Across the Atlantic Ocean, Oxford College piloted its new study abroad program this fall semester. Oxford Launch: London brought 43 Oxford first-year students to spend their first semester studying in London. Associate Professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies Pablo Palomino and Associate Professor of English Sarah Higinbotham led the program.
Emily Zhao (27Ox) called the program a “cool experience” that helped her pursue her academic goals in a new location and culture. Zhao recounted experiences from the program, including cruising down the River Thames, watching fireworks on Guy Fawkes Day and exploring the Greenwich community.
“I’ve never really traveled before,” Zhao said. “I thought it would be a really cool experience to study abroad in such a historical, diverse, giant city across the world.”
Aarav Parekh (27Ox) said he joined the program to gain a global perspective on his academic interests. For him, this meant learning about London’s medical and healthcare industry.
“When I came to London, I was looking for that experience, trying to experience a new culture, a new way of taking care of patients and then also immerse myself in the historical landmarks and museums available in London,” Parekh said.
Throughout the semester, students took two courses, including a Discovery Seminar Course, with either Palomino or Higinbotham in addition to three other classes taught by International Education of Students credentialed faculty.
The cohort took part in an orientation on the Oxford campus before departing for London and completing another orientation abroad. Parekh called the orientation “brilliant” in connecting London students with students on the Oxford campus.
“I really, really like that Oxford College did that for us,” Parekh said. “It gave us a baseline of the kids that we’re going to be hanging out with for the next two years.”
Palomino said he was excited for the first cohort of Oxford Launch students, or “guinea pigs,” to experience a more globalized academic perspective, especially in London, which he said is a meaningful destination for him. Palomino designed his courses for the London program to involve the location itself.
“London, a very important location, both in terms of the historical content in the city that speaks to my work, and also in terms of the archival material that is available here, and in terms of pedagogy, in terms of the stories I can discover and share with with my students about the globalization of music and the globalization of food, which are the two topics I am teaching in this semester here,” Palomino said.
Palomino emphasized that he hopes students take away from his classes a unique learning experience that can only be found in a place like London.
“I hope they gain the sense of intellectual ambition that no one is confined from the first day into their perceived or expected limits or paths that they had in mind when registering to college,” Palomino said.
This semester, Palomino taught a seminar focusing on food and the history of globalization. Being in London, Palomino and his students used excursions like visiting The National Archives to enrich their learning experience and engage with historical material firsthand.
“Being in London represented for me the opportunity to work hands-on with new documents,” Palomino said. “To show first year students the beauty, the passion, the interest of working with historical documents and combining archival work with classroom conversations.”
More generally, Palomino said studying abroad is important for students’ personal and academic growth.
“Feeling like a stranger in terms of culture, in terms of place, is very important in terms of personal growth, intellectual, emotional but also social,” Palomino said.
Chendan Wang (27Ox) said she chose to study abroad to start off her college journey so she could experience education “farther away from home.”
“I wanted to be somewhere I wasn’t really used to,” Wang said. “I do live in Georgia, so Emory is in-state for me, and so with London Launch, I feel like I could have gotten that sort of distance to see what’s out of what I usually expect and where I usually live.”
However, students pointed out some drawbacks of the program. For Parekh, he said participating in this program made it difficult to keep up with the required pre-medical track classes, as the courses offered in London are more humanities-based.
“The one critique I would say is if there was any way for students to take classes that they’re more interested in freshman fall instead of having to wait for the spring,” Parekh said.
To Zhao, the downside of studying abroad earlier on is the potential loss of research opportunities at Emory.
“At Emory, there’s so many more professors, they do research there,” Zhao said. “But here, we only have two professors. If we really want to do research, we are kind of behind.”
Still, Parekh is looking forward to rejoining the larger Oxford community in the spring.
“I’m excited for a bigger community, a bigger dorm space, more traditional U.S. living,” Parekh said.
With the semester ending soon, Palomino expressed his hope that the London students will take the lessons back across the ocean to Oxford to steward worldly voices and perspectives into both the classroom and campus.
‘It's a good experience to apply and be admitted into a college with an idea of what you’re going to do and have, already in the first semester, an exposure to so many other things and so many other ways to connect that initial vocation of yours with more histories, more experiences,” Palomino said.
