The World in Britain

Massive apologies for the fact that it’s been so long since anyone has written. Classes have been taking off, schedules have been organized–or at least discussed–and life has in general been crazy with acadaemia.

 This, sadly, will be a post mentioning classes, since I think it’s important for the people soon to be coming out to know. Classes out here are very different from those back in Randolph College. For one thing, you are given a massive bibliography and expected to read something from it. Depending on your classes, you may be expected to share what you’ve read or prepared. This, as terrifying as it might sound, is actually a lot of fun. The books you can choose to read often as not are geared for something you find interesting and may enjoy. Some classes might have a textbook that they encourage you to buy, but 9/10 times the library will have it.

 Also, the people in your classes can often be a lot of help (especially the ever-knowledgeable 3rd years). Don’t be shy in getting to know them. They make up a big opportunity of socializing. A funny thing that happened the other day was our lecturer (they switch around depending on areas of expertise–which is another interesting fact: you don’t have the same lecturer all the time) was American. Or at least, she didn’t have the accent I had come to expect. It actually felt odd to listen to her. Haha. Go figure, right?

 One random thing that really blew me out of the water–and this isn’t class related–is that I was going through my wallet looking for money to catch the bus. I came across some US dollars and had to pause–I didn’t realize I had got so used to the Pound. It’s going to be really weird for me to go back to the dollars, I think.

 Life has been full of ups and downs out here, but having only spent two months out here, I can say that I’ve already felt myself changing. I look at things a little differently then I did back in the US, and simply interacting with the people out here has been eye-opening. For me, this came in going to church–and honestly that has been the best way for me to get out and meet people. But there are always opportunities to get out and meet people–either clubbing, interacting with classmates, or simply hanging out in an open place and being friendly.

 This weekend we’ll be traveling to Stonehenge, Bath, and various other places. It’ll be a lot of fun as it looks like we’re leaving at 8 am on Friday morning and won’t be getting back until Sunday evening.

 Determined to one day use the phrase “cheers” correctly,

~Leanne

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 6:39 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.