Today was our second day in Birmingham! I started off my day waking up bright and early at seven in the morning then got ready and headed down to have my first English breakfast. There were many options, but I went simple by going with some scrambled eggs and a croissant. Tomorrow morning, I think I will be more adventurous and try out the other options, except beans on toast. Then, a bit after eight in the morning we met up with Dr. Marks in the lobby and headed to catch a bus that would take us to Birmingham City University (BCU). When we got to the university we were greeted by Ana who is the program coordinator. She is extremely friendly and was very helpful with getting around the university. Then we had our first lecture by a man named Grant Huddleston on research. He was a great speaker and had us all do an exercise on how to come up with a specific question that would be perfect for doing research on. During the discussion we also asked many questions about their education system and did a lot of comparisons to how their education system is compared to the United States. In the states when it comes to getting into college there are many factors that can help you such as GPA, extra curriculars, volunteer work, leadership roles, etc. In the UK reaching higher levels of education is completely reliant on grades or as they refer to them as marks or points. It was also interesting to hear how young students are when they have to decide what path they want to go down in the future. As a college student in the US, I could switch my major without it affecting too much or switch it multiple times if it is in the same field area. Next, we took a break to have lunch at the school’s cafeteria. At BCU due to economic disparities they actually lowered the cost of food by 40% and the cost of drinks by 25% to make it more affordable for all their students. I thought that was amazing and something that you would never see happening in the US. They also stress the importance of mental health and well-being way more than in the US. After we got back from lunch, we had a couple more classes first by Flo who talked about primary school, then Bebita a secondary teacher, and lastly Marina the head at the Orchard school. They all gave great talks; I especially found what Flo had to say interesting because she really explained how levels work in comparison to the US with how we do elementary, middle school, then high school for example.
Eventually we were done with our classes and got to go back on a bus ride to the hotel. Once we got there the first thing I did was change into some casual clothing and made plans with some of my peers in our program to go out. We went to a restaurant called Arcade which had racing arcade games in addition. Then, we went to a bowling alley/game center called Lane 7 which was super fun. We bowled one game which took a while because there were so many of us so by the time we were done, we decided it was time to go back to the hotel. Overall, I had a great second day at Birmingham, and I am excited to what tomorrow will bring.
