Some people must think I've never seen a park before...

Well today was a great day. I'm pretty sure since things are starting to pick up a bit that I'm going to get along just fine in London. (I'll fight through the rude people and learn all the tricky things about the sidewalks and cross walks...pinky promise! What can I say? I'm a southerner from the states!)

Anyway - today we had British Life and Culture. It was a great class even though I'm working hard to get used to this whole three hour class thing. It's pretty intense. Susie our professor gave us an overview on the British Education system and we watched a movie (based on a play) called history boys. The movie was pretty great but I was getting frustrated with the homosexuality undertones. I really felt like the playwright, Alan Bennet, was getting away from his whole critique of the education system with that rant.

Well...I didn't realize how much of a problem education is in general. I'll bet it's one of those universal problems. The Brits really have a complicated system and to tell you what's what I'd have to delve into my three page of green-inked notes. I did find it was funny that they have this thing called O levels - I totally thought of Harry Potter. How nerdy is that? Anyway - for all you other uber nerds out there - O levels means ordinary levels. DID NOT know that.

Also Susie told us that today is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of Hitler's Blitzkreig over here. I have seen all sorts of advertisements in Newspapers and the media about it. They really are big about keeping the Wars a fresh memory - or at least trying to. I think that's really interesting, and sometimes when I'm walking through London I wonder about how it must have been in ruins. I shudder at the thought. Let's all take a moment and remember those who were lost in the bombings as well as in the war in general.




Now. After class a few classmates and I went to the local Sainsbury's to get some necessities. Unfortunately, I am learning quickly that between seven girls and three bathrooms we are really going through toilet paper. Well, luckily for me and the others who were on their way to the store - we got free sweets!! Ok, I know that sounds like some stranger was handing out candy from a sketchy van, but let me tell you the REAL story. There is lovely pastry shop that we walk by every time we go to get groceries. Every time I skip by, I breathe in the smell of freshly cooked breads and fruits and chocolaty aromas. So today there was a nice lady standing outside the shop with a...I kid you not...silver platter. She was like, "free pastries!"

I kept on walking but Claire tugged my arm. Before I knew it, I was eating the best raspberry dark chocolate treat I've ever had in my entire life. OH my goodness it was so good. And really, thus begin a lovely series of events.

We got the toilet paper and I got a small notebook for traveling around the city for my Art and Architecture class, which I have tomorrow. Then after my simple turkey-cheese-hummus-sandwich for lunch, Claire and I decided to brave Oxford street. For those of you who don't know (I surely didn't) Oxford Street is like London's version of 5th avenue. This also happens to be fashion week.

Well...let me tell you!! It was obviously a mistake to even brave the sidewalk big enough for twenty people to walk abreast having conversations in at least that many different languages. Needless to say, Claire and I, who were going with the philosophy of "let's wing it," were overwhelmed.

I saw a bunch of stores I wanted to investigate - vintage looking things, but we were so jostled. Well...we jostled and bostled ourselves right on to Hyde park. OH MY GOODNESS!! Hyde park was gorgeous! We entered under the marble arch which is a beautiful piece of architecture (and according to my history friend Claire - the place were they used to have hangings...). Well we got inside and it was like we weren't even in the city!! I think it was a great feeling really to see green everywhere and there was even a little cafe.

We got ourselves some nice ice-cream (I had strawberry because there wasn't any pistachio) and we went to do what the Londoners do. (Or maybe this is more of a European thing?) Well, they sort of...just sit on the grass without a blanket. I'm totally used to laying out on the freshly cut grass next to my old dorm Raney at Hendrix. However, I always have a blanket. But we did the best we could and we practically rolled around in the grass like small children and took a bunch of pictures. It was a great time. I will post the pictures below for you to laugh at, respectively.

Anyway - we were concerned because there were dark rain clouds surrounding the park even though the sun was out. (Mind you, I did manage to buy a three pound umbrella from Prymark - which is an interesting store...) but we didn't want to get caught. We cut our gallivanting short and we decided to walk back via a different route. We got back to the flat only to discover that we were basically power-walking for six miles. It was so much fun!!! (I'm learning - I'm really learning the best way to get over the home-sickness is just to get out there and see what London has to offer!)

AND...if you guys are keeping up with the news...YES THERE IS A TUBE STRIKE. Is it a big deal...why yes! No, people are not protesting over here...but the traffic is absolutely mad. Seriously. Our street, which is normally quite quiet has been lined with taxis all day long. I hope that the strike actually accomplishes something because for me (in my little narrow world) the strike has simply made London that much more overwhelming. It has also made the people that much more rude because they are having a hard time getting where they are supposed to be on time.

I almost forgot to mention - Susie gave us a project today. We break up into groups of two and research a London paper and give background on the media and such. Well...I'm extremely happy to announce that Kemper and I get to do the Guardian. (Although I haven't gotten to read it yet, Julia just kept mentioning it so I'm looking forward to it!)

Let's see...oh yes, we came back and we both passed out from exhaustion. Don't worry, I drank plenty of water. Then we decided, Gramner, to make your stir fry recipe. (I posted pictures of that because it was exciting to cook something besides grilled cheese haha!!)

We made chicken stir fry with carrots, chick peas, green onion, red bell pepper, and broccoli. Four of us shared and each put in different ingredients. We made the perfect amount of food. I really just chopped everything up, honestly, Claire did all the sauteing. She seems to like to cook, so I cleaned and chopped. Anyways, the food was amazing and we all felt so accomplished!! It was a great feeling to get to eat something that we made. Who knows, maybe I'll turn into a gourmet cook - probably not. It was made even more fun by the classical music that we put on whilst we were going about cooking.

After that I uploaded some pictures and just sort of messed about on the computer. I am pretty much finished with Virginia Woolf's novel so I'm waiting to buy the Guardian this weekend. I'm pretty sure eight of us are going to visit Susie in Brighton on Saturday as a day trip. We get a deal on traveling in a group. I'll read the paper on the train ride - that's basically research for my project - and Kemper will be with me.

Well so Claire and Laura and I had all this free time and really nothing to do. The rest of the group was either at the threatre or off looking for a different pub. We decided to go to the College Arms and just have a pint. It really is a neighborhood pub and, apparently, when Uni (school) starts the students frequent the place. It was not to busy and on our way out we tried to invite anyone else left in the flat. Only Nick was left and he went with us. We spent about an hour there sort of people watching, and talking about Hendrix sports...or the lack thereof. It was a nice quiet evening. After our pint we came back and here I am writing this post for you guys with my hot chocolate. It's not so bad in the day (the temperature) but at night...woa man!

I must be used to the crazy Arkansas heat because I'm cold. Umm...I'm also wearing shorts. So the hot chocolate helps. Let's see...I don't think I've left anything out from today. I had such a great day. I hope you guys are doing well and you like the pictures! I miss you all!

Cheerio!!