Waking up this morning, I did not! I set my alarms and everything and some way somehow none of them went off. So I woke up to a call asking where I was lol. I had to rush and get myself together so I could make it to BCU. I did not know a phone could get jetlagged too. That already threw me off for the day.
Arriving at BCU, my first thought about it was that it looked really nice. The guy who took us on a tour around the school was very polite. The nursing wing was not that different from how ours looked on the Pitt-Greensburg campus, it was just way bigger. The mannequins they use though are like leather and do not feel like real skin. They also just had them laid out anywhere, which was a bit funny. It was a very clean college, even the bathrooms were nice and tidy. There was a picture of a black woman, which Seacole Hall was named after. That picture made me smile because it is nice to see diversity within other cultures. They also had tables with free lanyards that supported the LGTBQ+ community. They also have over one hundred different clubs and societies that students can join. The one that stood out to me the most was ‘The Crafty Bitches’ because I love art and I feel like it’s giving the bad word a confident and good connotation. I wanted to question the one named ‘Witchcraft Club’ because you would not expect them to have a club like that, but then again they are not supposed to judge someone because of their beliefs, so it was really cool that they are allowing students to be themselves. That allows students to feel comfortable and welcomed when coming to BCU, especially if they are from out of the country or far away from home. There are a nice amount of clubs at Pitt-Greensburg, but I really do not feel like any of them is for me but the black student union. When I get back, I think I’m going to plan to make a club where students can feel as comfortable and welcomed as they do in the UK.
I intend on getting a B-Phil research degree, so the lecture about how to make a research question that is not too broad really helped. Now I have a solid question that requires me to gather data and information to study. The way they pronounce name brands is completely different from ours, except for Nike. Their accent is so fascinating and satisfying to listen to and it is like they are very surprised when they hear our American accent. I did not need to think Americans had an accent, but I guess we do. My friends used to always tell me I had an accent because I’m from Ohio and they are from Pittsburgh. Accents are definitely a part of people’s cultural and social identity. Individuals will be able to know where you may be from because of the salient accent.
Today we really touched on the education system in the UK and how it is different from the US. The UK does not take any breaks when in university, which leads to them only having to graduate in 3 years. The con about the education system in the UK is the fact that once you pass a certain age, you can not go back to school if you did not go, and you have to be a certain age for certain levels. For example, year one is for five to six year olds, and year two is for six to seven year olds. Their levels, or years, are what we would call grades in the US. Talking about grades, they go off a different grading system. Instead of using numbers as percentages and letters, they just use the numbers nine to one, with one being the lowest grade. That would not be fun because I would never know what grade I actually got.
They even provide an alternative education option for those with neurological complications, which is really awesome! Instead of them not getting any education at all, they can still receive a lot of help to do so. The educators here seem to really love what they do and why they do it. They give kids more than motivation, they give them their all so that they can grow up to achieve so much more than what they are around, and that is dedication. I really can not wait to see the hospital tomorrow and learn about the medical field and how it works here! See ya guys then!!