Notes from Abroad: Whitney Masters

Learning here is so pure. It is best understood as learning through experience, but I don't even feel like that does this type of schooling justice. Through sights and sounds and tastes and people, we are getting a new window through which we can view the world. It is so incredibly valuable to be able to see a different chunk of the world through scholarly glasses.

I had no idea how much we would be diving into London's culture. And when we dove into that we found the world here. People from everywhere are in London. Every language is spoken and every accent possible is put on English. It is so strange that we call America the Melting Pot because that term feels so much more appropriate for London alone.

We have been able to go to multiple historical sights. The Pleasure Palace. The Tower of London. Hampton Court. Brighton. Stratford-Upon-Avon. I had only been introduced to half of these places through Jane Austen novels. This is our mother culture. I had no idea how much we could possibly owe to the nation that first planted it's seed in America but we truly do. Our country is so young in comparison and that youth is stark in contrast to some of the old and out-dated ceremonies they plod their way through in the government.

The Queen had her Diamond Jubilee during our stay. It commemorated her 60th anniversary of her reign. But I cannot understand the value of her position in the government. Everyone loves her and yet they know that her postition holds no real political power. It is just a convention here to have a monarch and one that they will not dispose of despite it's lack of political use. Obviously this is just a view from a visitor and as I don't perscribe to English culture I could never understand her postition, but that is what makes it so interesting! Studying in a place of customs you don't understand is the most valuable place to be, because the only place anyone can grow is outside of their comfort zone.

The theatre we get to see here is astounding. Some amazing! Some missing the mark. And some just really disturbingly horrendous pieces of art. A Midsummer Night's Dream has long been one of my favorite plays. The production we watched in Regent Park here was so bad, so terrible, so amazingly awful that it was valuable to watch in it's own right as a lesson of how to rip apart a play and turn it into something ugly. It also gave me a lot of hope that professional theaters could be putting on such horrible shows, then our theater in comparison is doing wonderful. It also helped to emphasize that mistakes are made world round and picking yourself back up after them must be done to get anywhere.

One of my teachers in the U of A drama department has said that you need 10,000 hours of work to be truly good at something or at least "professional".  Watching theater and experiencing other's talent has never felt like it would contribute to those hours, but they really do because we are watching so much and analyzing every part of it among the other impassioned students that no experience is taken lightly or for granted. We have been enjoying everything so completely, but underneath the enjoyment is discovery and continually expanding understanding. It is making a study of life and using it for the most possible benefit and just that capability is such a wonderful thing to have gained from this trip to be able to take home.

On our "holiday", so to speak, I went to Rome. I had a Roman holiday. It was so wonderful. I learned so much from going out into an unknown world alone and with no real safety net to speak of. I felt very grown up traveling on my own and negotiating payment for my hostel and deciding where I would take myself everyday. Rome again was a melting pot of tourists, young backpackers, immigrant workers, and beggars from every corner of the globe. My hostel alone gave me so much access to every part of the world through the eyes of the other travelers. Everyday I embarked with the goal of getting lost and finding something beautiful, and everyday I accomplished each goal many times. I cannot say how blessed I felt to have been given the capability to do this with the Honors College Study Abroad Grant. The money I received is the only thing that allowed me to go on this excursion, or even go to London, and I strived daily in Rome to make the most of my trip. I saw amazing works of art and feats of human strength like the Sistine Chapel, the Colloseum, the Roman Forum, the Spanish steps, the Trevi fountain. So much to see and four days to see it, but nothing felt rushed because I daily just found each of these beautiful things and experienced them naturally. The experience can never be described to fully explain how wonderful it was. There were also trials to be fought, things for myself to overcome, people to talk to, and bathrooms to find, but each task was perfect in it's difficulty and lesson.

My trip is coming to it's conclusion, but there are a few words of advise to impart.

-I brought my computer, though it was suggested that we not. It was very useful to me and other people on the trip. It helped us make plans, find places to go, contact people at home, research things, etc. Computer cafes close early in London, just like most places in London, and it was a good tool to help us all.
-I was not prepared for London weather to be as cold as it is. I thought I had packed enough warm clothes, but I was definitely wrong.
-Prepare yourself beforehand to have days of non-stop action and happenings. Staying in the flat all day is a Stupid option when the world is at your fingertips, somedays are good to start slow or focus on one or two things, but just know that your trip Should be all it can be and to make that happen you will need to be prepared for days with no real reprieve till your head hits the pillow.

It is all so wonderful and I am so blessed.

Whitney Masters