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| Central London from the airplane! My college and residence are located on the south side of the river; kind of in the middle of this picture. If you look closely on the left, you can see the London Eye and Big Ben! |
September 12. It was this date that I would just throw out when people asked when I was leaving; for so long it was still months away and really just a topic for happy discussion. Even when I got out of bed this morning it didn’t seem real to me that the day had actually arrived for me to fly across the world for 3 ½ months.
This semester I will be studying at King’s College in London. Ever since we took a family trip to London when I was 12, I have been absolutely in love with London. I would tell people that I was going to live there someday, and while this may not be that permanent, 12 year old me would be so excited to know that I’m finally returning, and get to live like a local. My apartment is in the South Bank area; I’m about a 10 minute walk from the Tower Bridge and the Globe Theater, and close to a 45 minute walk away from Big Ben, London Eye, Parliament etc. I’m really excited about this location because it is so centrally located – I’m sure a lot of my free time will be spent walking up and down the Thames taking in all the sights or taking a quick tube ride to spend time at all the museums close by. (The tube… I love the tube!!!)
I chose King’s College because of a course offering called Health and Society. Basically this course is an immersive pre-medical class; all our lectures are taught by doctors, we have discussions on things like medical ethics, medicine and media, different healthcare systems, and how to communicate efficiently with patients, to name a few. The course also includes clinical placements in four different institutions within London – it will be very interesting to actually be in the clinics seeing how their healthcare system works first-hand. Up until now, I basically have just taken hard science classes for my pre-medical track (General and Organic Chemistry, Biology, Physiology, etc.) so I am really looking forward to this unique class that is actually going to prepare me for what I’m going to be seeing as a doctor someday. As for my other classes, I’ll be taking Biochemistry, a genetics course, and an immunology course (ah, the life of a science major) but it really did work out because all of these will transfer back to Arkansas and go towards my major and MCAT prep!
Soon, we’ll be touching down at London Heathrow and I’ll meet up with an Arcadia staff member (Arcadia is my host program and support system while I am abroad – they are like the liaison between me and King’s College) who will transport me to a hotel for their program’s orientation. I’ll move into my apartment on Saturday, and then all next week King’s College will hold its own orientation for new students. I don’t actually start class until September 25! Until then, I’ll be orienting myself with my new home – I’m so excited to be a Londoner J
Thanks for reading!
-Katie
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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/
