Fly me to the moon (or at least London)!

Kimberly Terasaki Start Date: Jan 9, 2018 - End Date: Jun 29, 2018
  • London, United Kingdom
  • Edinburgh, United Kingdom
  • Oxford, United Kingdom
  • Paris, France

My Travel Story

by: Kimberly Terasaki Start Date: Jan 9, 2018 - End Date: Jun 29, 2018
I am currently enrolled in the London, Oxford, Edinburgh program. As an English major, what better place would there be for me to study than the birthplace of the English language? Even in it is not where human language began, London, Oxford, and Edinburgh were where a good portion of the greatest Western Literature was written. Shakespeare’s Globe is in London (and quite literally seeing “Shakespeare performed in Stratford-upon-Avon by the Royal Shakespeare Company” is a truly priceless, once-in-a-lifetime experience for someone who lives halfway around the world). Oxford fostered Lewis Carroll, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien, all of whom created the wonderful worlds I explored in my childhood reading nook. Even Edinburgh is known as “The First City of Literature” (a name well earned from inspiring/housing the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, JK Rowling).

The actual courses are a major part of the appeal, as well.

Though I have learned how language, media, imagination, and culture affect one another, seeing the role they play in creating and supporting technological development is something I want to know more about. This makes Dr. Schmidt’s HON 379 “Romantics, Victorians, and Moderns” perfect for me. While not a STEM major, I am minoring in Sustainability and have consistent A’s in those courses, so I will have enough knowledge of science to understand the scientific aspects, while my English experience will give me an edge on analyzing the texts and the course in general is bound to help me in my science and speculative fiction writings.

As for Dr. Loebenber’s HON 378 “Culture and Society in England, Ireland, and Scotland,” I have an intimate understanding of how setting/place of origin can affect literature and/or people. For the longest time, I could not understand how anyone could wear long sleeves during summer, having spent most of my summers in Arizona. It was only upon visiting Los Angeles in the height of summer and feeling the downright chilly breeze that I understood. As a resident of a desert, it takes a lot of imagination to picture green grasses that does not feel like barbed wire, misty moors, and structures older than almost anything still standing in the US. Not a struggle for me as an English major, but I do believe visiting the places where so many brilliant works were created or took place is essential to understanding atmosphere and setting in general.
  • London, United Kingdom
  • Edinburgh, United Kingdom
  • Oxford, United Kingdom
  • Paris, France

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