Parent Blog: London Reflections

Sandy Karp just took part in the London portion of the CGS January Program and wanted to share her honest thoughts and views about with students and parents alike. Thank you for sharing this with us, Sandy!

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by Sandy Karp, CGS’16

Now that I finished the London portion of the CGS program, I am finally able to talk about it face to face with my family and I am reflecting about my experience in London, here is what I learned:

• Being in the field and seeing things we learned about in class, in person, like the Mona Lisa is like meeting a celebrity! Walking around art museums and history museums, I felt a lot more appreciative when I was able to nerd out with friends and connect the dots with what we learned in class.
• Things we learned in class stretch out much further than I realized. Last week touring the former Nazi Ghetto Terezin outside of Prague, we came across the holding cell of Gavrila Princip who is known for being the catalyst effect of World War I. I learned about him four weeks prior in my social science class and it was exciting to actually see his cell in person. This was one of many instances, it has happened too many times to mention. Whether in Boston, London, across England, Copenhagen, Paris, the Netherlands, the length of Spain, the reaches and connections did not stop!
• At the Royal Ascot Races I learned I am terrible at betting on horses, turns out that there is more to it than just names and colors.
• Going to a club the night before a field trip will murder your feet.
• When you are traveling from Copenhagen to London in order to make a Monday 9 AM class, and you show up twenty minutes late with a fresh danish from Denmark for your professor, they are pretty happy to see you.
• Americans do everything wrong and the Londoners are not shy about telling you so.
• Crossing the street is harder than it looks.
• You gotta put down the books and experience London! It was frustrating being in London for only six weeks and it was a time intensive academic program, I chose to explore London in my free time but it wasn’t enough. I need to figure out which Semester Abroad I want to do next!
• Professors are super cool! I have never had a relationship with a professor until being in London and they are super awesome to talk to! In London you are not only with them a lot more for school sponsored events, but you see them walking down the streets, it gave each of us a great opportunity to get to know each other more. Some students had their professors over for dinner and some even had their professors over for drinks!
• Do not pack shorts for London, each time you see them, you will only be disappointed because it is way too cold to wear them.
• I might open up a cooking school because some students don’t know how to cook.
• Most importantly, I am anxious and actually looking forward to returning to Boston! I had a tough first semester in Boston and I did not feel very involved and connected. I met so many people in London who are part of different teams and clubs, I am anxious to join in and to fully get immersed at BU and I can’t wait to get back to and get involved with the people I met in my program in London. We even have a huge group of students ready to take on Splash as sophomores!

If I had a choice, I am still not sure I would have initially picked this program. Looking back on the year, experiences, academics, friends, photos, and memories, I am really glad I was in this program and could not imagine a better start to the next three years at BU! If you are a January admit, or a parent, who has questions about the program, I am more than happy to speak with you. I definitely believe this program should be promoted because it truly is such a marvelous opportunity.