That's right! Snow in London people, snow in London. Hooray! Mostly melted now, not that cold unfortunately, though to be frank, it's very, very cold. The windy-breeze thing doesn't help matters much.
And happy belated National Pie Day. And I missed it...I had chicken pot pie a day too early. Drat.
24 January 2007
17 January 2007
First Full Week in London and Then Some
Let's see...what have I been up to since the 5th? As that was my last real post...ah, yes.
Last week:
Monday: Philosophy department meeting, basically finding out what I'll have to do as a JYA (junior year abroad, KCL terminology) student and getting set up with classes. Then I went to my first tutorial for Greek Philosophy, rescheduled for the afternoon from that morning. At King's there are lectures and tutorials. The former are just like classes, only usually conducted as a lecture with little interaction between the lecturer and student, but depending on the professor. Attendance isn't required but as KCL students have exams at the end of the year, lectures help with those. The latter have required attendance and are meant to correspond with the lectures. This semester (until March 23) I have two classes, so two tutorials but the semester is split into mini-terms of 5 weeks each with a reading week in between. The first mini-term I have my Greek Philosophy tutorial and the second my Epistemology and Metaphysics tutorial. Tutorials are more like classes only with about 5 or 6 people total as opposed to 40 or so. It's a discussion-based thing and we have to write an essay a week for it, 1000 words each. I miss writing pages, words are just annoying to keep counting and such.
Tuesday: First Ep & Met (Epistemology and Metaphysics) lecture, and my professor's American. Go figure. Interesting though. Found my way to the Humanities library, Maughan Library, up by the Royal Courts of Justice. And does it look like a library or what! Very nice building on the whole and very useful. Spotty wireless though.
Wednesday: First Greek Philosophy lecture with yet another American. Dr. Adamson's more entertaining though, comparing James Brown to Aristotle (both were hugely influential and did soul stuff). I've a feeling this'll be a good class.
Thursday: Worked on the essay, finished it.
Weekend: Went to New Hunt's House library (NHH) (medical campus, Guy's campus which Wolfson House [my hall] is on) for wireless, stayed all day...sorta. Went to Leicester Square Saturday to try to get a ticket to the matinee of Spamalot, had to settle for the Tuesday matinee instead but got to wander around. Sunday, nothing useful or exciting.
This week:
Monday: Greek tutorial, wireless at NHH library.
Tuesday: Ep and Met, shopping along Oxford Street (my alarm clock died on me but I got a new one that's working fine so far), Spamalot!! It was great! Very funny even though the balcony area is precarious for the vertically challenged (aka, very steep) but I got to move down a few rows due to lack of people in the seats, thus helping my view. Very nice afternoon had by me.
Wednesday (today): Greek lecture in which syllogies were discussed and the Posterior Analytics were discussed utilizing Kermit. Seriously. And a blue chair. Humorous again. Then to NHH library for supposed essay work and internet. And avoiding the rain and wind. :) Twas a good day.
Last week:
Monday: Philosophy department meeting, basically finding out what I'll have to do as a JYA (junior year abroad, KCL terminology) student and getting set up with classes. Then I went to my first tutorial for Greek Philosophy, rescheduled for the afternoon from that morning. At King's there are lectures and tutorials. The former are just like classes, only usually conducted as a lecture with little interaction between the lecturer and student, but depending on the professor. Attendance isn't required but as KCL students have exams at the end of the year, lectures help with those. The latter have required attendance and are meant to correspond with the lectures. This semester (until March 23) I have two classes, so two tutorials but the semester is split into mini-terms of 5 weeks each with a reading week in between. The first mini-term I have my Greek Philosophy tutorial and the second my Epistemology and Metaphysics tutorial. Tutorials are more like classes only with about 5 or 6 people total as opposed to 40 or so. It's a discussion-based thing and we have to write an essay a week for it, 1000 words each. I miss writing pages, words are just annoying to keep counting and such.
Tuesday: First Ep & Met (Epistemology and Metaphysics) lecture, and my professor's American. Go figure. Interesting though. Found my way to the Humanities library, Maughan Library, up by the Royal Courts of Justice. And does it look like a library or what! Very nice building on the whole and very useful. Spotty wireless though.
Wednesday: First Greek Philosophy lecture with yet another American. Dr. Adamson's more entertaining though, comparing James Brown to Aristotle (both were hugely influential and did soul stuff). I've a feeling this'll be a good class.
Thursday: Worked on the essay, finished it.
Weekend: Went to New Hunt's House library (NHH) (medical campus, Guy's campus which Wolfson House [my hall] is on) for wireless, stayed all day...sorta. Went to Leicester Square Saturday to try to get a ticket to the matinee of Spamalot, had to settle for the Tuesday matinee instead but got to wander around. Sunday, nothing useful or exciting.
This week:
Monday: Greek tutorial, wireless at NHH library.
Tuesday: Ep and Met, shopping along Oxford Street (my alarm clock died on me but I got a new one that's working fine so far), Spamalot!! It was great! Very funny even though the balcony area is precarious for the vertically challenged (aka, very steep) but I got to move down a few rows due to lack of people in the seats, thus helping my view. Very nice afternoon had by me.
Wednesday (today): Greek lecture in which syllogies were discussed and the Posterior Analytics were discussed utilizing Kermit. Seriously. And a blue chair. Humorous again. Then to NHH library for supposed essay work and internet. And avoiding the rain and wind. :) Twas a good day.
15 January 2007
Welcome to the Warmest Day of My Week...
That's right...high of 65 today with the rest of the week not above 45 degrees for a high and 26 on Saturday! Woohoo! This is why I came to London after all...
A real post will follow soon to update on my activities since the last real post. But, a sneak peak: I'm going to the matinee of Spamalot tomorrow!!!
A real post will follow soon to update on my activities since the last real post. But, a sneak peak: I'm going to the matinee of Spamalot tomorrow!!!
05 January 2007
New Year, New Semester, New School, New City, New Country, New Time Zone, New Currency...New Language?
Yep, lots of things are new these days. But to wrap up some things from last year:
I finished the super long paper, not only on time but a day early and I got an A- on it! The end of the semester went fine, I got decent grades and I got home okay. My two weeks at said home were short but satisfying, the holidays were great, it was nice having the dollar back and knowing exactly what things cost.
Now, however...it's 2007 and things have changed, yet again. Good changes, of course, but changes nonetheless.
I'm in a new study abroad program, this one for my other major, Philosophy. I'm at King's College in London. Yep, England. So far, so good. I had to break down and buy a blanket though...my room's just too cold. I've got a single though, with a good amount of storage space for everything so I'm currently pretty organized. And I've got a view too...as I'm on the eighth floor. It's just of other buildings but it's London, so who cares? No wireless, but a campus (yes 'a', as there are several) is nearby and I can (and am) get it there.
Orientation was yesterday and enrolment (their spelling, not mine) was today. There are people from all over the States here. I met people from Vanderbilt (I think), Brown, Georgetown, Washington University St. Louis, GW, University of Pennslyvania, UNC Chapel Hill, and more. There has to be over a 100 of us at least. And people from DC! They miss it as well, though for most, this is their first study abroad, but not all. I hope I see most of them again. I have my ID card and a vague idea of where to go for class, we'll see if it translates into actual knowing next week.
Let's see...what else? Ah, yes. The daily calculation of prices doubled so as to get them close to the dollar, always fun. But again, London so why complain. And there are student discounts available everywhere, apparently. I've settled in okay so far and it'll only get better. A bit windy and grey out all the time and it might be raining right now (correction: it is raining), but it'll be like Brussels only better, so I'm okay. :)
Oh, and by the way, having a big suitcase that fits all your clothes is fine except when said suitcase has a broken handle that you don't discover until you have to use said handle in the airport. Then it becomes annoying and really kills your hands having to drag the thing to the train then out of the train station to the cab then to the residence hall. Luckily we have elevators but my hands are still a bit sore. At least I flew into Gatwick and not Heathrow: no luggage on the Tube for me!
As always, more later.
I finished the super long paper, not only on time but a day early and I got an A- on it! The end of the semester went fine, I got decent grades and I got home okay. My two weeks at said home were short but satisfying, the holidays were great, it was nice having the dollar back and knowing exactly what things cost.
Now, however...it's 2007 and things have changed, yet again. Good changes, of course, but changes nonetheless.
I'm in a new study abroad program, this one for my other major, Philosophy. I'm at King's College in London. Yep, England. So far, so good. I had to break down and buy a blanket though...my room's just too cold. I've got a single though, with a good amount of storage space for everything so I'm currently pretty organized. And I've got a view too...as I'm on the eighth floor. It's just of other buildings but it's London, so who cares? No wireless, but a campus (yes 'a', as there are several) is nearby and I can (and am) get it there.
Orientation was yesterday and enrolment (their spelling, not mine) was today. There are people from all over the States here. I met people from Vanderbilt (I think), Brown, Georgetown, Washington University St. Louis, GW, University of Pennslyvania, UNC Chapel Hill, and more. There has to be over a 100 of us at least. And people from DC! They miss it as well, though for most, this is their first study abroad, but not all. I hope I see most of them again. I have my ID card and a vague idea of where to go for class, we'll see if it translates into actual knowing next week.
Let's see...what else? Ah, yes. The daily calculation of prices doubled so as to get them close to the dollar, always fun. But again, London so why complain. And there are student discounts available everywhere, apparently. I've settled in okay so far and it'll only get better. A bit windy and grey out all the time and it might be raining right now (correction: it is raining), but it'll be like Brussels only better, so I'm okay. :)
Oh, and by the way, having a big suitcase that fits all your clothes is fine except when said suitcase has a broken handle that you don't discover until you have to use said handle in the airport. Then it becomes annoying and really kills your hands having to drag the thing to the train then out of the train station to the cab then to the residence hall. Luckily we have elevators but my hands are still a bit sore. At least I flew into Gatwick and not Heathrow: no luggage on the Tube for me!
As always, more later.
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