Today was amazing! We got to see so many more sites in London and get a lot of information. Only downside? We walked a good 15 miles, at least! Oh well, exercise is good, right? :)
I had a bit of a rough start by not waking up to my alarm clock, and instead waking to Alex knocking on my door! Sooo... I'm going to set like 3 alarms for tomorrow morning!
We all went to the Duchesne Building (a.k.a. the Human Rights Centre, which is where we will do everything academic), expecting to be in class from 9-4, because our schedule noted that Simon Edwards would be our principal lecturer on "Using London as a Resource." We were certainly surprised when we picked up our packed lunches and he told us to change into comfortable shoes, because we'd be spending the whole day trekking!
We all started the day with a laugh on the train. A man sat next to Malik and was talking into his Bluetooth headset while looking almost straight at Malik. At first, I didn't notice his Bluetooth, so I just thought Malik was sternly ignoring the man. I started cracking up at the ridiculousness of the situation and Malik finally found it strangely awkward to figure out how to respond to this man, even though he clearly wasn't talking to him! Maybe it was a "had to be there" moment ;)
We got to walk through Law Office districts, and it was crazy to see the sheer number of lawyers available. We also got to see Middle Temple Hall, supposedly in which the first production of "Twelfth Night" was performed! Additionally, we saw several churches, including St. Brides Church, Saint Lawrence Jewry, St. Paul's Cathedral (where Princess Diana got married!) And of COURSE we had to take the typical London tourist picture!... inside a red telephone booth :)
Interestingly enough, we've noticed that Britain is very closely under surveillance. Not only are there cameras in the train stations, roads, and museums, but seemingly everywhere! Simon said today, "Chances are, if you do something in London, about 20 cameras just picked it up."
We took the Greenwich Foot Tunnel (which was very chilly by the way!) over to Greenwich to see the National Maritime Museum (a nice place built for the British navy).
Greenwich foot tunnel
Outside the National Maritime Museum
Then, we had to hike up a killer hill to visit the Royal Observatory and Bradley Meridian which is at longitude 0 degrees. It divides the Eastern and Western hemispheres. We were able to take pictures with one foot on either side of this line, so that we could be in 2 hemispheres at the same time :)
We headed back to Waterloo station to relax a bit, and meet up with Kirsten, Curtis, and Segolene (a French intern for our Questioning Citizenship class -- the fourth from the right in the picture below), who would be taking us to meet Katie (another worker at the International Centre -- the second from the left in the picture below) at Sway Restaurant. It was a very nice place! We were able to choose 2 courses (starter and main, or main and dessert)... it was a very nice treat out.
Then, we headed to Theatre Royal Drury Lane (passing through the lovely Covent Garden) to see Oliver! the musical. It was so amazing! Besides the fact that we were LITERALLY in the nosebleed section (no really, two kids in the row in front of us got nosebleeds... we were the second row from the back in the top balcony. All of the little children were so talented and adorable with their British accents :) I was very impressed! Then, at the end, there was a guest speaker who was the actor who first played Fagin (a main character in the musical) 50 years ago. He began to ramble and it turned into a strange experience, but nevertheless fun!
We were able to see the beautiful London with all the amazing lights on our way back!
Needless to say, we're all exhausted! We've been playing around with the idea that this is all actually a big reality show called something along the lines of "Which American Can Survive?" ;)
This morning we had our first session of our academic programme, where we got to meet the staff who will be teaching our "Questioning Citizenship" class, as well as talk more about what we wanted to get out of it, and what the class entails.
We all, more or less, expressed that we are interested in experience a different part of the world and step outside our comfort zones in order to truly understand UK culture. We also expressed our hopes in learning more about citizenship, government, and how all that compares to issues going on right now (health care, sustainability, etc).
Our class runs through a program called Crucible, which was established by the government 5 years ago in order to enhance research-intensive universities. The particular Crucible program at Roehampton is focused on Human Rights.
We went over our course syllabus... and that's when we realized how much work we have to do! Basically, we will be in class for 70 hours, and we will have academic sessions on the following topics: Citizenship and Democracy Public and Private Patriotism and Identity Markets and Citizens Security and Terror Rights and Responsibilities Citizenship Beyond the Nation State Progress and Sustainability Knowledge and Power
So it should be very interesting! We will receive marks (grades) by way of 6 reflection essays and one group-made 10 minute film that explores the meaning of citizenship in a variety of ways. We were quite shocked to become acquainted with the British grading system. It's also scaled out of 100 points, but they are much more stingy with the points: 70+ points is excellent, 50-70 is good, 40-50 is okay/passing 40 or below is failing. Very different!
For the second half of the day, we split up into 2 teams to do a London-wide photo frenzy. With some light competition versus the opposing team, we were able to get comfortable using the tube (underground railway) in order to get around London and to make it to all the destinations.
Typical tube station
We started out at Waterloo station, where we became enlightened by the romanticism of the clock tower there -- to "meet someone under the clock tower" is both very common and sometimes considered romantic!
My team (Alex, Nadia, Jason, and I) got off to a REALLY good start by losing our disposable camera on the first tube that we took. Oooops! We ended up just taking the pictures with our digital cameras, so it was fine. We visited Trafalgar Square, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, and Big Ben. It was actually quite hot out so we had to take several breaks and ended up not making it to all the destinations (Picadilly Circus and Buckingham Palace), but it was very fun! :)
Ben and I! (Get it?)
Outside of the Tower Bridge!
First bad pun of the trip: singing "I can't be Thames!" to the tune of Miley Cyrus's "I can't be tamed."
We all met up at the London Eye, the largest ferris wheel in the world, to take our ride! It's a 30 minute ride and when you get to the top, it's such a fantastic view of London!
View from the London Eye
Representing Fulbright!
After an exhausting (but fun!) day of walking and touring, we were all excited to head back for dinner and relaxation. Most of us ended up hanging out in the communal kitchen in Bede Hall. One lady who is also staying in Bede for a Philosophy Conference came in and talked to us a bit about citizenship in philosophical terms... it was a cool tie in to what we are studying.
After being a K-State Orientation Leader during the month of June and having to be at work anywhere between 6:00-6:30AM, this feels so easy to get up and around! Our mornings start usually at 9:30-10ish everyday and we get breakfast at the Digby Stuart Dining Hall. This morning, it was chocolate chip croissants! Mmm!
Today was kind of a wake up call for all of us because we all became aware of how structured, organized, and intense (in a way) this program is going to be. This all became apparent when we walked into our Academic Induction in the Portrait Room of the fancy Grove House. We were handed a professional leather-bound portfolio binder with lots of information inside. We were given our Roehampton student ID's and passwords for Internet access, Oyster cards (for unlimited traveling around London... the receipt was within the envelope and it was 185 pounds!), an extensive day-by-day schedule for the entire program, and a lengthy course syllabus.
That's right, there is a class! Surprise! None of us were really aware of this, but it will count for academic credit to our home universities (if they will count it), and we do get marks (grades)! It's called "Questioning Citizenship."
In our Academic Induction, we got to learn more about Roehampton University itself, which is made up of 9,000 students at 4 different campuses (Whitelands, Southlands, Froebel, and Digby Stuart--where we stay). It gained its independence as a university in 2004, and it is one of the only residential campuses in London. It provides sort of an oasis in a sense because one minute you will be walking next to an academic building, and then seeing woods and wildlife the next. Very cool!
We also got to meet the Director of the Fulbright Awards Programme (Michael Scott-Kline) and the US Programme Coordinator (Elizabeth Hizer). It was really nice to meet them and get further information about what it means to be a Fulbright Scholar and a representative of the program. This is the first Fulbright Summer Institute Program ever (so we are the inaugural group), and he said that this was the most competitive admission for any starting Fulbright program in the last 62 years. Wow! They also gave us a quote from Senator J William Fulbright:
Our future is not in the stars but in our minds and hearts. Creative leadership and liberal education are the first requirements for a hopeful future for humankind. Fostering these -- leadership, learning, and empathy between cultures -- was and remains the purpose of the International Scholarship Program.
We also got a bag full of brochures, maps, and information about London. We even got a snazzy t-shirt and hoodie that both have Roehampton University stitched on the front, with "Fulbright Summer Institute" printed on the back. We are all definitely excited to wear them.
In the afternoon, we went to the University Library to get our Student ID cards, as well as get a tour of the facility. It was quite similar to what we're used to in America. We'll use the Media Development Center quite a bit to edit our videos that we will be producing about citizenship in the UK vs. USA. To help with this, they issued each of us our own FlipCams! :)
In our small break, we took the bus to Putney where we did a few errands... I bought a UK hair straightener, some postcards, etc. We had a crazy ride back... Apparently the bus driver wasn't in a very good mood! I almost fell over like 10 times.
Then we came back and got super fancy for a champagne and appetizer reception held by the Vice Chancellor (Paul O'Prey) of the university. It was invitation only! It was very fun to see such a fancy part of the culture, especially among some of the famous faculty/staff members. We were able to see speeches from the faculty, and they even mentioned us as Fulbright Scholars as something that enhances their university!
While mingling, we met the infamous Roger who chatted with us about British Petroleum and the huge oil scandal going on with that. Also, we met Canon Peter Bruinvels, who became another running joke for the rest of our trip! Canon Peter was definitely a character... he named us all by what state we were from -- so I would be Miss Illinois, for example. He was very proud of his achievements, explaining to us that he is a Governor of the Church Commissioners, a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, a former Director of the Church Army, Senior Inspector of Anglican Schools and is a Lay Canon of Guildford Cathedral. Feeling the wine, perhaps, one of his infamous quotes around us was, "Am I being a naughty boy??" Before we left the reception, the faculty gave us these really nice hardback books entitled "The Story of Roehampton"... they are very well-done any have many pictures of the campus, as well as how the university developed.
Us talking to Canon Peter!!!
Barron and I!
The Grove House -- where the reception was held.
Us with the Vice Chancellor.
They apparently weren't serving dinner, so we went to Nando's restaurant in Putney, which is a casual Portuguese/Mozambican dining place. Nando's specializes in chicken dishes with either lemon and herb, medium, hot, or extra hot peri-peri marinades. Peri-peri is a hot East African sauce made from dried and soaked piri-piri chili peppers. I got medium peri-peri chicken, spicy rice, and "chips" (fries). It was really, really good! I found out that it is a chain, and there are two restaurants in the U.S.!! One is in Washington D.C. and the other is in Maryland.... I guess I'll have to go visit those places if I start going through Nando's withdrawals! I guess Nando's is known for its humorous, yet controversial, advertisements. We actually saw a funny one on the tube (underground train). It says "Introduce this person to fiery peri-peri chicken and they will name their children and small furry animals after you," and there is an arrow that points down at whoever is sitting in that particular seat.
We finally headed back to Bede where we were able to change out of our fancy clothes and just hang out for a while :)
After a nice lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and a short-lived trip to Dave & Busters in Kansas City, I arrived at the KCI Airport where I met up with Alex who I'd be flying with. After a clueless whirlwind through checking my bags and going through security, thankfully I made it into Gate 14! I said my final goodbyes to everyone awkwardly through the glass... from which my mother apparently didn't want to leave ;)
My mom and I
My sister and I
The flights went very smoothly -- we took United Airlines and connected in Chicago. We were quite nervous about the connection since we only had 35 minutes, but our flight actually got in 20 minutes early so the connection was very relaxed. I ended up sitting smooshed between two larger older people who were actually married. Interesting! They were headed for a mission trip to Kenya. They were quite nice, but it wasn't the most comfortable in between them. The food was alright -- pasta for dinner and yogurt for dessert. It seemed like everytime I needed to get up on the plane, it was a bad time.... either both of the people next to me were asleep, eating, drinking, reading peacefully, or whatever else. So I definitely had to be assertive and ask them to let me out, even though I felt bad for disturbing them!
Also, the flight attendants didn't seem all that cheerful, which in all reality I don't think I would be if I had to take care of people on an overnight flight! One of them just watched Alex while she struggled to get her carry-on luggage in the overhead departments! After a lengthy 7 hour flight, Alex and I made it to Heathrow! Everything was pretty easy, except that my luggage was entiiiirely too heavy. My arms are going to be so buff by the time I get back! Also, for future reference, you can take carry-on luggage that has wheels. Please don't ever take a bag you have to carry at your side. So painful!
As Alex and I passed through immigration, where they asked us where we were going, why, etc... we realized how hilarious it was that we really didn't know much about what exactly we were doing, and how it's been so hard to explain to people what our trip is all about!
When we came out into the arrival terminal, I felt like the people around us were paparazzi! There were soooo many of them that swarmed and they were all holding up signs with names on them. We realized that we should probably be looking for our names... but couldn't find them. We figured that since our flight actually arrived 40 minutes early that Kirsten Nichols (the International Recruiter at Roehampton University) might not be there yet. So we stood around for a while and waited.
Once she found us, we realized that we had been waiting literally 10 feet in front of where our group was standing! We all greeted each other with hugs, which was nice since it seemed like we were all already so close! We kept getting to learn bits and pieces of our schedule, too. At that point, all we knew was that we were going to be volunteering in schools, going to Belgium, going to Scotland, and seeing Oliver the musical. That's it! It seemed to be some big secret or something!
Alex and I took a taxi, which took us to Roehampton University. It was so weird to get used to the steering wheel on the ride side of the car and to be driving in the left lane. At one point I looked over in a car, saw a person lounging and reading a magazine on the left side of the car, and I momentarily freaked out, but then realized she wasn't actually the driver! Very, very different!
Here is a video that gives a bit more information about Roehampton University and shows how amazingly residential is it and how close it is to main parts of London!! We got so lucky with our location!
The driver dropped us off at the gate and we had to haul our heavy luggage up this hill to get to Bede House, our residence.
We were all surprised to find that we each get our own room, but share a bathroom and a kitchen. It's nice to have a room to myself, but weird because I thought we were living in a communal flat! Oh well :)
I'm in Room 8! They did it alphabetically by last name, so Dayna got Room #1 (which is sadly separated from us by a fire door!), Barron #2, Emma #3, Jason #4, Malik #5, Nadia #6, and Alex #7).
In each room there was a twin sized bed, desk, and shelves.
Also, there was a small dresser, extra chair, and sink/mirror area. If this picture extended to the left a bit more, you would see a closet and a full-length mirror.
The view outside my window! There was a cute little courtyard out there :)
The hallway... looking from my room down to room #1.
After we got settled in a bit, we headed to the communal kitchen and had tomato and cheese sandwiches for lunch, got to know each other a bit better, and started to feel out everyone's personalities.
Curtis and Louisa, our two Roehampton University student ambassadors, came and hung out with us a bit!
They wanted to take us to Putney to a pub for the Germany vs. England World Cup game. Since we didn't have our Oyster cards (travel cards), we decided to walk there, since Louisa promised it was only a 20 minute walk. Thus began one of the running jokes of the trip because it indeed took 57 minutes to walk from Roehampton to Putney (yes, we timed it). So from here on out, if a British person said anything about time, we would jokingly clarify, "Wait, UK time or US time?" Or if a British person would say, "Oh I'll be there in 10 minutes," without missing a beat someone would chime in, "Okay so they'll be here in half an hour." It was too funny!
Anyways, it was so very fun to be in the pub atmosphere while everyone was going crazy over the World Cup game. It was so LOUD and people were quite upset and embarrassed over the 4-1 loss :( It definitely showed me how important soccer (football) is in English culture. Their reactions to the game reminded me of how Americans would get over American football or basketball.
The newspaper cover the day after the loss.
My first English pounds!
After the game, we headed back (by bus, thankfully!) and got ready for our wine reception and welcome dinner at the fancy Grove House. It was really nice to network with some of the faculty/staff at Roehampton! We had couscous, chicken, some veggies, and raspberry cheesecake. Then we each gave a 5 minute presentation over an assigned piece of London... mine was Trafalgar Square! Others included Tower of London, the London Eye, London Bridge, Queen's Palace, British Museum, St Paul's Cathedral, etc... it turned out very well!
It was fun because you could kind of get a glimpse into everyone's personality by how they gave their presentation. For example, Barron threw in a lot of jokes in his. Jason gave his while reading from his notes on little tiny bits of ripped up paper -- he went through information he printed off and literally ripped out bits that he thought were important -- so he brought all of those bits up with him and used them as notes... we knew he would be a mess at that point! Malik really surprised us... he had been kind of reserved so far, and confided in a few of us that he only had about 5 bullet points prepared... but when he began to speak, his very professional voice and stature surprised us all, and he whipped out all these quotes from Winston Churchill! He's going to be famous someday -- that's a fact!
We all had good conversations at dinner. One that I particularly remember is talking with Alex and Kirsten about dental treatment in the UK and why there is a stereotype that British people have bad teeth. Kirsten explained to us that it's a combination of factors: the UK doesn't treat their water with fluoride like in America, there isn't such a widespread obsession with perfect teeth, and dentists are not covered under the National Health Service (NHS) plan. So, many British people become resentful that they have to pay for their dental treatments, and more often than not, just don't. Additionally, something that I've already noticed is that the English definitely make a bigger deal out of their meal times... they aren't rushed at all. An hour for lunch (meaning, to actually eat, for an hour is typical!) It's interesting. Anyways, we came back and hung out for a while but mostly everyone went to sleep pretty early. Great first day!
Greenwich foot tunnel
Outside the National Maritime Museum
