Class? What's That?

Well, I'll start with an apology, especially to my three more vocal followers (Anne, Katrina, and Doug, I'm looking at you) - but now, after some delay, I am back!

It has been an eventful five or so days here in Londontown. I experienced my first classes as a student in one of the world's educational capitals! (Or so they tell me.) Class is definitely very different here. To begin, they aren't even called "classes," but "modules," and rather than "professors" we have "module leaders" and "module tutors." The leader is the one who organizes the whole thing, and the tutor is the one who actually stands in front of class and teaches you. Most tutors prefer to be called by their first name, though it's not as though they're TAs, these are fully qualified experts in each subject. Very interesting! Further, most tutors don't really care about attendance - well, maybe they do, but it isn't factored into your grade. In only one of my classes does my grade depend on participation and attendance, and it's the class geared to foreign students! In all of my other classes, my grade hinges on one or two essays, and maybe a final. Very intimidating.

My week begins in Other Worlds: Fantastic Narratives. It is the most advanced class I'm taking, but it is also by far the most interesting. We are examining theories of the fantastical, and the fantastic narrative, and what makes something fantastic, etc. We do so through the lens of such works as Alice in Wonderland, The Tempest, and...oh, yeah, Inception, and The Matrix. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. It's kind of intimidating being in a class of students in their final year of study, but the higher level of discussion is definitely worth it.

Then on Tuesday I head to Early Modern Identities in Renaissance English Literature. (As an aside, they pronounce Renaissance differently here. Rather than Ren-uh-sance, it's Ren-ey-sance, they "ey" being pronounced like the end of "hey." Sorry, that's probably really difficult to imagine, but I promise it's significantly different.) This class was not nearly as interesting as my Other Worlds class, but I think it has a lot of promise to it! The first class seemed to be a lot of background and such, and I'm sure that as soon as we get into the actual literature, things will get much more interesting.

Wednesdays I have off. I spent my Wednesday watching Modern Family and wandering around Shoreditch. So that was mildly productive, I guess. I also got to talk to Doug for a while, which is always fantastic.


I'm going to interrupt my week to add some things that didn't really fit, but are notable enough to mention:

• I saw a lady doing her nails on the Tube. She was doing French tips. So impressive
• I'm losing my voice. Very unfortunate.
• Cadbury Eggs are one of the single greatest desserts ever, and should be available year-round State-side.
• They take credit cards very seriously here. When I give them the card, they look at the signature on it, ask for an ID, check the signature on my driver's license (thank God it has it on it - otherwise, some places wouldn't accept the card), then compare the picture on my license to me, then ask me to sign the receipt which they then scrupulously compare to the one on the card and the license. Very different from America, where they don't even look at the signature on the card. Good, I suppose, but different.
• All Time Low is coming to London and I have no one to go with me.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming. (Cliches say what?)

Thursday brings me to Writing London, which is in tight competition with Other Worlds to take its place as my favorite class. The module tutor is a little batty, I think, but I adore her - she's very funny. And we did a lot of fun little writing exercises (talk about your name, where is your safe place, discuss your earliest memory, and so on), which I love to do, and being able to closely study works about London and then try to re-create it to reflect my own experiences is going to be so, so cool.

Don't judge my super-English nerdiness, okay?

Finally on Friday is Shakespeare and His Contemporaries. I met this really nice French girl named Zooey (though I might have just butchered the spelling of it) who was really quite cool to talk to. I'm really hoping to get to know her better - she's really funny (which is especially impressive to me, that she can be funny in a language other than her own) and really clever. So that was fun! But this class above all else proved how shy I am to speak up - we were supposed to read Shakespeare's "Henry V" for class and I did read it, along with some other guides to understanding it, but I kept my mouth shut pretty much every time he asked a question. Oops? Confidence will come, I hope - I wish we sat in a circle, things are far less intimidating that way.

After getting out of class today (and being awkwardly hit on by the Indian guy at the convenience store  - awkward also because he was trying to hit on me but I was having a really hard time understanding his accent...my life is just one large awkward disaster, I can't even deal with it) Emily and I went to the British Museum! Let me tell you, if there's ever a time to visit the British Museum, it's on Friday evenings, when it's open longer. It's nearly deserted, and there's something wonderful about the lighting of the exhibits at night. The building itself is magnificent (and of course I forgot my camera - don't worry, I'll be going back again at least once!) and the exhibits are overwhelming. There is an astounding amount of history, and relics, and artefacts - it's hard to wrap your head around, and impossible to take it all in in one go. But I did see the Rosetta Stone, which was incredible. And though I looked everywhere for a statue of Priapus, the only one I could find fell short of all expectations (Katrina knows what I mean). I plan on searching further when I return though, so don't worry. I will also remember my camera; promise!

Before coming home, Emily and I stopped by a pub and I tried to order fish and chips (they weren't making them, unfortunately - my quest was foiled again!). Despite this setback, we enjoyed a lovely evening of burgers and beverages. The bartender convinced me to try a strawberry cider, which was quite delicious, but unfortunately the most girly drink ever conceived - it was a pink cider, for crying out loud. But it was still yummy, and I enjoyed it, despite Emily's claims of it being nothing more than a Shirley Temple (sass.)

And now, after a lovely skype session with Katrina the sorostitute, I am off to bed - we're up early tomorrow to get to Stratford-Upon-Avon and Warwick Castle. Then on Sunday we're going to Greenwich, so expect a picture-laden blog post to come in the next few days. Cheers! :)