England
England is one of the single most popular destinations for semesters abroad, and with good reason: Its beautiful natural geography, famously friendly countrymen, and the glittering city of London are natural lures. So if tens of thousands of students from all over the world choose to spend a term or a year in England because of all they stand to gain, imagine how much you'll get out of an entire collegiate experience there. The possibilities are endless.
Any consideration of a four-year college experience in England should begin-where else?-in London. The City on the Thames, Old Foggy London Town, whatever you call it, one thing remains constant: So much of what we are familiar with today, from the books we read to the music we listen to on our iPods to the very language we speak, owes its very existence to London. For centuries, London has been both the pillar and the centerpiece of Western civilization, and that history is omnipresent at every charming twist of the road in this city.
But London's charm is not limited to its past: Today, the city is as exciting as it has ever been, as is the rest of this surprisingly small island-nation in the North Atlantic. From the White Cliffs of Dover in the north to the rolling greenery of the border with Wales in the west, England has more to offer both tourists and full-time college students alike than can ever be seen in a lifetime. Great civilizations have repeatedly made their home here, and the evidence of their influence can be seen in the famously ordered pillars of Stonehenge, the Roman ruins at Bath-pronounced, of course, baaah-th-and the undeniable Celtic influence throughout the countryside.
Studying in England, even more than merely visiting, is an experience that will change your life in ways you may never have thought possible. After all, some of the greatest and most influential minds in the history of the world were educated in England's world-renowned colleges and universities. Like Oprah and Britney and, in deference to England's very own big-time celebrity, Beckham, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge are known by only one name. They have set the standard for higher education throughout the world for centuries, and if you have the opportunity to either enroll in one of them or even simply audit a class or two, your life will be enriched more than you ever thought possible.
But these two formidable temples of learning are far from the only universities offering stellar educations in England. Indeed, from the halls of the University of Leeds to the august classrooms of the London School of Economics, the options are limitless when it comes to your choices for a world-class education in England.
Finally, then, there is the issue of the location itself. Attending school in England is not only exciting and enriching in an educational sense, but England today is at the heart of so much that affects the world. Not European and not American, England is a wonderfully unique country whose culture is as exciting and as rich today as it has ever been. So no matter what you study, and regardless of where you decide to attend school there, the bottom line is this: You will be hard pressed to find a better, more enriching and exciting place for your college experience than England. It is, in the words of that more famous British guy, "This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,- This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England" (www.worldofquotes.com).
