Days 4, 5, and part of 6.

Tuesday was the Freshers Fair at the University of Westminster Regent Campus. To those familiar with DU, it was kind of like the Pioneer Carnival. Basically, the Student Union had a large representation of the clubs and organizations at the Uni all in one room. So students could go around, talk with members of the clubs, get free stuff, and join the clubs. Great way to get connected with other students. So while at this fair, I found two clubs that I'm thinking of joining: the Literature Society and the Investment & Trading society. Both should be pretty interesting groups and hopefully I'll be able to connect with students from London.

After the fair, I traveled to Angel with one of my flatmates, Rie. Angel is a small shopping area with a movie theater, a concert venue, clothing stores, food stores, and many other small shops. We went so that I could learn where Iceland Foods and Sainsbury's stores were located. Both are nice supermarkets that I will now frequent regularly in order to eat.

On Wednesday, I met my final flatmate, Sarah and her friend Liam. We spent a lot of the night talking and they'll be great people to hang out with while I'm here.

Thursday, I had my advising meeting with the study abroad advisers and finalized my timetable. It will be a pretty great semester. Before diving into my wonderful class schedule, I figure it would be good to talk briefly about the UK education system. It is quite different from that of American Universities. Students at UK universities like the University of Westminster take 3 years to graduate. Because of this, their schedules are much more focused than in the States. In the US, students are given a bit of room in what classes they can take. So in a quarter back at DU as a Finance major, I could take two Finance classes, a language class, and a philosophy class. In UK, as a Finance major, I would take four classes all focused on Finance. So basically, in the UK, students take very focused classes and learn a lot about their major subject while in the US, students take more of a variety of classes.

Along with this difference in degree composition, the teaching style is a bit different. More emphasis is put on independent study rather than constant work. This leads to a difference in class scheduling from the US system that I will experience soon. First, there is less class time. In the US, I would have a class twice a week for 2 hours. In the UK, I have 3 hours of class. 1 hour is a lecture from the professor with a large class and 2 hours is a smaller seminar with discussion between students and the professor. So I will have less class time, but will have to more research outside of class. There are a couple other differences, but I will talk about those as I experience them throughout the semester.

Now on to the interesting part: my class schedule. The first two days of my week are a little less interesting to the majority of people, but are about my major and minor, so I'm very excited for them. On Tuesdays I have Issues in European Union Law. From 2-3PM I have a tutorial and from 4-6PM I have my lecture. Wednesdays I have Behavioural Finance. From 10-11:30AM I have my lecture and from 1-2:30PM I have my seminar. Both will definitely be interesting, but will require a bit of work, as both are second level classes. Thursdays will also require work, but will be a lot of fun. Thursdays I have my Art and Society class and my London Theatre in Performance class. Both classes focus on London and are designed for study abroad students to learn more about the wonderful city we're in. The Art and Society class will look at artwork in London and how it has become a part of the culture. I will have a lecture from 9-10AM for the class, but from 10-12:30PM each week, we will have off-site visits to museums, art galleries, and other artistically significant locations with powerful effects on society. Then, from 2-5PM I have my London Theatre in Performance class. This class will teach me about the theatre, its influence, how to critique plays, and will take me to see plays in London. I am super excited for both of my London focused classes and am ready for the challenges all four classes provide. In addition to this post, I will copy the course descriptions for each so you all have a better idea of what awesome classes these will be.

After my advising meeting, I spent a bit of time familiarizing myself with my places of study: the Regent building where I will have my two London Studies classes; the Law building where my Issues in EU Law will be; and the Marylebone building where I will have my Behavioural Finance class. I also spent some time walking around Oxford Circus and Angel so that I become more familiar with my surroundings. Oh, and I also bought myself a cool new hat. I'll probably post a picture of it soon.

Anyways, its getting late here and I've probably put you all to sleep with my long-winded explanation of three days here in London. Hopefully I'll get some time tomorrow and I'll complete my tales from Thursday. Cheers.