I skipped blogging again yesterday and I have no excuse. I can feel my procrastination rearing its head which is very bad because I am now starting to get midterm assignments that I really shouldn't procrastinate on. So, no more. I am not allowed to skip anymore days!
Wednesday
Our first class of the day was British Life and Culture. We had a guest speaker coming in to talk to us about homelessness in London. The woman that was supposed to come in had been homeless for 6 years but now lived in a flat just a couple blocks away. She was unable to come in however because she had been arrested for not paying fees (I'm not really sure what the fees were). Instead, a friend of hers came in to talk to us. If I remember correctly, his name is David. He had been in the navy in the 80's and was wounded. Since he had left the army, he has been on and off the streets. He was very nice and answered all of our questions honestly. He was born and grew up in Scotland so his accent was a little tough to understand but it wasn't too bad. It was very interesting and we are all very grateful to him for coming in and giving us some insight into the homelessness problem in this city. In the afternoon I had British Crime Fiction and we watched an episode of Sherlock. (The first one, which is one of my favorites) I love watching the show over and over because it allows me to see subtle things that the creators included. We discussed Benedict Cumberbatch's representation of Sherlock and how true it was to the books. It was a little odd dissecting one of my favorite shows in class but I really enjoyed it. After class, Jill and I ran to the grocery store and headed home. I didn't do much in the evening but Jill and I planned our trip to Oxford for this weekend. We are going to stay with Kalle (Jill's roommate at Lawrence) for a night and explore the town and university. I am so excited to go!
Thursday
This morning I didn't do anything because the rain is very good at distracting me from having adventures. Mallory is travelling for the weekend so, naturally, the room became and instant disaster. I cleaned and got ready for the day and I headed out to Politics. On my way to Foundation House, I pass a post office. Today, there were a bunch of police officers outside and inside. All of the doors were covered with "Police Line Do Not Cross" tape. None of us knew what had happened but hope it wasn't anything too bad. We had a very interesting discussion in class today. We discussed political parties, which I find very interesting.
WARNING
*In this paragraph I talk about politics. If you would rather not read my little rant about American and British politics, just skip this paragraph and continue reading. Thank you for your time.*
I am very much so a Democrat and I am happy to discuss that with people. I respect those who have other opinions, even if I disagree. In the US, talking about politics and asking someone who they vote for is looked down upon. Here, it is much more relaxed. One of the main things we discussed in class was how Americans look down upon the words "socialism" and "communism". Here on the other hand, the socialist party is active and no one cares. I have said many times that I am pretty much a socialist. At home, that is not a good thing. People do not respond well to it. Here, no one cares. It's so refreshing! We were able to have a conversation about socialism and no one simply dismissed the theory because of the connotations the word carries. I really wish the US would adopt this instead of just continuing to fear the idea. Ok my little political rant is over thank you for your patience.
After class, I ate some dinner and relaxed for a bit. I also ate Malteasers for the first time. They are just chocolate malt balls (Whoppers) but they are so much better. All of the cnady here is so good!! It's really not healthy. To finish up the evening, Mitch, Becky and I went to the student union pub to hang out for a bit. It's really nice to just go and sit and chat about stuff.
JessLynn
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