Week Two!

It's been a pretty good week, I must say. I've started my classes, met some new people, had a bit of fun. My study abroad adventure is finally starting to take off!

Courses here are very different from Whitman. For 18th Century Writing, I have a one hour lecture on Wednesday mornings in which no one - absolutely no one - talks except the professor. There's about 80 people in the lecture. The lecture is followed by a two hour seminar later in the week, with about 25 people, which is supposed to be discussion based. There were times at Whitman when I felt fifty minutes was definitely not enough time to cover all the material for the day, but oh boy is two hours just a little too much. I absolutely love the content, though. I'm very excited about everything we have to read, and I can feel my English Major-ness resurfacing.

My second course is currently Early English Drama, which is a THREE hours seminar once a week, no lecture. Surprisingly enough, that was more bearable. However, I'm trying to switch into a different course, possibly Children's Lit or Nonsense Writing (which both sound so much more fun, right?!). I'll let you know how that works out.

Creative Writing meets Wednesday...and then never again. I don't get it either. But I guess the module "aims to encourage independent and the initiation and development of new creative material in a way that provides a grounding in the disciplines necessary both for postgraduate research and the professional practice of writing." I have the options of composing a 60 page play, a 6000 word short story, or a collection of poems. I think, since I'm already working on some plays to submit for the One Acts, I'm going to try my hand at writing short stories again. I cannot tell you how excited I am for this.

Apart from starting classes, this week has been mostly about settling in. On the whole, I love the building I'm living in. Taking the bus to and from campus is becoming less and less of a hassle each time, and I like being right next to the city center. Everything's within walking distance. The other night I went to see Anna Karenina with some friends (yes, I have friends! also, it's a visually stunning film, go see it! when it's released in the states, I mean.), and I gave myself fifteen minutes to walk to the theatre because I didn't quite know where it was. It took me two. Ok, maybe three. But you see my point. And it's nice to not have to worry about taking the bus back to campus after I've been out really late.

Have I mentioned my jet lag has finally set in? I haven't been able to go to bed before 3am all week. Except Tuesday night, because I needed to wake up at 7. So I went to bed at 1:30. So good at sleeping.

Anyway, here are some photos of Mary Chapman.

My camera decided to focus on the raindrops instead of the building.

Courtyard in the rain!

Courtyard in the sun!

Aaaaaand, some pictures of Norwich. I haven't taken many pictures yet, but I'm hoping to explore the city a bit on Monday and Tuesday (because I don't have class yay!) and go picture crazy.

The Castle! On a sunny day, so I figured I'd better take advantage of it. 

A building next to Tesco...I'll walk by it tomorrow and see what it's actually called...

Other things that happened this week:
1. I finally did laundry! About 85% of the clothing I brought with me is currently strewn about my room air-drying. But at least it is clean!
2. Ended up in a group photo at this club called Tau. Of people I did not know at all. If I ever find the photo, I'm posting it, because I'm sure it is great.
3. Figured out it takes approximately 35 minutes to get from campus to the train station. So I can officially book my train ticket to London for 4pm October 12!!

I'm not entirely sure the best way to end these posts. Thanks for reading? Have a good day?

Eh. I'll figure it out eventually.