Clark junior finds a home among the history
I stepped off Clark’s campus at the end of the fall 2025 semester, waving goodbye to the many squirrels on the green and passing by a scarf-enveloped Freud, and began preparing for my first college semester abroad.
Taking the leap and saying ‘yes’ to living in another country for six months was easily the hardest part of coordinating the study abroad process. The next step, deciding on a country and program, proved to be similarly difficult. It was only after speaking to Jonathan Hope, dean and director of Advanced Studies in England (ASE), during Clark’s International Education Week and Study Abroad Fair, that I had a semblance of an idea.
Hope spoke to me about ASE’s literature, film, and theater-based program that sounded exactly in line with my course of study. The program is located in Bath, just downriver from Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, which, to my acting-hungry brain, guaranteed a rich theatrical scene. Parts of Bath also served as filming locations for many British period films and television series, including “Bridgerton,” “Les Misérables,” and “Downton Abbey.” With the help of the Study Abroad office, supplemented by the chance to speak with the program director, I made my decision.
The time between leaving campus and boarding the plane came and went in a flash. Winter break was spent researching, prepping, and packing, which helped assuage my anxiety about living in another country. By the time I met everyone in my program and took my first steps in Bath, I was more excited than nervous. I had plans I was looking forward to and sights I needed to see.
During orientation week, between light briefing sessions and meetups with other students in my program, I indulged in some sightseeing, made easier by Bath’s proximity to so many historic sites. The Roman Baths, the city’s namesake located in its center, is flanked by modern stores, archaic-looking housing units, and other old-world attractions, such as the Abbey church and the River Avon. Starting there gave me a baseline for the city’s history, providing context for the architecture and culture I would soon experience every day. I walked through streets enclosed by beautiful ancient villas and dashed through alleys that all seemed to have a church dating back a thousand years.
Between the landmark destinations and tube rides across the United Kingdom, it was important to remember that I was there to learn. To supplement my major, I attended three of the four required classes to earn credits I would normally have taken at Clark. ASE luckily had a film program that slotted nicely into my screen studies major requirements for the semester, and I still had room to pursue a class called Devising for the Stage, which took place in a real theater that ran professional productions every night.
ASE also emphasizes a more intellectually intimate relationship with the program’s tutors and fosters many events in which you can meet and discuss with your instructor. You can even attend a production that a lecturer directed, as I did!
My semester has so much more to come, including travels to Oxford and further exploration of Stratford-upon-Avon. The entire experience has been concentrated with culturally and intellectually enriching experiences that would make me recommend the adventure to anyone.
