Penn-in-London, England

• Program Intro
• Events
• Calendar
• Course Information
• Housing
• Costs
• Travel Notes
• Contact
• APPLY

Program Introduction

Penn-in-London offers students the opportunity to study English literature and culture in the great metropolis where they still flourish.

The courses will make use of the London setting in several ways. Participants will be seeing at least a dozen plays in a variety of London theaters. Michael Billington, the distinguished theater critic for The Guardian newspaper and the most respected of London’s drama reviewers and critics, will lead a weekly discussion of the plays we shall be attending. Whatever courses you choose, you will be welcome to come on the various trips and excursions that the faculty will organize to London’s many museums and historical attractions, as well as to significant sites outside the city. Classes will meet Mondays through Thursdays.

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Upcoming Events

Information Session

Join us at the following session to learn more. Click on the date for details.

• Thursday, November 12, 2009. 5:00 p.m.
  

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Program Calendar:

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Course Information

Students register for a total of two course units (CU). Course preferences are made on the application and are subject to approval by the program director. Course registration is completed by the Penn Summer Abroad office for students who confirm their intent to enroll in the program and submit required pre-departure documents.

Note for Visiting Students: One CU is generally considered to be equivalent to three semester hours when Penn coursework is transferred to another institution.

Courses:

English 61 / English 261 / Cinema 160: London in Fiction and Film
Fulfills Sector 2 or Sector 6 of the English Major and/or a Seminar requirement if taken as English 261.
Taught by David Espey, University of Pennsylvania

What makes London such a vibrant city is its ethnic diversity and rich history.  In this course we will study films, novels, and stories that feature London and surrounding environs, with attention to film adaptations of fiction and representations of various classes and ethnic groups.  Reading about the city's diverse neighborhoods will also introduce you to different parts of town that offer much in the way of culture, food, shops, architecture, and history you can explore firsthand.  There will be films from different historical periods -- the Renaissance to the Victorian, modern, contemporary, and postcolonial.  Movies may include Shakespeare in Love, Tom Jones, Blow-Up, A Clockwork Orange, and The Buddha of Suburbia.  The course satisfies either Sector 2 or Sector 6 of the major and may be double counted if taken as a seminar with the addition of a research paper. (1 CU)

English 68: The London Theatre Experience
Fulfills Sector 6 of the English Major and elective credit in the Theatre Arts major or Theatre Arts minor.
Taught by Michael Gamer, University of Pennsylvania

London is one of the most exciting theater centers in the world, and the focus of this course will be on live performance. We will attend theatrical productions approximately three times a week, seeing a wide range of plays produced by companies such as the Royal National, the Royal Court, and the Royal Shakespeare, and staged in spaces such as those as well as in the West End (London's equivalent of Broadway) and in Fringe Theaters (what would be off-Broadway in New York City). Tickets will be arranged in advance. The format for the class will consist primarily of discussions of our theater-going; once each week the conversation will be led by Michael Billington, the distinguished theater critic for the Guardian. Readings for the class will consist of responses to plays and productions. The class may also participate in field trips to other sites of theatrical interest, such as London's Theater Museum, the reconstructed Shakespeare Globe Theater, and Stratford-on-Avon. (1CU)

English 101 / English 265: George Orwell
Fulfills Sector Requirement III: Arts and Letters
Fulfills Sector 6 of the Core Requirement for the English major
Taught by David Espey, University of Pennsylvania

The writing of George Orwell, a London resident for most of his life, continues to influence literary thinking on history, politics, popular culture, and social class.  But Orwell was poor for most of his life and died before he could enjoy the money earned by his best-sellers, 1984 and Animal Farm.  Orwell was a policeman in British India, a dishwasher in Paris, a tramp in London, a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, a reporter in World War II, and a political critic of totalitarianism.  This course will trace his development as a writer and relate his life and work to the social, political, religious, and cultural controversies of the 20^th century.  We'll read Down and Out in Paris and London, Burmese Days, Homage to Catalonia, Animal Farm, and 1984, as well as selected fiction and non-fiction on such British topics as pubs, English tea, the torments of public school, the royal family, and cartoons. We'll visit Eton College, where he was a student, as well as various sites in London where he lived and worked.  We'll also take a look at the movie versions of his novels. The course may be taken as a seminar with the addition of a research paper. (1 CU)

English 246: Romantic Drama and Theatre
Fulfills either Sector 4 or the pre-1900 Seminar Requirement in the English Major.
Taught by Michael Gamer, University of Pennsylvania

Usually considered an Age of Poetry, the half-century that comprised the Romantic period saw two (American and French) revolutions, two decades years (1792-1801, 1803-1815) of world war, the cultural and critical ascendancy of the novel, and an utter transformation of the drama. This seminar, therefore, will focus on the relation between canonical British Romanticism and its most popular cultural form: the theater. We will read plays not only by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelly, and Byron, but also by Elizabeth Inchbald, Joanna Baillie, Hannah Cowley, George Colman the Younger, and Thomas John Dibdin. We'll focus especially on what happens to comedy and tragedy in these years of spectacle and circuses, and will read approximately one essay per week on theater history to keep us grounded in the real, material conditions of stage and stagecraft. (1 CU)

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Housing

Students are housed at 21 Pembridge Gardens, a private student hostel located in the attractive neighborhood of Notting Hill on the northwest corner of Kensington Gardens.

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Costs

Note: All tuition charges and fees are subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees and may change without notice.

Tuition: $5,866 (2009 rate)
$2,933 per course unit (CU). Students are required to enroll for two CUs.

Program Fee: $2,500 (2009 rate) 
Includes accommodation, theatre tickets for classes, cultural activities organized by the program.

The tuition and program fee are billed to the student’s Penn account according to the Summer Sessions billing schedule.

Other Expenses: Students are responsible for other direct expenses including:

• roundtrip air ticket to London
• meals
• local transportation
• course materials
• personal expenses and entertainment

William A. Levi Travel Fellowship

Financial Aid
Penn Summer Abroad programs may be supported by financial aid. Penn Students seeking financial aid for a program abroad should contact Student Financial Services (www.sfs.upenn.edu) and complete the undergraduate student financial application for the summer term. Visiting students apply for financial aid from their home institution.

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Travel Notes

Passport: Make sure that your passport is valid for at least six months beyond the end date of the program. If you do not already have a passport or need to renew it, you should begin the process immediately. Passport application forms and instructions can be obtained at the U.S. Post Office or at http://travel.state.gov/.

Visa: U.S. Citizens 18 years of age or older will enter the United Kingdom as a ‘short-term’ visitor. This does not require a visa application but you will need to travel with certain documents. Additional information and instructions will be provided by Penn Summer Abroad in the Spring. Citizens from other countries should confirm with the British Embassy whether or not a visa is required. If so, you will need to apply several months in advance. Contact the Penn Summer Abroad office for assistance in obtaining required documents for the visa.

Air Tickets: Penn Summer Abroad does not organize travel overseas. Start researching flights early. There are many possibilities and a large variation in prices. You will receive the list of all students in your program. Contact the ones who are likely to travel from the same airport. You may be able to travel together.

You may book your tickets to arrive at either Heathrow or Gatewick Airports. Recommended arrival time is between 9am and 1pm on Saturday June 26. You will receive instructions for how to get to 21 Pembridge Gardens in the pre-departure orientation.

Immunizations: Make sure you receive all appropriate inoculations. Consult with your physician and/or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, which provides information on vaccines and immunizations for travel abroad. http://www.cdc.gov/.

Additional information will be provided in the acceptance packet and in pre-departure orientations that will take place in the spring.

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Contact Information

Program Director
for details about the program, courses, or location including academic advising, travel dates, housing and orientation

David Espey (profile)
Department of English
University of Pennsylvania
E-mail: despey@gmail.com
Tel: 215-898-7346

Penn Summer Abroad Office
for assistance with application, financial questions, pre-departure, or other general information

Penn Summer Abroad
College of Liberal & Professional Studies (LPS)
University of Pennsylvania
3440 Market Street, Suite 100
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3335
Tel: 215-573-7537
Fax: 215-573-2053
E-mail: summerabroad@sas.upenn.edu

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