Journeys, Mishaps, and More

After being extremely busy with classes and three essays, I finally found time to update. I apologize for my egregious neglect, dear reader.

I feel that I have passed through quite a learning curve since I arrived here, and I feel that I may now safely say that I’ve settled in. By now, so many stories have accumulated that I’m not sure where to start. I supposed that I’ll start with the day-to-day.

I’m taking four classes: Gaskell, Eliot, and Dickens; Medieval Epic and Romance; British History 1914-1973; and International Economic Relations. With classes in two reading-intensive departments, I have a lot to do! Our professor lectures once a week, and then once a week we have “seminars,” which consist of smaller groups of students in the class to create a discussion atmosphere. We are expected to read in preparation for seminar, and this can get overwhelming when I’m doing this for four different subjects. For English classes, we have to read a book per week. I’m currently reading 100 pages of David Copperfield to try to finish it by next Tuesday. Yikes! I have to say that there are some things about Royal Holloway that I’m not used to quite yet. Undergraduates are only allowed to check out ten books, which is a problem when you have three essays due in one week.

Rebecca and I have had many adventures since my last post (I can’t believe how long it’s been!). Well-worn are the paths into Egham and to the train station, and navigation of the Tube has become second-nature. One of our significant trips has been into Kent, which is in the southeast of England, for our family home stay. I was excited to stay in the country away from the bustle of the city: our family owned a house on property that used to belong to one of the estates that we read about in 19th century literature. There were beautiful green fields and sheep. Julie and Martin (the host parents) were lovely people who took us to see the sights in the Tunbridge Wells (the town near where we were staying; Kent is the name of the county) and fed us, among other things, tea and scones, and Martin explained rugby as we watched it on television one night.

Other adventures have included day trips with other Royal Holloway international students to Windsor (and Eton college), Runnymede (believed site of the signing of the Magna Carta), and London (which included the Jack the Ripper tour). With Butler (the program that we used to get here) we have gone to Cambridge, Ely Cathedral, Warwick Castle, and Stratford-Upon-Avon. On our own, we have gone into London for day trips to see various places, including Camden Market, an excellent and exciting place to shop.

My list of mishaps has increased in size since my last post. We seem to have continual transportation issues. We have missed a train entirely, thanks in small part to an unsympathetic man in the ticket window. We barely made it to the Butler Cambridge trip on another occasion because we missed a train and, if we had arrived 30 seconds later, would not have gone to Cambridge! The buses were literally leaving as we ran up.

I have also had trouble keeping track of my belongings. I lost one of my gloves during the first weeks of being here. I bought a replacement pair in Kent for two pounds. Those lasted until the Cambridge trip, when I left them both somewhere. I again went without until I bought a pair in Camden Market last Friday for four pounds. They are not as nice as the other pair, I must say. I almost lost one the very next day in Stratford-Upon-Avon. I have learned my lesson that gloves should NOT be stored in my pockets for any length of time. In addition, I almost lost my scarf in Egham this week. Rebecca and I had gone into town to look in the charity shops and pick up groceries. It was the warmest day that we’ve had so far, and I had taken my scarf off and hung it on my purse. After visiting two charity shops, the post office, and the grocery store, I noticed that it was gone. I frantically went back to the grocery store to look, and, while I was inside, fortunately Rebecca found it hanging on a pipe sort of thing. After almost losing my gloves as well, I was so grateful to have it back.

Well, that’s all for this post. I’ve tried to give some of the highlights, but so much has happened that I’ll have to fill it in as I go along. Thanks for all of the encouragement that I’ve received from everyone!