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Things To Do This Weekend

By uczlkrj, on 27 July 2018

UCLSS Social Programme Events

Friday 27th July

Jazz in the Quad

Saturday 28th July

Day Trip: Bath & Stonehenge

 

Recommendations from UCLSS Staff

Things to do this weekend:

Holly

World Food Market at the picturesque St. Katherine’s Docks.

http://www.skdocks.co.uk/whats-on/world-food-market

 

Rory

Rent out one of London’s public ‘Boris-bikes’ and enjoy traffic-free cycling on some of London’s busiest and most famous streets as they close for the annual Prudential RideLondon event. There’s an eight-mile stretch of the FreeCycle event [pdf map], meandering past landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s, without having to worry about the usual cars and buses. Picnic spots, games, music and ‘bike doctors’ line the route. On Saturday evening, you can watch races including the RideLondon Classique Pro Women’s, and the Brompton World Championship Final.

https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/events/

 

Rhod

Don’t waste money on the London Eye – go to the top of St Paul’s Cathedral, where you can walk around the outside of the dome and enjoy views across London in all directions.

https://www.stpauls.co.uk/

 

Kimberly

You don’t have to travel far to see great dancing! The Place, home to London Contemporary Dance School and Richard Alston Dance Company, is hosting its annual end of year performance for Centre for Advanced Training students. Located on Duke’s Road, you can find The Place between the UCL Campus and the accommodation buildings, you’ve probably walked passed it without noticing…

CAT Students will premiere works created with artists from Phoenix Dance Theatre, BalletBoyz, Impact Dance, James Cousins,  Candoco & Authenticity alongside guest performances from their Partnership Programmes in Hampshire, Brighton & Hertfordshire.

All ticket proceeds for this event go to the Fund for Excellence (FFE) which financially supports talented young dance artists.

https://www.theplace.org.uk/whats-on/centre-advanced-training-summer-show-2018

 

Things to book now: 

Holly

The hidden gem Wigmore Hall offers free and £5 chamber music tickets to under-25s.

https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/calendar

 

Rory

Nelson Mandela: The Centenary Exhibition 2018 at Southbank Centre: Learn about Nelson Mandela’s life, career and commitment to equality and justice. Charting his rise from freedom fighter to leader of the anti-apartheid movement, the free-to-enter The Centenary Exhibition 2018 runs at the Southbank Centre until 18 August!

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/129236-nelson-mandela-centenary-exhibition-2018-2018

 

Rhod

A relaxing boat trip down the Thames to Hampton Court, where the city turns into countryside, visit Hampton Court Palace and return to London again by boat at the end of the day. You’ll feel like you’ve had a holiday!

http://wpsa.co.uk/thames-boats/river-map.asp 

 

Kimberly

Fun Home at the Young Vic, even if musicals aren’t normally your thing, i’d still recommend this one! Based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, Fun Home looks a Alison’s complex relationship with her father as the audience meets her at three stages in her life and the Broadway version won 5 Tony Awards.

https://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/fun-home 

 

By Popular Demand:

Rumour has it temperatures are going to drop down to a much more bearable 24°C this weekend, however if you’re still in need of cooling off, these are our top tips:

Holly

Go to the other extreme and visit the Ice Bar for a cocktail served in an ice cube!

https://reserve.icebarlondon.com/#bar/times

 

Rory

Head over for a swim at London Fields lido in East London before having a BBQ in London Fields Park – the only park in London where you are allowed open fires! (I think!)

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/hackney/london-fields-lido

 

Rhod

Where better to escape the heat than in a refreshing outdoor swimming pool like Brockwell Lido or Tooting Bec Lido?

https://www.fusion-lifestyle.com/centres/brockwell-lido

https://www.placesforpeopleleisure.org/centres/tooting-bec-lido/ 

 

Kimberly

Excape the heat in the shade of a tree in Regent’s Park and while you’re there check out the Frieze’s Sculpture Exhibition.  First launched in 2017, Frieze Sculpture returns to the English Gardens of The Regent’s Park brings together featuring works by 25 contemporary and modern artists from around the world presented by world-leading galleries. Download the Art Fund’s free Frieze Sculpture Audio Tour app before you head to the park for a handy map and short audio on each piece by curator Clare Lilley.

https://frieze.com/sculpture-2018

Things To Do This Weekend

By uczlkrj, on 13 July 2018

UCLSS Social Programme Events

 

Saturday 14th July

Day Trip: Oxford – Sold Out

Sunday 15th

FIFA World Cup Final

Student Central Bar

 

 

Recommendations from UCLSS Staff

Things to do this weekend:

Rory

Two words: Festival Season. Head to Gunnersbury Park for Lovebox and catch great acts spanning Hip Hop, R&B, House, Grime, DnB and Techno. Or if you’re old like me go to Hyde Park on Sunday to see Paul Simon give his last ever performance in the UK.

 

Rhod

The Baribican and Create join forces with Waltham Forest Council to deliver the fifth Walthamstow Garden Party, a free weekend long festival in the first London borough of culture.

http://www.walthamstowgardenparty.com/whats-on 

 

Kimberly

 

Read Not Dead – Believe As You List at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on Sunday 15th July. Read Not Dead is a theatrical experiment where the actors and director come together on Sunday morning and put on a staged reading by the end of the afternoon. I’m always amazed what they come up with in such a short space of time. Set in the beautiful Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the Read Not Dead series stages lesser known, almost forgotten, plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries. Believe As You List is part of the Shakespeare and Censorship series as the royal censors demanded the play which explores England’s 1630 peace deal with Spain be set in ancient Rome as to not offend anyone with the Iberian drama.

http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on-2018/read-not-dead-believe-as-you-list 

 

Things to book now: 

Rory

Brave the queue at Wimbledon and try to catch some action at the world’s oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament.

http://www.wimbledon.com

 

Rhod

 

Summer Series at Somerset House, enjoy live music from critically acclaimed artists in a stunning open-air venue.

https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/event/45561574-summer-series-at-somerset-house 

 

Kimberly

The End of Summer Boat Party! Book by by Monday 16th July for the Boat Party on Friday 20th July, here on moodle

https://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/mod/questionnaire/view.php?id=3464381

 

By Popular Demand:

Not bother by the FIFA World Cup now that England is out? Looking to escape the football mania? We recommend these sporty alternatives:

Rory

Watch real football being played ( 😛 ) by ducking into your nearest Irish pub and catching Kerry take on Galway in the All-Ireland Gaelic Football championship. This is a sport unique to Ireland and bears few similarities to the sport we call ‘football’ or ‘soccer’. Familiarise yourself with the rules beforehand by searching for the sport on Youtube. Also, enjoy a Guinness while watching.

 

Rhod

Go, join the Social Programme and watch the match anyway. You might find other people who aren’t that bothered about the match!

 

Kimberly

Watch the Wimbledon Final, preferably outdoors with a glass of Pimms or as Rory suggests be brave and queue. It safe to say Wimbledon is a football free zone 🙂 The organizers issued a statement at the beginning of the tournament that they would not show any of the football on the grounds of Wimbledon and that the Gentlemen’s Singles Final would go ahead at 2pm on Sunday 15th July regardless of whatever happened in the FIFA World Cup.

 

The Student Perspective

By utnvher, on 12 July 2018

We have just passed the halfway point of Session 1 of the 2018 UCL Summer School so feel it is about time we share the musings of one of our students! First up, it’s Lily Carruthers from Vassar College in New York 🙂

It’s been just a week since the beginning of the programme, and yet, it feels like it’s already been a month. That’s not because I’m not enjoying myself, but because it feels like I’ve packed a month’s worth of experience into this one week. The past seven days have involved meeting people from all over the world, learning about nanophysics, world cup matches, surprisingly good weather, and much more. My module is called “Nanotechnology in Medicine”. I chose it due to my general interest in medicine, and my (considerably smaller, undergraduate only) home institution doesn’t offer a class quite like it. Last autumn, I had a seminar about “futuristic” science and technology, in which we discussed the potential of nanotechnology and its use in medicine. Nine months later, the theoretical is coming to life in my summer school module, taught by two academics doing research in the field at a top-class university.

On Thursday, the National Health Service (NHS) celebrated its 70th birthday, complete with decorated cupcakes.

In lieu of giving us a formal lecture, our module leaders encouraged us to attend the NHS Open day at the University College London Hospital (UCLH), where researchers from various medical and healthcare-related disciplines had stalls set up to present their work.

If I were to write about everything I saw and learned about at it, I’d be going on for ages. I saw a mobile/tablet app created to assist patients suffering from aphasia after a stroke, and even got to try it out myself. I got to speak one-on-one with a clinical lab manager about possible careers in clinical research. I’m amazed that I got to speak to so many people at the forefront of tomorrow’s healthcare.

I’m looking forward to two more weeks of nanomedicine, great people, and (with some luck) England’s success in the World Cup!

For more information on this course please see the Nanotechnology in Medicine webpage.

Things To Do This Weekend

By uczlkrj, on 6 July 2018

UCLSS Social Programme Events

Friday 6th

Jazz in the Quad

Saturday 7th July

Day Trip: Bath & Stonehenge – Sold Out

 

Recommendations from UCLSS Staff

Things to do this weekend:

Holly

Going for the granny chic look? Or are you a Mid-Century Modern fan? Check out the Hammersmith Vintage Furniture Flea market this Saturday. The £2 entry is well worth it for the vintage household finds.

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/the-hammersmith-vintage-furniture-flea 

 

Rory

Join the festivities at the London Pride Festival on Saturday. 500 LGBT+ parade groups will march through central London to celebrate the diversity of our community culminating in a huge free party at Trafalgar Square.

https://prideinlondon.org/

 

Rhod

I would strongly encourage all students to go to at least one free festival in London – they are part of what make summers in London great! As well as being free, the Stockwell Festival also gives Summer School students a great opportunity to see a bit of life south of the river (south being better than north!). An eclectic mix of free activities and a wide variety of music, food and drink – you can’t go wrong!

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/stockwell-festival 

 

Kimberly

Famous as the world’s largest open submission show, The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is a treasure trove of art in all mediums, with a remarkable mixture of emerging artists and household names. You can even take a piece of it home with you as most works are for sale, which is how the Royal Academy funds free, world-class postgraduate tuition in the RA Schools. Open late on Fridays and Saturdays, exploring the exhibition followed by a glass of pimms or two in the courtyard on a balmy summer’s evening  is a staple in my summer schedule. Grayson Perry curated this year’s Summer Exhibition so expect a riot of colour!

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/summer-exhibition-2018

 

Things to book now: 

Holly

 

A hundred years after his death, see a selection of Rodin’s works – including his iconic sculptures The Thinker and The Kiss – in a new light at the British Museum (which is right next to the UCL Campus!) in the new exhibition: Rodin and the art of ancient Greece.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/rodin-1.aspx 

Rory

Tickets for the London Craft Beer Festival on August 3rd, 4th and 5th. Dozens of small breweries will be there showcasing their beers and there are DJ sets from Greg Wilson, Two Door Cinema Club and more.

https://londoncraftbeerfestival.co.uk/

 

Rhod

Movies on the River.  London’s first ever cinema on the Thames!

Book here.

 

Kimberly

Scene & Heard’s Sweet & Salty – The  Tasty Plays is on from Thursday 12th July to Sunday 15th July at Theatro Technis which is just round the corner from St Pancras Way. Scene & Heard is a unique mentoring project that partners the inner-city children of Somers Town, London with volunteer theatre professionals. At the end of each term, the children each write a 10 minute play which are then performed by professional actors. Without question the funniest theatre I’ve ever seen!

Tickets are free, but do bring some spare change to drop into their donation buckets at the end.

https://www.sceneandheard.org/shows/

 

By Popular Demand:

Student Central is a great place to watch the FIFA World Cup however if you wanted to try out a different venue for this weekend’s quarter finals, we recommend:

 

Holly

Where to watch the football – Rory’s suggestion is pretty all-encompassing but my recommendations for pleasant pubs are The Roebuck and The Knights Templar.

 

 

Rory

Why not choose a random tube stop that you’ve never heard of in central London – go there and pop into the first traditional pub you can see (best advised to be over an hour early to secure a chair!)

 

Rhod

Bar Kick, Shoreditch.  This is a sports bar with lots of Bonzini football tables so you can play table football before or after the match or even during, if you want! Large screens on every floor so it’s easy to get a good view of the game.  Personally, I’ll be in my living room with the kids. I’d love to invite everyone, but it would be a squeeze…

https://www.cafekick.co.uk/bar-kick/ 

Kimberly

The Scoop at More London , next to City Hall, is an open air amphitheatre right next to the Thames, making it an ideal al fresco venue to watch any live sport event. Each summer the London Bridge City Summer Festival takes over this stretch of the river with live music, theater, film and live sport screenings.  The London Riviera, a pop-up street food bar, has set up its summer home just alongside the Scoop and they promise summer 2018 will be bigger, bolder, brighter and more exciting than ever… but still with the best view in town!

http://londonbridgecity.co.uk/events

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From Harvard to UCL – Reflections of a Summer School Student…

By utnvher, on 21 February 2018

For the latest edition of our blog we caught up with 2017 UCL Summer School student, Lita Peña from Harvard University in the US…

Hi Lita, can you start by telling us a little about yourself?

My name is Lita Peña, and I was born and raised in New York City. I’m a junior (third-year) at Harvard University. I study psychology, with a specific focus in clinical psychology.

 Why did you choose to spend your summer studying in London?

I chose to study for a summer in London because I wanted a chance to go abroad during my four years at college. I wasn’t interested in taking an entire semester off to study internationally, and so summer felt like the perfect time to take this opportunity. I had been to London once prior to studying at UCL, and I instantly fell in love. The city is historic, diverse, and vibrant, and it’s a wonderful place for young adults to explore. I chose to study at UCL specifically because of the wide breadth of courses offered and the fact that the institution was in the centre of the city itself!

What made you choose your module here at the UCL Summer School?

I have always been interested in crime science and securities, and so when I saw that UCL was offering a course on Understanding and Countering Radicalisation and Terrorism, I knew I had to take the opportunity and apply for the module. It’s a subject that is unfortunately not offered in many classes at Harvard, and so I had not been able to study it in an academic setting until this past summer at UCL.

Looking back, what were your highlights?

The material that I learned in my module was fascinating! The instructors were all experts in the field, and the assignments were rigorous and thought-provoking. My class of 12 students was extremely diverse, with students from the USA, Australia, Greece, Spain, Taiwan, Italy, and several other countries. There were a range of activities in London to fill your time with, from high tea, to museums, to outdoor movies!

How did you find the teaching and the learning environment here at UCL? How was it different to your home institution?

The module was set up as a series of several lectures taught by different instructors and researchers. This allowed us students to hear from the top experts of many given topics. Rather than many small daily assignments, we were able to showcase all we had learned in one final presentation and paper.

Do you feel your experience will benefit you in future? If so, how?

I do think that my experience will benefit me in the future. While I plan on pursuing a career in clinical psychology, I now realize that counter-terrorism is an academic subject that I would like to learn even more about and I hope to take more classes in the future. I also think that living on your own in a foreign country is an important skill to learn as a young adult, and London was the perfect place to do that.

Can you sum up the UCL Summer School (or simply your experience) in one or two sentences?

UCL Summer School was a perfect balance of rigorous and interesting learning, meeting diverse and wonderful friends, and exploring one of the greatest metropolitan cities of the world.

Information on our 2018 Programme

Information on studying Understanding and Countering Radicalisation and Terrorism at UCL in 2018

Reflections of a UCL Summer School student…

By utnvher, on 14 November 2017

Mahrukh Hamayun is a 22 year old baker, photographer, writer and law student based in Australia and culturally rooted in Pakistan. She studied International Commercial Arbitration on the 2017 UCL Summer School… here are her thoughts on the experience.

When you ask someone about Summer in London, you’re always greeted with answers such as rain, gloom and an overall grey city.

Well they were completely wrong for starters.

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Summer in London was picture perfect. Okay, maybe not the day I landed at Heathrow Airport after an excruciatingly lengthy flight from Sydney to London via Delhi. Try sitting in economy on an eighteen-hour flight without developing feelings of claustrophobia and having to wait an hour in the line for border control.

However, putting that all aside I entered London as a University College London student ready to take on the world and learn as much as possible about International Commercial Arbitration.The module encompasses the contractual and procedural elements of international arbitration, and what better place to learn about arbitration then London, home to a wide range of arbitral institutions.

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The course itself was set out over five days of the week with classes held in the afternoon as block sessions. We were provided with daily readings for theoretical aspects of the law and cases that we were told to briefly skim in preparation for the final assessment being the International Commercial Arbitration moot. It was an absolute privilege to be taught by Dr Melis Özdel, who also happens to be the Director of the UCL
Centre for Commercial Law. In comparing the teaching quality between Australian educational institutes and that of UCL Law, you could clearly see why UCL ranks number seven in the world.

It wasn’t just all hard work; we also took a mini excursion as a class to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators where we were able to learn firsthand about the procedural aspects within arbitration. Besides that, my classmates being from several different countries around the world including Brazil, Russia, France, Turkey and Pakistan just to name a few, made the entire summer school even more so enriching and memorable. The UCL Summer School experience allowed me to gain friendships to last a lifetime, memories to cherish forever and an experience never to be forgotten.

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Upon coming to Summer School, I imagined that my studies would keep me preoccupied the entire time. However, that was not the case, as I made the most of my limited one-month trip. I chose not to stay on campus and instead rented an Airbnb apartment in Crawley for the duration of my trip, which allowed me to fully immerse myself into the ‘English’ way of life. I managed to squeeze in so many activities including watching The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre, taking a ride on the London Eye, rubbing shoulders with famous faces at Madame Taussad’s London, putting my wallet in distress whilst shopping on Oxford Street, indulging in high tea at The Orangery to tasting perhaps the best Indian food at Dishoom in Leicester Square.

I came to London as a stranger and left feeling like the city and me shared something deeper.

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The UCL Summer School website now has information on our 2018 programme.

International Commercial Arbitration will run again in 2018.

Sutures, studies and sightseeing in London – my experience with UCL’s International Summer School

By utnvher, on 8 September 2017

– by Georgina Earl, University of Western Australia

 

This winter, I had the privilege of travelling from Perth, Australia, to British summer sunshine (and of course some rain!) for University College London’s International Summer School. What a time it was! As a part of the first cohort for the ‘Nerve Injury Treatment’ module, I had the chance to study, travel, eat, laugh and even practice suturing, with students from across the globe. Coming from a myriad of academic backgrounds, we each brought something different to the (operating ) table. And we enjoyed every minute. Our intensive three weeks were spent learning from professionals in the fields of peripheral nerve surgery, physiotherapy, tissue engineering and robotics, with a focus on treatment for peripheral nerve injuries.

Our Nerve Injusry Treatment class

Our Nerve Injusry Treatment class

We spent some of our time learning at the UCL campus. But, in amongst lectures, tutorial classes and assignments were nestled absolute gems of experience, unforgettable exposure into the workings of medical teams behind peripheral nerve injury, and the chance to live like a local in London.

From day one, we were at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital London, sitting in on clinics. As a neuroscience student, with a focus more on the brain and spinal cord, it was fantastic to see the practical applications of knowledge of the whole nervous system, and what happens when nerves servicing the rest of the body are damaged. We observed patient-doctor interactions. We also learned about the treatment of problems such as nerves compressed by bone fractures, brachial plexus palsies in children and lesions of nerves in road accident survivors.

Eastman Dental Hospital - where we had our lab sessions

Eastman Dental Hospital – where we had our lab sessions

Our class had the chance to travel up to Stanmore orthopaedic hospital, where we tried out haptics technology. These robots enable you to feel objects in virtual reality, even if there is no object there. Engineers and physios are currently in the process of using this for phantom limb pain and rehab after peripheral nerve damage. In the labs, we saw new technologies of engineered neural tissue (EngNT), being produced to help provide a conduit for peripheral nerves to regenerate themselves. We tried splints and tests that physios perform to help in the rehab process.

In addition to this, we had the opportunity to stand in on surgery… the quick, calm surgeons gathered around their patient, clad in their scrubs, ready for action. With our little pink caps on tight, we leaned in, straining to see whatever we could of a compressed sciatic nerve, lesioned axillary nerve or just a bit of blood and gore! We also took a lesson in scrubbing up and suturing, stitching up a make-shift nerve out of foam, as if to repair it.

Scrubbed up for our practice in suturing a 'nerve'

Scrubbed up for our practice in suturing a ‘nerve’

And of course, being in London, we had the wonders of one of the world’s most interesting cities right on our doorstep. With our new worldwide friends, we were able to enjoy the many museums, restaurants, theatres, markets and nearby beauties throughout the three weeks.

But beneath all the fun and excitement, we had the great privilege of seeing and hearing about some of the most private experiences of ordinary people; experiences of pain, trauma and loss. We saw the role of the healthcare system in caring for patients, and the potential positive impact the work of many disciplines, and many hands, working together can have.

A big thank you is owed to our fantastic, engaging coordinator and surgeon Mr Tom Quick, all the lecturing and academic staff, the hospitals and labs for letting us in, and the staff at UCL Summer School. For this opportunity I am most grateful. And if you are keen for some international exposure, I highly recommend UCL’s International Summer School!

Enjoying the Thames on the UCL End of Summer boat party

Enjoying the Thames on the UCL End of Summer boat party

Georgina Earl

The Student Perspective: Monika Ciemiega

By utnvher, on 11 August 2017

Monika Ciemiega is a student from Universität Zürich in Switzerland and enrolled on the ‘Language and the Mind’ module in Session One of the UCL Summer School…

Of course the UCL Summer School is about education – we had to get up every morning after all – then do our readings and hopefully succeed in our assessments. We had the opportunity to be introduced to a fascinating new topic, so we were certainly happy to spend our mornings soaking up knowledge from our lecturer. However, with afternoons and evenings to ourselves, education wasn’t the only thing that provided an outstanding experience at UCL this summer.

Enjoying a sunny day at the Tower of london

Enjoying a sunny day at the Tower of London

To me, the Summer School was primarily meeting people from all over and opening my eyes a little more to the vast world around me. Whether through new food experiences or listening, with more understanding, to the various accents and dialects my co-students spoke, this July brought me a little closer to the foreign cultures of faraway places. While we were excitedly finding our way around and trying to discover as much as possible about London, we exchanged stories about home and made comparisons that not only taught us about each other’s everyday experiences, but also rendered our own “invisible” cultures interesting and curious. We discussed our universities, politics, religions, foods, relationships, and bits and pieces we found out were considered general knowledge in the cultures of the others. The people were so wonderfully diverse that we all ended up doing, and greatly enjoying, unlikely things while exploring London when following the lead of someone else. In a city as busy and big as London, the opportunities for social activity were endless: From watching plays and musicals to sightseeing and visiting every possible area and park – comfortable shoes are essential.

Monika 2

Enjoying some culinary delights with new friend Yingli Sieh

In these weeks we grew familiar with UCL and London and started to feel like we belonged – crossing on a red light or eating at the food market like true locals. It was as if time flew by without us noticing, while simultaneously making us feel as if we’ve been here forever. Then suddenly, the Summer School was already over. Despite its short duration of only three weeks, this summer was probably the best one I ever had, and it left me with amazing memories. I will greatly miss our nightly study sessions, where we spent only half the time studying, and the other eating snacks and chatting, or looking up our unis on Google Street View. That is how I would summarise my experience: Part studying a new and interesting topic, and part multicultural exchange with great people against the backdrop of London.

7 Quesitons with… Skylar Morley (Northeastern University)

By utnvher, on 8 August 2017

Skylar Welcome Reception

At the UCL Summer School Welcome Reception

Hi Skylar, can you start by telling us a little about yourself?

My name is Skylar Morley, a 3rd year student at Northeastern University in the city of Boston in the US. I am studying entrepreneurship and music industry there, but I am originally from a small town almost three hours south in the state of Connecticut.

Why did you choose to spend your summer studying in London?

I wanted a chance to get out of my comfort zone in the US – to see something new, and London was a chance to do that without overreaching. London is also a world-renown city not only for its education offerings, but for its distinct cultural history – from the fashion to the music. Being able to experience that was an incredibly attractive idea.

Which modules are you studying and how have they been so far?

First session I had the chance to study Entrepreneurship, which was an incredibly good time, and this session I am taking Macroeconomics. The former course, as I said, was a great time – the people were good, the coursework was engaging, our teacher was dynamic. The latter course I am taking is a bit more traditional in both topic and presentation, but given time, I see it being quite informative.

Speaking truthfully, both courses were selected based on that fact that I needed specific credits for my program back at Northeastern.

What have been your highlights since coming to London less than two months ago?

The times I’ve had with friends have certainly been my highlight. Yes, London is a wonderful city, and yes, there have been some stand out trips and museums, but the big thing for me has just been getting to do all of that in good company. Even on days when we had to just stay in and work, the company has been key.

I also had to chance to attend Lovebox Music Festival here in London, which both as a fan of music and a member of the industry, was a great experience. The grounds were nice, I met some good people, and the line-up was absolutely a treat.

Frank Ocean Lovebox

Frank Ocean at Lovebox Festival 2017, Victoria Park, London

Louvre

Among the museums Skylar visited was the Louvre in Paris

How have you found the teaching and the learning environment here at UCL?

UCL offers an educational environment similar to that of my home institution, for a variety of reasons, but I find the atmosphere of the place has home beat by a mile. The history is rich and evident in the world around you, in such a way that it enriches the learning experience for me personally.

Do you feel this experience will benefit you in future?

This has been a personally challenging experience – being away from home is one thing, but a quarter of the way across the world is its own beast. I can only imagine being able to look back on these times fondly once I am home, and certainly expect to benefit from it in the long run. Traveling is, in my opinion one of the best ways to learn about yourself. This trip is teaching me a great deal.

Can you sum up the UCL Summer School (or simply your experience) in one or two sentences?

It’s a chance to learn from the best teachers, with the best of your peers, in one of the best cities in the world.

Things to do this weekend

By uczlkrj, on 4 August 2017

UCLSS Social Programme Events

Saturday 5th August

Day Trip: Bath & Stonehenge – Sold Out

 

Recommendations from UCLSS Staff

Things to do this weekend:

Holly

Brockley Market, Brockley in South London hosts a food market every Saturday lunchtime, offering food from numerous cuisines including halloumi fries!

http://www.brockleymarket.com/

Kimberly

To celebrate 70 years since its founding, BAFTA’s headquarters at 195 Piccadilly is opening its doors to the public for a weekend of screenings, and talks on the theme of reinvention. A specially curated photography exhibition exploring rich cinematic heritage is set throughout the building and you can even explore their historic archives.

http://www.bafta.org/whats-on 

 

Things to book now: 

All Staff

For the remaining time on Session Two, we found it hard to find recommendations that are “assessment-friendly” HOWEVER we can highly recommend the UCL Summer School end-of-session boat party!

 

By Popular Demand:

London, like most big cities, has a reputation for being expensive however there are a million and one things to do and see in London that are absolutely free. Most museums have free entry for their permanent collections and these are our top tips:

 

Holly

White Cube, A unique art gallery in London Bridge that showcases artworks from the freshest modern artists in a giant white space – currently showing Tracey Emin, amongst others.

http://whitecube.com/

 

Kimberly

Now in its sixth year, the World Illustration Awards Exhibition at Somerset House showcases highlights from the shortlist to the Association of Illustrators’ annual competition. The exhibition includes works from emerging and established talent and covers a wide range of mediums, from drawings to murals and posters to packaging.

https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/world-illustration-awards-2017-exhibition