Aelan Lee (they/them) is a member of the class of 2026 majoring in English Literature and Creative Writing, and in the process of turning their Theatre concentration into a Theatre minor! The Voices team had the pleasure of interviewing Aelan on their recent study abroad experience in London, England. Please enjoy the following Q&A:
Q: Why did you choose London for your study abroad?
A: There are several reasons, I think. When I first heard about the London program for the Theatre Department, I instantly knew that’s what I wanted to do, that’s where I wanted to go. It just sounded so, so cool. I love theatre. I don’t really involve myself in theatre during the school year. I used to be more involved in high school, so I wanted to get back into it. I thought the London program sounded so up my alley. Also, they speak English over there, so I knew it would be less stressful for me than if I had to learn a new language. I’ve also been to London once before, a decade ago now, and I really wanted to go back because I felt like I couldn’t remember enough from that first trip. I wanted to go back and see what more I could learn.
Q: When did you go on the trip?
A: I went in Fall 2024. We left in September, and we came back for December. It was only 12 weeks, but it was a very full 12 weeks.
Q: Which department did you go through to complete the program?
A: I went through the Theatre department because they run the program. They’ll take anyone from the Theatre, English, or Dance departments. We had two dancers on our trip, so they were off doing different things than the people there for theatre. They had their dance classes while we had our theatre classes. I could have also taken English in London, but I chose to focus on my concentration and minor.
Q: How did the English department help or encourage you to study abroad?
A: My advisor Dr. Scheinberg was very encouraging of the trip and thought it would be a good fit for me. She was trying to figure out if I needed to take English classes in London. I didn’t end up needing to, but everyone was very nice and helpful about it, and made sure that if I needed to, I would have the option to take English classes.
Q: Can you provide a brief overview of the London program?
A: Basically, the draw in was that we would see upwards of forty different shows and performances throughout the semester. Essentially, part of our class time was going to see shows and writing reports on them, as well as learning about different theatre’s histories and the works that they do. In the end, I saw a little over 50 shows. I know someone who hit 60. Classes were structured pretty similar to here. We had this little garden classroom in the apartment we were staying at that we would go to for our lectures and classes. We had a Shakespeare and an acting class out there. A lot of our learning was kind of on the go, in the city, though. It was a very interactive experience.
Q: Were you able to pick the shows you wanted to see and fit them in your own schedule?
A: No. We had a schedule all laid out. It was a moving schedule, so whatever was available we would go see, but it depended on when we were free. We would go see shows outside of that on our own, too, though. We were seeing shows almost every day. Not quite literally every day, but there was a lot to do in twelve weeks.
Q: What were a couple of your favorite shows? Were the shows similar to each other?
A: No, it was everything. Anything from West End, Off West End, and the Fringe shows. West End is the equivalent of Broadway. Off West End is still popular, but not West End level. Fringe is smaller companies that run their own shows. So, everyone’s doing different things at different times. It was just everything all at once.
We saw Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club on the West end. That was amazing. They transformed the entire space, so you came in through this back passageway and then up into the theatre. They had built an entire section of the theatre up to make it in-the-round, so that it could be viewed from all sides. The performance itself was amazing. It was beautiful and devastating, and I won’t spoil it, but it was wonderful. That was one of the first shows we saw, so it set pretty high standards for the rest.
One of the smaller ones we saw was Eurydice, which is about Eurydice from Eurydice and Orpheus, the Greek myth. Again, beautiful, devastating, but that was in a small, fifty-person theater as opposed to hundreds that other theaters could hold. It was very small and compact, and the set was very minimalist, but the acting was phenomenal. It was just all so good.
The personal favorite that I saw on my own was probably Macbeth with David Tennant. He was just a phenomenal actor to see, especially in Macbeth, which is one of Shakespeare’s plays that I’m most familiar with. It was so spooky, and it was just really good. I cannot stress how good it was.
Those were not necessarily my top three, but definitely three of the most memorable.
Q: What was your academic schedule like? What classes did you take?
A: I took an acting class, a Shakespeare class, Society and Shelter, British Theatre, and Cultures in Contact.
Societies in Shelter and Cultures in Contact were both pretty similar. They both incorporated a lot of on the go learning experiences in the city, usually field trips. We were very rarely in the classroom for those two classes. We usually met at some sort of museum or monument, or went on weekend trips, things like that.
British Theatre was the class that incorporated all of the shows that we saw. We would see a show about three times a week at night, and sometimes a matinee on a Friday.
I also took Acting, which was in the garden classroom with a couple of other people. Shakespeare was in the garden classroom, too, but we occasionally went out and saw different Shakespeare shows. We also visited Stratford upon Avon, which is where Shakespeare grew up.
We were always everywhere. There was no time to sit down and chill. We were constantly doing something, which was great. I loved it!
Q: When you had the opportunity to explore London on your own, where in the city did you make sure to visit?
A: Definitely the museum district. I just really like museums. Not, like to the extent that some people do, but Science museums and natural history museums, I eat that up. So, I went to both of those. There’s also the Victoria and Albert Museum right next door. It was described by one of my professors as “the attic of museums,” where it’s just everything tossed in one place. But it’s beautiful. They have so many different exhibits. They have metalwork, jewelry, stained glass, furniture, and plaster molds of architecture from other places. They had a mold of David slaying Goliath. There’s just so much in the Victoria and Albert, so I definitely hit that a couple of times.
You have to hit all the touristy destinations, obviously. My roommate from Roger visited me in London because she was also abroad. We went to the London Eye, which is the big ferris wheel. That was really fun because you just got to take in the city. London’s an enormous city, and I felt so small, but so happy in that moment. It was so cool.
We also saw Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. We went to so many churches. I cannot stress how many churches we went to. It was kind of ridiculous how many churches we visited, but each of them had their own history, so it was really cool.
Q: Did you ride one of those double decker buses?
A: Yes! We did ride a couple. I mostly took the tube, which is the subway system, because it was easier for me to navigate, and I found it less stressful than the buses. I did ride the double decker bus a couple of times. It was pretty fun, and I always sat on the second level; we were in London, you’ve got to do it.
Q: Did you have a chance to travel outside of London? If so, where, and what was your favorite place?
A: I personally went to Edinburgh in Scotland for a couple days with my family when they were visiting during our free week. I also flew to Croatia to visit a friend, so that was really cool. There was such a change in temperature and climate. I also visited Wales, because Stonehenge is in Wales. We visited places like Dover, Brighton, and Stratford Upon Avon that are in England, but outside of London.
Q: What was your favorite part of the trip?
A: Honestly, I think just being there and absorbing everything I came across was my favorite part. I’ve never been so independent in my life. That sounds a little sad, almost, but it was like living on my own, but with friends. We had a little bit of guidance, but we also had to get everywhere on our own and buy our own groceries and that kind of thing. Just being there and absorbing the culture was great. People joke that there’s no culture in Britain, but it was so cool. I learned so much. I can’t even articulate how cool it was. I really had a great experience, and I’m so happy I went.
Q: Is there anything else you’re excited to share about the trip?
A: Shout out to the professors I had over there! Carl Miller and Rosamunde Hutt were our Shakespeare professors, Bridget Hicks was our Society and Shelter professor, and Kevin Trainor was our acting professor. Jeffrey Martin runs the Theatre department here, he’s amazing. Bridget Hicks and Jeffrey Martin worked together to navigate all of our different field trips and outings. They all did so much for us, and they’re just great people, so shout out to them!
Kudos to Aelan for their London study abroad! We hope you had as much fun reading this Q&A as Aelan did on their trip!
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