The Cotswolds, Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap”, & Classes – 2nd Week at NYU London!

Hi everyone, hope you are all doing well! This marks my second week in London, and I’m excited to tell you more about how my classes are as well as some weekend excursions I participated in.

I’ll start off by giving a brief overview of my classes and academic internship for the semester. I’m taking Health Policy in a Global World, Global Perspectives in Child & Adolescent Mental Health, a London architecture course, and an internship seminar course. The Health Policy in a Global World class examines the characteristics of different healthcare systems and explores the key challenges in delivering healthcare at the international level. The Global Perspectives in Child & Adolescent Mental Health class looks at children’s rights, the significance of mental health, cross cultural considerations and social determinants of mental health. Next, my London architecture course teaches us the historical aspects of architectural design by exploring the city’s historic and modern built environment. Lastly, my internship seminar is required for my academic internship in which I’m learning about the essentials of professionalism in the workplace. So far I’m enjoying all of my classes and the close connections they hold to my interest in global public health.

When I’m not in class, you’ll find me engaging in NYU London’s weekend excursions! This weekend, I was lucky enough to celebrate my 21st birthday in the Cotswolds. The NYU London staff took a huge group of us to the little, quaint villages of Burford, Bourton-on-the-Water and Lower Slaughter. The Cotswolds are well known for their gentle hillsides (‘wolds’) and for their beautiful buildings made from local, unique, honey-colored stone. We learned how systems of agriculture (called the Open-Field System) led to cooperative farming practices among the peasant classes which soon were terminated by a series of acts that ultimately led to the peasantry becoming a source of disenfranchised labor for the growing industrialized nation. This period was influential in the works of Karl Marx, a social theorist whom I studied in depth during my last semester, so it was interesting getting to see this part of history in the flesh!

On Thursday night, I had an excellent time watching the famous Agatha Christie murder mystery play “The Mousetrap” at the St. Martin’s Theater. As someone who adores Christie’s books and finds joy in solving crime fiction plots, I relished the opportunity to observe the thrilling stage performance! It felt even more special knowing that I was watching the world’s longest running play – it’s no wonder how popular it is considering the suspense that the talented actors/actresses displayed in their performances. I’m already making plans to go see another one of Christie’s dramas, “Witness for the Prosecution”, very soon!

Thanks so much, everyone, for taking the time to read my second blog. Tomorrow I’m looking forward to starting the first official day of my academic internship working at the Institute for Women and Children’s Health at King’s College London. Be sure to stay tuned on my experience interning on next week’s blog post!