Adam Jarret

Independent Cultural Immersion Project

As a Holy Cross student studying abroad at the University of Leicester, England for the 2006-2007 academic year, I was required to complete an Independent Cultural Immersion Project chronicling my travels. Given my passion for web design, the natural incarnation of the fairly vague project outline was a web site, which I have broken up into three sections: England, Encounters and Experience.

England

London Orientation

I spent the first week of my time in England absorbing the sights and sounds of London on a guided tour with a bunch of other Americans and a lone Australian.

Leicester

Leicester, England is a strange place; melding old and new with landmarks showcasing the heritage of the city interwoven with all the modern amenities of any good student town.

Encounters

Chuck's Visit

My first visitor in the UK arrived in late October in the form of my good friend Chuck Liddell, who happened to be studying in Rome. Chuck and I have known each other since high school and have traversed great lengths of our own country by car, so it seemed only fitting to continue our exploration of the world by meeting up for a few days in England.

T-Fos, Tom and Justin's Visit

Since Justin was studying at Oxford and T-Fos was at York, we thought it was ridiculous that the three of us hadn't gotten together yet so we called Tom (who was studying in Florence) and converged on London for one shining weekend in November.

My Family's Visit

My family came to visit me over the Christmas holiday, and since we had already seen quite a bit of England together, we decided to tackle Spain instead.

Amanda, Meg, Dink and Justin's Visit

Meg and Dink were studying in Leon and wanted to visit London, so they called Me, Amanda (who was studying at Sussex) and Justin and we all agreed to meet them in the city one sunny February day.

Experience

Traveling Alone

Alone and without a plan; Dealing with age bias, airport security, and culture shock.

National Perception

What do people think of America? How do people view Americans? Is America the only country dealing with image problems? How has the influx of American pop-culture influenced European society?