Summer was arriving and I still hadn’t envisioned what I wanted to do after graduating. I kept thinking maybe university was not for me and I could get my own food truck and become a chef. After all, I still hadn’t found a subject to dedicate three years of my life to. UCAS applications were going to open in early September and I had to make the choice for the summer. I suddenly came to the realisation the best way to decide would be to attend a summer course.
I kept frantically searching and after trying to find the ideal summer camp I finally stumbled on the Pre-University Summer School at King’s. I had never studied politics but being given the opportunity to learn about what moves the world seemed like an amazing opportunity.
Summer came and before I could realise, I was on my way to Waterloo station. When getting to the Stamford Street Apartments I was greeted by a mass of bright orange shirted people, these were the ambassador, KCL students who would be our guides the two following weeks. I was taken to my room where I met my four other flat mates and Spencer, my ambassador. The room had a single bed, a wooden desk, a wardrobe and an inbuilt bathroom. Opposite to my room was the kitchen, which had all the basics and a table with 5 chairs. Aside from keeping some food in the fridge the only utility the kitchen had was to host our daily rendezvous.
Throughout the two weeks, the summer camp organised several activities which were all enjoyable. The first and most memorable was the icebreaker event where we went on a treasure hunt and had to take pictures around the city. Two and a half hours later we were lost somewhere around Borough looking for the London Dungeons. It came to us as a surprise when they announced we hadn’t won (everyone knew we took the best pictures) but the experience of learning about all my flatmates and Spencer was more than enough.
The politics course was taught in the building opposite our accommodation which made travelling easier. The course itself was extremely complete and interesting. We wrote an essay on “The tragedy of the Commons” and created a presentation on the sustainability of New Delhi. It was also during the course where I met students from all over the world such as two friends from New York and who I still keep in contact with. The course was also complemented with several lectures. One of them taught by a postgraduate philosophy student from Kings ended with the whole class arguing about Kant’s philosophy and the “trolley problem”. During this time, we also visited the “Imperial War Museum” where we saw the breath-taking WW1 exhibition which complemented the lecture on the “centenary of the Somme” by professor Spence.
Being fascinated by history and being able to attend the lecture finally made me settle to study War Studies and History at Kings. Since then, I have made KCL my firm choice and hope to meet my offer.
What truly made the experience memorable was the people. Living together and going to class with people you’ve never met before help create a strong friendship bond. Up to today I keep in contact with most of my friends from the summer course and we are trying to organise a trip for this summer. I urge everyone I know (who is in doubt or who wants to see what university life is like) to attend the King’s College summer camp as I believe it’s truly an amazing experience.