Day 15

Lesson 41: If you have a choice, don't go to London Met, part I

So I take classes at two different universities-- I take 2 Maryland classes with Maryland professors at rented space at Birkbeck College, and then I take 2 classes through London Metropolitan University, aka community college. At first I really didn't think anything of it--why would the University of Maryland have a partnership with a school that wasn't as well-respected as UMD is?? Seriously...why? I was talking with a girl in one of my classes and she actually said to me: "Why did you come here? This uni is a disgrace!" I didn't really know what she was talking about until I was waiting to go into another one of my classes with a different girl and the following conversation ensued:

Girl: So where are you from?

Me: New York

Girl: Like the city?

Me: A little bit outside the city on Long Island

Girl: Ugh you're so lucky! I've never actually made it to New York but I have been to New Jersey, but I know New Jersey is no longer a part of New York

Now I know I'm really in no place to make fun of British people considering a majority of them probably know more about America than Americans do about Britain, but either way I still found it difficult to not laugh in this poor girl's face. I managed to just nod and smile and not embarrass this girl in front of her friends for thinking that New Jersey had seceded from New York.

Lesson 42: If you have a choice, don't go to London Met, part II

The London Met campus where I have my classes is just around the corner from Brick Lane, and I'm 99% sure that if you walked into any of the stores nearby, they would accept Rupees as a form of payment. Nothing against that culture or that community, and I understand that the abroad experience is supposed to immerse you in a different land with a different culture, but I SOO did not sign up to study abroad in Bombay.