It has been a privilege to be able to study abroad in the United Kingdom this summer. I have had an amazing experience being completely immersed in British culture these past couple of weeks. During this program, not only have I learned so much about British history, politics, and current events, but in doing so I got to learn about the unique identity of the British people in a way that one can’t grasp in a book or an academic article.

In London, we visited various museums, including the Imperial War Museum, the British Museum, and the Museum of Natural History. There, we got the chance to look at some of the largest historical collections in the world, which gave me some perspective on Britain as a political and intellectual powerhouse following the age of colonization and imperialism. In addition, we were given free time to explore the city on our own. A group of friends and I explored the Brixton area of London, where many of London’s West Indian and Caribbean British residents live. We visited the Black Cultural Archives of Brixton and viewed a gallery about the Windrush generation of West Indian immigrants who came to England after WWII. It’s one thing to read Black and British by David Olusoga. It’s another thing to actually see Brixton and taste Jamaican food from the descendants of the Windrush era. As a black woman traveling abroad, visiting Brixton was almost like visiting home. Although the black experience in the UK is based on the experience of immigration, whereas the black experience in the US is based on the experience of generational slavery, the commonalities within the history of the black diaspora connect us through shared struggles and victories for equality.

In the second week, we travelled to St. Hilda’s College, which was the first women’s college in the University of Oxford. It was amazing to be able to stay in the original dorms that have been there since 1803, and to see the historic skyline of Oxford’s campus, an intellectual institution that has been in existence since the 11th century.

Here, we discussed topics such as the life of Shakespeare, climate change, and political advocacy.
In our last week in the United Kingdom, we visited the Lake District and stayed in Cumbria, a region that is famous for its glacier-carved mountainscape and historic sheep herding communities. While hiking through the grassy hills,

I got a first-hand experience of the difference between urban and rural identities in Great Britain. Traveling abroad the United Kingdom has been an unforgettable experience. One of my main goals coming in as a freshman was to study abroad in order to gain a greater understanding of global inequality and social relations. I’m so happy to have been able to accomplish this goal through the support of the Education Abroad Academic Excellence Scholarship. Thank you to the donors of the Education Abroad program for their continued support for students travelling abroad.

Name: Erykah Benson
Status: Junior
Major: Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Science Education
Hometown: East Lansing, Michigan
Program: Social Science Scholars Field Study Abroad in the United Kingdom