Student Reports: Lana Bednarczyk, University of Cambridge, Summer 2015
If you would have asked me as an incoming college student about my future study-abroad plans, I can almost guarantee that I would not have said I wanted to go to England. They speak English there (obviously), so it’s probably just like America, right? Wrong! When my Honors advisor mentioned that I still needed to fulfill the Ready for the World requirement and suggested the Honors at Cambridge trip, I began to think about the opportunity this option held for me. After going to the information session and doing some research on my own, I decided that I definitely wanted to be a part of the Cambridge Study Abroad Experience. Boy, am I glad that I did.
On July 6, along with ten other UT students, I arrived at Emmanuel College of the University of Cambridge (above) in Cambridge, England. UT faculty member and fellow Emmanuel College alum, Dr. Thomas Heffernan, welcomed us to the quaint English town that would be our home for the next five weeks.
The University of Cambridge, although one big university, is made up of 31 smaller, individual colleges, each with its own applications and systems, as well as dining facilities, chapels, libraries, and living facilities. Cambridge is designed in this manner so that every college individually tends to the mind, body, and spirit of its students. Emmanuel is smaller than some of the others colleges, but I believe it is one of the most beautiful (although I may be a little biased).
As a part of the program, we took two honors classes, the History of the English Language and the Early People of England and their Intellectual Lives, both taught by Dr. Heffernan.
One thing that I became acutely aware of during my trip is just how young America is. The fact that I was visiting cathedrals, reading documents, and going to college in places that were tremendously older than our country itself was a surreal experience. By the end of the trip after seeing so many ancient cathedrals, buildings, and stained-glass windows, places and things that were only 300-years-old seemed young to me.
“No big deal,” I found myself thinking, “I just touched a door handle that was there in 1482.” Or, “Those stained glass windows I saw yesterday were created 900 years ago.”
When considering my surroundings in this light, 300 years truly seemed to be no time at all! With America being barely over 200-years-old, I was completely perplexed that I had never before spent much time considering how young our nation is as compared to the rest of the world.
Another part of studying at Cambridge that excited me more and more each day was the fact that so many of the world’s most famous physicists, mathematicians, and other scientists attended Cambridge. Sir Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Charles Darwin, Francis Crick, James Watson, Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, James Chadwick, Stephen Hawking are just a few of the most notable attendees. It was so incredibly amazing to me that some of the most important scientific discoveries ever made were made right where I was going to school. I mean, come on, not many people can say they were right outside the exact laboratory where J.J. Thompson discovered the electron, or the place where Newton discovered gravity! I am amazingly thankful to have attended school in an institution that holds within its walls some our world’s most amazing scientific history.
During my five weeks abroad, I made it my goal to do as much traveling as I could. I decided to make the most of my opportunity since it is unlikely that I will return to Europe anytime soon. The first Thursday that I was there, after being in the UK for only two days, I boarded a plane and began my first European excursion.
One of my closest friends from high school, Ludwig, is from a small town called Bad Endorf in the Bavarian Region of Germany. Ludwig and his family lovingly welcome me into their home for the weekend, fed me massive amounts of traditional Bavarian food, and took me to sightsee and explore some of the most amazing places I have ever been. Over the weekend, we visited Munich, Lake Chiemsee, which is otherwise known as the Bavarian Sea, and my absolute favorite part of the trip, a town in Austria called Kufstein. Located in the Alps, Kufstein provided some of the most breathtaking views I had ever seen in my entire life. I felt like I was Julie Andrews on the set of The Sound of Music.
While studying at Cambridge, I was also able travel to Ireland, spending time in both Dublin and Portrush (at right), which is located in the North of Ireland. Ireland was such amazing place to visit. The people there were incredibly friendly and the views were astonishing, but my favorite part of Ireland was the music. We spent hours at the local pubs listening to the traditional Irish sounds and watching the traditional Irish dancers.
The rest of my travels were all around the UK. On my own, I travelled to London and to a beach in Norfolk called Hunstanton (at right). As a group, however, we went to many more places. There is no better way to learn about the history of England than to actually visit the historical destinations themselves! On our fieldtrips, we travelled to Ely, London, Oxford, Sutton Hoo, Bury St. Edmonds, Canterbury, Castle Acre and Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, and, of course, all over Cambridge.
I could have never predicted just how much I was going to learn on this trip, but I can assure you, it was far more than I expected. By being able to visit these amazing, historical places, I learned so much more than I would have by just reading about them in history books. Dr. Heffernan taught our group about so many things, and I am so thankful for all of the knowledge that I gained while on the trip.
Studying Abroad at Cambridge has quite possibly been the most memorable and incredible experience of my life. I feel so fortunate to have been given this opportunity. I met so many great people, experienced so many different cultures, learned about so many historical findings, and visited so many beautiful places.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Parsons and the rest of the Engineering Outreach team for providing financial aid to me and so many other students in order to make it possible for us to take part in such an eye opening and worldly experience, unlike any other.
