Just imagine yourself...

---traveling to London with 65 other Carolina students who range from freshmen to graduating seniors and whose majors include everything from art to zoology.

---living for 26 days in the very center of London in a quaint little English hotel. It's near the British Museum and Russell Square. Everybody--even the professors!--staying together in the same hotel. "It's like having a charming and safe home away from home."

---being on your own to see and do everything you've ever wanted to see and do in London. We're talking about The Tower of London, Parliament, Big Ben, world-class museums, Westminster Abbey, Harrods, matches at Wembley or Wimbledon and some places we can suggest that you may never have heard of. "It's fun to see the real London--not just the tourist places."

---going to see at least 6 plays performed by the finest actors in the world. "The London theatre is the best and we always sit in the very best seats available."

---having 15 experience-focus sessions (to call them classes would be to "dull them down") in which you can consider and discuss what you are seeing and doing. They meet for one and a half hours each (with a half-hour break). "The London Program is not simply two classes taught in a foreign setting--it is a total living-learning experience!"

---going on a weekend-long road trip where you get to see Oxford University, Blenheim Palace, Coventry Cathedral, Warwick Castle, and Stratford-upon-Avon.

---having lots of free time. Why go to London just to sit in a classroom - you can do that at Chapel Hill. Ten of the 26 program days are completely free, and every afternoon is free for seeing sites, shopping, touring museums, et al. "Lots of great suggestions and help but never any regimentation."

---doing some really special things like going back stage on a tour of one of the world's great theatres or having lunch at the oldest pub in London or hiring your own private chartered yacht for an evening cruise and buffet on the River Thames.

---being guided and assisted and counseled by two of the most committed teachers at Chapel Hill--Professor Gerald Unks and Professor Julie Fishell "They take care of the little things so you have time to enjoy the big ones."

---Just imagine all of that--(and probably a whole lot more)

---And you receive 6 hours of UNC-CHAPEL HILL credit for it!

---That is the London Program.

Here's your detailed itinerary for 2009

May 11, 2009: Check in and board your jet flight to London. Dinner and breakfast are served on this eight-hour flight.

May 13: Arrive in London. Our agents in Great Britain will escort you through customs and immigration and on to your chartered coach which will take you to the Mentone Hotel in the center of London, near the theater district and London University. The hotel staff will welcome you with morning coffee and crumpets and will assign your room. You will have the day free to rest, get settled in, and begin to explore London.

May 13: First day of class. Class begins at 9:30 and ends at 12:30, leaving each afternoon open for seeing sights, tennis, shopping, resting or short trips to places such as Canterbury, Windsor, Dover, and Brighton. In the evening, you'll see the first of eight London theater performances that are included in the program price.

May 16-17: We leave London for an excursion into the Midlands visiting Runnymede, Oxford, Blenheim Palace, Coventry, Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon. The night of May 16 will be spent on the road in a comfortable hotel in Coventry. On the morning of May 17, you may attend services at the famed cathedral in Coventry. Entrance fees to Blenheim, Warwick and selected Shakespeare Trust Properties in Stratford are included in the program price as are lunch and dinner on May 16 and breakfast, lunch and dinner on May 17.

May 18-21: After class on Tuesday, we have lunch at the oldest pub in London. Classes in the morning, afternoons at leisure. (Anyone for afternoon tea at Harrods?) Classes end on Thursday, and it's off to wherever you wish. This is "the long free weekend," for the following Monday you have no class. Last year Amsterdam, Paris and southern Ireland were the foreign spots most visited. Others went to Scotland, York, Bath and Cornwall. Of course, most used the four and a half days to see London in greater depth.

May 26-29: By the third week, London has become very much your home away from home, and the pace picks up as you see even more. Classes in the morning, afternoons at leisure, and theater in the evening. On Wednesday evening, we charter a yacht and take a cruise and have dinner on the Thames River. Class ends on Friday and you have another free weekend. This one is three days long, for there is no class the following Monday.

June 2-6: Our last week together. Classes and theater performances, winding up with a farewell party at our hotel! This is the end of the Summer School Abroad in London, but your options are several. Since this is not a charter trip, you are free to return to the United States whenever you choose. About half of last's year's participants returned immediately, taking summer internships or attending the second session of Summer School. Or, you may wish to wander around England and Europe on your own.

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