Living In A Dream...

I officially made it through my first week of school, and even made some British friends! My schedule is very different here compared to one you would find in the U.S. Instead of having the same class 2-3 times a week, I only have each of my classes once a week! They are just called lectures and they usually last 2 hours. Then for 2 of my 4 classes, I have a session once every other week called seminar. Seminar lasts for about an hour and basically its just a meeting with a group of kids in your class to talk about the lecture! Not only are schedules different, but also classwork as a whole... the difference being, there really is none! You are given the responsibility to do your reading that is scheduled on your module guide (syllabus) and to keep yourself on track. There are not any assessments (tests) to review what you have learned and no homework. In my British Life & Culture class, a class that most study abroad students take, there are a few writing assignments but that is because they try to incorporate some American schooling into the course for all of the study abroad students.

Tea time in London!

There is a very wide range of reactions I have gotten whenever I speak in a class. Luckily most have been..."Are you American?! Brilliant! Where from? Whats it like?" and on and on. But sometimes you get the eye roll or occasional head shake. I will say I feel pretty confident after someone told me that I didn't yell all the time like most Americans, and I had a good taste in clothes compared to most Americans, even though in my head I was thinking I really wish I brought more sweatpants.

Also, College here is known as a different thing than in the U.S. College here is what is known as High School at home, and University (or Uni as most people call it) is what they call what we know as College. So when I asked which way to Kingston college one day, I ended up in front of the local high school.

So far I am very satisfied with the classes I am taking (British Life & Culture, Earth Environments, Human Rights, and an art class) and I am excited to meet more people in them!

The London Bridge at night

To celebrate surviving the first week of 'Uni', a group of study abroad students met at a local hotspot for  students on Friday night, after we headed to a club near by and we were blown away as soon as we entered. It was so nice, and so much fun! They played all old 90's music and even played the theme song to Fresh Prince of Belair. It was an absolute blast! There was a wide range of students there and you could tell people were there from all over! There were even a group of scottish guys in kilts who got really excited when they got to dance to Cotton Eyed Joe.

The London Bridge

The next day a couple of us headed into central London. We had planned on going to the Tower of London but decided to save it for another day and ended up doing some exploring on our own! It was great! We even got lost at some points but it we were so full of pride when we were able to spot something familiar and find our way again. It is crazy to think after only being here for 2 weeks, we were starting to feel a little less like tourists, even though at one point we were stopped in the middle of a sidewalk staring at a map and all pointing in different directions.

We made our way to and across the London Bridge and stopped somewhere for tea to warm up soon after. By the time we left it was dark, and the sight of the London Bridge at night was absolutely breathtaking and easily one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. After we tried to take pictures that would do it justice, but we decided nothing ever would, and continued our journey.

Piccadilly Circus

We took the tube to Piccadilly Circus which is known as the Times Square of London! It was very crowded but still absolutely amazing.  We then made our way back to the Waterloo Station which meant we were able to walk by Big Ben again and see the London Eye all lit up at night. That whole walk back I couldn't help but think I was simply dreaming and it all felt so surreal, that was until we got into the train station and heard that our train was leaving in minutes and started running towards our platform. We were all so exhausted and tried our hardest not to fall asleep on the train ride home.

Overall it was another wonderful week in London and I can't imagine anything better.