The Griffon News

Last semester I had a professor tell me that I needed to be well traveled to become a better writer.

So this semester I enrolled in ENG 361, a literature course that traveled to London for spring break.

I knew a few of the students from previous classes, but I didn’t really know them.

From the moment we boarded the plane in Kansas City we became a group.

Our fearless leader, Dr. Fulton, led us through the streets of London with her fist clenched and her arm forged high above her head.

We knew to look for the fist (and the neon green jacket) if we became lost. Outside the National Theater, after we saw a play, I exchanged cameras with another classmate.

We realized after taking pictures that the group had forged on without us. There was no fist in the air or a green jacket in sight.

We were lost.

Parts of the tube (underground transportation) were not running that day. We had taken a taxi to get to the theater. Neither of us knew our way back to the hotel.

However, we found Waterloo station rather quickly where we purchased maps and hopped on the first tube ride of our lives.

We navigated the tube through an interchange with a different line and disembarked at Nottinghill where we set out on foot to find our hotel in Kensington.

After what seemed like several hours of walking, we stopped and asked someone in a corner store for directions.

Thanks to the directions, we found a nearby bus stop and took a bus back to our hotel. Together, we not only found our way after having been lost in a huge city, we formed a new
friendship.

We were given four “walks” as assignments to do in London.

We had to travel to a certain destination and then write about the experience. Two students who enjoy literature more than me, Anita and Jennifer, accompanied me on my first walk.

After having taken many wrong turns and having walked up and down Old Church Street, we finally found our final destination. Anita was convinced that that Dr. Fulton wanted us to walk this so that we could have the whole literature experience. They forced me to open my eyes and see the history in the buildings and all that was around us.

Heather and I went to Abbey Road, where we took pictures crossing the street like the Beatles did.

Michelle, Mark, Brand and I went to Platform 9 ¾ (from the Harry Potter movie) and posed with the cart. We ate fish and chips in a London pub.

A large group of us tried to find the Sherlock Holmes Pub on the last night of the trip, but instead shared a crazy evening in Piccadilly Square and Soho.

I walked across the famous Tower Bridge. I went to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace.

The parks in London were absolutely breathtaking. I walked through Green Park after my visit to the original Hard Rock Cafe.

I also visited Hyde Park, as well as saw the memorial to Princess Diana in Kensington Park.

The Study Away program does so much more for students than just take them on spring break to some place fun.

I formed friendships with students I barely knew before crossing the Atlantic together.

Now, when I see these students on campus I do not hold back.

I say hi to them and converse a bit.

I have opened my eyes to see the history in my surroundings. I feel this experience has allowed me to grow as an individual, as well as become more developed as a writer.

I visited places I only knew before in books and fairy tales.

I now understand what that professor last semester was talking about.