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Study In England

Take your pick of a more independent exchange-student experience in bucolic Reading University, or have a more traditional experience with Centre students and faculty in the bustling heart of London. Centre drama students also have the option of participating in a small exchange with The Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.

Reading University

Reading University sprawls 300 leafy acres and is a quick 25-minute train ride from London. The university is known for its academic excellence and the professionalism of its Visiting Student Office, which organizes inexpensive and frequent trips to Edinburgh, Stonehenge, and other area destinations.

 

Centre-in-London

London, the city of more than eight million, is perhaps the most dynamic and diverse city in the world. In the 21st century, it still lives up to Dr. Samuel Johnson’s famous 18th century dictum: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”

The program begins in early February. students will fly out on 14 February , 2024 and arrive in London the following morning on 15 February, 2024 and will depart on 1 May, 2024, 2024 or choose to travel in the U.K. and/or Europe on their own after 1 May, 2024 and fly back at a later date. Check back to see exact dates as these will be updated soon. 

There is a five-day spring break for optional individual travel from , March  to , March . Students will remain in London for academic activities and possible excursions exception for the five-day spring break and the following weekends:

• February  – February 

• March – March 

• April  – April 

Mark Rasmussen is Professor of English at Centre, where he has taught since 1989. He has offered courses in early British literature, including Chaucer, Shakespeare, and the legend of King Arthur, among  many other topics. This will be his third time serving as a co-director of the London program, and he has directed the Strasbourg program four times. He will be accompanied by his spouse, Helen Willis, a retired mental health case manager who also has extensive experience with Centre’s programs of study abroad.

Mauricio Castro is Assistant Professor of History and Chair of Latin American Studies at Centre. He has taught at Centre since 2019, offering courses on American history, urban and immigration history, the Cold War, the history of popular culture, and film. He is currently completing a book on post-1959 Miami and the Cuban diaspora.

The same as studying in Danville, plus a $375 deposit (surcharge/emergency fund/carbon offset) due 29 March 2023, and a $25 travel medicine fee for a total of $400. Flights to the abroad site are also the responsibility of the student. The pre-departure meeting, includes the travel medicine meeting and the Title IV session will be held each semester, these are mandatory. If you have significant financial need, you may also qualify for additional funding from the Center for Global Citizenship.

Centre pays for a few group meals and the required class excursions on some Wednesdays and weekends. On arrival, students will be given pounds sterling to buy their initial groceries and will be given an initial Oyster card for use on the bus/tube/light rail lines in zones 1 and 2. They are then provided with food stipends for the remainder of their time in London.

Students will live in flats for international students in a secure facility  in Central London. The flats, which feature fully equipped kitchens and WiFi, are located near the the Centre classroom and near the British Museum. They are within an easy walk of the major London sites in “The City,” the Chancery Lane tube station (Central line), and the Farringdon tube station (Circle, Metropolitan, and Hammersmith and City lines). At regular intervals, students are given food money sufficient for shopping for and preparing wholesome meals—though not sufficient for eating out in restaurants, or even fast-food places, in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Students will take four of the following six courses:

A: Art History 297 - London Museums

With such spectacular sites as the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, the Natural History Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, to name only a few, London is the greatest city for museum-going in the world. In this course, we will draw on London’s unparalleled resources to examine the history of museum-going as a cultural practice from the Renaissance to the present. Combining weekly visits to London museums with readings in museum history and theory, and addressing such hot-button topics as the ethics of imperial collecting and the economics of the contemporary art market, the course will help students become more informed museum-goers themselves, as they acquire a critical understanding of the various ways that museums have defined and performed their missions over time. In the process, they will have prepared themselves for a lifetime of pleasure and enlightenment derived from visiting museums. Taught by Professor Rasmussen.

 

B. English 255 - London Writers

In this class  we will read one work each by six great writers who were (or are) based in London: William Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, John Keats, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, and Zadie Smith. Our reading of their work in its London contexts will be supplemented by visits to such sites as the rebuilt Globe Theatre and the homes and workplaces of Johnson, Keats, and Dickens (Keats’ home in Hampstead, where he wrote “Ode: To a Nightingale,” is one of the most evocative places on this earth), and by such out-of-class excursions as following the itinerary of Clarissa Dalloway’s walk through central London in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and exploring the Bangladeshi and Jamaican neighborhoods of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. Taught by Professor Rasmussen.

C. POL 431: British Politics

An introduction to the structures, processes, and issues of the modern British political system using London as a primary resource. The class will discuss current British political issues such as political parties, electoral reform, the European Union and Brexit, devolution, and civil rights. No prerequisites. Taught by Adjunct Prof. Julianna Fuzesi.

D. DRA 341: Contemporary London Theatre

Students will study the range of contemporary London Theatre, from fringe to the major subsidized repertory companies, through a series of visits to performances and theatre sites and through lectures, readings, and discussion. Emphasis is on texts and their performances. Students who sign up for this course will be charged $195 on their spring bills to cover part of the cost of the play tickets; Centre subsidizes the other part. No prerequisites. Taught by Adjunct Prof. Steven Dykes

E. DLM 310 - London - Metropolis and Empire

London, as a space, has much to teach us about the history of empires and of transnational population movements, marrying the local and the global. This course seeks to make full use of the city as an inhabited space as we trace the living history of empires by studying the city’s history from its Roman founding to the modern era. Students will connect the space of the city with broader global trends and events. The course will incorporate themes like immigration, imperial connection, economic shifts, and look toward the future at the city’s place in a changing world and a changing climate. Students will work on research projects on London’s neighborhoods and their connection to the broader themes of the course and visit areas of the city ranging from Roman ruins, to ethnic neighborhoods, to the city’s financial hubs. Taught by Professor Castro.

F. History 360 - Rock ‘n’ Roll & the Postwar U.S.

In this more transatlantic variant of the course already taught on Centre’s campus, students will use popular music as an entryway to how culture reflects broader social, political, and economic shifts in the postwar U.S. and Great Britain. Given the transatlantic development of the genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll, popular music serves as an entryway into the similarities and differences in the development of both nations in the aftermath of the Second World War. This variant has a greater focus on the youth subcultures of the UK, what they showed about British society, and how they were central to reintroducing rock ‘n’ roll to the United States. Utilizing spaces in London tied to the history of these musical genres and potentially longer trips to other British cities, this course will connect cultures to place and history. Taught by Professor Castro.

 

 

 

The Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance

The Rose Bruford College is one of London’s leading drama schools and is located in the leafy south London town of Sidcup. RBC has an international reputation for top level training in all aspects of the theatrical arts. Each year two or three of their students study at Centre in the fall, and two or three of our students study there in the winter and spring terms. This exchange is designed to give their students a taste of a liberal arts approach to education and our students a taste of the conservatory experience. Generally aimed at dramatic arts majors, this opportunity is open to all Centre students who meet the basic requirements.

Students will generally begin their experience in London during the third week of January and their course work will end towards the end of May.