Wednesday morning: Étudier le française #french #study #studyabroad #cafe #tea

Happy November!

Happy Monday!

I can’t believe it’s already November, the time has gone by so quickly, it makes me sad even thinking about it. This morning there was frost on the road and grass when I walked into campus- brr! 

The weekend came and went as it normally does; I had shine practice and salsa lessons on Friday night, went to Birmingham on Saturday night for salsa, had a salsa class and shine practice on Sunday. Oh, and on Sunday night I went with a few of my blockmates to the bar on campus for open mic night where they played acoustic guitar and sang. 

I’ve been sick all weekend unfortunately however, and I’m just praying that this cold crap goes away before mom comes and visits on Thursday! So another sick day in England calls for listening to George Winston, more tea and a blueberry muffin while I frantically try to organize and work on my essays that are due by Wednesday! Oh dear.

Cupper, Florence & The Machine and reading textbooks #keele #tea #england

Professors & a Pot of Tea

Classes have begun at Keele and it’s time to, unfortunately, get back into school-mode. The class structure here is really different than back in the States. Typically I’d have the same classes on Monday-Wednesday-Friday at the same time every day, for 50 minutes and then the same classes on Tuesday-Thursday. Here at Keele I only meet in my class once a week for an hour or two depending on the course. Also they’re called “lectures” and not “classes” like in the States; and then a few of my classes have seminars/tutorials later in the week which just sound like small-intimate classes with a ‘tutor’. Honestly, although we all speak English there aren’t many words that are the same between English and American-English :) I’m always looking for a translation from someone, but I absolutely love it! I hope to return to the States with a quite posh British accent. 

My professors are absolutely adorable as well. They’ve all worn button-up shirts and jackets and the British accent just makes them sound that more intelligent. Sometimes though, I completely zone out, I’m literally lulled by the sound of male British voices so I need to concentrate on focusing in class :) However, all my classes seem to be going well thus far, I already have lots of reading to do for my lectures so I need to get on top of that here soon. I’m sitting in “La Cafe” which is the coffee shop in one of my buildings because I have a 2-hour break in between my Tuesday classes, so I’m going to get a cupper and force myself to start reading my oh-so-interesting International Relations textbook (boo). 

Last Saturday of September!

My second weekend in England was actually full of sunshine which was an absolute pleasure. I’ve made a “British Bucket List” which are stereotypical British things I want to do before I leave England, and one of them is to join “british” societies that we don’t offer at UNCW. So Saturday morning I went to try out my hand at archery again; mind you I haven’t picked up a bow since Keystone days (which goes back to sophomore year of high school so you do the math). It was actually quite a success! I ended up hitting a bulls-eye or 10 point shot and several 9-points and not to mention they have pretty awesome shirts with the Keele crest on them. 

Then one of the things I have been most looking forward to- ballroom/latin and salsa dancing. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past two decades, I really love dancing and basically all types: belly dancing, ballet, hip-hop, salsa, zumba, line dancing- but I’ve never had the chance to do ballroom dancing. The room was packed full of people tasting out the society which was fantastic. They taught a basic waltz and the cha-cha before we switched over to salsa. I definitely plan to continue back in the States when I return. The taster session was great, so I’m definitely going to the join society next week.

After the taster sessions a few of the girls I had met earlier from the team were talking about some salsa party that night. Completely unlike me, and completely out of my comfort zone, I decided to head out with them to Coventry which was about 1 1/2 hours away. Let’s just say I’m really stoked that I went, it was one of the most fun nights ever, and I got to learn several new Salsa moves and some Stylin. Thank goodness I had done salsa before for a semester at Appalachian, because I was able to kind of follow along with the guys who were leading. I can’t wait to learn more :)