And just like that half of the semester is gone. In this post I want to talk about the differences I have encountered both academically and socially between QMUL and Rollins.
NO MIDTERMS. You heard me! I am currently attending four different modules and none of them gave me a midterm. I did have one presentation due this past week but it didn’t count towards my final grade so it was just a mock presentation before the actual one takes place at the end of the semester. Now this might sound like heaven to some but the challenge here is different. Since the only part of the class that counts towards your grade is the final exam, you have to be very up to date with all the information that you are given throughout the entire semester. There is no such thing as “covering only the last part of the semester” in your final. That exam will be long!
NO FALL BREAK OR THANKSGIVING. But we do have reading week, which in fact will be this following week (Nov/04-Nov/08). The beauty about Europe is that you can travel to many countries since they are so close and the tickets are cheap. This week I have the opportunity to travel to Barcelona (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), and Cork (Ireland). I am exited to tell you about these experiences in my following blog post which I will be writing soon!
ABROAD FROM ABROAD. As I mentioned in my first blog post I am originally from Guatemala. I live there and I am an abroad student at Rollins. This allowed me to immerse myself in the American culture and I was able to meet a lot of Americans because of this. QMUL is different. I can’t say I have met a lot of English because the University is mainly comprised of international students. This means that other nationalities are represented in a greater amount than the English nationality itself. I have had the chance to make friends from Italy, Syria, Ukraine, Spain, and many other countries. It’s actually very curious when I realize that I don’t have a single English friend (because they are lacking!!)
Well these are my insights now that half of the semester in this beautiful city has gone by. I really hope I can get to meet these other countries and also learn more about the London culture in the following month!