Tuesday we had a lecture on the history of RE in England (remember, it's in both public and church schools here...so there's a lot to digest). The night was followed by some Mad Men and a written reflection on what Religious Education should mean...typical first week of course stuff.
Wednesday we were given our first group assignment - creating a dynamic wall display. My group's topic was the difference between Aristotle and Plato's concepts of the body and soul aimed toward a class f 18 year olds. So I went to work creating a chariot out of tin foil to put on the board (Plato believed that the mind's goal was to create harmony as a charioteer commanding two horses - one the virtuous soul, and the other the tempestuous body)....we're also sticking an axe on there (as Aristotle believed that the body and soul were one, and dependent on each other for their livelihood - as an axe without the act of chopping is not an axe). That took the day, and then it rained. A lot. For the rest of the day - and such, I cocooned myself in my room (real wild child I am, aren't I?)
Thursday:
Class started at 1, and it was Professional Development Studies day (meaning that all the PGCE Secondary students, regardless of subject, attend). They, however, did not plan this well as the room sat 200 and at least 250 showed up, leaving the aisles to be cluttered with human bodies, and my body temperature to rise quite a bit. We spent an hour talking about the four different ways of learning based on piaget, vygotsky, pavlov, and cultural models...and then an hour later, I ventured forth into town to purchase a printer. It took me a good hour to find a store that would sell a printer...and then another 30 minutes to find a second that would sell me one at a reasonable price. I lagged the printer a good 40 minutes home, set it up, only to discover it's sold without the usb cable you need to use it- great. I sense an angry letter to the company coming on - I mean, you think they'd at least post that information somewhere on the box instead of letting it be some kind of cruel surprise. So now, in addition to picking up groceries on Monday, I've also got to find some sort of computer store...again. The good news is, that despite the novelty of different brand names, I have no desire to purchase anything..except for groceries that is. This is good on my budget- but bad on my lack of things to do. Soon enough, I'm sure the work will start to accumulate though, and I'll be doing much more than aimlessly walking about, waiting for a pub social or another episode of Entourage.
Friday:
Today, we are putting up the wall display...all day while Matt celebrates his birthday at home. Afterward, I'm having my first English adventure wherein I attempt to catch a train to visit my friends Matt and Megs for an authentic Thanksgiving dinner in Plymouth the other 'major' (and I use the term loosely) city in Devon (the farm area I live in). It's about an hour away and I'm very excited for the change of scenery.
So that keeps you up to date I guess. I've been asked to attend a symposium of sorts in order to talk about my feelings toward the RE program with a board of some sort, and was sought out as I am international student. My fridge has frozen all the food I have in it...but I did manage to use the oven this week- a major accomplishment! (especially considering it doesn't work like the ones back home). I'm getting a little fed up with rain, but for some reason no allergies thus far so perhaps it's a trade off.
I promise to attempt to live a much more exciting life soon to report, in the meantime, wishing everyone a very happy weekend full of family, friends, memories, and moments of gratitude!
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