Life in England, Week 3

After a fun week in Amsterdam, I have come back to another tough week of school.  My first round of quizzes was this week, and I think I did pretty well!  However, with another British Studies quiz, British Studies test, and my individual presentation for British Studies being within eight days of each other, and having to keep up on current events to write my weekly paper for Sociology of Crime and Deviance, I truly have my work cut out for me.  I have been working hard, and I have become a regular at the library, which fortunately is the warmest place in the chilly manor.  While I have been busy with my studies, I have also begun planning a couple more trips (one to Ireland and one to Barcelona) and have partaken in a few school activities.

First Poem Read by a Local in Scottish Attire

This Tuesday, we had our first SGA (Student Government Association) activity.  It was called “Burns Night” and was a traditional commemorative night for a Scottish poet named Robert Burns.  We were all allowed to have a small sample of “whiskey punch” and haggis, which essentially tastes like stuffing, but has minced lamb parts in it.  It was actually very tasty (especially since it had onions in it)!  During choir, we had learned a few songs written by Burns and sang them, and many people went up, attempted a Scottish accent, and read some of his poems.  Later that same evening, Justin and I also lead our first organized Christian Fellowship session that we are now calling “BASIC” (Brothers and Sisters in Christ).  We had a guitarist who led us in the music, and Ellyn and I led the singing (which was interesting for me because I didn’t know any of the songs)!  Justin was our speaker for the night, and we read some scripture and set the tone of the semester of “getting back to the basics” in our faith. 

Choir Singing at Burn's Night

This morning, I had another very interesting experience in class.  The history class I am taking is called “The Cultural History of Alcohol” and is commonly referred to as “the beer class” here.  In class today, we actually made beer and cider.  While we did use a kit, making it was a very simplified project, it was still a very interesting experience.  We had to learn how to sanitize all of the equipment and when to add the right ingredients.  It is supposed to take approximately a week to ferment, so next week we will be sampling what we made.  Hopefully it isn’t too horrible.  One of his previous classes won an award with a beer-making competition, so hopefully I guess it should at least be drinkable...  

Tonight, we have the meet a family reception where I will actually meet my host family for the semester.  My friend Shelby and I have been paired with the Twycross family!  We are excited to meet them! I will be spending the rest of the weekend visiting Scotland with the cross country girls and some of the Western Kentucky students.  Look for a post next week on it!