Intro to WiE

Bonjour!


That's how they say hello in... well, France. Which has absolutely nothing to do with this blog, as you could probably gather from the title. Or the background picture. Or because the only reason you're reading this is because you know I'm going to England this summer. Anyway.


Growing up, whenever we went somewhere interesting, my dad would give us notebooks and tell us to write. He said it was part of our education, which was hard to argue with since we were homeschooled at the time. So write we did. Or at least I did... I can't say I ever read any of my siblings' musings on our travels, but then, I don't remember being particularly interested in them either. The musings, that is, not my siblings. My siblings are all quite interesting. But, as Professor Amstutz would say, "I digress." Back to the point. 


All that travel journaling stuck with me when I left home and my adventures increasingly took place sans parents, to the point that now I don't really know how to spend significant time in a new place and not write about it. So that, folks, is my first and main motive for making this blog. The second is of course because all of my friends are doing it. 


Now that we've settled that, allow me to explain a bit about this trip I'm taking. It's called Wheaton in England (hereafter shortened to WiE), and it's been alive longer than any of the students going on it (I want to say 30 years, but don't quote me on that). It's an 8-week summer study abroad program led by faculty from Wheaton's English Department. The leaders this year are Drs. Alan Jacobs and Brett Foster. We -- 35 students, male and female, sophomores-seniors, most but not all English majors/minors -- can take anywhere from 2 to 10 credits of literature courses as we gallivant through England, walking in the footsteps of the great authors we are studying, seeing the sights that inspired them, and, hopefully, finding ourselves inspired in the process. 


This may or may not sound like your cup of tea (to use the most British-sounding colloquialism I could think of), but trust me, this to a Lit major is like 8 weeks in the Alaskan wilderness to Bear Grylls, or a 2-month drunken slumber party to Ke$ha. Yeah, I said it. Anyway, for those of you who are interested, I'm going to go ahead and post our itinerary and the course info for the classes I'm taking. That should do it for a nice, thorough introduction to the trip.


By the way, in case anyone was wondering, no, I haven't actually left yet. In fact I'm currently sitting on my bed at home in Milford, Pennsylvania. The party starts this Sunday (the 12th), when we'll all be meeting at Wheaton for a few days of classes/prep before we take off for LONDON on Friday the 17th. I'm slightly stoked.


You'll probably hear from me again sometime before Friday. Jusque-là,


Linnea