So this semester was a bit more special than normal :) :) This semester, I finally did what I've been wanting to do my whole life- I studied abroad! :D :D :D The country I chose to study in was England, which has always been a nation I wanted to visit :)
I left towards the end of January, since semesters start and end differently in England. I was nervous about it all, especially since I've never traveled alone (I've never even driven that far outside of my own hometown on my own O_O), since all the vacations I have been on have been with family.
I boarded the plane and pretty much listened to a book called "Cress" on my phone and skimmed some movies while we flew. I tried to sleep but that didn't happen, obviously. Somehow, even though I was jetlagged and exhausted, I figured out the trains and subways when I got to London and managed to get to my university. Still had some trouble finding where I was going to stay on campus (until my dorm opened), but with some help, I figured it out and got to my room. I moved into my dorm a week later and I started going to Taekwondo there and joined the club for a semester, so I could keep up with my stuff while I was gone. I also joined a Shakespeare play club where I got to do a Shakespeare show! :) :) :) I also did some traveling. I will get to more of this after I discuss my classes and what I did in them.
I went to the movie theater several times while I was in England, including twice with my friends :) I saw (in order) Logan, Beauty and the Beast, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and Wonder Woman :)
Some trees in bloom on my campus near my dorm :)
In England, I took three classes, which were "Intro to Film Studies", "Women's Writing in the 17th Century", and "Eighteenth Century Literature". The school system in England was very different to how it is in the USA, in that our grade hung upon two papers for each class instead of things being spread out. Also, they were much more vague about what they wanted and I got ALL my reading at the library and didn't have to spend tons on money on textbooks :) We also only had each class once a week (as in, we'd have a lecture, then a seminar) and the lecture would be around 2 hours long and the seminar would be around an hour. I went to class most days but I did have time to do lots of traveling, which was nice :)
My thoughts on my classes, are as follows
Intro to Film Studies: Overall, I enjoyed the class. I knew quite a bit of the material already, having done a film class before, which came in handy. The teachers were cool for the most part, though I butted heads with one of them a bit (and one of the students and I got into arguments sometimes XD). We did a lot of studying of various areas and watched clips and towards the end of the semester, we watched the following films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Incredibles (already watched the two previous ones), Vertigo, Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, Sunset Boulevard, and Mullholland Drive. Some were good, some were whacky, and some were bad, but I'm glad I got to watch them and form my own opinions on them. We also read a book about film studies that one of the professors had written. Had a bit of a scare with this class, since I turned the wrong paper in and had a zero, but the teacher said I could turn in the actual paper and I got a good grade for that, so PHEW. THANK YOU SIR!!
Women's Writing in the Seventeenth Century: This class was a lot different than anything I've taken and I really enjoyed it for the most part. It was also neat to have a female teacher and an almost all female class (had this happen once before). I noticed the girls were a lot more open with their thoughts and feelings, which was nice. The reading was pretty interesting, though a bit strange, and I learned a lot about British history in this class.
Eighteenth Century Literature: The teacher for this class was very smart and I really enjoyed the class. The professor made me think, which I appreciated, and I learned a lot of things and he helped me out as a study abroad student, which was nice. In this class, we also read a lot of good books, some of which I'd been meaning to read for quite some time now :) We read: Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Essay on Man, The Rape of the Lock, Songs of Innocence and Experience, Joseph Andrews (this book is FREAKING HILARIOUS XD), The Prelude, Don Juan (which I haven't finished yet), Frankenstein (which I'd already read), and Mansfield Park.
Besides my classes, I of course did lots of traveling :) If you have been following my facebook group, you know how my trip went, so I won't go into too much detail here. I'll just show you one or two picture of every place I saw :) But I did a good job traveling around and saw many cool things :)
Robin Hood
Nottingham castle
If you want good fish and chips, GO to this pub in Nottingham!
Me and Hamlet in Stratford Upon Avon
Stratford Upon Avon
Visiting William Shakespeare :)
Me and Robin Hood :D
Oxford
Cambridge
Leicester.
King Richard III
England's National Space Centre
Warwick Castle
Lichfield
Sherwood Forest
Newberry
DOWNTON ABBEY :D (Highclere Castle)
London
Windsor Castle
The Queen is in...and it was her birthday too :)
Kensington Palace
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
Churchill War Rooms
St. Paul's Cathedral.
Tower of London
Me and Yeoman Warder at the Tower :D
London Bridge
Buckingham Palace
Rosetta Stone at the British Museum
STONEHENGE :D
Roman Baths in Bath
Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh Scotland
Edinburgh Castle, Scotland
Peak District
A part of Cardiff Castle
World War II bunker of sorts at Cardiff Castle
Arab Room in Cardiff Castle (SO BEAUTIFUL)
Cardiff museum
Cardiff Bay
Ianto Jones's Shrine :D
Doctor Who Experience
Norwegian Church in Cardiff
Canterbury Cathedral
St. Augustine's Abbey
St. Martin's Church in Canterbury
The Canterbury Tales (since Chaucer is my GRANDFATHER :D)
Roman Museum
Canterbury Heritage Museum
Jorvik Viking Center
Clifford's Tower, York
York Castle Museum
York Minster
York Chocolate Story
King Richard III (yeah, I like him XD)
Walls of York
King Henry VII
After this, I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum while I was in London (before heading home)
Along with this, as I mentioned above, I was in Taekwondo and was in a Shakespeare play, which was "King Henry IV part 1" :) I played Westmoreland (but I also was given the lines of Sir Walter Blunt) and some other extras, which was fun. The kids were the NICEST cast I've ever worked with and I actually made friends, which is SO RARE I tell you. I GOT INVITED TO THINGS and they hung out with me on various occasions. I even went to a club at the union with some of the kids and they looked after me and made sure I was okay and never made me feel like I was annoying or intruding. :) I really enjoyed working with them and hanging out with them and I hope that we can stay friends :)
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<3 p="">I did cry that last week I was there before I left :( And a shout out to one of my friends who drove me to the train station that day <3 3="">
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After that, I flew home and watched several movies, which were "Get Out", "Lego Batman", "Hidden Figures", and "Before I Fall." I am so thankful to have went on this trip. I learned a lot and I know that there is hope of making friends in other places and it's not just me, it's this town I live in too.
Hope you enjoyed a little blast from my trip and May the Force Be With You <3 :="" p="">
Shena Tokala, signing out
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