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Student Essay
Michelle Miller Stanford on the Thames The problem of locating oneself, your place in the world, has long plagued people. The world, especially Britain, wrestled with the longitude problem, or determining one's longitude on the seas, until John Harrison was able to accurately solve the issue and give sailors the freedom to travel and explore freely and relatively safely. My trip to London did the same for me, and as different as these two senarios seem I drew a great number of similarities between them. As well as opening a vast amount of knowledge I never expected to gain, I also found my place, where I was and where I was going, knowing I could now get there. I had never been to London and had virtually no knowledge of the British Empire, but I signed up for the study abroad experience because I knew it would challenge me to take risks and step outside of my comfort zone. I am proud to say I have accomplished much more than I thought I would be able to. I learned more in London than simply learning to navigate the tube (which is a huge accomplishment by the way) but also acquired an appreciation for culture, the knowledge of their history and where they have been. In the process I was able to gain knowledge of where I am going and I know I returned a different person. Never having been to Europe, and wanting a culture that was similar to my own for my first expedition, London seemed the obvious choice because of the lack of a language barrier and the similar culture. In the short five weeks that I was able to experience their culture, I realized it is decidedly different than our own, more different than I imagined it would be. I had never been exposed to a British Literature class and sadly could not name more than three or four monarchs. I know now I made the best choice of a program where I could absorb the most I could during of my time in London with the Great World Program. There are many options of studying abroad: an internship, a single 3-hour course, or an inclusive program; each choice offers something different. I believe that the "program" study abroad experience includes the most opportunities to learn about the culture and experience it while focusing on a variety of aspects. I would encourage all the students to think about the programs and how much more they have to offer students than the 3-hour credit courses, particularly the London and the Great World Program. The size of the program, only eight students, and the opportunity to get to know your professors outside of the normal college setting was remarkable. These extraordinary ladies have become mentors. The London and the Great World Program is taught by two professors who, while leading you safely around London, (most of the time) also intermingle British history and literature in such a way that to teach one without the other would be an injustice. Tuesday through Thursday the students and professors met at the TCU London Centre and instead of staying in the classroom and hearing about London 8 students and 2 professors walked all over London and experienced London. We not only visited the sites as tourists but actually had knowledgeable tour guides who turned us into scholars as well. We were able to read literature from people who stood in the same places we did, and we visited sites that stood during the British Empire. It was an unfathomable experience to me to walk down a street and see so much rich history in the buildings. There is a distinct difference in studying a city in the city, and studying the city in a classroom in the city. I've sat in a classroom and learned facts about World War I, but after I walked through the trench exhibit at The Imperial War Museum I understood the impact that experience had on the generation of men who served through it, both in America and across the world. The sights that soldiers saw day after day, the smells they encountered, their entire lifestyle, if they lived long enough to develop a lifestyle in the trenches, became clear and the reasons for insanity and the broken lives of men were hauntingly apparent. I understand the deep pain World War I brings to the British people after seeing the thousands of names on plaque after plaque at Oxford universities, the entire generation that they lost to a senseless death. After walking through the Imperial War Museum, listening to three British veterans speak of their experience, and seeing the artifacts of lost soldiers I was able to understand the hesitation of the British people to enter World War II. The perspectives I gained on World War I, most notably the perspective different than that Americans have, could not have been possible in a classroom, and it is the understanding that there are other perspectives in the world that was the most useful to me. The docklands were, in my opinion, the richest historical sight we visited because that was where I felt the course began and ended. At the beginning of July we began to learn about the rise of the British Empire through the seas and travel and exploration, and five weeks later we walked the docklands after the Empire had thrived and brought wealth to Britain. Not only did we walk the docklands, we read about the horrible injustices that took place there less than 150 years ago. As talented as Dr. Steele and Sohmer are, no lecture could convey the mental images that Friedrich Engls does in Conditions of the Working Class. The people that worked and built the empire on their blood and sweat lived worse than dogs in packed buildings hidden from the view of the middle and upper class. The pollution around the cramped buildings and uncontrollable cost of living in tiny meager homes caused many children and elderly to take on work to help the adults, who themselves had more than one job. During the program we were able to get an unbiased explanation of the people of that time and their contributions to England. In the same way it was an incredible experience to stand on the top of Hampstead Heath after touring the Kentwood home and hear Dr. Steel read Joanna Baillie's "London" and I was able to compare what she saw when she stood above London to what I was seeing at that moment. I could look out and see the growth of the city, but to actually hear the poetry read aloud was as if we were transported back 200 years. Learning the modern history of Britain and reading the text of authors who were there and exposing the injustices of the day to supplement what we cannot touch and experience today gave us, as students, a greater understanding of our own history as Americans. While we were in St. Paul's Cathedral, trying to figure out why it houses plaques to war heroes when it is a religious building, I bought a book by John Donne entitled No man is an Island , and more than any other point this course hit home that we are all interconnected and that book is a reminder of that lesson. Especially in a post 9/11 America it is important for us to remember, as we look ahead, that our actions affect the world. Every people's history influenced my own and until now I had no idea how important it was to understand the history of other cultures. Still, even today, I can make a connection between something I learned in London and something I am learning now. I continually have those "ah-ha" moments where some other piece falls into place for me. The first of such moments happened while we were sitting on the steps of the Albert Memorial listening to Dr. Sohmer lecture. The four corners of the extravagant memorial depict four continents and how the British view each of those continents. It was interesting to see how the British viewed America at that time in history, as a leading lady and one ready to make change, and to point the way for other figures to follow her in the change as well. Because Britain was the most powerful country at the time, many of the stereotypes and the future of British controlled colonies were decided around this time in history. Sitting on those steps so many of the previous lectures and readings collided to form a big entangled understanding of how there is not a timeline to be learned. We cannot walk through the streets of London saying one event led to another which led to another, instead we have to understand the conditions of the time (by reading the people unafraid to tell of them) and learning the history in order to understand the context these people were in. After that we are able to see how different things happening at about the same time influenced and determined the history we are now learning about. As you can probably tell, everything about London is amazing, but aside from that the course has more than the concrete British knowledge to offer the students who take it. This course embodies the mission statement Chancellor Ferrari ambitiously set before the faculty, "to educate individuals to be ethical leaders and responsible citizens in a global community," and teaches lessons as well as facts. This course does an amazing job of not telling the students what ethics to maintain but instead giving us examples and helping us define ethical for ourselves. Remains of the Day , one of the course novels we read, takes a look at a powerful British man whose ethics come into lay in his own house during the early 20 th century. The manner in which he deals with certain problems and people, namely his servants, nephew, and other members of politics, gives us insight into his ethics and his thought process. Through the course of the novel we are able to see the repercussions of his actions. In each situation ethics are different and his decisions are influenced by different factors, what would I have done in each situation I don't know, but I do know how to decide on my actions in the context of ethics. I feel that to be a citizen in a global community, I must know about my community and the Great World program gave us insight not only into Britain but many of her colonies as well. I would estimate that we were able to learn something about 40% of the countries that exist today simply based on their relationship with Britain. TCU's mission statement has been incorporated into the Great World Program many times over. My relationship with Britain changed my relationship with myself. I grew closer to the city, as difficult as that sounds, I got to know London in such a way that it became a friend. I learned its streets and its smells; I miss the city and the energy I gained from it. My father encouraged me to apply to Stanford, "just to see what would happen" but for whatever reason I didn't. Now I realize that I don't know what would have happened and I regret that ambiguity. This experience gave me the self-confidence to peruse what I know I want; and not to be ashamed to ask for what I want. No longer is there a scared girl who had no idea how to get from the airport to her flat; no, in her place there stands a confident young woman who realizes her potential, and now has her eyes clearly set on her goals. I realize I can walk the streets of London and find my way from Leister Square to my flat (although it took 45minutes and the guys with pink hair did scare me.) I realize I can read a British poem and understand the historical significance of it, why it is important to their history. I also realize I have much more to learn about the world, but this trip only made me hungrier for knowledge. It would be my wish today that each of you could have known me before and after this trip, because then you too, as well as my parents and friends, would realize how life changing this experience can be. But this experience wasn't like that for everyone. Some students go, unable to let go of home, and don't truly immerse themselves in the experience. You have to decide when you are ready and when you will get the most out of it. I knew I was ready, although I signed up and paid the deposit before I could change my mind, once I was there I knew I was at a place where London was perfect. I had no idea where the money was gong to come from or who else was going on the trip but I knew I need a change and I knew if I didn't try something spontaneous I would never forgive myself. In those short 5 weeks I made amazing friends, amazing memories, and received an extensive education beyond London and the Great World.
Dr. Steele, As a Communication Studies major, I write speeches in a different format than I write academic papers. Because of the nature of this assignment I tried to incorporate the two styles. Often when writing a speech I try to use a lower level of language because of the time it takes people to comprehend the spoken word and their inability to reread the information. I also try to use shorter, less complex sentences, and use more side notes or further explanation. I would love to give this speech and actually wrote it in a way that I would use this, with a few changes, as a guideline. I feel that because I wrote this as a speech it is hard to understand how I would deliver it and it might be a better speech than paper. That being said, I do realize most people wrote an academic paper for this, and my assignment might be less formal but being delivered as a speech instead of as a paper would maximize its value. In preparing this assignment I actually spoke into a tape recorder and used that as my prewriting, so the punctuation reflects some of my vocal pauses and cues that probably are not grammatically correct. I apologize for those mistakes; grammar is not one of my strong points at all. But I hope you gain pleasure from reading my assignment and I hope I have the opportunity to speak it directly from my heart. Best Regards, |
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