Today was our last day of volunteering. Unfortunately, since the end of term is near, the teachers were busy wrapping up and we weren’t able to talk to any of them. However, we were able to see Sonny and Liam one last time which was really nice, and we were also able to sit in on a PSE class (Personal and Social Education I believe.) It was interesting – today’s lesson was on netiquette – it was interesting to see that being taught in a more formal environment – I never had a formal class lesson with that. They were also watching the show “Being Victor” – produced by MTV, it’s a bit like a sitcom meets a soap meets Skins (though I’ve never seen Skins, so I’m not entirely sure) – but it deals with online etiquette, sex and drugs, and other things of that sort. Also interesting was that it was a class with some of the more troubled kids in the year – the teaching style and way the class behaved was much different than how my classes were – it was interesting to see this from a new perspective. Though we were able to speak to the kids and they asked us some questions – it was quiet for the first time in the period! We left shortly after that – much thanks to Ms. Oliver and the Oasis Academy for hosting us, I had a great time, and it opened up new ways of looking at education for me.
This afternoon, we came back for lunch. There was no hot food, but there was salad, which we ate. We came back and had a couple hours, I took a short nap – I was quite tired today, even though I bought a tea at the East Croydon train station. In the afternoon, we had our packed dinners brought to us – various salads (again) with paper bags with the crisps and biscuits and fruit. Adam and I went with the tuna salad. We all got dressed in our best clothes too – me in my new ASDA shoes – for a Fulbright Reception tonight.
The reception was at the Reform Club in London. It’s a gentlemen’s club, and apparently it’s quite hard to get into the building. It was a very nice building – lots of gold plating, I suppose the ideal version of “British posh.” The clubhouse has a dresscode (jacket at all times, things like that), and yes, it’s hard to get into – apparently it’s the same place where Around the World in 80 Days is based from! It was nice to be there though. The Fulbright people were there, and Gary and Emma went with us. We heard the American Ambassador speak, as well as a former Fulbright Commissioner, and the Minister of Higher Education. There was a lot of mingling – along with wine, soft drinks, and many hour devours – the chicken kebabs and fried mushroom cakes were quite good! We met a lot of new people – a Fulbright Scholar from Chicago, the Minister, a journalist, Fulbright interns, our British Fulbright Summer Institute counterparts, a woman who works at Southampton, and a very talkative and fun Fulbright Scholar from Philadelphia.
This afternoon, we came back for lunch. There was no hot food, but there was salad, which we ate. We came back and had a couple hours, I took a short nap – I was quite tired today, even though I bought a tea at the East Croydon train station. In the afternoon, we had our packed dinners brought to us – various salads (again) with paper bags with the crisps and biscuits and fruit. Adam and I went with the tuna salad. We all got dressed in our best clothes too – me in my new ASDA shoes – for a Fulbright Reception tonight.
The reception was at the Reform Club in London. It’s a gentlemen’s club, and apparently it’s quite hard to get into the building. It was a very nice building – lots of gold plating, I suppose the ideal version of “British posh.” The clubhouse has a dresscode (jacket at all times, things like that), and yes, it’s hard to get into – apparently it’s the same place where Around the World in 80 Days is based from! It was nice to be there though. The Fulbright people were there, and Gary and Emma went with us. We heard the American Ambassador speak, as well as a former Fulbright Commissioner, and the Minister of Higher Education. There was a lot of mingling – along with wine, soft drinks, and many hour devours – the chicken kebabs and fried mushroom cakes were quite good! We met a lot of new people – a Fulbright Scholar from Chicago, the Minister, a journalist, Fulbright interns, our British Fulbright Summer Institute counterparts, a woman who works at Southampton, and a very talkative and fun Fulbright Scholar from Philadelphia.
All of us in our "lounge suite" dress at the reception
Afterwards, Gary took us to a sports bar – drinks, and nachos and curly fries! (Or curled chips? And chips with cheese.) That was cool. I came back with Kelsey and Nicole, others came back a little while later. Tomorrow will be pretty much devoted to working on our films!
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