in Life's name and for Life's sake

Oh god, just got hit with the travel bug, and BAD. May have to forbid myself from looking at the photos jayintheclouds is posting of his round-the-world trip, at least for a while -- just looking at some shots of Marseilles and knowing that someone I know is there and that I'm not only not there but also not even close to there is really depressing. I want to have a trip to plan for but the next place I'm going (aside from hopefully hopefully hopefully London to do my MA) will be Ireland with my family and we don't actually have a set YEAR for that, yet. Probably it will be after my sister graduates from college, at this rate. But that means that it's three years I have to wait through.

Of course, if I manage to get the scholarship funding I need to study in London, I could conceivably do more traveling, but both of the scholarships I'm applying for stress the fact that these scholarship programs are meant to foster US-UK communication and are not just a chance for awardees to run around Europe. At least one of them (probably both of them) restricts travel for participants, but even if it weren't in the rules that I can't spend more than a weekend out of country per month, I feel like the level of academic work I'll be engaging in will be enough to keep me primarily London-bound.

And of course this isn't a bad thing, because I have so many friends there and there are so many things to see and to do there that I haven't yet; and of course there are so many things I want to see in the United Kingdom and there are no travel restrictions on that and I would definitely be doing some serious exploring (Wales! Scotland! the west Yorkshire moors!).

But dammit if I don't just want to be on some far-off seashore, with my feet in the sand and the wind in my hair and my gaze turned to the horizon and the setting sun, listening to the way that the passersby talk in foreign tongues and the sounds slip away beneath the pulsing of the waves.

Because it's never too early to plan ahead (at least not if you're my mother) I've been looking into options for studying abroad in the UK or Ireland during my junior year. Right now I'm only looking at options that are available through Berkeley's Education Abroad Program, because they're generally cheaper, easier to organize, and credits transfer more easily. When I started researching host institutions, I was so sure I knew where I wanted to go because only one of the universities that offered a half-year program was interesting. At the time, I was sure I only wanted to be gone for half a year because I really couldn't double major and take a whole year in a foreign country. But now that I might not be double majoring after all, it becomes much more sensible for me to spend a whole year abroad, and that opens up far too many options.

The University of London, Queen Mary is a strong frontrunner at the moment, even though it only offers a year-long program. It's got a strong English department, which is a must, but it also has an actual contiguous campus despite being located inside the city of London. In fact, it's the largest college campus in all of London -- which isn't saying much, but all the other London colleges are run out of buildings all over the city, sometimes just rented offices and the like. I actually really liked what their website had to say about what it's like to live there -- the description of the atmosphere made it seem like a quieter, smaller version of London within London. And of course it's London we're talking about here, which is amazing in its own right. The one major downside is that living in London is expensive, so going here would cost more than going to a comparable university in a different setting, simply because of cost of living.

The Unviersity of Warwick in Coventry is the school that I thought was going to be my strong frontrunner from the blurbs in the first brochure I read, but now I'm not too sure what I think about it. It's located in the middle of nowhere -- the university is the town, unless you hop a bus to one of the nearer locations. The closest city centers are about 30 minutes away by bus, and London is over an hour and a half away by train. The University itself seems like all I could hope for, with a sprawling campus and a great English department with innovative course offerings, including creative writing classes! Also, it offers a half-year program, which is one of its most attractive features at the moment.

The University of York also offers a half-year program, which is the reason I considered it in the first place. I've been to York before, and while I liked it, I'm not entirely sure I could spend more than a few weeks there without some degree of boredom setting in. It just feels small compared to a lot of other UK cities I've visited. However, it's English department is very highly rated, and they have a proviso that allows students to submit "supplemental work" in the form of creative writing pieces in any genre they desire. This work is used to help candidates who have borderline grades, and can't be used against you at all (which I think is possibly the most kickass university policy I've ever heard of). It remains a firm "maybe" at the moment.

The University of Edinburgh mostly has its location to recommend it. I really enjoyed the atmosphere in Edinburgh, and unlike York, it feel big enough for me to spend a year there -- which I would have to, since they don't offer a half-year program. There isn't a contiguous campus, but most of the college buildings (and all of the ones pertaining to Humanities courses) are located along the Royal Mile at the center of the city. And these are buildings the college owns -- not just some office buildings they've rented (as is surprisingly common in London colleges). I think I'm mostly considering it to keep my options open.

Trinity College Dublin is possibly the oldest college on this list, having been founded sometime in the 1500s (!) before Ireland was technically under the rule of Great Britain. It's got a strong English department and a great location, right in the center of Dublin. The only thing that worries me about it is that it only offers year-long programs and I'm not sure I want to sign up to spend an entire year in a place that I've never been to before. All of the other university locations (with the exception of Coventry, which we only drove through) I have personally had the chance to visit and explore. But at the same time -- TCD is a big deal, possibly the most prestigious school on the list.

By the time I return to Berkeley, this list should be narrowed down to three schools, and I should have a good idea of the specific courses that I would take at each one if I were able to go there. I'm just not sure which schools to narrow it down to.

...and I know I'm totally jumping the gun on all of this, but I can't help it. I just want to be there right now.

(The only problem is, all of this costs money, which my family has, but not in freakishly large quantities, and I'm afraid that if I asked to do something that would cost too much money, my parents still wouldn't say no, because this is too big of an experience and I shouldn't be missing out on it...)