Weeks Four and Five: Boston-London Program
In weeks four and five of the Boston-London Program’s semester in London, students explored the mysteries of ancient places. A trip to Stonehenge brought students close to a prehistoric monument, the site of an ancient burial mound that dates back as far as 3000 B.C.
They also traveled to another ancient attraction–the Roman Baths in the city of Bath. As early as 60-70 AD, the Romans built a temple over the site’s natural hot springs and believed they had sacred powers. In the centuries since, people have journeyed to the springs in search of their curative properties, and over one million people still visit the site very year.
Students’ assigned readings set the scene for their travels, with T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own,” and Frantz Fanon’s “The Wretched of the Earth.” The interdisciplinary nature of the CGS education came through as they also discussed impressionism, post-impression, and modernism in the visual arts, along with jazz and the Harlem Renaissance.
The journal article “Close encounters with buildings” had students thinking about urban design, and two more readings — “The Flaneur Discovers Paris” and “Ambling Among London’s Odd and Empty Corners”— gave students a framework for wandering and enjoying their surroundings. Several students captured some vivid moments of ordinary London life.
Jack the Ripper Tours gave students a glimpse into the seedier side of life in London’s East End, while a journey to Oxford, “the city of dreaming spires,” took them walking through the same streets that had been traveled by Erasmus, John Donne, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Oscar Wilde, and others centuries earlier.
“Flexi-trips” in weeks four and five also took students to IWM, the Museum of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Liverpool St. Street Station, Hyde Park, Parliament Square, the Tavistock Gardens, the RAF Museum, and the British Museum.
Students were lucky enough to be close by for Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday celebration parade and even captured a picture of the Queen’s soon-to-be-legendary bright neon suit.
Week six of the semester is focused on studying for finals, packing up for the journey home, and fitting in as much sightseeing as possible in the few days left.