Looking back on my semester abroad, I honestly can't think of a better way to have seen Europe. For the first four weeks of the ten-week program, we studied the history of art, architecture, and music, all the while traveling across western Europe. And what better place to study these subjects than in the very places they developed and grew? In those first four weeks, among about fifty of my peers, I visited: Vienna, Austria; Prague, Czech Republic; Munich, Germany; Florence, Rome, Padua, and Venice, Italy; Bern, Switzerland; Paris, France; Ghent, Brussels and Brugge, Belgium. I witnessed everything from the ancient castle that towers above Prague to Michelangelo's David at the Accademia in Florence to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, as well as several outstanding orchestral concerts.

With a music and an art credit already under my belt, I was whisked across (or rather, under) the English Channel to my home for the last six weeks of the program: Worcester College at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. I took two more classes during my stay on this gorgeous campus: an ethics course and an engineering course. Taking full advantage of my four-day weekends (we had no classes on Fridays), I took trips to the Championships at Wimbledon, London, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Scotland, Ireland, and Barcelona. By the end of the ten weeks, I had conquered Europe, earned twelve credit-hours toward my major, immersed myself in several cultures, and garnered memories that I will never forget. It was truly the opportunity and experience of a lifetime.