16 November — Being in London is an
experience I’ll never forget and always appreciate. My time in London is
coming closer to its end and I am very grateful for the experiences
I've had while here. I learned a lot about history through physical
examples and cultural celebrations, learned more about city life, and
learned more about how the education system in the United Kingdom
differs from the United States.
In the past few weeks I was able to witness Guy Fawkes day, Remembrance Day, and visited many historical sites. In my previous post I mentioned being excited for Guy Fawkes day and how absurd I thought it was. I’m glad to say that I still think it’s really weird. They really did have giant bonfires where they burned effigies of Guy Fawkes. I also attended the Remembrance Day commemoration with the Lewis & Clark group last Sunday morning, which was an extremely touching ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice. Today we walked by the office of Theresa May, where protestors were arrested for attempting graffiti. We also went to Winston Churchill’s war rooms—which had a really informative audio tour. The man really hated staples and paperclips. One of my favorite site visits was our tour of Parliament, which has really ostentatious architecture and decor. It was really interesting to see how the UK government differs from ours.
Being in London made me realize that I likely do not want to live in a big city, though I really enjoy all that there is to do here. I think I want more of a balance between urban and nature (in other words I’ll probably become a suburbanite in the future). I also miss my American brands like Trader Joe’s, Trident Gum, Cheerios, and Top Ramen that doesn’t cost two bucks. I also won’t miss watching my flat mates dip vegetables in ketchup. I will, however, really miss the old and impressive architecture in this city that are strongly tied with history. This city has such a rich history that I couldn’t experience in the States. I will also miss the surprisingly nice weather, which I expected to be worse than Portland.
From what I’ve learned from my flat mates and experienced in classes, A-levels sound like hell (on an unrelated note, I also find it weird to see children in ties). They spend two years essentially studying for our equivalent of the SAT’s, after which they apply to colleges under a certain and specific field of study (and sometimes they are unable to have both the school they want and the field of study they want—which is also true for some schools in the United States, but to a lesser degree). If they do poorly on their A-Level exams, their prospects can be very limited. While I’m not a fan of the SAT (or standardized tests), I appreciate that I didn’t essentially have to dedicate two years of my life to studying for them.
In the past few weeks I was able to witness Guy Fawkes day, Remembrance Day, and visited many historical sites. In my previous post I mentioned being excited for Guy Fawkes day and how absurd I thought it was. I’m glad to say that I still think it’s really weird. They really did have giant bonfires where they burned effigies of Guy Fawkes. I also attended the Remembrance Day commemoration with the Lewis & Clark group last Sunday morning, which was an extremely touching ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice. Today we walked by the office of Theresa May, where protestors were arrested for attempting graffiti. We also went to Winston Churchill’s war rooms—which had a really informative audio tour. The man really hated staples and paperclips. One of my favorite site visits was our tour of Parliament, which has really ostentatious architecture and decor. It was really interesting to see how the UK government differs from ours.
Being in London made me realize that I likely do not want to live in a big city, though I really enjoy all that there is to do here. I think I want more of a balance between urban and nature (in other words I’ll probably become a suburbanite in the future). I also miss my American brands like Trader Joe’s, Trident Gum, Cheerios, and Top Ramen that doesn’t cost two bucks. I also won’t miss watching my flat mates dip vegetables in ketchup. I will, however, really miss the old and impressive architecture in this city that are strongly tied with history. This city has such a rich history that I couldn’t experience in the States. I will also miss the surprisingly nice weather, which I expected to be worse than Portland.
From what I’ve learned from my flat mates and experienced in classes, A-levels sound like hell (on an unrelated note, I also find it weird to see children in ties). They spend two years essentially studying for our equivalent of the SAT’s, after which they apply to colleges under a certain and specific field of study (and sometimes they are unable to have both the school they want and the field of study they want—which is also true for some schools in the United States, but to a lesser degree). If they do poorly on their A-Level exams, their prospects can be very limited. While I’m not a fan of the SAT (or standardized tests), I appreciate that I didn’t essentially have to dedicate two years of my life to studying for them.
—Noémie Cloutier