3rd Weeks a Charm

This past week has been crazy fun. Things here are really starting to come together, and I'm adjusting to the fact that I actually live here now. We've had 2 more sunny days! Well, by sunny I mean you can actually see the sun, that's pretty much as good as it gets here. Also, it has only rained almost every day... oh how I love the rain. I love how everything I touch is always wet or damp- who needs things to be dry?

I saw a play called "39 Steps" this past week. Loved it. Loved it. Hilarious play. It is a parody of the Alfred Hitchcock film, but they put in so many allusions to his other movies. Granted, if you haven't seen those movies, you may not enjoy it as much as I did. This was four person cast, playing multiple roles, and seriously one of the most clever things I have ever seen. See it.

Yesterday I went to see Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter books. Really quite anti-climatic for me. Plus, the London transit system raped my Oyster card balance just to get there. Oh London transit and I are not on speaking terms right now. Anyway, so we went to the Harry Potter thing, which I was excited for- even though I've never read the books and don't really enjoy the movies. Why did I waste my money? Good question my friends. I did this for you. Those of you who I know are Harry Potter freaks. Thank me later. Ok, the Harry Potter thing is not the point. After we visited the platform, and took pictures like big dorks, we went to (drumroll please) The British Library! A-mazing. I kid you not. The best part of my trip thus far. Ok, I'll explain. So in the library they have this exhibit of extremely old writings- novels, manuscripts, bibles, the Magna Carta, sacred texts of all different religions. I saw Beowolf, the manuscript of Alice in Wonderland (Alice Underground), Tess of D'Ubervilles (which by the way was originally entitled Daughter of D'Ubervilles, but Hardy crossed it out and wrote Tess), I saw handwritten notes from Virgina Woolf, Sylvia Plath... ugh.. they were the coolest things I've ever seen. THEN, I saw the Beatles exhibit. I stood there listening to Yesterday while reading the handwritten lyrics of Yesterday, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, songs that hadn't been recorded!! Things were scribbled on the backs of scrap paper and things were crossed out and moved and uh! it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Hands down the coolest thing I've seen on this trip. It was just... I don't know how to explain it. Fuck you Disney Land- The British Library: Where dreams come true.

Last night was my Historical Pub Walk. All this means is we went to old pubs that we would never have found on our own. Needless to say, it was awesome. Love the extra four ounces and the higher alcohol content. We went to three pubs, all of which were so different from the pubs we usually go to (which all look basically the same anyway). Then, of course, it was Wednesday night, so we went to the Union. Oh the Union, where I embarrass myself on a weekly basis. This time however, my friend Caroline and I managed to meet three guys who play football (they kept saying soccer for our benefit, even though we tried to tell them we knew it was football) and these nice boys asked us if we wanted to go to a club with them, but first they rounded up some more of their friends, aka the entire team. So there we are walking with this group of gorgeous footballers (ok, so the gorgeous part definitely didn't apply to all of them, but it's my story) about to go to this club- and then we find out that there is an hours queue in front, so we turn around (we were only at the bus stop) and walk back to the Union. Apparently, we "gots to go next week." Highly doubt it will happen, but they were fun guys. Great night. Rough morning.

Oh my trip to Windsor! One of the best little towns on the planet. The castle was so beautiful and very interesting. We were given these little audio tour things that told us everything we could possibly want to know. St. George's Cathedral is one of the most gorgeous buildings I've ever been in. I saw where William Shakespeare lived, and at the castle I witnessed a little changing of the guard- btw, not that interesting. They stare at each other for a half hour.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet the Queen or William and Harry. Thus Harry and I haven't made any concrete plans for our future nuptials. I had fish and chips (again) at this cute pub and proceeded to get a little tipsy before the walk to Eton College (where both the princes went to school) then Kate and I stopped at a pub on the way back. Best field trip of my life. Our tour guide, Britt, knows everything about everything. EVERYTHING. She is taking us to Camden and Little Venice this Saturday and I can't wait.

Week Two

Well, another week has past since I first arrived! Hard to believe it. The past week has consisted of a little bit of sunshine, a little bit of culture, and a little bit of drinking of course.

A few days ago there was sun! I went crazy and ran in the park- that's right I ran. Not for very long but I did manage to get myself lost in the park. It was a great place to get lost in. So many people came out of the woodwork, with their little dogs too! Oh how I love puppies! They are all so well behaved here, they must have better schools here. People also had their little children with them, playing by the pond, feeding geese and whatnot. Kids are cute, but they were for sure overshadowed by the puppies. Then again, I might be biased since I don't really like kids.

I went to another play Tuesday night called An Inspector Calls. It had some deep message about taking responsibility and helping others that led to a billion philosophical conversations after the show. We college kids love to talk philosophy don't we? Overall it was a great time, AMAZING set design and lighting, and the actors' performances were good, not great, but good. I'm such a drama geek.

I also went to another art museum, the Tate Britain. We went to see this exhibit on JMW Turner- apparently a collection of very rare pieces. You've seen one painting of a sailboat in a storm, you've seen them all. My professor said there was this underlying theme of class and discrimination behind the whole exhibit. Funny, it looked like a sailboat. I had much more fun taking pictures by the river. I love art, but that show did not impress me.

Last night, Wednesday, was "sports night" at the Union... I'm not sure why they call it this since I found no difference between last night and any other night, but there were tons of people and it was a fantastic time. That may or may not have had something to do with the bottle of wine I drank before we went out, but regardless it was fun. Waking up for class this morning was a little less fun, however. I'm going to miss being a college kid. You can't do that in the real world. In the real world you're an alcoholic and you have to go to meetings and cry and shit. Not looking forward to that, but alas... I am a Smith so let's be real.

This Saturday I am visit Windsor Castle outside of the city. It should be an absolutely fabulous trip, provided that the weather becomes less consistent and it doesn't rain. Oh the rain. fuck the rain. Whoa.. sorry seasonal affective disorder... well that or coke. Kidding. I haven't developed a drug problem, when it becomes a problem I'll let you know. Anyway... wow ADD is killing this blog... castle on Saturday, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

A Foggy Day In London town

So I am just a little over a week into my semester abroad here in London! It's crazy, I feel like I've been here forever, and yet just arrived all at once.

Last night I, along with most of my fellow program participants, went to the Imperial College Union for a club night. Something to note, going out here in UK is much different than it is back home. They start early at pubs, which close at 11pm, and then may or may not conti

nue on to a club that can stay open until 4am. BUT! The city likes to make it tricky, they shut down the tube (pronounced chube) at midnight and leave you with the option of taking a night bus, which runs on completely different routes and schedules than the day buses. I've concluded that the Brits enjoy making things difficult, probably because they are quite good at it. Example: when entering the tube you must tap your Oyster card (like a Chicago Go card) before walking through the gates, but you must also tap out when you have compl

eted your ride. Unnecessary? Yes, I thought so too. It becomes especially troublesome during rush hour when you and the rest of London must queue up in order to leave the pits of the earth (where the tube is located- seriously much deeper than the red line). Ah, I'm getting off subject. Tends to happen with ADD. So we go to the Union, where everyone is already absolutely pissed (drunk), and rightly so since it is by far the cheapest place to drink in all of London (1.60 a pint... that's pounds mind you). This "club night" basically equates to a high school dance. Hilarious. Plus, we had the first program semi-hookup. Personally I don't think it is a good idea to get involved with another person in the program, but no one asked me. So I'm antic

ipating some intense drama later on.

Today I went on a tour of The British Museum- we just saw a few of the highlights since you could literally spend days in that museum. Our tour guide was fantastic! She seemed to know everything. The Rosetta Stone is by far one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my entire life. Oh, and I saw a bog man that was preserved with skin still intact. Scary, but also immensely fascinating. I wanted to be an archeologist while I was there. Since leaving I remembered how much I love extravagancies, like plumbing.

Yesterday afternoon we had afternoon tea, High Tea. We all got dressed up and drank tea and ate scones (pronounced scons in this country). There was also sandwiches and eclairs. It doesn't sound like that much, but we all left completely stuffed. It was great. Classy. Well, we weren't classy but I think we all put in a considerable amount of effort. I want to throw tea parties now- turns out I like tea (with milk and sugar)- you're all invited.

Hmm.. what else have I done? There was a bus tour of the city, which was great, but I will have to revisit all of those places later when it is a bit warmer. I live across the street from Kensington Gardens (later turns into Hyde Park), walked around there a few times. Its beautiful. Unfortunately some woman was found dead mysteriously behind the palace next to the pond. This happened yesterday. Fear not, I don't exercise that frequently anyway. Something that will come back to bite me in my big fat ass later on, especially with all this heavy beer they serve me here... at room temperature. Sound gross? It's not. Room temperature can freeze water here (wow, that really isn't as dramatic as "hot enough to fry an egg" but that was what I was going for).

You can't stumble out of a pub here without falling into... well another pub. Cider beer is becoming a new friend of mine. It's like mixing Andre and Budlight - I'm sure actually mixing those two things would not have a great result but I am trying to describe the flavors, so imagine the two distinct flavors not what you would think the end result would be. All pubs serve fish and chips. Jealous? You should be, it's better here. I'm going to be huge when I get back- but be nice, I'm sensitive.