Class at 10 this morning, so woke up around 8:15 as usual. Breakfast was two croissants washed down with orange juice which is all I really need in the morning (until I get hungry around 12, of course). Wednesday’s are my heaviest days where I have class from 10-13:00 straight. I really don’t like missing my lunch hour, but I couldn’t do anything about this schedule. Oh well. The day started out very British: foggy, misty, a little moist, and oh yeah, no sun. Surprise, surprise.
1st World War Lit was boring me to tears until I heard a sound I usually associate with discomfort and a bad memory…the fire alarm. It didn’t appear to be sounding in our building because the sound was rather muffled yet distinct. Considering how big these people are on fire doors and such, I was surprised at the extremely mild reaction of my professor. He just paused for a moment, said “I don’t think that’s us,” and proceeded to continue lecturing. After a few moments we saw students filing out of the building near us and up the stairs (my class is in the first of three basements and is in the Strand/Main building; there are two other buildings adjoining that make up the Strand Campus). More and more of the class was getting distracted until finally my professor let us out. We had only been in class for about half an hour.
Outside, I saw lots of King’s students but not as many as I thought I’d see. Then I remembered that it was only 10:30 and since it appears that classes don’t begin here until 10 (shocking I know; it’s a wonder these people learn anything…), that the college wouldn’t be terribly busy at this hour. I had the camera with me (there was no way I was leaving that in the building) and surreptitiously took some pictures of Somerset House skaters (blissfully unaware or unperturbed by the alarm and sudden mass of students gathered near them) and King’s students. We were outside for only about 5-7 minutes before returning indoors. I found it refreshing to be out of the classroom for a while and glad to have to listen to five fewer minutes of my professor (he seems like a well-read guy, but he’s just really, really boring). Finally, class ended a few minutes to 11 and I caught an elevator up three floors to my Sociolinguistics class, which I made just on time.
I’m really liking this class. The teacher is passionate about her subject and an entertaining lecturer (not that I think she really means to be, she just makes funny comments sometimes). You also know you’re in a fun class where the class spends five minutes talking about the different words people use for the game known by most of you as “tag.” Some call it tig, had, it, catch, and other terms. That’s what makes linguistic classes so interesting; everyone comes from a different linguistic background and in a class where you have people from different parts of England and the United States, you’re bound to get a good deal of variety. Class was almost over before I realized it and I dreaded heading downstairs again to my 1st WW Lit seminar. Ugh.
The seminar was slightly more interesting than lecture only because students got to offer their own input. I was one of two people without the Penguin book (the required text, ~£9) though I was sitting pretty much out of the professor’s sight so it was fine. I had also done all the reading the night before so the poetry was still fairly fresh in my mind. The class gave some interesting comments but just not enough to hold my attention; I found myself dozing several times though I never actually fell asleep or anything: that would be in bad taste. I was relieved when class finally ended at 1 and since I was still feeling rather sleepy I just grabbed a sandwich and drink at Tesco’s, then walked across
I took it easy back in the dorm while checking mail and eating lunch. I had a little bit of reading to finish for my class the next day so I worked on that until dinner. On the way to the dining hall, Lainey informed me that she had “stalked my profile” and read some of my blog. She said it was “a really good blog” and that she was a little surprised to see her laundry pictures posted on it. She didn’t mind at all; she thought they were hilarious too. Dinner was Chinese stir-fry that was a nice change and gave me a good and much-needed dose of veggies. After dinner, I finished my reading for class and prepared for my seminar. I talked with Mom, Saket, and Sachi for a while on Skype. That was really nice. Our talk over, I just chilled for the rest of the night before going to bed soon after midnight.
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