Hey there!
For those of you who don’t know, currently, I am studying abroad in London on LC’s England: Fine Arts program! I am super excited to be able to tell you all about my experience studying abroad through LC. You can read more about my experience with the application process and the beginning of my study abroad in my other posts.
One of the amazing benefits to doing a trip like this through LC is that we get the benefit of a Program Director. My program director is the wonderful Professor Paschal, who is a teacher in the music department. He also taught the pre-requisite for this program, so I was fortunate to have him as a teacher for a semester before this trip. Professor Paschal does lots of stuff for us while in London. In addition to making sure everyone is safe and healthy, he also plans events and excursions for us to take which supplement our classes and our experience here in London. I mentioned briefly in my last post that we end up doing around two excursions a week in the city, typically shows and concerts. But we’re also lucky that we get to explore outside of London through day and weekend trips.
Last weekend, we took a trip to the north of England to a city called York. York is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in England, and it has a rich history. It was originally built by the Romans– Constantine the Great was actually declared the Emperor of Rome in York, the only emperor to be declared outside the city of Rome. You can see evidence of this all over the city, with statues and plagues of Constantine, and fragments of the great Roman city, like pillars and stonework.
But the real attraction of York is its wall. The medieval wall contains the city center, what used to be the entirety of the city, and is in excellent condition for a wall that was mostly built in the 13th century. The wall was used for defense purposes: to keep out enemies and keep the population of York safe. It was especially tested during a period of time known as the Harrying of the North, when William the Conquerer sought to conquer the north of England as well as the south.
You can walk along the tops of the wall and admire the stunning views of the York Minster, the enormous church which is the seat of the third-highest office of the Church of England. The Minster is a beautiful building, built in the Gothic style it is very reminiscent of the Notre Dame cathedral, and it has stood since the 15th century. We were lucky enough to be able to partake in Evensong, an evening service that also features the local choir. It was an interesting and educational experience.
We came to York to have first-hand experience in how the Church of England influenced early forms of theatre for our class, Theatre in London. For a long time, theatre in England was composed of either ritualistic folk performances, done to do things like celebrating the harvest or the coming of spring, or through the Church. York has a long history of performing Mystery Plays, or performances that enact and explain the Bible, since the population was mostly illiterate and couldn’t read the Bible. The Mystery Plays were performed throughout Medieval centuries, but fell out of fashion when the theatre was outlawed across the country in 1642, but they were revived again in the 1950s.
We got to experience the Mystery Plays in a private showing of a play that would have been put on at Christmas, but was canceled due to COVID-19. The group of performers were very kind and welcoming, and it was a great glimpse into the history of theatre and the role of the Church in the arts.
We didn’t have long in York, only two days, but it was a great time! I loved getting to see the English countryside, and seeing what life is like outside of the capital. York is a lovely town that is very well preserved, as it didn’t see much damage during the bombing of England in WWII. You can walk the streets and see buildings that have stood for hundreds of years, stroll along cobblestones, and really feel as though you are traveling back in time. There is a section of York that is particularly old and narrow, called the Shambles, and it was the filming location for some scenes in Harry Potter.
All in all, I feel so grateful that I am able to have these experiences thanks to the nature of LC’s program and the wonderful planning of my program director.
