In contrast to my first day at Kingston University, which was pretty lax and minimally active for this jet-lagged nineteen year-old, Thursday and Friday were quite intense. In fact I have been so busy the past three days that I have had yet to document anything substantial about my experience here. I’ll leave today’s nine-hour adventure for another blog entry, but the schedules of both Thursday and Friday were rigorous.

Because Thursday was our first official day in the summer program, it was the day we had our official orientation to the school, its procedures, grading policies, etc. I won’t go too into the nitty gritty of what we discussed, particularly since it’s basically the same stuff you hear at the beginning of every semester, but it helped me figure out a lot about Kingston University that I needed to know. One of the coordinators spoke about health forms, enrollment, ID cards, travel cards, how the Olympics will affect us at the end of the course, and other important things that will come in handy with the “study” part of my studying abroad.

Lest we forget the “abroad” part, the coordinators then led us from KU’s Penrhyn Road campus (which is where I’ll be studying) and into the center of Kingston. Like Surbiton, the other town near our dormitories, Kingston is very quaint and historic with scattered elements of modernism throughout. It’s a really interesting juxtaposition, but I will talk more about that in a later blog post. The tour brought us around to the important destinations, including the student union, train station, bus stations, department stores, boat dock, and the Rose Theatre, where we will later be able to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics from if we choose to do so. Once we finished the tour, and snapped a few pictures at the falling phone booths art installation (which is what my banner displays), we went into the Kings Tun pub and had a bite to eat. After that, we were divided into teams and directed towards London, where we engaged in a Photo Frenzy, essentially a scavenger hunt with pictures and questions. It took us to several of the interesting destinations around Central London, including the London Eye, Houses of Parliament (which houses the bell Big Ben), Bond Street, Convent Garden, Leicester Square, and Trafalgar Square. It was quite an endeavor, since we lost half the group for about thirty minutes and were afraid we were going to be disqualified, but we made it to the second pub of the day, the Silver Cross, without any penalties for lateness. While there, I had my first serving of British fish and chips, which came with a lemon wedge, tartar sauce, and a bunch of peas with I awkwardly ate with a fork. The groups had disbanded by then, so I ended up heading home with a group of some of my peers (who aren’t used to riding the subway and needed the help interpreting the Tube’s map and the train system). I had a small dinner before hitting the hay, exhausted, but happy.

Friday was centered around the university in much the same orienting way as the first, just with more emphasis on our individual classes. In the morning, I took an optional tour of the library, which is very nice and actually allows food on the ground floor. They also have a self-checkout and return section where you, obviously, check out and return your own books through a machine. Once the tour was over, I went to the first meeting of my London and Its Literature course, which is going to be very interesting in my opinion. This was also the first opportunity I had to meet with my professor/”tutor”, Dr. Nicholas Foxton. We spent the class discussing procedure, grading policy, field trips, and other important things that, again, I won’t bore you with. After that, I stopped by the student union and bought a couple things, including an Olympics-themed bag and a couple of witty British greeting cards I thought were extremely funny. After that, I read in the library until the students of the summer program met for lunch. After that was the first meeting of Shakespeare: Reading And Performance, which is the main reason I’m studying abroad at all. Nick, as Dr. Foxton wants us to call him, is my professor for this class as well, and we had, in addition to the general overview of the syllabus, a nice discussion about Shakespeare, his works, and what people do and do not like about him. After that, I went home, took a nap, and spent a good couple hours sorting through my pictures so I can begin uploading them to the blog tomorrow.

With the summer program beginning this way, I’m ecstatic to see how the classes function. Our class time is made up about a third to half of the time of field trips, and with a historic place like London, each one will be the experience of a lifetime. I see performances at the Globe and Stratford Upon Avon, the Sherlock Holmes Museum, a Dickens Walk, and other exciting things in my future! Stay tuned for pictures of my adventures and further updates!

Photos, Photos, Photos!