Skip to content

Tag: GW England

Published on

By maxikaplan

With no time left to travel in this month long study period of mine, I’ve had to re-explore parts of my own neighborhood to keep myself entertained. Fortunately, it turns out that London is quite a big city, and that after 8 months of living here there remain parts of the city only a few blocks from me that I didn’t know existed. What is unfortunate, however, is the good weather that’s come to London just as I’m beginning to stay inside week after week to study. It’s as though my last eight months of fun were all at the expense of this study period, but as I’ve said before, if somebody would have told me this would be the case I would have come to London for the year regardless of study time. Whereas before the study period I had decided to take a few days a week off to explore, now I cherish my Saturday’s as my one vacation day, and so far they’ve been incredible. This past weekend there was a food festival of sorts in central London along the Thames, and since I’d never miss a food festival, I quickly made my way down there with my friends. These day breaks are proving to be the best way to re-energize for the week ahead of studying—one day of fooling around helps to keep me focused for 6 days it seems like.

With an exam on May 30th and my flight back to New Jersey booked for the 31st, my friends and I are beginning to realize that this year won’t be ending with much of a blast. Most students in the General Course here who are American would of course be used to the semester ending in excitement, but this program has flipped this idea on its head, and I’m not too happy about it. Surprisingly complaining won’t make it any better so I will stop here, but after 4 semesters at GW ending with partying, it will be interesting to see what it feels like to just take an exam and leave. In a sense it feels like I’ll be leaving London without a proper goodbye, but oh well—I will be back one day I am sure.

Now that I’ve painted this picture of all the fun being over and life going back to a regular schedule, I should say that I’m still having fun—just not as much fun that I was used to having over the past few months. That level of entertainment and freedom is very hard to beat, but once everyone makes it through these exams I am sure life will be good again. Until then, I’ll remain studying.

Published on

By maxikaplan

With two weeks left of classes in Lent term, there are only two things left to do: work hard and plan spring break. The working hard part is proving particularly difficult, especially because the weather in London this past week could not have been better. In a city where it rains almost every day, 60 degrees and sunny is most definitely not the norm, and it makes you want to throw your books out the window and go for a run. The looming danger of finals is far enough away—about 2 and a half months—to still take the lazy Saturday off to explore London, which has been very rewarding but which can’t last forever. In two weeks, however, I’ll take off for a hitchhike to Croatia, and then fly to Switzerland and Greece, so I am really in no position to complain.

This week GW again managed to put together a great event by taking many of the study abroad students to see Puccini’s Turandot at the Royal Opera House on Friday night. This was an opera written in 1924 that takes place in China, although it was written by Puccini who was Italian, which made for a confusing story line, but the orchestra was incredible and it was an amazing experience nonetheless. These events seem to get better and better, and I would definitely recommend to the potential study abroad student that they try to attend as many of these as possible. Not only are they free, but you get to see all the other GW students who are studying here too, and it is reassuring to be reminded of how many of us there are in London. The day after the opera I walked around London with two of my friends that turned into the longest I’ve walked in London since I’ve been here. My legs really didn’t appreciate it, but it was an interesting experience because after living here for seven months you tend to think that you’ve seen everything there is to see. And then when you walk around you’re reminded of how massive this city is and how much there is to do, and I can probably say I’ve only experienced just the tip of the iceberg. Much to my dismay I have not even been to Brick Lane, which is a famous street in London known for its Indian food—something my long time readers (if I have any) will know I love.

Even though I am really looking forward to my spring break and not having any classes, any work, etc., I can’t express how in a weird way I will miss my classes at LSE. I’ve said before how the teaching style here is different from the US and GW in particular, but the breadth of material that they’ve taught me has been incredible, and I’m truly indebted to many of my teachers for their hard work as well. I am sure many of my blogs sound like an advertisement for LSE, so I will stop there, and in short just say that this experience has really defined my time in college. I’ll check in with ya’ll next week.

Published on

By maxikaplan

It probably will not come as a surprise to most, but there is no culture shock in London. If there is and I have overlooked it, it cannot compare to what some of my other friends are going through in countries like Africa and Asia. So as I made my way this past week from Budapest to Prague through Hungarian cities which I cannot pronounce, I had my first, “I’m seeing the world” moment. History has not been so kind to some parts of Eastern Europe, but during my 7-hour bus ride to Prague I appreciated looking at the influence of the former Soviet rule on the dimly lit cities we rode through. Since my bus ride was overnight, I looked at the people getting on at 3 am from Bratislava and other far away cities and wondered why on earth they were getting on here and now. But they probably thought the same of me, and so it goes.

When we first arrived in Budapest and somehow negotiated where we were going to a taxi driver, I was practically in tears to see how cheap everything was. Two dollars for a beer? In London, I can barely find one for six, and I was almost sure that this was a little piece of heaven on earth. But then we came to Prague and beers were fifty cents and I nearly kissed the ground of the grocery store. Although Prague and Budapest are not too far from one another, the differences between the two are like night and day—in Budapest you can find a smile only so often, whereas Prague had far more of an uplifting spirit to it. This was a great pace of change for my friends and I, especially considering a bomb scare at the hostel in Budapest that had us shivering in the cold, wearing next to nothing, from three to six in the morning. Fortunately, when you don’t plan your days you have the luxury of waking up at noon, and this surely helped.

Without going into too much detail of either city, it will suffice to say that I had a fantastic six-day vacation that, to me at least, was much needed. It is a strange feeling coming back to London after a week away, because in a sense it felt like I was coming back home, but nothing can replace that feeling of actually coming home, and I missed my real home then. For better or for worse, I have only three and a half months left in London, and I am surely making the most of it before I head to New York for a much busier summer than the life I live here. My next two countries to visit are Croatia and Switzerland, and I will provide a more in detail blog when I return in about a month from them.

Published on

By anishag22

Yesterday, my American friends and I went on our first day trip (to Bath, England) - a 12 minute train ride from Bristol that costed only seven pounds round trip.  Bath was absolutely lovely and charming, and I couldn't believe that such an amazing city was located so nearby. It made me wonder why study abroad students don't do day trips more often. Don't get me wrong, I have my fair share of weekend trips outside of England booked, but in Bath I realized that there is so much to do and see right in the country you live in!

The "16-25 railcard" offers young people train tickets throughout Great Britain at prices reduced by 1/3. Europe's rail system is so fast, efficient and affordable that in my book ,there is no reason not to take advantage of deals like this! Even if I never left Great Britain over the next four months, I could have an amazing time exploring all of the unique cultural and historical sites in different cities.

My friends and I now want to plan more day trips for the coming weekends, and we couldn't be more excited to see what else England has to offer (We're currently eyeing an Oxford trip). Traveling when you're abroad doesn't have to be insanely expensive if you plan smart and discover the sites nearby. Day trips mean no hostel costs and no hassle, so it's truly worth it to do some local exploring!

Until next time,

Xx, Anisha

Published on

By maxikaplan

As I’m about half way through my second semester here at LSE, I’m surprisingly still not running out of things to do, which makes me think that this would not be such a terrible city to live in. This past weekend, while I should have been writing essays before I take off for Prague next week, I took my second visit to Borough Market, one of London’s most famous. What makes Borough market incredible isn’t just its size, but it’s variety—after a two hour trip there I came home with cheeses from France and Parma, and two burgers for dinner: one from a camel, one from a zebra. In between my walking around I took a shot of wheat grass, which is essentially juice made from grass, and incidentally one of the worst tasting drinks known to man. The best part of this Saturday excursion was that I came back to the north side of the Thames not to finish schoolwork, but to stay out with a mix of friends from home and abroad at different pubs. It often feels like after having been here for five months that I am nearly living in a dream.

One of the advantages to being at LSE for the year is being able to really understand how the flow of schoolwork here functions. Taking this understanding to then take a week off from class to travel to Budapest and Prague is probably one of the better strategies of tackling work that I’ve used. Although this sounds like I am missing out on the academic experience at LSE, all classes are fortunately recorded online and I will not miss a thing while I am gone. To any sophomores who might be reading this blog thinking of applying to LSE, I could not recommend it more. This Friday I will be going to the Royal Opera House to see a world famous opera production, and tomorrow night I am going to a public lecture by one of my own class teachers about the merits of Bitcoin. This is truly a unique experience that is both academically stimulating and, not to sound cliché, but fun.

This fun is intermitted by periods of very high levels of work unfortunately, and it is time that I go to finish that work before my week off. GW is sponsoring the trip that I and the other students will be taking on Friday to the opera, and I owe them a big thanks for that, since I am especially excited for it. I will check in next week right before I take off for my travels. Talk to you soon!

Published on

By maxikaplan

I must admit that I did not think there would be anywhere close to enough variability in my life here in London that would keep my blog interesting for 9 months. Fortunately, it turns out that there’s a lot to do and a lot left to be done after my first 5, but studying at LSE makes it all a bit more challenging. With exams around the corner—by which I mean in four months—most students begin studying at the end of March for their exams in June considering the amount of material we absorb during the year. I think the intensity of the schoolwork here is fairly different from the typical study abroad experience, and I’m conflicted in how I feel about this. I do know that the more I dwell on it, the worse I’ll actually perceive it to be, so for now I am trying to maximize work time with everything else there is to be doing, and it’s turning out to be quite an experiment.

In this past week alone I went to see Henry V with Jude Law (Thanks, GW), help move in my friends to London who are just beginning their semester here, attempt to bungee jump, all while trying to finish my pile of readings for my classes as well. The best part? Seeing Henry V, not only for the incredible performance by Jude Law, but also because it was great to see the 30 or so GW students who came in addition to my friends from GW at LSE. It is an unusual feeling to see people’s faces in a theater in London who you are used to seeing only around campus in DC, but it’s oddly comforting too to know that you aren’t really alone wherever you are. It was like an unexpected mini-reunion. The worst part of the week? Bungee jumping. Unfortunately, the rain and wind in London doesn’t exactly make for ideal bungee jumping conditions, so what I paid 50 pounds for was promptly cancelled and rescheduled. On the bright side, we went an hour and a half outside of London and into the countryside, and ended up exploring the city of Maidenhead. If you ever get the chance to come to London, don’t go to Maidenhead. People are always saying places that you must go to when you travel, but luckily Maidenhead is just not one of those places, and likely never will be. But if you do find yourself stuck in Maidenhead, there are plenty of dilapidated pubs that my friends and I went to where you can ease the pain a bit.

If I can remember as far back as a week ago, I mentioned that the structure of my blogs would change a bit from last term. I hope I’m achieving something similar to that idea here by chronicling my experiences a bit more. I will check in next week to see what this beautiful week 3 of Lent Term at LSE has to bring me.

Published on

By maxikaplan

Around this time four months ago I began writing my first blog post for GW, and this semester I’m lucky enough to get to do it again. For those who didn’t read my previous postings, I’m studying at the London School of Economics for my junior year, which means I get the pleasure of staying in this great city for approximately nine months. My previous blog, embarrassingly enough, read as more of a diary than a list of new experiences or places I’ve visited, and I do hope to make this one slightly more contextual. With that in mind, I thought it would be best to kick off my first post by talking a bit about the traveling I did throughout my 4 weeks winter break.

Since I wouldn’t be starting my traveling until the second week of my vacation, I spent the first mostly catching up on work I needed to do. At LSE, the incentives for getting work done during the year are close to none: your only grade throughout the entire year comes down to one final exam. After getting done what needed to be done, I took off for Paris with two of my good friends at school, both of whom find great pleasure in ridiculing me for the contents of this blog. This was, by far, my favorite vacation I had ever taken, because our plan was to have no plan, and it couldn’t have worked out better. When you don’t plan things like this, anything can happen, and our adventure included five cities: Paris, Brussels, Brugge, Berlin, and Dublin.

Although Paris was by far my favorite city, we got locked inside of a government building in Brussels, nearly hit by fireworks on New Years in Berlin, and ate some of the best chocolate of our lives in Brugge. This vacation did, unfortunately, hit pretty steeply into my wallet, but I don’t think I will ever in my life regret enjoying those three weeks to the fullest, because it is truly a once in a lifetime experience. Without going into every detail of the trip, it was, in short, a fantastic time. But what I look forward to even more is the next trip I’ll be taking in March through LSE: hitchhiking from London to Croatia. Totaling one week, with three days to get there and another three in Zagreb, this “vacation” is actually a charity event, where teams of three raise money and compete to see who can arrive in Zagreb first.

This semester is going to be a great one, especially since many of my close friends from GW will be joining me to study in London for their study abroad. This week, however, is shaping up to be one of a lot of reading and finance problem sets. Once I finish all of those, and bungee jump on Saturday, I will get back to you this time next week.

Published on

By maxikaplan

There is good news and there is bad news. I'll start with the bad: this is my last blog post. But, the good news is that I will be writing a second blog through GW for my next semester at LSE as well. I am thankful that I don't have to say goodbye to you all yet, and that as I write this from Paris that I can continue to give my readers the inside scoop of study abroad. This isn't a post about how fabulous study abroad is and how it has changed my life, but since I have the chance to I thought I would say a few words about the small things I've learned over the past few months.

First, and probably most important to me, is the idea of getting out of your comfort zone. Whether in class, in school, or at an internship, getting uncomfortable provides opportunities for me that l would have never known existed. Coming to LSE for a year was something I knew would put me out of my comfort zone, and so far so good. No harm done.

Second, I don't know where I would be in my study abroad experience and life in general if I hadn't learned to accept and always meet new people. I generally find two types of people when it comes to this though; there are those who willingly put themselves out there to seek new friends, and those who stay on the sidelines and make excuses not to go out, talk to the student next to you, etc. I personally have seen both sides of this coin myself, and I can tell you that being the former person and not the latter will help you in ways you can't imagine.

My time in Paris thus far might be what has me worked up about all of this, but since I am on vacation I think these ideas are really just beginning to hit me. I hope they one day hit you too. For now, that is all, readers, and I will get back to you in January when I start writing again. Happy New Year!

Published on

By maxikaplan

A funny thing happened this week when I made a presentation in my Economic History of Britain class.  My topic would not have been quite as intimidating were it not for the fact that I was speaking to a class of students primarily from Britain about why their motor industry had failed.  To make matters worse, the state of the motor industry in the U.S. was needed as a comparison.  And if that was not enough to make me watch my words, the president of the Economic History society at London School of Economics was in my class as well, ready to pick apart any flaw in my argument.

I was not too worried, however, about the reasoning behind my presentation because I thought that it was sound, and if I could back it up with facts then I knew it could not turn out too bad.  What struck me as difficult was trying to maintain my audience’s trust without being too partial towards the success of the US and the failure of Britain’s industries.  That is when I realized that the challenge of walking such a fine line is never an easy task but that it comes up incredibly often in life, and that LSE was, at least, preparing me for these situations that I’ll have to face at some point in the future.  I’m thankful towards LSE for moments like this, even if it causes me quite a bit of stress.

After the week kicked off on that unusual note, I made a point to do more of what I have been guilty of not doing lately: seeing London.  This is an especially busy time of year at school, and with a few interviews coming up I looked towards these excuses as a way to justify my lack of travel, but in the end we never really are satisfied with excuses.  So I made my way with a friend to the northern part of London, which didn’t require much planning considering it was only a 20 minute bus ride away.  But London can certainly amaze by how different sections of its city are that are so close-by to each other.  With work building up it is always hard to remember to appreciate the city and my experience here in general, and each time I go for these mini-excursions I realize how much there is to appreciate.  Our trip turned out to be an interesting night, culminating somehow at a jazz club that was incredible.

Thanksgiving is coming up, which means my next two weeks, and therefore my next two blog posts, should be particularly interesting.  My brother is coming to visit me who studies in Austria, so I will have much to report.  For now, it is back to work.

Published on

By maxikaplan

With my family visiting this weekend for what was dubbed “Thanksgivvukah,” I had no choice but to explore London, despite my workload.  And, frankly, I am happy that I put off some work this weekend to spend time with my family and with London, because it had been too long since I adventured around.  One of the perks of family visits is, of course, the meals you get to eat, and I was lucky enough to get a taste of some of London’s best food and museums this weekend.  The combination of my family and my friends visiting from home shaped this weekend quite perfectly.

If I can think back as far as last Sunday, I probably wrote in my blog about worrying how I would manage my time between preparing for this interview I have next Friday, my school work, and my family visiting.  What I learned is, in short: don’t waste time.  The little amount of time that I had to myself this weekend I spent studying and preparing for my interview, and although I would have preferred to spend it at a pub or with my friends, it was worth it.  I was able to get just enough work done to keep my stress level down and enjoy the events my family was taking me to.  I suppose things like this happen quite often in every day life, but for some reason this time was particularly eye opening.  It might have been because this interview is so important to me, but either way I definitely learnt what it means to use your time wisely.

With all my complaining out of the way, I should probably mention the museum’s I visited and places I ate.  First off, ox cheek is apparently something that can be eaten and digested, and it is incredible.  Secondly, apparently espresso can go on top of vanilla ice cream, which can definitely be digested, and which tastes amazing.  These foods I discovered in neighborhoods in London that I didn’t know existed until my family took me there—yet again one of the perks of family visits.  As far as museum’s go, we took a trip to the National Portrait Gallery to see an exhibit of artists that painted in Vienna around 1900.  This worked out well for my family, since my brother currently lives in Vienna and I visited there this time last year.  All in all, a great experience.

Next weekend I am in New York, but do not fret, reader--I will write as usual.

Unless otherwise indicated, the content and opinions expressed on this web site are those of the author(s). They are not endorsed by and do not necessarily reflect the views of the George Washington University.
Privacy Notice
Viewing Message: 1 of 1.
 Notice

This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. Visit GW’s Website Privacy Notice to learn more about how GW uses cookies.