A summer in England studying Shakespeare at the source was an ideal way for Sarah Wilson ’20 to do work in her majors of English and theatre, and to take part in an affordable and life-changing study abroad experience.
Wilson applied to the Fulbright-AIFS Summer Institute at Shakespeare’s Globe program through Denison’s Lisska Center for Scholarly Engagement. “The program was a perfect combination of my two majors,” she says. “At the Globe, about half of my classes were academic seminars on the history of theatre in London, Elizabethan culture, and Shakespeare’s texts, while the other half were acting, movement, and dance classes. I loved being able to engage with my literary interests and my artistic ones at the same time.”
“We spent the majority of the program focusing on a few specific plays that were being produced at the Globe while we were there. It was amazing to see As You Like It performed by professional actors, talk about it in the context of its time, and then perform it ourselves in an acting class.”
“It was amazing to see As You Like It performed by professional actors, talk about it in the context of its time, and perform it ourselves in an acting class.”
Wilson was also drawn in England because of her family roots. “My dad was born in Scotland and I’ve always felt very close to that part of my family. I grew up eating British candy and reading Scottish comic books. It was incredible to be able to go there as an adult and experience those things in London.”
She learned her way around London during her daily travels to campus. “Our student housing was in Kensington and every morning my cohort would take the train together to the Globe. After a few days I knew exactly which line to go on and how to get there, and it felt so cool to be able to navigate the city,” she says. “We would take the Millennium Bridge across the river because it reminded us of Harry Potter and get breakfast together before class.”
The Fulbright-AIFS Summer Institute gave Wilson an affordable opportunity to study abroad beyond the conventional semester abroad model. “One of the reasons I chose the Fulbright-AIFS Summer Institute at Shakespeare’s Globe was because it was a low-cost option to study abroad. I knew that I couldn’t go abroad during the year, but I also couldn’t pay for the high cost of some summer programs.”
