Leicester: Day 17

I finally had my Art History and Ancient History classes today, with both positive and negative results. First up was Art History. The teacher is new to the department and it shows. The lecture was interesting but not well organized. Apparently there was reading I was supposed to have done and a text book I'm supposed to have. When I approached the teacher and explained that no one had given me the class start-up packet, with all this information/requirements, he said they must not have been printed off when I registered, and that I should just go to the department. He's not a very helpful professor. Even without having done the 'reading', in a class of 20+ students, I was the only one willing to answer his questions. The seminar was eerily silent. It's so awkward when the professor asks a question to the class and waits until someone answers, so I answered, and most of the time I was correct.

Next up was Ancient History: Sparta in the Greek World. I was ten minutes late because my Art History seminar got out late, and the classroom on my schedule said 'Library: Seminar Room 2', which turns out to not be in the library. Go figure. So I walk in and ask, 'Is this Sparta?' and the professor laughs and says yes. This class is by far my favorite. There are about 15 students, and they all seem like a lot of fun. The professor makes it clear that she expects us to do a lot of reading, but the class is well structured and very interesting. She was sympathetic to me being a study abroad student. She herself is from Philadelphia, and talked to me after class about where I was from. This class is taught by three teachers, all with different specialties that involve different aspects of Sparta. They were very excited when they found out I was a Classics major from KU, and it turns out they know a couple of my Kansas professors. Great class.

South American Word of the Day: kiff, translates as 'cool' or the opposite of 'lame'