Classes have started!

I started my classes on Monday here in London and they're structured a lot differently than I'm used to at Northwest. My classes are based on the American grading and educational system which is helpful but there are also some major differences. First, I meet with each class twice a week - one day for a two hour block and the other for one hour. Another thing is that we are planning a lot of field trips within each class but outside of class time so it's more time-intensive than it originally looks. Granted, the field trips are to great sites and museums within London but it still cuts into my free time here in London which I didn't expect. My classes are through the Missouri-London program but CAPA also has a larger CAPA London program as well. Since MLP only has around 25-30 people in it, this means my classes are extremely small! My Greening of Europe class only has seven people in it so we have a lot of discussions. I also have a lot more homework and readings than I expected. I guess I am in school still. It's just very easy to forget when I'm surrounded by such a bustling, exciting city. The homework is all very interesting though and it's nice to be able to learn things very hands-on since it's all based on the environment that we're experiencing on a daily basis.

As CAPA students, we all have memberships to the Imperial College Student Union. Imperial College is one of the most prestigious universities within the UK. Tonight we went there to visit which was pretty interesting. The students were all watching football (soccer) on television and were very serious about it. It was a lot of fun though hanging out with some other people our own age since a lot of time in our neighborhood it's only people older than us.Here's a picture of Royal Albert Hall, right besides the Imperial Student Union. It's really pretty and huge in person!


Here are my awesome roommates and some new people I've met in London. I posted the rest of my pictures from the past couple of days on Facebook.

So far this experience has been everything and more than I expected. I've met a lot of great people and have experienced so much. I can only imagine what the next three months have in store for me! We are going to Stonehenge and Bath on Friday with CAPA which should be a lot of fun (plus it's free!). I also booked a four-day trip to Paris over Easter break which should be awesome. It includes a day to Disneyland Paris (my dream! lol) and a half-day to Versailles. I was going to go on my own but I just knew I wouldn't get nearly as much accomplished as with this tour group. Plus I'll be in some pretty nice accomodations! I really can't wait to experience it.

Cheers!