Centre News

Anne Evans, following in the footsteps of fellow Centre student
Aaron Edwards (above) is studying abroad in London this spring
and is sharing her experiences in an online travel journal.

The Centre students live near King’s Cross Station, where
Platform 9 3/4 is dedicated to the fictional platform in Harry
Potter that transports students to the Hogwarts Express.

Centre College’s extraordinary study abroad programs caught junior Anne Evans’s eye before she was even a Centre student. Although as a prospective student she was unsure where she’d like to study abroad, she knew that Centre’s programs could take her just about anywhere.

Four years later, she has found herself a student in the Centre-in-London program, and she is sharing her experiences in an online Travel Journal.

“London. Is. Awesome.” So begins her first entry, in which she describes her initial experiences on the Tube, navigating the city, traveling to France to visit a friend and diving into her first (and perhaps last) plate of fish and chips.

“It may be crowded, there may be cars whizzing by you from the left instead of from the right, and the roads may not be in grid formation and therefore may be somewhat confusing at first...but there is something about this city that just makes you fall in love with it,” she says.

Evans, an English major, chose to study in London because she has “always heard amazing things about London itself and had heard nothing but good things about the Centre program.” And although she has only been overseas for a few weeks, she has quickly come to regard the city as home.

“The confidence that I’ve gained from living abroad, from learning my way around London, from cooking my own meals, etc., is something that I wasn’t expecting,” she says. “It’s an incredible feeling. Navigating the airports alone and the transport between airports to go visit Laura Beth Griffith ’10 in Rodez, France, gave me that first feeling of confidence. I just realized, ‘Hey, I’m doing this. All by myself. I’ve got this.’ And it’s the most wonderful and encouraging feeling.”

Although she is enjoying nearly every aspect of life abroad, she says that one of her favorite aspects of the program is “becoming a part of a major world city in another country—becoming a part of London and beginning to understand what it’s actually like to live in a completely different place and to live in that place with such a sense of independence. Making London a second home: that’s what I'm enjoying the most.”

To follow along on Anne’s abroad journey, click here.