London - Dodgy Business

Oh. My!!!!

Today was my first day of class - British Life and Culture...Woot!!!

We had to be up at ten till nine because Dr. King (the traveling Hendrix prof) showed us our way to our classroom. Well...our classroom was in a building that dates back to the 1720s. No big deal. Woa! My history nerdy-ness was totally on freak-out mode.

Class started at nine-thirty. Our prof's name was Susie Thomas. She was great. She was incredibly enthusiastic about her subject and really funny. We got our syllabus and discovered that we get to see movies and plays and meet places for class. In fact, today we went to the new location of the British Library. They had to move it from the British Museum because there wasn't enough room for all the books.

Well. I saw a copy of the Magna Carta today as well as John Milton's original manuscripts along with some of the Beatles song lyrics written in Paul McCartney's and John Lennon's hand. IT. Was. AMAZING!!!

But. To back-track...Susie (that's what she wants us to call her) gave us the syllabus. We only have two major projects and two books that we have to read along with a couple of poems and one play. I'm uber-excited. We get to read Virginia Woolf. YES! Where's my feminism class when I need it?

The big thing we have for this class is a 2500 word research paper that focuses on a topic that affects British Life and Culture. Guess what? I'm doing the Beatles. Yep. Awesome. I wore my Beatles shirt today to class and as soon as she explained the project I raised my hand and saved that topic. YES! Haha.

After we got through the basics we went on a walk through Bloomsbury and Susie showed us all sorts of things. I got to see where Virginia Woof's flat was and where Charles Dickens lived. Too bad I hate Charles Dickens. Stupid Victorian Literature!

Sheesh! Anyway. She also pointed out some pubs along the way. I couldn't hear here during some of the tour, but I was really excited to get to see the original manuscripts in the British Library. I would totatlly steal Jane Austen's writing desk if I could!

After that we had a break for lunch in which I made myself some ramen-london style (oh the life of a college student...haha) and then we had to start our string of orientations.

The first orientation was our flat contractor's or whatever you would call those people. It was basic stuff that they tell you in a dormitory - so it was nothing new.

Our next orientation was to the University of London's Library. I. Am. In. Love!!! That Library has nineteen floors on two different blocks - the north and south block...There are so many books!

We have full access to anything either on journals or original manuscripts...I am so excited. They really have everything. And also...it's slightly overwhelming.

After that we had an orientation about our University of London Union (ULU) membership. ULU is basically the social network of the University. Over here there is a system separate from universities that takes care of clubs, pubs, and social music.

I am hoping to maybe go to one of those free shows in one of their small venues. Also! They have a cafe that has panini's for 1£ and such! Gramner! Panini's! They're my favourite!

Anyway, after that we had a meet-and-greet at a pub with all our Professors. The pub was all fancy and wine oriented so of course, without my Italian familial unit near, I was at a loss. The college (so our pockets) paid for two drinks. So I tried this beer on draft that was Asian (which is weird for England) but I liked it. It was a lager that was not particularly light or dark. Sort of a middle of the road kind of drink.

Anyway, we talked with our professors. I didn't really get to talk to the Shakespeare professor named Jean, although she was the one I was most interested in. She was hilarious. She was drinking wine with our other professor Susie and she seemed really sassy. I can't wait until her class tomorrow.

Also. In reference to my title...Susie used the word "orgasmic" and "dodgy" and she called me "beccar" today in class. I am so excited about this semester. She gave us suggestions for good nearby pubs.

After the meet-and-greet we made dinner at the flat. I made a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I think I'm making Chicken Parmesan next week. Good food sounds great!

After that we went to check out one of the pubs that Susie mentioned called the Lamb. We thought that it would be our nice regular pub but the bartender (pubtender?) wanted our passports for I.D. OK? That's the only instance we've run into that issue so far. So we continued walking until we ran into the Shakespeare's Head pub. They have great food and great lunch and breakfast for cheap apparently. I ordered a pint of some lager that was cheap but good.

Anyway. I don't have any pictures to upload for you today because I had class and boring induction orientation lectures. I miss all of you so much. Don't worry, I'll upload some pictures from Stratford-upon-Avon from when we go on Thursday night.

Tomorrow I have two three hour classes - Shakespeare and British Art and Architecture. I am excited. I will definitely keep everyone posted on anything interesting.

I am sleepy and going to bed but I know you guys are just getting reading for dinner!

Love you!

The tube rejected me. No joke.

Ok. London Day Three.

Today was great and not so great. I didn't really go to sleep very well last night for some reason so I was up until five thirty ish? I took a shower around five AM because I can't help but feel clean before I sleep.

I think I'll start with the complaints people have been having lately about the apartment. And when I say people I mean my flatmates. I think I somehow got the best bed in the whole apartment. I've slept on it for three days and it's really comfortable. Also, I managed to get a bed that is in the corner and so I sort of have my own space. I also thought, since it's right next to the door it would be good for me. Sometimes I'm an insomniac and I didn't want to wake my flatmates at, say, five AM.

Also, I have a chest of drawers (yes it's small, but stuff fits in there with a little cramming) and I also have my own closet. It's not in the wall or anything, but it's nice and I have hangers. I was able to hang everything that I brought that didn't need to be all wadded up. So I don't have any complaints except for that it is absolutely freezing in my room. I was so cold last night. I don't know why, but in there it's like fifteen degrees colder than the rest of the flat.

I feel bad for my other suitemate/flatmates. They don't have chest of drawers or closets and their beds are very uncomfortable. I did get here really early though. First come first serve I guess. Silly eight AM arrival time worked out I suppose.

Anyway onto business. The whole group had an orientation with Dr. King today. Dr. Kind is our Hendrix professor traveling with us. He gave us the information we needed to know about tomorrow. I start class tomorrow and all afternoon we have various orientations. I think I get my ULU card tomorrow, but Dr. King said maybe not. Apparently buearacracy is worse in the UK than the US. I am inclined to disbelieve...

Anywho, so we had that meeting and I was sleepy because it was this morning at nine...after I went to bed at five thirty. But Claire and Laura and I had breakfast (Momma - I had some really good yogurt. We don't have stuff as good as this in the US. It. Was. Amazing.) And then we decided we wanted to go exploring. We wanted to walk to Covent Garden because they supposedly have really cool street performers.


Well...somehow we ended up by the river with Big Ben, the parliament building, and the London Eye. Haha. It was a great time. We traversed through Trafalgar square and sort of bustled by Westminster Abbey. I totally enjoyed it because we were so touristy with our cameras and we got to take our time. However...we were gone a long time and I have no idea how far we walked. We finally made it back for lunch and I thought I was going to pass out.

Wrong. Today was Kate's birthday and it also happens to be the weekend of the Notting Hill Music Festival. Apparently the Notting Hill Festival is the largest outdoor music festival in London. When they told me this I should have asked for more information...but no...I just said ok let's go celebrate Kate's birthday. I was thinking something along a small scale like Riverfest or Memphis in May.

I'm pretty sure this little adventure decided for me that I don't want to live in a big city like this. Call me a city slicker, ok fine. But give me a small town kind of city. There must have been a bajillion people on the streets. We had to be careful of the tube travel because some lines were closed and they didn't let you reenter the tube until a certain time. Well we went. I saw a huge mob of people scantily clad, dancing crazily, on drugs, blatantly and belligerntly drunk, and what of the music?

Well...apparently the festival honors a different country every year. This year was Jamaica themed. I like reggae so I thought that the music would be cool. I might have been thinking along the lines of Beale Street in Memphis. NO. No. no. Actually there was some really strange techno rap screamy metal stuff. I'm pretty sure I exploded my second ear drum. Ewww.

So my flatmate Claire and Laura and I and a couple of other girls and one of the guys told the rest of the group that we wanted to leave and they could stay if they liked. They decided to stay and we went off looking for a tube station. Of course we got hopelessly lost and couldn't find a station. As soon as we got out of the nasty crowds we ran into a beautiful catholic church - St. John's. We found ourselves in Kensington, which is a pretty high end neighborhood. That was nice and since it was nice out (it's been sunny all day and around 65 degrees) that we would get dinner from a cheap take-away and eat in Hyde park which we were really close to.

Unfortunately we couldn't find it no matter how hard we tried. We finally just asked a nice looking bobbie - police dude - for directions. He was very nice and very British accenty sounding. When he finished and we finally understood him - we all chorused "Thank you!" (That was for you Momma.)

We did find Hyde park, but it was about to close. Of course. So we finally were able to hop into a tube station for our return trip to Russell Square. Unfortunately when we got out the machine that lets you out and eats your ticket rejected my ticket. Twice. Three times. Four times. SO finally I just went up to a uniformed dude and held up my ticket. I was almost in tears because I was so tired and my whole group was on the other side just looking at me helplessly. I think Erin was about to give me her oyster card. I haven't gotten mine yet because it's cheaper for ULU student cards.

SO. The guy just took a glance at my ticket and pressed some magic button and I was released from the depths of the tube station. I. HATE. the underground. Nothing but bad experiences with it. It's hot and smelly and people here have PDA issues. On our last ride I was next to a couple that really should have just gotten a room.

I was...needless to say...frustrated and hungry when I finally was released from the tube. Claire suggested we just make a frozen pizza so we went to our nicely priced grocery mart on the way home. I got some cookies. Comfort food will do it every time. I'm in a much better mood now and am so excited that classes start tomorrow.

(The oreos here are expensive. I had to settle for regular chocolate chip cookies - although they were really really really good.) Claire and I are sharing them and we still have some cookies and milk left.

Whew.

Let's see...

I definitely need a cooking list Gramner, my night to cook for everybody is probably coming up soon. Someone already stole my taco idea. =(

I really really miss you guys. I'll upload some pictures of my adventures later.

P.S. - there was one cool thing about the Music sketchival. Some Jamaican looking dude was playing music out of a conch shell. That was the extent of my happiness at that hopeless adventure.

The Sketchival...Music Festival

So we found Big Ben!!!

Okay well...

So we went to the Camden town Sunday market today. It was totally fun. It was my idea actually. I took some pictures before we got to the tents because all the tents had signs that said "No Pictures." Probably because they had some ripped off stuff.

Anyway. A group of us ventured forth into London. It took us about thirty minutes and it was probably only a three mile walk there and back. The sun was sort of out today as well. It only rained once and that was this morning. We spend hours at the market. I had to buy the hat. I decided to go ahead and get myself a present. I probably won't buy anything else like that for a while, but I couldn't help it. Purple and paisley. Yes. And I got a discount because they were just closing!

Claire and I (one of my flatmates) had a hard time keeping up with Kate (a suitemate of sorts.) We kept getting distracted by these pocket looking watches that were necklaces. AND I found the local vinyl store already. I'll have to bring my Dad and Mom down here when they come to visit. He might have had a Jimi Hendrix Rainbow Bridge!!! Who knows.

Let me back track a little. This morning I was the first one up. I decided to chill and I made some black tea. I love the tea selection over here. After everyone else woke up we looked up a very reasonable grocery mart. I managed to get enough groceries for a week and I got my necessary communal items all for less than fifteen pounds! I think I'm doing pretty good, considering that yesterday when we were grocery looking outside the store was way overpriced. I got some really fresh looking fruit (I miss eating granny smith apples with mom at lunch everyday!)

So we successfully went to the store and I made soup for lunch. Then I was going to get some people together to go running but it started just pouring out of nowhere. We were going to settle for sitting around in the flat, but I've found the more sitting I do the more I get homesick. It's true it's only day two, but we haven't started classes yet. I'll be better when we can get those going. But luckily we decided to venture out. I located a close Barclay's atm and the nearest post office.

I think tonight we're going to go to a pub and try some beer. I just made a grilled cheese (not as good as yours gramner) and I am going to rest a little while.

I did a lot of walking. I found a really gorgeous catholic church that is pictured here and...don't worry...I'm working on the red phone booth one.

Miss you guys! Promise I'm staying safe.

<3

Well hello there London!

Ok.

WOW! So...my computer says 8:17 AM so that's what time it would be if I were home at Hendrix. Right now it's 2:17 PM London time. And boy has the jet lag caught up with me. Man.

Well I'm going to do my best to keep this thing up to-date. I thought that the best thing in the first place would be a nice little picture of my flat. Guess what? It turned out to be a nice size. I have my own little corner where my bed is and a nice set of dresser drawers and a closet. WHEW! Good thing because I packed my whole room. (Thank you 29 inch 48 lb rolly bag!!)

Check it out! I am staying at 17 Bedford Place. Right down the street from the British Museum. No big deal. AND...when I got into London today (at some ungodly early hour) it was sunny outside! I'm telling you it's a sign.

Ok. Now to go into the details of the really long grueling flight. I am not kidding you, I don't ever want to have to go on a ridiculously long flight like that again. I'm telling you, I'd rather go to Sannibel twice and back!

But to start...I was all nervous after I had to go through the security in Little Rock. But the airport was so empty. I sat and waited and waited and waited. I found myself in the middle of a national guard movement to Chicago. Then I found myself on a plane next to this really nice old man who tried to ask me all these questions about England. He had overheard that I was traveling to London when I checked my bags and I thought that he was being a little creepy...so I pretended to fall asleep.

Next I found myself in Chicago...so close to my cutie but so far away. I DON'T like the O'hare airport. That place is on crack. Really it wasn't that difficult to figure out where I needed to be...but it took me twenty minutes to get there! Then, I decided I was hungry so I made the fatal mistake of getting in a line for a McDonald's snack-wrap. I distinctly ordered water, but the lady behind the counter didn't hear me. So of course, when I got my wrap water free I was upset. I had to go back to the counter and endure that same lady as she yelled at me. AND THEN I only got a small cup of nasty hot water. Thank you airport workers!

I finally got over my snack fiasco in time to board my seven million hour flight. I started off in the wrong seat. For some reason, even though I was holding my ticket I sat in the wrong aisle. Then this lovely woman politely told me to scram. I moved to my real seat and lo and behold a real live lovely granny woman sat next to me. Before I knew it, she and I were discussing sewing quilts like it was no big deal and like we go together to play bridge every Wednesday. She really was nice, and reminded me of my Gramner in some ways. She told me to tell my Mom that I had nice manners. I smiled inwardly when she told me that, and outwardly. She took a lot of my stress away and I managed to relax as best I could on that flight. No sleep, of course, so I read George Orwell's Animal Farm, which I was supposed to have already finished. After that I still had five hours to kill, so I spent the remaining time restlessly trying to get comfortable. I'm telling you, it's not my favourite thing to do, sit squenched up like that in the air with your ear popping for hours on end. With the landing though, some of the roaring has gone out of my ears so I think there may still be some hope left.

Anyway, when I got to the airport I got all nervous about customs and all that. I mean, I guess the UK still calls it Customs? I freaked out because I couldn't find the right spot for my passport...but then I read a very simply sign that said, "Other Passports" seeing as I felt like an 'other' by this point I got in line. Thankfully I happened to be in the right one. I walked to the counter where a stern Indian British speaking woman sat. I handed her my passport and was reaching for my letter of study as granted by Hendrix when she started asking me twenty questions. I answered all her questions, she stamped my passport and didn't even need to see my letter.

And that was that. I was through.

BUT. Drum roll please...

Then I had to get my three huge-mongous bags from the airport to the tube to my flat. Seriously. I grabbed my rolly bag and my green duffel bag and started walking blindly through the airport. Somehow I made it correctly out of the "no things to claim" line and found myself in the part of the airport that led to the tube. Then I grabbed some major courage and battled an escalator with all three bags. I got to the bottom of the escalator and stood standing for literally thirty minutes watching people swipe their cards and hope the turn style. I finally got up enough courage to ask the Information desk which line I wanted for Russell Square.

He replied that I needed to take the Piccadilly line. So I got in line, paid 4.95 lb (Thank you Mr. and Ms. Gately!) and then battled another set of escalators. Luckily I slid my card through that swiper thing like I was an old pro. I just managed to squeeze my bags through though. When I got to the stop, the tube came and I sat down and finally had a minute to relax. I even got out my small map and figured out where I needed to go after I got off the tube...but then...

People started filling up the tube out of nowhere. I immediately discovered that in my excitement for a seat I sat in the wrong spot. Literally. I was in the very back behind all these people and I needed to get out without breaking off all their toes. Also, I was taking up *blasphemy* TWO seats!

I just shoved them out of the way and kept apologizing and made it out of the tube. Then I had to make it out of the tube stop. It took me forever to figure that out because there were just stairs everywhere and I couldn't do it! AGHHGSHSKDJSLKDJSOA.

But finally I got out and squeezed all my bags past beeping gates and Londoners who were so furious with me only to get outside and stare at Sunny old London.

I couldn't believe my eyes. I also couldn't remember directions and I had no strength to get my stupid bags anywhere. Luckily, Kemper, the only senior female who is also with Hendrix-in-London, found me just then and directed me to our flat, even helping me with one of my bags.

Thank the lord.

So, the moral of the story is...I am supposed to be in London. People from the nice Grandma lady, to the nice ticket man, and Kemper have been helping me all along.

I know it's silly but I feel accomplished, sleepy, and excited.

LONDON!

Hope you guys like the pictures. Please comment on my ridiculousness