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There is a common myth among Americans that British food is not very tasteful. My experiences contradict that myth, to a certain extent, anyway.

American beef is far better than British beef. I have had beef a couple of times that was tough. I thought I would try it one more time and had a rib eye, one of the tenderest cuts of steak that we can purchase. It was comparable to eating old shoe leather.

Even British people who have travelled to America comment on how much better our beef tastes compared to theirs.

Besides the bad beef, everything else I have had has been delicious. I have worked out a deal with meals from my host mom so this allows me to try a lot of the traditional British foods. A traditional British dinner would consist of roast lamb, Yorkshire pudding, vegetables such as carrots, swede, or parsnips, and chips. Other popular British foods include Shepherd's pie, fish and chips, roast pork and chicken.

At the end of each meal, a dessert or pudding as they are called here is served. Generally, this is a type of cake or crumble with custard over it.

Most things here are prepared from scratch. Instead of going to the store and buying a cake mix, people here combine the ingredients. Incidentally, if you do purchase a cake mix it comes with everything you need including the frosting.

The courses I am in here, unfortunately, aren't as tasteful as the food. Each of my four courses meets once a week for three hours. After an hour and a half, we get a 15 to 20 minute break. We do get a lot of information in that time. As Mark Meyer, another IVCC student said, "it's like watching PBS."

The major problem with the courses is that I don't have to show up for class. In the first couple of weeks we were assigned a research paper, about 1,500 to 2,000 words, due at the end, and it is my entire grade for the course.

For American students here, there are no quizzes or exams. This doesn't offer much of a challenge compared to what I am used to at IVCC.

British students here have more course work than we Americans do. They have timed essay assignments and presentations due throughout the year. Also, they have to write 3,000 words for each course, which can be divided in two essays or compiled in one final essay. At the end of tern they have exams. These aren't the multiple choice true false that we are used to. The students have three hours to complete three essays for each of their four courses.

The British students attend class -- basically everyone is there unless they are ill; skipping class as we do is unheard of.

The classroom design here offers a lot better setting to learn in. We sit at tables that are arranged in a u-shape around the outside of the room with the lecturer in the middle front.

Since I’m interested in journalism one of the first things I did was watch the TV news, which I find better than American news. The British are much more interested in what is happening outside of their country than we Americans are.

Since there are no commercials, I see about ten more minutes of news in a half hour broadcast. The broadcasters also present a story in depth. When a broadcast is finished, I feel I have all the facts and can understand what is happening.

On America's news it seems that I only hear of places that have an impact on our country; we sent foreign aid somewhere, the economy in another country is depressed therefore affecting our economy, the president is off travelling to foreign lands, or we have troops stationed somewhere.

Overall, except for everything costing more, I’m really enjoying the advantages of studying here including opportunities to travel, meet people, and learn about a similar yet different culture.

If you are interested in having a similar adventure studying abroad England, talk with Steve Alvin in D-305.