Londinium

One of the courses I'll be taking when I get to London is a British Seminar, which explores the basic historical, institutional, and modern issues of Great Britain. Required for this class is a (fortunately cheap!) textbook entitled London: A History. The reading is about as riveting as the title.

We're expected to read most of the book before we even get to London, so in order to make the process a little less painful and a little more interesting, I'm coupling reading the book with cross-referencing the history online and writing about it here. They say you learn better when you're teaching it to someone else, so I figure blogging about it should work just as well.

So far, I haven't gotten very deep into the book. From the first 30 pages or so, I've learned that London was originally named Londinium, when it was founded by the Romans around 43 AD. Originally England had been settled by the Celts, but it seems they were no match for the Roman armies.

Aulus Plautius (lovely name!) was the commander of Emperor Claudius' army at the time of the invasion. Strangely enough, he won by sending a detachment of German auxiliaries across the River Medway, who were -- get this -- specially trained to swim in full armor.Weird, huh?

At that time, the River Thames (not to be confused with the River Medway), was much shallower and wider than it is now. Eventually, however, a bridge was built across the Thames, and it became a natural point for commerce and trade, which flourished until about 200 AD.

Everything I've just said here in the 4 or 5 sentences took about 7 pages of small print to explain the textbook!

The next part gets a little more interesting. Apparently Queen Boudicca and her Iceni Tribe rebelled against the Roman Empire in 60 AD, outraged by their brutal treatment of her family. Noble as her effort was, the Queen's attack on Londinium wasn't much better than the acts she was revolting against in the first place. The Icenis and their allies, the Trinovantes, proceeded to massacre the inhabitants of Londinium and other surrounding settlements. Eventually, the Romans defeated Queen Boudicca, and to avoid capture, she committed suicide by poison.

...And that's about as far as I've gotten. I'll spare you the fascinating history the construction of streets and buildings for now, but I'll post more of my findings later once I've read a little further.

Travel preparations are well underway. Just need to figure out how to get phone service overseas and then book my fights. Otherwise, I have most of my other supplies, my travel backpack now, and plenty of reading to do over the next few weeks.

Quids, brollies, and the full Monty: My intro to British vocab

In the last 2 days, I've gone through an entire guidebook and a half to learn about the UK. It was rather overwhelming at first, but I think I'm starting to get more familiar with British culture, the lay of the land, and other such things one should know about before traveling to a foreign country for the first time.

In the back of Rick Steve's Great Britain 2009, I found a fascinating appendix on British-Yankee Vocabulary that quite amused me, so I thought I would share some of my favorites. One uncertainty I have not yet been able to figure out, is how often these words are actually used in everyday talk, or if these are just "novelty" expressions. This may just be something I have to figure out for myself once I get there.

Regardless, without further ado, here are my top 20 faves:

• Aubergine = Eggplant
• Crisps = Chips (as opposed to the "chips" that are actually french fries)
• Fringe = hair bangs
• Quid = British Pounds (£)
• Brolly = Umbrella
• Telly = TV
• Twitcher = Bird watcher :)
• Full Monty = "Everything," or "the whole shebang"
• Bob's your Uncle = "There ya go!" or "naturally"
• Twee = Cute or quaint
• Pillar box = mailbox
• Zebra crossing = Crosswalk (tee hee!)
• Pudding = dessert
• Noughts & crosses = tic-tac-toe 
• Candy floss = cotton candy
• First floor = second floor (seriously..?)
• Jacket potato = Baked potato
• Subway = an underground walkway (as opposed to the Tube or Underground)
• Ice lolly = popsicle
• Sleeping policeman =  Speed bumps (my personal favorite)

Cheers!

How it all happened

Once I had made the decision to apply for a semester abroad, I began the process of filling out the application and being interviewed.

The application was over a dozen pages long. It asked the usual questions (name, age, address, etc); a wide array of personal questions (health problems, phobias, insurance, etc); and some essay questions (why do you want to study abroad, how will this benefit your education, etc). Before I could submit the written application, I had to undergo 2 interviews, one with the faculty director who would be leading the trip, and another with the international education director.

The leading professor was very nice. She had a bubbly personality and I felt immediately at ease, nervous as I was. She started out by telling me all about the program.

We would be living in a 200 year old row house in the heart of London, about 2 blocks from the British Museum. There would be 17 of us living in the house, plus a cook who would make us breakfast and dinner. Classes would be taken in different parts of the city and we would have plenty of time to travel, including a week in March to complete a research project anywhere of our choosing in the British Isles. I was giddy with anticipation, but did my best to stay relaxed and calm.

After asking some questions about who I am and some of my past travel experience (none of which has involved traveling alone or outside the US), she showed me a map of the London Underground.

"And how woud you feel about navigating this?" She asked.

Oh. My. God... I thought, staring at the colorfully tangled web subway routes. I didn't say that out loud though, instead opting for a cooler honesty.

"Well, I'm not going to say it won't be a challenge," I said, laughing a little, "but I bet it's one of those things that isn't as hard once you get used to it."

I glanced up at her, and she was nodding.  "That's exactly it," she said. Whew, I thought. I sure hope she's right!

The second interview with the international education director was quite a bit easier. She asked me a few of the same questions, but mostly told me more about the program logistics.

I received my acceptance letter about 3 weeks later.  Another couple weeks after that, I attended a mandatory pre-trip orientation where I met the other students, signed up for classes, and received a packet of information and preparation instructions.

The next step is to buy the plane ticket, get some warm clothes (being a lifelong Floridian does have its disadvantages) and finish smoothing out the smaller details, all of which will probably get done in the next few weeks here.

London Fundin' and other Wonders

Sometimes I think that life is an unwritten story. Perhaps this is due to being born into a family of talented writers, but I like to think that everything you do and everything that happens is a new part of that story, and certain life events make up new chapters.

Childhood was one chapter for me, then the teen years, and then college. And now I'm starting another part within college, this one called "London" (for lack of a more creative title).

Life is indeed full of wonders of all shapes and sizes, many disguised behind masks of uncertainty and obstacles waiting to be conquered. This little wonder, known as "study abroad" in academia, is shaping up to be one such experience.

It started as a dream years ago, and has since come to fruition faster than I ever expected. I am fortunate enough to attend a college with an exceptional study abroad program, which includes a study centre in the heart of London. For little more than the cost of tuition (which is mostly covered by my financial aid), I will be spending an entire semester (Feb.-May) overseas in the UK.

It’s still a lot of money, but I've been saving up from my work-study job for the past year, plus the other day I found out I won a study abroad scholarship from the school. I am a little surprised by how smoothly everything is going so far, but I can't complain. I know it will be much harder once I get there.

Why? Mainly because, a) I have never traveled outside the US before, and b) I have never really traveled extensively on my own.

Yet somehow, this still seems like a fantastic idea. Call it youthful idealism, but somehow the thought of throwing myself at the mercy of world travel has been a tantalizing aspiration of mine for some time now.

Now that I’m actually starting to realize this dream it seems a little scary, but I am undeterred. I worked hard to get to this point and once I get past some of the more difficult parts, I know it will be a wonderful growing experience and very perspective-setting.

Next post I'll tell you how I got to this point – the application, the interviews, and the start of my planning process. Right now I have finals to study for, though, so sit tight and check back in a few days.