London and Lake District Field School

picture of London, England featuring Big Ben

Literary & visual culture

Studying abroad provides the opportunity to internationalize your degree and your resume. Participate in our London and Lake District Field School to earn credit towards your SFU degree while gaining a valuable global perspective.

The London & Lake District Field School will focus on the explosion of literary and visual culture that was centered in the British capital and also emerged in the English Lake District during the Romantic period, from the late 18^th to the early 19^th century.

Applications are now closed.

The Field Work courses will be multidisciplinary, allowing students to engage both critically and creatively with the literature and art and cultural and natural spaces we will be visiting in Vancouver, London, and the Lake District.

The Field School will organize excursions to museums, galleries, buildings, monuments, libraries, and other public spaces, and will liaise with international institutions, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, British Museum, National Gallery, and Wordsworth Trust, to provide custom-designed workshops to facilitate direct engagement with historical artifacts.

Most of our time in Vancouver will spent in lectures and discussions to prepare us for the extensive excursions and touring we will be doing in London and the Lake District.

"The field school allowed me to experience “hands-on learning” in the truest sense of the word. I had the opportunity to do a class presentation in front of paintings that I had only read about in books! My flatmates also became some of my closest friends and I never would’ve met them if I didn’t take this opportunity." (Bernice Puzon)
"During the summer 2017 trip, our group visited a number of museums, galleries, libraries, and other institutions that I most likely would never have visited had I been making the trip to England on my own—the Wordsworth Museum in particular was an incredible experience. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to explore the behind-the-scenes work that goes on to provide a curated experience to the public. This trip to England provided an excellent hands-on opportunity to engage with artifacts and works of art themselves; it also exposed me to multiple career paths that helped solidify my desires to pursue graduate studies." (Grace Chen)
"Going on a field school changed my entire perception of academia. I learned how to push myself as a researcher and a writer, all while working with amazing people. Three years after the field school, I am still good friends with my fellow field school students and our inside jokes are still funny. I would highly recommend a field school, even if it is out of your comfort zone!" (Tanya Taneva)
"Going on the London & Lake District Field School was one of the best experiences of both my academic and personal life. Personally, I met life-long friends and living in London provided me with the space to undergo tremendous personal growth and gain more independence. Academically, the work we did in the field was some of the most fulfilling I had done in my life up to that point and made me want to pursue academia more seriously, which I am now doing, as I am working toward a master’s degree in history. I could not recommend doing this field school enough!" (Maggie McKoen)
"Perhaps above everything else it was for me, studying in the field reminded me that true education is personal, and how personal university education can be. The program offers another vision of schooling: one with a great deal of freedom for you to explore what interests you, while also closely working with others who are exploring their own interests, educating in a way that is powerful as both an individual and a social creature. This time in London and the Lake District was quite easily my most significant university experience.” (Nick McLeod)
"Having been fortunate enough to be a part of the first London and Lake District Field School, I can say that it was a singular academic experience. The Field School was the first time in the course of my undergraduate studies that I did archival research, dove into the analysis of paintings that I had physical access to and could sit with, and handled works in manuscript form (with the perk of using book pillows which I found delightful). The tenuous and intimate relation you develop to art and history, while understanding how they position your body in the space of a museum, beats being in the classroom any day. Even a three-hour lecture isn't so bad when it's in the National Gallery!" (Gurleen Grewal)

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Department of English

London and Lake District Field School

Literary & visual culture

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