Essay

I'm really sorry. This is the very first draft, so it's pretty terrible. I have lots of critcisms of it myself, but will refrain from saying them so your feedback is less biased. (Because it won't be biased, anyway, since you know me. :) If you have too many things to post here, my e-mail address is jlhgdb@mizzou.edu. I will delete it later (my e-mail address, that is) for security purposes. Okay, enough of my commentary ... hack away. (By the way, I'm really sorry about having to post the entire thing here -- I tried to save it as a web page, but the link wouldn't open for some reason.)


It seems that I’ve had my nose in books my entire life. I have always read in every spare moment, and, as a result, people have always described me as quiet and shy. While there is some truth in that description, it fails to take into consideration why I love reading so much. Beneath the quiet exterior that everyone sees is a deeper, thicker layer that longs for adventure. All the adults in my life taught me that exploration of the world was important. While I never blocked out the world around me, that single world wasn’t enough. Books let me travel to the farthest corners of the universe, and that quenched some of my thirst for the unknown. However, all the books in the world couldn’t compare to being able to live in a world outside of the Midwest for a time. Therefore, the decision to apply to study abroad has been one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. This is the adventure I’ve been looking for all my life.

While the decision to apply was simple, deciding where I wanted to go was another story. Bulgaria? Australia? Scotland? Denmark? There were so many places to choose from, and there seemed to be so many positives to each place. Bulgaria would expose me to a part of Europe that I might not have a chance to see otherwise, because it’s not known as a tourist destination. As for Australia, I have one word: sun. It’s supposed to be absolutely spectacular Down Under. Denmark and Scotland each have their own advantages, too. And then there’s England, and Singapore, and …

As fate would have it, it was literature that made the decision for me, just as literature had essentially decided that I would apply to study abroad. While the decision was being made, I of course had to continue taking classes. One of the classes I took last semester was a British literature course, and as the semester progressed, I was immersed in great British writers. The class let me discover Romantic poets, Victorian writers and modern English novelists. By this point, I had managed to narrow down my study abroad options to England or Scotland. The more I read in class, though, the more I became convinced that it was England I wanted to live in for a semester. With the possibility of visiting the countryside that inspired Wordsworth, or exploring the London that Mrs. Dalloway lived in looming in the back of my mind, I finally made the decision to apply for England. My reasoning seems overly simplistic, but for someone that has my literary interests, it really was that simple. I fell in love with the England of literary lore last semester, and being able to see it firsthand would be a blessing beyond my wildest hopes. Nothing would please me more than being able to compare the England that appears in literature with the one that I observe on a day-to-day basis.

Knowing that England contains more than a fantasy world that can be captured in the words of a book is another reason that I love the thought of studying abroad there. As I was researching Harrow and talking to people about London, I was struck by just how diverse it is. One of the first things people mentioned about London was how multicultural it was. One of the first things I noticed about it was that it is a place where history meets modernity, and both thrive. London is only one city, but it is one that has portals to other eras and cultures. I will be exposed to many different lifestyles while I’m there; this is especially true because I’ll probably be staying in international dorms while I am attending Westminster.

The University of Westminster is also a big part of the reason I decided to apply to study in England. It has a great journalism program and also seems to offer a unique design program. This was an important part of my decision. I am in the magazine sequence, and plan to declare an emphasis in layout and design. It was essential to me that the place I chose to study abroad at would give me a chance to use my creativity and continue to broaden my design horizons. I wanted to go somewhere that produced provocative designs that may capture my attention even though I don’t fully understand them. As I was looking at designs on paper and websites, I found that English designs fit this definition best. I would love to get a firsthand look at the English design process, and to incorporate what I learn there into the designs I create when I return. England has created many cutting-edge designs; I hope to bring some of their ingenuity to Mizzou.

Besides bringing a unique design perspective to Mizzou, living and learning at the University of Westminster would provide many benefits for my career as a designer, both in the long-term and short-term. As globalization continues to increase, employers are searching for employees who are culturally sensitive. Being able to study abroad would definitely be a way to prove that I can handle cultural differences well. I strive to understand other cultures anyway, but studying abroad shows that I am willing not only to learn about other cultures, but to immerse myself in and experience other cultures. It is also a way to show that I have a sense of adventure and boldness. These traits could be seen as negatives in some fields, but in general they are associated with creativity and imagination, both of which are essential in design. The benefits of studying abroad do not apply only to careers; they also apply to receiving internships. In fact, I am hoping that studying in England will help me get the National Geographic design internship I plan to apply for in the summer of 2007. I have no illusions about how competitive it will be, and I think that what I learn and experience abroad will give me an advantage. Getting that internship would be amazing, because, much like studying abroad, it would expose me to things that I would probably never see otherwise.
In the end, it seems that studying abroad, much like London itself, would open more than one world to me. In a way, I would be building bridges to not only England, but also to my future and myself. Studying abroad would be extremely beneficial for my career, but I think that the personal benefits of the adventure are just as important to me. I have not had too many opportunities to indulge the part of me that longs to explore the world; it is high time that I let the timid self that usually rules me take a rest. It is time for the adventurer in me to take over. That side of me would get immense satisfaction out of living and thriving in a place where I know no one. That is exactly what I intend to do next semester in England. I have no intention of living vicariously through literature. If I indulged my literary side while there, it would be by visiting the sites that inspired my favorite English authors.