May 15: Study day at Oxford!

Now that I have been back from England for about a week and a half, and now I have some time to focus on finishing my blogs about my experience. This blog post will be about Oxford! I fell in love with Oxford by the amazing history that is behind its beautiful city.

Before I dive in to this wonderful day. I should just put it out there. While I was looking at schools and the possible ideas of where to do my Masters program, Oxford was on the list. However, I took it off the list because it was so far away and it would be expensive. Now that I have seen Oxford I may be looking at the possibilities of doing my Ph.D or EE.D in England, whether its at OXford or another university.

So what made Oxford so great? Its the amazing history behind its universitiy and city. The day bright and early. We had to meet out front of our flats at 8:30 am to catch a ride on a private bus for us. Its about an hour and half ride from London to Oxford. I had the perfect sit by the window all by myself. We had arrived outside of police station and told us that is where we are to meet at the end of the day. We get off and I was just blown away by the architecture of the buildings they were magnificent. We began our walk up the street to meet two individuals that are from ASU doing their Ph.D there. We walked past several centuries old cemetaries, old building, the cobble stone roads and sidewalks. I was in heaven.

We got to this statue and we meet Ngoni Mugwisi and Cameron Gardner. A little info on Ngoni, he won the prestiguous Rhodes Scholarship in 2016. This Scholoarship is like higher honor you can get and allow him to study at Oxford. He is from Zimbabwe. Out of the two that gave us the tour he was the most willing guy to answer questions. Where as Cameron well he very much had the attidtude of "I don't care" and it showed big time. We asked them several questions about who they are and what they study. The teachers asked them to give us a tour of Oxford.

We went to several different building. These student could not really give us much information about the buildings. But nonetheless I enjoyed it. The way Oxford is set up is they have several universities or colleges within oxford and they are all spread out. Each college has church and library. When you walk in the churches they are amazing just as amazing as if you were walking in the LDS temple. We got to see part of the "great hall" that was filmed in the Harry Potter movie. One of the amazing thing was to see where C.S. Lewis got the inspiration of Lion Witch and the Wardrobe. This part of the tour was probably my favorite. I grew reading those books and having the imagination come to live while reading them. It was a treat for me to see the lamp post and door.

After the tour we went to a pub to have lunch with these students. I had steam salmon and vegetables. For desert gingerbread cheesecake. It was scrumptious! During lunch I had the incredible opportunity to grilled by two of my amazing interpreters. They were asking questions about what I do for a living, my dreams goals, questions about my deafness and etc. It was very enjoyable. This was the highlight of my day. When I told them I had learned sign language when I enter into NTID (National Institute for the deaf) and I was 18 when attended that college. One of the interpreter, I think her name was Anna told me that I do not sign like it is my second language. She thought I had been signing my whole life. This is like the best compliment I can ever receive. It really boost my self confidence in my ASL and my desire to have it in my life more.

I also had the opportunity to interact with Harry our ACCENT person who help created the awesome experience in London. He was asking questions like is sign language different in every county, what kind of law are in the US to help those with disability get the accommodations that they need to help them achieve their goals, and how interpreters help me when I can very much be independent and talk for myself. The best part of this whole conversation what watching him learn something new and get a whole new perspective about deaf culture and individuals.

 After lunch we had to walk all the way to Kellogg College to meet with our guest lecturer Steven Parissien. He was definitely a professor who knows how to give lectures in a college setting. A brief overview of who he is. He is professor at Kellogg College which is part of Oxford.

What did Professor Steven Parissien have to say?

First lets start with a little history of Oxford. The start of Oxford begain in 1096. However it grew rapidly after King Henry II who was King in 1167 had ban any student of the UK to study in Paris which then led the growing of Oxford. Just like any univeristy it has gone though several changes over the course of many centuries. The biggest transformation was in 1968 in all univeristies in the UK. Before 1968 UK univeristies only served the rich priviagle inviduals, however that was changed which allow more students to attend the univeristies. With the increase of number of students was a good thing for Oxford. It lead the creation of new universities and schools.  Oxford is make of of 38 Autonomous college.

How is Oxford set up?

There are academic subject that are in four divisions. There is a chancellor (this is more for face) and a Vice-Chancellor (this person actually run the university).  There are 38 head or in other word a dean for each 38 colleges. All 38 colleges does their own fundraising for the upkeep of their colleges and they determine what is the best route for them to take. Here in the US we have "main campus", in Oxford there is no central location.

What is it like going to school at Oxford?

Mostly what is taught at Oxford is Humanities and Arts and science. Most UK universities do not have academic advisers or student support services. Which then lead to the question, how do they help their student have success. As I mention in other blogs they have tutors. But what does that exactly mean? Well a lecturer or professors take on that role they will have one-on-one or 2:1 weekly or or more to help the students get what they need.

Lets say you are a student at Oxford but you are not doing so great. Once you fail, your done and its really hard to get back in. Students at Oxford are treated like consumer. Its business the student is putting in an investment on their education. Professor Parissien, mentioned that many of the student services have become more professionalized and are able to help the students in a more fluent way.

My thoughts on all this?

I think Oxford has pretty good setup. But my concern is that there are thousands of students and only so few tutors that can sufficiently make sure their students have the right support including financial aid. Not only do the tutors have to help the students by providing student support, but also the job of being a professor and teaching class. That got to wear down a person at some point. But I do think they are on the right track of having one person that the student can report to.

Where here in the US you have several different departments, such as, financial aid, student support, academic support, and other departments. A good 100 percent of the time these departments do not talk to the other department and often time a student get the run around instead of the direct support they need. Not only so many departments but there are a lot of changes that happen often such as advisers quitting and new replacement can often cause anxiety. The anxiety for the student is not good and sometimes can hinder the student success when they have to repeat their situation all over again. That is also why tuition is low there in the UK is because they are not having to pay for many staff members and to keep departments running. Its my personal opinion the less run around the student has to get to get service I think the the retention rate would be higher in the US and less little department each university has will help greatly. IF we cannot do that at least improve communication between departments so students can feel that paying that high of a tuition is worth getting a degree.

After the lecture we were given free time to roam Oxford.  everyone went there own different ways. I went to the gardens. I love the gardens in England so rich in flowers and green grass and just a place of reflection. The one thing that Professor Parissien said is that green space is important to a campus and everywhere you go there is acres of green space to allow students to study outside and for enjoyment.

After our time at Oxford we had to make the trip back to London. It was a long wait for the bus. We got home and we very much exhausted and my right knee was in so much pain that I could barley walk. We went out to eat at a pancake place. They served crepes and they were big. I could not even finish it, let alone even get a dessert.

The class in front of Kelogg College

The class in front of one of the library. 

Me and one of my amazing interpreter!

In of of the churches at Oxford

Some famous person that I forgot to get the name of. I was just fascinated with the burial. 

The Holy Bible

The amazing architecture!

The stairs lead to the Great Hall the was filmed in Harry Potter

Who wouldn't want to go to school here

Look at all the amazing green space!

"They Open A Door and Enter a World." C.S Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 

One of the oldest library!

one of the oldest statues in Oxford

A chapel

How cute is this?

" This is the land of Narnia, 'said the Faun, 'where we are now; all that lies between the lamp-post and the great castle of Cair Paravel..." C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tumnus" C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 

Some very old gravesites

The Alice and Wonderland Garden The Cheshire Cat
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" Ask Alice
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" Said the cat
"I don't much care where-" said Alice
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go." Said the cat
~Lewis Carroll- Alice in Wonderland~

The Secret Garden
"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden"
~Frances Hodgson, The Secret Garden

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!

My class after the play!

At student Central.. You see my interpreter in Action!

After our guess Lecture at Kings College
At the far left is our guess speaker

The Theater

Just before the Musical began

Just some building around London

You can see why I am in Heaven with the buildings!

Day 5 and 6: Traveled to Norway!

For the last several weeks I had made a new friend in Norway. I had the opportunity to go visit this friend. I brought a Ticket to Oslo, Norway. This part of my journey began on Saturday at 4 am. I traveled by tube to the airport with another person in my group who was going to Dublin. I boarded the plane with some nervousness and excitement.  The plane landed, and I went through customs and got another stamp in my passport! I saw my friend we both greeted each other.

We both got to the car and we got some food. After lunch my friend took me to see Oslo! Norway was breathtaking! I got to see where the ships come in. We went to this park that was full of statues that was done by one person. Beautiful artwork of people telling different stories. After the park we went to see the royalties castle. Learned a little bit of Norwegian as well in the process. I also got to know my friend in person rather than chat or video like we have been doing for last several. We ended the day with pizza and movie.

Day 6: Sunday

Today was wonderful  day of rest for me. I was able to go to church with my friend. It was an amazing experience to go to church in a different county and language. Sacrament meeting was first. My friend did his best at trying to interpret for me, but I was happy without the translation. Even though I could not understand I could feel the spirit very strongly. The first speaker though spoke English! I was able to understand the first talk. She was the mission president wife from Salt Lake, Utah. She spoke about heeding the spirit voice and then acting on it. If we don’t act on it then we sometimes lose the blessings or opportunities that Heavenly Father has put in our way. When it came to sing the intermediate Hymn my heart leap for joy when I recognized the tune and the song “I am a Child of God”. I of course sang it in English but hearing the song in another language just does something to my soul. At that moment I had the spirit whisper a reminder  that I am His child! After church I had to pack and leave for the Airport. Even though it was a short trip it was one that I will always remember.

I am now going to switch topics, it will not be related to the trip to London or Norway.  Its about May 11th. This day is a special day for me. It important year mark that reminds me that I accomplished something greater than grad school, or even just this trip alone. I never really talk about this topic before. For 10 plus years I have struggled with an addiction. This addiction created a lot turmoil in my life and my parents. This addiction essentially made me feel like I was two different person. Last year May 2017, Heavenly Father decided it was time for me to change. Things happened that made me realize the dangers that I was putting myself in. I began to work even harder to change my poor behaviors. I began to work harder with therapy and my bishop. During this time, I had put in an application for Grad school at Arizona State University. When I got accepted I almost decided not to go. However, the Lord made a huge impression on my mind that I needed to go and I needed go NOW and not put it off until spring. Since then my life has been changing. It like the Lord knew the only way I needed to change was to get out of an environment that was not healthy for me.

So May 11^th will always be a new special day of remembering how far I have come from not giving into my addictions. I have learned new things to apply to my life. Going to Norway and was able to  sing that song has touch my heart in so many ways. I am happier than I have ever been. I have had up and downs in the past year but those up and down gave me experience for new things to create a better environment. This move has helped me have a better understanding of who I am and who I want to become.

The final point that I want to express is to my Mom. Today is Mother Day. Happy Mother day Mom! Thank you for being by my side in whatever trials or things I was going though. You have been my rock and my foundation in helping me figure out who I am. You have been my number one fan in making this journey happen. You have been my strength and my beacon. Thank you MOM and I love you!

Tomorrow will be a day at King's College and Student Central in London. In the evening I will be going to a play. Looking forward to it!

Norwegian Castle

Me at the park 

Some sculpture Oslo, Norway

Oslo, Norway

Day 4: First day of class in London

Sorry for the late post. I know today is day 5 but I am having way too much fun in London! I will try my best in remembering everything that has happened yesterday.

My roommate woke me up at 7:30 am to get ready for the day. I had a short simple breakfast, mango, rasberries and blueberries with a english muffin. It was quite good. We had to meet with the ACCENT group at 10 am outside our flat. We then had to walk about 1 block  to get where our classroom is. Class is in the Hogarth room.

I arrived to class and finally met my two interpreters! They are both from the states. One interpreter actually been living here in London and works at a private interpeting company in London. The other one is from Washington DC. I am learning some new signs. A mixture of British Sigh Language (BSL) and the Universal Sign Language. I bet the first question is coming to mind is what is the difference between the two. Well as you know each country has their own language. BSL is very different from ASL (American Sign Language). The Universal sign Language is a series of signs that were created to hep with the Deaf Olpmics or when there are several deaf together from different counties. It has been fun learning new signs and being exposed to different languages.

After meeting my interpreters it was time for class to begin! We had a guess speaker, Joy Elliott-Bowman, who is the Policy and Public Affairs Manager For Independent Higher Education in the United Kingdom. She cover over so many topic and was speaking so fast that I could not keep up with the interpreters and write at the same time. I will mention a few things that she talked about and compare it with the Untied States higher Education stystem.

1. Student loans

           In England there was free tuition for all students that decides to continue their education at a university. However, UK realized that it is not possible to proved free education since the number of students entering the University. Because of this they decided to start charging students. This began in 1992. The rate was 850 pounds. Over the past several years that rate has gone up. Higher Education finally put a cap on it that can not be change it is now 9000 pounds. With the increase of tuition UK wanted to allow everyone to come so therefore the student loan was created. England is having the same problem as the US students are not paying their loan and therefore its creating a default and causing a debt problem. The biggest difference in student loans is that England is actually making movement in fixing the problem. Were as in the US student loans is not a big issue even though its about to surpass the housing market loans.

     So what the UK solution. First of all they put a cap on the rising tuition and therefore it can't change.  The Second thing is that they have determine if a person make 28,000 pounds a year they are aware that student will never pay off a their loan. So they created a forgiveness plan for them. For those who  make more than that they automatically take a percentage out of their income. After 10 years that loan can be forgiven even if its no payed completely off. The concept that I like is having a percentage be taking out of a paycheck each time is a great idea.

      2. How universities are graded

           In the US universities are graded by students enrollment rather by success in my opinion. When student go "shopping" for school they usually look at recreation center, club that are there, and other things that are not strictly related to education. Where as in the UK according to Joy and to some of the students we met most universities in the UK are more focus on quality of education rather than quantity. The example she gave was if a student studied to be a art teacher when they graduate they get a job working as an insurance person the school counts that as a failure on the school part. They feel that if the student cannot get job in the field of study they expressed that the students are not getting their money worth in other word quality of education.

      The other thing that stood out is that student in the UK it only takes three years to finish there undergrad. The reason why is so simple they do not have to take general classes like we have to in the US. I think if the US higher education got rid of general ed classes several things will happen at once, tuition would go down, students would more like graduate and not change majors. students will be able to focus on goals quicker and not be burden with classes that will not benefit them. For example a student majoring in social studies program, biology and advance math is not going to apply to their program and therefore students are putting in money into classes that are needed. 

Those were just some of the things that was talked about. After class was over we had a short break for lunch. We the girls ate lunch at a park. There was gate into this park but we didn't read the sign carefully as we went in after another person went in. The sign said " this park is only for this particular resident that have a key, please close the gate completely behind you." We all read it but we thought we would be able to get out. We learned that lesson the hard way! 

After lunch we had to go back to the ACCENT classroom and have a class discussion. It was very intellectual. It was good short class. We were all dismissed a little early so we can get ready to have afternoon tea with some students that are taking classes at the universities. Tea was taking place at the British museum. I had a peppermint herbal tea and scones. It was like the cutest little things. I really didn't hear much from the students because we were in a public place and the interpreters could not hear. So I just enjoyed getting to know my interpreters. 

After tea we went back to our flat to prepare for a fun night in the city. Two of the students left to go

visit another country so we were short in numbers. We decided to have dinner at place in Leicester Square. That is an interesting part of town at night. I would not recommend going to that part town by yourself at night. All kinds of people come out. Weird things to see as you walk past the stores. We arrived to dinner a small Italian place. Everyone ordered drink excepted for me. I was quickly hounded for questions in the end they all respected me for not drinking. In fact one guy said "good that you do not drink it becomes a habit and sometimes its not a good habit." They all ordered shots and when they raised their glass I raise my water it was awesome! After dinner they all expressed they wanted to go gambling and do a few other things that I had no desire to do. So a person walked me back to my flat. I was so tired that I went to sleep instead of working on my blog.

The British Museum

The awesome class

Dinner

China town in London

Leicester Sq.