Unravelling Britain

One of my favorite classes (out of the four that I am taking) is named: Unravelling Britain: British History Since 1801.  Overlooking the intimidating vastness of the title when I selected this course, I was extremely excited to learn a little more about this place that I am calling home for just over three months.  And so far, it has not been a disappointment.  From the power points to the seminar discussions, I am always enthralled.  Now despite how nerdy that made me sound, I am always amazed by how much “stuff” I do not know about when I am listening in class.  From characters like Sir Robert Peele to details about the Indian Mutiny.  I feel so much more enlightened by learning about the places around me and why they are important.  It’s almost as if my class is a big quick tour guide to the United Kingdom and when I go adventuring out into the city I get to apply that new knowledge.  It is one thing to go visit places like Westminster Abbey and listen to the audio guide tell the major key facts, but it’s another to learn a bit of its connecting history from a British professor who mentions facts that I would never learn from the audio guide.  However, not every lecture is fun and dandy, there are days where I feel extremely left out because I did not grow up learning the ins and outs of British history like some of my fellow classmates.  Obscure references and British humor is often lost on my friend Lindsey (also an American) and me, although, we have gotten significantly better at knowing when to laugh at a “funny” British joke!  The lead professor (we have multiple lecturers over the semester) is also my seminar leader; his name is Dr. Robert Saunders.  He is an amazing lecturer and I admire his ability to not make the associate students feel left out.  There are five Americans out of thirteen students in our seminar group, so he will try to make a comparison or analogies that relate to the U.S. to encourage us to contribute.  What I find the most fascinating from this class is how my knowledge of American history during certain time periods overlaps with the British history.  I hope to continue to learn about the Victorian era and the British empire in a way that heightens my “tourism” here in London to beyond just a typical experience.