There are many reasons England is at the top of the list for U.S. study abroad students. More Americans study in England than any other country in the world. For one reason, they speak English! It's such an easy transition to make when you take living and communicating in a foreign language out of the stress of going abroad. Also, we, as Americans, are intimately familiar with the history and culture of the country. Who hasn't had to read Shakespeare, Chaucer, or Dickens in High School? And we all know about the historical sites; Stonehenge, London Tower, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, et cetera. I'm sure, since most of us are descended from someone in the United Kingdom, that must have a part to play in choosing England as the top destination for studying. If you are interested in genealogy, you can even take some time on the weekends to research your family background. My brother visited Scotland and eventually tracked down some of our family history from that area.
I studied at the London School of Economics during a summer Graduate school session. I had a great experience. The visiting lecturers were Parliament members and successful businessmen. Our group tours included the Lloyds of London, the Land Rover plant, and seeing the Kingdom's crown jewels in an underground vault at the Tower of London. Also, my dorm room had a pub in the basement; you can't beat that!
There are programs for everyone; the casual traveler that wishes to learn more about a specific subject, summer sessions, college credit sessions, high school programs, and, as I previously mentioned, Graduate programs. The three main cities you should look into are; London, Oxford, and Brighton. London obviously will have the most programs available because it is such a large city. The great benefits of studying here are the multitude of things to see and do like shopping, nightlife, and visiting the historical sites. Oxford is a smaller academic town and has a lot of University students milling around. The benefits of studying here are that you will easily meet other students from the United Kingdom. Brighton is a small sea-side resort area about an hour from London. The benefits of studying here are that the city holds two Universities, so there are a lot of students, it is a good jumping-off point to visit France just across the channel, and, if you're lucky to study there in the spring or summer, you can attend a three week city-wide celebration in May, the Brighton Festival.
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