Classes

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Well I have survived two weeks of classes at Royal Holloway! I really can't believe how quickly the time is flying by. The semester is only 10 weeks long and we're already onto week 3! I'm enjoying my classes here a lot but I'm finding the teaching style very different. Students are required to be very independent in their studies and there is not much assigned coursework. In fact, most of our grade rides on one final paper or examination at the end of the term. The professors give suggested reading, but it is up to us how much and what we read based on what we need for our final paper. The class style is also different than what I'm used to at Muhlenberg. We have a one hour lecture each week led by a member of the faculty. My lectures range in size from 25-50 people. Then we are broken up into seminar groups of 10-15 people who we meet with for an hour once a week. The seminars are led by tutors who are usually advanced degree students here at the university. In the seminars we are each required to do a presentation once a term and each week we discuss what we were taught in the lecture. So basically, if students are taking 3 or 4 courses, they will only have 6 or 8 hours of classroom time a week. At home, students take at least 4 courses that meet for at least 2.5 hours a week each and most students take additional courses so there is much more time in the classroom. I'm also surprised at how laidback things are here. The professors are referred to by their first name, and the faculty is generally young. The head of the Politics department, "Andy", is only in his mid thirties and comes to lecture wearing jeans. The seminar tutors are obviously very young also and quite casual. It's an interesting learning environment but I still can't get over not having to call a professor Doctor!

I am taking 3 courses here at Royal Holloway. At Muhlenberg I usually take 4 or 5, but a full course load is 3 units. Since I'll only be getting 3 Muhlenberg credits, I'll have to make up the extra credit sometime my senior year, but at RHUL it's difficult to take 4 for scheduling reasons. The classes fill up so quickly and often overlap. Something else different about classes in the UK is that you are usually only enrolled in one department, possibly two. At Muhlenberg, since we are getting a liberal arts education, we are required to take courses from various departments. Here that is impossible, so you have to know exactly what you want to study going in and only take courses in that department. Since I am majoring in Political Science at home, I'm enrolled in the Politics and International Relations Department as well as the Media Arts Department since I have a background studying communications at home and I wanted something to break up the monotony. They also offered a course in the Theatre Department specifically for Study Abroad students, even if they were already enrolled in other departments, but I had to drop this because of scheduling conflicts.

On Mondays, I am taking a Media Arts class called "Hollywood Star Performances". We are watching classic Hollywood films and analyzing them in our seminar. I haven't seen many early Hollywood films, but I'm really enjoying them. So far we've watched "Stage Door", "The Philadelphia Story", and "Stella Dallas". I've liked all of them and the professor gives a list of other related films, so I would like to watch a few of them also. In the Politics Department, I am taking International Relations Theory and Democracy in Britain. I don't have much background in international relations, and it is definitely eye opening studying in a different country. On the first day in my IR Theory class, we had to say why we took the class and I said I thought it would be interesting to study international relations from a perspective outside America. The tutor was glad to hear this, but said it was surprising to hear an American say that! There are people in my class from all around the world, so it's particularly interesting to hear their perspective on international and American politics.

I'm glad I'm taking the Democracy in Britain class, because what better to place to learn about British politics than right here in the UK? It's really interesting to see several similarities between the US and UK systems but at the same time it's so different - mainly the fact that the UK has a monarchy and a lack of checks and balances. It just seems like such an archaic system, to have one person with the power to change anything based solely on the fact of their bloodline. Also, it seems so strange that the Prime Minister is able to call elections whenever he chooses to, particularly if he needs party support, since there are no set elections. There was recently controversy over Gordon Brown's decision not to hold an election. When Tony Blair resigned in June, the title of Prime Minister was automatically given to Gordon Brown, who was Chancellor for Tony Blair. Many thought he should have called an election immediately, considering he was not even elected. Then there was much talk over whether he would call one for 2008, but after a drop in the Labour Party's poll numbers, he has decided not to hold an election. A parliamentary election must be held at least every 5 years, so one will have to be called by 2010.

In other news, I'm really enjoying my flat (luckily)! A lot of my friends hardly even talk to people in their flat, but we all eat together, go out together, and talk a lot. The other night, one of my flatmates from China was having a guy problem and needed girl talk so four of us were gossiping in the hall. It's funny how some topics transcend cultures! Unfortunately, I think the Fresher’s Flu has hit me. Apparently it's pretty common for all the first years to get sick a few weeks after Fresher’s Week and getting used to their new lifestyle! I better get some rest so it doesn't interfere with my upcoming exciting plans!

On a final note, just a reminder that if you're reading my blog, you can click "subscribe" below this entry to get each update e-mailed directly to you as soon as I publish it so you can stay on top of my adventures. I'll be updating again soon to talk about my weekend in London!

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