One week into my semester abroad in London, I am where I would be if I were at the college. It is a Friday afternoon, I have no classes, I am typing aimlessly on my computer trying to punch out this column for the upcoming week and there is a half-naked man lying in the bed next to the desk where I am sitting (it’s my roommate sleeping; get your mind out of the gutter, people!). But enough about my boring day, and on to things that are more interesting.
I have been living in London for approximately one week, and so far it has been quite an interesting experience. I, along with almost all of the other students participating in the semester abroad in London, arrived on Aug. 27. We all came together at the Westminster Hotel to be assigned our flats. For the next few days our job was to familiarize our selves with this new environment.
Our faculty leaders on this trip are Elwood Parker, a professor of mathematics, and his wife, Ellen. Throughout the course of the first week they have given us assignments so that we will know how get around the city, and what to do if any troubles arise. One of our assignments was to find our way out to their flat – using only the bus system (which made things a bit more difficult).
I believe that the real reason they had each of us visit them was so they could show us how nice it is compared to ours. Now, I am not complaining – our student flats are very nice, but the flat they live in is quite beautiful. It has a big kitchen, a big living area and, as far as I can tell, no one from Susquehanna University is living next to them.
Let me explain: There are three townhouses each on either side of a small quad for foot traffic. Students from the college are living in two of the townhouses, and Susquehanna students occupy the other four. First, let me say that they are not rude and loud people when they are sober. The only problem is that they only appear to be sober for about 20 minutes a day when they first wake up.
So while that aspect of the trip has been a bit rocky, it has been one of the few parts of the trip that has been anything less than positive. In the first week alone I have had the opportunity to go to the British Museum twice with two of my classes. In my British Theater class I, along with most of my fellow students, saw Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. It was an amazing experience not only because the play was excellent and the Globe Theater is an exact recreation of the original Globe, but because we were in the standing-room-only section – a whole new way to watch a play. This wonderful experience certainly outweighed the occasional back spasm throughout the two-and-a-half hour play.
So, that is London so far, and it has been good. I think about the college a lot, and wonder what I might be missing by being abroad for the semester, but I know that being abroad is part of the college experience, so I guess I am just going to have to force myself to enjoy one of the world’s most amazing cities. Life is tough, is it not?