Anya and I arrived in London on Tuesday. Fortunately, competition with commuter flights make airfare not very expensive. Unfortunately, the fiasco with my AirBnB reservation meant that I put my airfare savings into a hotel close to 2 of the universities that Anya is interested in. We are at the Strand Palace Hotel, right across the street from the Savoy Theatre and within a couple blocks from other West End theatres.
The day before yesterday, we did a student ambassador guided tour of Imperial College, which was nice.
Yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, we had a student ambassador guided tour at Kings College London (KCL). This was a much better tour than yesterday’s with a demonstrable care of the content. If one cares about the little things, it is a good sign.
There was also a mention of a tutorial that also is provided for “pastoral care.” There is also a beautiful chapel in the center of the campus.
This institution has broader program offers, not mostly a heavy focus on science, medicine, and engineering. There is an optional one-hour a week theology, ethics, and philosophy course (in which Anya expressed interest) and optional evening language courses (even Swedish) that can easily balance out a narrow math program. (I am an advocate of the American liberal arts program to help one broaden understanding and have conversations and connections with people from other disciplines.) These highlighted options, in addition to the student clubs (sports, drama, arts, etc.), start to approach the benefits of a liberal arts education. Alumni include Desmond Tutu, Florence Nightingale, and Rosalind Franklin, who provided the images that Watson and Crick got credit for when they described the double helix structure of DNA.
In the evening, we walked three blocks to see the musical Mamma Mia. It was very well done. For the curtain call, they performed three ABBA songs (Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, and Waterloo), and everyone was on their feet boogieing and clapping. It was really fun!
Shortly, Anya goes for a tour at the London School of Economics and to shadow a student at a course in mathematical analysis, but I won’t be able to join here on this one. I’ll walk her over the few blocks and take a picture of the campus for the next post with her impressions.
Unfortunately, plans to visit Oxford didn’t come together. Partially because there are so many colleges at Oxford, and it is overwhelming try to figure out which ones to even consider. Also, because of the afternoon only tours, it was prudent to maximize the visits here when we are in London. Oxford is still an option, but any visit will have to be later if it needed.
With blessings,
Beth
Mamma Mia, ahhhhhhhhhhhh! We YOU on your feet boogeying?
I’m so thrilled Amya is forward thinking her university options. London is the most expensive place to live, but oh well. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and all that.
Now I understand where TZ got the idea of the TCU where all F6 girls now have ONE application with a few college choices, etc. that are supposed to fit their 3 combinations. Poleni!