by Elise Goitia '18

Fourteen students took part in Knox's London Arts Alive program, which offers a fall term class studying London's culture and arts and, during winter break, a trip to London for three weeks. The students who participated had one common reaction: "It was incredible."

"It's unlike anything else you would ever be able to do," said Madeline Lag '18.

During fall term, students from a variety of majors and class years took the class London Arts Alive: England Imploded, which focused on how London's imperial powers impacted its cultural landscape. The course utilized films and novels, such as Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe, as a way to look at the transformation of England's political and artistic culture. The students then traveled to London for three weeks to experience it firsthand.

"A very important buzzword is 'immersion learning' and, even though our time abroad is short, it's so intensive through morning, afternoon and evening sessions," said Robin Metz, Philip Sidney Post Professor of English, who led the short-term immersive program.

While abroad, students attended 46 events that featured dance, opera, painting, theatre, sculpture, and anthropological locations, such as Stonehenge. Metz commented that his favorite things on the program were attending the famous Saatchi Gallery, and educating students on how to use the underground subway system.

"That way, they can go anywhere in the city on their own," he added. "The more fantastic thing is, if you learn how to use the transportation chain in any large city, you can take that knowledge to any city in the world."

Lag commented that, rather than study abroad in a conventional way, London Arts Alive offers students a "great in-between" experience. Students can study a different culture on campus and still experience it abroad without committing to a full term in another country.

"It was some of the most fun I've ever had, the most exhausted and exhilarated I've ever felt, and some of the best people I've ever met," she said.

Liz Carlin-Metz, Smith V. Brand Endowed Chair in Theatre Arts, says that what she loves most about this program is that, "once you're outside the four walls of the classroom and you're moving around the city, there's a kind of intimacy developed with the students. It's understood that I'm a student in London, too, and we're all learning together."

As a capstone, the students assembled presentations ranging from a collection of short stories to creating original British-style advertisements.

Photos above and below by Aidan Murphy '18 and Ben Rezko '18.

Jack Harman '18 said he couldn't recommend the program enough. After attending a production of Swan Lake done by a traditional Irish step dancing troupe, Harman commented that it "completely reimagined the way that I view the relationship between emotion and dance."

"Ten minutes before we got into the theatre, I was thinking, 'I really wished we were seeing a ballet of it,'" he said. "The set was made up of ladders, a black curtain, a cardboard box, and a cinder block with a rope tied onto it that a guy in his underwear was on, braying like a goat."

It ended up being unlike anything he had ever seen. "I was blown away. It got me. It was this whole reimagining that dealt with suicide, depression, anxiety, the clergy, politicians, old Celtic origins, and all of these very heavily Irish things."

The most significant thing Mia Rousonelos '18 drew away from the program was the dialogue between classmates about the galleries, museums, and plays they attended.

"It's not about whether a production is good or bad, but rather how it affects the people around it," said Rousonelos. "That's the conversation I want to be a part of."

"I'm not scared of whatever I do next," Rousonelos added. "I feel like the really great classes I've had are the ones that forced me out of my comfort zone. This program has done that. I would say Knox's experiential learning ideals are one of my favorite things about Knox."