Uni: Friend or Foe

You know, I’m honestly a little disappointed that it hasn’t rained once since I’ve been here. Or if it has, only at night or early in the morning. I’m just standing here, out in the beautiful sun, just waiting to use my brolly. But anyways…

Classes began last Monday (yes, sigh). Who ever thought you would need to study on a study abroad program. With classes Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, where do they expect me to find the time to do homework when I have a city to explore, places to travel to and people to hang out with? A bit inconsiderate if you ask me. To all my professors and future employers, I’m just kidding- I love learning and I came here solely to study and advance my education by following a previously unnavigated path across the pond.

But no, seriously, I actually love my classes and am so excited for each of them. In each course we spend about half our time outside the classroom exploring different museums, events, or anything else relevant to the content. We have guest speakers coming who have strong experience in the field as well (not to mention the experience my professors themselves have). I’m taking Intercultural Communication and British Mass Media on Mondays, Sport in Britain on Tuesdays, and British Life and Culture on Wednesdays. Trips I will take this semester include the Cambridge and Oxford Rowing match, the Imperial War Museum, the Tate Modern, a football match, and many others. I have already visited the British Library and Unit London (a small art gallery) in class; a small illustration of what’s to come.

That’s enough about classes; it’s just been syllabus week after all. I’ve been pretty exhausted this past week. I guess that’s what happens when you write a blog post at 1 am. But if I wasn’t exhausted, I’d be worried I’m doing something wrong. It was a BEAUTIFUL day on Tuesday, so I spent the remainder of the day after my morning class walking through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park to get to the British Library (a day before I went there in class :/). Warning: Kensington Gardens is just a park with no flowers. I repeat, there is no actual garden. But the round pond (yes, that’s the name of the lake there) is gorgeous, with swans, geese, ducks and pigeons galore. After the 2 ½ hour walk to the Library through the parks and the city, I found out that you couldn’t actually see the library portion unless you have what’s called a reader’s pass. Although I was disappointed about this, I was quite happy to see the Magna Carta and many other artefacts (British spelling) on display.

I’ve also spent a good amount of time this week enjoying some football, in one way or another. With my program, we have access to nearby Imperial College’s facilities and clubs. I joined their football club, where they have training on Thursdays and matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays (though attendance isn’t mandatory). My roommate, Riley, and I went to training on Thursday for the first time. It was a lot of fun, with a coach who took us through some drills before we played a game. Oh, and did I forget to mention that the pitch we train on is the training field for a professional team? Well, yeah, there’s that. Queens Park Rangers, or QPR, is a football team in the second tier (EFL Championship) whose pitch we use for training and home matches. The coach who worked with us also works with their academy teams in some capacity.

My first match with the team was on Saturday. It was a very unique experience to play football with some British lads and I’m looking forward to future matches. It is a very low-stakes competition and should be a fun way to spend some days. The other way in which I experienced football was on Friday night, when Riley and I went to a pub to watch Manchester United play Middlesbrough, a team in the EFL Championship. Expecting a blowout, we were very surprised when Middlesbrough defeated the football giant in penalty kicks, advancing to the next round of the FA Cup (a solely English football tournament). The pub began to get into the match when the PK’s began, but we’ll have to go another time when London teams are playing.

The markets and shopping have been a very fun part of the trip thus far. Camden Market, which is right across the street, is a very hip shopping destination with some good small food joints. I was even able to bag a leather jacket for 12 quid. They have some amazing Asian food and fried chicken as well, where you can stop in what I can only describe as a little bubble to eat. I also had some great Asian food in Chinatown, where Riley and I stopped after football training. The 5 pound all-you-can-eat buffet deal we got is yet to be beaten. There have been other examples here and there of markets and food, but you get the gist.

Well, I realized I may have to bring it back to classes for a bit. No, not my classes, but Oxford University’s. You know, that place where Stephen Hawking, Emma Watson, Robert Frost and Lewis Caroll went? Well, if you’ve never heard of it, it’s pretty amazing. I might just have to apply for grad school there ;). We took an excursion there on Friday and it has been one of the highlights of my time so far. There are 39 colleges that make up Oxford’s one university; however, you can attend lectures at any of the colleges if you are a student. We took amazing pictures at the Radcliffe Camera (a library), perhaps their most famous building. We visited Christ Church College, which King Henry VIII took claim to after his friend, the founder, died of illness (the King would have executed him anyway because, as a Catholic, he was opposed to Henry’s divorce). This college has the inspiration for the Great Hall and the stairwell in the Harry Potter movies, which we were lucky enough to see. It also was where Lewis Carroll attended university with his best friend, who had a daughter named Alice, who began living in what is known as Wonderland (or so I am told). We ate at the local student pub, called The King’s Arms, where I had my first English burger- it did not disappoint. I even got to visit the little campus store, where, surprisingly enough, it was just as Harry Potter themed as it was Oxford themed.

The last part of today’s blog is the trip I took on Sunday with 5 friends to Windsor Castle. Although the cathedral was closed because of services, we were able to go into the castle. Sunday also happened to be the Queen’s 70th anniversary on the throne, which is a pretty neat coincidence. We saw all the different state rooms which housed much of the Royal Collection; unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside. Additionally, there was a fire in 1992, so many of the rooms are not the originals, but remakes. Regardless, the castle was beautiful and I would recommend the trip if you make your way across the pond. It was also a great day for food, as I had a scone with butter and jam for breakfast that was absolutely FANTASTIC. I even got to keep the little jam jar served with it. For lunch, we ate at The Prince Harry, where I got a proper Sunday roast consisting of pork belly and potatoes, seasoned vegetables and Yorkshire pudding. It does not get much more English than that.

As you can see, it was a pretty busy week. This upcoming week seems to be the same, but I’ll make sure to keep you updated. Until next time.

Cheers :)