My Life Studying Abroad in London with Annenberg
By: Aedan Henry ’24 (USC Student Life Guest Blogger)
USC’s fantastic study abroad programs were one of the reasons that I chose the university. I’ve always known that I wanted to study abroad during my junior year, and I had the opportunity this Spring to go to London through my Communication major at Annenberg, so I decided to finally take the leap. It’s my first time traveling outside of North America, and it’s been an absolute blast so far. If you’re considering studying abroad in a future semester, here’s what the day-to-day of the experience looks like for me and why you should try it yourself.
Classes
Monday through Wednesday, I go to classes at the Accent Study Center, a building which hosts students studying abroad from across America. Rather than being through a partner university in the UK, I get to directly take USC classes. Annenberg offers five classes at Accent, which count for credit through USC but are taught by British professors. Highlights include “Communication and Social Movements,” which is taught by an employee of the BBC, and “The Rhetoric of London,” which features multiple historical walking tours of the city in lieu of lectures.
The Accent Study Center is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury — the historic educational core of London. It’s just one block from both the British Museum and the University College London, and the area is full of students from the UK, America, and across the world. On Mondays and Tuesdays my classes don’t begin until 2 p.m., so I often work and study in a cafe for a few hours around lunch.
Housing
We live in a modern apartment complex in the Tower Hill neighborhood of London, just down the street from the north side of Tower Bridge. Some of us have to share rooms, but the apartments have spacious kitchens and living rooms, and the building has amenities like a gym. It’s a short walk from the Tower of London, the “Square Mile” (the downtown financial district), and Spitalfields Market.
Getting Around
The biggest difference between LA and London (besides the accent) is the transportation system. London is an extremely walkable and easily traversable city — to the extent that the roads within the city sometimes feel nearly devoid of cars. Every morning I take the London Underground subway system to central London from my apartment, which takes about 30 minutes total. There are multiple routes to take and the trains are reliable, clean, and frequent. Public transportation in London isn’t only good, it’s basically the only way to go.
The city is also exceptionally walkable. On nice days I sometimes walk home from class, which takes almost an hour but never feels dangerous or difficult. The walk takes me through Trafalgar Square, along the River Thames, down Fleet Street, by St. Pauls Cathedral, and past the Tower of London.
Weekends
Most people in my Annenberg program, including myself, only have class through Wednesday, giving us a four-day weekend to explore the city and Europe as a whole.
Personal highlights throughout the city have included Borough Market (a lunch spot under London Bridge with overwhelming food options), Notting Hill (an iconic neighborhood of antique markets and cute Victorian townhouses), and the National Gallery (a museum collecting paintings from masters like Rembrandt and Van Gogh). London is a massive city full of neighborhoods to explore, free museums to browse, and landmarks to visit — not to mention some of the best restaurants and bars in the world.
The Accent Study Center organizes events too. As an Annenberg group, we’ve gone to West End theater shows, toured landmarks like Westminster Abbey, and taken day trips to Oxford and Bath — all for free as a part of the study abroad program.
And beyond England, traveling internationally is also relatively easy. Budget airlines and huge rail networks often let you make it to another country for under $100 a trip, and the long weekends give you plenty of time to explore. So far, I’ve taken a trip up to Edinburgh, and some of my classmates have gone to places like Barcelona, Paris, and Rome. It’s worth saving a bit extra before you arrive so you can take advantage of the ease of travel while you’re here.
Why London and How to Apply
London is a truly global city — a center for trade with an increasingly international population. It’s massive and full of new experiences, yet feels locally-focused and easily traversable. There’s no language barrier and limited culture shock from America, and it's also a gateway to history and culture and travel across Europe and the world. It’s a fantastic place to spend a few months in college because you get a world-class education through lectures, but also a world-wide education beyond. It forces you to grow and adapt and learn self-reliance. It’s a fast-paced urban working city like no other.
Applications for Annenberg’s Spring London program are due in August. It’s open to all Annenberg majors, but I would note that the classes are definitely designed for Communication majors. There’s also a smaller version of the program in the Fall, with applications due in April. But even if you aren’t an Annenberg student, USC has other London study abroad programs. There are students here from Dornsife, SDA, SCA, and more.
And if London isn’t for you, I would still recommend the once-in-a-lifetime experience of studying abroad. Annenberg offers a similar program in Rome, and other USC schools have study abroad programs across the world. USC makes studying abroad easy, affordable, and a lot of fun. It’s worth taking advantage of the opportunity while you can. No short trip can compare to spending months studying and living abroad.
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