by Robert Gillis
\nPublished in The Foxboro Reporter March 2002<\/i><\/p>\n
I learned recently that my friend Shannon Leary of Foxboro would be going to college overseas \u2013 in England. I thought it might be interesting to talk to this local resident and have her relate some of her experiences as a new student in a foreign land.<\/p>\n
Shannon and I first met four years ago at the Jaycees haunted house. At that time Shannon, all of 15, was performing in one of our scares, \u201cThe dorm room,\u201d with a few other kids. In years after that, she took even more interest and a more active role in the haunted house, eventually being part of an award-winning guide team in 2000. Her enthusiasm was always contagious.<\/p>\n
Shannon and I also get along because like me, she also has a very silly side. Whenever we met, we could be overheard having utterly irrelevant, silly, inane conversations about zebras and blue cars, technobable and spaceships \u2013 it\u2019s a game we play and there\u2019s one rule\u2014whoever laughs first loses.<\/p>\n
Shannon was often seen at her job at CVS here in Foxboro \u2014 always friendly, always smiling.<\/p>\n
She left for London\u2019s University of Westminster at the start of the school year, and returned home to Foxboro for Christmas vacation. It was at CVS over the break that I caught up with her, and we did an interview while she worked the store.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo why London?\u201d I asked, beginning my note taking.<\/p>\n
Shannon smiled. \u201cI saw a guy with a really cute accent and followed him there.\u201d<\/p>\n
I raised an eyebrow. \u201cNo, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, it sounded good, didn\u2019t it? Really, I wanted an adventure, wanted to do something different, and when I visited London I could see myself living in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019d been to London before, and had done all the tourist things. But what did her parents think? She is, after all, an only child. What did they think about her heading overseas for college?<\/p>\n
According to Shannon, they were \u201cecstatic\u201d with the choice. \u201cMy Mom said, \u201cWe never want to hold you back.\u201d<\/p>\n
So began her great adventure. She described the application process as the hardest thing she ever did. The four-page \u201cUCAS\u201d submission comes with a twenty-page instruction book! But she made it through, and was soon given offers to the six English schools she\u2019d applied to.<\/p>\n
She chose Westminster, and will never forget her arrival in London.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy passport is stamped Heathrow, September 11,\u201d she recalled, and my first reaction was to suddenly stop my scribbling and look up. It was afternoon in London. Here, it was 8:00am. She called her mother to say she\u2019d arrived safely. The first plane hit the World Trade Center less than 30 minutes later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even know about the attacks right away, until I called my friend Sheri a little later,\u201d she said. That week, \u201cA lot of people were coming up to me and saying, \u201cI\u2019m sorry for what happened to your country.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a great response over there\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, yeah,\u201d she agreed. \u201cTony Blair was on TV offering support, but there were rumors that England was gonna be [targeted] next.\u201d She described that week as terrifying and uncertain, but recalled a gesture by the British that warmed her heart:<\/p>\n
\u201cA few days later I was walking near Buckingham Palace and there was a huge crowd. They were playing the US National Anthem and it gave me chills.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attacks affected Shannon in another way \u2013 the plan had been for her parents to join her in London five days after her arrival to bring over her clothes, pillowcases, sheets and other essentials for a year\u2019s stay. Obviously, with all the flights in and out of America grounded, they had no way to get there, leaving the new student with just about the clothes on her back and a few necessities.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, she stayed at a hostel and \u201cdid a lot of laundry,\u201d and once flights resumed, her folks were able to bring her clothes.<\/p>\n
After that auspicious start, she began her adventure. The school year commenced with \u201cFresher\u2019s Week,\u201d an orientation period for the international students. Shannon was assigned to her dorm, which over there is called the \u201chall of residence,\u201d and she has her own room and bath. The kitchen is the common shared area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no meal plans, so I do all my own cooking,\u201d she explained. \u201cYou need to be very self sufficient. The kitchen is the social center,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an all-freshman residence, by the second year she will be required to find her own place.<\/p>\n
Sounds expensive, but she tells me that Westminster is surprisingly much more affordable than US schools. Westminster consists of three campuses, and Shannon lives on Harrow Campus. Unlike American colleges, English universities are a three-year program.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a hard three years. While Shannon was impressed with the lecturers (who surprised her by being neither stuffy nor formal), she acknowledged that the work is very grueling and is the reason for the first year\u2019s high drop out rate.<\/p>\n
Her longest lecture runs six and a half hours on Wednesdays and features only two small breaks. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect to do so much writing. My courses are all writings. There are no tests.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she loves her major, which is an Honors BA degree in Media Studies. \u201cSchools in England don\u2019t make you take core classes,\u201d such as philosophy or calculus, \u201c\u2026they assume you already have that. My three years will be all communications so it\u2019s really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not all books and studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I have friends,\u201d she smiled. \u201cMy flat-mates\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAh!\u201d I interrupted. That\u2019s what I was looking for. English slang! \u201cFlat mates?\u201d I tease. I wait for a \u201cJolly Good,\u201d but one never comes, so I ask her if her accent singles her out.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople look at you funny when you speak.\u201d She explains that her friends like to hear her speak \u201cAmerican\u201d and ask her to say words like \u201cBar,\u201d and \u201cpark the car,\u201d and try to imitate her. What British vernacular has she acquired? \u201cMostly English swear words,\u201d she says with a smile. \u201cThey think of me as a tourist.\u201d<\/p>\n
But this \u201ctourist\u201d clearly loves England, although she confesses that it\u2019s still strange to drive on the left side of the road.<\/p>\n
She described the English people as \u201cvery nice,\u201d but admitted she doesn\u2019t have much contact with them, spending most of her time on campus with her friends. Her residence is a United Nations of sorts \u2013 her friends hail from Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Japan. Her favorite is Bjornar (the 6’4″Norweign with strawberry blonde hair) who she describes as her best friend.<\/p>\n
She adds that the social scene is not what you might expect. In American schools, there is a party atmosphere associated with freshman year. But Shannon explains that it\u2019s different over there; that drinking is not a big deal and most people drink much more responsibly than American students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe courses are all theory, and lectures are hardcore six hours. That\u2019s why you go to the pub after class.\u201d There\u2019s even a nightclub on campus, but \u201cpeople don\u2019t drink stupidly.\u201d<\/p>\n
We make a joke about the drinking game \u201cquarters,\u201d and it dawns on me they don\u2019t have quarters over there. How about money? Since England was not one of the countries that adopted the Euro, I asked Shannon how she managed with British currency conversions \u2013 can she convert pounds and pence?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s generally easy,\u201d she said. \u201cI can compute it in my head. The hassle is that Coke and Pepsi don\u2019t taste the same over there. The only thing that tastes the same is Doctor Pepper.\u201d She adds that a six-pack of Doctor Pepper costs 2 pounds 75 pence. (I never did ask if that was a bargain or not).<\/p>\n
Cola taste problems aside; she does enjoy clothes shopping in Camden on Portobello Road, where she can barter for good bargains.<\/p>\n
What impressed me most talking to Shannon is how well she\u2019s adjusted over there. For many people, leaving home to go to college is hard enough. Living in another country during that time presents its own myriad of challenges. She seems to have mastered both.<\/p>\n
But once again Shannon impressed me with a maturity that belies her age. Sure, as she goes on about her new life, there is an undercurrent here \u2013 untold stories and good times, and parties and friends and life on her own. Clearly, London has been good to her.<\/p>\n
But Shannon demonstrates that her first priority is the education. She doesn\u2019t consider England a vacation or field trip. She works hard, studies, and for her initial semester, she made first honors.<\/p>\n
Also, she just got a work placement with an international media company called MediaXchange, in which she gets to be a researcher\/runner\/phone person.<\/p>\n
Her parents can be very proud of her. This \u201clocal girl\u201d has done well for herself.<\/p>\n
As the interview wraps up, Shannon said she was looking forward to the return to London, and hinted that she may not come home to Foxboro this summer. \u201cI might take a summer job there \u2013 something to do with my major.\u201d<\/p>\n
She concludes, \u201cThis is the most exciting thing I\u2019ve ever done. It\u2019s given me a chance to look more at the world and meet people I would have never met.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the opportunity of a lifetime. Cheers, Shannon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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