Today started out like most other school days, with me not wanting to get up. But up I got and after a quick breakfast I was off to class with a few of my friends. It is just crazy hot over here. I brought all sorts of things to be comfortable in the dreary English weather, but it's just been a week of hot, and it's going to be another week of hot. I guess it's a good excuse to buy some new clothes.
Again we had a new lecturer in class today. I guess it's normal to do that over here. Anyway, today we talked about probability and chance, which was actually pretty interesting. We talked about how people are really bad at rationally looking at the probability of something happening and we should take a step back sometimes and really weigh the probability of something happening. Like in gambling. Every spin of the roulette wheel is independent, meaning they have no bearing on each other. Just because the ball lands on red three times in a row there is no reason at all to expect that it will land on black next. It's a 50 50 chance either way, no matter what. We also learned that if you play the game show where there are three doors and you have to choose one, and then the host shows a door with no prize, then asks if you want to switch or stay, it is statistically better to switch every time to another door. Don't ask me how it's determined, because it will fill up more than this blog can hold, but it's always statistically better to switch. Remember that next time you're on a game show.
I didn't have anything to do for the afternoon until Wicked that night, so I bought lunch at that lovely French place near campus, and I got a tart this time.I do love tarts. My sandwich was a baguette with poppy seeds with chicken, lettuce, tomato, and English mustard. I was going to just eat it in my room, but then I remembered that I said I would always do something cool every day, so I took my lunch to the park near my building and ate it there while reading my school book. I needed to waste a lot of time anyway because we weren't leaving for Wicked until 6:30.
I spent some lovely time in the park, the pigeons getting dangerously close again, then went back to my dorm. I read and wasted time until 6:00 and started to get ready for the show. I was so super excited. My stomach hurt a little I was so excited. I made a sandwich (I do eat a lot of sandwiches here) with crisps then found my group for Wicked. We got on the tube a little later than I had wanted and were delayed a bit because we weren't familiar with that part of the tube. It was a new section for us, but we made our transfer and got to Victoria station, the nearest stop to Apollo Victoria Theater, where Wicked plays in London.
After a little more confusion we got in the queue to get our tickets. I had been told by Eric on Sunday, who is with the company that does our social events and got us our tickets, that I was to go up and say "I'm Michael with Proscenium" and they would give us the four tickets. Well, I did that, and they said they didn't have the tickets. I said "Could you check under Michael Burson?" and again there were no tickets. At this point I was panicking and irate. I called the number on our piece of paper for Proscenium and of course they were closed. So I left a half confused half very irritated message with them. Then we called our director and asked her what to do (API and Westminster and Proscenium are all separate things, probably why this is such a difficult process). Rachel was very much on our side and told us we should get back in the line and try looking under Westminter as well, and that she would call some people tomorrow morning. So I got back in the queue and waited to get to the ticket office again. Half way through the girls came and told me that that curtain had been called and even if we got the tickets now we would have to wait until intermission. And again, when I got to the ticket office and talked to a new person and asked for any name I could connect to us, they had no tickets.
At this point I was pretty much crushed. I have been wanting to see Wicked for years. I've been in love with it sense I first heard a few of the songs on the show's website and fell madly in love when I bought the soundtrack. It seems that just about everyone I've talked to has seen it and never once have I heard anything against it. It's always "I loved it! Wish I could see it again!" I was very much hoping to become one of those people tonight. But nope, not this time.
As we walked from the theater, the girls cheered me up by badmouthing everyone we could possibly think of to be responsible for this serious mix up and promising that no matter what, they would get me to this show. They really made me feel good at a moment I wanted to sit down and cry then get up and scream then punch some people. The girls decided they needed a drink so we found a pub and got an appetizer plate of food I was used to in America: potato wedges, chips and salsa, garlic bread, and sausages. We talked about other things for a while as I drank my Pepsi that was all soda water and very little Pepsi. They wanted another round but I wanted to go back, so I walked back to the tube and made my way back to the dorm.
It's very true that I still have 2 weeks here, and I'm sure that somehow this mess will be resolved and we'll get new tickets and everything will be rainbows in our tea. Mark my words, as God as my witness, I will see Wicked before I leave the banks of this country!! But it was still an incredibly disappointing end to a day that promised so much.
British word of the day: wicked = cool or awesome.
Monday, June 28, 2010
day 10
Had to wake up quite early this morning to get breakfast and get on the bus. I got double seats again, so I was able to nap on the bus throughout the day, so the early wake up wasn’t that big a deal.
W got on the bus and made our way to the Brecon Beacons National Park and got to the Bit Pit mining museum. The national park was really lovely. Everything was green and there were hills and trees all over the place. Today was the hottest day on record or something like that at a scorching 82 degrees Fahrenheit (that was sarcasm, it wasn’t that hot unless you stood out in it. I’d like to see some Londoners at band camp, then we’ll see what they think is hot. Then again, I wouldn’t want to be here in the winter, so I guess it balances out.)
Bit Pit was once a very thriving coalmine, but today it is a museum to the miners and the mine itself. We got about half way up a hill and there were a bunch of big wheels and machines that used to be used in the mining. We all got out and got in line to go into the mine. They said we would be going 300 hundred feet down, which wasn’t so horrible. I’ve been in caves before and I was sure it wouldn’t be that different. I was with a lot of my friends, but I also had the misfortune of being with a lot of very screamy, whiny, complaining girls who freaked out about everything and said things like “This is NOT cool” and “Is it going to be dark down there?” They were also all wearing flip-flops, tank tops, and shorts, and for anyone who has ever been underground, you know how cold it is. They all complained that we should have been told that it would be wet and muddy down there. I was thinking “We’re going into a COAL MINE. What did you think it was going to be like? Rainbows in your tea?”
Anyway, we got equipped with our hard hats and flashlights and descended into the mine. Our guide was a nice old man who had been a miner when he was younger, before the mine was shut down. All of the guides were one-time miners, so they were filled with stories that, to be honest, were very depressing. They all pretty much went “No air, no light, no happiness.”
Once we were down, we started walking through the different tunnels inside the mine. Most of the walls were held up by timbers, and they were a little moldy, so there was a constant sour smell about the place. We learned how miserable and hard a miners life was from our guide. They actually kept horses down there. There was a stable and everything. The horses pulled the carks that were filled with coal to the lift and back again, for 12 hour shifts. Everyone was one 12 hour shifts. Our guide said the horses could live for 10 years if nothing happened to them, which I thought was a really long time. But there were so many dangers in the mine that many horses didn’t last long anyway.
There were also children employed by the mines. They would be the ones to sit at the doors and open and close them throughout the mine. There was a very complicated system of doors throughout the mine that had to be closed and opened in certain ways or else the air in the mine would woosh out, the methane gas would build up, and everything would explode. Not a very happy place.
But it was cool to see the coal still in the walls of the mine. It was right there in front of me and it put some insight as to just where coal comes from. In general, it’s not very happy and it’s a lot of terribly hard work. And if you didn’t die in the mine, you lived the rest of your life on oxygen and with a cane because of all the diseases you get.
We finally got out, and seeing the sun again was very nice. I wasn’t able to take any pictures because there are still traces of methane gas in the mine, so they don’t let anyone bring cameras, watches, or cell phones in to the mine. We got back on the bus and made our way to where we would have lunch. This time we did a lot better at eating, and ate at the first place we came to, the Robin Hood Restaurant, and ordered right away. I got a chicken sandwich that was very good.
Back on the bus again. Erik talked A LOT about English history, and I phased in and out in my double seat. Our final stop was Tintern Abbey, an abbey where monks of the White Order lived. These monks were supposed to live a life of discomfort and obtaining from anything that makes you happy, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at this place. It was really huge. I wasn’t expecting it to be so large. I was imagining a big church, but this place was more like a cathedral. It was in ruins, but was still amazing to look at.
We walked around for about an hour and got back on the bus for the final time to come back to London. Being out the country was nice, but being in London is so much better. You can do anything here and there’s always something cool to do. I was glad to be back.
British word of the day: fancy dress = costume. So if anyone invites you to a fancy dress party, don't wear a ball gown, wear a costume.
W got on the bus and made our way to the Brecon Beacons National Park and got to the Bit Pit mining museum. The national park was really lovely. Everything was green and there were hills and trees all over the place. Today was the hottest day on record or something like that at a scorching 82 degrees Fahrenheit (that was sarcasm, it wasn’t that hot unless you stood out in it. I’d like to see some Londoners at band camp, then we’ll see what they think is hot. Then again, I wouldn’t want to be here in the winter, so I guess it balances out.)
Bit Pit was once a very thriving coalmine, but today it is a museum to the miners and the mine itself. We got about half way up a hill and there were a bunch of big wheels and machines that used to be used in the mining. We all got out and got in line to go into the mine. They said we would be going 300 hundred feet down, which wasn’t so horrible. I’ve been in caves before and I was sure it wouldn’t be that different. I was with a lot of my friends, but I also had the misfortune of being with a lot of very screamy, whiny, complaining girls who freaked out about everything and said things like “This is NOT cool” and “Is it going to be dark down there?” They were also all wearing flip-flops, tank tops, and shorts, and for anyone who has ever been underground, you know how cold it is. They all complained that we should have been told that it would be wet and muddy down there. I was thinking “We’re going into a COAL MINE. What did you think it was going to be like? Rainbows in your tea?”
Anyway, we got equipped with our hard hats and flashlights and descended into the mine. Our guide was a nice old man who had been a miner when he was younger, before the mine was shut down. All of the guides were one-time miners, so they were filled with stories that, to be honest, were very depressing. They all pretty much went “No air, no light, no happiness.”
Once we were down, we started walking through the different tunnels inside the mine. Most of the walls were held up by timbers, and they were a little moldy, so there was a constant sour smell about the place. We learned how miserable and hard a miners life was from our guide. They actually kept horses down there. There was a stable and everything. The horses pulled the carks that were filled with coal to the lift and back again, for 12 hour shifts. Everyone was one 12 hour shifts. Our guide said the horses could live for 10 years if nothing happened to them, which I thought was a really long time. But there were so many dangers in the mine that many horses didn’t last long anyway.
There were also children employed by the mines. They would be the ones to sit at the doors and open and close them throughout the mine. There was a very complicated system of doors throughout the mine that had to be closed and opened in certain ways or else the air in the mine would woosh out, the methane gas would build up, and everything would explode. Not a very happy place.
But it was cool to see the coal still in the walls of the mine. It was right there in front of me and it put some insight as to just where coal comes from. In general, it’s not very happy and it’s a lot of terribly hard work. And if you didn’t die in the mine, you lived the rest of your life on oxygen and with a cane because of all the diseases you get.
We finally got out, and seeing the sun again was very nice. I wasn’t able to take any pictures because there are still traces of methane gas in the mine, so they don’t let anyone bring cameras, watches, or cell phones in to the mine. We got back on the bus and made our way to where we would have lunch. This time we did a lot better at eating, and ate at the first place we came to, the Robin Hood Restaurant, and ordered right away. I got a chicken sandwich that was very good.
Back on the bus again. Erik talked A LOT about English history, and I phased in and out in my double seat. Our final stop was Tintern Abbey, an abbey where monks of the White Order lived. These monks were supposed to live a life of discomfort and obtaining from anything that makes you happy, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at this place. It was really huge. I wasn’t expecting it to be so large. I was imagining a big church, but this place was more like a cathedral. It was in ruins, but was still amazing to look at.
We walked around for about an hour and got back on the bus for the final time to come back to London. Being out the country was nice, but being in London is so much better. You can do anything here and there’s always something cool to do. I was glad to be back.
British word of the day: fancy dress = costume. So if anyone invites you to a fancy dress party, don't wear a ball gown, wear a costume.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
day 9
I spent this weekend in Wales with the Westminster group. Wales is a lovely country, all green and alive. And it actually has hills, which were very welcome after all this flatness. I feel like I should explain some things before I get started. Great Britain is made up of four separate parts: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. You can think of these places as states, but more fancy. They are each slightly independent, but mostly under control of the British Parliament. Scotland has its own Parliament and Wales has a Council, where they can make their own laws for their own country, but they all answer to London.
Wales used to be where pretty much all the coal for the British Empire was mined. It had huge mines where tons and tons of coal were mined to fuel ships and trains and factories. 1 in 10 Welsh citizens worked in coalmines, men, women, and children at times. But in the 1980s after a lot of labor strikes and unions, Margaret Thatcher’s government shut down all of the coalmines, making unemployment skyrocket. Wales is only now beginning to get over the huge unemployment slump.
Anyway, enough of that. I had to get up super early this morning to meet the buses at Madame Tussauds (something else I need to visit) to get on the coaches (buses). I was able to get a double seat near my friends, so the ride was looking good. Our coach’s guide was Eric, and if you ever want to know anything about the UK, he’s the one to go to. Over our long bus rides I learned more history from him than I dare to even try to put on here. I learned where the term “Keep you eyes peeled” came from (it was from Bobbies (policemen) when they were under a guy, I think named Peeler, who wanted them to be very vigilant about their duties) and “sleep tight” (when people slept on straw mattresses in wooded frames they would tighten ropes around the bed to keep the mattress from sagging). He also told us very long stories about the succession of kings throughout the history of England, which is a very, very long tale.
So we drove and drove all the way to Wales and we went to the Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre and Soldier barracks, which were very interesting. Though there was little left but the foundations of where the Roman soldiers stayed, Erik told us, again, a lot of information about Roman life in Britain. They had a very good sewer system that kept everything moving, unlike the moats around most castles were everything just sits and festers. It was all very planned out and effective.
The Amphitheatre was even better. It still had many of the stone walls that surrounded the main pit and had a lot of alcoves that we all enjoyed taking pictures in. I learned a few things about amphitheatres as well. In rural areas like where we were there were not the big gladiator battles and lion and bear death matches. It was probably fighting until first blood, as they didn’t want to be killing all their soldiers off and all the professional gladiators were off in cities where they could get money for their work. The men here probably would have fought wolves or wild bores instead of the big flashy animals.
We left the Roman stuff behind and moved into the medieval era. We drove onto Caerphilly Castle, a huge ancient castle, also mostly in ruins, but still beautiful and fascinating. But there was a lot of problems that came with this. We had to get lunch in the village next to the castle. Seeing as we’ve never been there before, we decided to eat at the supermarket, because they had a café and that would be a quick bite to eat then off to the castle. Just one problem: everyone had he exact same idea. And we were the last in line. So we stood in line at this supermarket for about 50 minutes, and we only had an hour until we met at the castle for our tour. So we finally got to order (I got sausage and mash) and sat down. Then we had to wait forever for the food to get there. Then the food was boiling hot, so I was trying to eat it as fast as I could and it was burning my mouth. My group was totally stressed and just wanted to leave and see the castle.
So we finally finished all our stupid food and we were 10 minutes late for the tour, so they said we should wait and Erik would come back and get us. I didn’t want to do that because that meant more standing around and less seeing the amazing ancient castle. So I went ahead inside and my group followed and we got on the tail end of Erik telling everyone about the castle. I was really disappointed because even though he talked a lot, he really knew his stuff and made it really relatable. Then we moved into the great hall and Erik talked some more about the history of the castle, which was very interesting, even though I can’t really remember it.
Then we only had 40 minutes to see the amazing castle. So I raced around and tried to see as many rooms as I could an took lots of pictures. And of course there were other students from the group all over the place, making the spiral staircases that I usually love nearly impossible to go up or down them. I had to use some ninja moves to get down some of them because there always seemed to be people coming up or down the other side.
But it was a really cool place despite all these things. I could have spent half a day there, walking around the rooms and staircases, finding all the little nooks and secret places. Something I’ve realized when you go to castles is that you start pretending you own them. You go into the great hall and can’t help but pretend you’re a king at a feast and all these people are here to see you. And don’t think it’s just me who does this! Everyone in my group said the same thing, so don’t think I’m on some ego trip.
Anyway, once our very short time at the castle was up we got back on the bus and made our way to St Fagan’s Museum of Welsh Life. For all of you who plan on traveling to Wales in you life, this is something you don’t need to feel bad about leaving out of the itinerary. It’s a big area they’ve used to recreate the buildings the Welsh used in the old days for farming and such. And guess what. Peasants in Wales live like peasants in England live like pilgrims in America: in tiny little houses with tiny fields and tiny barns. It was super boring. It really didn’t look any different from the recreation of the settler’s farm in Cherokee, except that it had a lot more trees and sheep. And we had some much time there! We should have spent that time at the awesome castle! The only cool think about it was there was a fancy manor house on a hill behind the farm area that had a beautiful garden. We walked around in there until it was time to leave. That’s when Erik found me and told me our Wicked tickets had been confirmed for Monday night! Huzzah!!
We then drove to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, to get to our hotel. Cardiff is a pretty small city, as in there are few very tall buildings, but it was fine just the same. We stayed at an Etap, which meant bunk beds. Fortunately, my roommate said he would take the top, which made sense because I was taller anyway. What was weird about our room was the shower. It had no handle, but a hole in the door to open it. I’m glad I wasn’t planning on taking a shower in there, because anyone passing by could totally see into it. I’m not saying my room was part of a parade route of people who wanted to looking into my shower door hole, but it was still there.
My friends and I decided we wanted to go to a pub for dinner because most of the people in my group wanted to watch the USA vs. Ghana football (soccer) game. I could care less, but pubs mean good food, so we went to the Prince of Wales. This was different from the Prince of Wales we went to in London, and was much, much bigger and much nicer. They also had a very cheap menu. I wanted a steak, but they were all out of steak, so I got a kind of pork streak that had pineapple on top that was very good with chips (fries). I split a fantastic and easy dessert with Allie for 2 pounds. It was a Belgium waffle with chocolate sauce on top, and three scopes of ice cream. It was amazing!
USA lost the football match, but I didn’t care to begin with. Then because it was still light out we went to what I thought was a bar but turned out to be a club. I mostly sat there while everyone else drank. What was interesting about this place was that there were about a dozen different “stag” and “hen” parties, which were bachelor and bachelorette parties. And all the different parties had people dressed up in really strange costumes, like nurses or princesses, all completely gaudy. The guys were even worse. One group was all dressed up like women in spandex leotards and big fake knockers. It was all really crazy.
My friends wanted to go downstairs and dance, so I went with them and bounced to the music I didn’t recognize. But then they played Bad Romance (Lady Gaga of course) and then I had a great time because I actually knew what was going on. But for the rest of the night it was just ok to me. I’ve really come to understand that fun for me does not mean going out to the club and getting drunk (which I of course have never done). Fun to me is going out to have a fancy or interesting dinner, or seeing a show (like Wicked!!!) or seeing a really funny movie. Those are the things I really get excited about doing and have the most fun at, and I’m fine with that. It’s not better or worse than other forms of fun, but there are a lot less creepy old men at my places.
After a while at that place Allie and I decided we were done and walked back to the hotel. I went right to sleep before my roommate even came back.
British word of the day: subway = a walkway that goes under the road for pedestrians, not a train. That's the underground or tube.
Wales used to be where pretty much all the coal for the British Empire was mined. It had huge mines where tons and tons of coal were mined to fuel ships and trains and factories. 1 in 10 Welsh citizens worked in coalmines, men, women, and children at times. But in the 1980s after a lot of labor strikes and unions, Margaret Thatcher’s government shut down all of the coalmines, making unemployment skyrocket. Wales is only now beginning to get over the huge unemployment slump.
Anyway, enough of that. I had to get up super early this morning to meet the buses at Madame Tussauds (something else I need to visit) to get on the coaches (buses). I was able to get a double seat near my friends, so the ride was looking good. Our coach’s guide was Eric, and if you ever want to know anything about the UK, he’s the one to go to. Over our long bus rides I learned more history from him than I dare to even try to put on here. I learned where the term “Keep you eyes peeled” came from (it was from Bobbies (policemen) when they were under a guy, I think named Peeler, who wanted them to be very vigilant about their duties) and “sleep tight” (when people slept on straw mattresses in wooded frames they would tighten ropes around the bed to keep the mattress from sagging). He also told us very long stories about the succession of kings throughout the history of England, which is a very, very long tale.
So we drove and drove all the way to Wales and we went to the Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre and Soldier barracks, which were very interesting. Though there was little left but the foundations of where the Roman soldiers stayed, Erik told us, again, a lot of information about Roman life in Britain. They had a very good sewer system that kept everything moving, unlike the moats around most castles were everything just sits and festers. It was all very planned out and effective.
The Amphitheatre was even better. It still had many of the stone walls that surrounded the main pit and had a lot of alcoves that we all enjoyed taking pictures in. I learned a few things about amphitheatres as well. In rural areas like where we were there were not the big gladiator battles and lion and bear death matches. It was probably fighting until first blood, as they didn’t want to be killing all their soldiers off and all the professional gladiators were off in cities where they could get money for their work. The men here probably would have fought wolves or wild bores instead of the big flashy animals.
We left the Roman stuff behind and moved into the medieval era. We drove onto Caerphilly Castle, a huge ancient castle, also mostly in ruins, but still beautiful and fascinating. But there was a lot of problems that came with this. We had to get lunch in the village next to the castle. Seeing as we’ve never been there before, we decided to eat at the supermarket, because they had a café and that would be a quick bite to eat then off to the castle. Just one problem: everyone had he exact same idea. And we were the last in line. So we stood in line at this supermarket for about 50 minutes, and we only had an hour until we met at the castle for our tour. So we finally got to order (I got sausage and mash) and sat down. Then we had to wait forever for the food to get there. Then the food was boiling hot, so I was trying to eat it as fast as I could and it was burning my mouth. My group was totally stressed and just wanted to leave and see the castle.
So we finally finished all our stupid food and we were 10 minutes late for the tour, so they said we should wait and Erik would come back and get us. I didn’t want to do that because that meant more standing around and less seeing the amazing ancient castle. So I went ahead inside and my group followed and we got on the tail end of Erik telling everyone about the castle. I was really disappointed because even though he talked a lot, he really knew his stuff and made it really relatable. Then we moved into the great hall and Erik talked some more about the history of the castle, which was very interesting, even though I can’t really remember it.
Then we only had 40 minutes to see the amazing castle. So I raced around and tried to see as many rooms as I could an took lots of pictures. And of course there were other students from the group all over the place, making the spiral staircases that I usually love nearly impossible to go up or down them. I had to use some ninja moves to get down some of them because there always seemed to be people coming up or down the other side.
But it was a really cool place despite all these things. I could have spent half a day there, walking around the rooms and staircases, finding all the little nooks and secret places. Something I’ve realized when you go to castles is that you start pretending you own them. You go into the great hall and can’t help but pretend you’re a king at a feast and all these people are here to see you. And don’t think it’s just me who does this! Everyone in my group said the same thing, so don’t think I’m on some ego trip.
Anyway, once our very short time at the castle was up we got back on the bus and made our way to St Fagan’s Museum of Welsh Life. For all of you who plan on traveling to Wales in you life, this is something you don’t need to feel bad about leaving out of the itinerary. It’s a big area they’ve used to recreate the buildings the Welsh used in the old days for farming and such. And guess what. Peasants in Wales live like peasants in England live like pilgrims in America: in tiny little houses with tiny fields and tiny barns. It was super boring. It really didn’t look any different from the recreation of the settler’s farm in Cherokee, except that it had a lot more trees and sheep. And we had some much time there! We should have spent that time at the awesome castle! The only cool think about it was there was a fancy manor house on a hill behind the farm area that had a beautiful garden. We walked around in there until it was time to leave. That’s when Erik found me and told me our Wicked tickets had been confirmed for Monday night! Huzzah!!
We then drove to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, to get to our hotel. Cardiff is a pretty small city, as in there are few very tall buildings, but it was fine just the same. We stayed at an Etap, which meant bunk beds. Fortunately, my roommate said he would take the top, which made sense because I was taller anyway. What was weird about our room was the shower. It had no handle, but a hole in the door to open it. I’m glad I wasn’t planning on taking a shower in there, because anyone passing by could totally see into it. I’m not saying my room was part of a parade route of people who wanted to looking into my shower door hole, but it was still there.
My friends and I decided we wanted to go to a pub for dinner because most of the people in my group wanted to watch the USA vs. Ghana football (soccer) game. I could care less, but pubs mean good food, so we went to the Prince of Wales. This was different from the Prince of Wales we went to in London, and was much, much bigger and much nicer. They also had a very cheap menu. I wanted a steak, but they were all out of steak, so I got a kind of pork streak that had pineapple on top that was very good with chips (fries). I split a fantastic and easy dessert with Allie for 2 pounds. It was a Belgium waffle with chocolate sauce on top, and three scopes of ice cream. It was amazing!
USA lost the football match, but I didn’t care to begin with. Then because it was still light out we went to what I thought was a bar but turned out to be a club. I mostly sat there while everyone else drank. What was interesting about this place was that there were about a dozen different “stag” and “hen” parties, which were bachelor and bachelorette parties. And all the different parties had people dressed up in really strange costumes, like nurses or princesses, all completely gaudy. The guys were even worse. One group was all dressed up like women in spandex leotards and big fake knockers. It was all really crazy.
My friends wanted to go downstairs and dance, so I went with them and bounced to the music I didn’t recognize. But then they played Bad Romance (Lady Gaga of course) and then I had a great time because I actually knew what was going on. But for the rest of the night it was just ok to me. I’ve really come to understand that fun for me does not mean going out to the club and getting drunk (which I of course have never done). Fun to me is going out to have a fancy or interesting dinner, or seeing a show (like Wicked!!!) or seeing a really funny movie. Those are the things I really get excited about doing and have the most fun at, and I’m fine with that. It’s not better or worse than other forms of fun, but there are a lot less creepy old men at my places.
After a while at that place Allie and I decided we were done and walked back to the hotel. I went right to sleep before my roommate even came back.
British word of the day: subway = a walkway that goes under the road for pedestrians, not a train. That's the underground or tube.
day 8
Today was pretty much filled up with one event: going to Hampton Court palace, home of King Henry VIII. I actually got to sleep in this morning, which was fabulous. This was just an API trip, so I met my group downstairs and we were off to the train station. We met Rachel, our director, her son, her mother this time as a helper for the baby, and Alex, our assistant director.
The train ride was very nice, and I listened to Mugglecast, my favorite Harry Potter podcast from mugglenet.com the whole way over. For those of you who don’t know, a podcast is something Apple does where people record shows about particular topics and put them on iTunes for people to download for free. I highly recommend them as they come is just about any subject you could be interested in, and they’re free. This week’s Mugglecast was all about the new Harry Potter theme park in Orlando and it made me very excited to go next fall with Potter Watch.
We got to the little village where the palace was and made the short walk to the palace itself. Though Hampton Court is not terribly tall, it does cover a lot of area, and it really quite huge. It’s all made out of red brick on the outside and it filled with all kinds of apartments and living spaces that have been restored to the way they looked by in Henry VIII’s time.
The first thing we wanted to do was get lunch, so we walked through the beautiful gardens to the café. I wanted to get something that looked very British for lunch, so I got what I though was a kind of meat pie with potatoes and a pistachio cake. But the meat pie was not a meat pie, though it looked like it. I can’t even begin to guess what it might have been. It tasted familiar, but I could not place what it was. Shannon got the same thing and she said she couldn’t tell what it was either. It was uniform all the way through and it sort of had the texture of a not-all-the-way-baked potato. It tasted all right, but I may never know what it was I was eating.
After the mystery lunch we were all feeling better so we started our tour of the palace. We saw all the huge kitchens where all the huge meals were prepared. They ate a lot of meat pies back then, but the pie part wasn’t eaten. It was sort of like a disposable cooking pot. They would put the boiled meat in the crust and cook it all together, then they would eat the meet and through away the crust. Henry’s court went through crazy amounts of meat. The audio guide said that his court moved around the country, eating and eating until there was nothing left in that area, then moved on to a new palace where they bankrupted the people. I’m really glad I wasn’t a peasant in that time.
We walked all through the great halls and great bedrooms and great hallways and listen to the audio tour tell us things. The audio tour was informative but it talked about each room for too long. I was done looking at a room and it was still going on about some painting that the Duke of Something or Other gave to Prince Whosit when he went someplace. But it was still fun.
After we were done at the palace we got back on the train and came to London. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and chatting on skype. It was a lovely day.
British word of the day: kip = a nap
The train ride was very nice, and I listened to Mugglecast, my favorite Harry Potter podcast from mugglenet.com the whole way over. For those of you who don’t know, a podcast is something Apple does where people record shows about particular topics and put them on iTunes for people to download for free. I highly recommend them as they come is just about any subject you could be interested in, and they’re free. This week’s Mugglecast was all about the new Harry Potter theme park in Orlando and it made me very excited to go next fall with Potter Watch.
We got to the little village where the palace was and made the short walk to the palace itself. Though Hampton Court is not terribly tall, it does cover a lot of area, and it really quite huge. It’s all made out of red brick on the outside and it filled with all kinds of apartments and living spaces that have been restored to the way they looked by in Henry VIII’s time.
The first thing we wanted to do was get lunch, so we walked through the beautiful gardens to the café. I wanted to get something that looked very British for lunch, so I got what I though was a kind of meat pie with potatoes and a pistachio cake. But the meat pie was not a meat pie, though it looked like it. I can’t even begin to guess what it might have been. It tasted familiar, but I could not place what it was. Shannon got the same thing and she said she couldn’t tell what it was either. It was uniform all the way through and it sort of had the texture of a not-all-the-way-baked potato. It tasted all right, but I may never know what it was I was eating.
After the mystery lunch we were all feeling better so we started our tour of the palace. We saw all the huge kitchens where all the huge meals were prepared. They ate a lot of meat pies back then, but the pie part wasn’t eaten. It was sort of like a disposable cooking pot. They would put the boiled meat in the crust and cook it all together, then they would eat the meet and through away the crust. Henry’s court went through crazy amounts of meat. The audio guide said that his court moved around the country, eating and eating until there was nothing left in that area, then moved on to a new palace where they bankrupted the people. I’m really glad I wasn’t a peasant in that time.
We walked all through the great halls and great bedrooms and great hallways and listen to the audio tour tell us things. The audio tour was informative but it talked about each room for too long. I was done looking at a room and it was still going on about some painting that the Duke of Something or Other gave to Prince Whosit when he went someplace. But it was still fun.
After we were done at the palace we got back on the train and came to London. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and chatting on skype. It was a lovely day.
British word of the day: kip = a nap
Friday, June 25, 2010
day 7
Today started out with a breakfast of toast and strawberry yogurt. Toast is a very easy breakfast thing to prepare, so I have it pretty much every morning and as a snack. I have also learned that the little convenience stores have most of the things I prepare in the kitchen, so hopefully I won’t have to go all the way to Elephant and Castle again to do my shopping.
Class today was just going over our research paper topics. Yet again, we had a new lecturer, and she went over the basics of writing a research paper, many of which I already new. They really focus here on critical thinking, which involved looking at both sides of an argument and giving research to support or deny a claim. Lots of reading involved. I have decided to do my paper on the effects of hypnosis and if it is effective in helping people get over habits like smoking and excessive drinking. Hopefully there will be a lot research out there already to help me make some kind of claim. I’ll need to start looking things up soon.
After our very short class my psyc friends and I went shopping, as usual. It’s pretty much the only thing you can do when class gets out so early, because all our other friends are still in class. I had my Primark trousers in my bag to return them, but it would turn out that I carried them for naught. I would not be going to Primark today.
My psyc friends yet again had something they wanted to do, so I was lucky to run into my API friends very soon after. They wanted to go to the Roman street market, so we figured out where it was and made for the tube. On our way we stopped by a wonderful French bakery and got sandwiches for lunch. Mine was a salami baguette with a bottled water. They also had berry tarts there, my all-time favorite dessert, but because we were going on the tube, it didn’t want to carry one with me. But one day I shall return!!
We got on the tube and made our quite long journey to the Roman street market. The market is on the far end of Roman street, so we had to walk from the tube a very long way to get there. On the way we stopped at a park to eat our lunches, which was wonderful. I know salami sandwiches are Mary’s favorite, but I think I need something with more substance and vegetables for my sandwiches. It was still very good though.
We finally made it to the market and walked along it. It was mostly stalls selling very cheep women’s clothes. Alas, I am male, and found very little of interest there. I was looking at one dress while the girls were looking at other dresses when the owner of the stall came up to me and asked “Are you looking for a particular occasion?” and I said “Oh no, I’m here with them.” pointing to the girls. He followed by “Oh, no worries, but you never know who you’ll get around here.” It was all pretty funny, and Allie would end up buying a very fun dress there.
After the market, Lindsey decided to go back to the dorm because she didn’t want to come to our next destination, the British Museum. Our assistant director schedules a museum for us to go to every week. Something strange about London is that the museums are free, but you have to pay to get into the churches.
We took a double-decker bus back to the museum. It was a very long bus ride, so I can’t even imagine the walk. I measured my walk from Tuesday and it turned out to me 2 and a half miles! But enough about that. We rode the top of the bus for a really long time, back into the center of London. And all along the way I looked a business men’s shoes. I am telling you, 95% of them were wearing black, long toed, pointy leather shoes. It was insane! All of them! I saw them everywhere! I’ve never seen a trend like this in America. It is just a sign that I have to buy some before I go home. Every well dressed man here is wearing them. Even the old guys. Sorry to keep going on about this but it is kind of mad (crazy).
Anyway, we took a quick stop to a Starbucks before we went to the museum, as we were still early. Mango is a very popular flavor over here, and I got a frozen mango drink that was very refreshing. We sat in front of a big glass window and people watched. Something I haven’t talked about yet are British schools. Pretty much all the children go to schools where they have to wear uniforms, and if you take the Harry Potter uniforms and remove the robes, you have what most of them wear day-to-day for school: sweater with school crest, tie, button up, slacks. The girls will sometimes wear some kind of dress, or it will be like the boys but with a skirt. British school is also a lot harder than American school, but I’m sure you’re not surprised. In Britain they can drop out of school at 16, because that’s pretty much senior high school level for them. After 16 they select 5 areas to study other than math and English, which prepares them for college. So by the time they get to college, many students are already well acquainted with their subject matter. Masters programs here are only a year long, but they are much more intensive and scary.
So we got to the museum, which is huge, and free to get into. We met with our assistant director, who told us some of the interesting things look at, then set us loose. She told us that this was basically a museum of all the things the British Empire stole from across the world, but let’s not think of it that way. I was amazed when I started walking through the galleries to find myself standing in front of the Rosetta Stone, the huge black stone that it written in two forms of ancient Egyptian writing and classical Greek, which taught archeologists a ton about Ancient Egyptian writing. I have been looking at this stone in pictures for years, as I have been obsessed with ancient cultures, particularly Egyptian and Greek, sense I was little. And there it was, right in front of me. It was a very exciting moment. I also saw actual mummies and their sarcophaguses, as well as a bunch of very famous Egyptian wall paintings that I have seen in dozens of books. And it was all there for me to see, and for free.
There was an entire wing dedicated to Greek and Egyptian artifacts. Many of the Greek items were from the Parthenon in Athens. There were a lot of wall sculptures that lined the Parthenon and many statues of the gods. Again I was amazed at what people can do with stone. I have no idea how they had the patience to carve all of those figures, but I’m certainly glad it wasn’t me who did them.
There were items from Rome and China and Japan that were all fascinating. I could have spent days in there. There was also a huge reconstructed library of George III “the last king of America”, which was filled with rare books and a whole assortment of priceless artifacts. And did I mention that the whole thing was free? I highly suggest it to anyone visiting London.
In the gift shop I saw a CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!! for my Harry Potter club. In the shop they were selling the chess set Harry and Ron play with in the first movie at Christmas, which was based off of a set kept in the museum.
After the museum we went to dinner at a noodle place with very spicy chicken, but it still tasted good. We got back to the dorm and yet again I was completely exhausted. I talked on skype for a bit and went to bed. Thank goodness I don’t have to be anywhere until 12:00 tomorrow!
British word of the day: off-license = a liquor store. Not that I’ve been to one, it’s just really different.
Class today was just going over our research paper topics. Yet again, we had a new lecturer, and she went over the basics of writing a research paper, many of which I already new. They really focus here on critical thinking, which involved looking at both sides of an argument and giving research to support or deny a claim. Lots of reading involved. I have decided to do my paper on the effects of hypnosis and if it is effective in helping people get over habits like smoking and excessive drinking. Hopefully there will be a lot research out there already to help me make some kind of claim. I’ll need to start looking things up soon.
After our very short class my psyc friends and I went shopping, as usual. It’s pretty much the only thing you can do when class gets out so early, because all our other friends are still in class. I had my Primark trousers in my bag to return them, but it would turn out that I carried them for naught. I would not be going to Primark today.
My psyc friends yet again had something they wanted to do, so I was lucky to run into my API friends very soon after. They wanted to go to the Roman street market, so we figured out where it was and made for the tube. On our way we stopped by a wonderful French bakery and got sandwiches for lunch. Mine was a salami baguette with a bottled water. They also had berry tarts there, my all-time favorite dessert, but because we were going on the tube, it didn’t want to carry one with me. But one day I shall return!!
We got on the tube and made our quite long journey to the Roman street market. The market is on the far end of Roman street, so we had to walk from the tube a very long way to get there. On the way we stopped at a park to eat our lunches, which was wonderful. I know salami sandwiches are Mary’s favorite, but I think I need something with more substance and vegetables for my sandwiches. It was still very good though.
We finally made it to the market and walked along it. It was mostly stalls selling very cheep women’s clothes. Alas, I am male, and found very little of interest there. I was looking at one dress while the girls were looking at other dresses when the owner of the stall came up to me and asked “Are you looking for a particular occasion?” and I said “Oh no, I’m here with them.” pointing to the girls. He followed by “Oh, no worries, but you never know who you’ll get around here.” It was all pretty funny, and Allie would end up buying a very fun dress there.
After the market, Lindsey decided to go back to the dorm because she didn’t want to come to our next destination, the British Museum. Our assistant director schedules a museum for us to go to every week. Something strange about London is that the museums are free, but you have to pay to get into the churches.
We took a double-decker bus back to the museum. It was a very long bus ride, so I can’t even imagine the walk. I measured my walk from Tuesday and it turned out to me 2 and a half miles! But enough about that. We rode the top of the bus for a really long time, back into the center of London. And all along the way I looked a business men’s shoes. I am telling you, 95% of them were wearing black, long toed, pointy leather shoes. It was insane! All of them! I saw them everywhere! I’ve never seen a trend like this in America. It is just a sign that I have to buy some before I go home. Every well dressed man here is wearing them. Even the old guys. Sorry to keep going on about this but it is kind of mad (crazy).
Anyway, we took a quick stop to a Starbucks before we went to the museum, as we were still early. Mango is a very popular flavor over here, and I got a frozen mango drink that was very refreshing. We sat in front of a big glass window and people watched. Something I haven’t talked about yet are British schools. Pretty much all the children go to schools where they have to wear uniforms, and if you take the Harry Potter uniforms and remove the robes, you have what most of them wear day-to-day for school: sweater with school crest, tie, button up, slacks. The girls will sometimes wear some kind of dress, or it will be like the boys but with a skirt. British school is also a lot harder than American school, but I’m sure you’re not surprised. In Britain they can drop out of school at 16, because that’s pretty much senior high school level for them. After 16 they select 5 areas to study other than math and English, which prepares them for college. So by the time they get to college, many students are already well acquainted with their subject matter. Masters programs here are only a year long, but they are much more intensive and scary.
So we got to the museum, which is huge, and free to get into. We met with our assistant director, who told us some of the interesting things look at, then set us loose. She told us that this was basically a museum of all the things the British Empire stole from across the world, but let’s not think of it that way. I was amazed when I started walking through the galleries to find myself standing in front of the Rosetta Stone, the huge black stone that it written in two forms of ancient Egyptian writing and classical Greek, which taught archeologists a ton about Ancient Egyptian writing. I have been looking at this stone in pictures for years, as I have been obsessed with ancient cultures, particularly Egyptian and Greek, sense I was little. And there it was, right in front of me. It was a very exciting moment. I also saw actual mummies and their sarcophaguses, as well as a bunch of very famous Egyptian wall paintings that I have seen in dozens of books. And it was all there for me to see, and for free.
There was an entire wing dedicated to Greek and Egyptian artifacts. Many of the Greek items were from the Parthenon in Athens. There were a lot of wall sculptures that lined the Parthenon and many statues of the gods. Again I was amazed at what people can do with stone. I have no idea how they had the patience to carve all of those figures, but I’m certainly glad it wasn’t me who did them.
There were items from Rome and China and Japan that were all fascinating. I could have spent days in there. There was also a huge reconstructed library of George III “the last king of America”, which was filled with rare books and a whole assortment of priceless artifacts. And did I mention that the whole thing was free? I highly suggest it to anyone visiting London.
In the gift shop I saw a CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!! for my Harry Potter club. In the shop they were selling the chess set Harry and Ron play with in the first movie at Christmas, which was based off of a set kept in the museum.
After the museum we went to dinner at a noodle place with very spicy chicken, but it still tasted good. We got back to the dorm and yet again I was completely exhausted. I talked on skype for a bit and went to bed. Thank goodness I don’t have to be anywhere until 12:00 tomorrow!
British word of the day: off-license = a liquor store. Not that I’ve been to one, it’s just really different.
day 6
It’s getting harder and harder to get up every morning. We’re so bust during the day that by the time I get back to the dorm I’m completely pooped. After a breakfast of toast and cereal I was on my way to class. I was actually able to meet up with my friends to go to class this morning because we had made the plan to meet yesterday. We got on the tube got to Oxford Street without any problems.
Class today was on Astrology and how things like horoscopes use devices that contain information about everyone, like “You’re putting a lot of energy into work now” or “You may be thinking about a special someone” to draw people in and cause you to think it pertains to you. If you care about things like horoscopes, try reading all of them next time, not just your own. You may see that all of them hold very general advice and very vague jargon like “house” and “solar chart” to make them sound convincing. I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow horoscopes, but maybe people should think about them a little more and not put blind trust into them.
The class today was taught by a different lecturer, which apparently isn’t that strange here. They just trade off days with other people, but they all know what they’re doing and what we’re talking about, it’s just a little strange to me. I don’t know which lecturer I like better, but they both have similar teaching styles. And I’m really glad I got the book from the library because all of the lecturers lean on it very heavily.
After our short class I met up with my psychology friends again and we had a short lunch at a soup and sandwich place. After that we shopped. I am holding out on buying anything until I get to the mystical Primark, that land of cheep and fabulous clothes.
My psyc friends had to go off and do something again, but fortunately my API friends got out of class right after that. They wanted to go to Soho, the alternative district of London, so we got on the tube and went there. Soho is a lot like Asheville: it has some really cool spots, and it has some really scary spots. Allie, one of my API friends, is in a photography class here, and her project is Londoners and their tattoos, so she wanted to go into this tattoo shop and look around. Red signs went off in my head saying that that was not something I wanted to do, and the tiny, tiny staircase leading up to the place did not instill confidence at all. But we left very quickly because the place was too small to be of much interest.
We walked around Soho for about an hour, looking at strange and interesting and scary shops. The World Cup was on in many of the pubs. I haven’t mentioned the World Cup yet. Pretty much, it’s crazy over here. Americans like the Super Bowl for the commercials, food, and game time. Europeans are like that times 100, and take out the part out commercials, they hate those. All they want is the game. The Brits all hang out in pubs all over the city because cable is very expensive to get here and they can drink lots of beer with fellow Cup lovers. There are English flags all over the place, in windows, on cars, and in banners outside of just about every store. The English flag is not the British flag, the red, white, and blue flag we are used to. The English flag is white with a red X on it, like the red part of the Union Jack, the British flag. So that’s where that comes from. Everyone here loves football (soccer) to near the point of madness.
As we were walking through Soho, a game with England in is was on, so the pubs were more packed than usual. What was very fun was when we walked by an intersection that had two pubs, and England scored a goal. One pub erupted into cheers, and three seconds later, the other did. It looked like they were on a slight delay, but it was crazy having the eruptions happen at different times.
While we were in Soho we went to Carnaby Street, a major center for mod fashion in the 60s and 70s. Now it’s pretty mainstream, but it was still cool to stumble upon.
After we were done with Soho we decided we were going to find Primark. We got to Oxford street and asked a security guard where it was. And it’s a good thing h told us to take the bus, because it would have been a 20 minute walk to get there. We arrived by bus and I discovered how wonderful Primark is. It was almost 5:00, so there were about a hundred people in there. It’s about as large as a normal Wal-Mart, but two stories tall. The Upper floor has one half dedicated to guys clothes, and I dove in. When I emerged from the press of humanity about the racks, I had a 2 pound polo, a 2 pound shirt, a 4 pound cardigan, a 5 pound button up, and 9 pound trousers (pants). And they’re all really nice clothes! It was so cool!! It would probably cost $60 for that kind of score in the states, but at Primark it’s all super cheep. It was amazing!
The only thing is, the lines for the dressing rooms are really, really long, so it was too bad that I learned the trousers were too small, but that means I have a great excuse to go back. I checked out after standing in the queue (line) for a really long time, found my friends, and left.
By now we were thoroughly exhausted, and we got on the tube back to the dorm. I made spaghetti for dinner and went to bed.
Haha!! I got a picture up!! I'll see if I can go back and add to my others.
British word of the day: top off = to fill up. You have to go to Top Off machines to fill your Oyster card or library card accounts.
Class today was on Astrology and how things like horoscopes use devices that contain information about everyone, like “You’re putting a lot of energy into work now” or “You may be thinking about a special someone” to draw people in and cause you to think it pertains to you. If you care about things like horoscopes, try reading all of them next time, not just your own. You may see that all of them hold very general advice and very vague jargon like “house” and “solar chart” to make them sound convincing. I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow horoscopes, but maybe people should think about them a little more and not put blind trust into them.
The class today was taught by a different lecturer, which apparently isn’t that strange here. They just trade off days with other people, but they all know what they’re doing and what we’re talking about, it’s just a little strange to me. I don’t know which lecturer I like better, but they both have similar teaching styles. And I’m really glad I got the book from the library because all of the lecturers lean on it very heavily.
After our short class I met up with my psychology friends again and we had a short lunch at a soup and sandwich place. After that we shopped. I am holding out on buying anything until I get to the mystical Primark, that land of cheep and fabulous clothes.
My psyc friends had to go off and do something again, but fortunately my API friends got out of class right after that. They wanted to go to Soho, the alternative district of London, so we got on the tube and went there. Soho is a lot like Asheville: it has some really cool spots, and it has some really scary spots. Allie, one of my API friends, is in a photography class here, and her project is Londoners and their tattoos, so she wanted to go into this tattoo shop and look around. Red signs went off in my head saying that that was not something I wanted to do, and the tiny, tiny staircase leading up to the place did not instill confidence at all. But we left very quickly because the place was too small to be of much interest.
We walked around Soho for about an hour, looking at strange and interesting and scary shops. The World Cup was on in many of the pubs. I haven’t mentioned the World Cup yet. Pretty much, it’s crazy over here. Americans like the Super Bowl for the commercials, food, and game time. Europeans are like that times 100, and take out the part out commercials, they hate those. All they want is the game. The Brits all hang out in pubs all over the city because cable is very expensive to get here and they can drink lots of beer with fellow Cup lovers. There are English flags all over the place, in windows, on cars, and in banners outside of just about every store. The English flag is not the British flag, the red, white, and blue flag we are used to. The English flag is white with a red X on it, like the red part of the Union Jack, the British flag. So that’s where that comes from. Everyone here loves football (soccer) to near the point of madness.
As we were walking through Soho, a game with England in is was on, so the pubs were more packed than usual. What was very fun was when we walked by an intersection that had two pubs, and England scored a goal. One pub erupted into cheers, and three seconds later, the other did. It looked like they were on a slight delay, but it was crazy having the eruptions happen at different times.
While we were in Soho we went to Carnaby Street, a major center for mod fashion in the 60s and 70s. Now it’s pretty mainstream, but it was still cool to stumble upon.
After we were done with Soho we decided we were going to find Primark. We got to Oxford street and asked a security guard where it was. And it’s a good thing h told us to take the bus, because it would have been a 20 minute walk to get there. We arrived by bus and I discovered how wonderful Primark is. It was almost 5:00, so there were about a hundred people in there. It’s about as large as a normal Wal-Mart, but two stories tall. The Upper floor has one half dedicated to guys clothes, and I dove in. When I emerged from the press of humanity about the racks, I had a 2 pound polo, a 2 pound shirt, a 4 pound cardigan, a 5 pound button up, and 9 pound trousers (pants). And they’re all really nice clothes! It was so cool!! It would probably cost $60 for that kind of score in the states, but at Primark it’s all super cheep. It was amazing!
The only thing is, the lines for the dressing rooms are really, really long, so it was too bad that I learned the trousers were too small, but that means I have a great excuse to go back. I checked out after standing in the queue (line) for a really long time, found my friends, and left.
By now we were thoroughly exhausted, and we got on the tube back to the dorm. I made spaghetti for dinner and went to bed.
Haha!! I got a picture up!! I'll see if I can go back and add to my others.
British word of the day: top off = to fill up. You have to go to Top Off machines to fill your Oyster card or library card accounts.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
day 5
Please see *edit to last post.
Today began with a lovely breakfast of pastries I got from the market yesterday. It’s so good now to wake up warm and eat good food. I got on the tube alone this morning because I hadn’t made any plans with my friends. But it was nothing terrible because once you learn the how to do the underground it’s not really that scary, even when there are a bunch of people on it. The bus system isn’t that scary either because there are very clear signs all over the place telling you where to go. And riding in the double-deckers is fun!
Anyway, I went to the library really fast this morning and got the book I need to read for class. In class today we talked about unconscious awareness, which covers things like deaf people’s brains still perceiving sound, even if they don’t. It was half interesting half way over my head. I can’t imagine what the few people in my class who haven’t ever taken a psychology course think about all this totally new psychological information. At least I have the small advantage of knowing what things like PTSD mean (posttraumatic stress disorder) and what cognitive-behavioral therapy involves (changing a person’s behavior by changing their views).
After the lecture part of the class we had the seminar, which was a recorded tv show about a guy who used all the tricks mediums use in séances to convince people they’re telling the truth. We had to look objectively at what we was doing and see if there was anything to what he was saying, which was interesting. He had me going for a bit, but then we stopped to dissect the tricks and it turned out he was just very clever.
After that I went up to some of the people in my class and asked them what they were doing after class. It turned out that all of them are in the same program and they all live in the second dorm they have the international students stay at, which is further from campus but has nicer rooms. They said they wanted to get lunch so I went with them and we ate at this sandwich place where I had a roast beef melt. Super good.
Then I was on Oxford street, the biggest shopping street in London, with four girls (of course they were all girls, it’s me after all), so we went into a bunch of stores that had no guy clothes at all. There was Top Shop (which I have never heard of but is super popular with those who have), but I’m used to shopping with girls, so it was no bad thing.
My psyc friends are all in the same program, which isn’t mine, and they were going to the tower of London that afternoon, and I wasn’t going to the London Eye (the giant ferris-wheel on the Thames [pronounced the Tems]) so I didn’t know what to do with myself. So I had the bright idea to walk the distance from the Tower to the Eye. It turned out to be one of the longest walks of my life. And I was wearing my leather shoes (not the boots thank goodness!) so that didn’t make things much better, even though I have new Dr. Shoals in them. I walked and walked and walked for a little over two hours. With my school bag. In the very uncharacteristically warm London summer we’re having. I did cross the Millennium Bridge, the one destroyed in the Half-Blood Prince movie, which was a lot of fun. I want to go back there and have someone take a picture of me holding on for dear life.
I did see lots of interesting things on the South bank though. There were a lot of street performers and vendors selling random things. I passed by the Globe where I will be seeing Henry VIII later this trip, and all sorts of people. I think I heard Americans more than anyone else, but maybe that’s because Americans are louder than everyone else.
So I got to the Eye and it was around 4:00. That meant I still had two hours to kill before I met the Westminster group at 6:00. So I went back across the river towards Parliament and found some steps to sit on, as I didn’t feel like walking anymore to find a park. I read my school book for an hour and a half, but don’t think I got that much done, because I was too busy looking at all the people around me. I was sitting near the entrance to a boat tour queue (line), which had all kinds of tourist loading onto it. There were also some very interesting Brits running little stands across from me, yelling out deals in cheep theater tickets, river boat tours, and ice cream. There was also an occasional pigeon that would come close to me, and I didn’t want to move because I wanted to see just how close they would come to me, which turned out to be quite close. The rats with wings have no fear, but you have nothing to worry about unless there is bread in your immediate area, which fortunately in my case, there wasn’t.
I read and listened to Big Ben chime every 15 minutes. Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: The clock tower we all know as Big Ben is not actually called Big Ben. That’s the name of the biggest bell inside the tower, so people say Big Ben is chiming, but they mean the bell. It is actually called the Clock Tower of Westminster, but who has time to say all that?
Finally it was time to meet my group. I walked back across the bridge, met up with my friends, worked through some confusion where I was not on the list of people who were participating but it turned out I was on another list that was more accurate, and got in line for the London Eye. The Eye is over 400 ft tall and when you get to the top you can see over all of London. It’s like going up in the Eiffel Tower (which I have done), but it’s still not as tall. We got into our compartment with, I think, too many other people, and proceeded to take a million pictures of London. It was really cool being able to look out all over everything. I kind of unnerves me that there were no mountains to be seen. Growing up in the mountains, I like to see at least a little grey hill in the distance, but it was all just flat city. But no matter.
We got off the Eye and started our pub walk along the south bank. I thought this was going to be a short little walk, but no it turned out to be the EXACT same walk I just took!! Another million and a half miles, just in the opposite direction. We went to several pubs along the south bank of the river and ended at one that was very close to London Bridge, which is very close to where I started my walk that afternoon. For those of you, like me, who were confused about this, let me put you straight so you, unlike me, won’t have to be embarrassed when you make the mistake: London Bridge is not the pretty bridge with the two blue towers and all the gold. That’s Tower Bridge. It’s right next to the Tower of London. London Bridge is a very boring concrete bridge a little further down from there. Glad I could clear this up for you.
But choosing to stop at this pub turned out to be a bit of a mistake. It was super busy in there and we’re just poor Americans who don’t know how pubs work. Apparently if you want to order food, you have to have a table first, else the servers will be confused, even though they give you a number to put on your table. Also, this, and several other pubs, aren’t used to patrons coming in and paying separately. They all just have one bill and they through in the pounds to cover it. So we all come into this very busy pub and start to try to order some food. But we didn’t have a table, so the waitress started getting all angry at us. So we found a table, and I ordered a coke. While the waitress was getting my coke, another one came up and asked me what I wanted. I said I was getting a coke, so she went off and started making me one. The first came back with the coke and asked me what I wanted to eat. I told her and she started ringing me up on her register. The second came back with a coke and started ringing me up on her register. I told her the first one had me already, then she really got angry because she had wasted all this time when she could have been getting money from someone else.
So that was all terrible and frustrating. I don’t even remember what I ordered, but it was some kind of fish nuggets with chips. Didn’t sound like that on the menu. So don’t go to the Anchor Pub in London. They’re mean there.
We had to wait so long on some of our friend’s food that the kitchen in the pub closed before they could cook it. At least the chef came out and apologized and gave her her money back, but that didn’t fix the problem that she was hungry. But she’s really nice anyway, so she didn’t complain about it. We got on the tube at 10:30, when most of the transport in London is shut down, and finally got back to the dorm. My feet and legs were just killing me, but it had still been a good day despite the bad parts.
British word of the day: Jumper = a sweater
Today began with a lovely breakfast of pastries I got from the market yesterday. It’s so good now to wake up warm and eat good food. I got on the tube alone this morning because I hadn’t made any plans with my friends. But it was nothing terrible because once you learn the how to do the underground it’s not really that scary, even when there are a bunch of people on it. The bus system isn’t that scary either because there are very clear signs all over the place telling you where to go. And riding in the double-deckers is fun!
Anyway, I went to the library really fast this morning and got the book I need to read for class. In class today we talked about unconscious awareness, which covers things like deaf people’s brains still perceiving sound, even if they don’t. It was half interesting half way over my head. I can’t imagine what the few people in my class who haven’t ever taken a psychology course think about all this totally new psychological information. At least I have the small advantage of knowing what things like PTSD mean (posttraumatic stress disorder) and what cognitive-behavioral therapy involves (changing a person’s behavior by changing their views).
After the lecture part of the class we had the seminar, which was a recorded tv show about a guy who used all the tricks mediums use in séances to convince people they’re telling the truth. We had to look objectively at what we was doing and see if there was anything to what he was saying, which was interesting. He had me going for a bit, but then we stopped to dissect the tricks and it turned out he was just very clever.
After that I went up to some of the people in my class and asked them what they were doing after class. It turned out that all of them are in the same program and they all live in the second dorm they have the international students stay at, which is further from campus but has nicer rooms. They said they wanted to get lunch so I went with them and we ate at this sandwich place where I had a roast beef melt. Super good.
Then I was on Oxford street, the biggest shopping street in London, with four girls (of course they were all girls, it’s me after all), so we went into a bunch of stores that had no guy clothes at all. There was Top Shop (which I have never heard of but is super popular with those who have), but I’m used to shopping with girls, so it was no bad thing.
My psyc friends are all in the same program, which isn’t mine, and they were going to the tower of London that afternoon, and I wasn’t going to the London Eye (the giant ferris-wheel on the Thames [pronounced the Tems]) so I didn’t know what to do with myself. So I had the bright idea to walk the distance from the Tower to the Eye. It turned out to be one of the longest walks of my life. And I was wearing my leather shoes (not the boots thank goodness!) so that didn’t make things much better, even though I have new Dr. Shoals in them. I walked and walked and walked for a little over two hours. With my school bag. In the very uncharacteristically warm London summer we’re having. I did cross the Millennium Bridge, the one destroyed in the Half-Blood Prince movie, which was a lot of fun. I want to go back there and have someone take a picture of me holding on for dear life.
I did see lots of interesting things on the South bank though. There were a lot of street performers and vendors selling random things. I passed by the Globe where I will be seeing Henry VIII later this trip, and all sorts of people. I think I heard Americans more than anyone else, but maybe that’s because Americans are louder than everyone else.
So I got to the Eye and it was around 4:00. That meant I still had two hours to kill before I met the Westminster group at 6:00. So I went back across the river towards Parliament and found some steps to sit on, as I didn’t feel like walking anymore to find a park. I read my school book for an hour and a half, but don’t think I got that much done, because I was too busy looking at all the people around me. I was sitting near the entrance to a boat tour queue (line), which had all kinds of tourist loading onto it. There were also some very interesting Brits running little stands across from me, yelling out deals in cheep theater tickets, river boat tours, and ice cream. There was also an occasional pigeon that would come close to me, and I didn’t want to move because I wanted to see just how close they would come to me, which turned out to be quite close. The rats with wings have no fear, but you have nothing to worry about unless there is bread in your immediate area, which fortunately in my case, there wasn’t.
I read and listened to Big Ben chime every 15 minutes. Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: The clock tower we all know as Big Ben is not actually called Big Ben. That’s the name of the biggest bell inside the tower, so people say Big Ben is chiming, but they mean the bell. It is actually called the Clock Tower of Westminster, but who has time to say all that?
Finally it was time to meet my group. I walked back across the bridge, met up with my friends, worked through some confusion where I was not on the list of people who were participating but it turned out I was on another list that was more accurate, and got in line for the London Eye. The Eye is over 400 ft tall and when you get to the top you can see over all of London. It’s like going up in the Eiffel Tower (which I have done), but it’s still not as tall. We got into our compartment with, I think, too many other people, and proceeded to take a million pictures of London. It was really cool being able to look out all over everything. I kind of unnerves me that there were no mountains to be seen. Growing up in the mountains, I like to see at least a little grey hill in the distance, but it was all just flat city. But no matter.
We got off the Eye and started our pub walk along the south bank. I thought this was going to be a short little walk, but no it turned out to be the EXACT same walk I just took!! Another million and a half miles, just in the opposite direction. We went to several pubs along the south bank of the river and ended at one that was very close to London Bridge, which is very close to where I started my walk that afternoon. For those of you, like me, who were confused about this, let me put you straight so you, unlike me, won’t have to be embarrassed when you make the mistake: London Bridge is not the pretty bridge with the two blue towers and all the gold. That’s Tower Bridge. It’s right next to the Tower of London. London Bridge is a very boring concrete bridge a little further down from there. Glad I could clear this up for you.
But choosing to stop at this pub turned out to be a bit of a mistake. It was super busy in there and we’re just poor Americans who don’t know how pubs work. Apparently if you want to order food, you have to have a table first, else the servers will be confused, even though they give you a number to put on your table. Also, this, and several other pubs, aren’t used to patrons coming in and paying separately. They all just have one bill and they through in the pounds to cover it. So we all come into this very busy pub and start to try to order some food. But we didn’t have a table, so the waitress started getting all angry at us. So we found a table, and I ordered a coke. While the waitress was getting my coke, another one came up and asked me what I wanted. I said I was getting a coke, so she went off and started making me one. The first came back with the coke and asked me what I wanted to eat. I told her and she started ringing me up on her register. The second came back with a coke and started ringing me up on her register. I told her the first one had me already, then she really got angry because she had wasted all this time when she could have been getting money from someone else.
So that was all terrible and frustrating. I don’t even remember what I ordered, but it was some kind of fish nuggets with chips. Didn’t sound like that on the menu. So don’t go to the Anchor Pub in London. They’re mean there.
We had to wait so long on some of our friend’s food that the kitchen in the pub closed before they could cook it. At least the chef came out and apologized and gave her her money back, but that didn’t fix the problem that she was hungry. But she’s really nice anyway, so she didn’t complain about it. We got on the tube at 10:30, when most of the transport in London is shut down, and finally got back to the dorm. My feet and legs were just killing me, but it had still been a good day despite the bad parts.
British word of the day: Jumper = a sweater
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
day 4
Huzzah! I awoke warm this morning. I was even sweating a little. It felt so good. And my sink water was warm, which meant I could shave without discomfort. And I was able to eat my corn flakes with milk because these nice girls I met across the hall had already found the market (think of a grocery store, not a market) and let me have some. My first day of classes was starting off every well.
My API group and some other people we met agreed to meet in the common room to go to orientation. We got on the tube together and made the very easy trip to Oxford Circus without any transfers. It was very busy that morning but we got to Oxford Street without issue.
And then we immerged onto London’s 5th avenue. Oxford Street intersects with Regent Street, which is where Westminster University’s main campus is (when you think of campus, think of buildings, they don’t have campuses in the American sense). There’s even and H&M right there on our tube exit! Those stores lining Oxford street are going to be there every day, making me want to get out of class and get into some stores.
But we did manage to get to the University building. Inside we checked in and waited with the other students. The lobby is all marble and columns and it really beautiful. We waited for what seemed like a really long time until they let us up into the orientation room, which was this really big auditorium where we were all able to sit comfortably. We got packets inside that included my new Westminster student I.D. which get me into any of the campuses and also acts as my library card. It turns out not many people actually knew what class they were getting into. A lot of people were saying they had no idea which class they had and were wondering how to find out. I’m glad mom was a little mean over a few emails to get me that conformation, but not everyone had to result to such measures and just didn’t know. I hope there can be more communication with the University and the students themselves in the future.
Anyway, we got through the orientation, which was basically “Behave and study hard.” We then went to a lunch where there was a large buffet of sandwiches, crisps (potato chips), mini quiches, and vegetable and fruit trays. Unfortunately, they gave us saucers to eat on. And I had a drink in my other hand, so I couldn’t carry two saucers. So I stacked as much as I could on my tiny plate and sat with API people and a couple of other people.
At this point I was feeling a lot of anxiety mainly because there was very little communication now between me and anything that had to do with my class. I had learned that my class was not at the main campus but over on the Wells Street campus, so I would have to walk over there to get to class. I was also worried about what kind of lecturer (professor) I was going to have. Were they going to be into this terrible British idea of heavy independent study? Were they really going to keep us from 10:00 to 1:00? I haven’t been in a classroom for that long in over two years!
After the tiny lunch I met with the group of students that were going to Wells street and followed them. I had to go from Regent Street to Mortimer Street (which I remember by the famous character from the Sims) then to Wells street. It turned out not to be that hard.
I made my way to our very hot classroom and met the lecturer, and we got right into it. Today’s class was mostly just to introduce the class to us and let us know what we were going to be doing. Our only grades are going to come from a multiple choice test and an essay. The test is going to be on everything we learn from the lecture, while the essay will be on one topic that we go in depth with. The lecturer is a British woman and judging by her hijab (headscarf), she is Muslim. The class time is also divided into lecture time and seminar, where we talk about some aspect of the lecture in a practical sense.
After class my lectured took us on a tour of the library. For our class, there is not required texts, only suggested readings, so she took us to the library to show us how to check out books. The library has a lot of hallways and surprisingly little space for books, with computers and printing underneath. We walked around the library for a bit and then class was dismissed.
After all this, I didn’t know what to do with myself. All my API friends were still in class, and my classmates had already disappeared, so I decided to walk around Oxford street and see if I could find the famous Primark, the grand and glorious store Mary had told me about when she studied abroad. I had also heard about Primark and their fabulous clothes at incredibly low prices from other students as well and was very keen to find it.
So I walked up and down both sides of Oxford street. I saw H&Ms, Gaps, Urban Outfitters, Top Shops, American Apparels, and a whole host of other stores, but I could not find Primark. I would later learn that it is a very long walk from Oxford Circus but a short bus ride, so I would have to come back another day for shopping paradise.
*Edit* Still at a loss about what to do with my time, I got back on the tube and went back to my dorm. I decided that I would go to the market to get some food, now that I knew where it was. I was told I just had to keep walking down this one street and I would get there. And did I walk indeed. I walked all the way to the market, which was an amazingly long distance away, about 45 minutes, listening to my iPod. Then I had to get the groceries, and I didn't know how to store was organized and there were some products that have different names, like our jelly is their jam, and their jelly is our jell-O, for example. And when I got my basket full of bread, jam, spaghetti, sauce (called Bolognese here), lunch meat, lettuce, yogurts, and milk, the money I had in my wallet, which I had gotten from some pound notes left over from another trip to the UK, were apparently so old they didn't accept them anymore. They have new bills and I would have to go to the bank to change them out. It was really busy in there and there were people waiting on me but I wasn't sure I could use my card because they have these Chip cards that are like credit cards but you leave them in a special slot instead of sliding it, but it turned out my card was fine so I got to buy my groceries (for 15 pounds, not bad for all I got). I then had the problem of having to carry all the groceries back to my dorm, which I did. I would later learn that this store was in Elephant and Castle (the weirdest British name for anything ever), and I could have taken a shot bus ride to get there. Needless to say I'll do that in the future.
Back in my dorm, I had a couple of skype conversations then I finally watched the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy online. Something not very fun to learn about the UK is that you can’t really watch American tv on website like hulu, which means you have to find illegal website to watch them on. So I did that. Don’t tell anyone.
Then I went to sleep in my very warm bed.
British word of the day: pants = men’s underwear. Trousers are pants. Knickers are women’s underwear.
My API group and some other people we met agreed to meet in the common room to go to orientation. We got on the tube together and made the very easy trip to Oxford Circus without any transfers. It was very busy that morning but we got to Oxford Street without issue.
And then we immerged onto London’s 5th avenue. Oxford Street intersects with Regent Street, which is where Westminster University’s main campus is (when you think of campus, think of buildings, they don’t have campuses in the American sense). There’s even and H&M right there on our tube exit! Those stores lining Oxford street are going to be there every day, making me want to get out of class and get into some stores.
But we did manage to get to the University building. Inside we checked in and waited with the other students. The lobby is all marble and columns and it really beautiful. We waited for what seemed like a really long time until they let us up into the orientation room, which was this really big auditorium where we were all able to sit comfortably. We got packets inside that included my new Westminster student I.D. which get me into any of the campuses and also acts as my library card. It turns out not many people actually knew what class they were getting into. A lot of people were saying they had no idea which class they had and were wondering how to find out. I’m glad mom was a little mean over a few emails to get me that conformation, but not everyone had to result to such measures and just didn’t know. I hope there can be more communication with the University and the students themselves in the future.
Anyway, we got through the orientation, which was basically “Behave and study hard.” We then went to a lunch where there was a large buffet of sandwiches, crisps (potato chips), mini quiches, and vegetable and fruit trays. Unfortunately, they gave us saucers to eat on. And I had a drink in my other hand, so I couldn’t carry two saucers. So I stacked as much as I could on my tiny plate and sat with API people and a couple of other people.
At this point I was feeling a lot of anxiety mainly because there was very little communication now between me and anything that had to do with my class. I had learned that my class was not at the main campus but over on the Wells Street campus, so I would have to walk over there to get to class. I was also worried about what kind of lecturer (professor) I was going to have. Were they going to be into this terrible British idea of heavy independent study? Were they really going to keep us from 10:00 to 1:00? I haven’t been in a classroom for that long in over two years!
After the tiny lunch I met with the group of students that were going to Wells street and followed them. I had to go from Regent Street to Mortimer Street (which I remember by the famous character from the Sims) then to Wells street. It turned out not to be that hard.
I made my way to our very hot classroom and met the lecturer, and we got right into it. Today’s class was mostly just to introduce the class to us and let us know what we were going to be doing. Our only grades are going to come from a multiple choice test and an essay. The test is going to be on everything we learn from the lecture, while the essay will be on one topic that we go in depth with. The lecturer is a British woman and judging by her hijab (headscarf), she is Muslim. The class time is also divided into lecture time and seminar, where we talk about some aspect of the lecture in a practical sense.
After class my lectured took us on a tour of the library. For our class, there is not required texts, only suggested readings, so she took us to the library to show us how to check out books. The library has a lot of hallways and surprisingly little space for books, with computers and printing underneath. We walked around the library for a bit and then class was dismissed.
After all this, I didn’t know what to do with myself. All my API friends were still in class, and my classmates had already disappeared, so I decided to walk around Oxford street and see if I could find the famous Primark, the grand and glorious store Mary had told me about when she studied abroad. I had also heard about Primark and their fabulous clothes at incredibly low prices from other students as well and was very keen to find it.
So I walked up and down both sides of Oxford street. I saw H&Ms, Gaps, Urban Outfitters, Top Shops, American Apparels, and a whole host of other stores, but I could not find Primark. I would later learn that it is a very long walk from Oxford Circus but a short bus ride, so I would have to come back another day for shopping paradise.
*Edit* Still at a loss about what to do with my time, I got back on the tube and went back to my dorm. I decided that I would go to the market to get some food, now that I knew where it was. I was told I just had to keep walking down this one street and I would get there. And did I walk indeed. I walked all the way to the market, which was an amazingly long distance away, about 45 minutes, listening to my iPod. Then I had to get the groceries, and I didn't know how to store was organized and there were some products that have different names, like our jelly is their jam, and their jelly is our jell-O, for example. And when I got my basket full of bread, jam, spaghetti, sauce (called Bolognese here), lunch meat, lettuce, yogurts, and milk, the money I had in my wallet, which I had gotten from some pound notes left over from another trip to the UK, were apparently so old they didn't accept them anymore. They have new bills and I would have to go to the bank to change them out. It was really busy in there and there were people waiting on me but I wasn't sure I could use my card because they have these Chip cards that are like credit cards but you leave them in a special slot instead of sliding it, but it turned out my card was fine so I got to buy my groceries (for 15 pounds, not bad for all I got). I then had the problem of having to carry all the groceries back to my dorm, which I did. I would later learn that this store was in Elephant and Castle (the weirdest British name for anything ever), and I could have taken a shot bus ride to get there. Needless to say I'll do that in the future.
Back in my dorm, I had a couple of skype conversations then I finally watched the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy online. Something not very fun to learn about the UK is that you can’t really watch American tv on website like hulu, which means you have to find illegal website to watch them on. So I did that. Don’t tell anyone.
Then I went to sleep in my very warm bed.
British word of the day: pants = men’s underwear. Trousers are pants. Knickers are women’s underwear.
Monday, June 21, 2010
day 3
So I woke up cold this morning. Cold cold cold. I brushed my teeth with cold water and cold toothpaste. I shaved with cold water. I put on my cold clothes. On top of being cold, I was hungry. I’m really starting to sound like a child from Oliver Twist or something. So I got out into the cold summer morning and chose a random direction and walked there. The first tiny shop I came to I bought some breakfast, which was a box of corn flakes. No milk. Just cornflakes. Then I walked back to the dorms because that was the only place I could think of to eat it.
I realized I haven’t talked much about where I’m staying. The International House is a 10 floor building with 9 individual rooms on each floor. I’m on the second floor, and my room has a large window with curtains, a desk, a chair, a dresser, a bed, and a wardrobe divided into a closet and a sink area by a partition. I have a lamp, but the light bulb blew out, so I can’t use that. I have two outlets, one by my desk that gets used for my laptop, and one by my bed which is for everything else. There is a toilet closet on each side of the hall, which divides four rooms on each side, and a shower closet. The kitchen, I learned later, is on the other half of the floor, and has everything you need but pots, which I’ve heard are on the other floors, so maybe I can borrow one. The building is also right next to a police station, so you feel safe, but you have to hear the sirens going off about every half hour.
After my very satisfying breakfast of a few handfuls of cornflakes, I met my group and we got on the tube to go to the Tower of London. That was very fun. We took a Yeoman tour of the tower areas, and our guide was funny and very loud, as he should be. After our short tour we had lots of time to do whatever we wanted. We went first to the Crown Jewels, which were of course fantastic. Then we went all along the walls and towers looking through all the rooms and displays the tower has put together. It was really fun.
On our way to the tube to go to the place we needed to be for the afternoon, our assistant director, who had taken us to the Tower and was taking us back to the tube, told us we should stop by this old church and check out the crypts. She’s filled with all shorts of information like this. So we went into the church and walked down some tiny little stairs and entered any ancient Roman crypt, which the church had turned into a kind of museum for what they had found in the crypt that had told them a lot about what life was like in Roman London.
We then had a bunch of free time, so, of course, we went to eat. We went to a place called Garfunkel’s and all ate burgers. I think British service must just be really slow everywhere, because it took us about an hour to eat there, or maybe British restaurants just don’t like Americans, but we tipped very well because we don’t really know what the norm is here. They say 10% but I think we do a lot more than that.
After a bit more free time we went to meet at the Embankment Tube Riverside exit to start our first Westminster University event, a treasure hunt. They don’t say “scavenger hunt” in Britain, but “treasure hunt”. So I went with three of my API people, the fourth joined another group, and we were off. The woman told us that third prize were A to Zs (pronounced A to Zeds, Brits use the French Z), which I already had. Second prize was tickets to the Tower, which I had already done. First prize was four tickets to see Wicked. Wait. WHAT?! WICKED?!!?!?! FOR FREE?!?!?!?! At this point I was determined to win those tickets. So we followed the guide of questions that we had to answer and ran all over the north side of the river. There were questions like “Go to Sherlock Holmes’s pub. What was Watson’s favorite dish?” I can’t remember the answer now, but we got it right. We went all over the place trying to find the answers. We had a great advantage over everyone else because of all the touring we’d done. We already knew the answers to many of the questions and for the others we knew where to find them. Some very helpful museum staff workers also were a great help.
By the end of the treasure hunt we wanted to swear off treasure hunts for the rest of our lives. The girl’s feet were blistered and aching, and I was wearing very comfortable shoes and even my feet hurt. But we got back to our meeting place, the Prince of Wales pub, turned in our questions 3 minutes late, and sat down. While the Westminster lady counted up our points, we used our free drink passes. I was worried about this event when I read about it in the itinerary. I don’t drink until I’m 21, but I was worried that I might miss out on this experience if I didn’t participate. But all my worries were for naught. I got my free coke and sat down. Then the Westminster lady stood up and presented the winners. But we didn’t win.
Just kidding!! We totally won!!! Even with the time penalty we answered more questions correctly than anyone else. We were all so happy, but I think I was the most excited. Free tickets or not, I was seeing Wicked while I was over here, but now I don’t have to worry about paying for it. All we have to do is let the lady know when we want to go and she sets it up. Hooray!!
After all this I was feeling really good so I ordered my first fish and chips. I even put the malted vinegar on the chips (fries), which was really good. I didn’t eat the pees, of course, but who would?
When we got back to our rooms I went down to the front office to ask for an extra blanket. They said they didn’t have any. I asked if they could tell me how to turn the heat up in my room, they said they person to do that was coming tomorrow. I was about to leave when the lady at the office said, “Do you want a heater?” I said “YES!!” So now I have a little space heater in my room that warms things up really nice. And then I took a shower, and there was warm water!! Don’t know how it happened, but there you go. The heater also sounds like the fan I have at home that helps me go to sleep and drowns out the city noise. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful day.
British word of the day: rubbish bin = trash can
I realized I haven’t talked much about where I’m staying. The International House is a 10 floor building with 9 individual rooms on each floor. I’m on the second floor, and my room has a large window with curtains, a desk, a chair, a dresser, a bed, and a wardrobe divided into a closet and a sink area by a partition. I have a lamp, but the light bulb blew out, so I can’t use that. I have two outlets, one by my desk that gets used for my laptop, and one by my bed which is for everything else. There is a toilet closet on each side of the hall, which divides four rooms on each side, and a shower closet. The kitchen, I learned later, is on the other half of the floor, and has everything you need but pots, which I’ve heard are on the other floors, so maybe I can borrow one. The building is also right next to a police station, so you feel safe, but you have to hear the sirens going off about every half hour.
After my very satisfying breakfast of a few handfuls of cornflakes, I met my group and we got on the tube to go to the Tower of London. That was very fun. We took a Yeoman tour of the tower areas, and our guide was funny and very loud, as he should be. After our short tour we had lots of time to do whatever we wanted. We went first to the Crown Jewels, which were of course fantastic. Then we went all along the walls and towers looking through all the rooms and displays the tower has put together. It was really fun.
On our way to the tube to go to the place we needed to be for the afternoon, our assistant director, who had taken us to the Tower and was taking us back to the tube, told us we should stop by this old church and check out the crypts. She’s filled with all shorts of information like this. So we went into the church and walked down some tiny little stairs and entered any ancient Roman crypt, which the church had turned into a kind of museum for what they had found in the crypt that had told them a lot about what life was like in Roman London.
We then had a bunch of free time, so, of course, we went to eat. We went to a place called Garfunkel’s and all ate burgers. I think British service must just be really slow everywhere, because it took us about an hour to eat there, or maybe British restaurants just don’t like Americans, but we tipped very well because we don’t really know what the norm is here. They say 10% but I think we do a lot more than that.
After a bit more free time we went to meet at the Embankment Tube Riverside exit to start our first Westminster University event, a treasure hunt. They don’t say “scavenger hunt” in Britain, but “treasure hunt”. So I went with three of my API people, the fourth joined another group, and we were off. The woman told us that third prize were A to Zs (pronounced A to Zeds, Brits use the French Z), which I already had. Second prize was tickets to the Tower, which I had already done. First prize was four tickets to see Wicked. Wait. WHAT?! WICKED?!!?!?! FOR FREE?!?!?!?! At this point I was determined to win those tickets. So we followed the guide of questions that we had to answer and ran all over the north side of the river. There were questions like “Go to Sherlock Holmes’s pub. What was Watson’s favorite dish?” I can’t remember the answer now, but we got it right. We went all over the place trying to find the answers. We had a great advantage over everyone else because of all the touring we’d done. We already knew the answers to many of the questions and for the others we knew where to find them. Some very helpful museum staff workers also were a great help.
By the end of the treasure hunt we wanted to swear off treasure hunts for the rest of our lives. The girl’s feet were blistered and aching, and I was wearing very comfortable shoes and even my feet hurt. But we got back to our meeting place, the Prince of Wales pub, turned in our questions 3 minutes late, and sat down. While the Westminster lady counted up our points, we used our free drink passes. I was worried about this event when I read about it in the itinerary. I don’t drink until I’m 21, but I was worried that I might miss out on this experience if I didn’t participate. But all my worries were for naught. I got my free coke and sat down. Then the Westminster lady stood up and presented the winners. But we didn’t win.
Just kidding!! We totally won!!! Even with the time penalty we answered more questions correctly than anyone else. We were all so happy, but I think I was the most excited. Free tickets or not, I was seeing Wicked while I was over here, but now I don’t have to worry about paying for it. All we have to do is let the lady know when we want to go and she sets it up. Hooray!!
After all this I was feeling really good so I ordered my first fish and chips. I even put the malted vinegar on the chips (fries), which was really good. I didn’t eat the pees, of course, but who would?
When we got back to our rooms I went down to the front office to ask for an extra blanket. They said they didn’t have any. I asked if they could tell me how to turn the heat up in my room, they said they person to do that was coming tomorrow. I was about to leave when the lady at the office said, “Do you want a heater?” I said “YES!!” So now I have a little space heater in my room that warms things up really nice. And then I took a shower, and there was warm water!! Don’t know how it happened, but there you go. The heater also sounds like the fan I have at home that helps me go to sleep and drowns out the city noise. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful day.
British word of the day: rubbish bin = trash can
Sunday, June 20, 2010
day 2
Woke up this morning (alas, not feeling like P Diddy) and it was down to the basement floor for breakfast. I was a little nervous about eating alone down there with all the other guests, but when I got down there it was sort of fun to eat alone. I went through the buffet and it was all familiar food: sausages, scrambled and sunny side up eggs, toast, and then some other odd breakfast foods, like baked beans and mushrooms, which Brits always have on their breakfast…weirdoes.
Anyway, I ate my food in the proper British style with my knife in the right hand and the fork over turned in the left. I had British mustard with my sausage, which is a lot like Dijon mustard, spicy and sweet. The sunny side up egg I didn’t really eat, but the scrambled eggs were very good and the toast was, of course, marvelous.
After breakfast my group all came to the lobby and we left to go to Westminster Abby. Something interesting about London is that the city most people think of as London is actually divided into two cities, Westminster and London. It’s all called London, but Westminster in the official name of about half the central part.
Though I’ve been to the Abby before, I think this time it was much better. I wasn’t in a group of about a million Voices in the Laural people and I could go at my own pace. I had my own audio tour, which was very nice, and I was able to see all the bazillions of statues and plaques that fill the Abby. Pretty much all the important British dead people are there, and it’s really strange to think that their decomposed bodies are right there beside you, so close to them you can touch their coffins.
It also amazes me what talented people can do with stone. They can make granite and marble look like wisps of cloth and tiny floating clouds. Angels can float down from heaven and it’s hard to believe they’re made of anything but air. I just know stone work is never something I would want to peruse.
I saw all there was to see in the Abby, then we took our walking tour of central London. We went to Tafalgar Square, this huge place with giant statues and giant columns with more giant statues on them. We saw the huge National Gallery, the British Louvre, which is nice and free. Hope to make a visit there later. Admiralty Arch was lovely because it had a nose in it (pictures will help to clear this up if I ever get around to it). The Mall and Horse Guard’s Parade (which is not a parade, they just stand there!) and through there we saw Buckingham Palace (been there!)
I took so many pictures of places I didn’t even know because all the buildings are so amazing here. There is a mix of the old and the new because of all the buildings destroyed in WWII (simply called The War here) had to be replaced with modern concrete and steel buildings. And there are so many teeny little details all over the place that it’s hard to imagine people sitting in workshops chiseling these facades out.
After that we had A LOT of free time. The five of us walked all over London looking for shopping mostly. I, alas, didn’t find anything, but many of the girls did. I did do a lot of people watching, and what I saw was that I need to buy some more clothes. The best-dressed guys here all follow the same formula: button-up shirt, sweater/cardigan, dark blazer, dark jeans, long toed, leather shoes (laced and unlaced). This tells me that I need to find some good guys stores, and fast! I have yet to venture to Primark, which I hear is a bastion of wonderful and affordable fashions, but I do know there is one on Oxford Street, so I hope to make a trip there soon.
After the free time we had another little meeting in the hotel. I learned about classes and learned something very disappointing: there aren’t going to be any British students in any of my classes. Apparently Brits don’t go to school in the summer because their regular schooling is so tough. That was very disappointing to me because I had hoped that I would be able to talk with other Brits in my classes, but it is not to be.
After the meeting we went to a restaurant for dinner on API’s dime/p (p=pence). It was a very neat little place where you ordered a three course meal. My first course was a carrot and orange soup. I sounds gross, but I was actually a very interesting and yummy orange soup. I then had a delicious leg of duck with mashed potatoes and red wine gravy, eaten the proper British way. For dessert I had banana pancakes, crepes filled with cooked bananas and covered in a caramel sauce. It was amazing!!
Then the time came to finally move into our Residence hall, the International House. Contrary to what my parents thought, the International house is not part of the Westminster campus. Campuses in America and Britain are very different. There is no “central campus” where everything is all there together, but spread out because space is so precious here. The International house is far enough away from where my classes are that I’ll have to take the tube to get there, but fortunately there’s only one line I have to follow to get there.
I moved into my room on the second floor and my first thought was that it was cold. Very cold. I closed the huge windows right away and connected to the Internet right away. After letting people back home know I was ok, I unpacked my things. It was cold. I did some stuff on the Internet. It was cold.
Then I took a shower. It was really cold. I could not figure out how to do the hot water. There are two knobs, one to the left that turns the water pressure up and down. Then there’s a second knob that turns the temperature up and down. This knob has a little red button on it that you have to press to turn it further. Another useless invention from the Brits. So I took a really cold shower. Then I went to sleep, but it really was a great day.
British word of the day: lorry = truck
Anyway, I ate my food in the proper British style with my knife in the right hand and the fork over turned in the left. I had British mustard with my sausage, which is a lot like Dijon mustard, spicy and sweet. The sunny side up egg I didn’t really eat, but the scrambled eggs were very good and the toast was, of course, marvelous.
After breakfast my group all came to the lobby and we left to go to Westminster Abby. Something interesting about London is that the city most people think of as London is actually divided into two cities, Westminster and London. It’s all called London, but Westminster in the official name of about half the central part.
Though I’ve been to the Abby before, I think this time it was much better. I wasn’t in a group of about a million Voices in the Laural people and I could go at my own pace. I had my own audio tour, which was very nice, and I was able to see all the bazillions of statues and plaques that fill the Abby. Pretty much all the important British dead people are there, and it’s really strange to think that their decomposed bodies are right there beside you, so close to them you can touch their coffins.
It also amazes me what talented people can do with stone. They can make granite and marble look like wisps of cloth and tiny floating clouds. Angels can float down from heaven and it’s hard to believe they’re made of anything but air. I just know stone work is never something I would want to peruse.
I saw all there was to see in the Abby, then we took our walking tour of central London. We went to Tafalgar Square, this huge place with giant statues and giant columns with more giant statues on them. We saw the huge National Gallery, the British Louvre, which is nice and free. Hope to make a visit there later. Admiralty Arch was lovely because it had a nose in it (pictures will help to clear this up if I ever get around to it). The Mall and Horse Guard’s Parade (which is not a parade, they just stand there!) and through there we saw Buckingham Palace (been there!)
I took so many pictures of places I didn’t even know because all the buildings are so amazing here. There is a mix of the old and the new because of all the buildings destroyed in WWII (simply called The War here) had to be replaced with modern concrete and steel buildings. And there are so many teeny little details all over the place that it’s hard to imagine people sitting in workshops chiseling these facades out.
After that we had A LOT of free time. The five of us walked all over London looking for shopping mostly. I, alas, didn’t find anything, but many of the girls did. I did do a lot of people watching, and what I saw was that I need to buy some more clothes. The best-dressed guys here all follow the same formula: button-up shirt, sweater/cardigan, dark blazer, dark jeans, long toed, leather shoes (laced and unlaced). This tells me that I need to find some good guys stores, and fast! I have yet to venture to Primark, which I hear is a bastion of wonderful and affordable fashions, but I do know there is one on Oxford Street, so I hope to make a trip there soon.
After the free time we had another little meeting in the hotel. I learned about classes and learned something very disappointing: there aren’t going to be any British students in any of my classes. Apparently Brits don’t go to school in the summer because their regular schooling is so tough. That was very disappointing to me because I had hoped that I would be able to talk with other Brits in my classes, but it is not to be.
After the meeting we went to a restaurant for dinner on API’s dime/p (p=pence). It was a very neat little place where you ordered a three course meal. My first course was a carrot and orange soup. I sounds gross, but I was actually a very interesting and yummy orange soup. I then had a delicious leg of duck with mashed potatoes and red wine gravy, eaten the proper British way. For dessert I had banana pancakes, crepes filled with cooked bananas and covered in a caramel sauce. It was amazing!!
Then the time came to finally move into our Residence hall, the International House. Contrary to what my parents thought, the International house is not part of the Westminster campus. Campuses in America and Britain are very different. There is no “central campus” where everything is all there together, but spread out because space is so precious here. The International house is far enough away from where my classes are that I’ll have to take the tube to get there, but fortunately there’s only one line I have to follow to get there.
I moved into my room on the second floor and my first thought was that it was cold. Very cold. I closed the huge windows right away and connected to the Internet right away. After letting people back home know I was ok, I unpacked my things. It was cold. I did some stuff on the Internet. It was cold.
Then I took a shower. It was really cold. I could not figure out how to do the hot water. There are two knobs, one to the left that turns the water pressure up and down. Then there’s a second knob that turns the temperature up and down. This knob has a little red button on it that you have to press to turn it further. Another useless invention from the Brits. So I took a really cold shower. Then I went to sleep, but it really was a great day.
British word of the day: lorry = truck
Saturday, June 19, 2010
day 1
After my success at all the plane stuff I was feeling very proud of myself for not freaking out and bursting into tears in the middle of the airport. It was even easy to find my group. They were all standing together and I came up and met them. I’m the only guy in the group of 5 students, but I am no stranger to hanging out with an all-girl group. We stood around a while and exchanged the normal college kid greetings “Where do you go?” “What’s your major?” etc until we got the last girl in the group to the right place. I learned that my Piccell phone is in working order, but don’t be offended that I didn’t pass out the number. They charge me for everything I do on it, so I’m trying to keep the phone activity to a minimum.
The five of us, our director, our director’s assistant, our director’s niece and our director’s baby all got onto our very large van and drove off to London. Heathrow airport is an hour from our hotel, so we had plenty of time to talk to each other. I told them that I was the president and founder of my school’s Harry Potter club and that was very popular with everyone. Several of the girls are really big fans, a few of the others have seen the movies only, but we’ll forgive them for that. We all talked about how we freaked out every time the driver made a turn because we thought he was going into the wrong side of the road, but there were no issues as we entered central London.
The hotel we stayed at, the Sydney Hotel, was in true European: a house turned into a hotel. The rooms and stairways were very small but very comfortable. As I am the only guy in the group, I had a single room to myself with a single bed and a tiny bathroom with a tiny shower. The toilet had two buttons one smaller than the other, and I would be later told that the small button was for “pee” flushes and the larger of “poo” flushes. I’m sure this will be but the first of my discoveries of bizarre things the Brits do that make no good sense.
After we got to he hotel we went for lunch at a pizza place that I can’t remember its name, but they’re all over the place. I learned that my director’s niece was with us because my director’s baby is about 7 months old and the niece was there to take care of the baby so my director could take care of us. My pizza was really good and had very thin crust and spinach and goat cheese on it, no onions. In England they even eat pizza with a knife and fork, so I learned to cut little triangles out of the pizza and eat my way in. I was able to talk with everyone more at lunch and learned that many of them had left their boyfriends behind, so we were able to talk about how our significant other’s do this and that. I’m glad I won’t be the only person who will be saying “Oh my god, my girlfriend would think that’s so funny!” or “Yeah, I miss texting my girlfriend.” and all the other crazy things non-single people say.
After lunch there was no time to rest at the hotel, as we had to get on the bus tour. For our guide we had this really energetic guy who talked the whole time but didn’t talk too much, which was wonderful. I learned several hundred things that my very tired mind was much to tired to remember, but I did learn why Brits drive on the opposite side of the road: it was because of the Romans. It was something about how people draw their swords on the right so they drove their chariots on the left so they could kill each other, or something. We drove all around and I took a bunch of rushed and probably blurry pictures, but we still had a good time.
After the buss tour we had a meeting at the hotel about API stuff and what we were expected to do and all the other things they had sent us in the pre-departure info API sent us. At this point I was trying very, very hard not to fall asleep, but we were in a dark room in the bottom of a hotel watching a regrettably boring PowerPoint, so that made it quite difficult. I was getting to that point where you almost fall asleep and then everything gets really loud and you wake up again. Then thank goodness in ended and we were allowed to go.
But the day was not over yet. One of the girls from the group, Lindsey, and I walked around the hotel area to find some dinner, which proved to be very hard. We just wanted something to take back to the hotel, but all the little shops were closing so we had to go to this market (and when I say market don’t think of a market, think of a grocery store) to get something to take back. I ate in my room, took a very much needed shower, watched enough British tv to get myself into a stupor, and finally went to sleep on my very cushy bed.
British word of the day: treacle = molasses. Never knew that when I was reading Harry Potter and read out treacle tart and treacle fudge and all that.
The five of us, our director, our director’s assistant, our director’s niece and our director’s baby all got onto our very large van and drove off to London. Heathrow airport is an hour from our hotel, so we had plenty of time to talk to each other. I told them that I was the president and founder of my school’s Harry Potter club and that was very popular with everyone. Several of the girls are really big fans, a few of the others have seen the movies only, but we’ll forgive them for that. We all talked about how we freaked out every time the driver made a turn because we thought he was going into the wrong side of the road, but there were no issues as we entered central London.
The hotel we stayed at, the Sydney Hotel, was in true European: a house turned into a hotel. The rooms and stairways were very small but very comfortable. As I am the only guy in the group, I had a single room to myself with a single bed and a tiny bathroom with a tiny shower. The toilet had two buttons one smaller than the other, and I would be later told that the small button was for “pee” flushes and the larger of “poo” flushes. I’m sure this will be but the first of my discoveries of bizarre things the Brits do that make no good sense.
After we got to he hotel we went for lunch at a pizza place that I can’t remember its name, but they’re all over the place. I learned that my director’s niece was with us because my director’s baby is about 7 months old and the niece was there to take care of the baby so my director could take care of us. My pizza was really good and had very thin crust and spinach and goat cheese on it, no onions. In England they even eat pizza with a knife and fork, so I learned to cut little triangles out of the pizza and eat my way in. I was able to talk with everyone more at lunch and learned that many of them had left their boyfriends behind, so we were able to talk about how our significant other’s do this and that. I’m glad I won’t be the only person who will be saying “Oh my god, my girlfriend would think that’s so funny!” or “Yeah, I miss texting my girlfriend.” and all the other crazy things non-single people say.
After lunch there was no time to rest at the hotel, as we had to get on the bus tour. For our guide we had this really energetic guy who talked the whole time but didn’t talk too much, which was wonderful. I learned several hundred things that my very tired mind was much to tired to remember, but I did learn why Brits drive on the opposite side of the road: it was because of the Romans. It was something about how people draw their swords on the right so they drove their chariots on the left so they could kill each other, or something. We drove all around and I took a bunch of rushed and probably blurry pictures, but we still had a good time.
After the buss tour we had a meeting at the hotel about API stuff and what we were expected to do and all the other things they had sent us in the pre-departure info API sent us. At this point I was trying very, very hard not to fall asleep, but we were in a dark room in the bottom of a hotel watching a regrettably boring PowerPoint, so that made it quite difficult. I was getting to that point where you almost fall asleep and then everything gets really loud and you wake up again. Then thank goodness in ended and we were allowed to go.
But the day was not over yet. One of the girls from the group, Lindsey, and I walked around the hotel area to find some dinner, which proved to be very hard. We just wanted something to take back to the hotel, but all the little shops were closing so we had to go to this market (and when I say market don’t think of a market, think of a grocery store) to get something to take back. I ate in my room, took a very much needed shower, watched enough British tv to get myself into a stupor, and finally went to sleep on my very cushy bed.
British word of the day: treacle = molasses. Never knew that when I was reading Harry Potter and read out treacle tart and treacle fudge and all that.
the plane
I guess the best place to start a blog is at the beginning, and I guess that beginning would be my flight from Atlanta to Heathrow. I must admit that when it was finally time for me to part with my family and girl friend that I was starting to think "What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Why can't I just stay in America and be comfortable?" But as I walked through the security check points a continued to say to myself "You're awesome, you can do this." The fact that everything went so smoothly added to my confidence as I went through all the various stages of travel check and after a short tram ride and a brisk walk I was at my gate, all ready to go with no problems at all.
Once I actually got on the plane, I learned that I didn't have an exit row like I thought, but more of a partition wall between sections that allowed for plenty of leg space. The man next to me greeted me as I came up to him "You must be Michael." I thought that was weird, that he knew my name, but then he explained that his middle name is Michael and his last name started with B and that British Airways had given him my boarding pass instead of his own. He got all the way to security when they turned him around to get the right pass. But he was very nice about it and we talked about why we were traveling and all that.
I loved it when the plane took off. Shooting straight up into the air in a metal bird that somehow manages to stay up will always be a mystery to me. But I had lots of leg room, a nice traveling companion, minimal stress, and a person tv that pulled out of my arm rest on which I could choose from a whole variety of movies and tv shows, many of them new, like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. I watched an Irish movie called Undine that Mary told me about because it seemed the lest likely for me to view on my own in the future. It turned out to be quite good, and in the middle of it they gave us our dinners. I chose the chicken and rice and my traveling companion choose lasagna.
Now I had already read the Brits have a different way of eating then we in the States have. Where we cut with knife and fork then switch the fork over to eat with, Brits leave the utensils in each hand a eat with the fork overturned. I watched my travel companion eat his lasagna in this manner, and thought that sense I'm going to be eating in Britain for three weeks, I need to practice the way they do. I don't know if any of you have ever tried to eat rice from an overturned fork with your non-dominant hand, but let me tell you, it's not easy. I ended up just doing in the American way and ate the way I was used to. I would later learn that the trick is to get a little piece of chicken on the end of the fork and use that to prop up the rice, but I think it will take a lot more practice to get that under control.
After dinner and a couple of selected tv shows (I would like to investigate Better Off Tedd, if anyone has any thoughts on that show) I tried to sleep. Tried is the most important word here. As I was right next to the engines on the wings, it seemed those engines were being extra loud just to make me angry. My traveling companion was by this time snoring in his own chair, I feat I don't know if I'll ever achieve, and I was completely awake, though completely in need of sleep. I listened to my iPod and must have fallen asleep a little because there are songs in albums I don’t remember listening too, but it was still very hard to sleep.
When we finally got to England, we had to circle for a while because there was so much air traffic around the city. So I spent my time looking at all the beautiful clouds above and below the plane. It amazes me what water vapor can do with itself. We finally landed and I finally got off the plane. Then I had to handle all the new lines and British people with all their forms and rules and standards and all the rest. But all that went surprisingly easy. I was able to go through immigrations without even giving them any proof that I was a student and got my visa and was on my way to baggage. Now I had to wait on that. And my now it was passed 11:00 London time so I was really worried that the API people would leave me. So I waited and waited and made up plans in my head about what I would do if my bags were lost. But after what seemed like hours my bag finally came down the conveyer belt and I was once again on my way.
I now see that my first blog entry ever has gone on a long time, so I’m going to stop here. Thanks for reading!
Once I actually got on the plane, I learned that I didn't have an exit row like I thought, but more of a partition wall between sections that allowed for plenty of leg space. The man next to me greeted me as I came up to him "You must be Michael." I thought that was weird, that he knew my name, but then he explained that his middle name is Michael and his last name started with B and that British Airways had given him my boarding pass instead of his own. He got all the way to security when they turned him around to get the right pass. But he was very nice about it and we talked about why we were traveling and all that.
I loved it when the plane took off. Shooting straight up into the air in a metal bird that somehow manages to stay up will always be a mystery to me. But I had lots of leg room, a nice traveling companion, minimal stress, and a person tv that pulled out of my arm rest on which I could choose from a whole variety of movies and tv shows, many of them new, like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. I watched an Irish movie called Undine that Mary told me about because it seemed the lest likely for me to view on my own in the future. It turned out to be quite good, and in the middle of it they gave us our dinners. I chose the chicken and rice and my traveling companion choose lasagna.
Now I had already read the Brits have a different way of eating then we in the States have. Where we cut with knife and fork then switch the fork over to eat with, Brits leave the utensils in each hand a eat with the fork overturned. I watched my travel companion eat his lasagna in this manner, and thought that sense I'm going to be eating in Britain for three weeks, I need to practice the way they do. I don't know if any of you have ever tried to eat rice from an overturned fork with your non-dominant hand, but let me tell you, it's not easy. I ended up just doing in the American way and ate the way I was used to. I would later learn that the trick is to get a little piece of chicken on the end of the fork and use that to prop up the rice, but I think it will take a lot more practice to get that under control.
After dinner and a couple of selected tv shows (I would like to investigate Better Off Tedd, if anyone has any thoughts on that show) I tried to sleep. Tried is the most important word here. As I was right next to the engines on the wings, it seemed those engines were being extra loud just to make me angry. My traveling companion was by this time snoring in his own chair, I feat I don't know if I'll ever achieve, and I was completely awake, though completely in need of sleep. I listened to my iPod and must have fallen asleep a little because there are songs in albums I don’t remember listening too, but it was still very hard to sleep.
When we finally got to England, we had to circle for a while because there was so much air traffic around the city. So I spent my time looking at all the beautiful clouds above and below the plane. It amazes me what water vapor can do with itself. We finally landed and I finally got off the plane. Then I had to handle all the new lines and British people with all their forms and rules and standards and all the rest. But all that went surprisingly easy. I was able to go through immigrations without even giving them any proof that I was a student and got my visa and was on my way to baggage. Now I had to wait on that. And my now it was passed 11:00 London time so I was really worried that the API people would leave me. So I waited and waited and made up plans in my head about what I would do if my bags were lost. But after what seemed like hours my bag finally came down the conveyer belt and I was once again on my way.
I now see that my first blog entry ever has gone on a long time, so I’m going to stop here. Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)