I thought U2 put Fordham on the map.
But apparently, Fordham has a magazine and needs to boost its reputation by documenting a day in the life of the study abroad kids in London.
I was subject to complete interrogation by some pretty reporter who had an English accent, though she grew up in Portland, OR.
Then today, the London Centre had arranged a tour of some of London's sights. They were going to provide us with lunch and underground passes to get to the sights. We had to perform a little bit beforehand.
A mock class, on the day we have off, so that the photographer could put some authentic shots in the Fordham magazine. We all trudged into the classroom, already woken up by the Lithuanian cleaning lady, the defective fire alarm that blared for 18 minutes, and the arbitrary day camp in which children screech English phrases while they play football outside my window. And then we were given random books, some of poetry, some of history, some of explicit (maybe even illicit) material, and we then posed false questions and got irrelevant answers, ("Why am I awake?" "Marks & Spencer has good underwear.")
And then, we walked to Pret A Manger (which has moved to NYC) and I ate a hot, spicy falafel wrap with "all-natural" apple juice. Then we got on the Tube (which we paid for ourselves) and travelled to Westminster. I began to get excited--these were a bunch of sites I had wanted to check off my list (I was in a sari and sneakers state of mind). Of course, we were not to go inside Parliament, or even walk towards the Abbey, or ride the London Eye--we had to pretend we were tourists ("but, Bill, we are tourists!") and then we had to pretend to take pictures of the Thames ("but, Bill, I am taking a picture of the Thames!") and then we had to pretend to like each other and laugh with one another ("but, Bill, we are genuinely having fun together!"). Essentially, he wanted to capture "token" moments on camera--the token hippie, the token British phone booth, the token look of wonderment.
He then offered to buy us drinks and dinner if we would let him take pictures when we go out. Paid for by Fordham, the hottest Catholic school in the nation.
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Favorite part of the post: "They were going to provide us with lunch"
ReplyDeletemm i want a hot, spicy falafel in my mouth!
And i'm really happy we are using everyone else's tuition money to our advantage this summer. Ian, the caf guy, gives me free food every day; Leon lets in all my friends without signing them in; excessive free lunches from every Fordham department...and the list goes on and on..
okay but did he really buy you dinner and drinks?!?! WHO IS THIS MAN?! It was probably Jesus (Bill) and Mary (pretty reporter).