Marathon day! (Only small amounts of running involved)

Tuesday was full of...class! I had History of Photography at 9AM (let's not talk about what time I woke up to get there on time), British Life & Cultures from 1-4PM, and Social Welfare Issues in the UK from 6-9PM. Before British Life & Cultures we found a very cute café to have tea in, then most of us retreated to the very small student lounge in the basement of the building where our classes are (Foundation House) to eat our packed lunches (we're cheap and proud of it).

British Life & Cultures is definitely going to be an interesting class, with a pretty large overlap to my British Politics class that I took last semester. We're going to be reading "Brit Myth: Who do the British think they are?," by Chris Rojek, which sounds pretty similar to the Jeremy Paxman book from last semester, but still interesting (and with a broader focus--British instead of English). The idea of multiculturalism is a huge theme, as is the whole "British" identity (are you British or English or Scottish or Welsh or what?). My teacher is a younger lady who grew up in both Ireland and Northern Ireland (who said more than once "Say what you want now about what you think about London--I'm not English; you won't offend me!").

Social Welfare Issues is also going to be interesting, and taught by two different professors (one for the night class, one for the afternoon class). Obviously I've only had the night class professor, and he is the most energetic Englishman I have ever encountered. Possibly too energetic (he talks very fast and moves on very fast), but we shall see. All of the other FIE students I encountered were quite nice and friendly.

After classes we decided to check out the Imperial College Student Union, since we're kind of associate members, and I think it was more full of American students than British students (blargh). We did manage to talk to Paul McCartney. Or maybe just a guy who looked identical to Paul McCartney. After that, we headed home, exhausted. I didn't count the hours I was out of the house...well over 12. But that's kind of refreshing!

Today (Wednesday) my roommates and I don't have class, so we slept in and went grocery shopping (at Morrisson's....which used to be Safeway...go figure). We also checked out the store Primark, which is really great for cheap clothes/accessories. I also realized while grocery shopping that the reusable bag I brought with me says "for a greener America" on it. Oops.

I can't say enough how much I love walking everywhere, despite the cold and the snow that is making everyone freak out. I've calculated that 1 centimeter of snow here equals about 3 feet by east coast USA "time to panic" standards. I think that's pretty precise. I also LOVE how much news the British consume--especially print news! Everyone reads the newspaper!! Maybe it's because British newspapers don't even pretend to aim for objectivity--their biases are well known, but they still present the facts. I'm really looking forward to hearing about my internship placement here because my friend Anne, who is even more into horses than I am, found out that she was places with a stable that holds lessons for "well-bodied" riders and those with special needs. I'm not jealous....

The only other big thing to do today is watch "Slumdog Millionaire" on TV...and maybe think about homework. Homework???? I have class at 9AM Thursday and we're going to the theatRE, and class at 9AM again Friday.