Blog Entry for July 9th by Chris and Anthony

            Today was a day of many firsts; our first day of class, our first major assignment, and sadly our first full day of rain. We have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves greatly in days previous, visiting a plethora of historic and fabled sights such as Stonehenge and Trafalgar Square, but today we were in the classroom. Although our fifth day on this amazing trip has lapsed, we feel as if we are forming close and worthwhile bonds with our peers. Unfortunately, the unsavory effects of air travel have not been eradicated completely. Our minds and sleep schedules have almost adapted to the time difference but sadly our appetites have not. In fact, a number of our peers still find ourselves famished in the early hours of the morning as we feel too full to eat during meal times.

         
             In the classroom, we dove headfirst into Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal and participated in an engaging discussion on Swift’s satirical, yet honest piece of work. It was darkly humorous as Swift proposed that since the conditions of Ireland were so poor during the 18th century, that people should resort to eating babies as a solution to be problems of famine, abortion and horrid living conditions. We also discussed the role of religion in political affairs because the Modest Proposal emphasizes the role of religion in the social order and administration of society in 18th century Ireland. During this class, we received our first major assessment of this course. We are to create our own “Modest Proposal” for a current issue that plagues our society today.

              Given the fact that we had a great amount of work to do today, many of us stayed within the confines of our residence hall during the course of our free time to work on our assignment and on assignments future. We were students on a mission to create a thought-provoking proposal.

               By the time we had tackled a large portion of the assignment, it was already dinner time. This may be up for debate, but this was probably the best dinner that we have had thus far. After dinner I (Chris) was surprised with a lovely slice of chocolate cake as I turned 17 today. Spending your birthday in a foreign country is really quite surreal, especially when surrounded by so many familiar faces from home and with new friends that have quickly become like family.

              When we got back to the residence, we bonded as a group with a gigantic card game marathon. A whole bunch of us went to the basement kitchen, which has become our de facto hang out area, and reflected on our day whilst enjoying a nice game of Signal.

             We still find it hard to believe that in just five short days, we have made so many wonderful friends. We look forward to the prospect of spending the next three weeks with these amazing individuals! Tomorrow will bring a full day of excitement as we will be visiting the Tower of London, taking a boat cruise on the Thames River as well as taking a ride on the iconic London Eye. We all hope to get a gorgeous panoramic view of the breathtaking city on the Eye. All of us feel that it is an absolute privilege to be on this trip and we are savouring every moment of it and looking forward to the days that will come. 

- Chris and Anthony

PS: We are all getting the hang of the tube now and we are navigating our way around the city like professionals!