Last week GW England took its students on our last outing of the year. We visited the US Embassy here in London, and then went out to an amazing dinner at this brasserie in Mayfair. It was a great outing, and, in contrast to the woes voiced by students at GW about our university’s study abroad program, a prime example of how well my experience has been with GW England.

At least on this side of the pond, GW England seems to have things firmly under control. Or to be more specific, Resident Director of GW England, Daniela Passolt Olimpio, and Professor Laurie Kaplan have things under control. Since I arrived in London nearly 9 months ago, Daniela and Laurie have yet to expose me to the GW bureaucracy so well known to my fellow rising seniors, and have answered every question I posed to them in a time frame that makes me think they might be super-human.

For example, when I was asked by The Hatchet last fall to interview President Knapp on his trip to Europe, Daniela sent me an e-mail to ask whether I needed help getting a room at the LSE, or anything else for the interview – even though I had never mentioned to her a word about it.

While the GW England program is much smaller than GW study abroad in general, Daniela and Laurie should serve as a example of what a GW study abroad program should be like, and not just because part of their job description is to take us fun places and feed us lots of good food all on GW’s dime.

My fellow GW England students and I have reveled all year at how much our study abroad experience makes us feel like we go to a small liberal arts school, not a university of over 20,000. It was here in London we got to have high tea with President Knapp and Dean Brown while discussing everything from Knapp’s plans for the school (and our takes on them) to Dean Brown’s marriage story, not back in D.C.

And while I have yet to try to get my courses here to transfer to the ones I want back at GW, the time I have spent in London with Daniela and Laurie has given me hope for the future of GW’s study abroad programs.