IES Abroad London

When I decided to study abroad, I knew exactly where I wanted to go. London, England was the only choice for me. I wanted to learn everything that I possibly could from the extraordinary people in this wonderful city. My ten-year goal at the time was to actually live in London, England and establish a life for myself there. I wanted to use my study abroad experience as a sort of "tester" for eventually living there.
I chose IES Abroad because it offered a flexible program that could work with both my majors. I am currently pursuing a double-degree in theatre and business marketing at my home university and wanted a program in which I was able to study both of these subjects. IES Abroad London - Theatre Studies program allowed me to focus on my theatre classes and be with fellow theatre majors while also taking additional business classes.
IES Abroad also makes it SUPER easy to travel while doing a semester abroad, but it is not required to travel independently. I participated in almost all of IES Abroad's travel programs and was not disappointed. I visited all of the places that I wanted and learned even more about the country itself.
After a semester abroad, I really wanted to come home to the States, but the IES Abroad program staff and professors made this one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

I had a fantastic semester in London with IES. The academics were on par with any standard university term, and the staff were incredibly helpful throughout the process. We were given ample opportunities to explore not just London but the UK overall, and IES made every effort to assist us while we traveled farther into Europe. Housing was through a third party, but overall we felt very comfortable and looked after. I would definitely recommend IES to anyone looking to spend a semester studying in London.

Deciding the spend the semester in London was one of the best choices I could have made. IES Abroad is a wonderful company to work with. The staff, both in the US and London are incredibly helpful and are willing to answer any questions you might have and make sure that you are adjusting to the city well.
The theatre classes gave us great first hand experiences with the theatre industry within London. Seeing performances were an important part of our learning. In our classes we discussed the importance of theatre within our society, what worked and didn't work about the shows we saw, and we were able to experiences other elements of theatre within the community, such as Shakespeare with a homeless outreach center, talking to professionals in their fields, and voice over work. The professors were incredibly helpful and we were encouraged to think about the subjects and the world in different ways.
This program is great if you want to learn and fulfill credits at your home school, but also explore and travel. There is ample time to travel to other countries and cities, and the staff and professors encourage that. And if you are wanting to spend more time in London, there is more than enough to keep you busy and having fun. This program is great for those who want to have fun, learn, and travel. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I was someone who always wanted to travel abroad. The first time I went to Europe, I knew I needed to go back not just for a week vacation, but that I wanted to live there for at least a semester. I knew it was going to be a tough transition, but I also knew the experience would help make me a more interesting, worldly, and confident person.

Once I made the final decision to spend my fall semester abroad, I next had to figure out where to go. London was someplace that I had visited before and instantly fell in love. At first I thought I wanted to go to a new place for this experience, but as I thought about it, I realized that going to London would allow me the chance to experience the city not as a tourist, but as a resident—as a Brit, even if it was just for a little while.

Settling in to my new life in London was a bit harder than I thought it would be. Me and the other IES students lived in a student residential complex called Nido Kings Cross. Because space is so tight in London, the rooms provided to us were small with little space to store clothes and baggage. The bathroom was even smaller. I would joke with my roommate that you could shower, brush your teeth, and go to the bathroom all at the same time without getting the floor wet. Despite the space issue, I grew to love Nido. The building was super safe and the kitchen area was nice in order to cook instead of spending money on eating out. The location was the best advantage of Nido. We lived just a few blocks from Kings Cross/ St. Pancras station, the travel hub of London.

Other adjustments were a little more difficult, such as being homesick and having to stay up late in order to call my parents as they came home from work in the States. Getting over my homesickness was probably my biggest challenge about going abroad, however London is so exciting that it is easy to forget about issues like that, making them less important.

One of the most memorable experiences in from the program was travelling with the group for our Midterm trip and getting to see so much of Scotland. We spent four days travelling the country seeing Inverness, where we fed reindeer, Oban, and Edinburg, which was one of the most beautiful cities I had ever been to. That whole trip is something I will never forget.

I would definitely recommend this program to anyone thinking about studying abroad. The professors and staff are incredible, the classes all revolved around learning about London and the U.K., and best of all you get to spend three and a half months in this incredible, cultural, and fun city. If I could go back, I would in a heartbeat.

Overall, I loved my experience with this program. The program staff are incredibly sweet, friendly, and helpful, and the classes were interesting, but not so difficult that they took up so much time that there wasn't time to travel or have adventures around London. The classes were very focused on public health and topics related to that, so if that is something you are even at all interested in, this program is for you. I had so many great adventures around London, the UK, Europe, and Jamaica, and I wouldn't trade the four months I spent on this program for the world.

I wasn't sure where I wanted go abroad, all I knew was that I wanted to go. I had wanted to travel since I was a freshman and it took me until my first semester of my senior year to make the leap of faith and just go for it. Up until that point the only place I had been outside of the US was Canada. In the months before my departure I was deciding between going to Spain, China, and England. I ultimately chose London and couldn't have been happier with my decision. China was just too far for me and I happened to make a visit from London to Spain during my time abroad because of how centralized England was and how modestly priced the flights were throughout Europe.

Some of the pro's of my visit included:
Travel - as stated above. Considerably cheap & very convenient

The transportation - bus/tubes take you anywhere for reasonable prices.
TUBE IS GOING 24/7 SOON

No real Language Barrier - Not an entirely new language but certain expressions may have you scratching your head. All the more fun tho

Fashion Capital - plenty of good looking people in London thats for sure

Classes - Most, if not all, of my classes took walking tours during class time and I got to see some of London's most renowned features along with local favorites that I may have never even heard about had it not been for the classes.

The People - Theres not enough that can be said about the people you'll encounter. For me it was the people who made each place I visited while abroad what it was. They were the lifeblood of the trip and regardless of where I was or the wonders I saw it was the people who made the biggest impact on my journey.

I could go on and on with pro's but I'll stop there and give a few cons to the experience to make things fair:

Currency - The exchange from Dollar to Sterling Pound was rough when I went abroad. I've heard stories of it being even worse and then other stories of it being cheap. It varies from day to day and either way I don't regret the money I spent. If anything I'd regret not spending more. It's just a friendly reminder to budget for your time cause theres always gonna be something you wanna go out and do.

Dorm Living - As a senior it was a little odd for me to go back to dorm living with a roommate. The place looked a lot bigger in pictures too. Turned out my roommate and I were both in the same fraternity so we hit it off pretty quickly and the small space wasn't as awkward. The elevators though broke pretty much every other week and would sometimes go up when you pressed down which was extremely frustrating. You also had to pay for laundry services. But there was a weekly cleaning lady and a common room area with pool and foosball tables too so if you wanted to get out of the room you could.

Overall It was an experience that I would recommend to anyway and hope to be able to go back abroad one day.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in London through IES Abroad. I ultimately chose this program because of the classes I would be taking. As a public health major interested in global health policy, the classes corresponded wonderfully to my academic goals and allowed me further explore possible career opportunities in social services and public health.

That being said, I would only recommend this program if you are sure what you want to study and what you want to get out of this program. I loved that it involved a lot of independent learning - I got to self-direct my learning in my courses. If I wanted to focus more on understanding past international health laws, I could choose to do more reading about that and get really great answers out of my professor. If I wanted to understand how international actors get involved in health policy, I could choose to focus on that. The teachers do their best to teach you what YOU want to learn. That was true in all of my classes. So, if you are unsure of what you want to learn, you might find yourself a bit lost in this program. However, if you know what you want to learn, you can really get a lot out of this program.

London is a great location to study abroad. It's a very modern city, but like many European cities, has lots of history and culture. As this is a very independent program, you get what you want out of the cultural experience. If you leave the country every weekend to explore the nearby European countries, you won't have as much time to absorb the rich culture of London itself. I loved being able to take advantage of the free museums and late night events offered. IES also has a wide selection of field trips on the weekends, which really helped me explore more of the English countryside and cities farther away.

This program includes a course at Oxford University as well as a Service Learning Placement. The course at Oxford is what you make of it. There are positives and negatives, for example, the long commute to get there every Friday morning. However, Oxford is a beautiful little town and I really enjoyed walking around with my friends after class. The Service Learning Placement is also what you make of it. The staff at IES try to place you with an organization that you have interests in, but it's not always perfect. You just have to remember that this is just another experience, and take advantage of the opportunities. I loved my placement and made some great British friends.

Finally, the program ends in Kingston, Jamaica. We spent about a week there volunteering at health clinics and learning about the health system in Jamaica and the Caribbean. I will say that I probably learned more in Jamaica than I did in London the past 3 months. It was a great way to end the program and I am infinitely thankful for the experience in Jamaica.

This was the best experience I could have hoped for. I learned so much about myself and the world, and I have grown so much. The classes were amazing and the opportunities in London are endless. I highly recommend everyone should study abroad. It will change you totally for the better.