First Week of Classes Update.

Well technically its been over a week now lol but I finally got some time to write on here. My first week of classes was quite good. I had one class per day last week since my seminars that go with each of my three classes will not start till this Thursday. I am really enjoying the subject matter we are going over in each of the classes, which range from human evolution to Roman history.  The classes themselves are in large lecture theaters with about 80 students in them. The lectures also have a seminar that go along with them. The seminars are broken down into small groups of 5 - 12 students. In the seminar groups we  have a round table style debate/discussion on a given issue presented each week. The class time is very short compared to Old Dominion's lectures due to the British way of studying which is based on the idea that the student should do more self study on the subject. As far as graded work is concerned  students are required to do one research paper and in January they do a written exam  to get their final mark for the module (class). Because I am a study abroad student I have to leave in the middle of December to go back home. As a result I have to do an extra essay for each class. The essays themselves are not to long in length with the longest one being of 2,500 words and the shortest being 1,500. So for the next month or so I will be doing quite a bit of research for my papers so  I can continue to travel around :D. The good news about classes here in the UK we do not need to buy many textbooks. Most texts we need are in the library to use. Unfortunately however I had to buy two books for two of my classes due to the library not having them. Not too big of a deal since they only cost me a combined $80.  In my next post I will be listing out my travel plans for the remainder of my stay. More trips could be planned depending on my monetary situation after my core trips are finished but I can not be for certain Till then cheers!

Campus Pics!

Hola people! Tonight I decided to post some pictures of the campus of Leicester as well give a little brief about what it is like being on said campus. To begin the campus in size is a little bit smaller than Old Dominion Uni but has about the same number of buildings for academics. So getting from one building to another is very quick and efficient. For my classes I only have to run through three buildings during the week. One is the Archaeology & Ancient History building, the second is the Chemistry building, and lastly I have to go to the Law building. Quite a random jump of buildings just for lectures in Archaeology and Ancient History eh? But what can you do lol. The pics below will show many parts of campus including the buildings I am in. Also I added in some comments below the pictures of anything of note. So enjoy and I shall talk to you all soon.

Cheers -

The first two pictures above show just some of the many landscaping work they incorporate into the uni. 

This is the Archaeology and Ancient History Building.

This is Victoria Park, me and my friends go play soccer (football) when the weather permits. This park is enormous in size I was quite amazed when I first came to it.

Here is the Library. I like to call this my second home cause I am always here doing readings for my classes.

The tall cheese grater building in the back and the building on the left is the Attenborough building. There is no working elevator in that building so I love climbing 17 stories lol. 

Awww yes the Student Union building. This place is equivalent to the Webb at Old Dirty. However I think this building is way better than the Webb due to the fact that the entire building was just renovated so its awesome inside. It has a great restaurant, a Starbucks, several student shops, the student council is in there as well. Oh and did I mention there is a bar and nightclub downstairs! :P

The building to the left is the chem. building but I did not get a picture of it sadly. The building in the way back is the Geology building.

The building on the left is the main administrative building for the uni and the one on the right is the Economics building. If you keep following the road down toward the end and cut a right the gym is there.

That building is the CW building I really just like going in there for lunch from one of three places in there. The prices are quite cheap ( daily special is only 2 quid) 

 

Lastly we have the bus stop everyday in the afternoon this place is packed and when we are on the bus it feels like being in a sardine can.

Leicester Market

Hello there! I was reviewing my posts I have been making and I have found an error in one of them. I forgot to post pictures of the Leicester Market! I found this place quite awesome to say the least. It is apparently the largest covered market in England. The market sells quite a wide variety of products ranging from common fruits and veggies to the more exotic ingredients. In my opinion the market sells the freshest produce around. It even beats the grocery store's own stock. My favorite part however is the price. For a single pound you can get a whole basket of bananas, peaches, plums, apples, or several other types of produce. That is simply brilliant! You get so much in one basket it is not even funny. Well without further ado here are a couple of pics of said market.

Enjoy :)

The British Museum

Here are my awesome pictures of my time in the British Museum. I only had about 2.5 hours to spend here before having to go to dinner but I got quite a lot of cool stuff. I was so happy to finally be able to see the Rosetta Stone and the friezes from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Those two would definitely be crowning jewels of my time here. Although I also got awesome shots of various Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, and many other ancient items from various civilizations of the world. I hope you all enjoy. If you want to know what certain pieces are from I will try to answer them to the best of my abilities.

Cheers