Whew! This past week has been the busiest week I’ve experienced since flying off to England. My class schedule started up full time, and I’ve noticed several differences between my courses here and my courses back at Penn State:

1. NO FINAL EXAMS. I have no giant test to study for, which was quite shocking for me, but that doesn’t leave me completely out of preparing for a summative assessment. Instead of an exam, all of my classes have an “assignment.” Essentially, I have to write an essay or create some sort of project, either in a group or individually, to be scored by my professors.
2. The professor statement brings up a good point as well. I don’t actually have any professors. They’re called “tutors.”
3. I supposed titling professors “tutors” makes sense here, as most of my learning is self-discovered. Professors basically just assist students and point them in the right direction. There’s no one standing at the front of a classroom lecturing for 3 hours. Most often, my tutor will talk to us for a bit, then we’ll break off and do an activity, then come back together. Since our classes only meet once or twice a week, we’re assigned readings or small assignments to complete in between lessons.
4. IPads and tablets are everywhere! I’m so used to walking into a lecture hall at Penn State to find it filled with rows and rows of laptop computers. Not at Chichester. About half of my peers will use a tablet or iPad during class, while the other half just uses paper and pencil. It’s certainly been an adjustment for me, considering I’ve become accustomed to fitting right in with my MacBook in class.
5. Lastly, everything is British. I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me before, but (shockingly) everything I’m learning about in England concerns the United Kingdom. This mainly comes into play during my history course. Being schooled in American history all my life, I knew a bit about British history, but the majority of it had to do with the United Kingdom in relation to United States’ History. Looks like I’ll be spending quite a bit of time in the library reading up on the Vikings and the Tudors.

My week got even more interesting once the weekend rolled around. On Friday evening, I took a trip to the local cinema in Bognor Regis.

The Picturedrome, as it’s called, is a small cinema, with only two theatres, but so incredible. It is beautiful on the inside, and, to make things better, inexpensive. Weekdays only cost �2.50, and weekend movies are �3.50. A very manageable price, making the likelihood of me attending again very high. I watched the film 12 Years a Slave. Even though I’m an ocean away, I still found a way to learn some American history. If you get the chance, I highly recommend seeing the film, it’s extremely well done.

But the most exciting part of my week came on Saturday. The international student advisers set up a trip to Windsor. Despite having to wake up early in the morning on a weekend, the trip was so incredibly worth it. Windsor is a small city located not far from London, and incredibly rich with British History.

First, my friends and I visited Eton College, a prestigious boys’ school. Eton only accepts the best and the brightest boys in the United Kingdom. Many go on to be lawyers and doctors and more than a few have become the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, the campus wasn’t open to visitors, but I did get to see the outside, including a whole mob of boys racing to their classes (which they apparently have on Saturday). This was especially humorous to me as all the boys were in their uniforms while running along. Their uniforms are more formal than anything I think I have ever worn: black tailcoats and pinstriped trousers.

How dashing.

After that little adventure, I just had to visit Windsor Castle. One of the homes of Her Majesty the Queen of England, this castle was enormous and well worth the money to get inside.

I first toured St. George’s Chapel, which is beautiful, but no pictures were allowed inside. But it was so stunning. The only downside was trying to avoid stepping on all the grave-markers throughout the church floor. Nonetheless, the chapel exuded elegance and grace, something that is supposed to be synonymous with the monarchy, I believe.

Then, I went up to the castle. I spent probably around 90 minutes inside the castle, but I could have spent all day there. Once again, photographs were not allowed inside. But I can tell you that I was left completely speechless by the decorative nature within the castle. Everything was ornate, antique, and just stunning. I was in awe of the entire castle. Even the views from the balcony were beautiful. I didn’t want to leave after our tour was over.

After the castle, some retail therapy was due. Thankfully, Windsor is home to some great shopping centers.

After wandering through the shops and buying some delicious hot chocolate, it was time to head home. Powering through a stereotypical English rainstorm, I made it back to my house and promptly fell asleep. Busy day = a good night’s sleep. And thank goodness for that.

 

Until next time,

 

Emily .xx

Location: Windsor, United Kingdom