Tonight I'm just relaxing in my room. Kate found a website that will let us watch tv shows on it, so I've mostly been doing that. A lot of websites don't work here because their licensing agreements prohibit them from playing things in the UK. I'm really tired and feel like I might be getting a cold. I'm trying to prevent that before it happens.
The longer I'm here, the more I've discovered that London is a lot different than I expected it to be. Honestly, I expected it to be fairly similar to America. I guess it was naive of me to think that just because they speak English here that it wouldn't be that different than home. It's extremely different than America, and I think that the fact that I didn't expect a culture shock is making the shock even more intense. I still love it here and I'm really happy I came.
Let's start with the nightlife and bar culture. They sell alcohol in the campus convenience store. Needless to saw, I had to buy a pint of Bulmer's when I saw it. As I said the other night, the kids here don't know many drinking games because they spend most of their time casually drinking or in the bar. They drink a glass of wine or a beer with almost every meal. They also can drink a lot, which I guess isn't surprising. They don't understand that bars are a big deal to us Americans, and that it's not normal for us to walk out of our dorm carrying an open bottle of wine in our hand. It seems to me that they just go to the bar to hang out and talk to their friends. Also, they go out so early! Last night Kate, Anna and I were just hanging around at like 8pm and all of our British flatmates were basically leaving for the bar. At home, we don't go to parties until around 10:30. In fact, I've showed up at parties at 11:45 or midnight multiple times.
I think this culture is a lot more conducive to responsible behavior. In the four nights I've been here (not including tonight), I've only seen one person out of control. This weekend at Nova I'm sure there were at least 15 kids that got VEM'd for alcohol intoxication. It's such a different atmosphere. No one is running down the hall crazily yelling, "I can't wait to get wasted!" Another thing on that note is that all of these kids know a lot about alcohol and their limits. I know mine too, but I feel like I only know a few go-to drinks that I'll ever drink. I guess that's because I've led a fairly sheltered life in that regard. These kids, (and even other Americans...I guess this could just be me living in a bubble) are all drinking drinks I've never heard of. I personally think that's a good thing that they know these things now.
Back to the culture shock thing...so far I haven't really found British people to be friendly, at least not in the sense of friendly that I'm used to. It's kind of hard to talk to them and no one approaches you to talk to you. I went to Drapers last night with Lucy, Kate, Martha, Jake, Anna, and Kingsley, and basically Kate, Anna, and I found ourselves searching for Americans to talk to. We ran into some girls that we met the other day, Sammi and Erin, who are both from the States, and hung out with them for a while. Also, I mean this is pretty conceited of me, but I'm used to being approached by guys when I'm out (obviously! Who wouldn't want to talk to me?) It only happened twice last night, which isn't normal for me. I was actually getting annoyed, which is pretty funny. I guess that's part of the culture too though.
After a while we found a British boy to talk to that introduced us to a lot of people, and then I started talking to a kid from Amsterdam. He and I spent a half hour to forty five minutes talking about politics and Bush v Obama. That was pretty interesting too, to get a European prospective on the American government. I'm glad I talked to him because I never really understood why the rest of the world loves Obama so much, but now I have a better grip on it. Kate talked him into buying drinks for us since we're girls, which he claimed was an American phenomenon.
I got my ID picture taken this morning. Unfortunately, it looks awful. The camera was at a terrible angle and the guy didn't tell me when he was going to take it. Oh well. I have a QMUL ID now.
This morning we had an academic meeting where Harry explained to us the education system here and how classes work. It's so unbelievably different than in America. First, you only take four credits per semester. Each class is worth 15 credits. You only take classes in your major (although the study abroad students are allowed to take classes from every department) and you get your undergrad in three years. There is no credit for class participation, but you have to go to class. Each class usually has a midterm and a final (either paper or test) and that's your only grade. They don't seem to really care about the person or how hard he or she tries, but only the output of your academic work. The reading is 'recommended' but not required. You're supposed to do better if you refer to the reading in your papers. Classes only meet once a week for two or three hours, and you also have a discussion class that's separate from the seminar. Level 4 classes are for first years, Level 5 for second years, and Level 6 for third years. (I didn't know this but luckily I'm signed up for one level four and three level fives). Harry seemed to hate on the American higher education system because he said they gave students too much special treatment. I didn't like that so much because I think it's a good idea to cater to the students. Everyone learns differently and excels in different areas. But I'm not here to criticize the UK's higher education.
I will criticize QM's class registration methods. Harry gave us our courses and told us that we had to go to each department to find out what times the classes are and where they are. Also we had to go to the department if we wanted to drop or add any classes. This was an absolute mess. The departments were overwhelmed with hundreds of students all the sudden and they didn't seem to be expecting us. No one was at the history department. The politics department couldn't help me today because they didn't have the class times or locations determined yet. (This is ridiculous to me, classes start on Monday and they don't know where or when they are?!) We couldn't find where the English department chair was because her office was in a flat but we were told a different number flat than she was in. I'm trying to drop a politics class, Nations, States and Nationalisms, and add a politics class, British Politics, but it didn't happen today. Harry shouldn't have been criticizing us when they don't even have anything figured out for themselves.
After Sammi, Erin, Anna, Kate and I spent the better part of the day getting absolutely nothing accomplished. Sammi, Erin, Kate and I went to eat lunch at Mucci's, the pizza place on campus. The pizza is so good! The pieces are much smaller than normal CampCo pieces though. Also they don't give you ice in your drink unless you ask for it. The four of us talked for a long time and bonded about being outsiders here. It's a really odd feeling that I wasn't expecting, but we really are outsiders here. There have been times in my life that I've felt like an outsider, but it wasn't like this. Now I understand why minorities always stick together. It seems like that's what we're doing, we're all looking for Americans to be friends with.
After that, Kate and I came back to take naps. I really like my bed here, it's so comfy. I woke up and went to dinner at the Curve at 6. I ate by myself, but I didn't mind. I like being by myself sometimes because it gives me a chance to think. The food wasn't bad, they had salad, beef lasagna, and fruit. After that Kate, Anna and I just hung out in my room and talked. We've been just laying around all day because we're all tired.
Kate and I both bought Queen Mary University of London hoodies in one of the school store today. College hoodies aren't as big here as they are at home. Mine is like ash/grey color, I can't wait til it's cold enough to wear it.
Bad news, I don't think I'm going to Oktoberfest. I didn't buy my plane ticket yet because I wanted to wait til I got my passport and was definitely coming to London before I bought it. Now the plane tickets are way to expensive, about $400 round trip. Instead I'm going to try to make it to Spain and Rome. So far it looks like Madrid is the cheapest place to go in Spain, about 25 pounds one way.
It's so fun making plans! Tomorrow I'm going to an English department induction and then I think we're going to center to see some sights. Supposedly it's like a 30-40 minute walk to center where all the famous tourist things are. I'll finally get to take some pictures!
I realize that this is a rather depressing entry and it sounds like I'm not having fun, but I actually am. I really like it a lot and I'm slowly getting better at meeting people. I just like to note for myself all of the differences so that I can always remember exactly what it was like here. Also if I ever write anything that's set in London, I have to make sure it's realistic, so I have to have the people and the setting on point. It's easiest to describe a place by saying how it's different than something else. I love Queen Mary and London though, I couldn't be happier right now.
M
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