Day 9: Depart London | Post-Return Blog

Going on this study aboard in England has brightened my perspective of the outside world and how we in many ways are similar but different. I made friends and met some new people who came from different aspects of life. There were many things during my adventure that I will forever hold dear and those are the days I spent in Derby. Derby was the biggest highlight of my trip, and I enjoyed every second of it. I wish we had more time to spend there and learn more things. London was beautiful but it just was not my cup of tea, it was too overcrowded, and the streets were dirty in comparison to Derby. Derby seemed to have a quaint and cozy atmosphere. Derby felt safe and like home and in the future I would love to go exploring their beautiful city even more. I enjoyed the little things like the robin hood tour, despite it being a last-minute addition, I enjoyed it. I also like going shopping with my friends in another country. I like hanging out with Stephanie and getting lost when we couldn’t find our hotel at 9 pm. We were exhausted but we just laughed it off because of how ridiculous it all was. Going on this study aboard was a great opportunity for me because it made me get out of my shell and made me interact with new places and people that I might have never done or seen in my life. I came back home feeling stronger and healthier and with the sense of wanting more adventure and more to see. I think this trip to England has awoken a deep taste for travel in me and I hope to explore more places in the future. I do hope to visit again many of the locations I visited during this study aboard like the Chatsworth house. The Chatsworth house was another highlight of the trip for me because of how beautiful it all was, and I can’t imagine how people used to live there and were able to see that view every single day once upon a time. I also enjoyed trying new foods that I would not have thought of trying here in the States. As well as drinking their tap water which was safe to drink. Learning how the court systems work in Europe compared to here was very amusing in that they handle their cases a little differently than us but not that hugely different. How they give their guilty defendants mild punishments compared to how we punish our guilty parties here in the United States. How many of their old ways of handling criminals and those who pleaded guilty or even not guilty were barbaric. Overall though I didn’t hate my trip and there were many things I learned along the way about other people and myself. I hope to visit England again in the future. A big THANK YOU to those in the FEA and to the investors, I couldn’t have done this without you. :)