Hej! It feels like it's been a while since I last posted, but that's probably because I've been busy having fun in London for the past week! That's right, I went with my CMC class on our Long Study Tour to London, England, and it was absolutely incredible. The great thing about Long Study Tour is that it's a great mix of enriching, relevant visits related to our course, and also time to just explore the wonderful city of London. We packed so much into this week, so I'll try to stick to a few key parts. This post might be a long one, so I hope you enjoy it! The Language So, just in case any of you were wondering, in England, people speak English. The signs are in English. The menus are in English. The little British children speak English. It was so refreshing to be back in a country where everything is in my native language. I love the opportunity to learn and get better at Danish, but even though the UK is not the same as the United States, this little aspect made it feel like being home again. The Food One of my favorite things about this trip was just how well we ate. When you’re on a college student budget, most of your meals are pretty simple and quite repetitive. When you travel with DIS, however, they really go all out for you. Here's just a few of my favorite places DIS paid for us to eat at - if you're in London and looking for some good dining, definitely check these places out: 1. Tas Restaurant - For dinner the first night we ate at a Turkish restaurant. We got to try a lot of different appetizers, including some delicious hummus, and then a really nice main course. If you’ve never tried Turkish food, I’d highly recommend it. 2. The English Restaurant - We had a really nice three course meal, and I would go all the way back to London just to eat the amazing risotto I had. I tried bread pudding for the first time for dessert, and it was really good. It was also cool because we had our own little room upstairs booked just for us. We might’ve left Denmark for the week, but that meal was very ‘hyggeligt.’ 3. Fortnum & Mason - Definitely the best meal, and one of the best parts about the trip was high tea at Fortnum & Mason. I’m not even a big tea person, but everything was so beautiful and tasted delicious. A very fancy presentation, and despite the fact that we were just eating finger sandwiches and scones, we all were so full. Nothing is more British than afternoon tea in London! 4. Desserts - Obviously dessert is one of the most important food groups, and London had a great variety to satisfy my sweet tooth. From warm brownies to knickerbocker glories, from mini cheesecakes to gelato, everything I had was so good. The coolest was probably this ice cream place called Four Winters, where they make their ice cream with seasonal ingredients and liquid nitrogen! Watching the process was cool, and the end result was delicious too! It should also be mentioned that all of the places we went out to eat at were amazing at accommodating any and all eating restrictions. We had some vegetarians, gluten free people, and people with dairy allergies on our trip, and they were always able to eat as well as the rest of us. DIS and all the restaurants took care of us very well. The Shows I think my absolute favorite part about the London trip was going to see shows. I love theater, and on Tuesday I got to go to the Globe Theatre, which was a cool experience. We saw Imogen, a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. I had honestly never heard of Cymbeline before, and I wondered how well I’d follow and enjoy Imogen. I needn’t have worried. It was such a great show. It was kind of a mix between Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear, and the modern setting created elements of fun and humor. The cast was talented and incredibly diverse, which I loved. One of the actors was even deaf, and though I couldn’t understand everything he said, I loved watching him sign on stage. I’m so glad we got to go as a group and see this show. I also went with Vivian, one of the girls in the class, to go see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at the Gielgud Theatre. An incredible show - I would recommend it a thousand times over. The stage design is amazing, and they use it in a way that for me gives an incredible insight into what a person with autism’s mind is like. Funny and heartwarming, I am so glad that I decided to go see this show. Whether in London, New York, or anywhere else, if you have the chance to go and see this show, do it. You will not regret it! CMC Site Visits Of course, part of going on a long study tour is to do things related to your core course. In a child development course it’s all about children, and our first visit was to the V&A Museum of Childhood. It’s a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the UK’s museum of applied arts. It was cool too see, and included a toy gallery with toys from across the years, an exhibit of children's clothes, a history of games and more. Melissa and I even found an old version of chutes and ladders and decided to sit down for a game Our group also split to visit two different nursery schools, and my group visited the Holmewood Nursery School. I thought it was a really great site. The children are two and three years old, and they do lots of fun and creative activities dictated by their own interests. The school was also very diverse, with kids not only from a variety of racial backgrounds, but also different first languages, kids with different physical and/or developmental disabilities. It was very different from my experience of schools in Denmark. I think my favorite part of that school (besides the kids’ British accents - adorable!) was that the teachers seemed to really know and care about the students as individuals rather than just a group of kids. When the Assistant Head, who was showing us around, would talk about kids from different backgrounds and histories, he always talked about them by name rather than by some ability, and during the tour he interacted with the kids as he passed them. It was great to see, and I think it was my favorite CMC site on this trip. We also went to Greater London Authority to talk with members of the Education and Youth sector of the mayor’s office. We talked with the Peer Outreach Group, a group of amazing young people helping to create change and affect policy in London. The work they do absolutely amazing. They help and empower youth, and they give them a real voice, actually bringing youth concerns to the mayor. It was a very inspiring talk, and I’m looking forward to digging more into the programs they talked about and how I can bring some of that back with me to the States. Touristy things So what do you do when you first get into the city, after dropping of your bags to the hotel? You get on the London Eye of course! It’s this really giant ferris wheel, the largest in the world when it was erected, and it gives you an amazing view of the city. It was cool to see the city at night from this view too! I took a walk with another classmate and Lea, one of our tour leaders, through Hyde Park, which was so beautiful and peaceful. There were lots of dogs (a good thing), lots of birds (a not so good thing, in my opinion), and we even got a phone call from Queen Victoria! Other touristy spots included The London Tower, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and more. Some of us also went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is huge. We unfortunately did not have time to go inside, but it was still really impressive from the outside. There’s so much to see and do in London, and even though we did a lot, I know there’s so much more that I didn’t have time to do. I will definitely have to come back sometime! This past week was one of the best in my time abroad so far. I love London, and it was so much fun to travel with my class. I think we’re a good group. I love that DIS has travel built into the program, and it’s a huge part of the reason I chose to study abroad here. I can’t wait to hear about everyone else’s travels as well. For now, I’m back in Denmark, and I’m going to enjoy being back at my home away from home.
Vi ses!
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AuthorOn ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. Part of my heart I'm leaving behind in the United States. Join me as I take the rest on an amazing adventure to Copenhagen, Denmark! ArchivesCategories
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