Step into the lush countryside of England and Scotland to explore the landscape that inspired some of the most famous Romantic writers and served as the setting for many other memorable literary works. Visit the Lake District National Park—where literary giants like William and Dorothy Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge walked and worked. Handle original literary manuscripts from Romantic writers and explore their homes and the places they worked. Dive into the connections between landscape and literature through the Romantics and draw from their process to produce new literature of your own. For English students interested in exploring themes like labor, the environment, gender, and diversity through literature in the places it was written, the Cal Poly in England and Scotland program beckons.
Led by Cal Poly English professors Catherine Waitinas and Brad Campbell, students travel to England and Scotland for the summer and take two courses while traversing the countryside of the United Kingdom. The program has no official “classroom”; the lakes, moors, mountains, and historical sites of the Lake District and Edinburgh serve as the setting for the immersive educational experience uniquely offered to English students every other summer (the next trip will take place in summer 2027). For anyone considering the program, here are some reflections and advice from program alumni.
Margaret Charleton, a fourth-year student who attended the summer 2025 trip, reflects on how immersing oneself in nature and walking through the sites where the literary greats of Romanticism once created their work influences one’s understanding of and connection to Romantic literature. Margaret recalls how different the Lake District setting was from a typical classroom, helping her “both understand the poetry better and why it was written.” Walking where William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge once did “shifted [her] understanding of them as poets” because “[i]n a classroom, the writers always feel a little far away, like characters instead of real people, but getting to walk through their daily routines made them feel more real, tangible.” Further, the landscape made the Romantics’ emphasis on nature and rejection of Enlightenment thought seem almost inevitable “due to how fulfilling it is and almost emotional it was to be out there every day.” The non-traditional learning environment, for Margaret, acted as a path to a richer understanding of Romantic literature and its conditions.
For fourth-year student Chloe McGee, who attended the trip alongside Margaret, the most noteworthy experience was the group’s time at Jerwood Center Archives, sifting through the works of the Wordsworths at Dove Cottage in Grasmere. Chloe remembers “deciphering Dorothy’s cursive letters and [working] directly with pieces like Dorothy’s Grasmere Journal and a first edition of the Lyrical Ballads.” Such a unique experience (“once in a lifetime,” Chloe says) helped her feel “connected to the Wordsworths…[and] the texts in an intimate way.” Getting to work hands-on with the literature she studied in the place where it was created allowed Chloe to form a special bond with the material in a way that a classroom could not replicate.
Finally, Alyssa Levin, another fourth-year who attended the trip with Margaret and Chloe, advises anyone considering the program to plan activities during the free time built into the program. Alyssa speaks highly of the “incredible” experiences planned by the program, but encourages students to “[t]ake advantage of the really great public transportation and try and do some things or experiences that are outside of your comfort zone,” such as museums and other unique sites. In regard to academics, Alyssa warns that the program “is academically rigorous and it feels like you need to earn your units,” so for students hoping to study abroad with minimal coursework, Alyssa suggests exploring other programs.
A uniquely English department study abroad program, the England and Scotland summer trip is a special opportunity to traverse the trails the writers we study all traveled, gaining new insights into the places that inspired their writing and the concepts and ideas that informed them as writers. While demanding, this program immerses students in Romantic studies in a way only possible in the Lake District, Edinburgh, and the surrounding areas. For anyone excited or curious about the program, stay on the lookout for the Summer 2027 application to open!