London in the park by the Thames, drinking tea.

Hello everyone! The first week of classes has finally ended and most students are headed to Leeds/Canterbury today. AIFS offers so many trips for Fridays and they are suppose to be really exciting.

As for the title, I did go walking beside the Thames today but I was drinking coffee, I have yet to enjoy tea while I've been here and I really have no excuse. We will just put it down to waiting for the right moment when a cute London boy with a posh accent will buy me some. I can only hope. Though, I spent a few good hours walking along the river, taking pictures and enjoying bursts of sunshine, the only bits we have gotten all week. We also attended a performance of "Freedom" for 10 pounds sterling, it was......interesting and left a lot to be desired. I will put it up to a bad script, and not just bad acting, after all you can only do so much when you have nothing to work with. 10 points go to anyone who can guess the title credit, which is old but classy listening.

Its may be surprising to all but I feel like I have been in London for a week or so now rather then arriving last Friday. It is different then what some other kids feel, although some side with me. Study abroad is always difficult because you are away from home, but as along as you involve yourself in what’s happening at the campus as well as in London, it will get better. I find myself fitting in here because I feel at home in huge cities and unfamiliar faces. I know that some of the other kids are really missing home but come April, I am sure I will find myself at home missing London.

The classes that I am taking here are really interesting and informing. An example is that I am taking an Art History class and instead of spending all our time in a lecture hall, listening to…lectures, we spend most of our time in the museums around London. Fun Fact: all British museums are free, there are some special installments you could pay for but the central part is completely free. I would take wandering museums over a two-hour lecture any day. Backgrounds of dance is a pretty self-explanatory class and we are required to see a few shows, which is exciting to see how dance is produced in England. I do have some more traditional classes, where we stay in a lecture hall and listen to our professor talk and it certainly reminds me of classes back home.

On another note, AIFS really tries to involve you in all aspects of British Life. I attended a Pub Quiz last week and its mostly trivia in a bar and apparently very normal here in Britain. We were separated into groups and had to answer questions about the UK, and London. It was interesting to say the least, and I really only knew the answers to the pop culture questions. C’est La Vie, <- Look at that, one week down and already I am becoming more international. (It’s a good thing, I swear)

Pictures are forthcoming but our Internet through the school doesn’t allow you to upload photos, well I can’t on my computer anyways. Technical problems are not my forte.

Until next time,

The International Student

AKA Paige!