Contact Us
Contact:
Cornerstone Team
Anna Bemiss
Short Bio:
My name is Anna Bemiss, and I am a freshman International Studies major at American University’s School of International Service (SIS). I am from Enfield, Connecticut, and I have two younger siblings and an Australian cattle dog (like Bluey) named Arlo. I play the euphonium in the American University symphonic band, and I also play the trombone and piano. Another one of my favorite pastimes is playing tennis. I enjoy traveling too, and I have visited over 30 U.S. states so far.
I decided to join Cornerstone UK because I was excited to hear about an opportunity to study abroad as a freshman. As an SIS major, I also love the opportunity to learn about a foreign country’s political system and government while living there. On a personal note, my grandmother is British, and this is a way to see more of her culture and upbringing. I am very excited to study abroad and share my experience!
April 1, 2024
Going to school in another country is obviously an amazing opportunity. Since all the students at Wroxton are from the U.S., however, I am really glad there have been opportunities to get to know some of the locals and experience British culture with them.
There are a couple village churches in Wroxton, and a 10-minute walk away, at the end of the lane to Wroxton Abbey, is All Saints Church. It is an Anglican church, and the building dates back mainly to the early 14th century (200 years before the Abbey)! It provides a wonderful way to meet more people and families from the area. It is an Anglican church, but everyone is welcome, and conversation after the service over tea, coffee, and biscuits has been a lot of fun. They commented that since COVID, they don't see as many students around town like they used to, and they miss talking with the students. Having this insight made me even more glad I came to the service. They were so warm and welcoming, and I hope more Wroxton students will get to experience this in the future.
Another way I have tried to get involved with the Wroxton and Banbury communities is joining the Hook Norton Brass Band in Banbury. I play the euphonium in multiple ensembles back in the States (it’s like a mini tuba), and I had played with a British brass band before, so I knew I wanted to try to play in one while studying abroad. After reaching out, one of the members offered me their extra euphonium to play in the band.
The band rehearses in a little village on the other side of Banbury called Middleton Cheney, so for the first rehearsal I had to take a cab. However, multiple band members then offered to give me a lift to and from rehearsals and events. Everyone is so kind and generous in the band. I have even become friends with some girls my age in the ensemble and we all carpool together to rehearsals. Something I realized from going outside of my comfort zone by joining this group in another country, is that this band truly is like a family. They have been playing together for years, and one family even has all its members playing in the band. The band travels around Europe for performances together, and they have formed very close friendships.
The first time the girls drove me to rehearsal, they texted me beforehand, asking if I wanted to stop at “Maccies” on the way. I spent about 15 minutes looking this word up online, only to realize it’s British slang for McDonalds! It was fun to compare UK “Maccies” with our McDonalds, and getting Maccies with them gave me an extra chance to really get to know the girls and what their lives are like here. One of them is studying “maths” at university, and is a brass band fanatic. She loves listening to brass bands from all over Europe, and participates in about three or four bands! The two girls are best friends, and both play cornet. The other girl is training to become a travel agent, and they love to travel together. They even went on a day trip to Paris the other week for one of their birthdays.
Brass bands aren’t as common or popular in America, and they are different from brass bands in the UK – for example, there aren’t any trumpets and French horns, only cornets and horns – so it’s really fun getting to play in an entirely different setting. It also gives me the new experience of playing the melody as a low-brass instrument! The British have completely different terminology for their notes, which has taken a while to get used to. For example, an American quarter note is a British crotchet, and an American whole note is a breve. I’ve learned a great deal from this new musical perspective, and I am looking forward to getting to perform in a concert with them at the end of April!
Another fun fact about this particular brass band is that they have been sponsored by a local brewery since the late 1800s! This means that their annual meetings are held here, one of which I attended, and we all got free drinks. This brewery is a central part of life in the village of Hook Norton and the community, with its sponsoring numerous local clubs and activities. A cool thing about the brewery is that they actually still have their beer delivered in giant casks by shire horses. Hook Norton has had their ‘workhorses’ doing this since 1849, and they were the foundation of the delivery system in this town for a while. I couldn’t believe that people still had items, especially beer, delivered by horses!
I have also learned that pub life in this area is a serious social point for the community. The pubs are where locals really form friendships and bonds with the people they work (or perform) with. Every Monday after rehearsal, most of the band goes out to the pub to have a few drinks and spend time together without the instruments. It’s really quite special, because this is where the strong bonds are made. I’ve loved getting to form my own friendships through these outings, enjoying how people relax and interact when we’re not in rehearsal.
This experience with the Hook Norton Brass Band has given me something I couldn’t get just meeting people on the streets: it gave me a sense of what a British community is like. I am experiencing firsthand the close relationships people have, their hobbies like brass bands, what they think about America, and the general camaraderie. Playing in this brass band is something I will never forget.
I love getting to interact with others outside of the college, because it gives me so many new perspectives. I have made some special friends through this, and I am already sad that I will have to leave them at the end of the semester. Hopefully we will stay in touch, and I also hope that future Wroxton students will take advantage of these opportunities too!
BLOG SCHEDULE
March 11, 2024
March 11, 2024
One of the best aspects of the Cornerstone UK program is all of the traveling we get to do! Every weekend there are new trips to different places. So far in my sixth week abroad, I’ve already traveled to many English locations: London, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Kenilworth Castle, Warwick Castle, Blenheim Palace, and Abbey Home Farm. Outside of England, we've also spent a weekend in Paris, visited Cardiff for a day, and will be visiting Edinburgh for a weekend. Next week, several of us will be spending our spring break in Amsterdam, Germany, and Austria!
As you can imagine, the trips and traveling here can be intense, but as long as you plan for it and are still productive with your schoolwork, it is worth it! My favorite trip so far was probably the weekend trip to Paris. For this and the upcoming Edinburgh trip, the school books our hotels and rooms for us and pays for transportation, so we just have to cover meals and any shopping or traveling we do while staying there. Our Paris hotel was only a 20-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower!
We were in Paris for three nights, Thursday through Sunday, and we definitely took advantage of our weekend! When we arrived on Thursday night, we went to a cute little brasserie just outside our hotel. One thing I learned on this trip is that Paris has the BEST food! (No surprise, I know!) After we ate our delicious dinner and practiced our beginner French skills on the waiter, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower to see it sparkle. A few of my friends and I had been to Paris before, but it was fun seeing it again.
On Friday we got breakfast at the hotel and then set out for the Louvre. We had bought tickets in advance, so it was a relatively smooth process getting in. It also helped that we were visiting in the winter instead of the busy summer months. Once inside, we saw wall after wall of amazing paintings and beautiful sculptures, and even the architecture of the Louvre itself is art. My friends and I got smushed in a crowd for about 20 minutes until we finally got to the front to see the Mona Lisa in all its glory. We agreed that it wasn’t necessarily worth the long line and pushy crowds, but we can now say we’ve seen it!
After the Louvre, we walked along the Champs-Élysées and found a fun Italian place for lunch. The weather had cleared up by then, and it was a beautiful sunny walk down the avenue. We then bought some macaroons (of course) on the way down to see the Arc de Triomphe. I got four macaroons, and I chose raspberry, blackcurrant-violet-vanilla, chocolate-hazelnut, and orange. They were DELICIOUS! After this busy day, we took the train back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
One of my friends had heard of a cool Speakeasy, so we checked it out before going to a nice restaurant for dinner. Something I loved about Paris was how late people were out and about. We ended up eating dinner at about 10 pm that night, and people were still only just getting tables as we were leaving! After our late dinner we walked along the street and found an ice cream and crèpe place to grab a dessert before heading back to the hotel.
Saturday was probably my favorite day of the trip. We started off with breakfast, and then walked to a specific street we found on TikTok with a nice view of the Eiffel Tower to take some pictures. The rain over the weekend was a disappointment, but on the other hand, there were fewer tourists! After a fun morning in front of the Eiffel Tower, we traveled to Notre Dame (still under construction after the fire), had a bite to eat along ‘la Seine,’ and I got to pick up some books and a tote bag from the Shakespeare and Company bookstore.
Saturday night’s dinner was my birthday dinner because my birthday was coming up the next week, so we all dressed up and went out to eat at a nearby French restaurant, and then walked to the Seine to take a river cruise and learn more about the city. Even after the cruise there were surprises, because we found this quiet walkway right next to the Seine that also had an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower, so we took more pictures and had a lot of fun in the rain just laughing and joking around.
All in all, it was a séjour merveilleux (marvelous stay) that we will never forget! Au revoir, Paris! On to our next adventures...!
Feb 11, 2024
Feb 11, 2024 |
Hi everyone! My name is Anna, and I am currently studying abroad in Banbury, England, at Wroxton College. I am a freshman at American University and am majoring in International Studies. I am part of the Cornerstone UK program, which allows freshmen the ability to study abroad in England during their spring semester. It sounded like such an amazing and rare opportunity that I had to take advantage of it!
Once we arrived at Wroxton Abbey, it was hard to take everything in. The Abbey is truly something out of a fairytale: the long driveway lined with herds of grazing sheep on the rolling hills of English countryside, the beautiful stained-glass windows, the giant ornate front door, and of course the adorable cat that visits from the nearby village named Pip. Walking in, we were taken aback by the historical beauty of the interior. You first enter into a giant room called the Great Hall. Ancient suits of armor line the wall with a fireplace about five feet tall. The walls are paneled with elaborately carved dark wood, and enormous stag heads hang above. The largest head we later found out is believed to be almost 10,000 years old! There are also four libraries here lined with shelves upon shelves of books, as well as windows looking out to the massive back lawn. These views and scenery are extra incentive for me to go study!
My roommate and I were placed in the Queen’s Room, named after Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I (the only British King to be beheaded). They actually stayed at Wroxton in the 1600s! Our room has a large window overlooking the front lawn, and an even larger bed with posts and a canopy like something out of A Christmas Carol. No two bedrooms are the same, and it was fun to find our friends’ rooms and see what makes each one unique.
The grounds are also stunning. There are two lakes, a waterfall, walking paths through the woods, great expanses of grass and green space, and a beautiful garden. Spring arrives early in England, so within the first few days of our arrival in early February, I already saw snowdrops and daffodils beginning to bloom. My friends and I try to take advantage of this beautiful landscape by going on daily walks around the grounds. There is also an Obelisk on a nearby hill dedicated to the visit of Frederick Prince of Wales, who loved his time at Wroxton so much that he had it erected in 1739. It was a lot of fun attempting to follow paths through muddy fields to get there.
Besides the building and grounds, the courses offered are super cool. As part of my Shakespeare class, we get to go see live performances of the six plays we’re reading at Stratford-upon-Avon and in London. So far, we have seen The Merchant of Venice 1936, and it was interesting to read the original version, and then see this version performed with a new narrative. On later trips, we even get to see Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) perform live in The Player Kings (King Henry IV, Parts I and II). My parents are extremely jealous of this!
We also go on trips with my History of British Painting class. So far we have visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and will be visiting the Tate Britain, the National Gallery, and more. In my government class, we will be taking a trip to the Houses of Parliament later in the semester. Not only am I getting to study abroad, but these field trips are providing first-hand experiences I never would’ve had in the US.
The courses are very rigorous, but because the topics are so interesting and professors are so knowledgeable, I enjoy doing the readings and work assigned. We also do biweekly tutorials, where we meet in small groups and have the opportunity for focused discussions. One of my tutorials is even with the Dean of Wroxton!
I am very excited to continue sharing my fun-filled semester abroad!
April 22, 2024
April 22, 2024 | Blog to be added in April.