Day 4: My first day of classes! (& homework)

Today was my first day of class! Whoo hoo!

Starting at 9:30AM, was my British Politics class.  This class is probably going to be my one of my favorites.  It’s very care-free and is set up more like a discussion than a lecture in which we discuss the inner workings of British politics! (Who’d have thought?)  Our professor, however, is probably what makes this class so awesome.  He is a legit former security agent for the UK government!  I don’t remember exactly what his title was, but he was basically Head of Security for the Houses of Parliament!  Back in the day, when there were the anthrax threats, he was even charged with finding an alternate place for Parliament to meet (in secret, of course) should the Houses of Parliament become threatened/infected.  (He was going to take them to Greenwich.)  He seemingly knows British government like the back of his hand.  And he’s funny!  He’s not stuffy or anything.  His commentary about the government are funny though; only after realizing that he’s Scottish, before that you think he’s just some weird British dude who wants the monarchy to die out.  He’s got a lot of trips planned for us that I am really excited for.  We’re going to the Houses of Parliament to visit and watch a debate, we’ll be headed out to Greenwich to see the sights there, and we will also be taking a day trip to his house, as he has invited us over for lunch!  He’s a super sweet guy and I’m glad I got the semester started on such a good note.

I then had an hour break between classes to grab some lunch.  After quickly devouring some food, I made my way back to the Common Room and waited with my classmates for AN HOUR for our professor to come!  Turns out class starts at 2PM, not 1.  (Wish I had known that earlier!)  However, my annoyance was quickly turned to amusement as we finally met our professor.  He is probably the cutest and most quirky old British man ever.  He speaks at a million words and hour as he tells us some British history and talks about the class.  

“And he’s such a little firecracker; he goes off on mini tangents that result in him cursing something that irks him and then chuckling at his own outbursts.”
-in the words of Miss Miranda.

We ended class by watching an episode of John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers.  It was absolutely hilarious, as it pretty much summed up British culture.

The day concluded with my joining Miranda, Katie and Olivia to finish up our open-book tests.  We went to this really cute french cafe near the house.  It was the perfect place to finish up our tests.  It had really great tea and I intend on going back and buying some to take home before returning in December!