Winton Primary School

Hello everyone! I'm having a great week, and I hope you're doing the same! Monday was my first day in my education practicum here in London. I have been placed at Winton Primary School, in the Emerald room for third and fourth years. My cooperating teacher is very nice, and she's actually an American from Florida. She graduated from college, moved over here, met an Englishman, and is now pregnant with five years of teaching behind her! The class is extremely diverse, and I had so much fun learning to pronounce each person's name. There is a lot of middle eastern influence in the school, and many religions are represented in the student body. Through our education seminar, we (teaching fellows) have been learning about how the UK curriculum is different from the typical US curriculum, and mandatory religious education in English schools is definitely one of these differences. I'm excited to observe and get to know all my students and interact with them for at least five more full school days.

Please don't hesitate to ask any questions about what I'm going to be doing at Winton, and please visit their website www.wintonprimaryschool.com.

This week I have also become a member of the Westminster Libraries, and I have my own library card and everything. After working in a library for a full year and a half, it was fun to go to one here, and I plan on visiting it often!

I hope everyone has a great end to their week, and I will be posting again soon!

More Pictures!

Here is the third installment of pictures. It's a random bunch of things that I've been doing the past two weeks, and there a few of the inside of my flat. I really hope the link works this time!

London Pictures #2

Hello everyone, I hope you all have had a great week! It's been a good one for me, and I am still very much enjoying my classes. Yesterday my art class visited an area of the National Gallery, and our teacher knows an incredible amount about early Christian art. I am quite sure that she is a Christian, and it's great to have an art professor who recognizes and discusses the countless spiritual allusions represented in ancient art.

Today I journeyed from my flat to the British Museum. It was about an hour walk through crowded and noisy streets, but it was exciting to find something on my own and go on my first adventure around the city. I walked around the museum for a while for a class project, and then spent a little time in the National Gallery for another class assignment. It was a really great afternoon, out by myself. Tomorrow a group of us are going to the Tower of London, and a close friend is celebrating her birthday weekend with Phantom of the Opera, and I think I will be going with her! I'm looking forward to this weekend, and I hope you all have a great one, too!

Weekend Update

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great Valentine's day and are having a great weekend. Just a brief update on my activities this week. All my classes are great, and our group is coming up with plenty to do around the city. Yesterday, a friend and I walked around Picadilly Circus for some shopping and a few of us saw Les Miserables last night. It's probably one of the coolest things I've been able to do yet. Today some friends and I explored a couple of the markets around the city, and tomorrow we're going to visit Harrod's and go back to Holy Trinity Brompton for church. I'm still having a great time and I appreciate your thoughts and prayers!

Packages

Yet another post...but this one is important. If any of you are interested in sending a package (under no obligation), it must be marked "used goods" so it won't be opened or confiscated. I'm not exactly sure the reason for this, but please keeep this in mind! Thanks!

Stonehenge, Bath, and Classes

Okay! Here are the pictures for Stonehenge and Bath! Let me know if you ever have trouble with these links or if you have questions about any of the pictures.


Stonehenge and Bath Pictures

I started classes today and I'm very excited about the opportunities and professors that I have. My first is a global studies course with a professor from Elon. We are studying identity through cultures and the class in groups will do a project about a people group in London. My second class today was a theater course in which we will see plays almost every Monday night and come in to discuss them on Tuesdays in class. We are going to see plays like Wicked, Much Ado About Nothing, and Speed the Plow (with Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum). I will have my third class tomorrow; it's similar to the theater one except we will be learning about various art works and visit them in galleries around the city. I am very excited that I have these courses available to me!

I hope everyone is doing well back in the United States. Please feel free to get in touch with me!

Pictures!!

Hi everyone! I was finally able to upload some pictures, but I hope to have some more sometime soon. Tomorrow is the first day of classes, and I've had a great time site-seeing so far. This morning, I went to a French Impressionist museum with a few friends, and I went to a student travel agent this afternoon! Yesterday was Chinese New Year, and a big group of us went to the parade and festivities on Trafalgar Square.

A few friends and I also found a great church that was recommended to us called Holy Trinity Brompton. If any of you have ever heard of the Alpha Course, the creator Nicky Gumbel is the head vicar there. The worship was amazing, and it was indescribable to be standing in the cathedral-like building singing modern (and familiar!) worhip songs with people from London and around the world.

Here is the first group of pictures, and I also have an album from our Stonehenge and Bath trip that I will post soon. I hope this link works for all of you!

London Pictures #1

It's Going Well!

Hi everyone, I'm sorry about the delay of pictures and details, but I had a technology malfunction and cannot transfer pictures until it is resolved. I promise that I'm taking pictures, and I will hopefully be able to upload them soon.

The neighborhood is very nice and quiet, and the buildings are beautiful. The flat is tiny, but comfortable, and all my flatmates and I were good friends even before the trip. There is a grocery store about 2 minutes in one direction, and a tube stop and post office just as close in the other direction (and there are pubs in every direction!). This week we've done most of the tourist-y things, and tomorrow is a trip into the countryside to see Stonehenge and the city of Bath.

I am having a great time here, and I hope everyone at home is enjoying your very fine weather! It's been nice here, too!

Please let me know if you have any questions that you want me to answer, and please feel free to email me at csmith42@elon.edu!

I'm here!

Hi everyone! Our plane safely landed at about 7am this morning, London time (at 2am for you all on the east coast) and we arrived at the flats at about 10 or 10:30am. I am pretty tired, but really excited to be here! More to come on my neighborhood and daily schedule...