Trucking Onward

As school becomes more and more busy it's getting harder to update (also, this week is rathe boring, sorry!), but thanks for everyone who is still reading! :)

Day #30 - Monday, October 18: I woke up really early today to head to the library and finish a project that was due. I had to do research and present information on Bill Drummond, a really strange artist I was assigned. The library is amazing though! I looks like a scene out of Harry Potter! After class from 2-6:30, I relaxed for a bit and got to Skype with mom and dad for an hour. Then off to bed!

one of the amazing rooms of the library!

Day #31 - Tuesday, October 19: I woke up today with a horrible head cold and decided to stay cozyed up with books and tea today. I did venture out to get groceries, and the second I started walking out the door to walk home, it started downpouring. Of course I still haven't learned my lesson about taking an umbrella (I always think since I'll be gone for 30 minutes it won't rain...wrong again!) About half of the way home, a lady came up to me and said "It's a shame you're getting so wet!" and gave me a brand new umbrella she had in her bag! It's very rare to find nice people like this in such a large city, and I was very thankful for her help! The next time it's raining I'm going to try and give it away to someone else. The traveling umbrella of London!

Day #32 - Wednesday, October 20: Another non-exciting day...class from 10-1, and then I worked on my group film project from 1-6. By the time I got home I was exhausted, and still not feeling well, I just worked on a bit of homework and another blog for class (yay blogs!)

Day #33 - Thursday, October 21: Today was the day of fire alarms! I was woken up by one at 330 am, 745 am, and then there was another one during the day at school! I had class from 10-12 and 3-7, got home, and worked did some doodling.

Day #34 and #35 - Friday, October 22 and Saturday, October 23: Aside from having class from 2-5 on Friday, I did a whole lot of sleeping and NyQuil taking these two day. Every fall I get a horrible sinus infection and this years took full hold this weekend! Luckily it was when I didn't have class. And I'm feeling all better now :)

Day #36 - Sunday, October 24: Today I went on a River Boat Cruise down the River Thames to try and find some inspiration for a school project. I was shocked to find out that the Transport for London (which runs the underground, trams, buses, etc.) also runs a river boat service, and as a student it was really cheap!

London Eye from the river...I'd love to see it from this angle at night!

Me in front of the London Bridge...which isn't falling down!

Despite the murky, gross water, there was colorful boats and buildings all along the shore!

The river cruise dropped me off in Greenwich Village (Gren-ich). I wandered around the area and stumbled upon the Greenwhich Market, a cute little indoor market that is there every weekend. I found a couple of items for Christmas gifts for people back home (always fun to check of the list!) and had an Italian rice ball with spinach and ricotta in it, and a caramel filled churro for desert. Both were delicious!

Greenwich Market!

A quick view of the inside. Lots of interesting stands and shops! I'll be going back!

It took forever to get home from my little adventure. The boat had taken me directly there, but I had to take a bus, train, and the underground to get home! River traveling is a really smart idea and a good time saver! After I got home, I started working on my project. For anyone who is reading and would like to help me (it's an on going project through out the semester, so you can do it whenever) click here! Just click on the "READ ME FIRST" photo to get started. Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Day #37 - Monday, October 25th: I had class today from 10-1, where I had to present my idea for my website (the one above). It went over really well, and I was happy with the positive feedback. I was supposed to meet up for a group project at 430, and instead of going home I decided to spend some more time in the library. Well, I now have 7 books checked out of the library! The whole library is all art and design books...something the U of M doesn't have and that I know I'm going to love having! It's great to have so many design books right at my finger tips, and for free! The library will also order any books that you request so you can check them out, so I'm going to be on the prowl for interesting books I can get for free. I got home around 630, got some dinner, and am now here updating this! Skype soon with my mom and dad, then bed.

All of my library books! Thank you amazing library!

English Language Revised!

take away - to go (they don't understand when you ask for food "to go")

jelly - jello...they have the strangest form of jello over here. it's in weird cubes, I'll take a picture the next time I see it!

Let's get the flock out of here!

Kathi - I'll definitely be on the lookout for that! And I'm also really glad I get to experience fall! The pictures below from my trip this weekend also show some more fall beauty!

Day #24 - Tuesday, October 12

I woke up at 8:30 this morning (whoa, I know) to wait for a care package that Mom and Dad had sent me that was supposed to arrive. It came around 10 and I was more than thrilled to have Mac n Cheese, my favorite blanket (!!!), my peacoat, some more towels, and some other various items from home I'd been missing. I showered and bummed around for a little bit (mostly just laying in bed wrapped up in my blanket that smelled like home, while watching Grey's). I worked on a little bit of homework, and then had a lecture from 4-6. It was rather interesting...about a third of the class was drinking beer during the lecture. This is a country of people who love their drinks. They had two former students come in and share there experiences, which is always motivating to see what lies ahead. I got home from class and made dinner (my Mac n Cheese of course!). Today was Eric and my anniversary so we had a little Skype date night and I headed to bed!

Day #25 - Wednesday, October 13

Woke up today around noon, ate lunch, and headed to class. I had my Technology class from 2-4, where we learned about film editing called Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing, which is a BBC documentary. It was really interesting and informational! After that, my group headed to Peckham to work on gathering more information for our group project, and were there until around 8. Then I came home and worked on some research for class! Not a very interesting day, but that just makes the interesting ones more exciting I guess!

Day #26 - Thursday, October 14

Today was yet another uneventful day. I woke up and had class 10-3:30. In my morning class we did watch a really interesting and eye opening film...also slightly disturbing and "Big Brother" like. Click here to watch the trailer if you're interested! After class I came, took a nap, and grabbed some dinner with Paige. Then I came home, packed, read a bit, and went to bed!

Day #27 - Friday, October 15

I woke up around 8 today to go and wait for another package from home. Eric sent me a new phone (an iPhone to be exact!) because I've been really frustrated with the one I have, and since I'll be here a while I decided it was worth having a nice phone. After figuring out my phone and playing with it for a bit, I showered, ate lunch, and headed to class. I had my elective, Contemporary Typography, from 2-4, after which I headed to the tube station to get ready to leave for the adventure weekend put on by Butler (the program I'm studying abroad through). I called Dad to wish him a happy birthday and talked to Dad ad Mom for a bit while I was waiting to board the bus. We got on the bus around 6:00 to head to the Lake District National Park. It was a 7 hour bus ride there, mostly in the dark. As we were unloading in the pitch black at 1 in the morning and looked up and saw STARS. Having not seen stars in almost a month, I was a little giddy. No one seemed to think they were that exciting, but I was very glad to be away from the concrete jungle! 

Day #28 - Saturday, October 16

We woke up around 8 for breakfast. My morning activity that I chose was canoeing, on the one lake in the area. There were 7 of us plus the instructor canoeing, so 4 canoes total. We were out on the water for about 2 hours, doing some exploring. It was amazingly gorgeous. I can't even explain it, but I was in a total state of awe and happiness. Below are some of the billion pictures I took while out there. Enjoy!

The dock and lake we canoed on

Surrounding landscape

Beautiful 

I promise I was there!

More of the beautiful lake and mountains!

So much fun!

After canoeing, we headed back and ate our sack lunch at the lodge we were staying at. Here's the view around us while we were eating!

View from the front of the lodge!

My afternoon activity was ghyll scrambling. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into. We all got sent down to the equipment booth to get fitted. Layer one: fuzzy, navy blue, super tight onesie. Layer two: canvas suspenders about 2 feet too long for me. Layer 3: a 'waterproof' jacket 2 sizes too large. Layer 4: mens size 11 rain boots. I looked absolutely ridiculous and I'm really sad I didn't have my camera to document it (although it's probably for the better!). Then they gave us a life jacket and a helmet. Now I was thinking I was going to wading through a stream, and started to get a little concerned that we needed a life jacket and helmet. There were 16 of us total doing the ghyll scrambling, and we loaded into 2 vans to head to the ghyll (stream). Our driver was crazy and I was about to throw up before we even got there. Once we got to the area, we had a nice little 15 minute hike uphill in super hot layers. Wearing huge rainboots made it a little difficult to walk, and people kept commenting on how I looked ridiculously out of proportion. We got to the ghyll finally, and they started to describe what we were going to be doing. Essentially, a ghyll is a nature made water park...with rocks jutting out everywhere. At the beginning there were a couple of little slides in FREEZING cold water. After becoming fully submerged, my huge boots were full of water which made trudging along the gyhll a little challenging. Then we had a part of the ghyll where we jumped off a little ledge (not too scary), and then they sent us down a huge slide backwards (scary!!). And then the final task was possibly one of the scariest things I've done. We had to jump down about 20 feet into a pool of water, and get pulled up to another rock. I was the last person to go, and by that time I had heard 15 other people (boys included) scream while they did it. After some encouraging from the group, I plummeted into the the freezing cold water. What an adrenaline rush! I still can't believe I did it. I walked away from the experience with some bruises and a swollen knee (I was extremely untalented at walking in my heavy boots and face planted a couple times). Below is the video information video about what we did...this is the actual stream and actual things I did! Please check it out!

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS AND VIDEO HERE!!

After getting back to the lodge, soaking wet and freezing, I took a super long hot shower and took a much needed nap. Dinner was served at 7. I had a really delicious entree called "Fisherman's Pie" which was a combination of a puff pastry top, mashed potatoes (I think?), some sort of mystery sauce, as well as salmon, lobster meat, mussels, and shrimp.

Fisherman's Pie

After dinner I put my knee up for a bit, and then there was a little dance get together in the lodge. I met a few really nice girls who are also studying in London and live kind of near me and we talked about taking some trips together so I'm looking forward to that! We went to bed around midnight. After a very exciting but strenuous day, I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

Day #29 - Sunday, October 17

Breakfast was at 8:30 this morning, and then we headed out for our morning activity. I was originally going to go on a half day hike, but with my very sore knee and having heard it was quite the climb, decided on a safer option and went into the town of Keswick. It was a quaint, adorable town, right in the mountains. A group of us walked around and went to a couple shops, and I wandered around a bit more to take some pictures. Almost every little shop had Beatrix Potter everything, since we are in the area where her stories were written. I couldn't resist buying a Peter Rabbit tea cup! 

Lake District countryside...spotted with sheep! They were everywhere!

Keswick!

Streets in Keswick with gorgeous mountains in the back!

Delicious fish and chips for lunch. That is slowly becoming my favorite meal. Scooter loves it too!

Beautiful clouds, mountains, and trees. What could be more serene? 

More of the mountains

My new tea selection and Peter Rabbit tea cup!

After exploring Keswick, we loaded onto the busses to head home. We got back to London around 8, and back home around 9. I unpacked, Skyped with Eric, made some dinner, looked through pictures, and am now here updating my blog while drinking some Cranberry & Sanguinello Orange tea from my Petter Rabbit cup! I greatly enjoyed my weekend away and came away with a lesson...this one a bit more personal. Lesson #17: I am very, VERY grateful for my parents instilling a love of nature in me. As much as I complained about camping in high school, being outdoors is one of favorite things. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to go camp and visit national parks when I was younger. I lot of the other students kept saying how there was nothing to do - no phone service, no shopping, no internet, etc. But for me, that was the beauty of the weekend. There are so many amazing things to explore, and I guess I've never appreciated nature and lack of civilization as much as I did this weekend. Living in a city of 8 million people will really change your views on some things. Needless to say, I'm excited to camping with my parents when I come home!

English Language Revised!

adverts - commercials

alight - exit

wellies - rain boots

to hire - to rent

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore!

Kathi - I do remember that fun driving adventure, my sense of direction hasn't improved much at all either! As for my favorite tea...right now I've been drinking a lot of Strawberry & Mango, and a Cranberry, Raspberry, & Elderflower mix. Both are really good. I'm still waiting for my delivery with all my new kinds of teas in it, so I'm sure I'll discover some new favorites! And I'll add that book to my iPad library. I'm currently in James Patterson's Womens Murder Club, but I'll definitely check that out when I finish with that!

Leah - Thanks for reading and commenting! Scooter will definitely be making more appearances, so look for him :)

Day #18 - Wednesday, October 6

Today was my second day of class, and we had to meet at a train station in the Peckham area of London (which is not the nicest part of town) to start work on our film project. We met there at 10:30 and got a little tour of the area, and then we got taken up to the top of an industrial building area. After many flights of stairs, we finally got onto the the roof and had a gorgeous view of London laid out all around us. Unfortunately the weather wasn't super good so I couldn't get many good shots, but here's a few of the gorgeous view!

gorgeous view out over London from the top of the Bussey Building

After we finished there, my group and I wandered around looking for people to get some information from, and we met a really interesting Irish man in a pub who talked to us for a good 45 minutes and provided a lot of really interesting insight and information on the area. He had lived in the area since 1950, and when he moved in it was a really nice neighborhood, and he has been there throughout the decline of the area and was quite opinionated about the people causing the changes. Interesting nonetheless. We interviewed some other people and finished up around 5.

I headed home and took a much needed nap and then made fajitas. When I went to the grocery store I saw Old El Paso (or whatever the brand is) Fajita Mix and got really excited thinking "oo something familiar I know that tastes good!" Once again, my guess was very wrong. Their fajita mix over here tastes like barbecue sauce which is not exactly my favorite taste, so those were fun to eat. After that tasty meal, I worked on homework for Tuesday and went to bed. 

Day #19 - Thursday, October 7

I woke up a little early to finish my project for Tuesday. We had a project called "I Am Here," which was basically a way to introduce yourself to the class. I did a slide show presentation with different compositions involving numbers that reflect the change I've gone through in moving here. I found out some interesting things when comparing home and here, so I'll share a bit of my research.

• 6462 : km away from home
• 6 : the hour of time zone difference
• 6 : how much larger the US is population wise than the UK
• 47: how much larger London is than CF/Waterloo population wise
• 9.7: how much more dense London is than home, therefore my personal bubble is 9.7 times smaller...yikes!
• 3: how many times larger the U of M is, student wise, than here
• 14: number of times more universities London has than home
• 10: times as many buses in London than Minneapolis
• 6: times as many bus routes in London than Minneapolis
• 11: we actually get 11 more inches of rain in Waterloo than they do in London!! Crazy!
• 2: times as many sunlight hours in Waterloo than in London...not surprising!

I'm not sure how the topic came up, but in class we got to talking about behavior on the subway and buses. Lesson #14: it is bus etiquette to keep to yourself. People think it's strange and creepy when other people look at them and especially strange if eye contact is made or people smile. This is probably why I don't get any smiles back or people look panicked if I ever make eye contact. "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" I guess it really is a midwest thing to be pleasant to people you dont know! Class ran from two to five, and it took me ages to get home. While I was waiting at the bus stop, the bus I wanted to get on just drove by me. Little did I know that - Lesson #15: you have to wave a bus down for it to stop...in Minneapolis the bus stops for anyone standing at the bus stop. I guess I've always been at the bus stop when someone else has waved it down or someone on it needed off because it's always stopped. The next bus didn't come for another half hour so I was a little frustrated I didn't know that! Then I was in my first London gridlock. I ended up just getting off the bus and walking most of the way because the bus was crowded, there was a creepy dog laying on my feet, it smelled strange, and we weren't moving - I couldn't handle it! Luckily it was nice outside so I enjoyed the walk. I got home, make some dinner, worked on some more homework, read a little, and went to bed.

Day #20 - Friday, October 8

I woke up around 11, cleaned my room, and headed to class from 2-4. I have my elective class on Friday, which I chose to be Contemporary Typography. My tutors name is Fabio (I didn't know people were actually named that!) and he doesn't speak English very well, so it will definitely be an interesting adventure! After class I wandered around the area for a bit and took some pictures finally. The area around my school is absolutely gorgeous - see below!

view out of my class room window

my school building

signs of fall in London

Millbank Gardens Park, right next to my bus stop back home from school

view across the street from my bus stop - gorgeous leaf wall!

After I got home, I took a little nap and then went out to dinner with Paige and her mom, who was visiting for the weekend, at Waterloo Bar and Kitchen, which was okay but not worth the price. After dinner I just decided to stay in for the night and did some laundry and read a bit!

Day #21 - Saturday, October 9

I woke up around 11 to another batch of beautiful flowers awaiting me. I got ready and headed out on a shopping adventure, looking for some birthday and other gifts for people back home. I shopped till about 6, took a long nice walk home, made some dinner, and worked on homework. I had a bit of a headache the whole the day so I decided to stay in and get some sleep while I could! Nothing much exciting to blog about today, just a lazy weekend day.

the second beautiful batch of flowers form my wonderful boyfriend!

Day #22 - Sunday, October 10

I was rudely awoken this morning by a fire alarm, which I once again thought was my alarm clock and got really confused. After realizing that it wasn't Wednesday and this was a real alarm, I went downstairs and waited about 20 minutes for the stinking alarm to shut off. No fire in the building - someones breakfast toast got a little burnt. Thanks room 401! 

After everything calmed down with that, I went on a little adventure with one of my flatmates Sam (she's from Michigan) and her friend from home. We went to the Columbia Flower Market...just a street block filled with gorgeous flower and plants and anything green you can think of! We wandered around there for a while, and I bought a little pepper plant. We walked by a little shop with sangrias and each got one and sat down to watch some performers playing in an alley way for about an hour. The weather was perfect to just sit outside and listen to music, enjoy some wine, and smell fresh flowers! 

Columbia Flower Market!

my baby pepper plant and sangria

street performers - they were really good!

view from the front of the top of a double decker bus

After we finished there, I decided I wanted to go visit the National Geographic Store, which I've been by many times and never been in. After waiting 45 minutes for a bus that never came to take me there, I decided to just go home. It took about 45 minutes to get home with all of the road work going on, but I did get to sit in the front of the top of the double decker bus which was really fun! You feel like you're just hovering over all the other traffic, it's an interesting viewpoint. I got home and cooked some pasta with my new peppers (spicy!!!) and then did some planning out of concerts and trips I want to take. I booked 4 orchestra concerts, a trip to Belgium, and a trip to France. I'm excited for the rest of the term!

Day #23 - Monday, October 11

I woke up today and had class 10:30-3:00. I was very frustrated today with the timeliness of English people today on many occasions. Lesson #16: being on time is actually 10 minutes early. If you are supposed to start at 10:30, you actually won't start until 10:50, and if you're supposed to go until 2, you will actually go till 3. They have minimal concept of being on time or of how long it takes to do things which is very frustrating! At home it wouldn't fly for students to just come in 30 minutes late, but here it is completely acceptable. I got to class about ten minutes early, and myself, along with 5 other American students, sat by ourselves till 10:35 when people (including the tutor) started wandering in. Definitely an adjustment. 

I had a pretty bad migraine developing, so I got home, Skyped with Eric for a little bit, and took a 2.5 hour nap. I woke up feeling much better and went to get dinner with Paige at a really cheap Chinese place around the corner. I came home and did some research for my new project, worked on my portfolio, and started updating my blog. I got to iChat with mom and dad for about 45 minutes which was really nice. The kitchen is almost done, and thanks to technology I got a little tour of it and it looks great! 

English Language Revisied!

"Are you okay?" - Really means "How are you?" I thought there was something wrong with me when people at school kept asking me if I was okay, but they just wanted to know how I was!

squash - not the veggie, but a juice concentrate...I bought what I thought was orange juice and it tasted horrible, but it was squash, which is supposed to be mixed 1 parts juice, 4 parts water. Oops!

trousers - pants

pants - underwear

Today I am...discovering

Mom and Dad, click on the pictures to make them bigger! Love you!


Day #13 - Friday, October 1
I was woken up this morning by a phone call around 8:30...and seeing as I have about 3 contacts in my phone, I was a little confused but answered anyway. It was someone from FedEx with a package! Eric sent me a pillow, Scrabble, a few little things, and season 6 of Grey's Anatomy (which has proven to be dangerous!). I went back to sleep and woke up a while later and watched some Grey's, of course (totally unrelated to London, but me and Grey's are a dangerous mix. Over Christmas break last year I watched all 5 and a half season in about 2 weeks. I am rather addicted to it) So, needless to say, I watched and episode (or 2) of Grey's.

Then Paige and I got together to figure out something to do for the night. We browsed through a magazine we got at  the Freshers Fayre last week looking for a place to eat. We ended up choosing "Golden Union", famous for fish and chips, which is located right off of Oxford Street, an area we are a little familiar with. Definitely a good choice!! I wish I would have taken a picture of the huge piece of cod I got! So much food for only 7 pounds. The restaurant also had a really nice atmosphere, kind of like a 50's style diner. I will for sure be going back there!

After we ate, we wandered around for a bit and found a little Irish pub called O'Neills, and had a beer. I tried some more cider beer (can't remember the name), that was pretty good. Then we headed home around 11. 

When I got home, I decided I needed to make a list of things to do in London. I feel like a lot of my free time is spent trying to figure out what I want to do instead of going and doing things. So I spend a couple hours searching the internet and reading the books I've purchased and made a list of about 30 things that I want to do and see during my year here! 

Cute little ketchup dispenser (the tomato) and the menu!

Excellent food if you're ever in London! Also making

an appearance in the photo is Scooter, the turtle, who

is my travel buddy. He will be making more appearances,

so look for him!

Day #14 - Saturday, October 2

I woke up today and decided to go exploring. As I've mentioned in a few posts before, I really like the South Bank of London, near the London Eye. It's a short bus ride and doable walk about away from where I live, so when the weather is nice (ha, like that happens here) it's fine to walk. I headed over there and first just wandered around a bit, taking some pictures. Not very many of them turned out very well because it was really really gloomy outside and I wasn't patient enough to mess with my camera to get it right. 

I had read online about an exhibit going on at the South Bank Center called "Art by Offenders" that seemed interesting, so I decided to go and check it out. It is desribed on the website as "An exhibition and programme of events showcasing arts and crafts, music, writing and film by offenders, secure psychiatric patients and immigration detainees across the UK. Through this ground-breaking collaboration, the arts of offenders are presented for the first time by victims of offenders." It was amazing to see some of the art work that some people in jail have created. There were some pieces that I would love to have on my wall. Some of it was also really disturbing and really sad. The whole show was curated by victims of crimes which also put another twist on the idea of it all. 

After wandering through the exhibit for an hour or so and looking at all the pieces (some multiple times), I went out to the Real Food Festival going on outside the  hall. The first weekend of every month, local businesses occupy one of the squares in South Bank. Meats, cheese, wine, bread, coffee, desserts, produce, anything fresh you can think of was there. I had a British Pork and Jalapeno Sausage for lunch, which was really good. I didn't have a lot of money with me, but I ended up purchasing three loaves of bread from different venders, all for about 6 pounds. I'll post a picture of the delicious breads below. I got organic mango bread, rosemary bread, and tomato, onion, rosemary focaccia bread. I will definitely be going back next month to get some more bread!

I got home and made some diner to go along with my new found bread. I made some chicken with peppers and noodles with sauce. Their tomato sauce doesn't taste very good over here. Ick. It's not that I'm not willing to try to new foods, but when I buy something and think I know what it should taste like and it doesn't, it just doesn't do the trick. But oh well, it's all part of adjusting! I'll just need to explore more new foods instead of making things I'm used to. After dinner I did some more list making of places to go, watched some Grey's and headed to bed after my nice day of exploring!

my theme of the day!

London Eye, Royal Festival Hall, and the Real Food Market

entry to the exhibit

my new breads! mango, tomato onion basil foccacia, and rosemary

Day #15 - Sunday, October 3

Alright, so after being in London for 2 weeks and seeing the sun for all of but an hour, today was a "I'm sick of rain and I want to stay in bed all day." If you look at the picture at the bottom of the page, this explains London. In five days, the most exciting thing on the forecast is "sunny intervals." Gross. And a couple people have even said this is just the start of the fun weather, it only gets worse. And it is the most pathetic rain you will ever see. I like rain when it pours and thunders and lightenings. Not sideways mist. So I spend the day in bed with my iPad reading and watching some more Grey's. 

At around 4:00 I decided to finally start my day. I had bought tickets to see a concert at the South Bank Centre a few days ago, and Paige decided to join me too. We went out for dinner at Strada, a nice little Italian restaurant by the concert hall. We had an extremely rude waiter who pretty much told Paige she was eating her pizza like an animal and told her to "take smaller bites, don't use fingers." Neither of us were aware that pizza isn't finger food at places outside of Pizza Hut. Lesson #10: When at a somewhat classy (it really wasn't super nice) restaurant, DO NOT eat with your fingers. You look like a foolish American. 

The concert I went to was called London Sinfonietta: Strange News. For only 4 pounds, I wasn't really expecting much, but figured it would be fun anyway. It was amazing. The first half consisted of two choral compositions, the first with a 12 member choir and the second with an added baritone soloist singer who was sensational. The composer of the second piece was sitting right in front of me, and I had no idea. At the end of it he stood up and went on stage, and I recognized his picture from the program. I've never been to a concert before where the composer was in the audience. The second half of the concert was even more wonderful than the first. It featured the London Sinfonietta, which is a 12 piece resident ensemble at the South Bank Center. The were accompanied by an actor from Uganda. The musicians and actor, along with the help a video, portrayed the story of the war front in Africa. It was very very well done. I particularly enjoyed because I had read a book this summer A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (which I would recommend) which was the recollection of a boy soldier in Africa. The scenes from the video and the dialogue of the actor where identical to the book. It was interesting to find that connection over here to that book (thanks, summer class). The music of the London Sinfonietta was wonderful, and I'm already planning on going to some more of their concerts soon!

Day #16 - Monday, October 4

I woke up today and went to run some errands. I went to a little shop down the street and got an extra set of silverware, a strainer, a new mug for tea (with chickens on it!), some bathroom cleaning supplies, and some other little kitchen gadgets. Then I went to Tesco (grocery store) and a few items. I dropped that off and then began a very interesting afternoon(but there are lessons to be learned, don't worry).

I needed to add money to my cell phone, and since I don't have a UK bank account, the only way I can do it is in store. The nearest store to here is about a 20 minute bus ride away. So I hopped on the 12 bus and rode over. I topped up my card and since I was near a shopping area, decided to go do some window shopping. Once I walked around for a little bit, I decided to head back home. I found the nearest bus stop for the 12 and got on, thinking I should be home in 20 minutes. WRONG. A little ways into the bus ride the bus driver announces "This bus will now be terminating at Parliament Square," which was quite a few stops and on the opposite side of the river from where I wanted to be. So I got off where the bus terminated, thinking I could easily just get another bus home. After very confusedly wandering around Parliament Square, I started to get a little concerned how to get home. The only bus stop stop I found that went towards where I was going had a sign that said "This bus stop is not in use. Go directly down the road 100 meters and use next bus stop" There was not a bus stop directly down that road, no where in sight. By this time, my 1 hour ride ticket for the bus was about to expire, so I thought I'd just go and take the tube or go add money at the tube station. Well, lucky me, the tube workers went on strike today and the tube station wasn't open. I started to panic a little because my ticket had 10 minutes left, I had no change for another bus if I could even find one to go where I wanted, and no where was open to give me change for the cash I had. Well, 10 minutes of wandering came and went, bus pass expired. Finally I discovered a bus stop that went Waterloo (the area by South Bank Center) and I know how to get home from there, and I also finally discovered a store that was open to give me change. So I got the bus pass, got on, and got off at the Waterloo Train Station. Then I got lost in there for about 20 minutes and couldn't figure out how to get out. Finally I got out, got on the right bus, and got home. Two hours, three buses, a lot of confusion, and few tears later, I got home.

Now, mom and dad, you might be wondering what lessons I learned from this? Lessons #11, 12, 13: Always care extra change for a bus ride. Always carry a map incase you need to walk or find another bus. Keep a taxi number in your phone incase you are so absolutely lost that you just need to call a taxi. I am now a prepared city child. 

Later that night I got to Skype with mom and dad (and Cotton), which was great. It's amazing how wonderful technology is, that we can have real time conversations with people 5,000 miles across the ocean. It's nothing short of incredible!

Day #17 - Tuesday, October 5

Today was my first day of school! Yes, I am actually in London for a reason! After nearly 5 months of summer, I was more than ready to get back into a schedule and learn again. I had to meet at school at 1030, where we had a syllabus day and got a tour of the building. There are about 40 students in the program, plus six tudy abroad students. Five of those study abroad students all go to school together in New York together, so essentially I was the only person who didn't know anyone. A little intimidating, but some of the British students introduced themselves to me and I got to talking with them. After a few hours of fun syllabus stuff, we had a little lunch break. I went and ate out in the courtyard. The buildings of our school used to be a military hospital and a jail where they held prisoners of war, and there a little courtyard that used to belong to the jail. Neat fact. Then after lunch we got a tour of the buildings and of the library. Oh my, the library was wonderful. I will take picture of the library and the campus on the times I'm over there, it is all beautiful. 

I got home around 5, tried to take a little nap, ended up just killing some time, and getting dinner. I spent the rest of the night looking up flight info for my trip home for Christmas, doing some research for a school project, and just relaxing. Now it's time for bed!

Beautiful London weather!

English Language Revised

In my syllabus was a glossary of terms, so I'll put that on here. Some it is kind of common sense, which is a little funny they wouldn't think we could guess what some of them mean.

UK - US/Rest of the world

class - course

course - major

uni - school

tutor - professor

rubber - eraser

term - semester

foundation - freshmen

1st year - sophomore

2nd year - junior

3rd year - senior

secondary school - high school

Foggy day in London town

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting again! Thanks to anyone who read. To Kathi - yes I did actually get a tea kettle, and I just orded a couple of boxes of tea yesterday to try some new stuff! Here's a picture of my little tea corner of my desk!

my little tea corner

Day #7 - Saturday, September 25

Today I was woken up a little earlier than planned, but for good reason. At around 9:00 I heard pounding on my door and was a little confused if it was my door or someone eles, so I lay there for a second. Then I decided to go see what was going on, and when I went to the door, one of my flatmates was holding a vase of flowers. Eric had cleverly delivered me some flowers and it was quite the lovely thing to wake up to :) Then I went back to bed since of course it absurd for me to be awake that early.

After waking back up a while later, I decided to go on a little walk. At this point, I still didn't have any silverware or dishes or pots, pan, etc. But also, at this point, I had about five pounds in my possession, thanks to my friends in Luxemburg, and none of  the shops near where I live are the type where you want to use your credit card. So I finally found some silverware for a couple pounds and headed home to make some dinner. I talked with my flatmates for a while about the strange differences between how we talk, and it was interesting to hear their viewpoint on Americans. They invited Paige and I to go out that night with them to a local club and we agreed to go. We went to Ministry of Sound (which is apparently world famous), and it was extremely boring. Paige and I left around 1230, while they got back around 530 in the morning (yay freshmen!). Then I headed to bed.

gorgeous flowers! thanks :)

Day #8 - Sunday, September 26

I woke up today and did some more putting away/organizing of my room/making a shopping list and grocery list for when I finally get some money. Paige and I went on a little walk and wandered over to the South Bank area of London, which is on the River Thames right by the London Eye. That area is incredibly gorgeous. On the way there we walked through East Waterloo (see picture) which was a funny little reminder of home.  We walked through some of the shops and along the river and I immediately fell in love with the area. We ate dinner at Wagamama's, which they have in the states, but I had never heard of. We walked around a little bit more until the shops started to close and it started to rain, so we took a bus back. When I got home I watched the newest episode of Grey's Anatomy and went to bed!

Waterloo East!

Day #9 - Monday, September 27

One of my first days in London, I spotted a Chipotle (which is a lot like Pablos, except 100000 times better). Now since I still didn't have any pots or pans or means to cook, and I was craving some good food, Paige and I decided to go take an adventure to get some Chipotle. Before eating, we stopped at a TKMaxx (which is the UK version of TJMaxx) to look for a purse and wallet, and ending up finding a good purse and wallet that holds a lot of coins because their currency is LOTS of coins. Then we headed to Chipotle, where I was kind of disappointed that it tasted different, but it was still good to have a filling meal.

I had been super excited all weekend because I had orded pots, pans, a duvet cover, alarm clock, tea kettle, desk lamp, night stand lamp, etc, and I was really really really (REALLY) excited to finally get all of my stuff in my room and get totally settled in. So I went to the store where I had orded it (called Argos) and went to excitedly pay for my goods, when they told me that they didn't have a machine to read my credit card. I was super confused...I have a standard VISA credit card. But apparently it needs a chip in it or something. I was really frustrated and just wanted my things, and I called Eric and freaked out a little bit about my lack of currency. Lesson #6: Don't put all your eggs in one basket...or all your money on one card. Before leaving home, I decided it would be a great idea to empty out one of my bank accounts and put all of it the other one so I could manage it easier. BAD idea. Needless to say, my wonderful father agreed to deposit some money into the account I had emptied so I could use my other debit card to get out cash. After that fiasco and mental breakdown, I made some pizza for dinner, read a little bit, and went to bed.

Day #10 - Tuesday, September 28

I woke up around 745 today (crazy, I know). We had a study abroad orientation at the main student center at 930 and had to take the tube there. We had tea and biscuts for breakfast (how English) and then had a few hours of introductions and more information. Then they had a tour guide take us on a 2 hour "creative tour" of London. She took us on the back roads, to a couple parks, and down some little alley ways. I took a million pictures of grass and trees. It was so wonderful to see something besides concrete! It was really nice to see some of the parks, and it made me realize I might not be in a complete concrete jungle.  Then the tour ended at a traditional English pub, where the school bought everyone a pint of beer. Yes, this is a country of people who love their alcohol. I tried some sort of cider beer which was pretty good. Then I went and finally got my things I re-ordered from Argos and went back to settle all my things into my room. Then time for bed!

TREES!!!!

GRASS!!! 

Lincoln's Inn Library

Since they can't grow gardens on the ground, they
grow them on the wall!

Day #11 - Wednesday, September 29

I was frantically awoken this morning but what I thought was my alarm clock. It was my first morning with my new alarm clock, and I thought it was just obnoxiously loud. I kept hitting the snooze button thinking, "Seriously, shut up. You are too loud." Then I realized that it was actually my fire alarm that was going off and frantically tried getting dressed. Then it stopped, and I remember the day we moved in that the guy at reception said they test the fire alarms at 10:15 every last Wednesday of the month. Which was today. So I got up and got dressed and ready to go the "Freshers Fayre", which is a fair of activities and societies and sports and other other events for freshmen to get involved with. It was huge and a little bit overwhelming, but I think I decided to join a yoga group for a little bit of relaxation.

After the fair, I went on a hunt for a tea place I thought saw in the area the day before. After wandering around for a good 30 minutes, it started to downpour. Lesson #7: Check the address of places BEFORE you go wander around London. Turns out I was in a completely different part of town and the tea place was no where near me. Oops. And then for the rain. It has rained almost everyday I've been in London. When I left this morning, I realized I forgot my umbrella, but looked at my phone and it said it was only a 20% change of rain. Lesson #8: A 20% chance of rain in London means IT WILL RAIN. I will not leave home again without my umbrella with me! 

I came back home, soaking wet, dried off, and relaxed a little bit. Then Paige and I met up to go get some Chinese food from across the street. Gross chicken but good rice and spring rolls. Then I went upstairs to relax for a bit. I skyped with Eric for a bit and then called and talked to my mom and dad for a while. It was really good to talk to them again. Then to bed!

Day #12 - Thursday, September 30

I woke up today and got ready, and headed over to my college to meet with my course director. The area where my school is located is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It's right on the River Thames and next to the Tate Britain Museum as well as the Tate Gardens. I'll be sure to take pictures the next time I go over there, but I didn't have my camera. The building that my school is in actually used to be a prison, which I could tell upon entering it. I met with my course director and he gave me a little bit of information on the course I'll be taking. I start school next Tuesday (finally!). I'm really excited to finally get back to school...this almost 5 month summer has been very long and I'm ready to learn again! 

I got home and went grocery shopping (for a few items this time). One thing on my list was Mac and Cheese. I've been craving it since I got here and Sarah was eating it today while we were Skyping which made me crave it even more. The first grocery store I stopped at didn't have any, so I stopped at a second one. All I could find was Mac and Cheese in a can. Lesson #9: Do not EVER, under any circumstance, eat Mac and Cheese from a can. Grossest thing I have eaten in a while. It smelled gross and tasted even worse. After dinner I did some laundry and cleaned my room, and now I'm sitting here finishing this up! 

English Language Revised!

fayre - fair

vest - tank top

tank top - vest

zed - the letter Z

chips - fries

crisps - chips