Two Owen County residents
are crossing the pond.
They are crossing the big pond – the one with England
on the other side.
Maggie Williams and Lauren Strohmeier, juniors at Randolph-Macon
Woman’s College and Transylvania University, respectively,
will be participating in study-abroad programs starting this
month.
Williams is an art history major who based part of her decision
to attend R-MWC on this trip. The program has been offered by
R-MWC since the 1970s and is based in Reading, England. It will
last a year, with Williams leaving Friday and returning July
10.
She will be living in a house with other participants in the
program that is just 30 minutes away from London. Her financial
aid has covered most of the cost of the trip. She will be responsible
for the rest. She has been on a week-long trip to England, but
said she is excited to get to live there and to be able to experience
their culture firsthand.
It will be a bit of a change for someone who has lived in the
same place her whole life. Not only will she be staying in England,
but there is the opportunity for weekend trips to other parts
of Europe. She has been to Scotland before, but the place Williams
said she would like to see most while overseas is Italy. It’s
a definite possibility, because the students are given a month-long
break during Christmas and five weeks at Easter.
Anyone can go on the trip, but Williams is the only art history
and museum studies major going. She has the opportunity to work
in a museum in Reading. A museum practicum is required for her
major. She will also get the chance few others will –
to see the things she’s studying firsthand.
“I’ll be studying the Mona Lisa, then I can drive
an hour and see it,” Williams said.
While it will be tough for her not to be able to come home for
nine months, Williams said it is an opportunity she “couldn’t
pass up.” She thinks the hardest part will be missing
Thanksgiving and Christmas at her grandmother’s, which
is something she’s never done. She will miss her family
but said her parents and brother plan to come visit during Christmas.
Lauren Strohmeier will be missing her family for the next few
months as well. She left Friday for England as well, though
she will be taking classes through the London School of Economics.
Her trip is not as long as Williams’. She will only be
there until Dec. 16, but like Williams, she will be participating
in things vital to her studies.
Strohmeier, a political science major, has an internship with
British Parliament for the next few months. While she doesn’t
know for sure yet what she’ll be doing, she said she thinks
it will include a lot of running errands and speech-writing.
In addition to the internship, she is also taking two classes.
She decided on Transylvania University after high school partly
because of this program and applied to take part in it her sophomore
year. She is the only student from Transylvania in the program,
which is an international one with about 40 students participating.
She will be living in an apartment in South Kensington with
others from the program.
Strohmeier received the Gilman Scholarship through the U.S.
State Department. She applied for it on a whim. It is a national
scholarship and one she did not expect to get. The money from
the scholarship will be used partially for living expenses.
Her tuition for Transylvania will be transferred over to cover
her tuition in England.
She has taken trips out of the country before, to France and
Spain in high school, but like Williams, she said she looks
forward to learning about the British culture and hopes to travel
around Europe. She will miss her family and friends and had
a going away party thrown for her last week at Transylvania.
She is excited though, to get to work in a political setting.
“I’m kind of a nerd, I like politics,” Strohmeier
said, “and this is a really good opportunity.”
Lauren
Strohmeier
