Destination - London: An Interview with Kyan Paton About Studying Abroad

I have grown up with history. We have family who fought for the Union during the Civil War, and my grandfather shared his old books with me when I was a kid. I came to Florida State with the express intention of going into academia and becoming a history professor.

For me, the choice of college was between the University of Florida and Florida State, and in my eyes FSU had both the better study abroad program and the better History department. My interest is in the study of European history, and yet I had not been there. Hence, I chose London for my study abroad destination – and I am glad I did, it changed my life.

Being in the London Study Center was surreal, from the moment I stepped off the plane to the very end of my stay. I spent four-and-a-half weeks there last summer, and I loved every second of it. I was blown away by how cosmopolitan London was, it almost instantly broadened my horizon. I had not realized that communication might be an issue (don’t we all speak English?), but then my first conversation outside the study center made me realize how different British English is especially if you add in the many accents you will hear on the streets of London. Still, I met so many people whom I would never have encountered otherwise, from all walks of life, it has made me much more open-minded. It also set me on the path to being more inquisitive about the world.

It was easy to get to know other students from within the study center. During orientation, you get to talk to many people, then the people you live with in your flat are another little community, and you meet yet more students in your classes. The one class I took was on comparative governments. The instructor did an incredible job taking us places to illustrate his points. We got to step inside the Houses of Parliament, and we went to a range of museums, from the Holocaust to the Industrial Revolution. Even though it wasn’t a history class, it explained to us how the government of the United Kingdom had developed from medieval times onward.

I spent a lot of time walking around London, where I got into conversations with local people. They introduced me to the issues that were important to them, for example, the British general election. I found a small Italian coffee shop in Bedford Place that I went to regularly. That was my happy place. My other favorite place was the British Museum, which is right next to the study center. As part of my International Baccalaureate program, I had written an essay on the Rosetta Stone, and when I walked into the BM, there it was, the Rosetta Stone! That was an incredible feeling, and I kept going back to the BM many times.

The other place I really liked and visited twice was York. When I went there, I felt like I had stepped back in time. The town was beautiful, so old, so many little museums scattered around, and York Minster was very impressive.

I fell in love with the public transport system in England. I don’t own a car, so having a fully functioning bus, train, and underground network that can take you across the whole of London for less than one dollar was amazing. It took me a moment to feel at home, but then it was intuitive. I still have my rail card in my bag somewhere. My godfather had given me a guidebook to London, but what I really liked was just striking out on my own, walking off down the street. I found a lot of cool little places, like bookshops. That was my downfall! I bought so many books, I had to pay for excess luggage on the flight back!

My biggest challenge was staying on top of things academically. It is so very tempting to go out with your friends every night, but then you might not have enough time for your assignments. While I went out sometimes, I took more pleasure in exploring London, a city that is structured so very differently from an American city, on my own. It helped me become more street smart. The study center organized some trips to the theater, too. I went to see Wicked which was incredible – especially since I had done theater in high school and actually been part of a production of Wicked then. 

My advice to others going abroad is ‘go with a purpose.’ Certainly, any study abroad trip will be a formative experience, but going abroad is also a big commitment and an opportunity. Think about places to visit that will help you in the future. If you are a historian, find out about archives you can visit or historic sites that are important to your interests. If I had done more research, I would have gone to the archives in Durham Cathedral and also to Canterbury. Both places hold untranslated, very simple Latin documents that I would have loved to have viewed.

On the whole, making myself available for talking with people outside of the study center was incredibly insightful. I met such a range of people who shared their experiences with me, a  sheltered college kid, that I began to see life in many ways differently. Being abroad enabled me to reach out and talk to people more, and there were a lot of very human moments that I still recall.

I am planning on doing a second study abroad stay either again in London or in Florence, Italy. And next time, I will focus on researching material for my Honors in the Major project!