An English Education

Well first module came and went, I can't believe how fast time is flying here. The last four weeks I studied Introduction to Marketing with a great group of hard working students. There were 7 of us in the class so we all got to really know each other, and that in itself made the class a lot of fun. The instructor (I have talked about this in past posts but I will mention it again - bear with me ;) )  was really great because he is not an academic or a scholar he is simply a man that has put in a lot of work in the industry and has come back to the university to give back to the world. 

Every class we are taught new materials and at the end of the class we all present on what he taught last class. It goes like this everyday up until the final presentation. Every time we do the presentations we receive feedback from our peers and the next day we re-present what was talk to us last lecture as well as the incorporated criticisms from the previous session. These forces us all to apply what we learn directly after we have learned it, and by presenting this we receive feedback on if we have fully learned it correctly. It is not easy to slide by or even pretend to work for single a day, if you do that you would just look like a fool in front of everyone and clearly demonstrate that you do not in fact pay attention during the lecture.

It was one of my favorite classes and I will admit I am kind of sad to see it over and the class dispersed. But the second module has already begun and I have the same professor and two of the students from the previous session with me. It is the same exact structure as the previous class except that we do not create a marketing plan from scratch as we did with the first module, rather we remake a failing strategy plan for an already existing business. This should be interesting, and I am excited to see how the next four weeks go!

Also, on a note about the way things are graded here. During the final week I approached my professor and asked him how things were graded differently in comparison to the States. He compared it a lot to checks and balances.

In England when a final assignment is submitted the professor reviews it and it is sent to a second person at a different university to review as well. But this review is of the professor's grading to make sure it's fair with the students past work and marks. Then it's sent to another person then that makes sure that its grading is consistent with the schools standards. Basically everyone is kept in check. 

I realize that in the United States from my experience and from others I have spoken to, it is not always a question of whether or not the class is hard, but it whether or not the professor is. Students in the US pick classes based on who is teaching it, and I believe if we could incorporate the grading system from England into the United States then maybe it would be a lot fairer and students could be ensured that they are receiving the marks that they deserve.

Mon voyage à la ville de l'amour

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last week, I recently traveled for four days and had almost no Wifi the entire time. So I have dedicated this entire post to that trip to Paris, the Palace of Versaille and La Basilique du Sacre Coeur de Montamartre

Classes for first module finished last week on Thursday and I began my journey Friday evening. The trip I took was organized through a company and wasn't through the school. However quite a few people from my school all went on the same trip so we all got to know each other even better through the course of the weekend.  Friday evening we drove all night on a large coach (those big fancy travel buses) and arrived at Dover England, home of the famous white cliffs that resemble the Seven Sisters cliffs. We from there took a ferry across the English Channel and then drove another 5 hours into Paris. Jumping forward there another hour it was morning already by the time we got there, so we didn't waste any time on sleeping and jumped right into a whole day of exploring the City of Love.

After a brief introduction to Paris bus tour we stopped to see Notre Dame and the Lovre museum.



Notre Dame was breathtaking with stained glass windows, detailed sculptures, and ... I don't have a word for this but it was a place that everything was still, a place where they remind you to be quiet and capture the moments with your heart. It was such a peaceful and beautiful atmosphere that was just awe-inspiring and magnificent to be apart of if only for a short amount of time. They began a mass while tourists quietly walked around and took photos, the mass itself was a sight to see - it brought the building to life.

There was this really cool bridge, actually a few of them, and they all had pad locks all over them. The locks are there by visitors that want to proclaim their love. They buy pad locks of all shapes and sizes and write their names on it, whether its between lovers, family, or good friends, everyone that visits this bridge has the opportunity to add their lock for as long as it can be kept there.

 The locks weigh so much that pieces of these bridges are actually starting to fall off and it is putting such a large strain on the bridge that the city considered getting rid of the locks all together, but people just keep adding more.

The Lovre! ahh this is a museum I have waited a very very long time to finally see. It was one of my most favorite parts of the trip. I finally got to see what was underneath that giant pyramid that you only see on the surface street. The artwork in this museum stirred emotions, and isn't that what art is supposed to do? It was really great seeing the sculptures on the ceilings and the fine detailed artwork. Being so apart of history to think how many people have seen what you are looking at in that moment, and to look at a piece of art and wonder what the artist was thinking so long ago when they painted it. Its really like stepping through time. Here we saw the Mona Lisa in all her secured behind glass glory. She was a fairly small portrait surrounded by tons of people all trying to get a photo of her. The story of the Mona Lisa and the size of the small portrait is that every time that the painting was stolen thieves would cut her directly out of the frame.

This happened I think 3 times - I could be wrong on that number - and each time has made her get smaller and smaller, so now its only a small size of the original piece. Which is also why it is surrounded by at least 3 security guards and a thick plate of bulletproof glass!











After these two spectacular places we were set onto free time in the city until the evening where we would take a canal ride with our group. During the free time my friend and I decided to check out some of the shopping in an infamous mall "Galleries Lafayette". The most extravagant shopping area I have ever seen. It consisted of 6 stories and two buildings which were connected by a bridge, while everything was much too expensive for us to actually purchase anything, it was dazzling to see it all in person, and photos really cant do it justice.

After the mall we regrouped with the tour and took a beautiful canal trip down the Seine River in Paris that started at the base of the Eiffel Tower. This was the best part of the entire day, it was beautiful seeing all of the magnificent sights, but this was the first time all day we didn't have to push through crowds or walk around at all, so it was very relaxing and nice to be off of our feet.


On Sunday everyone in the tour went on an optional trip to Disneyland Paris, Allie and I opted out for a day trip to see all of the sights we hadn't seen yet in Paris. We went to a carnival at the Roue de Paris (a giant Ferris wheel) and enjoyed ice cream while we walked through the gardens at Place de la Concorde with famously designed landscaping with fountains and an octagonal pond.

We explored the city by foot for a few hours with spontaneous rain, I mean like completely sunny to the sky opening up and dumping buckets of water on you in a matter of minutes. The weather in all of Europe is pretty much like that, but especially France.

We ended our day at the Eiffel Tower where we went to a cafe and had a nice dinner and enjoyed the beautiful views of the Tower. It is so grand in person its hard to take it all in. The whole grassy area in front of the tower had a bunch of people and men walking around selling bottles of alcohol, which is totally illegal, we even watched one man get arrested! There are also a bunch of soldiers walking around carrying large guns, apparently this is due to the up rise in riots in France recently. The soldiers are there to break up anything before it can really even happen.

The next day we regrouped with our tour group and went to visit the Palace of Versailles. The gates and the front of this Palace were coated in 24 carat gold, and the garden behind it was so large they rented out golf carts to see everything! It was full of ponds and statues and sculpted landscaping.

We then went to Montamartre, we were warned the whole time to watch out for scammers and pick pockets the whole time. We saw the Basilique but only had a short amount of time before we had to leave so we didn't go inside. I had something else in mind...

I finally got to try escargot! snails.. It was interesting, its hard to describe the texture and flavor, I would compare it to mussels, but it tasted kind of like the smell of a garden after it rains. Definitely a ONCE in a  lifetime experience!


Finally we departed Montamartre and traveled back to England, it was such an incredible experience  seeing France and experience living history. I think I can compare travelling a little bit like reading a book and then seeing a movie. Reading a book you have an imagined idea of what the place or experience would be like, but actually doing it is so very different from what you expected, sometimes its a great thing, other times not so much. But all completely worth the experience. I feel so lucky to have these experiences, and I want to thank you if you read that entire long post! Keep checking every week to see whats up next!
Thanks for following!

Cows and Canoes!

What a busy last few days this has been! This past weekend (July 12th) was packed full of so many different activities it makes my head spin thinking about it! 

It all began with a trip into the south side of Sussex organized through the school with my fellow classmates. I think it was somewhere near where I went on the Seven Sisters hike (check it out below if you haven't already). We all got loaded up into this van and headed over to where the hike for the day was to start. The road there was so incredibly narrow and so full of trees that its a wonder that the van still has paint on it. The trees claw up all of the tall vehicles that go through there.

We finally got to the spot where we were to start our hike, the first step off the van and I was already avoiding cow pats (short for patties). We hiked through grasslands and thin forests, across rivers, and more cow pats than I have ever seen all at once. At the end of our short hike we all arrived at the base where we were to do the rest of the days adventures. 

 

There was so much to do and not nearly enough time so we all split into small groups and went through all of the different activities. My team started off with the canoes! About four of us in a canoes took a trip down the river.. trying to navigate at first wasn't so easy, and even towards the end we ran into some brush on the side of the water, which ended up being stinging nettle, which if you have ever touch you, you know that it is really really not pleasant.

This plant (which I don't have a picture of yet) when lightly brushed against your skin makes you feel like your hand is on fire while in a cactus.. yep definitely not fun. I had it on my hand and my arms which created welts and a burning sensation, but strangely enough after 30 minutes the pain and the welts were gone. There is a plant that grows next to it that allegedly when you rub it on the affected spot it heals you instantaneously, but most people aren't sure if this is actually a cure for the pain, or just a placebo effect.. still I wish I found some of those dock leaves!

After our canoe ride we took a lunch in the middle of the field, surrounded by cows, what do we eat? Hamburgers of course! homemade delicious hamburgers, the food they made on this trip was all specifically homemade to display the food culture, so even at lunch time I was learning about the things around me and more about England. The drink on the right is called Elderflower Cordial, it is made with these Elderflowers that only bloom in May. They pour hot water and sugar over them and add local berries as well as lemon. All of it is edible and very refreshing. I would compare it to the way you would drink a glass of lemonade on a hot day. It was the best thing to drink after that canoe ride. If you look closely at the plate of food on the let you will notice the orange flower next to the burger in the salad, I was really surprised how many flowers they actually consume.

 

 After lunch we went mountain biking! We ran through an obstacle course of forest, field, and of course more cow pats. Its harder than I expected it to be, mountain biking makes you focus so much on keeping balance because the ground is so uneven. One girl even flew over her handle bars!

 Then was story time! After all of that physical activity we were all ready for a nap, so we laid underneath a large tree and listened as this story teller told us of old myths and folktales from the area, we learned about ancient dragons, and lost lovers, when he wasn't telling us the stories he was playing the flute that only added to the deep relaxed feeling that comes from good story telling.

He even let me play the flute too!

 Finally our trip ended with some homemade chocolate cake and a local game of stool ball!

An English Fourth of July

Well I am finally catching my breath from all that school work I have been doing, and now I can write out how my past weekend went!

This past weekend was the Fourth of July, definitely one of the most non traditional Independence days that I have had, but very special and memorable nonetheless. I took the day to hike up the Seven Sisters cliffs in South Sussex with a large group of students also studying here. The cliffs are incredible to experience, its hard to fully express the awe you feel looking out and seeing something so iconic. When the world was shifting during the time the Sierras were formed the land around these cliffs was covered in water, and the land was pushed up into these cliffs. The white chalk you see is said to be from the bones of the animals that fell to the ocean floor when the water first took over the land. It is extremely delicate and erodes away all the time, so the cliffs are always kept white.

This ended up being about a 10 mile hike up and down each of the Seven Sisters cliffs. We had lunch on these beautiful pebble beaches (which really hurt to walk on barefoot) and then we all went back to school after the hike to celebrate Fourth of July. I have to say I really think we got a great celebration despite being away from home and celebrating in the county that we became independent from...

The rest of the weekend was still eventful because I decided to go and see London for the first time - I know, I have been here in England for 3 weeks and still hadn't seen it! But I got there and explored the worlds oldest museum, and I even met Cleopatra herself!

Mummies...

    And more mummies! 

... As you can see I really like Ancient Egypt :)

After checking out the Egyptian part I took many many photos of the rest of the museum, but like they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will just post them below!