The end of January?!

I can't believe January is already over! It feels like I've been here forever but also not at the same time. It's very strange. Things still feel new, but I'm definitely feeling more comfortable walking around London. It's comforting that (usually) I know exactly how to get where I"m trying to go.

So I lied about Tuesdays being busy. Wednesdays take the "fullness" cake. It doesn't really hit me until after both classes, at 6, though, because I love both classes.

In European history, we learned about World War One. I love history, and after a solid 10 years of learning about the 19th century, I have a pretty firm grasp of American events. However, World War One is always a bit fuzzy for me, I think because it was pretty pointless and ended up totally different than people expected.  My teacher talked about the conflict for a bit and we watched some animations about the stalemate. She has a strange style of teaching where almost every time she is about to tell us information she asks "does anyone remember anything about [insert event here]?" Sometimes I know what she's alluding to, but it gets a bit irritating when she does it every few minutes, and often I don't know what she's asking. That's why I'm taking the class! But she's clearly very knowledgeable, and she's a very cute and sweet older lady. Out outing was to the National Army Museum, which has a permanent exhibit on both World Wars. They had a lot of interactive stuff, and it was really cool to see real postcards, life size tanks and guns, and see pictures from the time. Perhaps another reason I'm not as familiar with WWI is that there wasn't television or extensive media coverage. Seeing the real experiences of soldiers really put the war into perspective. The war with massive weaponry and new technology was supposed to be the "war to end all wars," but it still lasted 4 long, grueling years. I think what gets me about the war is that it was really supposed to be between Austria-Hungary and Serbia but the majority of the war was fought in France, and then Germany had to surrender and take blame for the war...I wandered around the museum a bit, then took the tube back with Jordan, grabbed lunch at the flat and headed to art. 

In art, each of us (or groups) talked about a painting we had chosen from our previous visit to the National Gallery. Then we walked over to the British Museum and saw an exhibit on Ancient Greece (which we had actually seen with Media and Society but Rachel explained it much better). Then we hiked over to the National Gallery again and looked at more Renaissance paintings (or Ren-AY-sance) as Rachel pronounces it. I even caught myself saying it, which is so weird. It's still so cool to me to see real paintings by Michelangelo and Raphael in real life. I think I forget that things exist outside of the computer sometimes...

We had to rush back to the house for a quick dinner, because we had our weekly group meeting at 6:30. We just got our money and schedules and went back. I Skyped (pretty successfully!) with Jay, then worked on some homework.

On Thursday I didn't have class in the morning, so I got up and went to Sainsbury's and got some souvenirs! Then I read more of the Hunger Games for class, then went to class! I just love my teacher, Steve. I can tell how much he loves films and talking about it, so it makes me excited to talk about them too. While putting his own opinion in his lectures, he presents the reasons a movie is a good or bad adaptation objectively and it totally makes sense. After class, we had some time before we had to meet for our movie, so Fiona and I naturally went to Waitrose to get more groceries. My weekly food stipend goes very quickly here...whoops! 

Our film this week was Zero Dark Thirty. I was really nervous going into it, because I knew it was violent, and obviously the subject matter is very serious and intense. I don't want to say I ENJOYED it, because seeing people being shot and tortured isn't pleasant, but it was a very well done movie. It wasn't as gruesome as I imagined, but this almost made it worse because it left more up to the imagination. I couldn't follow at some parts because I didn't have much background about Al Qaeda, but the movie was much better than I anticipated. After the movie, Kate, Fiona, Kelsey and I went to Pizza Express for dinner. We ended up being there for about 2 hours because, while the servers were nice, they definitely weren't as attentive as I'm used to, and we had to flag them down and ask for the bill when we realized they weren't bringing it to us 20 minutes after we finished eating. 

Sorry for the post light on pictures! I know text is kind of boring...But tomorrow I'm going to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studio tour and Platform 9 3/4! I'm SO EXCITED!

Beginning of week 2

Monday was possibly the most boring day so far in London. I was such a bum I didn't even leave the flat. To my credit, it poured all day long, so it was quite dreary. I had planned on doing laundry, getting some reading done, then going to Primark. I underestimated by about 3 hours how long the laundry would take. First, only one of the machines was working. Then I accidentally chose the hottest setting (80 degrees......Celsius.), which was also a really long cycle. THEN after I did that and my second load, I couldn't figure out the dryer so it took about 3 hours for my clothes to dry. Oy! I did get a lot of reading done while I waited, but Kara and I didn't finish our laundry until like 4 and at that point we didn't feel like going shopping. Womp. A group of us did book a flight to Dublin last night though!! I'm so excited, it's our first trip we've planned.

I can already tell Tuesdays and Wednesdays are going to be loooong days. I had two classes today, Media and Society and Culture by Design. Media and Society was a bit better than last week, my professor's ramblings were a little more coherent than last week. He still asks us to do things and we're all just like "uuuhhh..." We have our first assignment due next week. Our entire grade is pretty much based on these "letters to America" we have to write. Next week, I have to write a 200 word letter discussing the oral communication in London. I'm glad I'm keeping this blog, because these are all pretty much letters to America! For our outing we went to the West End (Theaterland). Apparently in British culture, the theater is low culture; the only "real" theater is spoken plays, specifically Shakespearean. Very few upper class Brits go to see musicals, which I thought was very interesting. We walked around the area and saw most of the major theaters in the West End, such as the Shaftesbury, the first theater to show a musical in London (Hair):

We also passed by the Palace Theater again, which doesn't look as cool in the day time: 

On our walk, we passed by Chinatown and got to go into the Royal Opera House. The Chinatown here is definitely much cleaner and nicer than the one in New York. It's almost a square, and there aren't people shoving things in your face trying to get you to buy them. It's more restaurants and shops than vendors. It smelled like delicious Chinese food though! 

The view from the balcony of the Royal Opera House

We finished our tour RIGHT by a restaurant we had heard had great fish and chips, so we decided to try it out. It's called Rock and Sole Plaice, and it really was great. Four of us went, and we just got two plates of fish and chips and split them and it was plenty. Unfortunately the fish wasn't gluten free, but I had to do it! I googled places for gluten free fish and chips, and I actually found one not too far from here I need to check out. I'm not a big cod person, so I mostly just liked the chips, but it's such a traditional London food that I can actually eat (sometimes).

Yum!

We had to scurry along to get to Culture by Design right after lunch. We had class for about 1.5 hours and we talked about design. Not being a SMAD major, the class is a bit intimidating. Sometimes Jay asks questions and people's hands shoot up with creative ideas and I sit there thinking so hard and come up with nothing. I try to contribute, and I'm slowly adjusting to his teaching style and questions. We have a media analysis paper due next week, which I'm a bit nervous about. Our outing was to the Design Museum, where we saw a jewelry exhibit. We took a bus there instead of the tube, and it was awesome. We passed over the Waterloo bridge and saw Big Ben on one side and St. Paul's on the other. It's always neat to see London from a bus instead of going into the tube and feeling disoriented when you come back out. I wasn't that impressed with the exhibit. I'm not a jewelry person to begin with, and most of the things on display could in no way be worn practically. I feel the same way about high fashion clothes, though; I don't get the point. But I suppose it's an artistic expression, so other people could love it while I don't. We were focusing mostly on the design of things, and whether the pieces of jewelry had "good design." We had to find a piece that fit five of the criteria of a good design. It was definitely hard for me, mostly because I thought none of the pieces were particularly practical. Oh well, to each their own! On our way out of the museum, we got a beautiful view of the Tower Bridge all lit up!

We took the bus back from the museum, stopped by Sainsburys, and came back. I think tonight I'm just getting a jump on my papers due next week and reading Hunger Games for my film class. Cheers!

Two places at once

On Saturday, we went to the little town of Greenwich. Although 6 miles outside of Central London, it is still considered a part of London. The main attraction there is definitely the fact that it is the site of the Prime Meridian, but it has various other attractions too!

The morning began with blinding sunshine (and I forgot my sunglasses!) as we took the tube down to the Thames near Parliament and the London Eye to catch a boat to Greenwich. While the boat trip took considerably longer than a tube ride, it was really cool to see all of London from the river.

The Eye and the London Aquarium

I didn't take any pictures because I was actually facing away from all of the sights on the river, but we passed under the Tower Bridge and London Bridge (which was really plain and very anti-climatic). The boat ride took about an hour, and we got to Greenwich around 11, just in time for our tour. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, but often had us stop in the shade instead of the sun, which made listening to her anecdotes very difficult sometimes. I didn't know much about Greenwich except for the Prime Meridian, though, so it was all very interesting. 

The tour started at the Cutty Sark. This boat was a clipper and used to transport tea from China to London. The name comes from a poem by Robert Burns, in which a man is enchanted by a group of women dancing. He is so mesmerized by one particular woman, whose dress is pretty much non-existent, that he cries out "Well done Cutty Sark." As he says this, the women realized they are being watched, and they turn out to be witches. When he realizes they are witches, he rides his horse through running water because he knows witches can't cross it. Just as it almost makes it across, the Cutty Sark (the fastest witch) grabs the tail of his horse.  

 The Cutty Sark

The scantily clad Cutty Sark with the tail of the horse

Next we saw the old Royal Naval Academy in Greenwich. It was used to train the Royal Navy until 1998, when, due to the cost of up keep, it was given to the University of Greenwich. The architecture is beautiful. 

The domed building on the right has the Painted Hall, and on the left is the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul

There is so much history here! Henry VII and Mary and Elizabeth were born here!

To get to the Prime Meridian, we passed other landmarks such as the Queen's House and the National Maritime Museum. The fields in front of the National Maritime Museum were used during the Olympics for the equestrian events (but the stadiums were temporary).

The National Maritime Museum

The Queen's House 

After passing the Queen's House, we began the trek up the hill to the Royal Observatory. I was definitely not prepared for the work out we would have to complete before seeing the Prime Meridian! The view from the top of the hill was worth it, though. It was beautiful. Our experience with the Prime Meridian was definitely less extravagant than I imagined. If you pay, you can get into the Royal Observatory area which has a formal monument to the line. We had to go through this really awkward gate to a spot that had only about 3 feet of the line to see. It was still pretty awesome though! I should have set my watch to the meridian time, since that's how London keeps its time. It was so cool having one foot in the Eastern and Western hemispheres at the same time!

The view from the extremely steep walk up the hill at Greenwich

Everyone was starving after the walk up the hill, so after walking through the adorable town of Greenwich, we bee-lined for the nearest Mexican restaurant. It was so strange being in the British version of a Mexican restaurant. First of all, there were no free chips and salsa (rude). However, their margaritas were very strong. I got vegetable fajitas, which included baby corn, green beans, and peppers. So strange. It was still delicious though! We walked around the Greenwich Market, which had lots of cool shops and places to eat. We should have eaten there, though, because they had lots of gluten free/vegan things, including cupcakes and crepes!

A group of us took an over ground train back to London and hung out the rest of the afternoon. We went out, trying to go to an Australian Bar (it was Australia Day), but ended up at a Canadian bar. While it was fun being with the girls I went with, we ended up talking to these very rude and aggressive Irish guys. We only stayed about an hour and caught the Tube home. Definitely a bummer of a night.

On Sunday, it was a free day, and I slept until the glorious hour of 11. I didn't do much today, just read for classes and bought some notebooks for my classes. I hate the first week of assignments because I'm never sure how much or how in depth I have to read for my classes yet! So far it's a LOT of reading, which is a bit overwhelming. Thankfully I don't have class on Monday, so I'll have plenty of time to finish everything. I think everyone's just hanging out today and tonight. We definitely all needed some down time after our busy week!

Crime and punishment in London

 On Friday, our group went to the Tower of London in the morning. We had the same tour guide Marian, who had taken us on our Royal Walk the week before. Thankfully, it wasn't blizzarding like last week, but it was still pretty cold. We started outside by the Tower Bridge, and she told us a bit of history about the centuries old fortress that is the Tower of London. It was founded in 1066 as a part of the Norman conquest of England. I'll let that sink in for a minute: 1066 people. I'm reminded everyday just how old this country is and how young America is. The tower began with just the White Tower, which was used as both a prison and a royal residence.

The outside of the tower

The White Tower

Throughout the years, the Tower of London evolved into a conglomeration of buildings protected by two layers of walls and a moat. They've since drained the moat, but all of the other buildings are still standing (although obviously not used for most of their original purposes). Most of the history and anecdotes Marian told us about the Tower involved someone dying or escaping from captivity. It was really bizarre to think about the torture and killing that happened on those grounds. The Tower is a sign of the power of the monarchy, and it used to be viewed as a symbol of oppression. Here is where the saying "sent to the Tower" originates: if you did something to displease the King or Queen, you were sent here to be dealt with. We didn't have time to go into the White Tower during our tour, but we did get to go in to see the Crown Jewels! It was so incredible. Everything almost looks fake it was so sparkly and elaborate. 

The building which houses the Crown Jewels

After staring in awe at the Jewels, Marian took us outside to the execution green of the Tower. This is where people such as Anne Boleyn and Walter Raleigh were executed. It gives me chills to think that I've stood in the same spot as Anne Boleyn before she was beheaded.  

The execution pillow

Our time was unfortunately a little short, since we were going to Westminster Abbey later that afternoon, so the Tower tour ended here. We were given lunch money and told to meet at the Abbey in a few hours. As we left the Tower, everyone stopped for a photo op of the Tower Bridge. I also got a good view of the tallest building in Europe, the Shard. It's weird that even though it's huge for Europe, it's only the 45th tallest building in the world. It's not done yet, but it'll have apartments and offices. People can even go up to the top and see all of London when it's completed. 

The Shard

We were told that there was a breakfast place near by, so naturally Fiona, Kate, Lucy and I hightailed it there. This place was the cutest restaurant I've been in. It had a color scheme of pink and green, and all of our seat cushions were something England related (like a Tube map). I got a delicious kid's meal of beans, chips (fries for the Americans) and a fried egg, as well as peppermint tea in the most adorable tea pot/cup. 

Our waiter recommended that we get to Westminster Abbey via bus to see the sights, so we were able to catch a really old bus to Trafalgar Square and then walk to Parliament Square. I'm really glad we did, it was really cool! Westminster Abbey was incredible. I'm not a religious person, but the architecture was breathtaking. It was again a very surreal experience, realizing the important people who stood where I did and who were buried beneath my feet. Being in such a large building with so much history is so humbling. We listened to an audio tour (voiced by Jeremy Irons aka Scar from Lion King), which was really informative but concise. I wish I could take pictures in the building, but I don't think they would do it justice. 

Once we had finished touring the Abbey, we were free the rest of the day. A group of us decided to stick around and take some touristy pictures in front of Big Ben. I'm seriously so obsessed with that clock tower. 

The same group went grocery shopping after returning to Bloomsbury, and we ate dinner we bought from there. We got ready to go out and headed to a bar we had heard was fun, the Porter House. It was so cool! It had like 5 floors and a live band that played great classic rock songs. I felt so grown up ordering a drink from the bar, although I had no idea what I was doing at first. We stayed for a few hours, and left when the band was finished at 11:30, which was perfect because the Tube stops running at 12. It was a very full and fun day!

Thursday

Thursday was the last day of my "take ALL the classes" experiment. In the end, I've decided to stick with the classes I had originally signed up for. I'm not stoked on Media and Society, but the outings seem really cool and I think it will be manageable.

In the morning, I went to Communications, Diversity and Pop Culture. At first I was excited; the professor seems somewhat young and cool and the subject matter seems really interesting. As the class went on, however, I began to feel that the professor was a bit pretentious and dull. Once the entire class had gone around saying our majors and stuff, he rattled on for a solid minute about all the books he's authored and things he's done and is involved in. He has done lots of cool things, but it just put me off. The class was almost entirely taken up by him talking about the syllabus, which got really boring after an hour. We had an "outing," which involved groups of us going into tourist shops looking for things that were eccentric but defined British culture. The class was interesting, but overall underwhelming. I know I'm getting spoiled by all my other classes and their outings (and I know many who study abroad don't have these opportunities), I want a class that's going to take me out into London, not just talk about it dully. I did see some cool stuff at the tourist shops though:

Just your average Princess Di head postcard

My last class of the week was film. I can already tell this is going to be an awesome class. The professor is young and quirky. I don't really know what the point of our first "lecture" was, but it was certainly entertaining! Steve just rambled on about tons of things, switching topics about every 2 minutes. But in the way my Media and Society professor Mo rambled in a boring way, Steve was very engaging. He's so cool but unassuming; he doesn't really realize that he's the cool professor. This is another class that I think will make me stretch my brain; I love movies but I'm not really used to analyzing them. The first book/movie we're looking at is the Hunger Games, so I'm really excited for that! Our outing was so Soho, a really cool area which has a lot of famous film spots and other cultural hot spots. We met at Leicester Square, which felt a lot like Times Square; definitely touristy but felt cleaner. I've definitely noticed that London, at least where I've been, feels cleaner than many other cities I've been in. It's interesting. At one of the theaters in the square there was a movie premiere going on later this evening! It's for the movie "I Give it a Year," one I've never heard of but the poster had a couple familiar faces. Not a red carpet I'd be dying to be at, but still cool! After showing us Leicester Square, a spot designed for cinema but actually a terrible spot for it, Steve walked us around and we saw where the real movie making happens in Soho. It's a really cool area, I'm excited to explore there again!

The premiere

The Palace Theater

We walked back to the house after our tour, and I finally made a home cooked meal of pasta! Yay! I've just been trying to organize all of my classes and their assignments and get caught up on the blog. Cheers!

Wednesday: A day full of history

I had been looking forward to Wednesday's classes all week because I knew they were both history. First of the day was European history in the 20th century. My professor is an older lady who, while a bit boring, is very sweet and knowledgeable. JMU definitely knows how to pick good professors. Ms. Dobbs gave us an overview of Europe before World War I, highlighting the governments and cultural themes in each of the major countries at the time. I definitely realized that I'm not as familiar with this time period as I am with World War I and on in the 20th century. Our outing was to the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is a beautiful and interesting building. The exhibit we were supposed to see was actually closed, so we just looked at some art from Europe in the late 1800s-early 1900s.

View of the V&A from the street

This was without a doubt the coolest part of the museum we saw. This part isn't finished, but they are plaster casts of famous sculptures from other parts of Europe. Recognize Michaelangelo's "David"?!

We all took the tube back and ate lunch, then headed back to the classroom for Art History with Rachel, another great professor. She's a very interesting lady, and definitely just looks artsy. Again, the class sounds more focused on us experiencing the art rather than sitting in a classroom all day; after about an hour we went on our outing. In the bitter cold (which has been the norm since I've been here), our class walked to the National Gallery. As we entered the building, I got an incredible view of Trafalgar Square with Big Ben in the background. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a picture. I know I'll be back, though. In the National Gallery, we looked at some Medieval to Renaissance art. Since I've taken an art history class before, I was familiar with the themes and aspects of the art, but it was really cool to be learning about it in an actual gallery. Especially one that has the REAL versions of many pieces I had studied in my previous class. Rachel actually used to work at the National Gallery, so she knew all about everything there. I love that our professors are so interested in their subject matter!

The National Gallery

On the way back from the Gallery, I stopped in a Starbucks to grab a gluten free tuna sandwich. We had a group meeting that evening, and Charlotte (the house manager) had said she would be ordering pizza for everyone, so I naturally just bought my own dinner. The sandwich was AWESOME. I definitely see myself eating many a tuna sandwich for lunch in the future. We definitely need them in the states ASAP. At the meeting we took a 330 question survey that was very odd. It was all about our beliefs and values, but the way the questions were worded was really funny. A group of us met to talk about our travel plans for the semester; not much was actually established but it sounds like I'll have to some people who want to travel with me!

I tried to Skype with Jay, but our video connection kept messing up :( I know it's because there's 28 of us trying to use Skype at the same time every night, but the whole spotty internet thing is getting old. 

Tuesday

Tuesday began my three days of non-stop classes. I'm glad I went to all of the classes to test them out, but it was certainly exhausting. Tuesday was an AWESOME day though.

The day started off in British Media and Society. Admittedly, the class has interesting content but the professor nearly bored me to sleep. He is very knowledgeable, but he often went off on tangents that I couldn't follow or didn't understand how they were relevant to British media or society. He switched from rambling to swearing and speaking in a different accent every few minutes and it just was very strange. My grade is based almost entirely on these "Letters to America" we're writing, culminating in one big paper discussing a certain part of British society. For our outing, we went to the British Museum and looked at the sections on the early Americas, Africa, and Greece. It was really quite cool the things we got to see, particularly parts taken from the Parthenon. This week's lesson was supposed to be focused on oral communication, but I didn't really understand how any of what we saw related to this; it felt more like a history lesson than a media lesson. I loved visiting the museum, though, and it seems like we have some really cool outings for this class. Overall, I'm underwhelmed by the class.

The British Museum

After class, Kara (my roommate) and I went back to our flat and had some lunch before our next class. This was when the day REALLY got good. My class on Tuesday afternoons is Culture by Design, and I LOVE it. My professor prefaced the course by saying that he doesn't plan on lecturing too much (just so we get the basic information), but instead wants to take us out into London. Jay's course description is pretty much "Looking closely at stuff." He even said that some of the things we'll do are dangerous and not quite legal. Not ominous at all...Regardless, the class sounds so interesting. I'm not really SMAD-minded, so it may be a bit difficult for me (our first assignment is a media analysis...uh...), but I'm excited to stretch my mind. After about an hour of lecture, we took the tube to Camden Town. Definitely the best first outing of any of my classes this week. At first when we got off the tube, I was a bit intimidated. In the least offensive way, Camden is like the Hot Topic of London. It's filled with cool and interesting people, but it's a bit intimidating for someone like me. After a few minutes of walking around, I was really able to enjoy the town. As we walked along the street right off the tube, we were all impressed by the cool shops, but we hadn't seen ANYTHING yet. Kara and I branched off for our assignment and entered the labyrinth that is the Camden Market. It's like nothing I've ever seen in the best possible way. There are rows upon rows of vendors, selling everything from food to souvenirs to clothing. 

The area used to be stables, so some parts of the market had wood floors and statues of horses. We wandered around the market for about an hour. I think we saw about half of the market; we found out after our wandering that there was another side of the market on the other side of the street! It was just so cool. I was able to buy a Union Jack sweater for half the price the vendor was asking for, which was awesome! It was bitterly cold and windy, and I didn't realize we would be essentially going shopping so I didn't bring money, so we all decided we're definitely coming back to Camden. 

After we met back up with Jay to talk about our experience, we were given about an hour before we had to be at the Roundhouse, a venue about a ten minute walk from Camden. A group of us went to a pub right across from the Roundhouse and got a pint of cider. I've finally gone to a traditional English pub: wood floors, dim lighting, and a fire place roaring. 

After finishing our pints, we headed over to the Roundhouse for Fuerzabruta. Let me just say, Tuesday was full of things I've never experienced in the best way possible. I don't even know how to even describe what Fuerzabruta is.Well, it's performance art. It was in Spanish (what little talking there was), and I don't really understand how any of what happened was connected. The show started with a group of people singing (yelling) in Spanish and beating drums. At one point a man was running on a treadmill and got "shot"; during this time, the audience had to keep shifting around to accommodate the treadmill. There were strobe lights and loud dubstep music throughout the show. My favorite part by far was when three girls were sliding around on a sheet of plastic with water on top inches from the audience. They ran around and slid and would even touch the hands of the audience beneath them. I also loved the audience participation in the show. The performers came into the audience a few times and danced with us. All in all, it was probably the coolest thing I've ever seen.

Day 1 of classes

Today I went to the Media and Politics class. I'm not enrolled in it, but we can visit any class we want this week before making our final decisions on classes, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Our director told us that our professors are characters, and she definitely wasn't lying. My professor walks in wearing a three piece green tweed suit, with a blue and white striped shirt, pink bow tie, and pink suspenders. So classy. He was really funny and interesting, and the class sounds great. I'm not a big politics person, so I'm a little hesitant to switch into the class. I'm definitely glad I went, though, because it was an educational class. We had class for about an hour and a half, and our professor talked about the differences between American and British politics. I found that on the surface, they are pretty similar, but the nuances are very different. For example, I didn't realize that there isn't a physical document of a constitution in Britain. Everything is kind of just made up and then continued through tradition. I guess that's why in America we DO have a written constitution; we wanted to break away from the British way of government.

For our outing for politics, we walked about 10 minutes to the British Library. There we went to an AWESOME exhibit, in which we could see the MAGNA CARTA. SO COOL. I love being in such a large city that has cool original documents (sorry Richmond). The exhibit also had other awesome primary sources, including the original Bible printed by Gutenberg, had written notes by William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill, and even a Beatles section. It was mostly lyrics written on things such as place mats, but they had a card John Lennon gave to his son Julian on his first birthday with the lyrics of "Hard Day's Night" written on it. So far I'm loving the outings for these classes.

I definitely was NOT supposed to take this picture, but it's handwritten lyrics to "Yesterday"!!

After we were done looking at the exhibit, we were free to leave. I went back to the house and checked out my books for the semester. Then my roommate and my friend Kate went grocery shopping. We chose to go at 1, which we soon found out was the absolute WORST time to go to Sainsburys. Not only is the store not super big, but it was PACKED. I could barely move around, and since I didn't know where everything was, I was so overwhelmed. They had a pretty good (and cheap) selection of gluten free/dairy free stuff though! Even though it was a stressful experience, it ended up being great: I only spent 14.50 pounds and got a lot of stuff! The most expensive thing I bought was 2 pounds. So definitely going back there for groceries!

After shopping, I just hung out in my room and skyped Paige and got to see Kat and Laura. I miss you guys so much!! It was so weird that they were just waking up as I had already done so much.

I went with a group of girls for dinner to Hummus Bros. SO. DELICIOUS. You get a base of hummus and then choose your topping. I got fava beans, which were kind of like pinto beans. I was also able to get gluten free bread with it, and it was less than 6 pounds! Then we spent the rest of the evening in one of the flats just talking. I really like everyone on the trip, so it's great to get to know them better. 

I have two classes tomorrow, and then we're all going as a group to this show called Fuerzabruta Roundhouse. I have NO idea what it's about, but apparently it's performing arts. We've been told we might get wet and we'll be standing for 80 minutes. Should be a very full and interesting day!

A Royal Tour

Today we took a tour of Royal London. In the snow. In the wind. At 10 AM. Although these things definitely put a damper on the experience (literally. heh.), it was still a really interesting tour. I really liked our tour guide Marian; she was very knowledgeable and approachable. We all took the tube to Green Park, where we met Marian. She then took us around to the various royal parks and sites of famous royal families. We went to places such as the Spencer House, home of a very posh British family (including Princess Diana) and other places that had plaques of what famous people had done there.

We went to St. James' Palace, where Henry VIII lived:

Unfortunately we weren't able to see the changing of the Buckingham Palace guards due to the snow, but here is where they would congregate before the changing. Also, that balcony is used for royal announcements.

We were able to see the retired guard walk by though! He's the one holding the pole. We learned about the fact that the guards are actually trained military officials; they could easily have gone somewhere such as Afghanistan before becoming a palace guard. The guards also belong to different regiments and have different colored plumes on the hats (which are made of bear skin). I'll definitely have to go back and see the changing of the guards when the weather is better.

Next we popped over to Buckingham Palace. We didn't go very close, unfortunately, which is why most of my pictures are pretty far away. The Queen wasn't there today; the Union Jack flag was flying instead of the Queen's flag. No tea time with the Queen this time, bummer.

The monument to Queen Victoria, the first monarch to live in Buckingham Palace.

St. James' Park

We walked through St. James' Park to get over to Parliament Square. We passed through Horse Guards Parade (also where beach volleyball was played in the Olympics). There are gates in front, but we saw Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives: 

We walked along Parliament Street until we got to Parliament Square. This is where the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and essentially all important government buildings in London are. The snow made my camera really foggy, so my pictures aren't so great. I know I'll be back plenty of times though! We have a tour of the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey on Friday with the same tour guide. 

The essential "phone booth and Big Ben" picture

After the tour, we got lunch money, and Kelsey and I went to a cafe nearby, ate lunch, and then took the tube back to Russell Square. We walked around Brunswick Center, where I got some food and toiletries. Everyone then met in the classroom where a constable talked to us about safety. It was mostly the "walk like you know what you're doing, be careful when you drink, don't do drugs, etc." spiel, but we need to hear it. I did learn some new things, but after 30 minutes it did start to drag. 

We went to our Faculty Member in Residence's home for dinner. I feel like such a nuisance for my diet restrictions, I think they had to order a salad especially for me. I just don't particularly want to be known as that girl who is a pain to feed! They have a really nice home, though, and it was nice to socialize with everyone not in the freezing cold.

Tomorrow classes start. I forgot I actually have to go to class while I'm here...even though it's only been three days, it feels like forever already! Tomorrow is British media and politics. I'm not signed up for the class, but the first week we can go to any class and test it out. I figured I should take advantage of this just in case! After class I'm going to FINALLY go grocery shopping. Cheers!