Start of Classes

Last week was great getting to see so many things that England has to offer, that it seems strange classes have already started now!

Sunday was the first day I was able to sleep in and relax a little.  Ashley and I woke up and ended up talking to our homestay brother, Charlie for a few hours.  He seems pretty happy that there are normal students living in the house this year, I guess that has been uncommon for them. He invited Ashley and I to go to the Thames River Festival with him, which was really fun.  There were a lot of events going on, including a parade and live music.  It was also a celebration for the closing of the paralympics.  We walked across Millennium bridge and saw St. Pual's Cathedral as well. Seeing the Eye of London after dark was also very cool.  At the end of the night, there were the most incredible fireworks.  I am a big fan of fireworks and they were like nothing I have ever seen before. Charlie had told us all about the festival, which is an annual thing. It was larger this year because of the Olympics, sounds like I chose a good time to study here!

Monday was the first day of class, but beforehand, I got in my first London shopping experience.  I had been in stores before, but not to shop.  There are so many different things at their stores, and I had heard advice on places to shop.  One store we went to might end up being a regular for me.  I am excited to come back to the states and have things that aren't as popular yet.

My experience with British professors so far have been really good! Three out of my four classes are with British professors.  It will be interesting to see how well I do in these classes comparatively because they are graded much differently.    While most of my classes at St. Thomas are graded on a very large number of assignments, quizzes and some tests, the grades here are based on only 3 or 4 items the whole time.  These are large and equal about 30% of our grade.  It will be nice to not have as much busy work, but I will have to spend a great deal of time on the assignments we do have.  Overall, I think the teachers are more laid back here than they are at home.  I am most excited for my Art History class because it meets once a week for 4 hours and there is only one week we are in the classroom; every other week is spent in art galleries.  I am in a great place to be studying art, because there are galleries and museums everywhere! I had that class for the first time today and really enjoyed it.  Although I am really happy with how my classes have been going, I do wish that there were students from England studying in them as well.  We only study with St. Thomas students because their school calendar is different than ours and they do not start class until the end of September.

I thought it was going to be difficult to understand their accents, but I haven't had much of a problem so far.  I really enjoy talking to the grandchildren of my homestay family.  They are 5 and 7, Alfie and Lilly.  Their accents are really cute.  There have been some interesting things happening around our house the past few days, including the door knob falling off of the door in our bedroom.  Ashley went to leave and suddenly the knob was in her hand. Luckily she was able to fix it, because we couldn't get out.  Also, our light bulb was flickering in our bedroom, so I went to check if it was tightened enough. I didn't realize that our bulbs are different and theirs; I am confused because now the light doesn't work at all.

I am really like being able to see dogs everywhere I go.  They are able to go on all public transportation and even in some restaurants.  I normally have to go say hi to all of the dogs I see, makes me miss our K9s at home! I have a full day tomorrow which includes going to the Globe Theater to see a Shakespeare play.  I am really enjoying all of the things this program has to offer so far!