For the students, one highlight of the study abroad program to Oxford University was exploring buildings older than any in the United States. (Photo courtesy of Michael Costello)

With every study abroad program offered by the University of Missouri–St. Louis, learning about the local history and embracing the local culture and customs is an inherent part of the experience.

Some programs, though, are a bit more steeped in history than others. Such was the case this summer for the group of international business, pre-law and Pierre Laclede Honors College students who spent two weeks at the world-renowned Oxford University in England. In addition to UMSL students, a group of students from the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law were on the trip, too. Michael Costello, a teaching professor from the Ed G. Smith College of Business, has led this UMSL Global program multiple times.

“First of all, we go and stay at the storied Christ Church College, which is 500 years old,” Costello said. “That’s the academic home of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, and many of their stories have a foundation in and around the city of Oxford, as well as the atmosphere of a global campus.”

The students – whether they were experiencing a new country for the first time or had been overseas before – were in amazement as they arrived at their destination. Ah’Reishia Stanley, a senior international business major, called it a humbling and expansive experience.

“Going up to The Great Hall and stepping on the steps, you think about how many people over time have walked the same steps that I’m walking,” Stanley said, speaking on a group Zoom call. “Over 500 years, I can’t even fathom how many students and how many people have walked those steps. That was one of my very first experiences, the first night we got there. When we had our welcome dinner and we walked up those stairs, that was kind of my moment.”

Ah’Reishia Stanley stands in front of a door at the Bath Abbey, a church that traces its roots back to the 7th century. (Photo courtesy of Ah’Reishia Stanley)

The focus of this study abroad program was pre-law, and the group excursions included a visit to the Oxford Combined Courts, as well as a day trip to London to visit the Houses of Parliament and the United Kingdom Supreme Court. The UMSL students also visited with UMSL alum David Drinkard, a trade and investment officer at the U.S. Embassy in London, for a discussion with several U.S. college interns about his role and the internship opportunities with the State and Commerce Departments.

And before the group left for the U.K., they had the opportunity to experience Shakespeare at home. St. Louis County Circuit Judge Stanley Wallach and St. Louis County Probate Commissioner William Gust give a presentation called “Shakespeare & the Law in Hamlet” at the St. Louis County courthouse, a session that uses Hamlet to compare legal systems in the U.K. and the U.S.

“We couldn’t meet when they did it for the lawyers, so they did a private one for us in Judge Wallach’s courtroom,” Costello said. “I think it’s a great setting for immersing them into England and what they’re going to experience there. And our law, we inherited it, and it’s an accumulation of all of these histories. The law in Shakespeare’s time, we haven’t changed it. We’ve just evolved a little bit, and I think it shows that progression in the law.”

The students enjoyed the presentation.

“I don’t necessarily have a law background,” said master’s student Ashley Alexander, who was participating in her second UMSL Global trip. “I have a policy background, and hearing it from that perspective, I thought was really educational. Even if it is Shakespeare, it’s a type of media that people are familiar with, so when they can make those connections with actual practices in the Missouri statute, I think that is memorable. I thought that was interesting and valuable.”

The group had the opportunity to experience Shakespeare in Oxford, too, though that happened to coincide with the only rainy night on the trip, putting a damper on the experience.

The students earned three credit hours on the trip, taking classes by local and guest lecturers and practicing lawyers from locations across the globe.

“I like the way that one of the professors described Brexit, and that’s what inspired me to write my paper for this class,” Alexander said. “That was my favorite one of the course.

“I wrote about Brexit and the media and how the media had a big impact on passing Brexit, and how the media impacted public interpretations of what it actually meant and the implications of it. I really liked the research part of that. I like how politics and media interact. That’s kind of why I was interested in getting my master’s in the first place, to further my research skills in that capacity.”

For Stanley, the trip to the Oxford Combined Courts was a highlight.

“I am interested in law, possibly going further into law, and I was able to sit in on an actual court proceeding and hear the terminology of barristers and solicitors,” she said. “A cool thing that I noticed is that they actually wear the wigs and the black robes. That was fun to see and see how it was different from the U.S. court atmosphere.”

Over the course of the two weeks, students were able to explore the area.

“A feature I really appreciated about the Oxford program is that there was an option for traveling with a group – classmates and the UMKC group,” Stanley said. “So, if a student is nervous because it’s their first time traveling, like it was for me, you don’t have to travel alone. Not only are you able to meet your classmates and bond, but you also have a bigger group you can ask for help along the way.”

That free time built into a study abroad program is key.

“One of my favorite things that I did in Oxford was not on the itinerary,” Alexander said. “I went to the Oxford Natural History Museum, and I actually went twice. I went first with one of the UMKC students, and then I took Ah’Reishia on the last day, because I was like, ‘You’ve got to see this. You are not missing this. I don’t care what you say.’

“It was the best museum I’ve ever been to. There was everything, everywhere. You would look one way, you’d see something new. You’d look the other way, you’d see something new.”

Stanley jumped in.

“It was awesome, by the way,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve never been to a museum that has included so many artifacts from different countries, different races and religions and different walks of life, from countries in Africa to places in Asia to indigenous Americans in their cultural attire. It was really expansive in how it showed the world through artifacts like pottery, quilts and so much stuff that I’ve never seen before.”

Costello, a veteran of leading UMSL study abroad program, is leading one in January to Belgium and the Netherlands (registration is still open). He expressed thanks to UMSL Global for helping students make such trips possible with a variety of scholarships to defray costs.

“We’re trying to do everything we can as prices go up and as people’s budgets are stretched,” he said. “There are several different scholarship pots, for international business students, for honors students, and then I think there’s a general study abroad. The January trip I’ll be leading together with Professor Stephen Bagwell from political science, and the students will be able to earn six credit hours in the two weeks by taking two courses simultaneously. So that, again, makes it more cost effective for the students.”