Being abroad does not improve Mondays.

So...

England doesn't make Mondays any better. Mondays are still crap. 

I'm very tempted to just say, "That's it. That's the blog post for today." I guess I'll be a good person and writer and actually describe my day...though compared to my weekend, it was extremely boring. 

We started off the day with a quick briefing about what was going to be happening this week. Lyndon, the program manager, also decided it would be a great idea to remind us that this is our last week. Not a good idea, Lyndon. We're all going to cry - none of us are ready to leave, even those of us continuing on abroad somewhere else! 

Classes started as usual for each pathway after that initial presentation. Our morning lecture was taught by Dr. Ed Paleit, who was lecturing on Shakespeare's classicism. The talk itself was engaging, but I kept getting distracted by the way he spoke - he often stopped for long pauses at odd times or would close his eyes and gesticulate while speaking. Honestly, it kind of looked like this:

Sorry Dr. Ed, not to compare you to Zefron as a person, but this is what you look like.

I did enjoy the lecture, though. It was interesting to discover what Shakespeare would have been taught during his school years and then look at how that education manifested itself in his written work. That also led to a discussion on how much freedom of thought the British grammar school system offered at that time, and if they were educating their students to be free-thinkers and analyzers or molding them to follow the crowd. It was my favorite lecture of the day by far.

After lunch (during which I spent no money on food - YAY), we went back upstairs for our second lecture. Unfortunately, this wasn't quite as engaging as the first - no offense to Prof. McRae, the man of those two hours. It was our first specific session on The Tempest today, which I enjoyed. The first hour of class, however, was used up by our professor speaking in this monotonous and calming voice. A few of the girls sitting behind me fell asleep. I managed to avoid sinking into a stupor, but I did notice my notes getting progressively messier as the lecture went on. You can practically see my level of attention on the page, determined by the messy or neat state of my handwriting. 

After class, we went to an information session about graduate study in the United Kingdom. I'm not completely sold, but I am definitely not taking the possibility of getting my master's degree abroad off the table. I know that I'll want to go back to England, and graduate study abroad is an easy step towards that goal. I'm thinking Spanish-speaking country for my next abroad experience, though...we'll see. 

The highlight of my day would probably be going back to The Firehouse (we seem to be making this a habit) and finally ordering one of their famous pizzas. It was delicious! We had a group of 8 that split the pizza between us, and not only did it taste great, but it was cheap. Once we split the bill, the total came to less than a pound for each of us. Difficult to beat that one.

After the incredibly eventful last few posts, this makes today look even less eventful than it did before. I think I needed it, though - a nice, slower paced day was what I needed after the bustle of the weekend. Just wait. Come tomorrow, everyone's energy will be back again...