I am sorry for the lack of posts this month, I have been completely focused on finals these past few weeks. I turned in my last final on Thursday and I officially ‘completed’ my semester in London. This blog post will focus on how I have navigated my finals the past few weeks as well as some of the trips I had wanted to plan for the remainder of my time abroad. There are no pictures for this post sadly since I haven’t had much time to hike the past few weeks.
Finals season is a difficult time for most people, but this one was especially difficult. Not only was I wrapping up my studies for my semester abroad, I was writing lots of long papers. As a math major, writing papers is not my strong suit and something I try to avoid at all costs. However, being a teacher involves much more than having a concrete understanding of the subject, so writing papers about learning difficulties or lesson planning is inevitable. For Art in London and Theatre in London, the final papers were pretty simple. I wrote a couple gallery reviews for Art in London. It was nice to have been able to explore the galleries virtually through their websites, but I wish I had been able to see them in person. I wrote my Theatre in London final on the ‘Social Function of Theatre’ which was interesting to research. For Psychology of Learning and Education, I wrote my final paper about the genetic and environmental basis of ADHD. I personally struggle with ADHD, so research and writing about the science discussing the basis of ADHD was actually a bit fun. This was one of the longest papers I have written during my time as an undergraduate. For Becoming a Teacher, the final assignment couldn’t have been more helpful. We were asked to write a lesson plan and then a rationale explaining the lesson plan and how it relates to current educational psychology and theories of learning. Though I want to be a teacher, my undergraduate degree is in math and I have never taken a teaching class before. Throughout the process of writing my finals, my professors were always willing to provide feedback and help if I needed it. Turning my last final in on Thursday felt great, but now I move onto researching and applying for opportunities to teach abroad following my graduation in May of next year!
Now onto some fun stuff! My friends and I already had two trips planned before we were sent home: a weekend trip to Edinburgh, Scotland and an extra long weekend in Paris, France. Paris was one of the cities I was most excited to see and I am sad that I was unable to make it during the time I was there. I am incredibly thankful to have been able to see both Ireland and Denmark while I was there. Another city at the top of my list was Amsterdam in The Netherlands. We were planning to go at the beginning of May so we could see all the gardens in bloom. I had planned to go visit some family friends in Switzerland in mid-April; they live close to Zurich. Germany and Poland were two countries I had also wanted to visit. I am actually looking at possibly teaching English in Germany the year after I graduate! My family’s heritage is Polish, so I had looked forward to exploring Poland and enjoying authentic Polish cuisine. Morocco had also been on my list, though none of my friends had expressed interest in traveling there and I didn’t want to travel there alone. I also wanted to explore England and go to the Brighton Beach boardwalk. Traveling was one of the main things I wanted to do while studying abroad so I am sad that I left London with a passport full of empty pages, but I am thankful for the traveling I was able to do in my short time there.
Courtney’s Semester in London 