Coursework, travel plans

I figured I would post an update since I got my first coursework assignment back today. I should preface this by saying that everyone says grades in Britain are generally lower because the grading process is done by adding points to 0 rather than subtracting points from 100, so anything above a 60 is considered to be pretty good.

For both my Labour and Environmental Economics courses, we are required to submit at least 2 pieces of coursework to be graded. The coursework does not count toward our final grade (which is 100& examination), but completing it allows us to sit the exam. I decided to submit coursework for Environmental last week, and I got it back in my tutorial yesterday and I got a 90 with the comment "very good"! It's too bad that the 90 doesn't go toward my final grade, but it's still exciting nonetheless since everyone told me that no one gets 90s.

On a similar note, my European Macro teacher approached me on Monday to tell me that I will not have to have an exam for the class. Instead, he is going to take my second submitted coursework and use that for my final grade. I believe his exact words were "I don't want to freak you out with an exam, so you can use your book and notes and stuff to do this coursework." I wish my other Economics teachers had the same attitude!

This is a completely random note, but I have discovered the wonders of Caffe Nero over here. It's a coffee place that's just as big as Starbucks (in other words, there is one every few blocks. In fact, Tottenham Court Road goes something like this: Caffe Nero. Boots. Starbucks. Tesco. Caffe Nero. Starbucks. ATM. Tesco. Boots. ATM. Caffe Nero. You get the idea) it's a wee bit expensive, but it's my coffee of choice when I'm not on campus at UCL. Apparently it was voted #1 coffee house in the UK for the 6th year in a row now.

As far as traveling, I'm not doing nearly as many big things as some other people here (lots of people have already been to Scotland, Ireland, Amsterdam, Italy, etc.) because traveling is just so expensive. But, I do have a few trips planned. This Saturday I'm going to Stratford-upon-Avon for the day which I'm really excited about. The weekend after, I'm going to visit Johnny at Cambridge. Although I've been there before, I think I'll appreciate it a lot more this time. The week after that is my reading week (no lectures or classes) so I'm spending half of it in Cardiff, Wales with my friend Kate. It's only a 10 pound bus ride, so we're going to stay in a nice B&B rather than a hostel. It should be really relaxing. The following weekend, my dad comes to visit and I'm going to see my family in Kent. That Saturday is also the Butler trip to Canterbury and Hever Castle, which are conveniently also in Kent. The weekend after that I'm going to Paris with Sam, and on December 8th I'll be going on the Butler trip to Bath. So, most of my trips are trips around the UK, but that's fine with me--I did come to study in London because I wanted to be in the UK!

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get as much work done as possible in these next two weeks. I'm sad that I can't watch the Red Sox in the world series! The games all start around 1:30am here, so there's no way any place would be playing it. I met some English students the other night who were actually really into American football--one of them was a big Patriots fan who absolutely loves Tom Brady and Randy Moss. I asked them about baseball and apparently no one likes baseball here--they think it is too slow, but they love football! I guess that makes sense, because rugby is very similar to football.

Not much else is new. It is getting VERY cold here--in the mornings it's usually around 40 degrees. Luckily, it hardly rains! I think it rains more in New London than it does here. Watch, I probably just jinxed it.

I plan to take some pictures of UCL itself soon (I realized that there is so much beautiful architecture on UCL's campus and I haven't taken any pictures of it!) so check my picture site sometime soon!