Sarah's Study Abroad Blog

     We've begun our first novel for the course, Waverly by Sir Walter Scott. This covers the Scottish representation of literature, and it features many important historical figures and events, such as the Jacobian uprising. To better understand the plot of the novel, we examined a complex web of royal families and their connections. It's possible that Waverly is a commentary on the relationship between England and Scotland. Readers are introduced to protagonist Edward Waverley, an unusual character who immediately strikes me as absent minded. To be fair to Edward, he has his reasons for being slightly odd.  His father and uncle have a tumultuous relationship due to their views on the uprising. Richard Waverly is a classic Whig, while uncle Everard sides with the Jacobites. In classic sibling fashion, the brothers are petty and refuse to let one or the other own the estate, which results in a split ownership. Edward spends time going back and forth between his uncle...

 Hi everyone! I'm Sarah, a junior/adult student at Mercyhurst. I'm so excited to go on this trip with you all and experience these wonderful capital cities. I'm 24 and have lived in Erie since I was 3. I briefly attended Hiram College, a very small school in Ohio. Now I've been at Mercyhurst for about three or four total years, desperately trying to figure out my path to graduation. I'm an English major and want to become a teacher.   I am slighly nervous to travel so far after so many years. We were meant to go on a study abroad trip in 2020, and I'm sure we all know what happened. The farthest trip I've taken is the past few years was a weekend trip to Cincinatti. The farthest trip I've taken in my life was Ireland when I was 7. My dad (Dr. Reed) was leading a study abroad program in Dungarven, so we used it as an opportunity to meet him there during the last week of their trip. What I remember of Ireland is extremely beautiful and I still brag about i...