Orientation in London

When I first arrived in England, I started with a 3 day orientation in London. We had this orientation to help us get over the intial jetlag, introduce us to some parts of culture shock we might experience, make sure that all details were set for our universities, and have a little fun in London.

During the days we had seminars; some were interesting while others could have put me to sleep. Of the more interesting ones was when we learned about all of the names for the part of Europe we are in: United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, etc. I thought that by the end of it I had understood all of the names, but now as I type this blog I realized that I am just as confused as before.

Another interesting part of the orientation was a panel made up of 2 Members of Parliament (the first woman of color to be a MP and a catholic man) and 1 Member of the House of Lords. I mention that one of the MPs was Catholic because many of his positions were influenced by his relgion which is quite different from the Church of England. They answered questions and discussed their postions on many topics: Gay Unions, Abortions, the Palestine/Israel Conflict, and American Politics.

Also later that afternoon we went on a tour of the East End of London (look to my next post for more details).

But my favorite part of our time in London was seeing Billy Elliot the Musical. It was a great way to experience modern and past British Culture. The musical was a great story, with amazing singers, and an awsome soundtrack (I bought it after the show).

After orientation was over I was so excited to get to Brighton. There are 4 of us that came to the University of Sussex through Arcadia: Me, Sara, Lavinia, and Pelham. It was so nice coming down here with at least a little core group of friends (plus it made the train ride more fun). After 3 days of orientation, 2 train rides, and 1 mini-bus trip to campus, I WAS FINALLY HERE!!


-Cam

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language."
~George Bernard Shaw