I had two days of orientation this week which gave me an incredible feeling of deja vu- I quite feel like a freshman again. Not exactly something one wants to repeat, but new campus, new classes, new registration process, a million and one questions- yep. Should've seen it coming. The City University campus is quite small and I am still pondering how they pack 22,000 students in there. It's located in Northampton Square, a really nice little park-like courtyard. Most of the buildings at uni (slang for university) are connected which I imagine will be nice when it starts raining and gets cold, but for now it has this magical effect where suddenly you look up and you're in a new building and you don't know how you got there. This also makes it more difficult to answer your million and one questions because you have to run all over campus for each one. But alas, I think I've figured most of it out for now.
Although there were a few difficulties with registering, I am really excited for my classes! I am taking World Politics, 19th Century Opera, Music of the Middle East, and two unique classes called Historic London, and Performing Arts in London. These are led by the same professor- an eccentric ball of energy with lots of really interesting facts to spew out. She led a small tour of the neighborhood by the uni packed full of great tidbits that you'd never get in a travel book. Historic London meets at a different location every week and we'll learn about English history which I'm really looking forward to as a way to appreciate and soak up the culture here. Performing Arts in London is the class I just cannot wait for- we're going to FIVE shows! A ballet, an opera, a Shakespeare production, a contemporary play, and a musical. I am so excited to know that I will actually get to see all of these productions because one of the things that drew me to London was it's appreciation for and abundance of performing arts.
I really like the area of my campus. If you walk in one direction for 10 minutes, you're at a tube stop and in a really busy city neighborhood. If you walk 10 minutes in a different direction, you end up in the beautiful, charming neighborhood of Clerkenwell. With it's whole-in-the-wall pubs and old apartments, each door a different, vibrant color, it is a quiet retreat from the busy London feel. I met up with my freshman roommate, Ilana, on Friday for dinner at pub in this area which was a wonderful experience. We were the only non-locals there. I sat contentedly between a table of business men discussing Much Ado about Nothing and a couple bikers drinking their pints while some guys played darts and another table read through a script. It was the perfect atmosphere.
Saturday was a day of exploring London on foot with my friend Elizabeth who is working in a small village in England for the year. Among the places we saw was the National Gallery- a beautiful collection of art, and free to the public! And today, I went to the first women's football training for the City club. It was quite fun although it has been far too long since I've played. Afterwards the team went out to a pub for pints. They said this was quite a typical thing to do. My body is going to have to adjust to this because a pint of beer on an empty stomach after running around for an hour was... unexpected. But the coach and the girls were really nice. The coach actually said their unofficial mascot was a moose he bought on 16th street during a visit to Denver (the official mascot is a carrot. I'm not kidding.) I just met a few people while making dinner in our hall kitchen, one a very sweet guy who surprisingly was a boxer on the German National Youth team. Overall, it's been a relaxing weekend of settling in. The calm before the storm, I expect.
Side note: British English is really different. It's really hard to understand sometimes and I feel like it is a completely different language at the moment. Well, that's all for now. I'm sure this week will bring lots of surprises and challenges. Cheers!
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