bucket list while simultaneously checking a box in my RACR audit. 

The program encompassed five classes, each with about 10 students. My class was called “British Literature Transformed: English Writers in the Postcolonial Era.” We focused on writers of color from the 20th century who were or descended from immigrants to London and other parts of the U.K. Since I had only heard of a couple of the writers on our syllabus prior to the trip, I was able to broaden my familiarity with this transnational canon a great deal.

To let others know they’re not alone, I’ll be honest: I struggle with a nervous stomach. Going in, I knew from my experience in intra-national travel (and starting college) that my gut has a hard time adjusting to new environments. My anxiety—combined, presumably, with the violent turbulence of the flight—made me airsick. It was not a pretty scene, leaving me even more nervous about the rest of the trip. However, I found the environment of the program conducive to making friends inside and outside of my class. My anxiety subsided after the first day, as I realized everyone else was uncertain too.

Each day, our class followed an itinerary consisting of class time and visits to locations of interest. To navigate the city, we used the public tube and bus stations, which I found surprisingly nice. Some of the places we visited related specifically to our course material, while others provided general sightseeing opportunities. Our class took tours of neighborhoods with a high concentration of immigrants, sometimes encountering spots that were directly referenced in the texts we read.

Over the course of the trip, we documented each day using a public-facing travel blog, which we completed for a grade. Checking in with the daily blog allowed me to continually reflect on what I learned or saw and why those things were significant to me. As a result, I learned a lot about myself, my interests, and my values over those short couple of weeks.

During the first weekend, the trip included an optional excursion to Stonehenge. I opted to go on the excursion and had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating back to 3000 B.C. Prior to visiting, I was unaware how isolated the site was from roads or commerce. On that frigid, rainy day, we waited in a long line to take a bus up to the site. Luckily, the rain eventually cleared, so I bypassed the bus line to take the scenic 30-minute walk back instead. Though I would have preferred warmer sightseeing conditions, I am still in awe when I think about seeing those colossal stone structures up close.

I could write a memoir about the other cool places we saw, but a few of the most notable ones included Shakespeare’s Globe, the British Library, Buckingham Palace and the British Museum. As an English major, I found myself especially delighted by the first two of these. At the Globe, we watched a delightfully slapstick performance of “The Comedy of Errors”; at the British Library, we gawked at original copies of some of the most significant works of English literature (as well as handwritten Beatles lyrics!).

We also had the chance to watch a live performance of the musical “Six.” Before the trip, I had never witnessed a theater performance of such a professional caliber. A live band accompanied the powerful vocalists, making for a raw and exhilarating show.

By the end of the trip, I felt enriched—not only by the class materials but by the irreplaceable hands-on learning experiences the program provided me. Prior to taking the course, I had worried that two weeks abroad would feel too long, but I wanted to stay much longer by the time we were traveling home.

If you’re interested in studying abroad, the most important tip I can give you is to get in touch with the Education Abroad office. Whether you haven’t yet decided on your destination or you’re deadset on spending a semester in Regensburg, the helpful folks there can guide you through the process. Be sure to talk to your advisor about your study abroad plans too.

Anyone who would like to hear stories from my London trip in greater detail can check out my class travel blog, @ava_goes_to_london, on Instagram.