I'm finally meeting some other people, both in my residence hall and at the Institute of Education. It turns out that most, if not all, of the women in my wing of the hall are Master's degree students. One or two of them are studying at the Institute, but not the same program as I am. Two others are pre-med and are attending the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (yes, that's really the name of the school) and another one is studying forensic science at King's College. There are several more in the same wing as me, but I haven't met them yet. And, since we're all doing Master's courses at different schools, our paths probably won't cross very often. Everyone has been very friendly so far, though, and I'm just glad that I will recognize more people in the dining hall and actually have someone to sit with.
During my meetings at the IoE on Tuesday, I met a couple of girls from North Carolina. They know each other from undergrad and both decided to come to London to study for the year. They are very down-to-earth and I can see myself getting together with them socially, if time allows. There are not as many Americans studying here as I thought there would be. Not even many EU people, from what I can tell. Most international students are from Asia. I've seen, and met, a lot of people from Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, China and Japan. It's nice to run into Americans though because we can symphathize with each other about how expensive everything is and about missing our favorite TV shows. Or give advice on where to buy hangers and cheap food.
I still am unclear as to what my weekly schedule will look like. The meetings I've had so far have covered mainly non-academic things or policies that are general to all students at the IoE. Tonight I have my first class, or 'module' as they are called here. I am eager to get into a regular schedule.