London, England

When we landed at Heathrow in London, our first order of business was to drop our luggage off at the Red Lion Hotel in Hillingdon and head into the city.

London was bustling with commuters and tourists as we made our way into The British Museum. Our professors – Tanya Cochran, Ben Holdsworth and Ben Tyner – gave us specific directions for the scavenger hunt we needed to complete, a rather taxing pursuit after being on vans, planes, buses, and trains for the last sixteen hours.

Our professors had informed us in meetings prior to the trip: we’d stay awake and walk the entire first day of the trip despite only having a few hours of sleep with the time change. That sounded manageable weeks before, but in practice, it was extremely difficult to function while being exhausted.

That first day was a sensory and information overload. But in the next few days, we were immersed in sights. Big Ben, Parliament, Shakespeare’s Globe, Westminster Abbey and more.

Oxford, England

After three days in London, we packed our bags, heading to Oxford on a public coach. I was especially excited to see that location as I imagined it would be a rich academic environment. I was not disappointed. 

We spent Friday walking around town listening to on-site lectures from our professors about religious and literary figures such as John Wycliffe, Thomas Cranmer, John Wesley, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I took  notes immediately or else any sensory input would push out of my brain the information a professor had just shared. Memory and attention span was tricky in a busy public space. 

Being on this trip as a group was at times a strenuous task, but fortunately we were all of the mindset that being adaptable and flexible was the ideal. Also, Sabbath was our chance to slow down, soak in the experiences and choose what to do with our designated freetime.

In Oxford, our personal coach driver Imran picked up the group and we headed to the Lake District.

Lake District, England

The halfway point of the trip came when we stayed in Windermere. It was the smallest town we visited, neatly situated in the Lake District close to peaks and lakes. During the day, we went to the laundrette for our one chance at washing our clothes. Because we had fewer required events, afternoons were a good time to work on homework assignments, as there was usually an assignment due every couple of days, if not every day.

Dr. Cochran, our English professor, took us to the house of Beatrix Potter, the author of the famous children’s story Peter Rabbit. Our homework was to observe what we found interesting and connect it to a documentary we’d been assigned to watch before the trip about Potter’s life and writing. For this literature course, titled The Literature and Landscape of Great Britain, most of the homework was geared towards connecting our experiences and observations in the places we visited to the authors and their writing. 

Behind our hotel was an accessible trail up the mountain. I spent my evenings walking with a friend in the pastoral scenery. The dip and curve of the hills created a peaceful impression. From up high we could see the sun set along the hillside pastures where sheep grazed. One of those evenings we read aloud poetry by William Wordsworth as a class on the mountain top as the many lakes sparkled in the setting sun

Glasgow, Highlands and Edinburgh, Scotland

The ride from northern England into Scotland was the most sitting we did the entire two weeks. It served as time to wind down, decompress, journal, observe and absorb the view. The Scottish Highlands–Glen Coe, loch after loch and Inverness–in its damp, verdant, stretching beauty, felt like driving into a fantasyland. Up north, we visited Urquhart Castle surrounded on three sides by Loch Ness, known for its ancient and modern tales of the water beast, Nessie.

With only four days left on our trip, we headed south to Edinburgh. This was our final location and turned out to be the most relaxed, allowing us more independent time. I spent much of my free time thrift shopping, eating delicious food, meandering around town and chatting on benches. Eagerly, I tried to be fully present in all the places I visited, staying off my phone and noticing the intricacies that come with being in a different cultural environment and landscape. 

I was simultaneously relieved and saddened on the day of our flight back to Nebraska. The thought of sleeping in my own bedroom had me absolutely delighted, but knowing the thrill of adventure would end sent me harshly into the reality of routine.

The trip was many things for me: an opportunity for cultural exposure, the gleaning of historical and literary information, self-discovery, spiritual epiphanies, and more. I was so thankful for the opportunity to experience the uniqueness of Great Britain. 

As an English major, I’ve often dreamt of going to graduate school in the homeland of the many great authors whose work I appreciate. Seeing the land, people and history brought me closer to what I aspire my future to look like and made it seem more attainable.