Student Testimonials from the Class of Fall 2010
"This program offers amazing opportunities to engage with the vibrant culture of London, to travel in and outside of England, and to experience it all with fellow Grinnellians!"
"The Grinnell in London program allowed me to explore topics of academia that I had not and probably would not have been able to study whilst abroad other places or while at Grinnell. I am a science major, which many other off-campus study programs cater to. However, because of my major, I decided to spend my time off campus pursuing topics within a different academic division. I took a theatre course, an economics course, and an art history course, all of which were centered around the city and culture of London. In addition, I chose to do an internship for two months, during which I work with a psychologist at UCL’s Center for Biostatistics and Epidemiology. In London, I was able to enlarge my knowledge of psychology, all the while growing as a student of the liberal arts."
"Through Grinnell in London, learning took on a new meaning. The materials I read for my classes came alive when I encountered the very places and people about which I read. For instance, my British Politics class (an accompanying course with my internship at Parliament) took an unexpected turn when my professor asked me whether the text books' information actually held true to my observations of Parliament's proceedings. In this moment, my experiences made me the informant and my professor the student. I don't remember my exact answer to his question, but I do remember how my work at Parliament (such as replying to constituents’ letters) directly connected me to the country as I engaged with its political issues."
"I will always cherish those times I rode the underground and observed people both young and old of different backgrounds. London constantly amazes in its diversity. Living in London made me bolder, more adaptable, and more ready to learn through exploration. GIL was the best time of my life."
“Only in London does a man dressed as Sherlock Holmes help you break into your flat.
Only in London does two inches of snow make this necessary.”
“One night, my flatmates and I took a particularly leisurely pace with our homework and ended up incidentally pulling an all nighter. We watched the sun rise from the roof of our flat and ate a full English breakfast at the Prime Meridian, a breakfast that included my first ever blood pudding. Moments later, we met for a tour with our History of London class. I even managed to stay awake until that evening, when I watched Henry the IV Part I at the Globe. Just another day in London.”
“There's something about taking a class on Shakespeare's plays—while actually going to see them performed—that makes the experience real. In class at Grinnell, you might read works on the Sublime, but its affect is always imagined to some extent; on the GIL program you can see the breathtaking mountains themselves which inspired the works. That is experiential learning.”
"Two words: Tube Roulette. If you have the honor of spending a semester in London, you'll sometimes be overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities, even occurring on the block outside of your flat. School, social life, the requisite "sites," the restaurants – how can you handle the temptation to be a million places at once? What you need to do is take a breath, choose a letter from the alphabet, and look at the Underground map. When you find your match, go there without any knowledge, and explore it to your heart's content. You'll find that it's remarkable how much life can be stuffed into one pocket of this magnificent city.”
