Tag: study

Live the Authentic British Life

Published on by DU AbroadLeave a comment

For those ready to live the authentic British life, here are my five tips to get you started…

1.       British Afternoon Tea – Not to be missed, afternoon tea is one of the highlights of UK cultural life. Afternoon tea is taken between 3 and 5pm, often on a weekend and consists of limitless cups of tea, accompanied by both cucumber and egg and cress sandwiches, scones (with cream and jam) and cakes (Victoria sponge, fruit cake amongst others) and pastries. DU students studying abroad in York  should be sure to check out Betty’s Tea Rooms in York City Center, where it is not unusual to see people lining (“queuing”) down the street as they wait for their tea. The only question is, should you drink English breakfast tea, Scottish afternoon, Twinnings, Earl Grey or Chai?

photo: londonmindthegap.blogspot.com
photo: londonmindthegap.blogspot.com

2.       Visit a Great British Pub – bask in a leisurely drink along with some great traditional British cuisine – fish and chips (served in newspaper), bangers (sausages) and mash or Shepherds Pie (google it). For students studying in Glasgow, check out the Monster Mash Café in Edinburgh, which has a whole menu devoted to different variations of sausage and mashed potato. Anyone for blackpudding sausage and apple mash?

3.       Museums, museums, museums… embrace the fact that nearly all museums in London are free. Britain’s best and most prestigious museums such as the famous British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, or check out modern art at the Tate Modern amongst many other museums with free admission.

Photo: wikipedia.org
photo: wikipedia.org

4.       Relish in the opportunity to move beyond American football, baseball and the like and instead venture to a soccer, cricket or rugby game. Watch Glasgow Celtic play in front of 60,000 people, or those studying in England check out the English Premier League, and watch a match at Old Trafford? For rugby games which are played regularly throughout winter and fall check out http://www.premiershiprugby.com/

5.       Check out Britain’s Roman history, in particular Hadrian’s Wall. As the Roman Empire began to collapse, Hadrian ordered the building of a wall across the entire north of England to keep out Picts from Scotland. The wall, a World Heritage site, still exists today and stretches across the breadth of Northern England (73 miles). Walk it end to end perhaps and see some of Britain’s rugged countryside.

photo: imgur.com
photo: imgur.com

Achieve these five things and you’ll have plenty to write home about…

– Callum Forster, DUSA Graduate Peer Advisor (and Brit)

Living an Everyday Adventure

Published on by DU Abroad1 Comment

As a junior at DU I studied abroad in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa for five months. Because I was in Africa, everything felt like an adventure. Obviously, backpacking through the Drakensburg Mountains and four-wheeling across the Lesotho/South Africa border was adventurous, but even the smallest things were new and exciting. The grocery stores carried different kinds of foods. People used different kinds of slang. The public transportation was discombobulated and confusing. Just making it from point A to point B on a local taxi was thrilling. Trying to remember to walk on the right side of the street was an adventure – if I forgot I’d get run down by pedestrians that could actually tell their right from their left.

1Upon arriving back in the United States I suffered from a serious case of culture shock, and on top of that, my American life seemed dull and mundane. I went back to school, started working again, headed to the gym four days a week… life was good, but it wasn’t exciting. I wasn’t traipsing around Southern Africa, waving hello to monkeys as I went for a run, or listening to the exotic sounds of Zulu or Xhosa.

Studying abroad was so exciting, it was almost as if I had lost my flair for my everyday life in the shadow of study abroad’s glow.

It’s now been over three years since I returned from study abroad. I look back on those difficult months of adjusting and readjusting to my life in the States, and my worries and frustrations now seem so trivial. It’s as if, when I arrived home from South Africa, I felt that my adventures were over. That thought seems funny to me now – my adventures, over? No way! They were simply just beginning.

Just seven months after arriving home from study abroad I went back to South Africa, where I road-tripped up into Zimbabwe to go on a missions trip and then stay at a friend’s home for several weeks. 2After graduating from college I moved into the city and got my own studio apartment. I visited a friend in Chicago because I’d never been, and always wanted to go.  On a long weekend, a close friend and I jumped in my car and drove up to Mt. Rushmore. Why? Because we wanted to. Because life is never meant to be mundane. Because there is always an adventure on the horizon.

Now, looking back on my melancholy upon arriving home after study abroad, I understand where it was coming from… but it seems a little bit silly. My vision was so short-sighted. I had just come home from the greatest adventure of my life, but at the same time, my life was just beginning. Even now, three years later, my life is just beginning.

Our lives can be adventurous for as long as we live them that way. When you get home from abroad, try to remember that. Jump in the car and drive somewhere random. Buy a new ingredient at the grocery store and think up some recipe that uses it. Talk to a random person on the street. Carry your adventurous spirit wherever you go – it’s a gift that’s meant to be used.

-Christina Hunter