About: The Project & Author
Project Overview
I've tried before to keep a travel diary, and was never able to follow through. But during the Spring 2018 I studied abroad in London and successfully journaled every week, sometimes every day. The resulting travel log is now one of my most sentimental and nostalgia-inspiring possessions. I kept ticket stubs, train passes, postcards, pins, and even some receipts in a salmon-pink diary that went with me everywhere. I jotted down what I'd done that day or week while on the tube to work, bus to another country, or sitting at a new restaurant exploring on my own.
With my entries, pictures, and videos, I've compiled my physical memories to share my experiences. I hope you enjoy getting to re-examine this adventure with me!
​
Ultimately, the act of keeping a journal actually affected my decisions while a abroad, and developed my experience into what it was. To learn more my post-travel and journaling reflection, click below:
Project Goal
The goal of this project starting out was to explore the travel narrative in a digital format. Taking a written account I had already created, I set out to recreate those entries in a new format, enhancing the experience through multimedia additions and an engaging written voice.
​
Before creating this narrative, and even while deciding where to explore in London and the UK, I knew I wanted to engage London through a cultural lens. This included not only those aspects of the city, such as its museum or the West End, that define its artistic culture, but also those aspects that represent the immense diversity and international flavor unique to this city with a long and winding history. Before beginning my trip I picked up and brought with me Kate Fox's Watching the English and Craig Taylor's Londoners. These texts enabled me to recognize, appreciate, and evaluate London's many cultures from the beginning of my exposure. Through my academic pursuits, experiences, and subsequent reflections, I observed London's, and the UK's, intercultural nature and history. I was able to compare not only differences of culture throughout the UK (England and Scotland specifically) and The Republic of Ireland, but within London's own diverse character and population.
The Author
The 'boring' stuff: I am a senior honors student at Temple University's Lew Klein College of Media and Communications, pursuing a double major in Communication Studies and English (two separate degrees, with their own full roster of requirements...) and a minor in Studio Art. More information about my experience and background can be found on my website.
​
I am at the exciting (and a little scary) point in my academic career and professional life that I am increasingly getting asked the question "what do you want to pursue after school?" Though I've certainly started to make my path, at twenty-one years old I am far from answering that question. What I do know is that I am captivated my the way that written communication can transcend boundaries of space, time, and culture, to name just a few, and expose us to stories and experiences sometimes widely different then our own. This project, that I hope you enjoy exploring, is just one example how of how writing can allow us to speak and share.
-xoxo, Ruth
