London Calling

When Leah Ferentinos ’15 studied abroad, she went a bit “old school.”

She didn’t use her smartphone during the four months she spent in London, giving her a wonderful excuse to rely on others for directions, meet new people and make a few friends.

“I intentionally did not get data on my phone so that I could stop and interact with as many people as possible,” says Ferentinos, who participated in Binghamton University’s Semester in London in 2014 with a scholarship awarded by the U.S. State Department.

Some conversations had unexpected outcomes.

While on assignment for a journalism course, she interviewed a man from a juggling troupe.

“I thought it sounded awesome, so I asked if I could join,” she says. A week later, Ferentinos was an official member.

The troupe performed in parks, streets and green spaces across London. Its members were born-and-raised Londoners and two Americans including Ferentinos, who grew up in Binghamton. “You have a day off in Binghamton, and you generally know what to expect,” she says. “That’s why I wanted to pay more attention to the unexpected ‘everyday’ in London.”

She describes studying abroad as a sum of “familiar experiences outside of my comfort zone.”

Ferentinos says her “aha” moment happened when she was with the troupe, trying her hand at a diabolo [a juggling prop], and began talking to a man from a rural area in central England.

“[The man] explained how long it took to save up for his move to London so he could pursue his dreams … It was an enriching encounter to hear about his experience growing up working class, living in a small town, trying to make a better life for himself. I felt like I knew his story, because I had lived his story.

“Studying abroad reinforced my global perspective on academics, journalism and life in general,” she says. “The London program really solidified my goals in finding the personal stories and everyday moments that make us all who we are.”

Program builds on success

Binghamton University has given students opportunities to learn and live in the heart of London for more than 40 years. Students attend class a stone’s throw from the West End theater district and the British Museum. They can leave their flats, take a short walk in any direction and end up at Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square or the Houses of Parliament.

The Semester in London is one of the University’s oldest overseas opportunities, and one of the few faculty-led programs that lasts a full semester. Kerry Stamp ’08, MPA ’09, associate director for study abroad, describes the Semester in London as “the University’s hallmark international program.”

While the program’s exact starting date is unclear, the English Department has found handwritten booklets from 1975.

Nearly 1,200 students have participated in the Semester in London since the program began. Stamp says faculty members in the University’s English Department founded the program, and today it’s co-run by the department and the University’s Office of International Programs.

“The Semester in London has evolved in terms of the structure … but the heart of the program has stayed the same,” Stamp says. “There has always been an emphasis on English literature, theater and England’s rich history. Its essence is what the location can bring alive in our students.”

The city as classroom

“We encourage all of the faculty members to envision how to incorporate the city into their teaching,” says Mary Haupt, lecturer in the English Department and co-director of the program.

The Semester in London offers courses in British culture, Shakespeare, modern British drama, and London’s art and architecture. Recent years have seen courses in journalism, British film and travel writing offered as well. There are also day trips to cultural-historical sites such as Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, Cambridge and Oxford. Longer journeys have taken students and faculty to Paris, the Normandy beaches and the Lake District in North West England.

Students typically see one classical or contemporary play a week.

“The Semester in London is incredibly immersive. One day, you’re reading Shakespeare and the next class you’re going to the Globe Theatre to see a play,” says Rachel Powers ’14. “In another class, we read The Canterbury Tales and then spent a day in the city of Canterbury.”

Historically, one or two Binghamton University instructors travel to London with a group of students during the spring semester. In addition to the faculty leader, the University hires several adjunct instructors to teach the remaining classes.

“It makes sense to take someone along who has an understanding of our institution and the University’s academic standards,” Haupt says. “But you are more than a professor: You are a mentor. You have to encourage the students to discover what about London excites them and how they can connect it to what they’re learning.”

Haupt was the program’s faculty leader in 2001 and 2014.

“We were inundated with the academic take on British culture, while experiencing what we were learning in the classroom firsthand,” Ferentinos says. “Our instructors translated the academics into real-world examples.”

Haupt had students pair up and interview street performers in London’s Covent Garden for Introduction to Journalism. Ferentinos was the teaching assistant, and she was helping students when she discovered the juggling troupe.

Now a doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Ferentinos honed her communications skills in London. “Going abroad helped me find ways to better articulate the importance of taking a deeper look at the little moments. It was an invaluable experience to have as someone in the field of journalism and communication.”

Little moments, big impact

Powers, who traveled to London in 2013, met the man who is now her fiancé while abroad. She’s been traveling back and forth to London for the past 3½ years and takes a picture at the stoop of the Bedford Place flat where she lived as a student every time she returns to the United Kingdom.

“I’ve never felt more at home in any city than London,” Powers says. “I know that feeling is because of the people I met and the relationships I formed there.”

Reflection was an important exercise in Haupt’s writing courses.

“I wanted the students to value their experiences, big and small, and recognize when it could become material for good writing,” says Haupt, who also taught London Journal, a nonfiction writing course in which students kept travel diaries about their time abroad.

Before London, Maureen Mullarkey ’15 was a shy, aspiring journalist.

An introvert, the English major never jumped to put herself in new situations. One of her most vivid memories in London was walking into an art museum and conducting an on-the-spot interview for an assigned profile story.

“As introverts, we can close ourselves off when we need to recharge. But most of studying abroad is about being outside of your comfort zone and interacting with other people,” Mullarkey says. “I learned how to be more confident talking to strangers, both professionally and personally.”

Ferentinos says the flexibility of the Semester in London allows students to take in a lot of new experiences.

“I never wanted to treat my time abroad like a checklist,” Ferentinos says. “I made an effort to diversify my cultural experiences as much as possible. I wanted to focus on being in the present and not focus on the time we didn’t have left.”

“British theater was at our fingertips, and much of that was thanks to the program’s design,” Mullarkey says.

But students don’t have to be Shakespeare buffs or theatre connoisseurs to make the most of their time in London.

“I did not have a theatre background when I went to London, and I still had the most amazing time. I know if it wasn’t for that study abroad experience I would have never given a lot of the plays we saw a chance,” says Thomas White ’15.

“We want to showcase this as a program that isn’t just for English or theatre majors,” Stamp says. “These students are looking to strengthen their Binghamton networks while expanding their worldview.”

Haupt says the world has changed a lot since 1975, and the demand for college graduates to be culturally competent is greater than ever.

“As you grow and as you make your way in the world, sooner or later you’re going to come into contact with people who are different than you,” Haupt says. “How can you cope with that if you’ve only ever known a homogenous environment, or lived in a place where you’re like everyone else?”

Haupt hopes to return to London a third time before retiring.

“Across all of its disciplines, Binghamton University pushes its students to think beyond traditional boundaries and be global citizens. The Semester in London is an amazing opportunity to be that Binghamton in another place — and an absolutely wonderful place,” she says.