Year: Class of 2011
Hometown: New York, New York
Major: International Studies
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As I sat procrastinating (correction: procrastinating is an understatement) in my dorm room last spring, my mind began to wander off to the land of study abroad possibilities. There were simply so many continents, so many countries, so many cities, and so many colleges. As I looked out my window at the sunny, warm, and generally beautiful early spring day we were having in Baltimore, my mind thought of somewhere by the beach in South America, or along the coast in Australia, or maybe next to the Mediterranean in southern Europe.
Yet, somehow I write this blog post from London. So how did I end up in the definition of the rainy, damp, and cold city?
To begin with, I knew I wanted to spend my time abroad taking some classes that dealt with Islamic Studies – my concentration at JHU. Knowing this fact narrowed my focus pretty dramatically: somewhere in the Middle East or Western Europe. Unfortunately, pretty much all the programs that were relevant to me in Middle Eastern countries required me to speak fairly good Arabic – something I was not confident in my ability to do.
Thus, I knew I needed to look around in Western Europe, where there were a lot (A LOT) of options. I was able to narrow it down a bit more, though, because I wanted to be somewhere where I spoke the local language. Given the programs that were relevant to my desire course of study, my fluency in English and proficiency in French then left me with three big choices: London, Paris, or Geneva (there are certainly worse problems to have than having to choose among those three countries).
To be honest, I discounted Geneva pretty quickly. As much as I was interested in spending some time there, it simply couldn’t measure up to London or Paris. Then, I spent days going back and forth in my mind: London…no Paris…no London…and then back to Paris. Finally, after about a week of indecisiveness I walked into the Office of Study Abroad and told the staff my problem. After listening to me, Dr. Citi, the head of the office, looked at me and said point blank, “Easy answer: You want to go to SOAS in London.”
Maybe it was easy for her, but what on earth was SOAS?
After doing some research I found out that SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a small college within the University of London that focuses – as the name suggests – on Africa and Asia (both the Middle East and the rest of the continent). Perhaps best of all, I discovered that it is located in one of the best areas of central London. After looking at the course catalog (which was essentially perfection for someone with my interests), I made up my mind that instant. I knew that I would be spending next semester in the land of the Beatles, royalty, and – most importantly – afternoon tea.
So what have I been up to in London since crossing the pond in September? Well, perhaps ironically, the big highlight has been…well…not being in London. Sounds a bit weird, right? After all, London has so much to explore that it should in theory keep me more than occupied until I return to the U.S. in December. True, but the really fantastic thing about being in Europe is how easy it is to travel. Needless to say, I’ve done quite a bit – and have a lot more planned.
Before I even got to London, I went on a week-long adventure to España with my roommate from Hopkins who just happens to go to the same school as I do in London (don’t worry, he made his choice completely independently of me; we’re not COMPLETELY attached at the hip, but we are pretty bad). We spent the majority of our time in Barcelona (where I had studied during the summer between my junior and senior years in high schools), which was truly amazing. It’s such a quirky city with such great culture – not to mention the pristine beach that runs along the Mediterranean. Needless to say, we found plenty of ways to keep ourselves entertained. From Barcelona, we then travelled to Bilbao (pretty much only to see the Guggenheim, which is truly mind-blowing) and ended up in San Sebastian, which was beautiful.
Following the epic trip to Spain, I decided to let my batteries recharge for a bit.
Since coming back from Dublin, I’ve made three more trips: two to Paris and one to Berlin. In terms of Paris, it’s simply so easy to reach. The Eurostar train (which gets you to Paris in 2.5 hours) leaves from the train station that is literally a five-minute walk from my dorm, so it’s hard to resist going more than once. It especially helps to have a lot of friends studying in the City of Light who are always far too nice and let me sleep in their apartments. And, fingers crossed, I’m hoping to make one more trip to the city in which I almost spent my semester!
As for Berlin, I couldn’t have picked a more exciting time to go visit. For starters, I had never been and I had always been told that I needed to go – so I was already really pumped up for the weekend. However, I ended up going on the weekend of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Being in Berlin that weekend was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. There were tons of celebrations and festivals, not to mention reduced ticket prices to lots of museums and other famous sites in the city!
For better or worse, though, my jet-setting days did have to come to some sort of end, though. After all, there are certainly much worse places to settle down than in London. Now I have to start thinking about those 3,000-word papers due for each of my four classes. Anybody want to help? That being said, don’t think I don’t already have a trip to Prague in the works…
**Editor's note: Be sure to check out Sam's previous guest blog entry, "So You Want To Start An Organization"**
What a lovely blog! I must ask though, when is the trip to Amsterdam being planned?
Posted by: Jackie | November 10, 2009 at 11:34 AM
Sounds like a very interesting, fun semester I want to go too
Posted by: Marita Lichtenstein | December 04, 2009 at 08:14 AM