Story by Sara Howell, Features Editor
Photo courtesy of Joel Polarek
While most students choose to spend their break from school relaxing and taking it easy, eight Murray State students chose to study abroad in London, England.
For about two weeks they were tasked with keeping a daily journal and writing travel blogs and reviews as part of the class “Beyond the Selfie: Exploring London to Communicate Inward and Outward Journeys via Multimedia Storytelling.”
Marcie Hinton, associate professor of public relations, led the class.
“As a class we visited Canterbury, Dover and the Warner Brothers’ Harry Potter studios,” Hinton said. “We also visited the offices of travel industry professionals. We studied photography and storytelling at the Victoria and Albert Museum and London history and culture at the Museum of London and the Tate Modern Museum.”
She also said they visited Westminster Abbey, tested their map-reading skills in Hyde Park and took a rock and roll walking tour. They stayed in the Mayfair neighborhood of London, which is about three blocks away from Buckingham Palace.
“We spent most of our time in London, but we took a day trip to Canterbury, where the Canterbury Cathedral is located,” Hinton said. “Since I teach a travel writing course it is also significant because it was the destination of the traveling storytellers of Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’.”
Hinton said her favorite part about teaching abroad in London over Winter Break is that students get to see the city two different ways.
“We spend the New Year in London,” Hinton said. “The Christmas markets, lights and sales are still in full swing when we arrive, then after the New Year celebration, the city goes back to business as usual.”
Katelyn Suiter, recent Murray State graduate from Clarksville, Tennessee, decided to study abroad because she felt it would further her career in advertising.
“Advertising is all about targeting people and their specific needs,” Suiter said. “In order to gain a better understanding of what people from all around the world need, I decided to immerse myself in a different culture; London will be one of many.”
She said her favorite part of the trip was seeing all the palaces and castles, such as Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace and Dover Castle.
“The tour inside the Westminster Abbey was the most interesting thing I got to do in London,” Suiter said. “The architecture was so beautiful inside and outside of the building that it quite literally took my breath away.”
She said the overall experience was eye-opening and showed her that traveling and learning different cultures is one of the best things someone can do for themselves.
Though Joel Polarek, senior from Dover, Tennessee, lived abroad for two years, this was the first time he’d gone abroad for school.
“I knew I wanted to travel but didn’t know where,” Polarek said. “When Dr. Marcie Hinton told us about the CCSA Winter in London class she’d be leading, I knew I couldn’t give up the chance to study abroad with a travel expert.”
He said Hinton taught them how to grill their raw experiences into palatable stories which relayed the true nature of the places they were able to visit.
“Most of my favorite moments of my study abroad were made in the cathedrals,” Polarek said. “Every corner was filled with paintings, sculptures, memorials and burial markings of important people of the United Kingdom.”
He said early on New Year’s Day, he, Hinton and her mother, Martha Hinton, went to St. Paul’s Cathedral.
“I climbed several spiral staircases to the top of the dome and experienced the London skyline from the Golden Gallery,” Polarek said. “Painted and gilded in and around the inside of the dome are depictions of St. Paul’s conversion and ministry and the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.”
He said traveling to and staying in London gave him a hope and confidence for the future which won’t soon waiver and made for an unforgettable experience.