Adventures of life! : King’s College, Student Central, And Kinky Boots

Today was a very long day. It did not help when I could not go to sleep until 2 am. We had to be at ACCENT at 9 am. I had to give a a presentation this morning on King's College before we began our tour of the old college. I had to do my presentation with someone else and he was a hard person to work with. He did nothing help with the presentation, yet he did all the talking. He likes to add fluff and other random facts.. I hope I an "A" on this. After the presentation we made our way to Kings college. This blog will be long because of how much information I have gotten so you can either read it or skip to just looking at the pictures.

Living in London requires you to have good pair of shoes because you are either walking or taking the tube everywhere. We had to walk a little far to a tube that would connect us to Waterloo. When we got to King's College we went to the wrong door and security did not like us. We had to walk a little further to get to a different part of King's College. We finally arrived and greeted with tea and coffee. I just drank my water that I had. The guest speakers were Constant Leung and Ben Day. There presentation was very long and I had the most hardest time staying awake! My interpreters thought I was quite funny as I kept nodding off.

History of King's College
King's College was established 1828-29. Most schools during this time are founded my politicians and churchman because religions in schools are very important. King's college was given a royal charter by King George IV. King's college is part of the Russel Group and one of the top colleges for research. The goal of the college is to improve students well being and help improve the community in London and in England.

After our presentation, we went to the college and listen to two professors there and had an opportunity to ask them questions. I am going to be blunt they were probably the most boring ones we have had so far. They really were not prepared for us to come. Living in London requires you to have good pair of shoes because you are either walking or taking the tube everywhere. We had to walk a little far to a tube that would connect us to Waterloo. When we got to King's College we went to the wrong door and security did not like us. We had to walk a little further to get to a different part of King's College. We finally arrived and greeted with tea and coffee. I just drank my water that I had. The guest speakers were Constant Leung and Ben Day. There presentation was very long and I had the most hardest time staying awake! My interpreters thought I was quite funny as I kept nodding off.

I will go over a few things that I learned at King's, there was so much information thrown at us that I don't even remember half of it. They did an overview of how Higher Education works. They mentioned that they love having international students come to their schools because that is show they make their money. International student usually have to pay more than the local students. I thought this was pretty cool thing. There are 17 colleges within the Russel Group, and they have one application that is like a centralize admission. Part of the admission is that they interview the students to make sure they are good fit for the school. About 20 years ago King's college was more for rich families and only 12 percent of the student population was 18-19 years old. Now 57 percent of the student population are 18-19 years old.

One thing they mentioned is that these school buildings were not made for people with disabilities. Most of these buildings are old and doesn't not have accessibility. I asked how do they accommodate the students that are in wheelchairs and other disabilities that requires a lift. They said they try to make their schedule on the ground floor.

Student Central

After King’s College we had to have a quick lunch to meet back the classroom to do a discussion of what we talked about. After the discussion we walked over to student central. The student central is like a student fitness center. In the states fitness centers would be on each of the campuses but because London is so old and there is no space they created student central. This place has two bars on the upper floors. Yes drinking is very big here in London. The drinking age is 18. There is a gym with exercise equipment and a huge indoor pool. The place is for students, even for student who are at Oxford and Cambridge. The one negative thing about the universities here in London and in Oxford is that there is no type of student support such as different classes like ballet and other fun classes because they are focus on their academics.

Kinky Boots

After student central I was able to go back to the flat and take a short nap before we all had to meet up again to see the show called “Kinky Boots”. Now you know from that name its going to be something unique and different. It definally was that. The brief overview of the story is about two different men finding their place in the world. One man is the son of a shoe maker. The other man is a son of a boxer. Their fathers had ideas of what they should do. Own the shoe store and become a boxer. But since when does children want to follow what their parents want them to be. The shoemaker son want to move to London and find his own life with his girlfriend. The Boxer well liked wearing women shoes and designing. Each went their own way. The shoemaker move to London and the boxer became a drag performer. When the shoemaker father died he was given the factory. He goes back to find that the business is not doing well. He goes on as search to figure out what to do to help get business booming. He ran into the boxer who is dress liked a woman. Got the idea from “her” to make boots for drag performers. The shoemaker ask her to become his designer. At the end of the play business was doing great and they all figured out their identity and purpose of who they are. It has a good theme to it just well very kinky.

After the show everyone went and got a nightcap. I went home and went to bed. I was so exhausted from all the walking that my right knee is in great amount of pain. I would have thought my left knee would be in pain because I had surgery on it several years ago, nope its my right knee. I have gotten to the point were I can not even bend it or walk on it.

The next blog will cover Oxford and my experience there. Friday will be the British Museum and Stonehenge and Saturday will be packing and going to the London temple. Sunday I fly home. Part of me is ready to come home the other part of me wants to stay in London!