The First Week of Class - Finished!

My first week of classes is over! They went pretty smoothly. I wasn't late to any of them, and I like all of my professors. Let's go down the list, shall we?

Creative Writing - Looooove it! I have a 500-word assignment due Tuesday, and I have no idea what I'm going to write about. We have to describe an event that happens in less than one day, so I'm thinking of describing the fall that sprained both of my ankles, but I'm just not feeling it. I'd like to do something that has more emotion, less action. We'll see how it goes, though. My professor is American; I didn't ask where she's from. Her name is Carolyn Hart, and she's written some novels.

Making of Britain - This is a very large class with a very diverse group of people. The professor has a very soothing voice; I almost fell asleep during the first class. His accent is very cultured British.

Nineteenth Century Fiction - My professor for this one is really nice. We're reading Sense and Sensibility now, and after that will be Great Expectations and She, by Rider Haggard. I was a little intimidated to take the class at first, but the way the professor lectures makes me really excited to read the novels, and I'm trying to look at them in a different light. I think I've been too intimidated to read Jane Austen in the past, which is why I could never get myself to do it. That, and I confused her and Jane Eyre for the longest time.

Studying Broadcast Media - This was the class I was most nervous about, since it's an Intermediate level, which means most people in the class are in their second year, although it doesn't make sense that I would be nervous, as a junior. Anyway it's turned out to be the easiest so far. It's pretty straightforward stuff; today we went over the definition of "Broadcasting" and what Media Studies actually is.

There's a lot of reading for all of my classes, but I think it's manageable. I've only had to buy the three books for Nineteenth Century Fiction, a book called "Seeing Things" by John Ellis for Broadcast Media, and Supplemental Reading Packs for three of the classes, which were about 5 GBP each. A good semester as far as textbooks go. (For that reason alone, I love being an English major.)

Today after my class I went grocery shopping (I've been eating healthy over here - a small Ben & Jerry's is about $7, totally not worth it) and bought some eggs, nuts, frozen dinners, and fruit. I walked back to Nido from Chapel Market and decided that it was so nice out, I wanted to go to a park. My roommate, Holly, and Meghan and Cait, two girls I've become friends with, came with me, and we went to Kensington Gardens and took tons of pictures. I saw Royal Albert Hall, the Albert Memorial (which is gorgeous and incredibly detailed), and the Flower Walk. We went out to dinner at a pub near the park, and I had fish and chips for the first time since I've been here.

The differences between America and England have been small but noticeable. Maybe it's just because I'm living in the city, but everyone dresses up to go out; you never ever see anyone in sweats and a tshirt, unless they're on a football team or something. People are very polite over here; there's lots of "please and thank you, thank you so much, I really appreciate it," and people actually really do seem to appreciate niceness.

Busy day tomorrow! I've already got plenty of homework, and we'll finally be visiting Big Ben! Cheers!