First Prep Class

This evening was my first SA prep class! I have to admit that I’m really relieved that some of the other students seem as insanely excited as I am. I really think this trip is going to be fun and the girls, though I only met the ones around me briefly, seem really nice.

There was a lot of information given to us and there’s no way I’m going to copy it all down, but here’s a rundown of the basic topics we covered:

• Introductions.
• Basic program information (fees, basic what to bring, and what’s covered in our fees).
• Photo tour of the London center.
• Flight arrangements and travel to London.
• Handling money.
• What we need to do (assignments and such) for this prep class.
• Brief overview of dates and people in Roman and Anglo-Saxon England.
• Pilgrimages (what they are, mean to other people, and mean to us).

Between now and our departure there are a lot of things I need to get done, and I know I don’t know half of it yet. From today’s meeting, this is what I understand I need to get done probably a week or two before I leave:

• Notify my bank of travel plans.
• Get some cash in USD and some pounds (not a whole lot) before I leave the country.
• Get a credit card (other than Mastercard) to go along with my debit card.
• Get a plug adapter for my laptop.
• Reconfirm my tickets a day or two before.

Well, those are the basics of what was covered today. I’m still excited and actually can’t wait to start doing the reading homework for this class. I want to know as much about England as I can!

Here are some pictures of the London center (from the powerpoint they showed us today) so you can see where I'm going to be living!

This is what you see when you walk into the London center.



A sitting/study area to the right when you walk in.



More chairs! Aren't they lovely?



Lots of stairs. Thankfully I live south of campus, so I walk up 147 steps every day, almost always twice a day and sometimes three times. That's not counting the other stairs I walk up and down to get to my various classrooms. Yeah, I'm good with stairs.



This is THE classroom. I'm assuming there's only one, but it's apparently very high tech. So this is where I'll be having my classes.



Our laundry room. Yay! I'll be able to wash clothes!



The kitchen.



This is where we will have our meals.



A bedroom. Lot's of bunk beds, so we'll all kind of be on top of each other. No doubt we will get to know each other EXTREMELY well.



Another angle of the bedroom.



The bathroom.




So yeah, that's where I'll be living from June 23rd to August 10th, 2009! I'm super excited and can't wait to get to London!