Week in Review: October 26-November 1
The students started this week off with a trip to Southall to visit the Gurudwara Sikh Temple for their Transnational Studies class. We entered the temple, which is the largest outside of India, by taking off our shoes and then covering our heads (both men and women). After our tour throughout the temple, we were invited to eat langer (vegetarian food that is served to all people in the temple). Outside of India, the United Kingdom has the largest Sikh population in the world.
On Thursday, the students saw the theatre performance of the British musical Billy Elliot. This is the story takes place during the mid-1980s in the UK during the miners strike. Billy Elliot is the son of a coal miner affected by this strike and develops a love for ballet instead of boxing.
On Friday we left for our much anticipated trip to Edinburgh Scotland! We took the four hour train ride from London and arrived in Edinburgh just before the sun set at 4.30PM (yes, the clocks changed last week!). That evening the students explored Edinburgh on their own by getting their bearings of the city. The next morning, a few students joined me on a hike to the top of Arthur’s Seat where we were able to get a 360 degree panoramic view of the city.
As it was Halloween, later in the evening, we all met up to go on a Ghost walk entitled “The Underground City of the Dead”. The students all dressed in costume for the tour which is described on their website:
Forgotten for centuries and only recently unsealed, this section of the Underground City is known as Damnation Alley. With good reason. Site of an ancient curse, these dark tunnels and vaults are stalked by a malevolent presence known as the South Bridge Entity. And Damnation Alley hides a deadly secret – which we’re not going to tell you about until you’re in there. We’re mean like that.
Yes, we were scared, and yes we held on to each other tight while we listened to the scary stories from our Scottish tour guide. When someone from the tour jumped out and scared us, I never heard us all scream and laugh so hard! Overall, it was a fun Halloween experience.
As we are in the final last few weeks of the NUin program, students are starting to prepare for their final projects and exams. As always, we again encourage you to support your student through their final academic weeks by encouraging them to stay focused on their main academic priorities. Until next time…
