A Day in London
You’ve decided you want to join us for a few weeks in London, and now you’re wondering all sorts of things, like Will we have any free time? How often does class meet? Are we in class on the weekends? What if I want to go somewhere else in Europe while we’re abroad? We’ve been facilitating this study abroad trip for enough years that we can tell you that you will have lots of free time to explore and enjoy the city; to us, that enjoyment and exploration are central components of the trip itself, and much of the coursework involves your finding your own away around the city.
So what does a typical day look like?
Monday – Thursday, we start class at 9:00 am, and we continue, with perhaps a bathroom break, until noon or 1:00 pm depending on what we need to accomplish on a given day. We try to start class a little later than we might (the sun will typically be up around 4:30 am!) so that you can get some breakfast in the flats; we also try to finish class in time for you to make a sandwich in the flat before going out. These two meals “in” will do a lot to help you save money since food in places around the theatres and tourist stops is typically rather pricey. Remember, like New York or Paris, London is a big city and you should expect to pay city prices for food.
On Fridays, we meet at 9:00 am for an hour to discuss anything we did on Thursday evening as a group and to make sure everyone is clear about weekend plans. Because we do not hold class or required events on the weekend, we hope you’ll do some fun things in small groups on your own: go to Portobello Rd Markets in Notting Hill, for example, or head up to Camden Markets for shopping and a hodge-podge of culture, or maybe over to Spitalfields Markets (can you tell that weekends are about the markets?); take in a matinee on Saturday afternoon; or go to a church service at The Collegiate Church of St. Peter (aka Westminster Abby) or St. Paul’s Cathedral. Or you might decide you want to head to Paris or Barcelona or Bruges for a day or two. There are wonderful one-day or multi-day trips at reasonable prices. The same companies typically offer tours of places outside London at reasonable prices, so you might look into those, as well.
The first week we’re there, we do more things together as a large group, so typically after class, we will “muster” (the term Brits use for “gather” or “get together in a group”) outside the flats and take off together for an excursion. We do things together so much at first because we want to be sure that you’re all able to use the Tube by yourselves and know where you’re going and how to get home. We try to plan most of the group theatre events in the two weeks for that reason, and we try to do a few group things like the British Museum or the Tower of London then.
Usually, in the first week, we go as a group out to Kew Garden, so on that day, we will not meet for class but will muster and head down to Westminster Pier to catch the boat to Kew; the boat trip is wonderful and the captain tells us all about the buildings that we see on the way. The trip typically takes an hour and a half. In the last week, we typically go out to Oxford or Cambridge for the day, and we’ll have to muster early on those days, as well, because we have to get an early train out of town.
Beyond that, and the required evening theatre events (typically, four or five), you’re on your own once class ends. The faculty love to be invited along to things, but we also don’t want to plan everything for you or make you feel that you have to bring us along. This is your trip, your chance to experience London, and one of the things we love about this trip and this city is that you, as students, get to make the trip your own: you can focus in on parts of London you love, making frequent trips, or you can try to sample a little bit of everything. It’s up to you!
Now let’s get across that big pond and start having some fun!
