Student Bloggers

Currently Studying at: St. Mary's University, England

Homeschool: Ohio Wesleyan University

I might be a little late on my first blog post, but that's okay because that just means I have more to talk about! I have been in London for more than a month now, and I can for sure say I've fully adjusted to university life in London!

So! To catch you all up on my life here I'll start off with one tip I have for anyone studying abroad! And that is knowing that the W curve is real, and it will happen to you at some point in your time here. As someone who experienced it during my freshman year back at my home university AND taught it to multiple groups of freshmen this past summer, I felt as if it wouldn't happen to me, but I was wrong. But I kept in mind this was all completely normal for anyone abroad and knew I was going to be okay!

One big difference I've experienced with while abroad thus far is that my friend group at St Mary's is all first-year British students, and I am the only American! This has really helped me adjust to university and British culture in ways I would not have expected (like asking to put my phone in their fanny (pack) and learning that means something COMPLETELY different here). But I also get the chance to inform them about university life in the States and how the two differ from each other!

And now onto the traveling I've done thus far! This past weekend, I traveled to Scotland and got the chance to visit Edinburgh and the Highlands. Although we didn't spend too much time in Edinburgh, in many ways it was very much like London but on a much smaller scale, of course. The gothic-like architecture was so amazing to witness in person; the ever so steep and never-ending hills, not so much. The next morning we hopped onto a coach bus and headed up into the Highlands. Despite it being such a long drive up north, the views made it SO worth it all. With the weather being slightly gloomy, fog lingering at the mountain tops, and the trees slowly turning beautiful autumn colors - it was all so picturesque. Our big stop for the day was at the Winterfell Castle where they recorded Game of Thrones at! I'm not a fan of Game of Thrones (big gasp), but it was still pretty cool to visit it and say I've been to the castle! After a little more than a half-day trip up, we made it to our village (of only 600 people) that we were staying in. This was a HUGE difference compared to being surrounded by 8.6 million people in London. Once we arrived, we had a presentation from a man from a local clan about what being apart of a clan meant, what they wore, and the weapons they used in combat. One part I found super interesting was that with the clans that still exist today - they still keep up with the traditions of their ancestors (aka they still clean their clothes in urine).

The next day we headed up even more north and traveled along Loch Ness and heard about the stories of sightings of big 'ole Nessie, but sadly we didn't get to see it anywhere. After that, we stopped nearby Inverness to a battleground to hear more of the history behind it. But me, being the person I am, spotted some highland cattle, and I just HAD to go see them. This definitely was one of my favorite parts of the trip, honestly. Once we were done there, we started heading back to Edinburgh to catch our train back to London. Our last stop was a quick hike to this majestic waterfall which really tied this entire trip up. As someone who loves to hike and hasn't been able to in over a month, I was so excited to do so. But on our travels to each of these stops, we were surrounded by such breathtaking landscapes, I could not get over it. I highly recommend going to Scotland if you ever want to get away from the big city life!