January 11: A Full Day of Class

          Well, it’s 1.11.11. Nothing terribly exciting occurred today, but it’s a neat date. I got up early, because I had 2 classes today. The first, at 9:30am, was “Contemporary Britain.” This seems like it will be an interesting class. The professor is sort of the stereotypical quirky middle-aged Brit. He’s got lots of strange little mannerisms, but seems intelligent. He didn’t want to jump straight into the subject matter, so he spent about an hour introducing himself, then an hour chatting, then an hour going over the syllabus and chatting more. He’s a true Londoner, hearing him talk about himself was interesting, and highlighted some cultural differences that I hadn’t really paid too much attention to before. For example, he’s never driven a car in his life, or ever really wanted to. I suppose with public transport it’s not necessary, but I guess I took for granted that someone who likes to travel, as he does, would want to be able to drive himself and his family on “holiday” (as they call it here), especially when he told us that he has a phobia of flying. He says he’s forcibly breaking himself of his fear, but I can’t help but wonder how he’s managed to travel so extensively around Europe without using either car or plane. Apparently trains and cabs are sufficient. One of his little quirks is stopping halfway through a comment and staring into space for 20 or 30 seconds, putting on a thoughtful face, and eventually resuming. I know he has claim to the 3 full hours of class time, but I couldn’t help but fidget since I really wanted to get home for lunch, and I hate wasting time. Anyway, he’s very interested in studying “popular culture,” like music and fashion and such, so it should be a very good class.

            After lunch, my museums class began. This one should be fun, since it should involve a lot of field trips. I’ll be starting a mandatory blog to record everything, which may be a nice way to remember all my visits. The professor is a graphic design guy, and very into things like how a museum presents the information about the pieces, or how the museum brands itself through logos and icons and such. He had us watch a documentary about the creation, history, and use of the font “Helvetica,” which I found quite interesting. It’s something I’ve only ever thought about in passing, but the font is used everywhere. It’s really become a sort of neutral default for advertising. I’m looking forward to this class.

            I went to Waitrose grocery store to pick up what I needed to make supper: frozen haddock, frozen beans, pepper, and a lemon. I poached the fish, and it was delicious. I will get a lot of meals out of the frozen fish, too, since it came in quite a large box. I spent the evening chatting with my new friends and drinking Twining’s peppermint tea, which I swear seems far less potent than in the States.