Last night I watched Beowulf with Sammie because we have to write a short essay on it for Lit. In a lot of my classes I only have two or three papers due the whole term. It's nice because it's not a lot of work, but it sucks because so much rides on each paper. For Lit I have this one portfolio due on Wednesday and a final paper due the first week in January (hopefully that one will be done before I go home).
This morning I had history lecture and seminar. The freezing cold weather was enough to keep me in my warm bed, but I dragged myself out of bed to go and I was happy that I did. Our class was about the rise of middle class America in the 1800s and how that led to the suffrage movement. When I went to seminar later in the day half of our class didn't show up (probably because of the tube strike) and therefore I was the only girl in a class of three guys and the TA. I'm thinking I did a good job of representing the female point of view when we talked about our reading and women's suffrage, but probably not because at the end of every class this British kid Oscar always tells a joke and today his joke was, "Want to know a joke?" "Women's rights." He was joking though, so it's all good.
After class I did my homework for my Nova class and then figured out how to get to class. There is another tube strike today and tomorrow. I kind of feel like the tube strikes don't get much done because first of all, they schedule the strikes at least a week in advance and warn everyone about them. I got an email three days ago saying that there would be strike. Secondly, not all of the lines and stations close down. It's basically just limited service. It's very inconvenient because so many people use the tube that when everyone has to go to the same stations a ton of people get on at every stop. Also it's so awful waiting in the cold for the tube to come. I just took the District Line today but for the most part more stations were closed in the east than in central, which I also think is counter productive. I know the Circle and Piccadilly lines weren't working though, which would suck if you needed them. The tube strikes just confuse me though, I think they would be more effective if they were unplanned and lasted until the tube workers got what they wanted.
It took me a long time to get to class and when I finally got there our professor was grilling everyone about their homework. I don't really like him that much, but he is really knowledgeable. I think I just don't like his opinions and as much as he tries to leave them out, he subtly includes them and makes smart remarks about the US. Although I have to say after today's class I'm a little more fond of him because he kind of tore apart everyone else's essays today in class and he said mine was pretty good. That's kind of useless though for my final paper because I won't know what I can improve on.
Even though I get really annoyed with the class (mostly because I have to go all the way to South Ken) I think the class is really beneficial to my learning here. Since I'm taking it, I think about how stupid it would have been to live here for three months and not understand their current events and learn about their history and government. Of course I can't fully understand their current events because I barely understand the US current events fully, but I have a much better understanding of what's going on, especially with the budget cuts, and why.
On a lighter note, I'm listening to Christmas music right now. I miss snow. I'm excited that I'll be coming home right before Christmas, I think it'll be really cool to be coming home when everyone is in the Christmas spirit and decorations will be up.
M
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