Question Kid: Most of the infamous people were in my second class. I think that is because it was mostly us sitting and listening to our tutor so there was tons of time to study everyone else. Question kid was a weird one. He got his name because everything he asked was like answering a question. It wasn't in the form of a question like Jeopardy, just his voice had the inflection like he was always asking a question with his answers. Who is the President? Barack Obama? What is your favorite past time? Reading my school work and writing papers? He was confident because he spoke all the time, but it was always with a question tone. He also wrote all the time. Two class periods were spent listening to an opera that had to do with the class subject matter, he wrote through the entire thing. When we went to Kelmscott Manor, he wrote through the entire tour. He even drew the creases of the Medieval contract we were shown. Yes, he drew a sketch of an historical document, just the creases though. Also, he related everything to the reading. It was very evident that none of us ever did the reading and the fact that our tutor called the information "complete rubbish" every time we began to discuss it did not inspire us to begin to. But, no matter what tangent we were on somehow someway he could always bring in Ruskin's love of the Gothic of Pugin's opinion on religion, but always with a tone of voice fit for a question.
Mumble kid: This guy did just that, he mumbled everything. He thought he was much smarter than everyone around him and obviously did not do the reading, but would find some passage and just pull every detail out of it possible. He made a point by connecting all of his words together, said it in a low tone, and would move his hand and head in a synchronized motion to show none of it really mattered. One night after perhaps one snake bite too many I told him of his mumbling problem. I suggested working on it, "teeth to tongue, teeth to tongue" it did not change anything. His answers still sounded like it was all one word and it was still no big deal that he knew it.
Studded heel girl-She was as pale as a ghost, with black hair, and always wore heels. I'm wary of people that wear heels in the states in everyday life(besides Allison who can wear 6 inch platforms and run a mile in them)but in England I am even more annoyed. Every street is cobblestone, real cobblestone with holes and uneven rocks. This did not stop her. Everyday she wore 4 inch heels to class. She walked fine in them, but that was probably because they had to be at least 12 years old because I don't think they have made heels with brass stud decoration since maybe 1997. She also knew everything about art. She would purse her lips together and deliver a perfect book answer to any question dealing with art and her beady black eyes would stare down anyone who tried to argue with her. Heather said in her presentations in the other class they were so rehearsed even the "In my opinion..." parts sounded as though they were straight out of a library book. She will probably be working at the Frick Collection in ten years, scaring small children and keeping people at least 3 feet away from all exhibit pieces. And she will be wearing those heels.
There are countless other people like the Umberger act alike who wore three piece suits to class and carried a duck umbrella as a walking stick, but those three were the ones that stood out in my book.
I am in Northern England now and the people seem just as interesting. One guy has already started a Fan Page on facebook for our international student summer school so we can be sure to know the weather every morning and which college pub he thinks we should go to at night. I thought he was just an eager beaver until today in class when he asked if the Romans in AD43 (the year of invasion for Britain) used the AD and BC dating system. So, no not eager, just an idiot.
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