York Weekend

Today we leave for York for the weekend. We won't have internet access, so I won't really be reachable until Sunday afternoon at three o'clock. At that time, I may reconnect with the world if I so choose. We are going to see a pantomime tonight, and on a Ghost walk tomorrow and bus tour of the area. It will be nice to see some of "real" England on the ride there and back-about 4 and a half hours. We leave in 35 minutes and I have not packed, so I've got to split now. Cheers.

Pixie Dust in Camden Town

Had our first classes today. They were extremely boring and I fell asleep several times. For our contemporary British culture class, I get to talk for ten minutes and introduce the class discussion on the topic of the British Constituation. Yay. Also had my first real traditional English breakfast, including a big flat mushroom and baked beans and tea. It was delectable.

This afternoon we went to the National History Museum, which is ginormous. We saw probably a little more than half of it in 2 hours. The building is 4 floors and about 3 blocks long, amazing architecture. Its just huge. Thats what she said.

Tonight we went to Camden Town. Some people call it lively and young, we all call it freaky and goth and slit-your-wrist town. They have some cool stores/pubs though, and a really cool canal system with locks. We were there because we were looking for Tommy Flynn's, which some mates tell us is a karaoke pub. Of course, I felt compelled to show the world my voice. We didn't find it, which is too bad because this white boy can rap (assuming they had Eminem or DMX). Instead, we walked around for a bit and in the short span of about 10 minutes got offers to purchase drugs 5 times. Truth be told, it was only 4 because the fifth guy was a repeat pitch. It was pretty hilarious. One of them didn't even say words, he just mumbled sounds at us and gave us a look and held his fingers to his lips to mimic a smoking action. Of course, we looked at this experience from a business sense, and I applied my communication knowledge to the situation. The first offer was definitely the most convincing-though he came on a little strong at first. He had the largest menu, which apparently included weed, cocaine, and various pills. He named atleast 6 substances, which was like choosing one thing out of a candy store for us. Mind boggling decisions. So we passed. Another guy didn't try at all on the other hand, simply asking "ganja?" and then giving up after we ignored this paltry attempt.

In the end, we bought nothing from these curious street vendors. After all, herbs are vegetables, and I am set on veggies for three days after my wheatgrass shot on Saturday. Additionally, let the record show that I'm not into that. But atleast now I know where I can go to find cheap aspirine.

buying some london grass

Went to a market today after a walking tour of London, with the same guide we had a few days ago, Shaughan (Shawn). He's a great guy, such a hoot. At the market Cody Thie and I got shots of Wheatgrass. No, not alcohol. It was from an Organic Juice Bar. So yes, we ate/drank grass, in honour of being from Iowa where there are lots of cows. They had the little patch of grass on the bar, and the bartender picked a clump, threw it in the juicer, and after it spit out dried blades of grass that looked really disgusting, we drank what was left! It was not good at all, but apparently we are set on vegetable nutrition for the next 3 days, according to a sign there. Also saw the Clink Prison Museum, which sits on the site the prison used to. This is where the expression "the clink" comes from- it was the most dreadful prison in central London in it's time.

Well, this weekend marks the last before classwork begins. I'm having a funderful time so far; I'm sure having classes won't dampen it too much. Last night we went to the International Student House (ISH) and to the pub there, which was a fun time because most of the other patrons are students our age from around the world. A friend and I played three games of pool against two guys we met, one from Zimbabwe and the other born in Africa, but grew up in Denmark. We only won the third game, but should have won them all due to us choking when we were up by a lot and them having odd versions of the rules (but "definately not cheating, my friend!")

its Friiiiday

Couple of days ago we went to Madame Tussaud's. Its a museum with lots of figures of celebrities made of wax. They are all very realistic-looking. I had to do about 5 double-takes on Samuel L. Jackson, because for a while I was sure he was real and just waiting til I wasn't looking to pounce. Branjolina were there, and I made out with Angelina while Brad watched. Yeah, I've got guts.

We went on a team scavenger hunt today around the city of London, which included checklist items like taking a picture with a policeman and retrieving a brochure from the National History Museum. My team won! and we had about 12 other teams to compete with. We got every item on the checklist completed, and made it back with about 20 minutes to spare.

I feel like I have gotten used to the time change now, after about 5 days. But I am still very tired all of the time because we do so much walking. I have also decided that I am probably no drinking enough fluids. My roommate, Nick, agrees with me. My stomach has been tossing and turning a bit the last couple of days, and I think its because I only have water/milk/juice in small amounts with meals.

I bought "calm" bubble bath and a french vanilla candle today at Sainsbury's, our local food mart. I realize the statement this makes about me. But. After walking miles and miles most days, I feel like I deserve a hot scented bath every once in a while. Plus, it was cheap, the big bottle of bubble bath was only 65 pents, or about US $0.80...

I have started to wish I would have brought with me the following items: sunglasses, my watch, and more clothes, especially white T shirts. I guess I took all that "Don't pack too much....Leave half of what you've packed behind...Pack lightly!" stuff to heart too much. Oh well, I will wear things many times before I was them, and I'll also have more room in my bags to smuggle stuff home in. Although they told us right when we got here that we are NOT allowed to purchase illegal drugs off street vendors, so there goes that idea.

Tonight we are going out to the International Student House, or ISH. I'm told they have a bar, workout area, and general commons lounge, among other things for students to do.

So nick and I were just laying here playing on our laptops, and we decided we should try to play a song (Just Dance by Lady Gaga) on our computers at exactly the same time. After about half an hour of fruitless attempts that left us hundredths of seconds off in either direction, we finally nailed it after some careful planning that involved pausing the track just before the music actually started and counting in to the start with more rhythm than either of us thought we had. When we finally got it to work, it was such sweet victory. Its much harder than you'd think.

Another day exploring

Had my interview with my supervisor for my internship today. She was very young, maybe 25-28, and very nice. One of the events our PR company is workin on is an attempt to break the land speed record, which you can probably find many news articles about. The attempt is supposed to take place this October, so I won't be here for it : ( . I'm looking forward to working with them though, it should be a very good and fun experience, and it will look great on my resume. Although the looks of the building make it appear to be a front for trafficking heroine, inside it is quite the normal office, and all my coworkers seem very personable.

Went running this morning through St. James Park, which is very pretty and borders Buckingham Palace. Thought part of it looked like a campground at first, but it was just a couple of homeless people perched on top of a hill in their sleeping bags. Had to watch out for the pidgeons; they're not very bright birds. They assume you won't step on them, so when i assumed that they would get out of the way, things got interesting. They all got away safe, but we had a close encounter, that's for sure.

Day 2

We went on a 2 hour walking tour of the city today, where our guide showed us plenty of historical stuff and told us many stories. Many of his tales related in some way to a fire at some point in London's history. Apparently there have been many large fires. This building was the only one on this block to survive the fire of 1648, that statue was built of the man who put out the fire of 1648, this builing was home to the disgruntled parks worker who started the fire of 1723...you know.

Then we went exploring on our own. Ate a club sandwich at a pub next to Niketown, then caught the bus back to our residence. Except we don't know how to use the bus, so we ended up half a mile away across the river, and walked back from there. Went out again later, and came back after walking around our area for a while.

Arrival in London

Got in at about 11 this morning. Not that tired but still the time change feels weird. Went on a good walk tonight and saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Thames River. It was really cool. Its so different from being in a large US city. The architecture is much more interesting here. Many more 10-12 story stone buildings as opposed to taller steel skyscrapers. The artwork put into the stone is amazing, it seems like every building we pass tops the last. Its very nice here, relatively. About 40 degrees, even at night, with a solid breeze but feels great compared to ten below.

Our bathroom has a bathtub instead of a shower. Was excited at first but the shower is a hose attached to the bathtub spouts. Said hose is only 4 feet long, and the tub has no walls. So, to shower, one must crouch and hold the hose above their head while being careful not to spill over the edges of the tub.

Night Before Flying Out

I fly out from Chicago to Heathrow (London) tomorrow at 7:55 pm. Right meow I'm at my friend Cody's house in Cedar Rapids, IA, and tomorrow his parents are driving us to the airport. I haven't remembered that I've forgotten anything yet, though I did have to turn around 10 minutes after leaving Perry to retrieve my whisker trimmer. I'm slightly pumped up (understatement). When I arrive, at 9 am Sunday morning (4 am is what it will feel like to my body) we spend that day moving in and the coming week in orientation, which includes lots of walking around the city and seeing/eating places fo' free.

More to come. Stay tuned.