First day of the first day of classes!

So, I started classes today. I only have classes two days a day, two days a week. Today were the classes I was nervous about – a senior-level creative writing class, and an intermediate level British history class.

First, of course, I had to get there. Two stops up on the Picadilly line, a ten-minute commute. It’s supposed to be about a 40-minute walk, so I’m going to try it next week.

Anyway, I was running a little late, but I made it to the train station by 9:20, which should be plenty of time for a 10 o’clock class. I had actually found the classroom for this one on Monday, so I was feeling pretty good.

Then I got the station.

Apparently someone pressed the emergency button on the train on the southbound Northern line. Which stops at King’s Cross along with the Picadilly. Before I got there security STOPPED the flow of people past the barriers to get to the train. When I got there, there was a HUGE clump of people just…waiting. Standing there. Security opened a few turnstiles, but not enough and people were barely getting through. At around 9:55 I shoved my way through, ran down two flights of stairs and on to the train and then off the train, and from the station to my class.

I was late. It was nerve-wracking, and I am not impressed with my creative writing teacher. The assignment was cool – make an anagram of your name into an imaginary place and write about it. (The class is called “Writing and Place.” I’ll get back to you on what that means exactly…) I made up an abandoned factory town in the U.S.A. and we had to read them aloud, which is when I found the other two Americans in the class. Like I said, the teacher isn’t great. She doesn’t seem to have an understanding of her syllabus, and couldn’t really answer questions about the class itself. I guess I’ll see on that one.

I went to lunch (pre-packed leftovers! Go Dasi!) with one of the Americans and we spoke about our respective classes. Then I found the next classroom with time to spare!

This class was supposed to be British history from 1660-1830, about which I have NO background. Instead, it seems the professors decided to switch to 1714 to 1901, which I have to admit is a little more interesting to me.

The professor actually seemed much better. He’s giving an in-class essay as a midterm to alleviate the burden of the final, and he was far more willing to answer questions after class. He also jokes around a bit with the class.

We learned a lot about how united Britain was or was not in the mid-1600’s, which was especially fun as we have a very outspoken Scottish girl in the class. (There’s also a Welsh boy, but he didn’t comment as much) There are at least three other Americans in the class, and one Spanish girl. It’s going to be hard, because I don’t know so much, but I am really looking forward to this one.

Then I went to the library, which has self-checkout, and I grabbed some of the books on the enormous reading list. We’ll see how that goes.

A note on my campus, the Northern campus of London Met. Queens College has a few confusing buildings, it’s true. But think of this. I’m a fairly intelligent woman, with a decent sense of direction, able to count and follow maps. The Northern campus mainly consists of somewhere between two and five buildings that have been attached by knocking down walls and building bridges around a little shared courtyard.

I have gotten lost in this complex maze no less than eight times.

The library was…not quite as bad. I managed to walk down a dead-end staircase at one point, though!

Anyway, tomorrow are the classes about which I am decidedly not worried. Of course, knowing my luck, they are going to both be far harder. Great, now I’m worried.