Studying abroad is a lot like listening to a scratched CD. There are moments when the music is coming out of the speakers perfectly, everything is going smoothly and you are just singing along. Then, you hit that first scratch and the music snaps into repetition before abruptly stopping for a long, silent moment.
That is only one metaphor. I am an English Major, so I could probably come up with a ton of different ways to explain how this feels.
There are days when it is absolutely amazing being here, and others when you miss the simplicity of being home and surrounded by the familiar.
For example, my first week of classes was so strange and surreal because here they are lined up very differently. Instead of attending class Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday and Thursday, classes only occur once a week for three-hour periods of time. My weekly schedule at Plymouth consists of no class Monday, class from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. on Wednesday, no class Thursday and class from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Friday. It is really strange having so much time on my hands and entire days during the week with no mandatory classes to attend. Teachers hand out about the same amount of work as at Longwood, but you have an entire week to complete it, which is absolutely awesome. In terms of grading for classes, though, you only have a midterm and a final for your grade, so the pressure to not screw up on either is very intense.
One of the other big differences is a lack of varsity and club sports. There are plenty of clubs to be involved in, but in terms of sports there aren’t any. I know that Longwood doesn’t have a typical college football team, but we have so many other sports and I miss that general excitement and support. There is just a certain kind of community that only comes from cheering on a team.
I will say that the differences don’t bother me so much because of the vast ability to travel and see amazing things that I have always heard about, but have never gotten a chance to explore.
Two weeks ago, I was able to travel to Oxford for the day. My friend and I booked tickets for a 5:45 a.m. train — which was way too early. The train station is about a 30-minute walk from my flat, so at 4:30 a.m. I found myself walking toward a day of adventure. From Plymouth, Oxford was a two-and-a-half hour train ride. The sun didn’t rise until about 7:30 a.m. and we got to see the English countryside. It had snowed that week and was actually snowing that same day directly outside of Plymouth. Plymouth rarely gets snow because it is right on the ocean, so the atmosphere doesn’t get that cold.
It was my second real look at the English countryside, and it was even more beautiful covered in a layer of snow. When we arrived in Oxford, it was still snowing and all the old buildings looked like something out of a fairytale. Many of the buildings are closed to tourists during the school year because students are using them. For example, the Bodleian Library was closed, which was disappointing because it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in England it is second only to the British Library. I was doubly disappointed because I am such a book nerd. I wanted to have a “Beauty and the Beast” kind of moment when the Beast reveals his huge library to Belle, and she is astounded by the massive amount of books.
I was also able to have lunch in the Eagle and Child, a pub famous for its weekly visits from The Inklings. The Inklings were a group of writers that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, just to drop a few famous names. Apparently, they would come to the pub every Tuesday for a meal and talk over their writing.
There are also a few places where scenes for Harry Potter were shot, and because we all know I am a huge Harry Potter fan, you know this was such a cool thing to see.
Oxford was charming in its own right and the perfect day adventure. That is one of the big pluses to being over here — traveling around is very simple, and I hope to travel a lot more before the end of this semester.
