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...