UCO London Study Tour 2023

By: J. David Chapman/May 25, 2023

We started the tour of London with a quick visit to one the largest real estate redevelopment schemes in the world – the Battersea Power Station. After Battersea, the students will experience the British Library and wind up the day with a tour of Stamford Bridge Stadium, learning about the business of Premier League football.

Day 4 is spent in central London. We start with a visit to the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels are housed. Next, it was off to a behind-the-scenes tour of Tower Bridge. We ended the day at St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was built over 300 years ago and is an architectural masterpiece designed and built by Christopher Wren. On the way back, we stop quickly at the Twining’s Tea Company, where they have been selling tea in the same tiny building since 1706.

Day 5 is focused on the central London business district. We toured skyscrapers with nicknames such as The Heron Tower, The Cheese Grater, The Walkie-Talkie Building, The Gherkin, and The Shard, which is the tallest building in Western Europe at 310 meters. Our students are always interested to compare it to our Devon Energy Center, at 257 meters, and are proud to know it would hold a respectable place in London’s skyline. While there, we tour Lloyd’s of London and are treated to a lecture at the Bank of England.

No tour of London is complete without a visit to the theater. The UCO group was treated to the production of Wicked the Musical at the Apollo Victoria Theater in historic SOHO. In the days following, the students visit the Victoria and Albert Museum, hike through Hyde Park to see Buckingham Palace, and tour Westminster Abbey, Parliament and the underground Cabinet War Rooms where Winston Churchill orchestrated Britain’s defense again Nazi Germany.

J. David Chapman is a professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).