April 23, 2003 - page 2

This term is proving no exception, so it’s at moments like this that the difference between a campus environment and central London is made plain; our surroundings here (and our natural desire to explore them) don’t really focus the mind in the same way.  I guess that’s the purpose of a deadline.  Anyhow, these are not complaints – just observations.  And I’ll prove it by saying that I wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
One thing I’ll always be grateful for is the way that our courses here have taken full advantage of the setting.  My classes on museums, British theater, and British statesmanship have, in their own ways, transformed the “classroom” into the city of London itself.  In the statesmanship course, for instance, each student has found within the city some symbol of British power, past or present.  And in addition to submitting an analytical paper that puts that symbol in a larger context, we have all taken our classmates on quick excursions to present our symbols first-hand.  It’s been an excellent way to take that extra bit of knowledge, that extra memory, home with us.