Oxford and my wee trip to Scotland!

Hey everybody! How's it going? Pretty good on this side of the pond.

Some of y'all have been asking about certain pictures I put up from this weekend - so here's the story!

Saturday I went to Oxford on an excursion with my program. It was nice to see all of the girls again - it had been a while. So we met up at 8 a.m. that morning in Central London, then drove about 2 hours to Oxford, home of the famous Oxford University and certain scenes from Harry Potter!

We were given a brief tour around the university, very brief as there are 38 different colleges there. Afterward, a few of us decided we would climb the tower of the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, which was a 124-step climb. It wasn't that bad of a trek, actually. Pretty mild, I'd say. But once on top, it overlooked all of the city - it was gorgeous! Here are some shots:

View of the main part of campus



View of one of the libraries, from the tower.

Me and some of the girls on top of the tower!

It was gorgeous - and such a pretty day! We've been pretty lucky with outings, as the sun has actually come out. It's not usually like that, but y'all have only seen pretty weather. It has been raining quite a bit, in fact the next day there was a lot of rain, as well as Monday. Anyway, back to Oxford!

After the tower, Manon (who isn't on my program with me, but was able to join us, yay!) and I went off and took some pictures of the libraries, then headed off to the Covered Market. There were a lot of meat shops in there - and actually freshly dead rabbits hanging from hooks to buy. I didn't get one, though. I didn't bring my skinning utensils with me! Haha, no no, I didn't get one. Anyway, there were also some expensive leather and wool shops, and a few places to eat. We decided to go to this place called "Pieminister," which serves pies, or pot pies as we know them. I got the "Heidi Pie," with goat cheese, spinach, red onion and sweet potato. They served it on mashed potatoes, or "mash," and with mashed minted peas on top, then surrounded by gravy. It was actually really, really good! The minted peas were a little weird, and I'm not a fan of gravy, but it wasn't creamy, so it was ok.

After lunch we went to the Oxford U. Natural History Museum, where I saw a Dodo!! How great! Naturally, I was scared of it (even though it wasn't real), but it was neat to see. They also had some dinosaur bones and a big roach collection, among other things.

From there we went to the place I had been waiting for all day: Christ Church College. Why? Because that's where they've shot scenes from Harry Potter!! Yes! Anyway, we waited in line, but it was well worth it. I stood on the steps that the first years were brought to in The Sorcerer's Stone, and where Dumbledore talks to Tom Riddle during The Chamber of Secrets. It was awesome!!




The stairs lead right into the Dining Hall, which inspired the Hogwarts Dining Hall - I totally saw it, but Manon said she didn't "feel" Hogwarts in it. I did. It was awesome.


After that, we headed back to our meeting spot and I bought a new sweatshirt (yay!) and some postcards. Then we got onto our minibus and drove back to London.

We got back around 6 p.m., and Manon and I just kind of spontaneously decided we would go to Scotland last Friday. So we bought bus tickets to leave London at 11 p.m. that same night, to arrive in Edinburgh at 8 a.m. the next morning. So when we got back from Oxford, we rested and packed, and I was going to write that last blog, but my internet died. Blah. Anyway we left, and man, that was the longest bus ride I've ever been on! It was alright, I didn't sleep much, but that's ok. We got in early to Edinburgh, at 7 a.m., and NOTHING was open...except McDonald's.

I don't even go there when I'm home! But we were desperate for warmth and some kind of food. But McDonald's here are a lot different then at home. Here they are considered a luxury, so they are really pretty nice. Well, it was freezing, so we dodged inside and I got some orange juice and a sausage biscuit. Yep. We stayed in there and warmed up, then explored some more, and decided we'd like to go to the pier, see the sea while we waited for things to open (it was a Sunday, so nothing opened til about 10 or 11). We tried to walk, but it was so far! We ended up buying a day pass for the buses, and took the number 22 bus to the Ocean Terminal, which we thought was just the piers, but there turned out to be this huge mall there! It was comparable to malls at home - I haven't seen anything like that yet!

We took some pictures, then went into the mall so Manon could get some novelty sea-faring gifts for her boyfriend (he's really into sailing and ships). We didn't want to buy anything else there, it was just a bunch of stores and things we could get back in London. So we got back on the bus, because by that time it was 10ish. We got off at Princes St. and turned left (just decided to go that way). On our way up, I spotted this tower on top of a hill, and I really wanted to go up there. While walking though, we looked over and saw steps leading to this really interesting-looking cemetery. I thought to myself, when will I ever see a Scottish cemetery ever again? So we went in.

It was so green and old! Kind of creepy, too, but hey, it's a cemetery! Here are some glimpses:





When we were finished in the cemetery (sounds sketchy, I know), we went the tower - it was amazing!! It had the most beautiful view I think I have ever seen. There was the observatory, a bunch of monuments, including a half-reconstruction of the Parthenon, and places to overlook the best points of the city.





By the time we were finished taking pics it was almost 1 p.m. - I was exhausted already! My backpack was too heavy, I think. So we sat down - I couldn't go to Scotland and not sit in the grass, so I made Manon sit, too - the grass was amazing! I could have slept there and been fine, cold maybe, but fine.

From where we were sitting we could see the Palace of Holyroodhouse, most famous for housing Mary, Queen of Scots. I was really excited to see it, because that whole story is so interesting to me. If you don't know it, you should definitely look it up. Anyway, we went down the hill, bought our tickets, and it started to rain. Luckily we were in the palace, but it was still raining when we came out. Anywho, I saw where Mary stayed before she was exiled, then where she stayed when she was, it was all really interesting, and dark. A little creepy - I had the feeling it was haunted. I mean I stood in the place where her husband stabbed a man 56 times! Crazy!

So after that we toured the ruined Abbey connected to the palace, then the palace gardens, all of which were beautiful. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the palace, so I basically put my camera away and didn't take it back out - Manon was taking so many pictures, I figured that I would steal hers :).

We left the palace and it was pouring. Our plan was to go up the Royal Mile, going from the palace to Edinburgh Castle, and filled with small shops great for Christmas shopping! Before we went too far on the Mile, we popped into a pub - the closest thing to us. It was a nice little pub, and there were all of these Scottish men watching football - their version. It was just like my family watching the Cowboys - yelling and cussing at the screen - haha it was great! Felt like home. We ordered, I just got a chicken burger, while Manon got chicken and mash with haggis (we're still not sure what it is). I'm pretty sure it was all frozen, haha, but it was good to eat something and get warm before heading back out into the rain.

We left, and headed uphill toward the castle. We were both so tired by that point, we had literally walked the entire city, with big packs and having only slept a little on the bus the night before. So we went into little touristy shops and I got some presents for Ricky and my family, some postcards as well. I did pretty well, I think. Oh! And we also found the Elephant House Cafe, where J.K. Rowling began writing Harry Potter - I took a picture in front of it!



So great! Anyhow, we got to the castle, and we were both too exhausted to go pay and go in - and it was almost 5 p.m., and things were closing (it was Sunday), so we headed back to the bus station. We weren't supposed to leave until 10 p.m., but it was just nice to sit down and relax. We also bought some food, and some puzzle books from the bookstore in the station. We played hangman and MASH (it was great! I haven't played that since high school!).

Then we got finally got on the bus at 10:30. Our bus driver was so nice! The first half of the drive was fine, a little cold, and when we stopped he asked Manon and me (we were in the front seat right behind him) if we were cold - we said yes, but we were fine - then he patted his robust belly and said in his strong Scottish accent, "Well, I have a wee bit more insulation then you two do!" Haha, he was great! I loved that. Anyway, it was then I realized that the seats reclined - who knew? So I slept fine on the way back. We got back to London at 8 a.m., and we came back to our flat and crashed.

What a great weekend. My first real rugged traveling experience. I hope y'all enjoyed it, too. Here are the links to Manon's and my photo albums:

Oxford 1 Scotland 1
Oxford 2 Scotland 2
Oxford 3 Scotland 3

Manon's Scotland - I'm not sure if this one will work, if it doesn't just let me know, I'll ask Manon about it.

Love you guys! I'll keep posting! Keep commenting! Talk to yall soon! Oh, and I should send a shoutout to Indy - Happy Belated Birthday! Woo!

Bye guys!

Second Week

*This was supposed to be published last Friday, but my internet crashed while writing it. Sorry it's late!*

Hey guys! Week 2, week 2. It was pretty good. Let's see. I had inductions for most of the week. Monday was printmaking - we were given a glimpse at how to screen print both for textiles and print media, as well as lithography, where it's basically just imprinting onto paper from an inked object. Tuesday we had our IT and library inductions - really just a tour around the library and computer labs. Wednesday we had our 3D centre (yep, it's spelled that way here) inductions. The 3d centre is made up of metalworking and woodworking - so blacksmiths, fine jewelers, and carpenters go there for things. But they also had this really cool laser cutter, which can rastorize, cut, burn, imprint, etc to pretty much anything - and all you need is a design from illustrator! How cool! Later in the afternoon we had a lecture from one of the design tutors at Central St. Martins College, another part of the University of the Arts system. He talked about manifestos and their place in design. It was pretty interesting. Patrick, our tutor, said it was a hint to future projects. Might be cool?

Anyway, Thursday was our day back to class. In the morning we talked about our book project, and I found out that we can only use type. So scratch my previous idea. Only type? I'm having a little bit of trouble with this one. Hopefully I'll figure something out. In the afternoon we watched an episode of the BBC series "Century of the Self," which talked about the influence of Freudian concepts of the psyche from advertising. It focused a lot on America before the depression and how advertising basically caused the depression by exploiting Americans' material desires.

It was really interesting because it gave the European prospective on everything that happened before and during WW2. Hitler kind of use the fall of American economy to promote anti-democratic views, while his propaganda person used the same techniques to promote Hitler as American advertisers used, just for beliefs rather than objects.

Pretty interesting stuff. Anyway, next post more on the weekend!

Yaight?

This post is dedicated to Nona.

I promised Nona I would do a post about some of the differences in language here as compared to home, so here we go!

The main thing I picked up on was how people here say hello. Sometimes it's hello and hi, but most of the time, it's "Yaight." Basically it's a combination of the words "you" and "all right," however, they don't pronounce the "l" or the "r," it's just "yaight." I can't do it properly, because I have to use the l's and r's. In any case, I wasn't sure how to answer this. I just say, "Fine, how are you?" or "Hey," haha. But one day, in class I sitting alone feeling kind of down, when this girl turns to me to say hi, but says, you know, "Yaight?" And I was like, "Yes - do I look sad??" Haha. Fun times.

Anyway some other interesting observations - for orange juice, instead of pulp, they say "bits," so no pulp = no bits, or with bits. Also, whole wheat bread here is "wholemeal" bread. It's pretty much the same thing.

Oh yeah, and the most known things are chips here = fries; chips at home = crisps here. Another big thing I've noticed is that in the alphabet, here they say "Zed" for "Z." Like at home, we say "A to Z," or "X, Y, Z." Here they say "A to Zed" or "X, Y, Zed," but the letter stands alone as a Z, it's just pronounced "Zed." I have no idea why. I asked one of my friends here, and they had no clue. Hmm, something different.

There's also a way to how the British phrase things. They'll say, "I had a lay-in this morning," which means they slept in. Or they'll say they might "have a read," or "have a sit," it's pretty interesting. It's all so British!

Some more language things

to pull = to hit on
lift = elevator
quid = a pound, or money in general
pudding = dessert (I had to explain to my program director what pudding was in the States, I don't think she fully understood)

Apart from language, I thought it was really funny how much they love American television. "The O.C." is REALLY popular here. Also, my friend said she loves "One Tree Hill," and is goign to come to America just to go visit the town where it is set. I thought that this was hilarious! They also have shows based off American TV shows, like "X-factor," which is exactly like "American Idol," and has Simon Cowell as a judge, but British.

That's really all I can think of right now. I know there's more, but I'll just have to write it down and have another post. But that's it for now! There you go, my Shanona!

End of Week 1

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while - but you'll have to forgive me! It was my first week of school! And I'm posting now, so that's good. But Ricky and Nona told me that I have to post more often, so I'll try.

Let's see...where did we leave off? Ah, first day of class. Well my second day went much better! I was so nervous on Monday, I think it put me in a bad mood. Anyway, Tuesday we didn't make a map, but my prof told us to get into groups so we could go explore the design of the area around school - or the little niche of Camberwell. Let me set the scene for you: Camberwell campus is off of Peckham Rd., which turns in to Camberwell Church Rd., then Camberwell St. It's a pretty low-end area, and is known for it's crime (mainly Peckham) - it's not too bad during the day. So The majority of the people who live in the area are African and Vietnamese immigrants, so all of the shops are really ethnic and different, which makes it interesting from a design perspective. So my group and I basically just went around and analyzed logos and advertisements, and then critiqued them in class. It wasn't too bad. We were also given our big projects due in four weeks. We have to design and make a book (like actually bind it and do everything) for Franz Kafka's The Metamorphasis. I'm pretty excited about it. And we have a while to do it, so that's good.

Wednesday all we did was go to the British Library and the Design Museum. They were both really interesting! At the British Library I saw one of the Gutenburg Bibles, one of the four Magna Cartas, original works from Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Da Vinci and others. It was amazing. My favorite part was the Beatles exhibit - it showed the pieces of paper they first wrote some of their songs on - it was amazing! Gah, so cool. The design museum was pretty neat, too. It showed works from different eras in different parts of Europe. It was mostly furniture, though, so I was kinda meh about it.

Thursday we went to the V&A museum and made a map that was personalized to fit different wacky personalities. I chose an arsonist, but other choices were: perverts, aliens, anarchists, conformists, etc. Anyway, I chose arsonist. So I ran around this huge museum looking for the most flammable items, as well as risk factors like security guards and cameras and protections like fire hoses and fire extinguishers. It was an interesting point of view. I finished thinking that maybe I could actually do it. But no, I'm too skirmish. Anyway, we presented a few of the maps, then that was it, end of day 4.

Fridays I don't have class - but we're doing these things called "inductions," really their just introductions to different aspects of the college. So Friday was an induction to Letterpressing - it was AWESOME. Basically it's just like printing presses, learning how to use 100 year old wooden blocks and inking them and pressing the paper to onto it - it creates the most amazing look, so authentic. Much better than digital I think. Anyway, I hope I'll be using that a lot. It looks so cool. We have inductions to things all next week, like printmaking, 3D digital inductions, IT stuff and also a book-binding session for our book project. I've come up with some ideas, hopefully they'll work out. I'm waiting to see how things pan out before I tell you guys. I want it to be great.

Also on Friday, I did some lone exploring. I decided to make my way over to Buckingham Palace since I haven't really been there yet. On my way, though, I discovered this gorgeous park called Green Park. It was so sunny out, it was beautiful - and so green!



After seeing how beautiful it was, I thought I would enjoy the sunshine and just have a sit (oh, yes, that's British!) and read a bit. It was so nice. A little while later, I thought I might as well head over to the palace while it was still nice, so I finally got up and moseyed on over.


So pretty! The flag above the palace basically is an indication of whether the Queen is in, if the flag is there she's in residence, if it's not, she's not. Not too hard. So you can't really see the flag, but it's there! So somewhere in that huge place was the Queen!

I took my pictures then continued exploring, where I found some guards! Guarding the entrance to some royal apartments (which are actually mansions, but meh).



That was pretty awesome, and one of the guards kept looking at me, but every time I put up the camera he looked away!! Gah. Jerk. Anyway, then I went over to St. James Park, which is basically the front yard of the Palace, here's a quick view:



Pretty amazing, right? Anyway there are more pics HERE and HERE. The first is from the parks, the second of the Palace.

This weekend was pretty good. I started to get a cold on Friday - and it has hit pretty hard. I'm alright, but luckily my friend from Green Cove (the camp in North Carolina I worked at two summers ago) is from Wales, and lives in a town outside London called Reading. She came to visit me on Saturday - it was so good to see her! Not to mention a friendly and familiar face. Well, we went out to lunch and to Hyde Park - gorgeous by the way, it was sunny and warm out this weekend - so nice! She took me to a drug store and told me which medicines are best, so I got myself some Benylin, and we'll see how that works out.

That night we went out to a restaurant with Helena - her friend who lives here, and that was fun. Just had a nice dinner out in London. It's so funny, Manon and I were noticing how restaurants here don't give you the bill until you ask for it, so we sit there for a while, unlike American restaurants that seem to push you out. I kind of like our way more, it saves you from awkward silences. Anyway, it was a pretty good day!

Today Manon and I got a head-start on Christmas shopping. We went out to Covent Gardens market, one of the many great markets London has to offer.


I got a pretty good haul I think. Something for Ricky's sister, my grandma and a little touristy thing for Ricky. I'm trying to wait on some gifts for y'all, just so I can get cool things from all over! I think everyone will be happy though. If anyone wants anything specific - let me know! It would really help me out, actually. So many people, so much to choose from!

When we got back home, I crashed - that cold has really gotten to me! I'm feeling better now, but phew! Hopefully it won't last too long. When I got up, my roommates demanded I hang out with them in the kitchen/common room. So we all sat and talked - it was great! Mainly we talked about politics. I have been asked more about politics here than I have in America! Who am I voting for, what I think about the candidates - and Bush. Everyone here hates Bush, but really they just make fun of him all of the time. I saw in a toy shop today Bush toilet paper - who knew? We also talked about differences in culture. Mainly it was Manon and I and our two french roommates, Jason and Marie. They were amazed at American viewpoints of abortion and gay rights - in France, they said, it is just accepted, they really just have problems about religion, mostly Muslims (that's what they said). We also talked about crime and gun control, and they said that it is ok in France to have guns, but they stay in the home, no one takes it outside - and they thought that there were too many guns in America, but that it would be necessary if a gangster came up to you (which I thought was pretty funny).

Anyway, it was a good night. Very interesting. They made me talk in a Texan accent (which is surprisingly coming out more and more - y'all won't recognize it when I get home.) But more soon. It won't be so spread out either - I know this is massive. So talk to you all soon and I love you! More to come...

My first day of school

School has finally arrived! Today at 11 a.m. I took a bus over to Camberwell College of Art. I wasn't that nervous, actually. Probably because I didn't know I actually had class. I thought it was a meeting with my course director. Come to find out, I had class. Thankfully I brought my sketchbook with me - we'll get to why later.

So I got there a little early, and sat outside on a bench until about 10 'til 11. I walked up to the room my paper told me to go in, only to find no one there. So I stayed there until this bald British man walked out of an office I didn't realize was there.

"Can I help you?" - man
"Oh, um, I was supposed to meet here for my graphic design course?" - me
"Oh, yes, well, I told everyone to meet in the lobby - you know where that big desk is?" - man
(obviously I know where the reception desk is, I found this room)
"Oh, ok, all right, I'll see you down there then!" - me

That was my first introduction to Patrick Roberts, head of the Graphic Design course. I went downstairs and found a pretty large gathering of students, who had apparently gotten some sort of message that I did not. But that's all right. So I stood there, and this guy came up to me and asked me my course, we were both in graphic design. He asked me where I was from, and I told him the States, Texas, and he said, "That's somewhere in the middle, right?" No, but that was a funny answer. It made me smile. Anyway, he asked me about voting and if I was honored that my President was from my state, I laughed and said not really. Not that bad of a conversation.

Then Patrick came down to greet everyone, and I lost the guy I was talking to, so off we went to a new studio I hadn't been to. He called roll, but my name wasn't on the list, so a few others and I had to go sign a sheet. Next, he had us all get our picture taken with us holding a sheet of paper with our names on it - kind of weird, but ok. And then Patrick gave us a project. Threw us right into it! We had to pair up and make a map of the college.

Right when he said go, someone actually asked if I had a partner - which was weird, usually I ask, but it was kind of nice to be asked, made me feel a little more welcome. My partner's name was Tom, and although he was nice, he really didn't have any concept of what we were doing. We went off on this tour with a guy named Ed, also in our class, and as he was showing us around the fire alarm went off. The building actually smelled like smoke, so it was no drill. So we had to evacuate, but Patrick gave us an extra 30 minutes on our project, so that was good.

This is why I was glad I brought my sketchbook - because we weren't given any materials, and everyone else brought their stuff, too. Phew! I was throwing some ideas out there, but Tom seemed so lost, I gave up on that. Then Ed decided to join our group, and we all got a good idea together. We were going to each take a floor or two, start from a point, then map out our movements with a series of lines going left or right, up or down. Got it. So I had the ground floor and basement. I finished, came back to the meeting spot, only to see that Ed and Tom had each done something completely different. Ed had some rectangles on his page, while Tom had done a few straight lines.

We only had about 30 minutes, and we had wanted to draw it on tracing paper so all of the lines interlapped, but now there was mine with the lines, Ed's boxes, and Tom decided to use coffee sticks for his lines. It looked weird. We had to present these for critique, too, by the way. It was really too late to change anything. So when it came time to present, it wasn't too bad, because we obviously didn't finish, but Patrick said it was interesting because it was a very Japanese-like approach. Sure. I'll take it! By then it was about 2:30 and we had a meeting down the street in another building. I just grabbed our timetable - a syllabus of sorts (although I still don't know the classes I'm taking - it's not very clear) - and headed out alone. I kind of lost Ed and Tom.

When I got there, I realized how hungry I was. I missed breakfast, and there was no lunch break, so I was ready to eat! But we had the meeting. So I listened to the dean speak, and then the undergraduate advisor, then some funny British lady who told us a story of how she put off a writing assignment, and then freaked out. I think it was supposed to motivate us to go to the learning center if we ever need help with a paper. Thank goodness I'm a journalism major! But I did notice that I am one of the oldest students. Most of them are only 18 or 19. Just starting college. There's kind of a gap there. But that's ok. I just hope I make some friends.

Anywho, the meeting ended and I headed home to get some food! And that was it. I got back and felt pretty lonely. I realized how far away a sense of family is. I missed that. But I felt better after a while. I need to do laundry tonight. I have class again tomorrow at 10. Hopefully it will be good! Maybe I'll meet someone new. I probably will.

Before I head out, though, I wanted to thank all of you for reading this. I really didn't think as many people would keep up with this, as there have been. It's so nice to know that yall want to experience with me. So I will keep writing - hopefully interesting things! I love you all and I'll talk to you soon.

Brighton = First trip of the season

Hey all, so sorry for the late posting - I should have posted this yesterday, but I'm lazy. Anywho, I went to Brighton on Saturday! Brighton is this small sea-town about an hour south of London.



It was gorgeous! Manon and I went together, taking two trains and bus, until we made it. It was supposed to rain all day, and it was fine until we got off the bus, of course. Right as we stepped off it started to rain, but luckily we both had umbrellas, and it quit once we got into the main part of town.

It was a straight, downhill shot to the beach. The only thing is, the wind from the ocean gets sucked through the streets, "lanes" as they called them - so we were literally walking against a vacuum. We got to the beach, which wasn't the normal beach we're used to seeing in Texas - it was clean! Haha, no, no, it was rocks instead of sand. But it was really clean. I got some rocks - one for you, Jan! And a couple more for Christine and me. And then Manon and I walked around some more.


Both of us were getting hungry at that point, so we hopped into a pub (my first so far!) and ordered some hamburgers. We stayed in there to ignore the cold for a while, because, man, was it freezing out! When we finished and were warm enough, we went back out and explored this carnival pier that extended pretty far into the water. It kind of like Coney Island, but more British :). Most of the rides were closed because of the weather, but it was fun to look at. They had a carousel and two rollercoasters, a log ride, and other carnival rides. And inside a dome right before the outdoor carnival, was a huge arcade - with slot machines for the parents. I thought that was clever.

Once we were done there, we followed the signs through the lanes to a place called the Royal Pavilion. It was built for Prince Edmund as a getaway home - and it is probably one of the most luxurious places I have ever been.

(I didn't take that picture, but it sure is nice!)

We went in for 6.50 pounds, then toured most of the palace. It was really interesting to know it's history. Inside (we weren't allowed to take pictures) everything was made to look Chinese. The dining room had this amazing artwork that must have take years and delicate, steady hands. It also had the most ornate chandelier I have ever seen - weighing 1 ton with lotus flowers as lamps and crystals hanging from it with copper leaves and a dragon coming from the top. I couldn't find a picture, but, believe me, it was breathtaking.

After that - it took about 2 hours - we went into the museum, but our feet ached so much and we were just so exhausted that we decided to head back to the station and grab a bus, then a train, home. We got back around 8 p.m., watched some of The Office and headed to bed. It was a pretty great day.

Sunday was pretty lazy. I needed to go get a new battery charger for my camera AA's, so I found this place down the street, and Manon came with me to get them. Well, we didn't find the place but we did find this store called ASDA, which happens to be from the founders of Walmart! How great! I've actually missed Walmart and Target a bit, they have everything! But ASDA had clothes, my batter charger and food! It was amazing. I was way more excited than I should have been, haha. But anyway, we just went there and came home because it was so rainy out. But the good news was I broke in my rainboots - I even ran in them! So they're great. But that was it for Sunday. I'll save the next post for what happened today...so onto post 2 for the day!

P.S. Here's the link for pics from Brighton

Orientation, Frank the Ugly Fish and Professor Sprout

Hey everyone! It's been a few days since I've written. But first off, I'd like to say happy birthday to my dad! Happy Bday Dad! I hope it's great! Not too much has happened since you last read. I still haven't started school - I go to see my course director on Monday, he will assign me my classes and then hopefully I'll get started!

I went to my day of orientation on Tuesday, which was fine, it was only for international students, so I met a few more Americans and some from Germany, Hong Kong and Sweden, among others. Everyone is really nice, so that's good. I can't help but feel a little intimidated by this whole process. Everyone here is so artsy - I hope I do well! I think I'll feel better once school starts...gah! Anyway, we spent the day getting ID cards, eating mini-sandwiches and then going on a creative tour of London. Basically they took us to Soho and the more fashionable and older parts of London. I think it was more geared toward the Fasion majors, but it was still interesting.

From there, my flatmate Manon and I went back to the dorm because we had scheduled a flat dinner. All six of us got together (plus one of the girls from my trip, Katie - she does anything and everything to meet new people, so she decided to come along), and went out to the Chinese restaurant underneath our building. It was nice to visit with everyone. So far it's three guys and four girls; two are from France, one from Russia, one from Liverpool, one guy who I still haven't met yet (he didn't show) and Manon (from Minnesota) and me. A pretty eclectic bunch. I like everyone, but the only down side is that they all smoke! And they prefer to do it in our kitchen, so that's a downer. Other than that they seem nice.

That was Tuesday.

Wednesday I think I slept in. It was wonderful! I hadn't been able to get a good night's rest, so I slept in until 10:30, and felt so much better. Then Manon and I went to the Big Fayre - an event my university put on in a big warehouse in central London filled with clubs and sports teams, etc. I met a few British students, there, and they were amazed that I was 21 and kept asking how I lived without alcohol until now, haha. I told them it wasn't that bad. Later in the day, Manon and I went out to Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus to explore a bit. We went around Leicester Square and saw the Odeon cinema, where all of the big London premieres are held. There were handprints all around the square, like in Hollywood, which was neat. The best one, though, had to be of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Who knew he was such a big actor here? :) Sean Connery and Maggie Smith were also there, among others.


Thursday I spent the day by myself. I thought I should go explore alone, get a little more acquainted, but it was no easy thing to do. I was nervous, but I decided I'd buck up and head outside. Fortunately it wasn't raining out, but it sure was cold! I thought I'd spend a few hours in Westminster Abbey, and I'm so glad I did! It was amazing. I walked around for about 2 1/2 hours just mesmerized by everything. I saw tombs and shrines and monuments, amazing sculptures, everything was so beautiful. I lit a candle and prayed for a bit before leaving. It felt nice, and I felt better when I left.



From there I decided to walk around and grab a hot chocolate - it was just so cold out! I walked over the river, and sat with my hot chocolate on a bench overlooking the river. Luckily I finished my hot chocolate before I was scared away by London's scary sea gulls. They are just frightening! I could have sworn one was about to attack me - but that's me just being over-dramatic. It's the beady eyes, I think. Suspicous.

Right behind me was the London Aquarium, and I thought, what the heck? So I paid my 11.25 pounds, and headed in to Zone One (of 14): the River Thames. It was pretty neat. But I started to feel really lonely there. There was one other old man, probably in his late 70s there alone, so I stuck close by him. The Aquarium was pretty nice, and I made it just in time for shark feeding, which was pretty cool. By the time I reached Zones 11 through 14, I was just about ready to go. Tired and lonesome, I headed out, only to be met with the ugliest fish I have ever seen. It was huge! About the size of a large party platter, but fatter, with a crooked bottom lip, bug eyes and weird tan color. Not the prettiest fish in the sea, by any means. But I liked him immediately - he looked friendly. So I stood there, introduced myself (very quietly, of course, I didn't want to seem like some crazy American), and named him Frank. We just kind of stood there for a while staring at each other, when I saw the old man head out for the exit. I took that as my cue to leave. So I said goodbye to Frank. No tears were shed, but those few moments were magical. Then I headed back to catch a tube home. Not too bad of a day.

But it wasn't over yet! Almost there, I know this blog is incredibly long, but it'll be over soon! That night my program director took us all to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to see The Merry Wives of Windsor. I hadn't read it before, but I was excited just to be there. So we got there, and I sat down, and this friendly woman behind me asked our program director, Rachel, if we were drama students. She told her no, but that we were from America studying abroad here. Then she said that Rachel should tell us she was Professor Sprout from Harry Potter - and she was! I completely flipped out! We got pictures with her and everything - she was so nice! And had quite a hearty laugh.


The play was amazing, one of the best Shakespeare's I've seen. I smiled that entire night, my jaw even hurt afterward. It was so much fun.

Anywho, that's pretty much it for me. Today I went shopping, bought some gloves and scarf, and tomorrow a few of us are planning on going to Brighton for the day. I'll let you all know how it goes! Stay tuned!

P.S. Here are some links to my updated photos: Westminster Abbey and Randon London

Pictures from Facebook - In case you can't see them!

London Ferry

Tower of London

Greenwich

Randon London Photos

Hope you like them all!