Well, I guess it is called Study Abroad for a reason

City University College Building

So after 13 oh so not stressful days, I have officially completed my first week of school... on a Wednesday! Yes, I am that lucky bitch with no classes (or modules as they are called here) Thursday or Friday, a schedule a second semester senior could only dream of. Last Wednesday and Thursday marked our second orientation, this time with City University. Thankfully there was not too much to be learned here as well. We had a tour of the school and a history tour of the surrounding areas of Islington, Finsbury, and Clerkenwell. City has about 5 main buildings and they are all connected which is SO convenient for rainy or cold days. Its very weird how it seems the campus is so small, but there are 21,000 students. With few buildings and large class sizes, the classroom will always have at least 50 people. The one thing completely different from Bucknell? About 40% of students are international. It is definitely a unique environment.

Even though there are many similarities between the US and UK, there are quite a number of differences with the education system. For starters you are only in college for 3 years because they do not require you to take additional electives outside your course (what they call a major). All of your modules are within the course and their schedules are selected for them. Thankfully I had some freedom in selecting my modules. I am taking Personal Finance, International Business Environment, and Advanced Strategic Management (which actually goes towards my major at Bucknell!). The last two classes are only 2 credits each and they are Arts in London and History in London. For Arts in London, we will be learning about different plays, operas, and ballets within London and we will also be seeing 5 shows. I am most excited to see the new ballet Alice in Wonderland. For History in London, we meet at a different location each week for walks around and in the historic sights of London. Some of the places we will visit include. Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, and the British Museum.  As many know, I am not a history buff whatsoever. However, being able to experience the history first hand rather than from a text book will be much more interesting.

On top of the differences with classes, they way they are taught is much different. Classes meet once a week for about 2 hours and some meet for an additional hour for a tutorial. Here, they expect more reading outside of class and your mark (not called grades here)for the class is determined about 60-80% on your final and 20-40% on other work. That seems crazy but here, you earn marks starting at 0 rather than loose them from 100. A 70% here is actually an A on the US grading scale. Too bad it is not like that at home, otherwise I would have a 4.0. Only in my dreams I suppose.

Sorry this is boring. But I guess it is important as well.