First Week of Classes

It has been a few days since I posted anything, and I have a little bit of time in the flat this afternoon before I eat dinner and head out for the evening, so I thought that it would be a good time to share a little bit about the classes that I’m taking and about my past few days in the city. Before I get into those stories, though, I would like to say that, at this point, my plan is write about one to two posts each week, which should allow me to strike a pretty good balance between full, interesting posts and regular, consistent updates.

Also, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has given me positive feedback over the past few days. I may not have responded to you individually, but please know that I do really appreciate knowing that you are reading and that you enjoy and appreciate the posts. It makes it much easier for me to write them.
           
On Sunday afternoon, the whole program gathered for an opening mass in the Newman Center at a college about fifteen minutes north of the flats. After mass, the group walked down to the Knights Templar Pub, where the program provided us with a free dinner, a luxury that no London Program student can ever turn down. Although my group received our food last out of everyone in the program, we did have seats on a balcony overlooking the whole pup, the majority of which is in a large room with support beams disguised as grand columns and imitation gold leaf paint on all of the moldings. The centerpiece of the room was a large, backlit bar that looked very much like the wooden casing of a grand pipe organ.

The Knights Templar Pub

Monday brought yet another rainy day, and my first trip in to the London Center for class in the afternoon. My first class of the semester was “The UK Economy and Financial System”, which began with a review of basic concepts, such as calculation of and uses for GDP, and should ultimately provide a thorough analysis of the economy in Britain since World War II while also, ideally, teaching us methods for independently initiating comparable analysis about a particular country in the future. Highlights of the course will include class trips to The Bank of England and Lloyds of London, among others, in the future. That night, I also had my first dinner with my flat mates, one of whom started us out with a very basic pasta and iceberg lettuce meal. The meal was so civilized that we almost took the lettuce out of the bag.

On Tuesday afternoon, I brought my camera with me to class and snapped the picture of Big Ben that you now see as the background. The picture shows the view looking south down Whitehall towards the Houses of Parliament from Trafalgar Square, and the lions, which I found particularly appropriate as a traditionally representative animal for Great Britain, surround Nelson’s column in the center of the square. This photo, as well as the photo of the Knights Templar Pub, is available in the Picasa album available on the right side of this page.

My Tuesday afternoon class was “London as Theatre Centre of the World”. The professor is an experienced actor and director who has worked in the London theater community for decades. We introduced ourselves in class, and he asked us say a little bit about our experience with theater and the arts, and he was impressed when I mentioned my experiences with theater at The Guthrie, in Minneapolis. As a side note, it also amazed me to hear how many students had little to no experience with theatre and the arts, both of which are such a central part of my cultural life that I cannot imagine having such limited experience with them.

Over the course of the class, we will go to see ten different shows, five of which are already on our schedule. All of them sound like great experiences, particularly the staging of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at the National Theatre under the direction of Danny Boyle, the director of Slumdog Millionaire. We will also do two backstage tours of theaters in the area, including the National Theatre.

After class, Nick Brandt and I made plans to walk back to the flats with Michelle, who needed to stop in the library before we left, so Nick and I went exploring the fourth floor of the building in search of the chapel. Although we eventually found the chapel, the highlight of the journey came with a stop in the office of one of the program’s professors, who invited us in to talk for a while and, eventually, invited us out to a pub, so we found Michelle and joined him at Waxy O’Connor’s, an Irish pub just north of the London Center that serves fantastically smooth Guinness, where we had a couple of drinks and a great conversation before heading home for dinner.

Class on Wednesday brought “Philosophy of Law”, which seems like it should provide an opportunity for thoughtful discussions about the nature of law. On Wednesday night, then, I cooked dinner for my flat for the first time. I made microwave chili, which turned out alright, if not great. I added far too much chili powder, so it was a little bit too spicy, and they didn’t seem to have tomato sauce available, so I used tomato puree, which made the chili a bit too thick. Oh well, it still tasted right, for the most part.

Today we all had “Global London”, our required class, in the morning, so I woke up early and went in for the lecture and the discussion. Although our professor is fairly quiet, he does seem very knowledgeable on the topic, which is the sociological development of London into the global city that it is today. Some of the things we’re going to discuss in the class seem rather…obvious, but some of the history aspects of the course should alright. We also have required walks around the city to do, which will be good ways to explore parts of the city that we might not see otherwise.

Well, I am about to head out for the evening. This weekend I will be exploring the city more, I may see the Parliament Building tomorrow, and I will definitely be going to Stonehenge and Bath on Saturday, so there will be plenty of (better) pictures and stories for my next post.

Until then,

Joel