Yes, I realize I have been here over a week. And yes, I realize I have just started the blog. However, it is not due to laziness- there is so much to do in this city that I have just been exploring! Walking around all day, taking in the sights, I come back to the room exhausted. I muster up the energy to e-mail my parents about my day and talk to my boyfriend, and then pass out on my bed dreaming of what wonders I will see the very next day.
For this first blog post, I will be copying over excerpts of the e-mails I have sent to my parents. Boring? No! I actually tell them everything about my day, putting in my views on things here, complete with sarcastic comments. Please don't be offended British citizens. I promise I love you. So here we go!
PS- This is going to be very long. Feel free to speed read or skip over parts. I promise I won't be offended. Also, check out pictures of my shenanigans on Facebook!
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E-mail from January 5:
So I have had an amazing first two days in London... and my second isn't even done yet! Here is what I did in bullet form:
January 4:
- Got off plane (PS- my bag was about 30 lbs heavier than it should have been, so I got charged $50... it should have been $200 but I cried and the ticket guy put that it weighed less than it did so I got charged less... lesson learned- tell people you have never been away from home and your family just dropped you off and went back to CT, cry, and get sympathy. WIN!), got through border patrol (yeah, they were silly enough to let me in), and took the train to Paddington, where pigeons are abundant.
- Met Interstudy advisors, got my phone (Which is a blackberry copy! So it is nicer than my phone at home- haha!), and they bought me coffee.
- Took a cab by Buckingham palace, Parliament, and Big Ben, and found out that drivers in London are CRAZY! Seriously, the scene in Harry Potter when he takes that bus and the drivers is wizzing through the streets like a maniac makes sense now!
- Unpacked a little, then had a quick tour of the walk to the Strand Campus. Basically, on the walk from my dorm to campus, I cross a bridge where I can see Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, and all the main London sights all at once. And then I am at my building!!
- Got groceries and supplies, took the tube back to the dorm- Waterloo station is right next to it!
- Unpacked, then met up with Interstudy and were brought to lunch at this crazy eclectic Italian Restaurant. And guess what? THE FOOD WAS AMAZING! (And portions were small- aka how much you should actually consume in one sitting!)
- Got more supplies, went back to the dorm, and struggled to stay up till 10pm.
- Found out my shower highest temperature is COLD (As opposed to EFFING COLD) and there is NO water pressure!
- Registered and enrolled for classes, and because I did that early,
- I went to the National Gallery and took in paintings by Rafael, Michaelangelo, and da Vinci FOR FREE! And I got to see Trafalgar Square! YAY! (I went with some people from UPenn- my flatmate goes there, and he and all of his friends are English majors (the friends are all girls and Matt says that he needs some bros)
- Had a Sweet Potato Falafel for midday snack and a cranberry and brie sandwich for lunch!
- Had my intro to King's College from Professors and the like- AND THEY ARE HILARIOUS!!! YAY BRITISH HUMOR!
- Hung out with Naeemah and explored London/picked up groceries. Then it started raining so we just got back (it's 6pm)
- Now I am going with the Interstudy kids and advisors to "Cote" for dinner!
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E-mail from January 6
So last night I fell asleep at 3:30am. Bad. Then I woke up at 11am. Worse. And it was raining. Sad.
But today was AWESOME! I hung out with the UPenn kids again and a girl from BC. We went to a lecture on living in London, and got all these awesome tips! ALSO: King's will pay for us to go live with a host family ANYWHERE in the UK one time! We are only responsible for getting to and from the family- otherwise meals, room, and sightseeing with the family are included in our school fee! I am scoping out potential places to go!
Also- Interstudy has a contact in Bath (Jane Austen books took place here a lot). She owns a comedy club, and offered to bring me around to all the Jane Austen places since she is a big fan too!
After our meeting, me and Matt (my flatmate from UPenn) went to Barclay's to get money, and then went to Argos. Argos is AWESOME! I actually went with Mark and Annie (The other Interstudy students) and we left because all it was was a 20 ft by 20 ft room. We were told this was like Walmart. Turns out- in this small room are HUGE catalogs. You look through them, write down the number of the things you need, and go to the cashier. They ring you up, and you pay. Your items are put on a computer, and there is a GIANT warehouse behind and under the small room. They bring your stuff to you, and then you are done! It is wicked cheap, and is actually kinda a cool way of doing business. It cuts down on frivolous spending since the catalog is 4000 pages, but you would think that would be bad for business. However, it is one of the most popular stores in London. I ended up getting an alarm clock, a mattress pad, and a fleece blanket for only 30 pounds! (Which is cheap for here- anywhere else I would have spent over 80.) I was also lucky b/c the mattress pad should have been 50 pounds alone at the store, but they are having a giant sale before the VAT takes effect. The VAT is like a sales tax. In England, the VAT is 20% of the purchase. Luckily, I made all my big purchases just in time!
Since we took the tube there (which was soooo easy!) me and Matt decided to walk back to the Strand campus and explore. We had to be there by 6:15 pm to meet the other Penn and BC girls for our study abroad "pub quiz" at the King's College Pub. We ended up seeing the Royal Court of Justice, which really looks like a princess castle (Pictures are on facebook). Next to it is the "Law Society". I kinda want to go in and see what it is about. Apparently, it is just a hang out for judges and lawyers between cases. But still. I'm going. We had a great time exploring the streets, and even got to campus early!
The pub quiz was kinda fun! They had a bunch of trivia about Britain, and teams were formed. We filled out answers on paper in our teams, and handed the paper in at the end of each round. Since Matt is STILL the only guy with 6 girls, we called our team "Cock in a Hen House". The best team name got a prize. We didn't win. HOWEVER- we DID get the lowest scores on 4 out of the 5 trivia rounds! The head of the international student association joked in front of the entire pub and said he might have to deport us for not knowing the trivia. Apparently it is a sin not to know all the characters on the Soap Operas, or players on the major Football (aka Soccer) teams.
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E-mail from January 7:
So today was a fun filled day! I woke up to rain, and for some reason decided it would be ok to wear boat shoes. I will never make this mistake again. London, especially from my dorm to my school, seems to be one giant puddle when it rains, so my boat shoes filled with water and my feet were wet and cold for the remainder of the day!
However, I soldiered on and went to my Study Abroad one-on-one meeting. I thought it would be a long meeting, but all they did was look at our ID and confirm that we got into our classes. Then we were free to go! So me and the UPenn kids and BC girl met up, and we got a new member- a girl from Barnard. Matt is unhappy that he now has 7 girls to deal with. We laugh manically.
So we went to Tesco and discovered that they have these "Lunch deals" where you get a sandwich, bag of chips or fruit, and a drink for 2 pounds. Best deal ever- since even a burger at McDonald's is 1.39 pounds! I got a salmon and cucumber sandwich and salt and vinegar chips. YUM! Still have yet to have a bad meal! SO HA!
Then, because of the rain, we decided to hop on a bus with a scenic route. We chose Bus 11, which brings us from the Strand to Whitehall, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Cathedral, and much more. We got off at the Westminster Cathedral (a Catholic Cathedral). It was free to get in, and I took a TON of pictures and put them on facebook, so have Sarah show you! It was amazing. I didn't take pictures of every chapel because people were praying in them. It turns out Matt is Catholic and is in the Newman Club at UPenn, so we have decided to venture out there for church! There is also a Catholic church next to our dorm somewhere, but I have yet to go- Matt knows where it is though so that's good.
After the Cathedral we moseyed on over to Westminster Abbey, the site of the future failed wedding on Kate and William. Failed because I am going to steal him and marry him myself. Adam just needs to deal. It. Is. Amazing. It was 12 pounds to get in since I had a student discount, but SO worth it! We spent almost 2.5 hours in there! They give you an audio guide and you just walk everywhere with this cell phone looking thing held to your ear. I got to step on all the graves of the royalty, step on Charles Darwin, see the Coronation Chair and Jewels, find out what an effigy is (BRITISH PEOPLE ARE FREAKY!), see Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, and Mary Tutor's graves, Sir Issac Newton's grave, the grave of the unknown solider, and soooo many others! It is amazing how big some people's egos are, even after death. The church was absolutely gorgeous, but my favorite room was the Lady Chapel. Look it up on the internet- the ceiling is known as a wonder of the world. It was breath taking. I could have stayed in the abbey all day. (But it was perfect to do on a rainy day!)
After the Abbey I had to go to my Geography Department meeting, so I took the tube back to campus. (Probably the last time I will take the tube for awhile, since the terror level went up to severe) The meeting was kinda useless, but I did find out where my classes were, so that's good. I also met another Environmental Studies student! There was also a girl that will be in 2 of my classes.
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E-mail from January 8:
So today I woke up and threw open the curtains to the sun shining! GLORIOUS! However, only 30 minutes later, the clouds rolled in. Sadness.
Me and my friends decided to go to the British Museum, which one of our Orientation Professors called "The Museum of stuff we've nicked!" Let's just say that we were there for 3 hours and didn't even get through half of it! You really have to have stamina to get through that museum! Apparently the sun came out when we were inside. Pictures are up, however, and I plan on going back next week! (Along with the National Gallery, which I also didn't finish) Thank god those museums are free! I can go all the time! This might be the case seeing as my first classes are around 3pm.
After the Museum we picked up a sandwich, fruit, and drink deal for £3 at Sainsbury's, and then walked to Trafalgar Square. Since the sun was out (but it was dusk) we sat on the steps of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and ate/took pictures. It was iconic. I still can't believe I am here. After that, the boys went back to the dorm, and the girls went on the hunt for the large Tesco. According to Google Maps, it was near Big Ben. Well, Google was wrong. It was the smallest Tesco ever. However, we didn't care- we got to take some AMAZING pictures of Parliament and Big Ben at dusk!
After that little adventure, we found that the large Tesco was at Piccadilly Circus, so we hopped on a bus to get there. We snapped some pictures, and then found Tesco. A Tesco metro. The middle-sized one. We dealt with it and filled up on groceries. I got over 2 canvas bags of food- Cereal, 3 cans of "Tuna in Brine", bananas, OJ, Pomegranate Juice, Cranberry/Raspberry Juice, eggs, a loaf of sandwich bread, crackers (which are rare in London, apparently), 2 packages of celery, yogurt, cherry tomatoes (2 boxes), milk, mayo, and 3 peppers. All for LESS THAN £17!!! I am such a smart shopper! I also registered for a Tesco card, to save EVEN MORE! I feel so British....
Since Piccadilly (Yes, it is fun to say, and always will be) is basically on the opposite side of the city, we took the tube back to the dorms. I lived. It was amazing. After unloading our food, my friend Caitlin and I decided to brave the wind and head to Waterloo Bridge to snap some nighttime shots of the city. After, we walked along the Strand for awhile in search of a converter for her, only to find that all businesses (besides restaurants, pubs, and clubs) close at 6pm on Saturdays. Yeah, we didn't know it was Saturday. Time is flying over here! We walked back over the bridge on the opposite side (farther from our dorm), and found that in order to get to Stamford Street from the opposite side of the bridge, you have to go in what would usually be considered a sketchy underpass. However, this underpass is also the entrance to the GIANT Imax theater next to our dorm, so instead of being sketchy, it has multicolored lights that change the colors of the wall, and even a disco ball! So, basically, instead of being sketchy, it's just trashy. But fun at the same time. We have decided that impromptu dance parties will be held here....sans music. Look for us on YouTube!!
Otherwise I hung out in the dorm and tagged/put captions on all my pictures from today. Then I flipped through my London book (which is like my best friend here), talked to Adam, and then did some research. Me and my friends are making a list of sights we want to see, and every morning we update the list. We are also checking out some cool websites Asma told me about that tell you about random stuff happening in the city. I will never be bored! (PS- I had English breakfast tea from Twinings today.... yes, I am almost 100% British)
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E-mail from January 9:
So today was a packed day. I am about to pass out from exhaustion, so this will be a shorter e-mail. Make sure that Sarah shows you the pictures on facebook- they are in the end of my first album, and then I started another album! There is also a video to watch! (Note to dad- the item in this video beats out a balance toy any day! haha!)
So today I met Mark and Annie (the people going to King's through Interstudy) at 10:15 in the lobby of our apartment complex, and we walked to meet all the other Interstudy kids and Coleman at the Tower of London. It was a 43 minute walk. Because it was a Sunday morning, everything was really quiet. Eerily quiet. I played the part of navigator, so I chose to make it a scenic route. We walked past Sourthwark Cathedral, crossed the London Bridge on foot (I started singing the song, and then realized I would not want London Bridge falling down when I was on it), snapped pictures of St. Paul's Cathedral and other parts of "The City" (the oldest part of London), saw and took pictures in front of the Monument, went to a Starbucks and paid for a small coffee in coins (apparently employees don't like when you do that... o well- their fault for giving me so many coins!), and then walked a couple hundred feet to the Tower of London.
We got there at 11, and were supposed to meet at 11:30, so we took in the sights. Apparently, someone decided it was a good idea to put an ice skating rink next to one of the more morbid attractions in London. We laughed at the irony of children laughing on the grounds of some of the more horrific executions in Britain's history. Someone has a sick sense of humor- and I love it!
At 11:30 we met Coleman and the other Interstudy kids. They are all really friendly, and Mark is the only guy. Apparently boys are not adventurous and do not want to Study Abroad. Coleman gave us our tickets, and we went onto the grounds. It was amazing. We did not take a formal tour, but I read the 6 pages the book you gave me had on the history of the Tower. Coleman was very impressed- he is a professor of Medieval History at St. Andrew's (Where Prince Harry and Kate Middleton met), and couldn't believe I knew some of the more minute parts of it's history! For example, did you know that they always have at least 6 ravens on the grounds? Legend has it that if the ravens ever leave, White Tower (in the center of the Tower of London) will crumble to the ground, the the English kingdom will fall soon after. Apparently during WWII, only one was left- kind of ironic since the entire city was being bombed and destroyed. Guess that legend was right! Luckily, they got more ravens... so that must be the real reason England was able to jump back after the war. Duh.
We continued our tour, and got to see things like Henry VIII's armor before and after he got fat. When he got fat, his armor had a special place for his penis. It stuck out about 6 inches from the rest of his armor. Looks like someone was trying to play up something... something he was probably lacking. Everyone was snapping pictures of it and laughing as they passed. I also got to see the chair they executed Josef Jakobs in. He was the German spy that parachuted into England in 1941, and upon landing, was injured. They sat him down for his execution, and the chair he sat in has some of the back blown out. Pretty cool.
After we got to see the Crown Jewels. Words can't even describe the beauty. Unfortunately, like all the good things in London related to royalty, you are not allowed to take pictures of it. It just amazes me that these pieces are so extravagant, and are usually only worn once- during coronation!
We got pretty rushed at the end since the other girls wimped out and wanted to leave, so we went to lunch at The Coal Hole- an authentic British ale house on the Strand. We got off the tube at Embankment, and then Coleman said before we went to the restaurant, we had to go down this alley and go through this sketchy door. He said he would wait for us, and we should just go down and come back out. It turned out to be this amazing Wine cellar that used to be a bomb shelter! There is a little restaurant in it that serves wine, cheese, grapes, crackers, and little bits of fish. Tables are set up throughout the shelter. It was so cool! We didn't eat there, but I would really love to go back and eat there just to say I did!
Next, we continued to the Coal Hole. It was here I had my first authentic British meal- Lamb Shank Pie! (A picture is on facebook!) IT WAS AMAZING! I think everyone is seriously mistaken by saying British cooking is terrible- everything I have had so far has been delicious! We stayed there about 2.5 hours just talking to each other. It was a ton of fun. After, me and Mark went on the hunt for the elusive Tesco metro near Covent Garden. Elusive, even though I had been there on Monday. Elusive, because we got lost and wandered around for an hour. It is amazing how many unmarked roads there are in London, so not even the best map can help! However, we did wander through Leicester (pronounced "Lester") Square and the Covent Garden Market, which is kinda like Quincy Market in Boston. It was cool! We then returned to the dorm, and tried to work through the mess that is King's College London Timetables (aka our class schedule).
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E-mail from January 10:
So me and Annie, another one of the Interstudy students at King's, left our flat at 9:15 in order to be at the Study Abroad office by 9:30, when British offices open. (They usually work until 6) Upon arriving at campus, we found that the Study Abroad office apparently starts work at 10am, so we stuck around and just talked. Finally, the office opened, and we went in to meet with Advisors about our modules (classes). I had to drop one and pick up another because two of my classes met at the same time, yet they still enroled (yes, that is spelled right) me in them. The system over here is so inefficient...and I thought Americans were bad! Maybe it would have been good for Germany to take over England... WHIP 'EM INTO SHAPE! haha!
After my meeting, I walked back to the flat to meet my friends, and got there at 10:30 on the dot! YAY! We wanted to see the changing of the guard, so we walked the 30 minutes to Buckingham Palace. Long story short, the ceremony is over an hour, has 3, yes THREE, parades, and a concert at the end. Basically, if you enjoy being part of a mosh pit, you would enjoy going to see the changing of the guard. You would think people would have better things to do Monday at 11am. However, I did get some pictures and videos, so check them out on Facebook!
After the changing of the guards, we walked back to the Strand and got our favorite lunch deal again at Tesco for £2. I paid in coins. I think the teller wanted to murder me. We walked to the King's building and ate our lunch, and then headed to Somerset House, which King's College just bought. It used to be a palace, and it's giant courtyard has an ice skating rink in it for the winter. Apparently, Admiral Nelson frequently paced the cobblestone courtyard. In the wing facing the Strand, there is an art gallery which is apparently famous called the Courtauld Institute Gallery. Inside are works by Monet, Picasso, Van Gough, Degas, and many other famous works. I took pictures of some of them, but got in trouble for having flash on the Degas one (the ballerinas). The Gallery is free on Mondays until 2pm, so yet again, I spent almost no money! YAY!
After the Gallery we met up with Mark and took a bus to Parliament, where we took some pictures and THENNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.....
WENT TO A SESSION OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS! Yeah. Pretty cool. The room is breathtaking- google it. It is so funny, they are so polite to each other, even when insulting people. We stayed for an hour, and then used the bathrooms before leaving. Why is she telling us this, you ask? WELL, I just HAPPENED to use the toilet that a Baroness came out of! I knew she was a Baroness because she was sitting in the House of Lords in the Conservative section just minutes before! Yeah, I've never felt so cool using a public bathroom.
After, we walked around, saw the Victoria section of town, went and got Indian food- which was delicious, and they took all the nuts out of the recipe for me!- and then went to our flat's welcome party at Stamford Arms, a pub down the road. We hung out for awhile, then got back to the dorm around 22:30. I was so tired, I literally passed out. So much walking yesterday, but I got so much done!
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E-mail from January 11:
So today was not as packed as yesterday, but definitely exhausting! I woke up around 10 and went to the Strand with Naeemah at 11 to withdraw some money at Barclays, and then go buy some band-aids (called "plasters") at Boots, a chain chemist (pharmacy) in England. Naeemah had to open a bank account at HSBC so we also went there. Lots of walking!
We then walked back to our flat and met Matt, Trina, and Caitlin at 1. We walked to Waterloo Station and took the Tube to go to Harrods. We had to take the Piccadilly line, which is so deep underground you have to take two escalators down, and then there are moving sidewalks to bring you to the trains.... yeah- it's THAT far away from the center of Waterloo station. I think it might actually be in the middle of the Thames River! The subway is really cool here though- they have a glass wall that shields you from the train so you don't fall in the tracks! I thought that was really weird, but I guess a couple people tried to commit suicide here, so they are trying to prevent it. Apparently, suicide by tube is not odd here- even one of England's football players did this before the World Cup- his young daughter had died, apparently.
On a lighter note! We arrived at the Knightsbridge tube stop and exited to Harrods. Let me tell you- this building is impressive. We didn't even make it to all 300 departments in the store! I got some pictures for Sarah of some clothes, but we really need to go here for her when you guys come over. You can literally buy ANYTHING here- puppies (THEY WERE ADORABLE!!! And all pure-bred, so they cost £2,500), fish, horses, cars, CUBAN cigars (so weird to see those here), clothes (designer only), furniture, electronics, crystal, food... the list goes on. They even had a Cartier writing department... aka Cartier pens and stationary. It was amazing. Apparently, if you are not a UK citizen, and you spend over £50 here, you can get all the tax money back by visiting an office in the basement. So, I know where we are going when you guys come, hence the reason I didn't get anything! HAHA Just kidding! But really, we are going to the food sections and getting macaroons, which they are famous for here. They are also famous for their fish market. Their produce is out of this world. I want to live there. And Sarah will DEFINITELY want to! Harrods is also the home to the first escalator in the UK! I took some pictures, you'll have to check them out! (I am putting them up after this e-mail).
After we "finished" (aka went through not even 1/4 of the departments), we left and walked by Harvey Nichols (Harvey Nicks) another famous department store. However, we had seen enough of expensive clothes, shoes, etc., so we instead walked to Hyde Park and walked around. It started to get cold, so we kinda gave up after seeing the lake (and almost getting attacked by geese and swans), and took the tube to Covent Garden. We saw an awesome street performer, and then went to dinner at another Indian place, Masala Zone (Apparently a top rated Indian Restaurant). I have never had Indian in my life, and now twice in two days?!? It was really good, however, this place had me read a waiver and show them my epi-pens before I could order. I got a really spicy chicken dish, out of the three possible meals I could have. I didn't know it was spicy. However, it was good, even if my tongue hates me for it.
After, we walked to Charring Cross Road, and went to a cafe Coleman (Interstudy guy in charge of us) told me about- Caffe Vergnano 1882. Their hot chocolate gets awards every year. So we went and found it! Now let me say this- it is not hot chocolate. It is MOLTEN chocolate. Like, they melt chocolate and you drink it. Like, it is the thickest thing you will ever drink in your life. It is heaven- for only £2.60. It is so heavy and rich, I don't know how ANYONE can drink a large cup of it (I got a small). I feel like I had a lump of heaven in my stomach at the end. But it was SOOOO GOOD! When you come, this is another place we will have to go.
After this, Trina went back to the flat, and Naeemah, Caitlin, and I went on what we lovingly refer to as "The Nerd Crawl". Some people like Pub Crawls, where they go to as many pubs in one night as they can. We like going to as many secondhand bookstores we can. We explored the basements of a ton of book shops, which were filled with old leather-bound books. I couldn't find any that I would like to add to a future collection, so I didn't buy any. However, I DID find science textbooks from the early 1900's AND a British travel book on New England, which told readers to go to Old Saybrook. They even had a map, and Old Lyme was in HUGE letters. It was the most hilarious thing, thinking Brits would want to visit my hometown area. I wanted to write a post-it saying "DON'T DO IT!!!" and stick it in the book, but I refrained. I also found books on how to play "Snooker". Apparently, this is what Brits call pool, or billiards. All I could think of was Jersey Shore and Snooki, which, Sarah will be proud to know, me and Matt convinced our British flatmates to watch. Spreading bad views of Americans everywhere. hahaha!
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Well that's all for now! You are completely up to date! Tune in tomorrow! And check out all my pictures!
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