CAPA is a tricky sort of program to define. My mother persists in telling people I’m going to the University of London, which is not even slightly true. I have an associate member card to the student union of the Imperial College which is LOOSELY affiliated with the University of London, and that’s as far as that goes. Also incidentally apparently Imperial is the fifth best school in the world, or so they claim.
The Center for Academic Programs Abroad (CAPA) partners with American universities to develop programs that meet the home universities’ academic standards to the extent that Pitt can call the program ‘Pitt in London,’ but because it’s doing the same thing for a few other schools it’s not really Pitt, and it’s all terribly perplexing.
The three biggest contributor schools are Pitt, Massachusetts and Minnesota, but there are a handful of kids from other universities, mainly Rider, Buffalo, and Ursinus. Of course anyone from Ursinus I always ask if they know Josh Ecker, and so far all of them have said oh my god yes he’s so great how do you know him? How do I know Josh Ecker? How? I went to preschool with Josh Ecker. I’ve been camping with Josh Ecker. I’ve seen in a decade’s worth of New Years with Josh Ecker! My Josh Ecker street cred is unparalleled, and subsequently the Ursinus kids have much respect for me.
And while we’re playing Jewish geography of sorts, a friend of Chloe’s whose studying in Paris was here the other night and she brought a friend with her who grew up in Blue Bell. I asked if she knew Gabrielle or Noah Stang and she said absolutely, and wasn’t Gabby’s mom so nice. (Hi Wendy!) So here’s this random girl in a pub with me in London and we probably were on the same birthday party circuit when we were seven. ‘Small world’ feels like an understatement.
Yesterday we woke up and were like eh, want to go to the Tower? I think that may be my favorite part of living here, that we’re justified in doing all the touristy things but at the same time we have weeks to do them. So we toured the Tower of London essentially on a whim, also walked across Tower Bridge and then walked back just so we could say we’d done it. They’ve painted it a gaudy blue in preparation for the 2012 Olympics. The crown jewels exhibit is excellent, there’s a moving walkway like at an airport that takes you past them so no one can loiter and block the view which I always find most troubling at the popular exhibits in museums.
But the thing about being only half tourist as it were is a subsequent frustration with full bred tourists. Oxford Street may in fact be the best shopping locale in the world, it is indisputably ridiculously convenient to my flat, and it is absolutely riddled with tourists. I have never considered myself particularly claustrophobic but even I could not have taken another second inside Primark or TopShop. We’ve given up entirely on going there to accomplish any real shopping, but will probably still wander back occasionally if only because I find something about Selfridge’s delightfully silly. Also it beats out Posvar Hall AND Scaife Hall for the coveted title of ‘Best Escalator Riding in the Free World,’ a title I feel myself uniquely qualified to bestow given my courier experiences.
We’re about to head out to try Camden Market now, it’s supposed to be sort of punk-ish.
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SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW that Mustang down, Sally!!! Did you EVAH hear your mother say that you'll be attending the "University of London"?? Alright, maybe just once or twice or three or four times, but ya gottadmit its a tad of a muddle there with all that pea soup fog and CAPA- SIGMA- Paddington & stuff! Was THAT the name of your sorority? Or was it the Russian town of Belgravia? A muddle, I say, a true muddle!! Headed off to Dad & mine little bungle in the Dell of Shannan, (could that be a part of the UK)?? GREAT small world commentary!! Yaaaay Blue Bell-ites!! Love ya!
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