IES Abroad England Direct Enrollment

In general, my experience abroad with IES was nothing short of fantastic. The housing situation was great and conveniently located. The academic program did not disappoint and the staff were not only warm and welcoming, but were able to help me out with a family emergency while abroad. I highly recommend IES for anyone considering studying abroad. You will not regret it.

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I studied abroad at Mountview Academy for the Theatre Arts, and I couldn't have picked a better place to study theatre than London. The school is one of the most prominent theatre conservatories in the UK, and the school definitely lived up to its reputation.

The students were some of the most welcoming and friendly people I had ever met. As soon as they met me, they accepted me into their family with open arms, no questions asked.

Most schools abroad are lecture based and have a pretty manageable schedule, like Tuesdays and Thursdays 11-1 and 2-4 and Mondays and Wednesdays 12 - 3 or something like that. But the schedule at Mountview was 9-6 Monday through Friday every single day. They kept us very busy. The students were all incredibly talented and the teachers were brilliant, many of them still working professional performers. Because my residence hall was so far from campus, I had to make a forty minute commute there and back. This made it a little difficult to stay in touch with my classmates outside of school.

But even so, one of the best parts about the direct enrollment program was the freedom I had. After my first day of classes, IES basically said, "There you go! Have a fun time! Call us if you need us!" and that was that! So I was free to go sight seeing, plan weekend trips like Stratford-Upon-Avon and Dublin. I got to plan my own events and live by my own ambitions.

More than a learning experience, it was a growing experience. I traveled by myself, handled clothes and expenses by myself, provided for all my meals by myself, got lost in the city and found my way home by myself. It was like a rite of passage being dropped in a different city in a different country across the sea and to be able to hold my own. Without a doubt, the best three months of my life.

I studied abroad through the IES direct enrollment program at Queen Mary college in the East End of London. I wanted to determine whether or not I want to study abroad in the UK for my postgraduate degree and also generally experience London life.

As for the East End, it is a wonderfully diverse area. A five minute tube ride west and a bit of walking, and you arrive at Spitalfields market, a historic place that has been--like a lot of London--modernized to reflect the fashion forward culture of the citizens. On Sundays, if you walk through the market and down a few back streets, you arrive at--my favorite place--the famous Brick Lane market, with the best food I had in London, and lots of vintage shopping opportunities. A two minute tube ride east from Mile end, and you arrive at the Stratford mall, which is a facility built especially for and adjacent to the 2012 London Olympic Park.

In regards to the Queen Mary campus itself, there are two Queen mary College locations: the Mile End campus and the Whitechapel campus. I have only ever been to the Mile End campus, but I can say that it is very well integrated into the urban landscape around it. The campus itself gives the appearance to its students; it would be possible for a student to live within the contained area of the campus without leaving if they really really wanted to. There are several buildings where classes are held, but generally, the different buildings house different school departments. The classrooms varied from large lecture rooms that could contain, probably, a good 150 people, to small classrooms where a class of maybe 15 people at most could fit into. It took me approximately 10 minutes to walk from one end of the campus (where the dorms are) to the other (where I had a class), and most of the non-academic facilities (coffee shops, the campus pub, the cafeterias, the bookstore, the campus corner market, etc.) were within this area. The most interesting feature of campus, for me, however, was the Nuevo Burial ground, which is really just a graveyard that just so happens to be in the middle of campus. I also appreciated the close proximity to the Mile End tube station, which made it easy to get anywhere I wanted or needed to off-campus.

The time that I spent at City University London with IES in the fall semester of 2011 was perhaps the most important thing that I would ever do. It was an introduction into the rest of my life. I have moved back to London (hopefully permanently) to study for my masters degree. Without IES I might never have realised that this is where I want to spend the rest of my life. City is one of the most incredible places I have ever been. The staff on sight are amazing, and the support I received from the friends that I met, the staff at City, the Students' Union and the IES staff are the happiest memories that I have.
Thank you IES for this opportunity of a lifetime!

Message from Go Overseas: Hi there! This IES Abroad review was submitted before we increased our character limit for reviews. Just wanted to let you all know.

I LOVED my experience at UCL!
I got to take classes from world renown faculty on some great classes while experiencing one of the most diverse and fun cities in the world. On a daily basis, I would go to class, then once classes were done I would go exploring with my friends. Walking in London was great because there is so much to see and the tube stations were very close to our housing when we needed to go a little further away.
I also loved all the markets they had during the weekends as well as the authentic restaurants around the city.
The obvious tourist experiences were also very much enjoyed and I loved every single moment I was there.