An Academic Adventure (quite literally)

The morning of my first day of classes began on 25 January, 2010, at sunrise. My alarm started blaring "A Beautiful Day" (again) and (again), much to my dismay, the weather was rather bleak. A quick look at my schedule confirmed that my first class would indeed be Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Score!

It was set to start at 9:00 AM and since the walk to Regent’s can be completed in less than 20 minutes (depending on your definition of “power walking”), I figured leaving plenty of time to spare would keep my stress level nice and low for the first day.

My initial fears (of course) were a bit overdramatic as we arrived with enough time to grab a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast (with Nutella), cereal and a coffee. Delicious.

What my OCD tendencies didn’t plan for was the wild goose chase that would soon follow. Although my schedule (or timetable) said that I had “Intro to Cultural Anthropology,” it failed to include the location of said class. This was a problem as I had already burned through most of my free time stuffing my face with a delicious breakfast.

With ten minutes until class, I was forced to stop by the Registrar, wait in line, be told I needed to logon to the computers in the basement (which I had no clue how to do), print my timetable (which is a process in itself), look up the location, hope that it hadn’t been changed, run up to (what hopefully) is the correct room, and not be late. Tall order? I managed to sneak in right behind the professor (who was five minutes late). Brilliant! A happy ending? Yes..Bad planning on my part? Maybe...lol

I went into cult anso with an open mind thinking that it (being a cultural anthropology class) would be comprised of people from many different parts of the world. The fancy pie charts, graphs, and videos Regent’s College shows off to prospective students illustrate a utopian oasis saturated with a highly diverse student body, situated in the greatest, greenest, most extravagant park in London. Unfortunately, they fail to mention that Regent’s American College London (under the Regent’s College umbrella name where I am studying) hosts hundreds of American students ALSO looking for the same experience. What does this equal? A class is comprised of 22 students from the U.S., one from Malawi and one from China. A bit of a downer? Sort of…

I’ve since gotten over the stark realization that Regent’s American College is just that… American.

With that said, all of my classes seem like they will be both interesting and relatively easy. Despite the large majority of Americans, some of my classes have more than others, it isn't a total American invasion.

After taking a good look at my schedule (see below), I’m not worried about a lack of free time. 15 hours will be manageable.

My class schedule:

Monday
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Intro to Cultural Anthropology

Tuesday
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Management Theory and Practice
11:00 AM – 12:20 PM Business Ethics
02:00 PM – 3:30 PM Classical Music in London

Wednesday
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Intro to Cultural Anthropology
06:00 PM – 09:00 PM Business Law

Thursday
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Management Theory and Practice
11:00 AM – 12:20 PM Business Ethics
02:00 PM – 3:30 PM Classical Music in London

Friday
NO CLASSES!!