Oh yeah. School.

So. School. That thing. That thing I’m doing here, right? Something that’s on my mind, especially as I stare at a foreboding stack of books that I probably should be reading. (Don’t worry, I’ve already read a lot.)

The first week of classes has officially passed, and this is the first day (two weeks to the day!) that I’ve had absolutely no place to be at any given time today. No trips, no class, no orientations, no haphazard hikes to a 2-mile-long market out in central London. Just me, my window, my little table and this laptop and a pile of books staring me down.

The first thing I have to say is, school here is fabulous. I don’t know if it’s the accents but, every lecture I’ve had has been captivating so far. I had eight hours of class in two days, and I think I learned more about the causes of WWI in those two days than all the other classes I’ve had on that subject combined. Learning about it from the English perspective is also interesting, considering it was much more of a threat here than it was at home. (We were too busy having a growing economy and whatnot.) And my core classes? We found a 3-hour class wasn’t long enough for all we wanted to talk about. All of the six other students are brilliant, outspoken, and always asking questions. It’s a wonderful learning environment, and I’ve learned so much about English history in the past week. My favorite thing had to be learning about the Union Jack, which was just... amazing. AMAZING. And I have three field trips this coming week. THREE. Including one to Oxford University. I know, astounding! I’m a little apprehensive to go, considering I’m not super close to anyone in my program but, I think that’s okay, because we all love history.

That’s the best part: everyone is a total dork. We were in the Monument to the Fire of 1666 and once we made it to the top (after much grumbling) we just stood in awe and stared at the surroundings. The juxtaposition of old London—old, old, Roman, the City, London—surrounded by skyscrapers, modern businesses, and soon, the tallest office In Europe—was just incredible. Myself and another girl, Alex, just stood and pointed out all the old buildings wedged between the new. Everyone was silent and staring out, just gaping. It was breathtaking. The entire walk down all we talked about was touching the walls and how old the building was beneath our fingertips. Speaking of old buildings—

This is what it looks like on the OUTSIDE.

THIS IS THE INSIDE.

Gorgeous. It used to be a house, until BU did their BU thing and bought it.

Being forced to consider history in a different way and having living history around me, I think, has made me a better observer. Saiya and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum on Friday (NO CLASS but I had work) and we were there for two and a half hours, and we saw a grand total of two galleries. Yes, two. It’s that kind of museum. While we were there, I found myself observing things closer and trying to pick out small details that make up the entire picture. We were in the Greco-Roman areas of the museum, looking at reliefs and paintings and huge tapestries from when England was still under Rome’s control. It was incredibly beautiful and astounding all at once. Having Saiya there helped a lot, too. She’s an art history person, and her knowledge combined with her enthusiasm really made the experience a lot more rounded. I wanted to find the beautiful details that real art appreciators always pick out, and as I was looking I was also able to see the history behind everything. The little touches that light something up in a historians mind as to aha, that’s what that’s from or that’s when that took place.

Also, we got to touch really freaking old things.

AWESOME.

So, yeah, school is good. I’m researching for a paper I have due in three weeks, and weeding through the reading I have to do for all my classes tomorrow. (Still a procrastinator, no matter how interesting the classes are, heh.) Simply because yesterday, I was at the Doctor Who Experience which, as someone who knows some about Doctor Who and has only seen one season, was extremely fun. And of course, a dork can appreciate things like, say,

...standing on the ACTUAL SET of the TARDIS. Yep. Ballin’.

I’ve been listening to the same 14 songs over and over again all week. I don’t know why.

And it’s going to be really, really cold today.