Classes pt 2.

So, I haven't updated in about two weeks. Oops. Time has been flying around here, and when I'm on the computer I am usually talking to my mom, boyfriend or trying to keep up with friends from home. Sorry! I will try to make a more conscious effort to update so I don't have to write really long entries all of the time.

My third week of classes is now over. About halfway through the 7 week period. I haven't really done any homework, so these next few weeks will be pretty hectic! 

My British History class, unfortunately, is pretty boring. My teacher's name is Declan (I think I mentioned that before) and he is a sweet man but HE CAN TALK. Of all people, me to say that, you know he's a talker! Monday mornings we meet at 8:30 because he lectures sometimes for about an hour- or we use the time as travel time to our field trips. The museums are cool, but nothing I have ever heard about and probably not places I would go on my own time. Wednesday nights are his nights.. to talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.

My design class is good and definitely different from any class I have ever taken. The teacher reminds me of Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter.. the crazy crystal ball teacher. Same. Exact. Hair. She is very philosophical and always wants us to find paintings (even if the purpose of the conversation isn't paintings) and tell the class why we like it. She's the kind of lady who won't tell you that you are wrong, as long as you can prove your point. We are learning about different designs, the British home throughout the past few centuries and different styles of houses such as neoclassical, gothic, victorian. We also have field trips in this class but she makes them kind of boring.. at least this Thursdays was. It was called the Geffrey Museum. It's sort of like an old Ikea. They have staged homes since the 17 hundreds. I think if I didn't have a visitor in town (SARA!) I may have had more patience.

I love my Music class. The teacher is a tiny Singaporian Brit and she's cute. We went to a classical music concert last week and she bought us all drinks. This Sunday we are going to an Experimental music concert. Eventually we will get to the Beatles, British punk and rock bands, and present day pop. So although the material isn't the most interesting, I have been learning things and the people in my class usually make it fun. We have an Ethnographic Study project that's due pretty soon. We basically are in groups and have to pick a portion of London to study. My group picked Notting Hill. (No, I never saw the movie). We are going to research the population of the town- which is upper middle class people who tend to be a bit older, versus the music scene, which is Afro-Carribean. I'm not a huge fan of projects but I suppose its better than taking a test. 

Classes.

Yesterday was the first day of classes and I had two. Each class is 3 hours long and we meet 2 times a week, for the first seven weeks. I had my British History class and History of Modern Design. 

In my British History class, the "professor" told us straight from the beginning to call him Declan. He also said no cell phones... as he pulled out his pink razor. HAHAHA. Every Monday we have a field trip to one of the museums around London. Sometimes we have a lecture in the morning for about an hour, but we always have a field trip! This means that instead of 9am, we have to meet at 8:30am. Ouch. Don't know if that's allowed but I guess he's getting away with it.. then every Wednesday night we have a 3 hour lecture/seminar. 

My History of Modern Design class meets Monday nights & Thursday afternoons. In that class, for the first 5 weeks, we are going on a field trip also. Between the two classes, I only have one overlapping museum. So, that will be a LOT of museum trips (and not so fun pictures). 

Today I have my Music in 20th Century Britain class, which I am really excited about. 

Sightseeing.

Yesterday we woke up and took the tube to the Tower of London. It sucks because you aren't allowed to take pictures inside most of the towers, therefore I cant share seeing the Crown Jewels, Henry the 8th's real armor, or the headstone of Thomas More, which stinks. The Tower(s) has(have) so much history, much of which I didn't know about. We had a Yeoman Warder tour in the beginning, but because of the weather he just took us inside a chapel to talk to us for a while. I read about the history online when we got back and it's crazy how old the Tower really is. It's interesting to read about, so I would recommend doing that. Some of my photo captions have brief histories if you read them.

The snow here is basically flurries and it barely lays on anything. However, because it's so cold and it's never really sunny, the pavements get very slippery. I fell the other day, that was fun.. and slipping happens a lot, too. No matter what shoes you wear it's hard to walk. Luckily today it wasn't that bad! I guess they don't really salt anything because they aren't use to the snow. All of the British people are freaking out about the snow and the cold, but it is definitely normal for us. It's suppose to flurry a little bit tomorrow, but then it is suppose to start getting warmer. 

Today we went to Kensington High Street which has a lot of shops. Some of the shops are the same as the US, such as Gap, H & M, American Apparel, and Urban Outfitters. There were six of us and everyone got sweaters, hats, any cute piece of clothes. I just got a necklace. I definitely want to save as much money as possible, but it's hard because we've been going somewhere and eating out everyday. I think once we get more settled, and especially when school starts, I'll be saving my money. But back to the shopping- January is a HUGE sale month. Most of the stores have 50%- 70% off a lot of their inventory so it's definitely tempting! With the conversion rate, I don't really think anything is a great bargain. There are a lot of little flea-market-type places I have heard about, so hopefully I will find some cheap & unique stuff there. 

The other students arrived today and it's weird having the dorm full. I'm use to just seeing the Drexel students, and then when the fashion girls left yesterday, just the 10 of us that are still here. I think our plan for tonight is to try to meet some of the next students and head over to Imperial College.

Fun fact: Imperial College is the second most prestigious college in the UK, only second to Cambridge. 

Arrivals.

I write this from a teeny tiny room in the richest borough in London. Crazy, right? 

For those who ever get to go overseas, TAKE VIRGIN ATLANTIC. The seats were uncomfortable but for a 7 hour flight I think no matter what seats you get (unless they are 1st class) they are going to be uncomfortable. But in the headrest of the seats in front of you, they have these TV/computer things that are connected to this remote thats on the chair of your arm.. hard to explain, better visually. Regardless, you can play games (I played Tetris of course), watch TV shows, listen to music and watch movies.. or track your flight. Since the plane ticket was so expensive, I feel like I should have used it more but I tried to sleep as much as possible. It's not that I wasn't tired, it's just hard falling asleep when you are uncomfortbable. I put on 500 Days Of Summer but fell asleep so I mostly just tracked my flight.

When we got to the airport, it was the LONGEST WALK EVER to get to "Reclaim baggage". Reclaim makes so much more sense because the baggage is ours in the first place.. then we met a woman from FIE or something FIE related to take us to Metrogate (our housing- which you all should look up!). My roommates name is Caley. She has two friends that came with her but they wanted to room with different people so that's nice. Our room is small but it's live-able. I'll post pictures on facebook but basically it consists of two beds (no under bed storage), 1 wardrobe, a desk, two nightstands, and a mini-fridge. There is a built in closet, two baby shelves, and a 8 inch TV. And for those of you who have seen my TV.. 8 inches is rough. And we only have 5 channels. Luckily, there is a common room with a bigger TV and way more channels. Our bathroom is about like 4x2 (okay maybe a LITTLE BIT bigger) but the shower is soooo small. I know, at least I have my own, etc, blahblahblah. I'll live.

We are in the basement, we take the "lift" down. It is absolutely freezing in our room, they just put the heat on.. and it barely works. But luckily my bed is right next to it. There are about 300 other students coming to Metrogate and the other housing, but not until Thursday. Us Drexel students get here really early apparently. So right now it's just us. There are two Drexel programs here- regular Study Abroad & a Fashion program and there's a pretty clear division. The "fashion girls" get to go to Paris tomorrow for a few days, so it will just be 10-15 of us around here. 

So in my 50 odd hours that I've been here, which by the way it already feels like a week, we have seen some pretty cool stuff. They LOVE, i mean LOVE, Diana: Princess of Wales (that's how they say it). She lived in Kensington Palace which is about a 10 minute walk from my dorm and apparently was very friendly in the neighborhood. We (me and my two friends Amanda & Lisa) went to the Natural History & Science museum yesterday. I've been to 2 pubs, 1 restaurant, and I've had fish & chips. I've taken the tube-- London built their tube system when America was having it's civil war!! I've been grocery shopping- but I need to go again. In about an hour we are going on a bus tour of London which I'm really excited about. Lisa's sister & sister's boyfriend are in town and they (well he, his name is Jim) have some friends here. They are mid 20s / late 20s and completely spoiled. They have traveled a ton. One of their friends is actually from Germany, but has lived here for 4 years so he was telling us places to go. We are meeting them tonight at a Piano Bar. I had my first 'legal' drink, it wasn't that exciting. However I don't foresee much drinking due to my monetary funds (or lack thereof) and I really don't like 'pints' or 'spirits'. 

Sorry this is so long, but most of you asked for it, or are use to it!

General Information

So since I haven't posted anything in two & a half months, and I leave in 34 hours, I figured I should post some general information type things.

Most important, since all of you will be sending me mail, is my address:

Elyss Pickenheim

Metrogate House

3-7 Queen's Gate Terrace

London

SW7 5PE

UK

Stalk it at: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=uk&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=106767916996834396844.00044ff695be97ee8de14&z=15. And then ask my mom what she was using because she has virtually walked around my future neighborhood plenty of times.  

I will NOT be using my cell phone, including texts. However, this lovely little appendage that I have called a macbook will be with me. I have AIM and Skype, and of course Facebook. My AIM screename is Elyss89, and my Skype name is Elyss.Pickenheim I think.. but if you search Elyss Pickenheim I'm pretty sure I'll be the only one that comes up. 

And about time zones, I will be 5 hours ahead of you (in EST). 

My flight departs from Newark, NJ tomorrow night at 9:30PM. My flight returns March 21st. So it's 11 weeks.  Less than 3 months. 

Then when I return, I go to my six month co-op. Which will most likely be interning with the guidance counselor at FDR. But we'll see what happens with that. Some of you may be wondering what classes I'm taking when I'm there- nothing for psychology. There is one class that will count toward my 55 needed free elective credits which is mandatory for all FIE students, British Culture & Visual Media. The other 3 classes are: 1. British History 1815 - present (which will fulfill a history elective), 2. History of Modern Design (free elective), and 3. Music In 20th Century Britain (fine arts elective). 

That's as much general info/faq type things I can think of for right now. I'm going to spend my last few hours in the country AWAY from my computer now.