A Trip to the Stonehenge and Bath, England

Fish and Chips in downtown Brighton

Written by Giovanna Tapia, Foster School undergraduate

It is hard to capture just how amazing my study abroad experience in England was in words or even in writing. I think that no matter how long I go on talking or writing about it, I will never be able to do justice to all that I experienced. It was truly a period in my life that I will never forget, and always cherish. The people I met, the places I visit, the lessons I learned; all of it was unnaturally perfect. Even the mistakes I made along the way were perfect, as I grew and learned from every experience during my time abroad.

One of the highlights of my time in England was visiting the Stonehenge attraction. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed trip, which was put on by the school specifically for international students. I had not gone expecting too much since a lot of my English friends did not seem to be very impressed with the Stonehenge (in fact many of them had not even visited it). But of course, as it the case with most people, we often take for granted what is easily accessible to us. The Stonehenge was much more amazing in person than I could have imagined and the history behind it made it even more phenomenal.

The next stop on the trip was the city of Bath, which I honestly didn’t know too much about but feel so incredibly glad that I visited. It is honestly such a breathtaking city; everything about it was perfect. The architecture was amazing (every building was so adorably European). It really felt like I had stepped into a fairytale, which I realize sounds extremely cheesy but it was so perfectly picturesque.  I think it helped that the weather was absolutely amazing (who would of thought I’d see the sun in England!). The Roman Baths were probably one of the most interesting parts of our tour in Bath. It was incredible to be standing somewhere with so much historical significance. Although much of it has been reconstructed, a lot of the original remains still stand today, so it was a bit mind blowing to be standing somewhere where people used to congregate and meet to socialize thousands of years ago! Although we weren’t in Bath for too long we made good use of our time and were able to see most of the major tourist attractions including the Roman Baths, Abbey Church, The Circus, Royal Crescent, and Pulteney Bridge.

This was of course just a snippet of one of the many wonderful moments while abroad. As I have mentioned before, I do not think I can ever fully explain how much of a life changing and fulfilling experience studying abroad. I feel fortunate enough to have been able to be living in England for four months, and even travel to other European countries during my time there. I know that the people who get to study abroad are few, and so I cannot explain how fortune I feel to have been able to experience it.