Well sadly, today is the day that all of us head back to the airport and leave the beautiful city of London. I don’t know what to say besides that I had a wonderful time here and wouldn’t change anything. From visiting all of the museums and going out to explore the city, this trip allowed myself to do everything I have ever wanted to do when I had the chance to visit London. When looking back on this trip, I can say that I am glad that I chose to participate in this opportunity months ago. After visiting all of the museums during this trip, I would have to say that visiting the Design Museum was my favorite. Being able to walk through and see designs from their beginning to their present look allowed me to better appreciate the dedication and change that designs have to go through to meet with current standards. While at the Design Museum, we had a thirty-minute design challenge that allowed us to all of us to come together and design a logo that represented family. This was an easy logo to design because the family that we had to represent was the family with one another. I believe I have been able to get closer to everyone on this trip and create better bonds that will last for a lifetime. When going to all of the museums and other fun activities that were planned for this trip, I don’t know how it would of been if any of the people that were on this trip had decided not to go to London. Everyone was a key factor in making this trip amazing and everyone was able to put in their own creative input.

Speaking about creative input, the Hackathon that we all participated in allowed all of us to put our design skills to the test. This allowed me to see why I chose this career path and how everyone I have been with on this trip is incredibly talented. The Hackathon allowed myself to see what I am able to do in a less than a forty-eight-hour period and see how I am able to work on a big project with a limited number of group members. The Hackathon has also allowed myself to create new connections with my group members that I can contact when having to do a project in the future. I believe that the Hackathon was a good way to end the week because it allowed all of us to just sit down and just focus on design work. After walking to every destination that was on our itinerary for the first five days, it felt nice to just sit in a nice air conditioned office space and create artwork for a product that needed to be made. Even though that the Hackathon wasn’t on our original itinerary, it was always on my bucket list. My roommate during the school semesters has been participating in Hackathon’s since he was a freshman and has always said that they are fun and exciting to participate in. After finally being in one of them, I can now say that I completely agree with him. The Hackathon wasn’t the only thing that I was able to check off my bucket list on this trip. Seeing the Broadway musical Wicked was something I have ALWAYS wanted to do and was successfully able to check off my bucket list. Being able to see the famous Broadway musical here in London is something I will be able to brag about to my friends for ages. This is something that I won’t be able to do in a very long time or even for the rest of my life. I am very thankful that I was given this opportunity and can’t thank Regina and Ingrid enough for being able to find time in our busy schedule to fit this show in. Being in love with theatre, it has always been my dream to see a famous Broadway musical. The show was amazing as I have always thought it would be and I am still singing the songs to myself to this day. Having these opportunities become available to you on a once in a lifetime trip only makes it more special.

Overall, I do not believe that I would of been able to gain these wonderful experiences if I have had gone to another college. This London trip has been everything I could have asked for and more. Being able to have both constructed time for activities in the morning and early afternoon and free time in the late afternoon allowed for all of us to follow a consistent schedule. This would allow us to understand how each of our days would be planned out and how all of us would be able to plan our free time when it was available. I believe that this was the perfect combination for this study abroad trip because it allowed for people to go out to visit the parts of the city that we wouldn’t be able to cover on the itinerary as well as allow for people to not to become tired with constant mandatory trips every hour of the day for the full nine days. We could either go back to the hotel after our mandatory morning trips and relax or we could go straight to our next destination afterwards, which I found to be the perfect combination for all of us. I would like to say thank you to the UMass Lowell for creating this study abroad opportunity for students just like myself to participate in. I would also like to thank the two professors that came on this trip; Regina Milan & Ingrid Hess. Without you two, this trip wouldn’t have been as awesome as it was. Both of you were able to use your amazing personalities and found a way to make this trip exciting for all of the students. I would like to thank my parents who have shown their support for me and my passion for art. Without them, I don’t know where I would be today. I would also like to thank my friends and classmates who were on this trip. If it weren’t for all of you, I wouldn’t have had the awesome experience I had here in London. You guys rock! This trip was a fantastic experience and I can’t wait to tell everyone about my trip. Once again, thank you UMass Lowell. I owe you one.