Deanna Gorman is a student at Luther College and an ISA Featured Blogger. Deanna is currently studying abroad program in London on an ISA Fall 4 program.
It has been a couple of weeks since my last blog post, but I promise it was for good reason. London is slowly slipping away from me and I am just trying to savor and absorb every minute of it while I still can. As I am sure you can imagine, the last two weeks have been filled with adventures, excursions, and many new experiences.
Roehampton held a Boat Party last Monday and we had one of the most incredible views of London I have seen in the 3 months I’ve been here! We floated down the Thames River by starlight, passing Big Ben, Parliament, and going under Tower Bridge. It was AMAZING!! I think that trip will definitely make my top 10 most memorable nights.
That same week was Thanksgiving, my first one away from home, so emotions were running a bit high. It was weird being in London for Thanksgiving because they don’t celebrate it. It was almost as if I forgot about it myself because I had class on Thursday as usual. It wasn’t totally uneventful, as ISA arranged for us to have a nice fancy turkey dinner at a restaurant in Notting Hill Gate. It was quite delicious and sharing it with other Americans helped ease the homesickness.
That was not the last we heard about Thanksgiving, however. All of our friends who like to cook invited us over to their house as an excuse to make a big “American Thanksgiving” dinner. I think I had 3 dinners in total that weekend!
The next week was no slower as I took a day trip to Oxford University where we met up with a friend. The campus was absolutely gorgeous and the town was full of fun shops. The accents of the locals and students were quite posh and it was nice to listen to that for a while. All the differing accents are so fascinating to me!
I was able to cross another bucket list item off the list Friday night, shopping in Kingston and then attending a Rugby game! It was similar to American football but there are definitely some major differences. I didn’t understand all of it but I cheered for the right team and had a blast! That’s what it’s all about!
Our last ISA excursion was this weekend…. (tear). It was to the biggest castle we have visited, Windsor Castle. Once again the views from the outside and inside where spectacular!
After a packed week, I need to start thinking about departure things and will begin packing in the next couple days. I have had the time of my life this term, and it’s not even over!
Thank you SOO much for all of your posts about your travels! I am a junior in high school in Alabama and I have no idea what I want to do in the future, but I know I want to travel! I was iffy about studying abroad in England, but your posts have made me feel so much better about it! I can definitely seeing myself there in a couple years. My only problem is I’m not sure what to major in or try to get a job in..Thanks so much again! I enjoyed all your stories!