Settling In #HogsAbroad in England #TravelTuesday

Here’s me being super official

Since I’ve officially been here for a week, I decided it was time for a little update.

Last week I was busy with orientation for my host program, Arcadia. They have their own center in central London; it was a 5 minute walk from the British Museum (!!!) and about 10 minutes from Oxford Street. Arcadia, in addition to classes at its center, also hosts students from all across the country at universities in London like King’s College, Queen Mary, Westminster, and University College London to name a few. Their center is like a support center and resource for us during our time in London, and Arcadia also has its own excursions that its students can go on, no matter which college they’re studying at in London. It was really nice to have this little orientation to acclimate to London and figure out how to navigate the city on our own, and the Arcadia team is so organized and helpful – to anyone out there trying to plan a future study abroad trip, I highly recommend looking into Arcadia’s different programs! They have programs all over the world and I’ve been so impressed with them already and it’s only the very beginning!!

On Saturday I moved into my residence hall; I’m living at Great Dover Street Apartments which is one of the King’s-affiliated residences. It’s different than the dorms I’m used to; in my “flat” there are 8 of us that are all study abroad students and we each have our own room and own bathroom (which is awesome!) and there’s a shared kitchen at the end of the hall. The bathroom is kind of funny – there’s no division between the shower and the rest of the bathroom which was definitely different but also apparently very typical for flats here, I guess I’m truly living like a local!

My little home! (Pre-decorated)

For your viewing pleasure

Yesterday, we had our first King’s College orientation. They are hosting over 700 study abroad students this semester with students from North and South America, other parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa! The King’s orientation lasts all of this week and they have several sessions for us to learn about how school in the UK works, as well as different events for us to meet other students! Last night we had pub social and it was packed! So far I’ve met students from Spain, Germany, and Australia, as well as a huge number from the U.S. To be honest, I’ve only met one person that lives east of Chicago and isn’t from California, (and she still goes to school in Rhode Island) so it’s pretty funny telling people I’m from Oklahoma and that I go to the University of Arkansas – people keep asking what life is like back home and people are really entertained by the southern accent and “y’all” haha. Although I can’t wait to meet local British students in my residence and classes, it’s still cool to get to know people from places like Boston, New York, LA, etc (because there’s aloooot).

Yesterday I also did a bunch of exploring with one of my friends that is in the Arcadia and Health and Society program with me. King’s College is not like a traditional American campus – they actually have little campuses all over central London. We’ve been having our orientation sessions at Waterloo (which is right next to Waterloo Bridge) and the main campus is called Strand Campus, which is, as the name says, on the Strand on the other side of the river.

I think the highlight of this area was exploring the Bush House, which actually used to be the headquarters for BBC World Service until King’s acquired it. We initially went in to check out the campus shop but then just started going up the stairs to see if we could find anything cool, enter the 8th floor terraces. Y’all. We were on top of the building looking out over London from both sides. It was one of those pinch me moments. Like not only do I live here, which is crazy, but this is just one of my classroom buildings. Casual.

North Terrace

South Terrace (peep Big Ben and the London Eye!)

Another cool thing, Somerset House, which has beautiful architecture and a huge courtyard perfect for hanging out (in the Winter there’s ice skating in it!) This building is literally right next to the Strand Campus, just another casual between class hangout.

Entrance to Somerset House

I mean…

I go to school here!!!!

Best for last guys. Pun totally intended, it’s Guy’s Campus!! This is gonna be my home, it’s the biosciences campus for King’s and it’s only a 10 minute walk from my residence which I am so thankful for! It’s also super close to the London Bridge. It’s also the prettiest campus by far. Because when you’re taking ALL SCIENCE CLASSES (yay pre-med) you need a pretty campus. Please enjoy.

OK, almost done, hang with me. So if y’all know me, you know I love to run. And the weather here is absolutely perfect for it. So immediately after moving in I was trying to figure out where I could run here. I ended up looking up so routes on Map My Run to get some ideas and figured out a really nice loop from my residence. Running here is crazy because 1. You feel like a total local which is awesome (and it’s a great way to see the city), and 2. Suddenly you see all of these major sights and you’re just like wow. I get to see this every day. I run across the Tower Bridge and Tower of London and I can’t stop from smiling every time I see the bridge in the distance or look out across the river. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it!!

Tower Bridge and view from it…. W O W

Thanks for sticking with me!! In summary, I’m loving it here already!! Stay tuned for when classes actually start… haha.

So long from your favorite double-decker-bus-riding, British-loving, King’s College gal!!
-Katie

--
Katie, a senior Biology major, is spending the Fall 2017 semester studying Health & Society at King's College in London through Arcadia University.
Read more from Katie at https://katientheuk.wordpress.com/
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/