London Study Abroad 2007

Final Thoughts/ what I've learned about NC coming back

2007-12-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

I've decided coming home warrants one more blog entry, but I need to stop after that or I will become some creepy blogger.

Lol, no offense to people who have blogs... none at all. I'm just not special enough to have one, haha. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Anyways, coming home has taught me a great deal about myself. It turns out how much I really love North Carolina took me by surprise. I have not been in London withdrawal, which is also surprising. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore the city and will never completely get over it, but coming home has made me realized how much I have had all along.

While abroad I was always aware that I love and will always miss my family. We're really close and there is no place like home. However, I never really thought about Chapel Hill too much after the first month abroad. Once I had settled in I always knew I'd be back next semester and kept in touch with my friends in the meantime.

The first thing that struck me when I came home was how much stuff I own (well... AFTER the Andy's shrimp burger... oh and leaving my travelers checks at the restaurant. Yes... the 2nd thing I did in America was leave money at a restaurant... go figure, lol). I was able to pack everything into my suitcase and duffel bag. And I had plenty to live with in London. Here I have a ridiculous spring/summer wardrobe, 3 purses I will end up using, 2 clutches, random piles of crap, magazines, jewelry I completely forgot about, tons of shoes, etc. It's ridiculous.

I am a wasteful citizen and never really realized how much. My mother asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year and... well... I really don't need anything. Not going to lie though, we went to banana republic and I found enough to wrap up to satisfy the need for a few boxes under the tree... so I'm STILL wasteful...lol. I guess old habits die hard :-) At least it was all in dollars!

Wow... this is becoming a long last post.

Also, I am realizing I need to go volunteer or donate to a charity, ASAP, I have always wanted to buy a donkey for a small village in a random country...

OK, well anyways. So I not only have loved coming back to my family, but seeing my friends has been a gift. I adore Chapel Hill. Seeing Lindsay Tuesday and Thursday, brunch with Peter on Wednesday, and going to Charlotte and Katie's party was wonderful. I cannot wait until next semester...

Here is what I have found that only exists in North Carolina/ America that coming back has made me highly appreciate:

1. Eating at Five Guys I looked over to a table of Southerners... a kid was wearing a tshirt with a bald eagle that said "If you don't love it, leave" - it makes my day to see rednecks

2. Driving. I love driving... (although now I am back to worrying about deer... it was on the front page of the News and Observe this week that Wake County has the largest # of auto accidents involving deer...)

3. Driving and seeing 2 guys with a shot gun shooting at the trees... and the shot gun fires - People can have guns in America... scary, but entertaining when seeing them used in this manner

4. Hectors Cheese Fries!!! (and being friends with their 1 and only VIP)

5. 25 cent beer

6. Animal Planet... a whole tv station dedicated to animals... I specifically chose to watch "Growing Up Walrus" - it's adorable/ creepy - (Sapna stopped me after 10 minutes... worried I was going to be brainwashed)

7. Most things costing half price and knowing it...

8. Breadman's French Toast, especially when eaten after a night out, lol

9. Having a Christmas reindeer in our lawn/ riding around suburbia and looking at the obnoxious decorations

10. having someone to come help if crazy stuff happens... like my car getting keyed on Friday (thanks Dad... )

11. Banana Republic

12. SPACE - it's this concept I seemed to have forgotten

13. Taco bell, Andy's cheesesteak, Dunkin Donuts, Biaggi's, Five Guys, my fav. Korean restaurant (yes... I will start eating healthy eventually... haha, well... after I get to Bojangles...)

14. eating something other than Tortellini's, period

15. ridiculous Sigma memories, lol

16. the HUGE liquor store... dude... it's overwhelming

17. a queen sized bed! (lol, and bunk bed next semester...)

18. Blockbuster, VH1, a true MTV, being in America while watching The Daily Show and Colbert Report, a ridiculous amount of bad reality tv (that I adore... right now I'm watching 'America's Most Smartest Model'... embarrassing, i know), etc

19. It being painfully obvious that I need to read more, lol

20. Rueda!

21. being home for the Holidays :-)

22. Carolina Basketball!!!

23. driving around the winding back roads to Chapel Hill... with the windows down and music turned up entirely too loud when it's warm out (like it was this December until today...)

24. Where else can you go to CVS to get a flu shot and then to the grocery store in under 45 minutes...

25. Although I feel as though I've made lifelong friends in London, I am so blessed to be back to the many friends I have grown close to over the past 3 years. I love you guys!

So even though there are many things I'm bound to miss about London, and I'm not going to lie... I'd certainly love to live there again at some point... in the end, even though this is terribly cliche, I've also found there is no place like home.

Last day in London/ coming home

2007-12-15T21:06:00.001-08:00

The one thing I will say is I truly found closure with leaving at the end of my trip.

Sapna woke me up at 7:30 to hug me by. After that I couldn't fall back to sleep so I decided I just needed to spend the day doing and seeing everything possible one last time. I packed until around 10AM and then headed out. First I dropped off my library books then stopped into Cafe Deco for, what I thought, was my last time. The younger guy that works there actually seemed sad... such is life. I also was able to say goodbye to the small convenience store owner; he was such a cheerful person... he even laughed at my jokes (and that's unwarranted, lol).

I then went to the British Museum one last time to look at the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian exhibit. It brought me back to that first day where Chris, Heather, and I were ridiculously lost in our neighborhood. My next impulse was to go to TopShop one last time... I know... random, but they just don't have shopping meccas like that in the states, lol.

After shopping for an hour and a half I found the perfect top. Now THAT is closure, haha.

(I shamelessly took pictures of every single thing I saw this last day... probably 70 or so pics total, lol)

New topic... lol... I went back to Cafe Deco to eat lunch. I considered going with Katherine and Kaitlin to walk to the Tower Bridge, but I realized my feet were killing me. It was really sad; the owner gave me free coffee and gave me a hard time about leaving - I'm definitely going to miss Deco. After Deco I ran into Todd and David at Winston House. They had just gotten out of their exams (sucks for them! lol) and were heading to the Borough market. This market is crazy! It has every type of food or drink product you can dream of. Shoot... they had a selection of 20 different Christmas beers! You could also have ostrich, delicious cheeses, the best sausage of your life, around 25 different flavours of turkish delight, etc. Too bad I had eaten lunch... go figure... lol. It was still worth seeing.

David and I headed back, because I had plans to hang out with William. I ended up meeting him and Patricia in Leicester Square for dinner. I finally had Wagamama's... lol... idk how I hadn't eaten there before, but it really, truly is darn good Chinese food. It was so great seeing Patricia one last time and catching up. Then we all headed to Hyde Park to meet a big group of UNC students at the Winter Wonderland. Patricia had to head back, but the rest of us had a nice time. I'm still pissed all tickets to skate were sold out... but we had mulled wine and relaxed. Then the saddest point of the last night occurred... I hated saying goodbye to William. At least with the UNC students I know I'll see them around next semester whereas Arkansas and Louisiana aren't nearly as close. Haha, but it's all good... it's an excuse for a road trip...

Then it was back to packing. Sapna and I had accumulated 3 trash bags of food and random crap - it was impressive. Then it came time to deal with the extra alcohol; this was not acceptable, lol. No worries though, we finished it all :-) Todd had come in and asked if I wanted to walk around one last time - then we decided to turn it into a group affair.

(at Queen Elizabeth's gate to Hyde Park - my camera died soon after this, lol)

The walk was suppose to last an hour... haha, yea... it turned into 3. It was worth every bit of the effort. It was one last chance to sip on a Fosters in public, one last chance to get a picture of the theatre district, etc. We hung around Trafalgar for a bit then walked along St. James park to Buckingham Palace. We continued on to the Marble Arch and then onto Oxford Street. At the end of Oxford street I insisted on getting chips one last time from Dionysus, lol. It was a good decision. I look back, and this was the PERFECT way to end my trip. I didn't waste a minute of that last day.

Next morning we were up at 6:30... yes... it was painful. Thank god Heather is practically a saint and helped me carry my last trash bag up the stairs - it was broken and weighed around 20 lbs, lol. I'm so glad I was able to travel back with Heather. There were moments where I was sad, but overall it was one last misadventure before heading home. We got rid of our change during breakfast (i'm positive our waiter hated us). Then we fell in love with the Harrod's 2007 Christmas bears and bought them. So picture this... 2 college girls holding teddy bears.

That basically sums up our ride back. It was wonderful seeing my family. The first thing I ate off the plane was an Andy's shrimp burger. It was heavenly.

Last 2 weeks in London/ it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas :-)

2007-12-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

Well after Stratford Upon Avon I was pretty worn out, but that didn't stop me from partying in flat 1... go figure :-)

On Sunday I arrived back to my flat around 7PM after standing for 2 hours on a train - it was intense. But strong pong was calling my name. Haha, and who are we kidding - I wasn't going to get any work done!

Lets just keep it to this: that Sunday was definitely one of the wildest nights in London. If not THE wildest.

What we learned:

1. stick to strongbow

2. buy enough strongbow so you don't run out
3. playing flip cup with gin/ wine is a bad idea

Anyways... most of us didn't feel well the next day, but it was nice while it lasted. :-)

Monday I went and saw a concert at St. Martin in the Fields. It was nice to walk to Trafalgar. I randomly found a booth in China Town that sold fried pork dumplings which certainly helped with my poor state.

Tuesday was Katherine O's 21st birthday! A group of us went out to Sports Cafe and it was an overall nice time.

Friday I ended up deathly ill. All of a sudden I woke up that morning with a massive fever and the chills... go figure... it's weird how life happens. I wasn't back to normal until Monday; the rest of the weekend I was bedridden. However I did manage to get a decent amount of my work done... I wrote my 2 final papers and my final review.

For our last music class with Professor Oehler Chris and I performed the Villa Lobos then everyone presented their London themes. I awkwardly talked about salsa dancing... yea... it was really awkward. I'm not great at talking about dancing... lol

Our Shakespeare final on Wednesday was not too difficult.

(drinking from the treasure chest... *sigh* lol, it was like a Dublin reunion)

Wednesday night was ridiculous. Plain ridiculous. We went to Mahiki, a REALLY nice club across the street from the Ritz. We all made it home safe... and I'm going to be thanking god for that for the next few months... good grief

Thursday night was when it sunk in things were over. First I went to eat at the Crypt Cafe with Heather, Mary, Laura, and Esther. This also included seeing the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square, which was fun (although the tree was rather pathetic, lol...). Then the rest of the night I hung out in flat 1. It was really sad to be in there for the last time... a place where we had all shared so many great memories. Sapna and I went back to my room after saying goodbye to the guys and listened to sad songs until 3:30AM... haha, in retrospect that was a really good time. We talked about how much we had learned all semester and reminisced about all of our experiences.

The last day deserves it's own entry :-)

The Shakespearience

2007-12-13T16:36:00.001-08:00

haha, going to Stratford Upon Avon was definitely an experience, a SHAKESPEARIENCE

I left the Saturday my mom and brother left. Mary and I took the train from London to Birmingham, then Birmingham to Stratford Upon Avon. We missed our connecting train so we had an hour to kill in Birmingham. Good thing the station is connected to a MASSIVE mall.

Not only was it a mall... it was a mall with freakin' Top Shop!

Anyways, I was excited...

When we arrived in Stratford Upon Avon it went like this:
Mary: Christina, where is our hotel?
Me: umm, I forgot to call. I thought you had looked?
Mary: Christina!?
Me: My bad...

We had to walk to the tourist center. But it was OK :-) in the meantime we met up with Heather and David. They were fortunate enough to experience the Mil Mar's disgustingly pink decour. It was sooo pink it was nauseating... but yet I freaking loved it.

(don't you love the matching pink towels!?!?)

That was what started 'Mary and Christina's Romantic Weekend'

We had romantic stratford upon avon and a ridiculously adorable bed and breakfast...
Anyways...

We walked to Anne Hathaway's cottage. Even in nasty, rainy weather this area is beautiful. The cottage is perfect. We had a nice tour, although the woman talked a bit too much about bread baking... umm... not that interested... but it was so cool knowing the history there. We sat where Shakespeare apparently courted Anne, haha, when he was 18 and she was 26... he definitely got her pregnant which is why they were married.

Haha, that's the Shakespeare I love. Scandalous :-)

After our tour we walked around the grounds and discovered they had a tree labyrinth. Yes, a labyrinth. And darnit, we definitely went in. At one point we got tired of following the path so we started cutting through the trees... haha, it worked... except Heather got stuck at one point, lol.

Mary made it to the middle first... David right after... Heather and I were close, but were blocked by a puddle. Then we were kicked out. Apparently winter hours are NOT the same as summer...

After that we went in town to have a delicious dinner at the Old Thatch Tavern. I nerdily read Shakespeare's sonnets... haha... look, it felt right finally buying the sonnets while IN Stratford Upon Avon. After that David and Heather left *tear*

Haha, but then Mary and my's adventures began. We found a really cute bar and drank some mulled wine and a glass of red wine. Mulled wine is like heated Sangria with spices; aka... pure, holiday deliciousness.

Then we went and saw Henry V. If you're in England, THIS is the place to see Shakespeare. The actors were phenomenal, the effects were surprising/ really impressive (especially about the time I was falling asleep before getting coffee at intermission and there was an explosion), and part of it was acted by actors suspended in the air. It was like an awesome action movie meets Shakespeare meets Cirque-de-Soleil.

Then after that things got interesting :-)

We went to the Dirty Duck, the pub right near the theatre. There we got an upclose look at all of the actors. Quote of that place: "I'm attracted to talent"

But it was an older demographic so we decided to leave. We came up to a club, but we were not ready for that, but the bouncer told us to go back to the place called "Shakesperience."

I went up to that place's bouncers, went... "Do you have alcohol!?" Yes, they did... specifically a bottle of wine with "Shakesperience" on it. It was hilarious.

There, while taking pictures, a guy came up and offered to take a picture of us. Him and his friends were heading to a club. Haha, the club, Bounce, was rather lame. But just being... at a club... in Stratford Upon Avon... was totally worth it. Finally it was time to leave and we headed back. But of course... we stopped for Kebabs. Really I just wanted chips... but Mary wanted a kebab... I tried to order both... and the order ended up meat and chips.

Haha, gross... yet perfect...

In the meantime Mary had met this really strange local guy. He ended up hitting on her in front of his girlfriend. That's him in the picture below. Sketchy...

The next day we woke up and had the best breakfast of my life. I love the Mil Mar... would highly recommend it. Then we went to every main Shakespeare site. We first visited the Church of the Holy Trinity where he is buried. Then we walked along the Avon river which is lovely.

Next we visited his birthplace then finally ended at Nash's house, which is the house where Shakespeare's daughter Susanna and her husband lived. Since Shakespeare retired in Stratford Upon Avon in 1611 he lived in a house next door. Unfortunately it was torn down by it's next owner who didn't like paying taxes on it; now it's a garden.

Overall this weekend was WONDERFUL. I already loved Shakespeare, but seeing where he lived (plus the adventures of our one night) really made it special.

Smith family London style :-)

2007-12-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

Well... I'm home now, but I'm going to try and document the rest of my semester as best as I can (I took so many pictures I figure looking at them will remind me of most of the adventures).

The weekend after Katherine O and I had our Notting Hill adventure my mom and brother came! It was wonderful being able to show them what I had learned so far and to take them around the city I love.

The first day they came I really messed up, haha, surprise surprise...

I was... 4 hours late meeting them. I had gone out dancing with friends the night before and slept at Patricia's place on the other side of the city. When I finally met them I charmed Mom into forgiving me... haha, thank goodness. Then I walked them to Trafalgar Square to show how close I live to the main part of the city. Mom took many pictures of me looking terrible as punishment for being late :-)

The next day we took the Original Bus Tour around the city. It took us everywhere. Nothing too exciting there, but it was nice learning more of the city's history. This night we discovered the amazing Fish and Chips restaurant near the British Museum. It is delicious. Hmm... I think we also went and saw Avenue Q this night...? haha, idk... but when we did it was just as funny as the first time.

Preston liked the song 'The Internet is for Porn' best.

The third day we got back on the Original Tour bus to head to Kensington. I was extrordinarily pissy, haha, because it took us an hour to get there. Apparently I had grown really accustom to the quick-paced London lifestyle and sitting in a bus put me in a bad mood. Eventually we made it to Kensington and walked around the Victoria Albert museum first. We stopped in for food and I had a traumatic incident with my scone and clotted cream... involving a fish bone... gross...

lol, but I recovered and we headed first to the Science Museum, but left after 15 minutes because we were bored; we are definitely better Museum of Natural history people. This was A LOT of fun. Me and Preston + dinosaurs = entertainment. Oh, plus the freakin' cool giant sloth skeleton was cool too.

Eventually we were hungry and that ended our day in Kensington... go figure :-)

By that point Mom had hurt her ankle on stairs... so it was a bit intense. We had already bought tickets to Madame Tussaud's

This was actually one of the highlights of the week. It is hilarious to take pictures there... and Preston and I are REALLY photogenic, lol

This is us and the lead singer from Queen

Up until this point London had been extremely cold, but on Wednesday all of a sudden the gorgeous weather was back. We took a gorgeous walk from Trafalgar Square through St. James park to Buckingham Palace then back. We also went to the National Gallery quickly so Preston can say he's seen Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir paintings.

In St. James Park (Preston ALWAYS had to tie his shoe, lol)

Wednesday night my History of WWII Professor cancelled (haha, what a surprise...) so we went and had dinner at Belgio and then went and saw the Lion King. It was FABULOUS!

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Mom and I went shopping, of course, haha, and later that night the group had a lovely dinner together.

Friday... dude, I don't even know what we did. One day we went to the Tower of London, which is really interesting. At 4PM we had a tour through Parliament which was incredibly interesting. And that was that.

The week was wonderful and I'm really glad my mom and brother came!

Saturday - aka I love London/ there is a WHOLE lotta awkward sitting right here, haha

2007-11-11T04:31:00.001-08:00

Katherine and I went on an adventure to Notting Hill Saturday afternoon. I managed to get up around noon, so I had an hour more daylight than Friday, lol... I know... be proud :-)

What we saw of Notting Hill was nice. However, we realized Kensington was pretty close, so we walked in that direction. Shoot... they are only 15/20 minutes apart. I never realize these things until I walk around the city. All of a sudden we hit some great shopping and, there we were, in Kensington.

By the way... Kensington has it's OWN Top Shop. Woah, lol
( the classic phonebooth picture... outside of Kensington Gardens!)

However, by this point we were ready for some caffeine. We stopped at a charming Italian Cafe right near Kensington Gardens (thank god... or we would have had to go to Starbucks... lol). Then we walked around the palace and then through the park.

It's this kind of thing that I can't really describe. Walking through a park doesn't seem that exciting, but in London it really is one of the most entertaining things to do. It's so interesting to watch the people. Also, the birds are always ridiculous. It's just beautiful, in a way you wouldn't think you'd find inside a city.

We walked all the way to the Natural History Museum (went in for about 30 minutes... but we're saving it for Monday) and then headed back. Now THAT was crazy. I have no clue how we fit on the car... I have never been so close to so many people in my life. It was fun :-)

Later that night I met up with William, Lia, and Katie to go see a play. Lol... too bad it didn't start until the 13th...

so we improvised and decided to head to Hairspray. I had pretty low expectations based on the movie. I liked it, but it wasn't anything special.

The theatre production is SOOO much better - I was blown away. It almost hurts to say it, but I liked it even better than Wicked. The singers were incredibly talented, the sets and costumes were vibrant and full of life, the dancing was top notch, and it was really funny. The mother (a man dressed as a woman) and father's 'You're Timeless to me' was a show-stopper. I have not seen a standing ovation at the end of any other London production like last nights.

After that we kept up with the theme and headed to Ed's... umm... well it's a diner, lol. I'm bad with all names. Not only did they have milkshakes... they had Alco-shakes. Brilliant. I had a Bailey's and Oreo flavoured milkshake. It was heaven. It was like being back home, lol, with an alcoholic touch :-) We all hung out there for around an hour.

The main theme from the diner: 'There is a WHOLE lotta awkward sitting right here'

classic :-)

We all ended up talking until around 2AM. Too bad the parks close after dark here though...

Anyways, great day, great night :-)

I love weekends in London, especially when surrounded by wonderful people.

Week after Scotland

2007-11-11T04:09:00.000-08:00

Well... after Scotland I did nothing on Sunday. I just got a LOT of sleep.

However, I had Monday to kill, so I deemed it Covent Garden day.

First I stopped by the Post Office to send postcards home ;-) I love you guys! Then instead of taking the tube I decided to walk. I mean, why not? lol

Anyways... this is why not: I passed Holborn tube station and should have turned right. Instead I walked for 10 minutes down Holborn street... definitely the wrong way. But it was ok - I found an amazing french bakery for lunch. After that I took the tube BACK to where I came from. From there... 20 minutes later... I managed to find Covent Garden.

I love walking around Covent Garden. Good shopping, inside there is typically classical music being played (including an opera singer!?), and it turns out it is really close to where I live. I have no clue how I haven't stumbled onto it before.

Later Monday night was our groups cheese tasting night at 8PM. I practiced and read Shakespeare up until this point. I love cheese tasting night though. Good conversations.

Later that night Laura and I went salsa dancing :-) Apparently I actually CAN dance after drinking - and there are benefits, lol, and some downsides to it. With certain people I had danced with before I was "soo much better." But also... for the dancers that try to instruct you... that didn't go well. I was in no mood to completely change my dance style for someone.

Anyways, we stayed for about an hour and it was perfect :-)

Tuesday I read some Shakespeare... practiced... that was about it. Saw a concert of music I'd played in the last year, which was interesting. lol, Anyways...

Wednesday I continued to read Shakespeare. Didn't read as much as I should have, lol. Wednesday night I went to the Court with Tyler, Cory, Tracy, Creecy, Sapna, and Katherine O. Mainly Katherine and I bonded ;-)

Thursday went by quickly too. Gotta love Vosper's class. Haha, or not. Next class I'm talking about Thatcherism. It should be interesting... haha, or terrible... oh well :-)

Friday I slept in until... 1PM. I had stayed up until... almost 4AM watching Heroes. Good show. Heather and I made it the Tate Museums day. We started with the modern. I had low expectations, but I actually enjoyed it. My favorite exhibit focused on 'the absurdities of every day life' - it was different videos focusing on the same scene of a man being tripped by a dog and falling.

I still don't get the crack exhibit, lol

Anyways

Then we took the boat to the Tate Britain. We were pretty overwhelmed by this point so we went and got tea... and I had clotted cream with a scone for the first time. I'm a big fan. By the time we had finished eating the museum was only open for 50 minutes. We went and checked out the modern works there which were a bit more tame. Then we found the Pre-Raphaelites. I love this group of painters. They have the bright colors of Monet, but also tell stories of love and loss. *Sigh*

haha, anyways. That night I got back and Katherine and I split a bottle of wine. Haha, that was all we needed... we hung out with Patrick and Todd and played cards. I am pretty freaking awesome at palace - I won 3 times. Yup, I'm awesome.

Haha, I was too tired to really learn rummy. Oh well... maybe next time.

Overall it was a really great day.

Scotland

2007-11-10T04:55:00.000-08:00

Welp, I'm really glad I went to Scotland.

As far as liking Scotland... it's nice... I liked the highlands the best. But what really made the weekend was going with Jiwon, Scott, and Brian. Jiwon and I were exhausted most of the trip. Apparently I'm very good at falling asleep sitting up, but despite this we managed to have a really good time. Haha, also... the reason I was exhausted was because of no sleep from Halloween and then having to get up at 4AM to leave for Scotland... so at least I had good reasons :-)

By the way... my flute lesson was absolutely amazing. I actually found a professor who has renewed my interest in practicing. It's a miracle.

Back to Scotland...

We all sat at a table on the train and hung out/ talked for the ride. The UK countryside is lovely (at least what I saw when not sleeping). Once we arrived in Edinburgh (pronounced Edin-borough) we were put on a bus tour of the city. Our tour guide was rather awkward, but he played the bagpipes which was amusing. Most of the day was cloudy, but when they took us to the hill on top of the city it was a gorgeous view.

After that it was up to us to walk around. We ended up in a pub for lunch and relaxed there for around an hour or 2 (since they seemed to forget us, lol). Then we went shopping. And when I say shopping, I mean we went to all of the stores on the main street. By the end of this excursion it was dark, since everything gets ridiculously dark around 5PM now... thanks a lot daylight savings time...

So we got some dinner and sat for a while with coffee. After dinner we realized the only real thing we wanted to see in Edinburgh was Adam Smith's grave. He is the father of classical economics, aka, he is one of my heroes. We asked 2 policeman if they knew... they didn't know who Adam Smith was. Fortunately they guessed the right graveyard to send us to. They may have not known, but at least they were friendly - later we ran into them and they looked at our pictures proving we went :-)

We started on the right side of the graveyard. I'm not gonna lie... it was creepy. The graveyard is connected to a church, so it is also sacred grounds. However the drunk, emo lesbians we met didn't really care. They were doing something near a gravestone... and I horribly interrupted them... gosh... lol. Anyways, we searched this whole graveyard for at least an hour.

We were about to give up (and I was getting annoyed with that group of strange drunk people) when Scott found a brick on the ground with Adam Smiths name on it. We followed the Adam Smith bricks and... golly geepers... we found it, lol

If it had been day we would have found it in... 5 min, lol. Oh well... better late than never :-)

The next day we were up at 7 to head to the Highlands. This tour guide was great. The Highlands are also gorgeous. We passed the William Wallace monument AND the castle used in monty python's the holy grail (where the french throw cows, lol). At our coffee shop... I met Hammish... an ADORABLE Highlands cow. I love the cows. Our bus trip featured plenty of obnoxious, yet charming bagpipe pieces. In the end we arrived at Urquhart castle on Loch Ness. We road a boat and looked for Nessie. The best part was the gift shop at the end. I have a little Nessie doll with a bagpipe that plays music... it is now one of my most prized possessions.

That night we went and got dinner at Pizza hut... speaking of that... Pizza huts here are soo much better than the states. Then we went and got a pint. The pub was mainly older people, lol. Honestly, we were still pretty worn out so we headed to bed early. The next day the train ride back was lovely. My cell phone has a radio and I spent a good part of it listening to a station that only played love songs (typically after some endearing request by a husband or friend of a couple). When I got back to London, I really felt like I was coming home. I did my laundry and layed around... it was perfect.

Definitely a great weekend.

finally updating

2007-11-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

well... my compy broke...

and it took 2 weeks to get a new one and the internet working, lol

and then this past weekend was mainly spent working on my Politics Paper. Anyways, as far as that crazy night... the sum of it is absinthe = good times :-)

Since then I have had soo many fabulously crazy nights. I really have fallen in love with this city. I'm actually in a bit of withdrawal from walking around due to the fact we actually started to have to do some work... *gasp* lol, I honestly can't complain.

Anyways... some of the best memories from the past 3 weeks are:

#1. Dublin

There isn't much to do in Dublin other than drink... lol... but we certainly embraced that idea. We stayed in a crappy hostel with a great location. Hanging around Sapna, Lizzie, and Katherine L was soo much fun. I'm so glad I went. The first night I won a contest... the second night I kind of got some negative points. Overall, I found a new appreciation for Guinness and Jameson (good grief, lol) and fell in love with Bailey's. Gosh... I could go for some now (I'm sitting in British Politics... )

also... 3 words: ham and cheese!?

#2. Rugby World Cup

London may have lost, but darnit I had a great night. I started off pretty early and hung out with the group. I discovered The Court, which is a pub that aims towards college students. Earlier that week Patricia and I had finally met up, so I called her and she was going out... and I wasn't about to stay in another night, lol.

So we went to this really interesting club called The Roxy. It played a mix of everything - from punk, to a mix of Grease, to Eye of the Tiger (soo great), etc. It was also great meeting Patricia's friends - they are so sweet.

#3. Salsa dancing on Monday night

Sheesh... we found this great free club... it was a heavenly experience. I really hope to make it back before I go. Great music and really great dancers

#4. Jiwon's 21st birthday (tuesday night)

lol, now this was one heck of a party. I didn't even get to stay out the whole time because of a test the next day and it was still freakin' hilarious. Jiwon was a trooper in terms of her list, we started a quarrel with the bouncers at Sports Cafe, we almost got kicked out of Sports Cafe, and apparently Carrie was offered money for sex... talk about a classy night :-)

btw... I did really well on that test the next day too... bada**... i know... lol

#5. well... that Thursday night I went out dancing with Mary, Laura, and Heather... it was sketchy but fun

that Friday was a whole lot of fun :-) Andy and Cory had been talking about going raving and we found a great place for it. Definitely a classic techno joint and we danced the whole night. Good times

by Saturday I realized I had gone out a ridiculous amount and was ready to chill a bit. Jiwon and Carrie met me for a pint at The Court.

Sunday was spent actually getting work done. It was rather depressing actually trying to be productive. However, not having a compy was really good for my academics. It was 2 weeks that I actually had to pay attention in British Politics... sheesh... I'm amazed I did it.

By Monday I was becoming well aware I had a lesson this week and started practicing. We had a class fieldtrip to the HMS Belfast. Nothing too exciting... I'm not a huge fan of battleships... but it definitely had nice views of the Thames.

Sheesh... I can't believe it's already Thursday.

Tuesday was the usual Music course - except we heard a brass band which played a rather terrible choice of repertoire. Tuesday night we went to see fringe theater at the King's Head - it's this small room that holds around... 60 people. The play was really interesting, about a terrorist group fighting for environmental policy. Getting to the play was absolutely hell and coming back I lost my Oyster card, BUT somehow I made it back in one piece :-)

after that I was planning to just stay in bed in order to avoid being klutzy and hurting myself, but Sapna, Andy, and Cory were going out and I just couldn't resist.

We went to a Brazilian club. Good times :-)

Wednesday I was exhausted and no one had read for Shakespeare. Fortunately she didn't mind. WWII was the usual. Our Professor is charming. I practiced a bit and then... you guessed it... went out for Halloween :-)

it's tradition

the ULU (University of London Student Union) was a really cool place to hang out. I sang karaoke... Twist and Shout by the Beatles.

We were freaking awesome

Then today I had a lesson with Wissam Boustany which was absolutely wonderful. I learned more in those 2 hours with him than I have in... a year. He had me thinking a completely different way about my playing. I'm definitely looking forward to meeting with him again.

And that brings me to now... British Politics...

I'm not paying attention. I figure I'll cram for the exam at the end. Plus I do know a lot... I hope... :-)

tonight Cory and I are having dinner with Professor Oehler and his wife and then I'm packing for my trip to SCOTLAND!!!! I'm super pumped.

So things are really going great. I just hate my time here is flying... but I can say I'm living it up :-)

I should update about my weekend on Tuesday - until then I hope all is well!

The crazy weekend

2007-10-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Friday night I headed out around 7:30ish to get to Jiwon's place. It's a 40 minute tube ride, but it goes by pretty quickly.

From the tube stop it's about a 5 minute walk. I realized I hadn't emailed my homework to Prof O so I did that and around... shoot it was about 9 or 9:30 we headed down the street to have a few drinks at a bar connected to a hostel. They had Hoegaarden, which is fabulous, so it started off well. Both of us were pretty worn out so we figured we should have a chill night.

Didn't happen, haha, but it was even better than chill.

The bartender came over and had a very sketchy conversation with us... shoot I just need to finish this later

I'll update at some point, lol

This past week

2007-10-08T17:22:00.001-07:00

Well... to sum the week up...

The LSO concert was wonderful. I absolutely loved Mozart's Requiem on Wednesday. I don't believe I talked about it in my last post, but that's all I'm going to say because it would do it injustice.

Thursday was usual... I basically talked on AIM and planned my classes for the Spring during British Politics. That night we saw Love's Labour's Lost, a play by Shakespeare at the Globe Theater. It was really great. We were groundlings which meant a great view, but also 3 hours of standing. Fortunately I drank a bit of wine which helped in general - I mean... the play is a comedy. The performers were really charming. And yes, there was a bobbing-willy, but it was blocked from my view... darn... or not... lol. This was definitely a production I would recommend and seeing it at the globe... it was just unreal.

I might feel like I'm starting to become cultured... lol.

That night I wrote my review of the LSO concert. I really do not like reviewing concerts... at all.

Friday during the day I woke up and finished the review. Then I went shopping for a while. It was my first time going off alone and I realized how much I've been missing alone time. I walked around and bought a cute shirt at H&M. It was refreshing. Right after getting back I made plans to meet up with Jiwon...

that's when the weekend started, lol...

and the weekend deserves its own post

Well I figured I had to update at some point and I don't feel like reading Macbeth

2007-10-02T11:32:00.001-07:00

Welp, it's been a while. Lets see...

Thursday night I behaved, mainly since Wednesday was ridiculous.

Friday night was basically fabulous. We went and watched a rugby match - specifically England versus some random team... at the The Rugby Pub (go figure). Girls... you know why I like Rugby, lol. Also the pub had really good beer. After the match I met a really sweet girl named Lin who has actually lived in America for 7 years, one year studying at Wake Forest, and actually recognized my accent. I've finally met locals. I also met her friend Paul. That was nice too, lol.

Afterwards we went to La Siesta which is always a pleasant way to end an evening.

I love how I make great nights seem dull on this blog. Oh well.

Sapna's 2 friends were visiting this weekend and it was really great hanging out with them. Saturday we went to Westminster Abbey and rode the London Eye, which gives a gorgeous view of the city. Saturday night Andy, Tyler, Alex, Sapna, and I went and smoked hookah which was the perfect chill night after a busy day.

Sunday we went to St. Paul's Cathedral in the morning, which is now my favorite cathedral by far. Instead of being overwhelming it's just majestic... anyways, I've just done it a complete injustice - it's great.

Later we went to the Tower of London and met the Beefeaters - I thought about gin the whole time even though I don't really even like gin really. Oh, and sang 'I am Henry the eighth I am, Henry the eighth, I am I am" (In my head, don't worry). Apparently Sir Walter Raliegh was held there with his wife and 2 kids for over 13 years. Sucks for him. Also we went into the chapel where 2 of Henry VIII's wives are buried. Exciting :-) lol

ooh, and before the Tower we ate KFC. I didn't realize HOW MUCH I miss chicken *sigh* it was so delicious.

Speaking of food... we hit up Hard Rock Cafe - the ORIGINAL. Yea, that's right. I ate all of my dinner.

After that we went to the Absolut vodka Ice Bar. It is 5 degrees something in there. Aka, it's cold as sh*t, but I loved the designer capes. The drink was amazing and it was definitely a fun experience. However... about 20 minutes into it I could barely feel my hands.

After this we all just hung out. I drank a lot of wine, lol. And that is that. It was a really good night :-)

Monday I realized it was about time I did homework here. I wrote a review of a performance we'd seen last week.

Today we saw THE BEST string quartet concert. *Sigh* and I took a nap. AND I found 1 pound sushi. It was a good day. We're probably going out tonight.

The next 2 days are pretty busy - tomorrow night we're going to see the LSO play Mozart's Requiem! And then Thursday we are going to the globe theater to see Shakespeare's Love's Labours Lost. We're going to be cold and tired after standing for 3 hours... but I'm sure it'll be an experience.

Anyways, everything is going really well overall. I really do love it here. I use to be antsy to travel, but I'm actually satisfied with where we are at. I do plan on going to Paris in 2 weekends though (and hopefully Rome and Scotland, at least). But Professor Oehler said it right... you can do everything here. There are concerts, amazing clubs, delicious food, and even places to go where you get a small-town feeling. I love that. I really love this city. I still haven't really been in Hyde Park and there is so much more I want to see.

I also am now officially a huge fan of Sainsbury (one of the 2 main groceries)... it is way better than Tesco. The torellini's are better, their specially made salsa is better, and their cookies are way better. The cookies did it, lol.

And that's that. Love the city, have been doing lots of fun things. This week's priority is going to Harrods at some point, lol. I'll update sometime this weekend.

Daily life in London

2007-09-27T14:04:00.001-07:00

This week went by really quickly. Time flies here. Well... except for during British politics.

Life here is starting to become more routine in certain ways. I've become really use to walking along Tottenham Court, the street parallel to the one we live on. It's about a 5 to 10 minute walk to the grocery store. If you go to Sainsbury there is a chance the creepy Scientologists may try and stop you to get a stress test... lol... I'm not even kidding. I'm going to take a picture of the center, but I'm afraid they might kill me or something so I'm going to wait until later in the trip, lol.

The school week goes like this:

Tuesdays are pretty relaxed - we have our music course from 11 until around 2, usually after going to see a concert. Chris and I typically play for the class. I am a bit worried about this class, because there are expectations that we begin reviewing performances in an appropriate manner... lol, but it's worth the work.

Wednesdays are long now... this one I basically woke up and read Shakespeare until class started. Our Shakespeare teacher is rather hilarious, a bit flighty, and usually class involves a great deal of talk about sex. Lots of sex. From 6 until around 9ish we have our WWII class now that our professor has decided to start showing up. He's so sarcastic and quick he actually makes war interesting.

Thursdays are special because we have British Politics from 2 to 5, but... well... just ask me about it. I go to class, but exam time is going to be really stressful because I'm going to have to learn it all in a day or two.

Before classes I intend to practice flute. Unfortunately I've caught a terrible cold and that has basically ruined that for the week. Oh well.

Last night was ridiculous... it's a long story. Lesson learned. Feel free to ask me about it, lol.

Overall things are really going great. I really love this group, and that's without exaggeration. I love the boyfriends and their room is always a nice place to hang out. The girls are such sweethearts and I always feel like there is someone I can talk to. Also I was able to see Jiwon this week which was fabulous, of course.

It's the little things that matter here. Walking around the neighborhood to find a place to study alone. Walking around Oxford Street and watching the busy shoppers. Getting to know someone more at unexpected times. Trying not to burst out laughing in class. Random documentary on penis size. Always being late to everything. My newfound obsession with dry cereal. Walking everywhere. Egg noodles. A hugging contest. Knowing the main shopping street is only a 15 minute walk away. The BBC news. The crazy Scientologists. Hoegaarden. Being mama cat. It taking an hour to buy a pair of sneakers. Finding a secret little park to read for a while. Sitting in the Student Union.

And most of all I love that when I come home I'm still going to get to take a huge part of this with me - the amazing friends that I've found.

Wow... sorry about the sappiness... lol - I love you London bunnies

P.S. - to my UNC people: I still freaking miss you and our sketchy adventures ;-)

Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath

2007-09-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Stonehenge was a little bit cooler than I thought it'd be. It's a really neat sight to see. However I did get tired of the audio tour near the end, but overall it was actually worth the trip, especially for the pictures :-)

Salisbury is a lovely town and the Cathedral is gorgeous. We took a tour and saw one of the original copies of the Magna Carta - it's comparable to the Bill of Rights for the US.

In Bath we had hoped to go visit the Roman ruins... but we were too late. Soo... Mary and I got the idea, along with the guys, to get some beverages and go to the park. It was a great idea and I feel like my Bath experience was very fulfilling, lol. Actually the town or city is absolutely gorgeous and it is somewhere I'd actually visit again.

It was a really long day - we left at 7:30AM - but a good one overall. Sitting with Katherine especially made it worthwhile because we started getting close. Also the truth or dare game on the way back was pretty friggen funny... Tyler, you are a champ.

Sunday

2007-09-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday Mary and I tried to go to Westminister Abbey at 3PM for Evensong... it didn't work out AGAIN. This is the second time I've screwed this up. But I'm going to blame it on the fact the bikers were in the way... not the fact we turned a street too early and stopped for orange juice (I was starting to catch a cold... and still have it... oh well).

BUT the good news is Tyler, Andy, and I made it right on time for the 6:30PM mass that night.

There is hope :-)

Futbol day

2007-09-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Well... it went like this...

I woke up at 10AM and was drinking by 10:30AM. By the time we met at Winston house at noon I was rather sufficiently schnockered, lol. And whats worse was we met to go to a pub :-)

At the pub the pictures are rather self explanatory... I started classy and then went downhill (or uphill arguably, lol) from there. I took 48 pictures and they are all on facebook.

By the time we were heading out I was a very happy girl and rather confused. Thank god we followed the group and made it to the stadium without an issue. I even took pictures of people waiting for the tube... lol

Watching the Queen Park Rangers was a great deal of fun. Equally as fun was eating food during the breaks, lol - I'm a big fan of the Sausage roll. Anyways - the Rangers ended up tying against a really good team. The crowd is very engaged and cheers a lot. Yea... that's about it.

When we got back Sapna and I seriously just laid down and slept for the rest of the day; that night we all hung out. Specifically I watched Bridget Jones and then hung out with the boyfriends, lol. Drinking all day wears you out, but it was certainly worth it - I mean, it WAS in the name of futbol :-)

back to Friday

2007-09-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, so back to Friday :-)

After coming back we went to the London dungeon. As usual we barely made it in time - you had to get there by 4PM, lol, but we managed. It was really fun.

OK, relatively. It honestly scared the sh*t out of me. I don't do scary movies; I have nightmares. And I hate being startled... so this was bound to freak me out. Thank god Katherine O and Andy put up with me :-)

Overall there wasn't anything too freaky. The place was basically an hour and a half long haunted house/Tower of Terror type ride/show that talked about torture, the Plague, the fire of London, Sweeney Todd, and Jack the Ripper. Doing it as a group was the best part.

Then we walked back. Which took about 2 hours. We hung out around the Thames for a bit then walked over London bridge. Eventually we stopped for sushi and yea... that's that.

When we got back we all hung out (some of us drank or were already drunk... lol) and it was a nice time.

OK, so I think this is my most dull post yet. Sorry ya'll - the one on futbol is gonna be much better :-)

well this week...

2007-09-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

lol, I guess it's been a week since I've written and A LOT has happened... yea... of course.

Anyways, Monday... gosh... it just took me a few minutes to remember it. We got up and went to a concert at the Royal College of Music. It's located in Kensington and we totally managed to miss half of it. Thanks Andy and Tyler ;-) jk... it's cool. They played the Beethoven Septet which is a great piece, but they did not play together as a group which is a bit sad. Great piece... ok ensemble full of great players.

After that Tracy and I branched off to have lunch. This was absolutely wonderful - we had a delicious lunch and it was really nice to hang out with someone 1-on-1. PLUS we totally stopped for coffee/tea and chocolate after. Talk about heaven, lol.

That night I totally wanted to go out so I believe it's the night I went out Salsa dancing? Shoot, well it was either Monday or Tuesday. We have this great club about 15 minutes away. It was an absolute blast. I met one guy named Adam "like the first man ever, darling" - he was flaming and drunk ( and a true Londoner... hmm...). The one great guy I danced with was Francis. He just danced perfectly in rhythm and was an amazing lead. Lol, he said I tend to backlead though...... oh well. It was a really nice night overall.

During Tuesday's music class Chris and I were asked to play Villa Lobos' 'The Jet Whistle.' It actually went really well so that was good. Later that day Todd and I took a 2 hour walk around London which was really nice. We somehow ended up in the really rich district where there were Bentleys and Mercedes dealers on the corners. Then we walked through Green Park to Buckingham Palace. There we stared at the guard until he moved... he did. I guess I should give him a break - everyone has an itch every once in a while, lol.

That night we went and saw Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Sort of... it was the Indian version. It's a long story, but anyways... it was definitely an experience. A lot of it was "interesting" but it wasn't really Shakespeare. Shoot... half of it was in Hindi and other languages... but that dancing and costumes were lovely. Yea... that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Also I got my laundry done thanks to Todd's and Creecy's help... I didn't shrink my beautiful clothes, lol. Thanks guys :-) Oh wait, I doubt Todd reads this bc he asked me "who reads your blog anyways" the other day

Answer: I don't really know, but I DO know who probably doesn't read it, lol

Wednesday morning we got up to go to our makeup WWII class. Our professor personifies the British culture and I love it. We only have to go to class and write 2 papers. Talk about great. Then we went to the British Museum for a tour. It was good, but I was pretty worn out. It's nice to know the history of the place. Sloane donated that money. And that's that.

Later we talked about the performance from the night before in our Shakespeare class. I like that class. She felt bad that most of us didn't care for the performance. I hadn't read the play so I was a bit nervous, but I never got caught (thank goodness!). I have a strange feeling I'm going to end up reading it right around exam time, lol.

Wednesday night was our dinner at the Winston house with Mr. and Mrs. Winston (she's SUCH a sweetheart!), Holden Thorp, Professor Oehler, and his wife. It was DELICIOUS. I'm sure Mr. Thorp thought to himself I must be starving here. This dinner also meant I started drinking around 6:30. I mean... I certainly paced myself in an appropriate manner considering the formality of the occasion, but how could I refuse free, high quality wine? Dinner went well. Chris Homick gave a charming speech about how great our program is... etc...

That night we totally went out, lol. We first ended up at 'The Queen's Larder" which is apparently haunted according to the tour of our neighborhood. I asked the bartender and he said the only thing that is mysterious is the disappearing booze and he believes that it is caused by the manager... hardy har har...

anyways, that's where I found Hoegaarden. The best beer ever. Period.

After we went to 'La Salsera' and got 2 pitchers of amazing Sangria. It was a freakin' fun night. It was also nice most of our group went. I love we all get along so well.

Thursday I somehow felt ok in the morning. I spent an hour and a half... basically all of the time I had... researching the presentation my nerdy-a** self volunteered to give to the class about the pros and cons of Britain having a Constitution. I managed to get through it. Too bad the material is painfully boring.

That class is rather boring. Not because of the Prof, but because of the boring subject matter.

All I can say is... going on AIM during class is dangerous. And thank god Tracy didn't start a brawl :-)

good times

Today (Friday) was great. Kaitlin, Katherine O and I got up and went to a concert. It kind of sucked. Well it was different. I'm not a huge fan of 21st century music... and no one EVER should own a fleece jacket with sheep on it... lol

Honestly, I'm kind of tired and need some sleep so I'll post more on today later :-) Goodnight!

(btw... it's 2AM here... 5 hours ahead of the states and we're getting up early to drink before the futbol game tomorrow! yay! )

trying to go to church

2007-09-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

Well before I go into Sunday... I forgot to mention I totally saw Orlando Bloom Saturday night. I can die happy.

Actually, it wasn't all that exciting.

Sunday afternoon Tyler, Andy, and I tried to make it to Westminister Abbey for Even Song which is the mass where the boys choir sings. It starts at 3PM. We left around 2:15 which was plenty of time, but somehow we completely screwed up. We got to Trafalgar Square (which is actually only 15 minutes away from our flat, btw) and had we gone straight towards the Thames River we would have been there with plenty of time to spare. But no... we looked at a map and went towards 'Westminister,' which is a part of town... where we figured the Abby might be located.

Yea... completely wrong way too. On the upside, we totally passed Buckingham Palace (so I feel complete now, lol). And we walked/ hustled through St. James' park, which is lovely. Then at 3PM we finally accepted we were screwed. But here is the catch...

we decided to walk back towards Westminister Abbey to see where it actually was, but on the way we noticed a Cathedral to our right. It turns out it was Westminister Cathedral, which is actually Catholic. At 3:30 they conveniently had the Vespers for the day. This isn't actual mass, but instead a prayer service featuring a choir. First we were able to walk around for about 20 minutes and the cathedral is breathtaking. I really should go into detail... but it's late, lol... and I don't think it'll do the experience justice.

Afterwards we decided to go find Westminister Abbey so next time we know where to go :-)

After that we came back and hung out before the fireworks, which were part of the Thames River festival. They were pretty awesome, especially since most of us weren't sober. After we came back and hung out... and yea... I think that's about it.

amazing day

2007-09-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was really great. The night before I went out with the guys and a 3 girls Cory had met that live in our building at Walkabout (the club we went to last week). The pub/bar was really nice and it was cool to just hang out with a group. Afterwards we were really hungry so we stopped at burger king. I love the fact that the dollar menu here is a 2 pound menu (aka $4, lol). But ya know... it was worth it :-)

Yesterday Sapna, Katherine L, Katherine's friend ... Creecy, and I slept in for a bit and then walked to the Camden Town Market which was pretty cool. This was the first local thing we have really done since being here. There were a lot of goths around, so I'm really glad I didn't wear pearls, lol. The tshirts they were selling were hilarious. There was an iporn shirt, borat shirts, one that said: god made pot, man made beer, who do you trust?, etc.

I think the best part of this all was getting lunch. I was won over by the Thai booth - it was amazing. The chicken tasted like the greasiest chick-fil-a in the world and the lo mein was indescribable. Yea... it was that good, lol

Anyways, Little Venice is in the same area. I actually had no idea this existed. There is a canal that looks similar to what Venice looks like - so it's really pretty. We walked 2 and a half miles along the canal to get to Little Venice. The actual area of time is just a really pretty, rich neighborhood. There weren't many people and it was just nice to walk around.

Yet again... none of what we saw all day yesterday brought to mind the fact we are in a city. London really is just a ton of neighborhoods really close together.

Overall it was a really nice day with the girls (and Katherine's friend, lol).

Creecy and I came back a bit early, but this was a huge plus because I finally get the tube system! It sounds stupid I hadn't figured it out, but it is one of those things you don't learn until you actually need to use it yourself (haha, if you're lazy that is...)

Last night was definitely the best. We went and saw Avenue Q which is a musical featuring Sesame Street-like puppets. It is hilarious! Apparently it even beat out Wicked at one point for best musical. The whole thing is about a guy right out of college trying to find his 'purpose'. Well it was about a lot of other things too, lol. Here are some of the song title's: 'If you were gay', 'Everyone's a little bit racist', and 'The Internet is for porn'. Lol, the cookie monster in this was Trekkie monster and he was a perve who stayed inside watching porn everyday. I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone. The music is really well written and the ending is amazingly feel good.

Finally posting after our internet outage

2007-09-14T10:45:00.001-07:00

I guess I'll start with last night then go into today... our internet was out. Lol, in fact, Creecy called the 'emergency' number and they yelled at her for 10 minutes about how an Internet outage isn't an emergency. I'm with her... it is an emergency...I freaking need the Internet.

Anyways, here is what I wrote on Word last night... I'm having to transcribe it since apparently you can't copy and paste from Word into here (yea... and it's a lot which sucks):

Well today Creecy and I went shopping and it was really great. I know that sounds really shallow, but I'm starting to miss home and wanted a relaxing day. I even managed to not say the F word for most of the day... until we talked about how well behaved we'd been at lunch... then I went back to cussing... my goal is to cut it down to a minimum by the end of this trip, lol. After eating at Subway we tried to go buy our Shakespeare plays from a store our teacher recommended located on Fitzroy St. Well... first off, I was really proud of the fact I actually looked it up in the back of my London AtoZ and found it on the map... too bad we never found the freaking place. We walked down the street and never saw any bookstore so we stopped to ask if anyone knew where it was. An arrogant guy answered it was most likely the other way (the one we had just walked...) and that it shouldn't be more than 100yds or a few blocks. Then he asked "You do know what a block is?"

What we should have said is, "Do you know what an a**hole is?" but instead we just walked away rather thoroughly pissed, so we decided to give up and go back to our flat before class to take a "break." Haha, and it was a good break... yea... After that we had British Politics from 2-5PM. It's going to be a fabulous course. Prof. Vosper has an accent comparable to the British actress from 'Love Actually' whose character gets pseudo-cheated on by her husband. She's also in 'Sense and Sensibility' with Kate Winslet. She talks about the political system similarly to the way you would talk to a best friend over coffee. She goes fast and adds her personal opinion to everything - I love it. It's hard to take notes because she goes so fast, but I definitely prefer it to boredom.

Afterwards we came back, ate dinner, then changed for the Alvin Ailey dance performance. They are an American dance troupe with a very strong reputation. They were really good. I'm not going to lie, I was only really captivated by about half of the performance, but I believe that is because I'm so much more inclined to prefer opera or musicals. The first dance was to Stravinsky's 'Firebird Suite' and the main problem I had with this one was I had no idea what kind of story they were portraying. I love this piece, but I knew they were trying to tell some story and I didn't get it, lol. Also I was watching this after having read the article 'The Ballerina's Phallic Point' all about how erotic the ballet is. So I was constantly seeing the performance from that angle. In the article it talked about how it is problematic for heterosexual males to watch men dance ballet. And of course in this number the main dancer was male and wearing a skin tight, red spandex number. At one point a ballerina totally jumped into his arms and at another moment him and another male dancer were in questionable positions. Yea... anyways... it was intense, lol

The next number was great. It was called 'The Golden Section' and it was high energy, great music, and the dancing was astounding. The last section was a number of separate dances to American, southern gospel songs. I really liked most of this routine. One section was a slow dance between a male and female dancer and it was completely breathtaking. Overall this was a great experience.

After the performance we came back and hung out around the guy's room. It was a pretty good time, but I haven't been in the best mood today. Honestly, I'm really missing my friends from home. Lol, as a disclaimer: I'm lacking sleep and I'm more apt to be emotional right now (cough cough, lol) but even so I'm sure it would have happened at some point anyways. Don't get me wrong, when I say I'm homesick I mean I wish my best friends could be here with me experiencing this. I guess I should have seen it coming. Before I left I finally found a strong group of people who really care about me... the kind it takes a lifetime to find... and that kind of support system makes things easy. The people in my program are really great, but you know... it isn't quite the same. A lot of it is I do best one-on-one. I think that is just my personality... it takes me time to get comfortable around most people. I'm sure time will help me build closer friendships with everyone else here because they really do seem really great.

And now back to today...

I'm definitely starting to feel better. I got a lot of sleep last night... maybe 10 hours. Then we went on a walking tour of our neighborhood. Lol, our tour guide looked like a tackily dressed Clark Griswald. He was incredibly knowledgeable, but I started zoning out about halfway through. Oh well... :-)

Afterwards Creecy and I went to the Spaghetti house for dinner because she has been dying to go and I'm not going to say no to eating Spaghetti, lol. It's nice having one person I really connect with easily... it definitely makes me feel less alone within the crowd. Tonight we're apparently going to a pub to watch a Rugby match between England and South Africa. Lol, apparently it's an attempt to connect to British culture. Haha, and go to a pub. Later we might go out. Now that I've written entirely too much I guess I should go socialize, lol. Ciao!

night 3, day 4... I think?

2007-09-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night we went to an "American Sports Bar" which was pretty cool, but kind of awkward at the same time. It was basically what Europeans think of American sports bars... but it wasn't totally American. It made me miss the techno *tear* But the beer was affordable and it was a chill night.

Today Tracy and I walked around. OK, more specifically we intended to go to Buckingham Palace but once we hit Oxford Street we ended up giving in and shopping for a bit. The street is about half a mile or so long and is completely lined with shops - everything from cheep, sleezy stores to Burberry, Brooks Brothers, etc. Top Shop was one of the most overwhelming things I've experienced. It was 3 massive floors of... actually it's a waste to try and explain it... it was crazy. There were so many choices I was astounded.

I feel like that is how a lot of things are in London. It's really tough to describe... and it's probably different for everyone.

Anyways, by the time we made it to Trafalgar Square we had an hour left before class so we decided to turn back. But first I stopped in at boots to see if they had Clinique... they didn't. What they DID have was bandaids and neosporin, which was awesome... I lost mine in the room somehow... I've looked everywhere. Unfortunately I still need these items because the 3 massive gashes on my ankles from my new pumps need to heal...

The creepy part about that experience was I completely lost Tracy in there. It's only a 2-story store, but good grief... I couldn't find her at all. Thankfully she waited outside which is where I found her. I would have been so screwed without her because I definitely could barely remember the way back and the tube still confuses me... seriously... (it's shameful, lol)

After that incident I accomplished the main goal for the day: I bought a London AZ. It's a small pocket-sized book of the London map. Apparently you don't look like such a tourist if you use one. Too bad my map-retarded self still hasn't figured out how to use it, but there is hope. .. I've looked through it enough that I could use it from my flat all the way to Covent Garden... although if I went anywhere beyond there it may take me a day to get back... :- Like I said... I'm trying...

On a more positive note, class was fabulous. Our Shakespeare Professor is such a character. She's an older, opinionated, hmmm... not totally whimsical, but... umm... open-minded woman. OK, I'm bad at describing people who have very unique character. But one example of her eccentric personality is she decided to go see a play after seeing the advertisement with a really good looking man in a white vest. That was the basis... he looked good... and she liked his outfit...lol. She is totally cool with productions being set in different times and being edgy... she says she appreciates "creativity." At one point she was describing different plays she has seen and why they fascinate her and there apparently was a scene in one where three of the actors took off their clothes. She said she had a very quiet class, but the minute they saw "three flailing willies" (or something of that nature) they couldn't stop talking. Yea... nudity in Shakespeare was discussed at least 3 times... including a discussion about Ian Mclellan being... hmm... either well endowed or having serious shortcomings. You know class isn't going to be boring when you talk about sex on the first day of class - haha, she is like a Shakespeare-obsessed Sue Johanssen from 'Talk Sex'. Lol, anyways she talked non stop the entire class and often went on tangents, but yet was completely fascinating. At one point we asked for a break and she managed to let 30 minutes go buy before bringing us back in. She is obviously very passionate about Shakespeare and takes a romantic opinion towards things, which is perfect. Btw, she isn't sure if he was gay or not. Anyways, we're going to be really doing most of the work on our own, but classtime is going to be highly entertaining which is perfect. Plus it'll be an excuse to read in the gorgeous parks :-) ok... I'm such a nerd...

After class we decided we wanted Sushi. Katherine, Kaitlin, Mary, Laura, and I headed over to Tottingham Court Road but we realized there was only takeout sushi so we opted for Japanese. This restaurant was SUPER Japanese... ok... when I say that I mean they spoke little English and it was probably similar to what a restaurant atmosphere straight out of Japan would be like. It had a variety of Japanese music ranging from a jazzy 1950s-like song to a ballade that must have been from the Japanese Dolly Parton.

I ordered the Jimi sadkj - I'm not sure it's actual name. She described it as the Japanese version of chow mein. The menu said it was fried noodles with meat and vegetable. Katherine got the same thing. Our plates came out first and imagine this...

the food was moving. Creepily moving. It looked like live seaweed on top of my chow mein noodles. haha, but it's cool - it tasted good. I guess you had to be there to see it to understand how odd it was, but I've never seen anything like it. What was moving was what seemed like dried out cabbage... anyways... writing about it does it injustice.

The moving stuff tasted like bacon

haha, come to think of it... maybe that's a bad sign. Later Kaitlin was accused of robbing Bailey's from a grocery store... you boozer (what our new Prof calls alcoholics - she seemed to suggest she is one, lol)... it was actually the clerk's fault for not taking off the metal lock on it...

After that I hung out upstairs, then around my flat for a bit until finding Creecy later to talk. Once the guys and Sapna came back from a concert we all hung out for a while. We really have a great group of people.

Anyways, it's 2:30 and I want to go shopping tomorrow before class (I can't wait to buy my Shakespeare! lol) , so I'm off to bed :-)

I'm here!

2007-09-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I can't believe I'm writing a blog, lol, but here it goes. I'm going to try to write in this regularly... haha, with 'try' being the keyword. We are going to be doing sooo much this semester I've realized the only way I'll remember half of it is if I record it in a diary... so yea... there are definitely going to be some adventures in here.

I guess there is a lot to talk about since I've been here... 4 days. We're doing so much each day feels like 2.

The trip here went smoothly. I fortunately was seated next to a UNC Grad student in Sociology who specializes in Labor Sociology, so she was a pretty interesting person. Also she didn't talk too much either, which is a big plus.

Our flight attendant liked us - he insisted I drink wine with dinner and encouraged me to get drunk, lol. I decided arriving in London schnockered wasn't a great idea... so I was responsible and turned him down :-)

The plane was actually nice - I didn't feel like I was crammed into coach. There seems to be a bit more room and everyone has their own little t.v. Even the food wasn't bad.

When we arrived we had to wait in customs for about 40 minutes... it was a REALLY hot, long wait. But once through Barry was there to pick us up. He is from Ireland I believe and really charming. He's apparently known my father for years. During the flight I was actually pretty sad about leaving the States. I've finally found the true friends I've always hoped for and saw first hand that I would have had an amazing semester at UNC. I'm so glad I got to go to Bid Day, but I really hate I'm not getting to know our new girls - they seem so great! Well... I do know Danielle and Abby ;-) and they are wonderful.

Anyways... back to the point... once we started driving through the England countryside I finally began to feel excited. The houses are so different and the countryside is beautiful. Also it started to hit me I'm going to be living in London.

At one point we passed a pub called the Piccolo, and a minute later we passed the "Whistle and flute" (which my dorky, flute playing self couldn't help but comment on, lol) and apparently Whistle and flute were used to refer to a man who is dressed up in a suit and tie. It's a cockney expression. Barry feels that they are stupid and often will use 10 words to describe something simple. During this convo he was like "You know what dog and bone is..." of course I didn't... "a phone"

ok, it makes sense, lol - the point: cockney expressions are stupid

When we arrived in London Acorn didn't have our keys ready for us... which was REALLY sucky since I had emailed the program letting them know we would be in early. Someone messed up, and I'm guessing it wasn't the program's organizers. We had to unload our luggage and were sent to do whatever for 4 hours, and at 2PM "they might be ready" for us.

Chris, Heather, and I decided to get food then visit the British Museum. First we just sat around and people watched. Then we went in there. It's not my favourite... maybe it'll grow on me. I guess it is difficult to say, because by this point I had only gotten about 30 minutes of sleep for the night, lol. But lack of sleep leads to interesting commentary :-)

Next we decided to try to get to know the area, and fortunately we ran into Professor Oehler who helped us get our keys and bags. We then walked 7 blocks with our luggage to our flats on Gower Street (ya know... a short walk, lol, especially when you're dragging 80lbs worth of luggage... and about that: you try and pack your life for a semester, haha)

Haha, other than that incident there has been very little to complain about. Oh wait... the size of our room. OK, so I was picturing everyone shared apartments. That was completely wrong. We are basically in hotel rooms with mini kitchens. Sapna and my's apartment is the smallest by far. Haha, I walked in and was like... "you've got to be kidding." It was worse when we saw how much bigger most of the other rooms are. But on the positive side our closet is the biggest and our shower is nicer than most.

That night Sapna, Andy, and I went out. The area we live in, Bloomsbury is really safe overall. In fact, I feel pretty safe in the city. But at night... not quite so much. We roamed around looking for a pub to drink in with people. After walking around for 40 minutes we finally found the London pub and drank for about an hour. It was nice - but pubs are a place to hang out with friends... not really a place to meet new people. I don't like Old Speckled Hen lager. Haha, by this point we had no clue where we were, but about 30 minutes later we found our way home.

Sunday morning was our bus tour. Sapna and I barely made it up... lol, thank god she set her alarm. Our tour guide was great. It is amazing how huge this city really is - in fact it's really actually 2 cities that are put together.

Afterwards I made a list of the top things I want to do before I leave:
Stuff I want to do before I leave:

Portraits museum
Natural History museum (see the dinosaurs!)
Shopping
Walk in Kensington Gardens
See a concert at Royal Albert Hall
See at least 3 musicals
See another opera (other than Carmen)
Tower of London
That enter at your own risk museum
Ride on the Millennium wheel

also apparently there is a festival sometime this week at the Thames river. Mary mentioned a Tango dancing festival... I definitely want to check that out.

After the bus tour we took a nap... jet lag is a b*tch. Later in the afternoon we went to shop for groceries and buy cellphones. Here they have orange service which is pay as you go. It's really convenient. I've been to the grocery store: Sainsbury... 3 times. This is one thing that makes me really miss having a car. Carrying heavy grocery bags for 10 minutes sucks... and I can't buy everything I want in one trip. But it's cool... I'm getting there :-)

Later Sunday night the whole group of us hung out in Andy, Tyler, and Cory's room. It's pretty big and it was a good time. Haha, I bought this terrible WPG (or something) vodka drink at the store - I was intrigued bc it actually had real vodka in it - but it tasted like Blue Rasberry soda... which eventually got old. I'm going to stick to wine and beer from now on, lol

Monday was our orientation. We're not allowed to bring people in to stay at night... haha, not like Sapna and I would be able to put someone anywhere. Seeing the University of London Student Union was really cool. Unlike the UNC student Union they have a whole floor dedicated to a bar and hang out area. Can you imagine a bar in the student union!? lol, it's soo cool. We definitely plan on checking that out. They also have tons of clubs for us to choose from so we can meet British students. I'm planning to join the salsa dancing club (of course) and I believe they have an orchestra... so I'm doing that if I can :-) haha, if not maybe I'll do canoe polo. They try to create different sports - like REAL tennis, which is the original game. Apparently they use wooden paddles and a hard ball... and the goal is to hit your opponent. Lol, I think that maybe it went extinct for a reason... BUT I'd love to see people painfully getting hit in the face.

In our tour of the library I almost fell asleep, lol. It's nice... yea... that's that.

After that we went and took an hour nap. Then we went and sat in Bedford Square which is a nice little park right near our flat. The weather here is GORGEOUS. It has only sprinkled once. It's not hot, not cold, just perfect. I definitely plan on staying outside as much as possible before it gets colder. On our way there we got free tabloids - yes, they hand them out for free here - and it talked about how much of a whore Britney Spears was at the VMAs, lol. Sitting on the perfect grass, talking and hanging out was amazing.

Then we decided to check out Regent Park. It was about a 15 minute walk. It was completely worth it. It is soo gorgeous... there is no better word. I have no idea how they maintain it so perfectly, but walking through it is breathtaking. It's like the minute you walk in there it's hard to imagine you're in a city. So we took pictures and hung out there for a while... walking around and whatnot. We didn't make it there, but there is even a freaking zoo in the park... actually, the oldest zoo in the world maybe as a matter of fact. I want to go, lol

For dinner we headed over to Trafalgar Square. I was really antsy to start seeing the city. This definitely calmed me down, lol. First off I finally got my oyster card, which lets me ride the Tube whenever I want. The Tube here is sooo much nicer than DC's metro. Haha, I actually am not afraid to be on it... the seats are nicer and it's brighter. The square is pretty near Big Ben and right next to the British National Gallery. We inevitably took as many pictures as possible. Lol, and Katherine and Kaitlin got on the Lions. I had a terrible time trying to get up onto the monument... good grief. I am so afraid of standing higher than 6 feet off the ground. Plus you had to climb up... which took 3 attempts to accomplish. Haha... yea... it was worth it though.

By this point we were all really hungry. We went to this small Italian restaurant for dinner nearby and it was AMAZING. Our waiter was hilarious and the food was wonderful. lol, I was craving spaghetti and meatballs.

Last night was ridiculous. After dinner we decided we wanted wine, lol so we made a pit stop. When we got back everyone was getting ready to go out so we changed quick, basically drank the wine in 20 minutes, then headed out. Haha, the sad thing was the wine was actually pretty good... it was a waste we had to drink it so quickly. But going out was worth it :-)

It is about a... 20 minute walk to Soho, which apparently is the place to go out. We had hear on Monday nights this bar/ club had pound pints so that seemed like the perfect place. It was awesome. haha, earlier in the day I had been telling the girls I really wanted to go clubbing and seemed to be the only one. Little did I know I'd be in a club that night. Our group is so much fun. I guess it's just the European atmosphere, but everyone danced. Haha, maybe it's because the Europeans are such bad dancers our guys weren't intimidated.

They started the night with pretty modern music - Jay-Z, Akon, etc... but when things started picking up they totally pulled out the techno, lol. Soo much fun, haha. They played Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit" 2 different times... haha, but it was set to a techno beat. In fact... they set a lot of rock classics to techno. It was exactly what I thought Europe would be like, but better :-)

We danced for 2 or 3 hours... and then had to walk back. Unfortunately I wore my new black pumps and they completely tore open my heels... so drunk Christina took off her shoes. Thank god Tracy was sweet enough to give me her socks to wear. So far today I've felt fine... so I don't think I have tetanus :-) Plus it's so warm I can wear rainbows, so it's not too bad.

Today we had our first class. Shoot, it's hardly even class. I love it. It's our Active Listening in London course with Professor Oehler. Basically he's going to teach us to review and critique concerts. We are required to see 20 concerts and review 4 of them for grades, although in order to do well we are going to need to review most of them we see. He does have very high expectations regarding our writing. But still... it's going to be so much fun. I would go see that many concerts anyways.

Most of the class was actually going to see our first concert. We were late... our bad... but only by 5 minutes. We had a hard time finding the venue... and took a 5 minute stop to get food. lol, you need food to listen well :-) The concert was really great - they played a Beethoven piece for cello and piano, Stravinsky's three pieces for solo clarinet, and a Brahms trio.

In order to get there we had to change cars 3 times... I've got to learn how to get around on the subway... and how to read a map. Haha, in fact I still don't own a map of London. Shoot, I hardly know my way to the grocery store. It's bad. I'll work on that this week :-)

Anyways, that basically covers everything until this point. I need to go wash dishes, lol, and then I think tonight we are going to go explore more :-)

leaving the country

2007-09-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

Well... I'm leaving my house in 20 minutes. I've decided I'm packed although I'm sure I've forgotten something...or a lot of things, lol.

My suitcase weighs at least 100lbs so it isn't like I can add anything and in addition to that I'm carrying a duffel bag, backpack, and purse... basically a guy could rob me without a gun I'm carrying so much.

Anyways, that's it for now. If you are reading this pray to god I get there in one piece, with all my belongings, and without pissing anyone off severely.

The adventure begins :-)