Hello everyone,

I hope you are all having a wonderful time in your respective countries. This week has been tough for me. Things have calmed down and the homesickness has hit. It is not so much that I miss Monmouth itself, but I really miss the people. I have made friends here, but it is just so different because they know you are leaving. Another thing that makes it difficult is that everyone’s schedules are radically different. I only have class twice a week which means I have quite a bit of free time on my hands. I am a total extrovert who loves to have people around me so it is hard for me to sit in my room alone most days. My flat-mates are not very interested in hanging out with me.

I finally stepped out of my comfort zone this week and went to explore the city by myself. It was surprisingly nice, despite being alone. I went to Tate Modern and Tate Britain which are two (FREE) museums here in London. They were absolutely stunning. The only time I really wished I had another human to interact with was on the walk between the two museums. When I was looking at the artwork though I was totally immersed in my own world and did not need someone there. I plan to do this more often, rather than staying in my room, as I think it was actually quite good for me to be alone and be ok with it.

The classes here are really different from at home. You only have lecture once a week per class and it usually lasts about two hours. One of my modules (classes) has one lecturer for the first have and then another for the second. Neither of which are actually the person who runs the class. I still haven’t figured out why this is so I will come back to it when I have an answer. So then on top of lecture you have these things called tutorials which honestly I do not understand one bit. During the one I went to this week the man spent the entire hour talking at us about plagiarism. As a third year college student, it was quite hard to sit through. Overall, the classes are MUCH more independent than at home.

As I already said, you only get one two-hour lecture once a week. The rest of the week you are expected to complete readings and sort of “teach” yourself. The entire grade for the course is based on two essays and a final exam (different for me because I am only here for a term). I don’t know about you, but that would seriously stress me out. Especially since on the second day here they tell you that a 70% is probably the best mark you will ever receive. Obviously the students from here are used to the way it works and do not know any different, but it is definitely hard to go from one uni to a completely different one. Oh and did I mention my classes have 300+ students in them. If you already didn’t believe me when I said it was much different from WOU.

Another interesting thing about being a study abroad student- everyone here considers you a first year regardless of what you are back home. Sometimes it can be useful because people are much more understanding when you have silly questions. Other times though it can be frustrating because no one believes that you know what you are doing even though you have been at university for 1-3 years already. It feels like you have to start all over and completely reestablish yourself.

I apologize for my post being so much about academics, but it has been really difficult for me to adjust. I love school at home, but I am not so sure if I like it here yet. I guess we will have to see. I have only had each of my classes twice, so there is time for improvement. I promise to write a more exciting post next time!

Until then, cheers.

Tate Modern

Tate Britain