I will say that starting classes definitely made the whole thing feel much less like a vacation and more like a true semester abroad, but that somehow didn’t take away from any of the enthusiasm I still have about being here. I obviously do miss everyone from home and Temple, but that somehow hasn’t had an effect on my ability to enjoy everything going on in my life here in London. I am sure i will experience bits of homesickness now and then, but for now I am still looking at everything I do here as something I could never have done anywhere else!

Now, an important aspect of the study abroad experience is obviously the studying itself (or so that’s what people keep telling me) and I have to say, it is here that I have noticed some of the biggest differences so far! For one thing, British students call high school “college” and at college they chose a topic of study that they think they want to continue at University. This means that upon being a “fresher” at Uni, most students already have a rather extensive knowledge of their chosen area of coursework. This was a little intimidating at first, just because I didn’t know how much more well versed the other students in the class would be.
Another major difference is that University here is only three years, with the majority of students taking a gap year wither before or after Uni to travel the world before entering the working world. In my opinion, this sounds awesome! (Mom, Dad – what do you think?)

The actual classes are quite different as well. Class only meets once a week, and only ten times total because there are many reading/independent study weeks built into the calender! There are also no weekly assignments or grades for attendance/participation, so all of one’s grades are based on two exams or papers which can be a little scary. My favorite thing about the classes is that since they are three hours long, students get a break in the middle – called a “Tea Break!” Yes, the London stereotype is 100% well deserved! In America, college students run on coffee but here, everyone really does come back from break with a cup of tea! Another favorite snack here are potato crisps (chips in America), however they are a little different here …

Yes, one of the most popular flavors of chips is indeed shrimp cocktail. Now, if that was the only strange flavor it would be one thing, but it does not end there! Other popular flavors are Roasted Chicken, Smoky Bacon, and Steak and Onion! Now I am no vegetarian and I certainly enjoy my fair share of meat and potatoes, but this I still have not gotten used to! I have given them a try, but I have to say the appeal is lost on me – I think someone should send me a care package of sour cream and onion chips so I can show these Brits something new and delicious!

I will save a long rant about food differences for another blog – for now I must be off to class! Cheerio!

There are definitely some differences with the kitchens here compared to at home. The kitchen did not come with much, your usual main cooking appliances – oh and a kettle! Fitting in with the typical Londoner’s love of tea, that is the one extra appliance besides a microwave that every flat comes with! Now I love tea as much as the next person, but I still find it funny that a kettle was considered such a necessary appliance that they provide them on every floor. Additionally, the stove is actually referred to as the “Hob” in London, which brought about a lot of confusion when I was trying to cook my first dinner and couldn’t find the switch to turn the stove on!

It is little differences like this that I keep noticing all around the city. One may think that since English is spoken in both the US and the UK adapting here would be quite simple, but there are many differences in various aspects of life and speech across the pond!  For one thing, when you order coffee here they ask you if you would like it “black or white.” This was very confusing to me the first time it happened, but then the man behind the counter explained that black coffee is without cream and sugar, and white coffee is with the added sweeteners. Also, when someone says they are “pissing on you” it does not actually mean they are trying to pee on you, thankfully. It is common British slang to use the word “pissing”  to mean joking around or kidding with. This is one of those things where the first time I heard someone say it I just awkwardly smiled and pretended I knew what they were talking about, but eventually I have caught on. Each time I talk to a local I learn more and more common slang terms to bring back with me to the states!

Also, I thought I should include one of my favorite differences so far: speed bumps. Now, in America when you are approaching a speed bump there will usually be some sort of yellow sign with the words “Speed Bump Ahead” displayed in bold letters.  Additionally, if there was an area of high pedestrian traffic there would be a simple sign with a man walking on it. In London, these signs look a little different …

Yep, that’s right: humped zebra crossing! Now, you can imagine my confusion the first time I saw a sign like this on the side of the road. I haven’t been in the UK that long, but I have yet to run into any humped zebras. I asked my British friend about the phrase, and apparently it is used to signify a giant speed bump with a striped crosswalk on top of it. I think these should spread to the US too, much more amusing than our signs!

Classes are set to start this week, so I will definitely report back on how those go soon! In the meantime, wish me luck in my new home in Marylebone!

It was during the walking tour that I realized the first major difference between America and the United Kingdom: the history! In America, Philadelphia is considered to be one of the most historical places in the nation, full of landmarks from the 1700′s. These are awesome to see, and I often remark when in Philadelphia how cool it is to be going to school in a place with so much history. Whilst walking around in London, you realize America’s history has nearly just begun! All of the monuments and buildings here have such a long and intricate history, it is truly fascinating! Whether it be the various palaces owned and lived in my famous monarchs, the beautiful churches, or the parliamentary buildings; so many places here have stories dating back thousands of years! I have decided that one of my goals during my stay here is going to be to brush up on my British History, so I can really understand the significance of all of the amazing sites I see!
Following the walking tour, a member of the House of Lords came in to talk to us about how the British government works. He delved into the history of the system briefly, however I still want to learn more about how their system came to be. He explained that although everyone knows about the famous British Monarchy, this position of “head of state” is really just a figure head. The equivalent of their president is the Prime Minister, and the House of Commons and House of Lords are loosely similar to the House of Representatives and the Senate. He discussed British politics briefly, and this was really interesting to me as well. He explained that Britain is rather supportive of President Obama, and that the upcoming election in the US is going to have a huge impact on Britain and their own politics as well. He also explained that abortion and gay marriage are hardly issues at all in the UK, and political parties are hardly divided at all on these issues as they are all for them.

As interesting as Orientation has been, I am now truly excited to get out of the hotel and move into my residence in the heart of London. So far, the experience has almost felt like a vacation rather than a semester abroad! I am sure once classes start and I am all settled in to my new flat, I can truly start to feel at home. Wish me luck!

I decided to spend a little extra money and take the group flight option offered by IFSA Butler, this way I would be traveling with dozens of other students all studying in London as well. Everyone else was equally as excited, and after much chit chat, movie watching, and 7 hours spent desperately trying to fall asleep, we had arrived in the UK! Unfortunately the day we flew in was stricken with London’s famously awful weather, so we got a taste of the dreary rainfall right away. I was not about to let the clouds cloud my excitement, and the second the bus arrived at our orientation site, me and a few other girls from the plane decided to set out to explore our new surroundings. The first thing I noticed upon my arrival was that crossing the street in London is actually terrifying! Not only are the cars all driving on the other side of the road making it hard to remember where to look, but they also do not stop for you at all! In the states you must yield to pedestrians, but here it seems the cars (mostly the taxis and busses!) don’t even think twice about keeping their foot on the gas! J-walkers beware!

One of the first things I had to do was take money out of the ATM, or what the Brits refer to as a “cash point.” After admiring how much better looking the money is in London , it was time to start spending it! I bought toiletries and a mobile phone, and before I knew it my beautiful bills had become a huge pile of change weighing down my wallet. The smallest bills here are five pounds, meaning the majority of change you receive from purchases is coins. They have 1 penny, 2 pence, 20 pence, 50 pence, 1 pound and 2 pound coins, all made of very heavy metal! I am going to need to study the coins, because it screams tourist when you stare at them trying to remember how much money they are worth at the register!

british money!

Day one and two were largely spent participating in various orientation activities, including seminars about how the British school system differs from ours and safety tips for the bustling streets of London. The speakers were extremely informative, and the orientation as a whole made me a feel a lot more educated in what to expect for the next few months. I finished the night off with grabbing a pint at a pub near the hotel, where conveniently they were showing a football game on the televisions! The match was between Manchester City and Liverpool, making for a very exciting atmosphere in the pub as everyone cheered on their team! It was at that moment that it really hit me that I was in fact in London! It is all just beginning, but I already know these are going to be amongst the greatest months of my life!

Home Sweet Rennes

by Emily Briggs

Today, we hit the five-weeks to go mark. Five weeks left in Rennes is hard to believe. We have all come so far from the first awkward meetings in the ‘jardin’ of the Paris hostel. But, today also begins our first full week back from our Fall Break. Our Fall Break consisted of a full week off of school, and if you add in the two weekends, it equates about 10 days for traveling the world.  continue reading

For one, I feel like a local on the metro.  I don’t need to stop and look at the signs to know what direction to go; I can feel it.  The ticket machines gracing the station entrances are useless to me; one swipe of my tessare mensile will do.  Why yes, I do have a need for a monthly pass.

I know my route like I know the cheese section at the local grocery store (perfectly).  This has turned out to be great for my germophobic tendencies.  On the trip from school to home, I can enter the subway last and lean against the door.  The two intermediate stops open on the other side, and the door against which I’m leaning doesn’t again open until the exact moment at which I need to exit.  As long as I get a stable initial footing, I can endure the whole ride without touching any pole or surface.  On the opposing journey, from home to school, I can replicate the situation exactly as long as I cross over to the other side of the car upon entrance.  Call it neurosis, but I call it experience.

I wear my stop as a badge of honor.  “Usciti la prossima?” an elderly Italian woman or slicked teen in too-tight jeans will ask me.  “No, I am not getting off at Ottaviano or Colosseo with the rest of the tourists,” I will smugly think to myself.  “My stop is Cipro, and only real Italians (and American study abroad students) have a use for this station.”

Riding the subway everyday is like taking a course in the people of Rome.  I vacillate between listening to music and eavesdropping on the bits of conversation I am able to translate.  I like to think tuning into my iPod makes me seem totally unenthused by the system that unnerves many, although doing such prevents me from fully appreciating the people around me.  It’s a precarious balance that I endeavor to manage everyday.

Each morning, upon my descent into the underbelly of Rome, at the Cipro station that I claim as mine, I catch a glimpse of St. Peter’s off in the distance and the seemingly tiny ball resting on top of the cupola that actually weighs two tons.  Especially now, as my time in Rome is quickly waning, I take this as a daily reminder of the wonder and inimitability of the Eternal city.  It’s true that I would never advise replicating this only-adequate system, but I’m starting to realize I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Going to a city with an art history class is excellent.  Our professor is able to get us into museums or sites for free or reduced price.  We saw huge museums like the Uffizi, and small churches with mannerist paintings.  We saw famous monuments like Michelangelo’s David, and smaller known works many people don’t think to see.  It was particularly inspiring to me as an art student.  It was perfect to go with a class, because we saw so much art that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.  I have friends who went to Florence by themselves, and they didn’t see nearly as much art as we did.  When I go somewhere, I’m interested in the visuals in the streets and the art.  So I enjoy being in my art history classes, and being able to experience other cities with the class.

The museums didn’t allow anyone to take pictures inside, and some places don’t allow drawing inside either.  Small sketches in my notebook had to suffice when I wanted to capture the paintings by Botticelli or the sculptures in the Medici Chapel.  My friend Portia and I stayed in the museum later than our class to make sure we got our money’s worth of art.

My High Renaissance professor is an excellent professor.  He doesn’t just tell the fact about what could be on the test.  He elaborates with history and stories.  He brings not only the High Renaissance to life, but also the local Italian history and politics from all time periods.  I always enjoy listening to what he has to say.  It’s great to have professors who get students into the material, and having professors who have the local Italian perspective is even more awesome.  My favorite professors are my professors who are native Romans.

Florence is a smaller city than Rome.  I enjoyed it because it was a very walkable city with beautiful art.  There were many American students who study there because many universities have programs in Florence.  Because of this, the central part of the city was set up basically solely for tourists and American students.  It is nearly impossible to find authentic genuine local food in the central part of the city.  Like any part of Italy, the best food is found in smaller, out-of-the-way locations.

For dinner the first day there, our professor walked us to a restaurant outside of the main city where he had taken previous classes.  The food was amazing.  I got a dish with seafood and pasta because I wanted to try octopus.  Octopus is sold in the markets and grocery stores here, either fresh or sometimes frozen.  I was told that octopus tastes really good, so I wanted to try some.   It was so tasty!  apparently it doesn’t require very fancy cooking.  It can just be boiled in water with salt.  It didn’t taste gross in the slightest bit.  It was savory and wasn’t even a gross texture.  I do like Calamari though, so maybe if you can’t get over the tentacles, octopus is not for you.

A man painting in the Prado

I’ve always loved art, but being in Rome and Europe has really solidified this feeling.  Many people on this program are fine art majors, and a myriad of art classes are offered at Temple Rome, including painting, drawing, photography and sculpture.  One class that many students take, called Sketchbook, is for seasoned artists and beginners alike.  Once a week, the class goes somewhere in Rome and sketches the surroundings.  I wasn’t able to take this class, but it seems like a really interesting way to become familiar with Rome.

I do take two art history classes here, which is definitely contributing to my heightened enjoyment for art.  Having a seasoned professor explain art to you is so much more valuable than blind appreciation.  Once a week, in each of my classes, we go on site visits to see the art we are talking about.  Of course, this alone is such a rare opportunity, and I believe it would make the most stubborn art critic rethink their feelings.

Part of our Temple Rome campus is an art gallery, and art openings and shows occur often here.  Sometimes it is student work, and sometimes it features a local artist.  This is a great way for students to show off their art and for other students, like me, to appreciate what my peers are capable of achieving.

Through my travels this semester, I have visited many museums.  For me, going to a museum is a tranquil and enjoyable experience, but knowing what you are seeing makes the visit infinitely more fulfilling.  Some of my favorite museums from this semester have been the Prado in Madrid, the Tate Modern in London, and, of course, the Borghese Gallery in Rome.  I’m looking forward to returning to Philadelphia and having a new-found appreciation for its museums.  I can’t wait to spend a blustery winter afternoon in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

I’ve realized that being here has really shown me the value of art.  The medium is such an interesting way to look at the past.  And yet, so much art is still salient and contemporary today.  This past week, I registered for classes for next semester for my school, and in a bold move, I decided to sign up for Drawing I.  This decision is definitely a product of my semester here in Rome, and I think this class will add yet another layer to my appreciation for art.

The tower's visibility near Tamachi Station (田町駅).

The walk itself was not bad – we were worried that it would be a long walk, but it took probably about 20 minutes and was pretty straightforward. Basically, we just pointed ourselves in the right direction and headed towards the tall yellow-orange object.

Taken while standing in the driveway/street leading up to the tower.

During the day, Tokyo Tower is just painted plain orange and white, but as soon as it becomes dark (around 17:00), it lights up to usually this yellow/orange color. However, when I first arrived to Tokyo in August, it was a white color instead. I have been told that sometimes it changes colors for special events or seasons, so I am currently waiting to see if it will change as the winter holiday season begins.

We explored the bottom area of the tower, which mainly consists of souvenir shops (they sell many Tokyo Tower phone straps, mugs, etc., so I plan on going back and buying a few gifts there) and restaurants. The souvenir prices were reasonable (about ￥200 – ￥1000, depending on what you are looking for). There are also elevators that take visitors to the observatory, which I would like to go to when I go back to Tokyo Tower during the day.

Taken at the foot of the tower. You can see the main observatory in the middle.

Here is some information concerning Tokyo Tower, taken from its official site: It was built in 1958 as a structure for communications, to support antennae, and stands at 333m tall. As you may notice, the design is based upon Paris’ Eiffel Tower, and currently it is one of the tallest pieces of architecture in Japan. There are two observatories – the main observatory and the special observatory. The main observatory consists of two floors, and on the first floor there are “look down windows” that allow visitors to literally look down at the ground below their feet. The second floor holds a Shinto Shrine, and the special observatory is higher up and shows visitors the best views of Tokyo city available from the tower.

Although visiting the tower during the day would be very interesting (especially to use the “look down windows”), I definitely recommend visiting at night as well to see it all lit up – it’s so bright that all the buildings around it reflect the orange glow!

My favorite thing in Bagamoyo, besides the beautiful landscape and beaches, was an arts university that we visited. The College of Arts in Bagamoyo teaches traditional forms of Tanzanian art, painting, sculpture, drums, theater, and dancing. They had a professor teach our whole group how to do a group dance and then treated us to an awesome performance by some of their own. It was really incredible, their dance team was very talented, doing a sort of stomp, chant, dance combination, I think it would be really popular in the US.

It was really nice to see an arts university in Africa, I feel like most people here that I meet are pursuing degrees in business or health in order to acquire a good job, understandably. Most art and craft-work I encounter is done by women who use it as their primary source of income and attempt to sell to tourists on the streets or to the stalls in the crafts markets. Much of the work, beading, carving, painting, etc is done in the same style, little creativity or diversity between artists, which can be frustrating for someone who really appreciates art as I usually do. But the university seemed to foster the students’ individuality and imagination. The school even does outreach work to the surrounding villages, attempting to solve some of the community problems through theatrical expression. I would love to learn more about the programs they do, the short explanation of their innovative approach we received really piqued my interest.

Those last two days we spent in Bagamoyo were the calm and quiet I think everyone in our group needed after the hectic experience in Dar and the drive down. The hotel we stayed in this time was up to standards, not glamorous by any stretch, but it was actually right on the beach which can make anything better. We spent a night lying on blankets on the shore looking for shooting stars while some of the boys climbed the trees, retrieving coconuts and competing to crack them open. The morning we left a handful of us woke up around 4:30 to watch the sunrise. It was cloudy and overcast at first so the colors were muted but as the sun came up it burned away some of the moisture and a few patches of radiant pinks, oranges, and yellows peeked through. The fishermen were all starting out for the day and numerous small African style fishing boats dotted the horizon creating one of the most picturesque sights I’ve seen in my time here so far. The drive home was not nearly as bad, no rain, we managed to organize our bodies and belongings better to have a little more space and spirits were high after a great breakfast and relaxing few days. Back to classes!

The beach right by our hotel with lots of fishing boats

watching the sunrise

Sunrise over the Indian Ocean

On the Road Home to Arusha