why am i doing this?

That's a good question. When I question my motivation for participating in a field study, I can trace my train of thought back to the moment I received the email from Dave Schuller encouraging former study abroad students to participate in field studies. First, I jumped at the chance to go back to London--I love London, and I haven't stopped thinking about going back since the study abroad I went on in 2010. I realized, as I learned more about field studies, that it was an independent, almost completely autonomous experience where I can study what is most relevant to what I want and need. This was an important turn of mind for me; I realized that I could make this field study entirely relevant to my studies in a creative writing master's program.

First, the classical British essay is fundamentally important to my studies in the genre. Essayists like Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, GK Chesterton, and Virginia Woolf all published in London and interacted with the city and culture. What better way to gain an experience in the classical essay than to study in the place where many of the canonical personal essays were created? London is also hub to so many of the subjects and topics that interest me--food, travel, family history, to name a few--and exploring these subjects in the context of learning about the classical British essay is nothing short of a magical possibility to me.

I don't know if this is completely answering the prompt, but to zoom out to a more general motivation, I want to participate in this field study because I want to learn from the culture of London, of England, and I want to gain experience through receiving insight into different viewpoints and perspectives. I admit, when I did the study abroad to London, I was more concerned with seeing London than I was with much else. There is, indeed, much to see. But this time I hope to not only see, but learn from London and to make it a part of myself.

And that's why I'm going.