My Semester In Marymount London
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After attending school in Los Angeles for my whole life, I found it hard to imagine what international schools were like and how they differed from what I was acquainted to. However, during my six months abroad at Marymount London last year, I noticed a myriad of differences in almost every aspect of my school life. Some were minuscule, and others took me the entire visit to get used to. Experiencing a different culture and a new school atmosphere was incredibly enriching; I miss the excitement of discovering new things every day. There are so many things that stood out to me in at your school. Let me tell you about them!
#1- School supplies. One of the first things that I noticed after starting school at Marymount London was, as silly as it sounds, the size of the paper. I had never written on A4 paper before, and to have all of my notebooks be that size was so different from what I was used to! In the US, our standard paper is ‘US letter’, which is 8.5 inches by 11 inches (or about 22 cm by 28 cm). I made sure to take as many of my notebooks as I could possibly fit in my suitcase back home with me, because I couldn’t wait to show all of my friends. Another paper-related difference I noticed is that in the UK, papers are only hole-punched with 2 holes. This was not hard to get accustomed too, however, here we only have 3-hole-punch binders, so having a 2-hole-punch binder was very unique.
#2- “Miss”. This is probably my favourite thing that I was able to participate in while I was at MMI: calling teachers “Miss”. When I went into my first class on my first day of school, English A with Miss Hickox (the queen), all of my classmates addressed her as “Miss.” It was the cutest thing I have ever heard. I had heard British students say that in the movies, but I was so excited that it happens in real life! I, of course, immediately joined in because I felt like I was in a movie every time I said it. Addressing the teachers as “Miss” was very convenient because I was still struggling to learn everybody’s name, but even once I learned them, I continued to say “miss” purely for the fun of it.
#3- IB vs American System. The most significant difference, and the one that was the hardest for me to get accustomed to, was the IB (or MYP) system of schooling. I had never heard of the IB/ MYP in my life, and I had to ask my teachers to explain the course multiple times before I understood it. ( I am so sorry to all of the people I pestered about this!) In Marymount LA, every grade is given as a percentage of the total score. The concept of getting a maximum grade out of 7 when the criterion is marked out of 8 was tough for me to understand. I was also able to take a much broader range of classes under the MYP system. During the first half of my sophomore year (Grade 10) in LA, I took a total of 7 courses. Some were AP classes, and others were honors. I took each of them over an alternating 2-day schedule, but at MMI, however, I was taking about 14 courses, throughout a 2 week schedule! This was difficult, but I was able to take interesting new classes like Philosophy, PSHEE and Geography.
Those were just a few things that kept my life spicy in London! There are so many more where those came from, but if I listed them all, you’d be reading this all day!
Frederica is a junior at Marymount Los Angeles who spent her last semester at Marymount London. She is German American and loves to explore her own culture...
This is so interesting to read all about the different experiences you had both here and back in LA! Miss you so much Freddie 🙂
I really enjoyed reading your article, Freddie! It was very interesting learning about your perspective of life in London and attending MMI as a student used to the American system. We all miss you and hope that you can visit us whenever possible!
Great story! My story is somewhat similar to yours. After growing up in Orange County, California and going to public schools for many years, my dad was transferred to London in 1967 and I attended Marymount for my 8th grade year 1967-68. It was the best year of schooling of my life! But, like you, I noticed some significant differences in school from my previous school experiences. In my days at Marymount most of the classes were taught by nuns, so I had to get used to saying “Sister” (instead of “Miss” as you pointed out). Once when one of my teachers asked me a question, I responded in typical laid-back California fashion by saying “Yeah.” She said “You mean, ‘Yes, Sister.'” So I learned! In my previous Junior High School in California, we had to go to different classrooms for each class. At Marymount all of our classes were in the same room and the teachers came and went. Each time the teacher would enter the room, we stood up. That was completely new to me, but I liked the show of respect. One of the trickiest things I had to get used to was using a fountain pen. They didn’t allow us to use ball-point pens, so I had a lot of big blue blobs in my copybook at first, but learned not to press so hard on the pen. As I said, it was the best year of schooling in my life and I still feel very lucky to have spent one year at Marymount!