Dr. Bender, I dedicate this blog post to you because we’re the only true London fans of this group. I am a big city girl; NYC is basically second home with how often my parents and I drive the hour to see a Broadway show or just to walk around and grab a bite to eat in Little Italy. So, I guess it makes sense that I felt like my true self when walking around the streets of London. Even though it felt as though I was deathly ill for the first few days, I put together all of my energy to be able to attend all events in London. Now, do not get me wrong, I was very excited to see London for its history and literature, but I am a true One Direction fan at heart. So, when I saw the bridge where One Direction filmed one of their music videos I may or may not have peed my pants a tiny bit.
Sorry for getting side tracked, let’s talk about again, the whole reason while I was in London- academics! As I said in my post about York, I am not a huge fan of churches and the whole concept of religion, but I was utterly shocked as I walked into the Westminster Abbey. This building felt barely like a church and more like a famous cemetery with icons like Charles Darwin and Sir Issac Newton being buried under the floors we were walking on. Although she was not buried there, I spent about twenty minutes just staring at Emily Bronte’s memorial; can you tell I’m a huge Wuthering Heights fan?
I feel as though since I am an English Education major it is necessary that I have my fangirl moment for the best part of the trip- seeing Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe. My fellow literature nerds and I floated through the building with starry eyes and hearts circling our heads. I first read this play in my junior year Shakespeare elective class and I was assigned the role of playing Hero (who, in my opinion, is such a boring character). I immediately fell in love with this classic comedy and when I got to watch it AT THE GLOBE I almost passed away. I may or may not have spent over $100 at the gift shop, but I used the excuse that it will all go towards my future classroom. My little feminist heart grew three times when I saw that Leonato was made into a female character; it made the play a thousand times better for me because instead of the male characters being the saviors we got to see another strong female character. Okay, that’s all I’ll say about the play for now.
London was an amazing experience and again, our group continued to grow closer. We spent every night together and were almost brought to tears when it was time to part ways. I could not have asked for a better group to have wandered London and figure out the subway system with. I hope to return one day and have it live up to at least half of this study abroad experience.