CEA feels it is very important to have a resident staff that works to ensure the well being of you and all CEA students. The CEA England Staff is based in London. Our Program Director, Lisa Sterne, and her staff will:
- Be available to assist you with any difficulties or questions that may arise during your program;
- Act as a liaison between you and the administration of the host institution;
- Help you make a smooth transition into British culture and educational system;
- Closely monitor your academic progress; and
- Organize a wide range of social and cultural activities.
Questions about the England staff? Email .
Meet the England Staff
Here's what the England staff has to say about Brighton
Brighton is both a vibrant city and an exciting seaside resort. Brimming with history and culture as well as a multitude
of less sophisticated entertainments, Brighton can offer students an introduction to English culture from bottom to top.
The city is also positioned just at the edge of the South Downs, where the famous chalk cliffs meet the ocean.
Countryside walks to locations such as Beachy Head reveal stunning views of both land and sea. Brighton is London's
playground -just an hour train ride from the city - offering everything from trendy evenings out to traditional fish and
chips meals.
The history of Brighton becomes particularly exciting from the early nineteenth-century onward. The centre of the city
is the flamboyant Royal Pavilion. The building first came into use as a royal holiday home in the late-eighteenth
century when it was a farmhouse. The first transformation took place in the early nineteenth century when a dining
room, conservatory and Indian-style stable block were added. But such additions did not satisfy the Prince Regent,
George IV, who commissioned the architect John Nash to create a building more fitting for a king. The result is the
opulent, overdone oriental splendor inside and out that marks the Pavilion today - an example of the excess that caused
prim Queen Victoria to repudiate Brighton as the royal holiday home and relocate to the Isle of Wight.
The structures that define the look and atmosphere of the seafront in Brighton are the two piers. The West Pier Opened in
1866 and was intended primarily for Victorian middle-class holiday-makers to stroll above the sea and socialize. Once a
luxurious monument to the newly established nineteenth-century trend of seaside holidays, the pier has been battered by a
series of fires and storms over the last couple of years. The fate of the West Pier has been an ongoing subject of controversy
in Brighton with original plans to restore it that have now been exchanged for a proposal for an entirely new structure.
Its decrepit state, however, has made it a favorite subject of budding photography students at Brighton's two universities
and such aspiring artists can often be seen snapping away on the beach.
Slightly younger than its majestically decaying counterpart, Palace Pier was built in the 1890s and was one of the last
seaside piers to be constructed in England. Conceived in a different era than the West Pier, Palace Pier was constructed
primarily as a centre for amusement and entertainment. Like the West Pier, Palace Pier has been subjected to an uncertain
fate due to storms, two world wars and financial difficulties. Once housing an oriental theatre and winter garden, the
Pier is now - somewhat controversially - a monument to the contemporary pleasures of roller coasters, arcades and souvenir
shops.
Contemporary Brighton is characterized by its status as a seaside resort, a thriving centre for the arts and the home of a
longstanding gay community. An array of large and small galleries as well as cafés put on exhibitions, readings, workshops,
courses and other events throughout the year. Both national and independent theatre productions are also held in Brighton
year round. Sussex University's Gardner Arts Centre uses the campus and surrounding community as a sounding board for shows
on their way to London's West End. Each year in May the arts community gears up for the extensive program of the Brighton
Festival, which is complemented by the alternative Fringe Festival. Students studying at Sussex will find themselves
surrounded by all facets of contemporary English culture in Brighton.
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