5/28
We
had our first class this past Monday at 10:00 AM. Making the 15 minute walk
from Gazzano Building to Faraday House, we made sure to grab coffee on the way
to guarantee that we were alert for the most of the day. During the morning we
spent a lot of time going over the syllabus, class schedule, and assignments.
After administrative stuff, we broke for a lunch break. Our class of eleven
walked down the street to Pret A Manger, a popular food place in London, to
grab sandwiches to go. One thing that is definitely different than the States
is that they charge you different prices depending on whether you are dining in
or dining out. We grabbed our food and headed back to Faraday where we ate in
the student lounge and hung out until our break was over. The lounge is a
pretty cool area with a bunch of couches, tables, ping pong table, vending machines,
and coffee machine. After Monday, I brought my lunch for the rest of the week
so it’s nice to have somewhere to lounge aside from our classroom.
When we returned from lunch we
watched excerpts from two movies on the ancient Olympics. It was really interesting
and definitely a lot of new information for me. After class our professors
encouraged us to head over to the British Museum to check out the Greek
exhibits and a few others. Many of us weren’t used to the long schoolday so we
were dragging by the time we got to the British Museum. Walking in, the
architecture was incredible. I though the Smithsonian was massive, but it pales
nothing in comparison to the British Museum. Skylights surround you overhead as
you walk into the entrance. The museum itself looks like four buildings within
one, which was a little reminiscent of the design of the Dobbs University
Center at Emory. We checked out the mummies, Rosetta Stone, and pieces of the
Parthenon that were there. On our way out we saw a sign pointing upstairs for
an exhibit of the Olympic medals. We took a few minutes to go check them out
and it was actually really awesome. The detail and intricacy of the medals was
beautiful. I’m definitely going to take some more time to spend in the British
Museum, it was just a bit overwhelming after a long day of class. On the way
back I went to the O2 store to get my international phone and hurried back to
Gazzano so I could hit the gym afterward.
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| Me and Wen in Trafalgar Square! |
After my workout I ended up going
to meet my Emory friends Wen and Jake to go to a pub and hang out. Wen has been
in London all semester and Jake has been here for a few weeks doing research. I
love being able to see Emory friends all over the world! I’m looking forward to
seeing a few that are coming in later this month, and possibly making a trip to
Paris to see others. We went to a pub in Covent Garden then walked around
Trafalgar Square afterward. After bidding adieu, we parted ways to head back to
our respective homes to call it a night.
5/29
On
Tuesday we arrived at Faraday House once again at 10:00 AM. After navigating
the still confusing hallways, plugging our nose as we passed from the front building
to the back building, and taking the elevator up to the third floor, we were
ready to begin our day. The morning portion of class consisted of learning
about the development of the Modern Olympics. We were educated about Pierre de
Coubertin (PdC), the founder of the International Olympic Committee, and his
vision in creating athletics for all. It’s unbelievable how much history is
involved in the Olympics, I feel very lucky to learn this firsthand as it is
information I probably wouldn’t find out otherwise unless I truly researched
it. The eleven of us were taught how PdC’s tour of Europe helped him create the
vision of the Olympics through his experience learning about the education
systems in Germany, France, England, and America. Although the concept of
“healthy body, healthy mind” almost seems given at this point in time within
our own education system, the balance between the two was not always
emphasized. As a student-athlete, I get to experience first hand the
interaction between both athletics and education every day of my life.
This
vision combined with the Germans excavating the site of the ancient Olympics
provided the catalyst needed for a worldwide athletic movement. In 1896, the
games were revived in Athens and the rest is history! I could delve into much
more detail but I don’t want to bore anyone with a history lesson. You’re
welcome to look at my notes when I’m back though J
(warning: I do doodle). Following the history of the Modern Games, Professor
Cook gave us a basic introduction to the cultural description of class within
the United Kingdom. I was happy to know a piece of information about this, as
it was brought up in my Harry Potter class this past semester, about how the
different social classes are distinguishable by their accents here. A fact that
I find very interesting, as in the States most accents help convey where you
grew up or live. After this, we broke for lunch then came back for a screening
of Chariots of Fire. I admit, there
are a few classic sports films that I have yet to see, and this was one of
them. I really enjoyed it, though. Afterward we discussed how it related to
what we had already learned in class, prevalent themes throughout sport movies,
and also named our favorite one. The last part had me reminiscing about my club
team, Thunder, and all of the movies we would go together as a team-which
included Miracle and We Are Marshall.
Feeling
inspired and motivated-mainly to keep up with my running-our class retreated
downstairs where there was an organized afternoon tea and presentation by
Richard Thames about the Queen’s Jubilee. The distinguished professor outlined
the history of jubilees, both in terms of the British government and throughout
the world. We snacked on traditional English cakes and scones to hold us over
during his presentation. After it was over, we headed back to Gazzano to relax
for a bit during the afternoon. In the evening, a group of us headed to Tesco
Express to go grocery shopping again. In a semi-spur-of-the-moment decision, we
decided to throw together a fajita night for everyone. This would mark the
evening of our first family dinner (and hopefully not last). We tried with
alliteration such as Taco Tuesdays or Watermelon Wednesdays..but kind of just
gave up and bought the ingredients that were most readily available and ended
up with fajitas. Excited and hungry, we walked back home and went up to Flat 4
to begin cooking! Me, Moira, and Lucie prepared most of the food which went
very smoothly. As many of you know, cooking isn’t really my forte so it was
definitely exciting to have such a yummy meal come together that well.
5/30
Needless
to say, Wednesday was a marathon of a class. Perhaps it was because we had been
lucky enough to screen some films in the prior two classes, but it was
definitely a ton of information all in one sitting. We learned about the
various organizations of the Olympics (IOC, NOC’s, etc.), the history of
British broadcasting and the current system, the history of British newspapers
and the current system, in addition to the social and marketing descriptions of
class. Though it was very interesting, our attention spans were wavering as the
6th hour in the classroom drew to a close. Most of us were
definitely not used to being in a classroom for that long, it was almost
reminiscent of high school. I have no idea how I used to sit in class from 7:20
AM-2:05 PM every day! I get
fidgety and restless now in my classes at Emory that last an hour and fifteen
minutes. I guess I understand the concept of longer classes, as the course is
condensed into a five week period, but it was a lot to learn all in one day.
After class, most of us went down the computer lab area to start and/or wrap up
our papers that were due the following day analyzing the International Olympic
Committee website.
5/31
On
Thursday morning we were lucky enough to have Taylor Downing, the managing director
of Flashback Television and publisher of Olympia,
come speak to our class. Olympia is
his work that studies Leni Riefensthal’s documentary about the 1936 Olympic
games, also known as the “Hitler games”. He discussed how the development of
film coincided with the development of the Olympics and introduced Riefenstahl
in depth. She was a film star who was rumored to have had a relationship with
Hitler. The purpose and intent behind her documentary was said to be
controversial, which is understandable due to the historical nature surrounding
those games. Despite this controversy, after watching clips from the film it
was evident that she was a pioneer in the film techniques and style of her
time. As someone who is very passionate about and has always had an interest in
sports photography, I found the discussion and examination about her techniques
very interesting. It made me miss all of the work I had done in high school and
freshman year at Emory, and helped motivate me to get back into it when I arrive
back to the States. After his presentation, we broke for lunch and then
returned to learn about the interaction between television and the Olympics.
It’s been really interesting seeing the development of modern technology
growing up alongside of the modern Olympics. Following the completion of class,
we met individually or with partners to go over which topics we would be
covering for our presentation and final paper.
I
met with Professor Hollenbeck and Cook and was happily informed that I got my
first choice out of the different topics. I will be doing my final work on the
role of the team in terms of competition. Obviously this is something that is
very close to home, and I’m excited to look at the unique ways in which teams,
their structure, dynamics, and more interact with the Olympics. One of the
types of teams they had brought up to explore was the track relay teams. This,
of course, is something I’m already very informed about thanks to Kaele (3rd
place at nationals-BEAST)! It was kind of in that moment that I realized how much
knowledge I had about the dynamics and strategy of relays for not actually
having been on track, haha. Thank you, Kaels…I think you unintentionally have
saved me from doing some additional research during my information gathering
process. After the meeting, I headed back home to begin the long weekend as we
didn’t have class on Friday.
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| Girlfriends on Thursday night. Love this group! |
I
went on a run down to the Thames, which is only about a mile away from where we
are living. The view was beautiful and I honestly couldn’t believe that I was
running alongside the river in London (or the
water as I keep referring to it as, and keep getting poked fun at because
of). Afterward I came back to the flats and ended up going out with the boys in
our class, Jasper, Carter, and Mike, to play soccer at a park near our
building. It felt great to get some touches on the ball as I haven’t played any
since Italy. We played half court 2v2 on a paved tennis course that also had
nets embedded at the ends of it. We had a great, heated match which
unfortunately ended in me and Jasper’s defeat by a small margin..followed by
Mike kicking the ball over the fence. In a series of events that was incredibly
reminiscent of The Sandlot we
wandered around the surrounding area until what we thought was the building
that backed up into the court we were playing on. It ended up being a public
center, and a really nice employee went out back to check for us after telling
him that we kicked the ball over the fence at the park into their backyard.
Having no luck finding the ball, we wandered back there with him for a second
time to try and find it. Unfortunately, the newly bought ball seemed to have
been lost for good and Mike’s conscience about kicking it onto a roof seemed to
haunt him for the rest of the evening (or at least for the rest of our walk
back home). Despite this setback, it was a great time and I’m looking forward
to playing more during my time here! Thursday night we kicked off celebrations
for Alesha’s 21st birthday which was a great time out with everyone.
We definitely ended the night in high spirits (and Perfect Chicken) ready for
the five day weekend and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee!
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