English Culture

The country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK for short) is made up of four separate and distinct countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The UK is different from Great Britain, which is made up of England, Scotland, and Wales. Sometimes people say Britain when they mean Great Britain. Britain only refers to England and Wales. Both the island of Great Britain and the island of Ireland, which includes Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, make up 

English is the main language spoken throughout the country though in Wales, Welsh is the official Celtic language spoken and in Scotland, there are two additional official languages- Gaelic & Scots. It is not uncommon to hear a variety of local accents. Distinct accents are a way of distinguishing a geographic location; For example, Geordies are in north England vs Cockneys who reside in London.

Cultural Activities

 

London has endless activities for visitors to enjoy. Listed below are some different cultural activities to do while in London. You can do many of these activities on your own, with friends, or they may be sponsored by ISA. Upon arrival to London, different sponsored cultural activities will be announced throughout your program abroad.

Theatre
Join your fellow classmates as you head out for a night on the town to enjoy a popular theatre production in the West End. London is world-renowned for its theatres and productions and maintains a very full and active schedule year round. During the summer be sure to catch a traditional Shakespearean play at the replicated Globe Theatre.

Museums
London is packed with great museums, from art to history. The best part about exploring this plethora of information is that most museums in London are free of charge. A few favorites include: Victoria and Albert Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern, Natural History and British Museum.

Afternoon Tea
Experience what this long standing tradition is all about. Afternoon Tea was taken up by the British during the reign of Queen Victoria to bring you up between breakfast and dinner. A typical afternoon tea consists of sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, sweet pastries, cakes and of course a pot of tea!

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Outdoors
Spend an afternoon studying, exploring, people watching or playing sports in one of the many parks or squares London has to offer. Parks include: Hyde Park, St. James's Park, Regents Park. Or take river cruise down the Thames and spend your day at Greenwich park where the Royal Observatory and Prime Meridian reside.

 
Sports
Whether it's cricket, football, horse racing, rugby or tennis, London hosts a wide array of sporting events year round. Check the local papers for the current sporting events and local teams. Some popular stadiums to attend a match or take a tour of are Wimbley Stadium, Wimbledon Park, the Lords Cricket Ground, or Ascot.
  

 ENGLISH FOODS 

English Breakfast

Nothing sets you up for the day, or helps you recover from the night before, like a proper English breakfast. And on these pages you can find out how it became a byword, what you should serve and even a small selection of wonderful recipes to try when you have the time, such as porridge and frumenty, English Marmalade, crumpets, kedgeree, devilled kidneys or potted shrimps. 

English Afternoon Tea

This is a grand tradition you should try at least once while visiting England. And in this section you can find out all about it. I'll review my favourite teas, and offer you a few ideas of what to serve with it from tea sandwich recipes to sweet treats like Devon Scones, Empire Biscuits or Chelsea Buns. There are recipes for cakes, or parties, for kids or crowds ... all suitable for being served with a cuppa.

Christmas Food

Christmas is still one of the biggest feasts in England and an excellent opportunity to meet up with friends and family and celebrate.  Most traditional Christmas recipes (and many of our traditions) go back to Victorian times, but some are decidedly older. Christmas is very much about food, both sweet and savoury. Christmas turkey, baked glazed ham, sausages and smoked salmon sit side by side with rich, fruity Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and an excess of chocolates.

Jams, Preserves, Pickles and Chutneys

Preserving food has always been high on people's agenda - whether they faced a long, cold winter or not. And the English are no different. From salted or smoked fish to cured pork, from jams to chutneys, from ketchups to pickles... we have a lot of traditional recipes to choose from. Find out here how to make jam and chutney, how to pickle vegetables or make fruit vinegars. Or find traditional recipes for things like traditional orange marmalade, strawberry jam, blackberry jam, sandwich pickle, Piccalilli, Mushroom Ketchup or Gentleman's Relish.

Cakes, Scones and Buns

The English love their tea. And nothing goes better with a nice cuppa than some freshly baked scone or biscuit. Baking has therefore a long tradition in English food and cookery, and the many tea shops that you can find in English towns and villages are a superb advertisement for this noble art.
It's highly unlikely that you'll only be offered one or two cakes to choose from. Often, there will be scones, bath buns, fruit bread and short bread laid out alongside a number of cakes and pastries. The only problem you'll have is deciding what to have!

English Desserts

Any collection of traditional English food will contain a large selection of puddings and sweets. We simply love our puddings. And I think only the English could invent something as delicious as The Pudding Club! Worried that traditional sweets were falling out of favour, the members got together to celebrate and promote them instead!
We have pudding recipes for the height of summer and we have at least an equal number of pudding recipes for the depth of winter plus anything in between. And here you can find some of these recipes to make yourself or read reviews of some famous ready-made ones..