I have just arrived here in Beautiful Great Britain (as opposed to Beautiful British Columbia). School started right off the bat for me, so there was not a lot of time to waste, or to get over some gnarly jet lag. Yay for sleeping at 5a and waking at 2p!
I am here on exchange at Richmond, The American International University in London. It has only been a week, but it has been pretty amazing. The Richmond campus is tucked away in lush greenery, set in a structure designed by the architect who designed the Palace of Westminster. So that is pretty sweet.
The Richmond Campus... where I go to school.
The Palace of Westminster, where members of Parliament go to yell at each other and make law the proper way. Hmm... can you see the resemblance?
This semester, I will be taking…
- Mass Communications & Society
- Signs, Image, & Meaning
- Video Production
- Scriptwriting
All of these classes seem really good so far. Like Quest, the class sizes are small (about 20 students max). The professors seem really nice, though the first week has really been just an introduction. It has been a really weird transition for me, as I am used to immediately plunging into the class and sprinting for three and a half weeks. At normal universities, like this one, it’s more of a long distance thing. Let’s hope I have the endurance! (I know… I stretched the running metaphor long past its due. Gross.)
London as a city has been so much fun. Four days a week, I commute from Stratford on the east side of London, to Richmond, on the west side. It takes anywhere between 40 minutes and an hour and a half, but people watching has never been better than on the tube. When I first arrived, my cousin handed me something that looks like this:
Holy crumpets!
I sometimes wonder if British children are born with this image ingrained in their memory. (Kind of like how I was born with every Eagles guitar solo ingrained in mine. Weird.) ANYWAY, I’m slowly learning this system, which is far easier than I expected. Still, it’s quite a feat for me, considering I only had to take one bus in Squamish to get everywhere. The number 2.
So begins an exciting semester of adventure, learning, treachery, and woe (minus the last two things). I can’t wait to completely adjust myself to life in England. And to meet up with the other Questers hanging out in Wales at another partner institute. And to update more often!
Cheers!
Isha
