Chinatown does not smell that great...

It's true, actually Chinatown smells really bad. :(

Well today I said I was going to do something independent and so I did. I am going to go ahead and update twice today because tomorrow I'm going on a day trip to Hastings. :) (Remember the battle of Hastings? Well anyway, I'm going there and it's a coastal town and it looks really quaint. So I'm pretty excited!)

I woke up rather early for not having to get up. I mean, I woke up at nine thirty and I would have liked to sleep in until maybe ten thirty? Anyway, I grumbled into the kitchen and looked around for some food. I made sausage and eggs this morning and it was absolutely delicious. :) I love breakfast. I'm sure when I go home again I'll hate breakfast. Haha, it's like my staple diet right now.

So I was awake and I decided to check out TimeOut London to see what neat things were going on. Well, I saw that St. John's Anglican Church had a free lunchtime recital. The genre was classical and I just decided to pick that one, because there are plenty of free classical lunch time recitals in London for some reason. And most of them are in Churches.

I got all dressed and ready to go and I went out of the flat with my map and slowly breaking bag...Anyway - I just started walking in the direction of the river. I am beginning to learn where things are more and more. I didn't write down the address or anything but I looked at a picture and I remembered that the church was located on Waterloo street. Somehow- by some miracle of Beccaness - I found the church no problem and was twenty minutes early. I gave myself a nice window to be on time.

I went inside the church and sat down. It was a beautiful church - sort of Catholic like windows as well as some great statues. Anyway - I freaked out a little because I was wearing jeans and I didn't know if for some reason I needed to be wearing something more suitable for Church, but people started showing up in everything from full suits to shabby, erm, 'holey' jeans. So I was fine. I was, however, the youngest in the crows except for an adorable toddler with blue eyes and blonde hair accompanied by her grandmother. She was very well behaved and listened intently to the music for the whole hour.

Anyway - the lady began to sing some French songs. If I wasn't lazy I would get up and walk into my room and search in my bag for the program and tell you the composer's names and such. But really, the important thing was that her voice was absolutely phenomenal. She sounded literally like the voice of heaven personafied. So of course, two things happened, I found myself overcome with emotion from the songs she was singing - especially since I couldn't understand the french and she was acting out the songs in her intense performance. AND I realized how much I miss singing. Not that I could ever sound like that but I want to be a part of a choir somewhere...

Hmmm. Anyway as I sat there in the fourth row congratulating myself on my small victory I was thinking a million things. I was thinking how the people in the crowd would somehow automatically know just by staring at me that I was American. I was also thinking how amazing it was to be able to just go do something all by myself - something I would want to do that I'd have to literally drag my friends to do with me. What other nineteen year old do you know that like to listen to free classical music concerts in churches when they could be a pub. Hey - eleven am is acceptable pub time. Sheesh.

I was also thinking how strange it is to be so far from home and yet find a place that can warm my heart. That church wasn't St. Paul's cathedral - it wasn't the grand church that you study in your architecture class. But it was definitely a community. I could tell from observing that the people there were a mixture of people literally taking their lunch hour off and people who were devout members of the church. Everyone was nice in there and I was somehow a part of it, and yet somehow an observer. It's an interesting perspective to have. After today I am starting to really be adjusted, I suppose, because I'm really feeling like this whole 'study abroad' thing is a great idea. I'm doing my best to really just do some fun things in London...at the same time I'm trying to grow up a little and become a braver person.

Ok. Now that that little sharing of recently acquired knowledge/rant is over - let me move on. I decided after my lovely lunch time concert that I would like to walk to a park to read. I was on the south side of the river Thames and relatively close to Westminster. So I walked in that direction vaguely. I did find a nice looking independent coffee shop that had a sign for student discounts. I went in and got the best mocha I've ever had. The barista must have read my facial expression really well because my mocha had a little extra chocolate in it. :)

Anyway - I hope you guys do know that the Pope Benedict dude is here. I have been reading about London's/the U.K.'s mixed reaction at having him visit for some time now in the Evening Standard. Apparently he flew in yesterday. Well...I just happened to see the pope today - no big deal. It was a shear accident. I didn't think as I was walking with my steaming mocha in my hand - oh I should avoid the Abbey today because probably the whole city is there either protesting or trying to hug the Pope.

MAN! I think he's seriously received some legitimate death threats or something because the police had almost every street over there closed as well as - well ... There were at least fifty-million police. I felt like I was being watched as I tried to figure out how I could get out of the abbey and to Green Park (I did use my map for that one - Green Park is not far from Westminster Abbey and it looked big enough on my map for me to find some quiet in there somewhere...)

So anyway. Yep. I saw the pope today. I wish it had been John Paul II though, I liked him better. I did finally manage to sneak my way around the hub-bub and I found myself accidentally at Buckingham palace. Unfortunately, I missed the changing of the guard AND my camera died - but I'm charging it right now. I did manage to take some pictures which I'll upload tomorrow along with my pictures from the day trip.

Anyway the palace is grand and massive - but I wasn't so awed by the actual building. It's kind of...well...ugly in my opinion. But, it turns out the palace is right next to both Green Park and St. James Park. I think I was sitting in the Green Park section but it was gorgeous. My favourite park besides St. George's gardens which have an interesting peaceful feeling about them. The neat thing about these two parks is the amount of trees! I realized today how much I miss trees as strange as that sounds.

In actual fact, London is a pretty green city and has a bunch of trees. But being in this park I felt like I was at Notre Dame's campus or something. I will have to go back when the leaves turn and take pictures. The trees hang over the paths as if they are enveloping you when you walk. I loved it. I sat on a bench and read fifty pages of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World for class. (Interesting book if you want my opinion so far - very very interesting. I find myself a bit scared of the idea of a utopia really...)

Anywho...I must have been there for a while because I also wrote an entry in my journal and I would have stayed longer but I was cold. I am not doing so well when i get dressed in the morning. I didn't have enough in the ways of layers - and I'm thinking that I should have had on fuzzy socks for sure. Needless to say, I was freezing. So, I got up and started walking. Without looking at my map once I got back to the flat via Piccadilly and Chinatown.

It was a great experience, walking on Piccadilly at rush hour. I want to go back and take a time to actually look at the stores and such. I feel like window shopping on that road would be fun. I found myself in Chinatown - with paper lanterns swinging merrily in the breeze above my head. You know it's chinatown by the lanterns and also by the SMELL. I mean, I like sushi but SHEESH. I do not think I'll be eating sushi in Chinatown...it's a bit sketchy...

After that I came back to the flat and made dinner. I had sausages sauteed in red pepper and green onion with corn on the cob. Don't worry guys - even though I can't cook it was really good. (Or I was just really hungry. :] )

I then talked with my flat mates for a bit and I've been researching and planning things that I want to do whilst I'm in London. Tomorrow we are for sure going on a day trip and I'm really excited. I'm currently charging both my ipod and my camera. I will do my best to take tons of pictures.

I've just been in the flat this evening lounging around. I've been so cold - but luckily I have my blanket and fuzzy socks. I ate a bunch of cookies...GAH! Comfort food gets you every time. I miss you guys enjoy the post.

Leave me comments! (I'll add pictures later.)

Cheers!

Cookie Cake!!!

Hello there!!

This is my post about Thursday - even though I'm writing on Friday. I'll probably post about today later tonight. Who knows.

I don't know if I've mentioned that Thursday is our Friday. So yesterday Kemper and I decided that we would do some serious work on our Newspaper project. We bought another issue of The Guardian after class and made our way to the library. Now - you know I have some serious issues with the Library so let me tell you all the wonderful things that happened there.

I don't know if I've taken a picture of the outside of the library but it's beautiful in a strange way. It kind of makes me feel like I'm going into a German World War II insane asylum or something. But. It's - uh - it's still beautiful.

Anyway, so we go in and go to the fourth floor where you get your cards. Luckily, I have my card printed and everything is fine. Then Kemper and I went looking for a study carroll in which would could loudly discuss the bias of our paper and such. Well there are a bajillion floors and crooks and crannies in that building and we didn't have a floor plan because well - who wants to be nerdy with a floor plan?

Eventually we found a computer and we looked through the catalogue. I checked out some books about the Beatles to read and get a head start on my final. I mean - it is only September - but I am totally psyched about writing a 2500 word essay on the Beatles. So it'll be nice to have something to read besides political British novels and Shakespeare. Anyways - I had to check my books out so that we could go to the North block and check Kemper's books out.

Well. We went up to the desk and this nice lady took my books and my card and everything seemed peachy. But of course, this is me we're talking about so everything was NOT peachy. She looked at me with a smile but also sympathy in her eyes and she said, "There's a hold on your card." I just blinked stupidly at her and said, "Sorry? What?" She replied, "Well you can't check anything out because there's a hold on your card." I looked incredulously at Kemper who by this point was shaking her head.

Anyway - I had to explain that I had just gotten my card printed that day and that there shouldn't be a hold on my card considering I hadn't had the chance to check anything out yet. She looked doubtful but she did finally let me check my books out. I still don't know if I trust the library - they seem out to get me. (Ok, sometimes I get a little melodramatic...:) )

Let's see after that Kemper and I went and found this little fabulous cafe. We were going to sit and discuss the paper and type some stuff up on her computer. Well, it was hidden away behind the Holborn tube station and it was so cute and quaint. We each got a mocha and I got a slice of carrot cake and she got a slice of apple and maple cake. OH MY GOODNESS!! It was absolutely delicious. The cakes were the best I've ever had. It was a great coffee place - the guy who made our drinks even did some weird kind of coffee art. Go figure.

Anywho - we thought that we'd have free wi-fi there - that was the whole point in going but we didn't. Nevertheless, we took out our three copies of the Guardian and read and discussed. It was pretty fun. I think we're pretty much finished with the project all we have to do now is type up what we're going to say. We have to give about a ten minute presentation to the class on Tuesday.

Let's see. Hmmm. Kemper also picked up a copy of the ULU's paper called "London Student." I was reading bits and pieces of that when I decided that we should go to the ULU's little cafe that they have. So we got up and walked over to the cafe. It was nice - sort of like the burrow and they DO have wifi. So we read the paper and talked and chilled there for a while. Then we decided it was time for food. SO...we went to the grocery store and got ingredients to make a cookie cake. And we got icing.

Now - bear in mind that this was our first attempt and so we didn't get enough cookie ingredients so it's really more like a cookie casserole...But it was so much fun to make. I took some pictures of us being silly. :) It reminded me of the awesome cookie cake I got for my birthday last year. They don't really do cookie cakes over here that I can tell haha.

Alrighty then let's see...After that we went out with the huge group to our pub - the College Arms. We were all just chilling and enjoying ourselves. I really like the atmosphere of that pub. Then, I suppose it's almost really kind of a pub crawl we went to a different pub called the Crown. That was awesome because they have an amazing juke-box and we played music and such. I think that last night was the first time I've been to a pub and had such a great time. The group was cool and everyone was just being nice. I'm especially glad that Kemper was with me - we always have something to laugh about.

Anywho - today I'm going to do something different. I'm going to do something independent. No worries I'll update you on what fun things I find as I venture onwards. Miss you guys!!!

Cheers!

"Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere"

So. I've decided that Wednesdays are possibly going to be the death of me. Well, not literally, but they are quite busy. Before I go into the details of my day - just look at the overview. I have a three hour art and architecture class in the AM and then a lunch break. Then I have a three hour shakespeare class in the PM. Then, I get about an hour and a half before I have to go see a play where I stand for three or more hours. SHEESH. (One consolation - I don't have a play EVERY Wednesday, but still. I am so tired right now.)

Let's see. Even though today was endlessly busy I had a good day. This morning marks the first morning that I have taken a tube during morning rush hour. Luckily the line we got on wasn't so crowded but the Piccadilly line was impossible. I did find myself sitting next to a nursing mother with her loud baby. We were supposed to meet our professor Barnaby at Victoria station at Westminster. I remembered my camera today - YES - so I'll upload some great pictures.

I thoroughly enjoyed our Art and Architecture class today. We went on a walking tour of sorts focusing on buildings based in the Neoclassical tradition as well as the buildings based in Gothic styles. Big Ben and Parliament (as well as all of Westminster Abbey) are all Gothic. Strangely enough Barnaby mentioned Ruskin who I had to read for Victorian Literature. He was one of the few essayists I liked because he talked about the originality and art form of Gothic architecture. Being able to see something I truly admire as we walk about is an amazing feeling.

We started at Westminster Abbey, went to the Banquet building which has a lovely history and even a beheading involved in its story. We then went on to Covent Square and looked at a Tuscan style Church. The plan was to make it all the way to St. Paul's Cathedral and compare the different Church styles but we never got there. I took a ton of pictures - so instead of boring you here with each building I'll write a caption for the ones I upload on here.

We did get a twenty minute break by Covent Gardens. Everyone went into Cafe Nero (like a Starbucks - huge coffee chain) but Kemper and I explored the side streets. We were brave and went into a small place cafe place. We each got really cheap pretty good coffee and the people were extremely nice. THAT right there is a plus because people over here don't generally seem to be nice in this huge city. We also decided that whilst everyone else is doing a huge pub crawl - we're going to do a cafe crawl. We are totally on the lookout for London's best cup of coffee. (We may still frequent the pubs though, every now and then.)

We ended our tour at the Royal Courts of Justice which is on Chancery Lane and is a beautiful set of Gothic buildings. I wanted to go inside of it and stare out the windows. Kemper and I didn't know where to go to find a tube station so we walked a ways before we braved a bus. We really don't know how that system works yet. Yes, there's a sign that tells you where the bus goes...but it's hard to figure out which way the bus is going and whether your destination is on the end of it's line and if you have to switch buses and such...

SO. Needless to say we kind of messed up a bit. I mean, we really shouldn't have been on the bus in the first place because we literally got on and then got right back off. We probably could have walked to the station we alighted at simply because traffic was so bad. (Lunch rush hour.) Oh well, we'll figure it out, by George, even if it does take us a couple of bodged tries.

Anywho I made an egg sandwich for lunch with my special bread. :) It was a good time. After lunch I trekked over to the classroom for Shakespeare. Our lecture was intense today and she talked a little bit about our papers or commentaries. I'm not too nervous because commentaries are my thing, but it could be a bit trying. I'm doing my best to do really well in that class.

We then got out of Shakespeare and I came back to the flat. I was starving so I ate some coconut flavored yogurt - which sounds weird but it's really, really, good. And then, Erin and Laura and I went to a clothing shop called New Look. Hillary, one of my other flatmates, told us she had gotten a good deal on some jeans and they were having a special discount for students sale. I decided I wanted to go just to have a look. I'm on the lookout for a new messenger bag because unfortunately I think my black and white one has seen better days. :(

The store turned out to be the quality of a forever twenty-one but a bit more hyped and posh like. It was reasonably priced but there wasn't anything in there that I couldn't live without. So, after that I made tortellini for dinner. I got really frustrated with my dinner attempts this evening because I got my bread stuck in the toaster (sounds ridiculous right - this would happen to me) and I was trying to get my toast out and then my water boiled over from my tortellini so...I ended up burning water on the stove. It caused a lot of commotion and window openings. Sheesh. I felt really stupid.

After that I went over to Kemper's flat to chill before we had to make our famous trek to the Globe to see Henry IV part 1. I sneaked my camera in - so I have some pictures of how amazing the globe theatre actually is. Anywho, I was very impressed with the performance once again. However, this time I was not expecting to be impressed because I had read the play before hand and my impression was vast confusion at keeping the characters straight. I was so concerned with who was fighting who and who was on what side. However, on stage it is much easier to keep up with characters, even when old Billiam gives them different names.

The two princes were amazing - they were foils. I liked Harry Percy best, possibly because he was the character with all the intense verse lines. Also - I noticed tonight - the Globe is magical. You're out in this open aired theatre with a couple of stars above you (London is a bit light polluted...) I loved it. I don't love the standing forever bit though. I am excited to see more productions in there.

Also. Speaking of theatre - I asked Jean today specifically how to get cheap theatre tickets for the National Theatre. She told me that all I had to do was que up the morning of a show at around eight thirty and then I'd end up with a 10 quid front row ticket. Now all that's left to do on my list is to see what I want to go see. I think I might even see if Mandi will go with me to a show this weekend. That's a very affordable price.

I forgot to mention our tube ride to the Globe. It was eventful. I suppose this is the day of tube happenings. I have never been in the tube at rush hour in the evening either before today. We went to Holborn station and there were literally people falling out of the sides of the opening gate. Somehow, Kemper and I managed to squeeze into the line. Kemper was in front of me, and it's a good thing she had a green sweater on. I was really nervous. I felt like I was going to be squeezed into nothingness because there was no breathing room.

However, I finally got close enough to the gate to actually see people swiping their cards. Kemper got a couple of people ahead of me and I was even more nervous I'd get lost. Then I was literally right in the middle of a squabble. There was an older gentleman behind me and a middle-aged man in front of me and I was unfortunately sandwiched in between them. The middle-aged man sort of cut in front of me and the older man bumped me as he tapped the middle-aged man on the shoulder. He said, "Oy Mate!" and I immediately said, "sorry" because I thought I'd accidentally bumped into him.

However. He was obviously not speaking to me. He said again, "Oy MATE!" loudly enough so that the middle-aged man had to turn around. (Mind you, they're having this conversation across my head.) The upset older man says - "We're queing from the back of the line - you can't just cut in the side like that." The other guy replied whilst waving a pink ticket, "I had to buy my ticket..."

Oh yeah, one more thing. We walked by St. Paul's on our way to the Globe. I took some pictures. Thanks Kemper for being really patient with my constant picture taking. Also - I have not charged my camera once. I'm proud of this little thing. (Of course, now I just jinxed it - because I said something about the battery. Haha.)

Well...both of their faces were turning various shades of red and purple. Apparently, according to an account by Kemper later (who was nicely waiting for me on the other side) I looked very concerned. I took that opportunity of intense tension to swipe my card and get out of Dodge.

Anyway. It was a day. I'm so tired right now. I hope that I can talk to you soon Mom. I keep missing you! And someone better figure out a way to get Johnny Gately to comment on this blog thing. I KNOW HE READS IT. A little help familial unit?

Miss you guys.

Cheers.

Grace Coffee

Today was busy.

I had oh so much going on, and yet, I feel like I really didn't do much today. I guess I absolutely NEED to go running. I just NEED to. Sheesh.

Let's see. This morning my little travel clock woke me up right on time. I had cereal with fresh strawberries in it. :) I also made some coffee this morning and got all cuted up. By 'cuted up,' I mean that I checked the weather and dressed appropriately. In other words, I wore a sweater with my boots and a scarf. I'm telling you - it's not cold yet but when it gets cold I'll be really cold. :(

I had British Life and Culture today. We discussed Virginia Woolf's book Ms. Dalloway. I enjoyed the book and the discussion was nice. I really wanted to spend some more time on the World War I poetry that Susie gave us. I like how all my professors over here can just spout out random lines of poems. I know this sounds nerdy - but I want to pick some verses that speak to me especially and memorize them. Haha. How's that sound?

Anyway - class was pretty intense because we had a three hour discussion. We did get to take a break in which I went to the bathroom. Why should I bother telling you about my necessity for the facilities? Well...The bathroom in the building in our classroom was extremely cold. Literally I thought I would turn into an icicle. Then I remembered Dr. King telling us that the Brits like to leave the bathroom windows open all the time to, well, keep things 'fresh.' Too bad fresh over here is freezing. :)

I'm not THAT cold. Today, however, was rainy. I think I broke my umbrella with the gale force winds, but I'll keep using it anyway. It has cherries on it. Tomorrow I have to take the tube in the morning to get to my British Art and Architecture class and I'm nervous because it'll be rush-hour. I'm just starting to build my confidence about the tube, leave it to rush-hour to get me down.

After class Kemper and I went to go get the proper version of Shakespeare's Henry IV part 1. I spent all day reading it. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but there are a lot of people fighting and they are sort of hard to sort out. Did I mention where we went to get our copies? We walked all the way to the globe to go to their bookshop. The book's weren't that expensive and it wasn't too rainy. In fact, on our way back we walked by St. Paul's again. (I don't know what's wrong with me but I forgot my camera. :( Sorry about that.)

BUT...remember the quaint little coffee shop we found called Grace? Well...we got some coffee there. It was cheap and absolutely delicious. Apparently they have their coffee beans especially roasted just for their shop in Italy. The mocha I got was so smooth and creamy. Man. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

Anyway, I forgot to mention that on our way to the Globe we walked by King's College on Chancery Lane. That building was gorgeous. We found ourselves winding around these windy streets and an interesting staircase that went through this quaint little brick archway. I'll have to go back so you can see it, the architecture was beautiful and the street wasn't all that busy because it had the appearance of the dead-end. Of course, the secret stairs proved that assumption to be wrong. :)

I made a great sandwich for lunch with my special bread and I had fresh grapes. (I don't know what my strange need is to tell you my daily menu - but oh well. Maybe it's for Jess my little cook?) After lunch I laid down in the hallway (I HATE desks) and read Henry IV. I am now making a character list to be sure I've got everyone straight. I've got to be sure I do well in this English class - it's a big deal. I don't want to be ill-prepared.

Let's see...OH YEAH. I went to a show called Punk Rock tonight at the Lyric Theatre with my British Life and Culture class. The show was interesting. It's about how the pressure of the school systems over here (basically getting into university) can be overwhelming. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the actual play itself but I enjoyed the acting for the most part. The play left a huge twisted knot in my stomach and makes me think I'm not a fan.

Kemper and I have been working on our Newspaper project for the British Life and Culture class as well. Each of us bought an issue and on our forty-five minute ride to the Lyric Theatre we each read a section. I ended up reading what is termed the Guardian's "Education" section. I had no idea how big of a deal getting into school was - well Uni. I feel like we have problems in the states but I think it's more complicated over here. Something like 190,000 students didn't get into Uni this year. That's a big deal. The government put a restriction on school's recruiting rules, so...I don't know. I sort of feel guilty for studying over here. I wonder how I personally affect the thousands of upset University-less 18 year olds.

ALSO...I'm still trying to wrap my mind around their school system in general from the beginning to the end. I thought Little Rock was crazy constantly changing the public school system from a junior high to a middle school back to a junior high and zoning and so on. NO. Well...over here it's much more complicated. Don't even get me to explain the difference between a public and private school because there's nothing to explain considering that they are the same thing. Hmmm. Interesting. I'm definitely interested.

Anyway, I feel like Kemper and I were blending in on the tube more so than usual. We were reading a news publication just like everyone else. I was all excited. Then I was devastated because I don't want to end up like everyone else over here. Then I had to laugh because as I was thinking this our train just completely stopped in the dark. That's never happened to me before. At times like these I have to remember that I'm me, and weird things happen to me. Luckily we arrived to the theatre on time. We even popped into cafe nero to chat for a bit before we went to take our seats. I took a couple of pictures - ummm...The quality is not the best.

I'll be updating you guys again tomorrow. For now I'm off to take a shower and enjoy the comfort of my blanket and stuffed animal. What can I say? I'm a big kid at heart. Miss you guys.

Cheers.

The Thames Festival and The Letter!

Hey familial unit!!!

First of all, let me tell you something rather fun. For those of you I correct in grammar all the time - feel free to laugh and know that karma always has her way. (Yes - I am a feminist therefore Karma is a she!) :P I cannot pronounce anything here correctly. The street names, the tea names, the everything. So I learned in the best way possible that the river "Thames" is not pronounced 'Th-Ames'. Nope. Not at all. It's definitely pronounced "Timms." And actually, I think I knew that but my brain can't help but set my mouth up to pronounce 'Th-Ames' every time...Uh. Right.

There's this thing in London called the Thames Festival. The mayor actually puts it on - at least that's what all the little brochures say. They have different stages with different genres of music. Kemper and I accidentally walked into it on Sunday. We were productive a bit earlier in the day at our favourite city hide-away of St. George's gardens. We spent the morning there and then we decided to walk around. We just left the flat and started walking in a vague direction.

Well. I like this whole let's wing it mentality. The only problem is - we both realized a little late - that neither of us had our maps. Of course. Well, I had a small panic attack because I hadn't been paying attention to where we were going. However, we both burst out in laughter because there is the tube. Oh yes, the tube can save you if you get lost. Just jump in grab a line that'll take you to where you live, and you're safe. (But, in the future, I'll take my map with me everywhere I go. I pinky promise. :) )

Anyway - so we were just walking and we found some really beautiful Cathedrals. There is this one church, St. Sepulchre-without-Newgate, which we stumbled upon. It is absolutely beautiful, and we read this informative sign on the door. Apparently this church is popularly known as The Musician's Church. They have beautiful choral presentations every Monday. Kemper and I plan to come listen to the choir later on in September. (I don't have beautiful pictures of the church or most of my wanderings on Sunday because I left my camera at the flat - HUGE mistake - I won't do it again. So, sorry for the lack of photos.)

We kept on walking and found a beautiful courtyard in the middle of the city. It was in commiseration of an old church and there were beautiful roses in every colour everywhere. Kemper and I took pictures of each other stopping to smell the roses in the city that is always in a hurry. Seriously. Everyone here is always either jogging, running, or power walking to their destination.

They're not doing these things for recreation, they just seem to be in a dire hurry. Maybe there's a time warp and they are just used to the fast pace of London. Either way, I find it annoying because I think that most Londoners probably don't know about that garden. It's a peaceful place - I actually layed down on the ground and stared up at the blue sky with yellow and pink roses dangling about. It was BEAUTiful!

Let's see. We found St. Paul's cathedral after we enjoyed our time in that quaint garden. St. Paul's is absolutely astounding. We entered the court-yard and I literally had to stop for fifteen minutes and stare in awe at the building. It's crisply white with gold saints and huge columns. Oh my. I felt so small and yet like I was somehow a part of the grandeur of the building, the feeling is pretty much indescribable.

We walked through the courtyard and out onto the cobblestoned paths surrounding the great doors that are housed beneath huge stained glass. I want to go to church there. There's actually a free lecture that Kemper and I will go check out in a couple of weeks, but I'm pretty sure I want to come for a Sunday. Maybe I'm having nostalgia for my Catholic high school - but the building was amazing.

Around St. Paul's the streets were skinnier and they were also really windy, as if they were still in their original layout from the past. Who knows? Kemper and I found a neat cafe called "Grace" because it's a stone's throw away from the Cathedral. We promised we'd come back because it's so quaint.

We continued walking to the river - and we happened upon the Thames festival. I remember Julia writing about how pretty the fireworks are over the river so I got excited. We walked up and down the festival, listening to a strange jazz band and an even stranger dj. There were a bunch of booths with strange trinkets and I almost bought some yarn and some needles so I could knit. How silly is that? We didn't buy anything but we were getting pretty hungry.

We had to run around and walk all the way back. We finally just jumped in the tube to come back to eat. However, I was all sad because I thought we were done for the day and were going to miss the fireworks. Actually - Mandi texted Kemper and asked if we wanted to watch the fireworks. Even though Kemper and I were exhausted we went back out and I took my camera along this time. (However, I couldn't figure out how to put it on my fireworks mode - haha - so don't judge the pictures too harshly!)

We got on a bus (yes one of the weird red ones - the drivers are literally crazy!) and ended up right next to the river. We got out and joined the que lining the walls against the river. We were somewhere close to the eye and I took a picture. It's kind of hard to make out, but Big Ben is all lit up in the background. :) I will go back sometime and take a picture of Big Ben and Parliament all lit up at night. (Did I mention that we get to tour Parliament soon? I'm pretty pumped.)

Anywho - the fireworks went off!! It was splendid. They were so beautiful over the river. However, one thing that was a bit saddening (I guess because I miss watching the fireworks with my Dad and Jess on the grass at the country club golf course) it was so loud! The sound waves bounced off the surrounding buildings and amplified the sound of the roaring a million fold! (Ok, I'm exaggerating, but it was loud).

I still enjoyed them. And it was a great way to end another day in London.

Now - today - Monday was eventful as well. I GOT MY LETTER!!!! I posted a picture of my letter that you guys sent me. First of all, I bet it's kind of weird for you guys to think that I've ended up with this lovely letter that traveled all the way overseas to me! You have no idea. I saw it on the floor (because they slip the mail through the slot - how cliche) and I screamed. I was on the way to cafe Nero with Claire and Erin and I was literally all, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I think I scared the two of them to death. Well, I picked my letter up and ripped it open and I've read it at least ten times since I've first laid my eyes on the "We miss you" written in Momma's handwriting on the envelope! I went to cafe Nero with Claire and Erin and read the letter on the way over. I got a really neat coffee thing that was delicious. I can't remember exactly what it was called - but I took a picture of the immense amount of whipped cream they put on it. Gramner it makes me think of all the times we used to go to Starbucks after school! (Except that this coffee puts Starbucks to shame, even though Cafe Nero is a chain as well...)

Let's see...Then we went to a new grocery store today. It's a good thing because I was completely out of food. I ate a lot today. I made quesadillas for dinner with fresh veggies and hummus and cheese. Oh man. It made me think of the time Jess and I first made them with hummus. So good. :)

Hold on now, I got ahead of myself. Kemper and I decided that we wanted to plan our weekend trips today. We have Northern Ireland, Scotland, and maybe Paris on the list. The only thing that's set in stone at the moment is Northern Ireland. I'm excited. We got all that sorted out - but we sure took a long time battling numbers and dates. We also want to take a day trip to Oxford sometime in there...

We left this morning in the search of a cafe with free wi-fi. The plan was to get some nice hot tea (it was rainy in London today and colder than it has been up until today) and plan things out. Well, we got to Foyles - which is really neat. It's a cafe and a bookstore together and you have to go up these really spindly stairs to get to the cafe. However, they were really really busy and there weren't any chairs to sit on. SO...Kemper and I went walking in some random direction.

We were in soho - haha. We kept walking past interesting looking lingerie shops and such, but we finally found a pub (of all things) with free wi-fi. So we went in and at the time it wasn't really busy and we found a nice corner to sit in and we ordered a snack. I got some strange potato wedge things that were pretty good. Later after the potatoes I ordered a fosters. We were getting frustrated battling the hostel websites and it was becoming late.

Well...late and a pub usually means business. We started to feel out of place - we had picked an upper scale pub where posh looking middle-aged Londoner's were glaring at us for taking up a whole table with our computer and college looking expressions and clothes. We ditched soho and headed back to Foyles. We found it way less busy and so we finished our deal and are due to go to Northern Ireland soon! I'm so excited!

Anywho - I'll do my best to keep you guys updated and posted and content with pictures. Thanks so much for the letter! I miss you all. I must now go and read Shakespeare as I've been procrastinating.

Enjoy my scare pictures. I'll take more next time. :)

"From Soho down to Brighton..."

Ok. I know I literally just finished a post - but I was technically supposed to have that one finished yesterday. I'll go ahead now and write about how literally awesome and amazing Brighton was.

First of all, let me explain some very important information. Brighton is famous for being called the place of the "Dirty Weekend." There was a king, I don't remember which, who housed his 'second' wife in Brighton. He built her this huge palace and visited on the weekends - hence - love affairs lead somehow to 'dirty weekend.'

Anyway, on my little adventure over to the sea there was no love affair although I did fall in love with this city. Brighton has a lovely quaint feel and the coastline is full of all these beautiful buildings with Regency style architecture. AND there's the ocean and a pier with all these rides on it and stuff.

The only problem was that of course - it is England - so of course - it rained. It was miserably cold and rainy the whole time. Luckily I had my umbrella but of course I didn't think to lug my rain jacket around everywhere. I've noticed that when people travel over here (at least in the UK) they always have these huge athletic looking backpacks. Now I know why - if they are doing any sort of traveling they need to carry about such a ton of rain gear that they have to have huge backpacks to put it all in.

Now. Onwards with the story. We met our British Life and Culture professor at the train station. She had her lovely beautiful dalmatian with her named Roxy. She took us on a quick tour of all the side streets that she called "the hippie bit." Well I was excited because they had a vinyl store on every street corner and all sorts of cheaper looking used clothes stores. Oh how I love Savers and Goodwill.

As soon as we had the time to retrace our steps I bought a leather jacket. I know what you're thinking she did what? But the jacket was practical because I was cold and it's still too warm for a pea-coat. It's really cute I'll post a picture of me in it soon. I promise.

Anywho - Susie took us to the ocean and we were all a little amazed by the rocky beach. I've never seen anything like it. I picked up a bunch of rocks and such because it was fascinating to me to see a beach that was so different. After being on the beach Susie left us to explore the town. Kemper and Mandi and I went to investigate the pier. I think if it hadn't been raining I would have definitely ridden the carousel.

After that we went back to the beach one more time to walk along the shops that they have that are literally right in front of the beach. I guess that England doesn't really get hurricanes? The shops had a lot of artist studios housed in them and I thought that would be neat to work right off the beach. I really wish it had been sunny.

After we traversed for a bit we got lost in the alleyways of the city. Susie told us when she was leading us around that the narrow streets are the same layout of Brighton that existed in the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries. I was amazed by that and found that this information made walking through tiny alleyways all the more fun.

We happened to visit Brighton on the weekend of their food festival. Haha. So, they had all these booths out with all these foods. I couldn't help myself - it was like a cross between the farmer's market in the river market and a food festival. There was a booth with special bread so I bought a loaf of olive bread that was larger than my had. I made a grilled cheese sandwich with it when I woke up this morning and I'm thinking it puts sourdough bread in the states to shame. It was definitely a good purchase. I also tried a cupcake, because there was this booth that had all these sweets and the cupcakes were so dainty. They reminded me of Jess and her love of cooking, so I thought I might as well eat one.

We ate an Italian lunch for cheap and I got a Calzone. It was delicious but not as good as Vino's calzones. I have to remind myself I'm not in Italy. The group (their were nine of us that went) split up after Kemper and Mandi and I went to the pier so we called the other group to try to figure out the plan. We got such a discount on our tickets because we travelled as a group - so we all needed to leave the train station at once.

They were on a mission to hike to see the cliffs - apparently they are beautiful. I was instantly jealous when I heard about it because I wanted to go too, but not in that weather. Well, we decided to stop at a cute looking cafe and get some tea while we waited on them for dinner. We spent most of the day examining the town and looking in all the crazy funky shops. We also spent some time at the Brighton museum. I have to say that Susie is right, there's really not that much to look at in there. Kemper and I sat on a bench and criticized pottery for about a half hour. Amidst our giggling, I don't think the serious patrons appreciated our presence much.

Anyway, we had tea at a place called "Bubbles Kitschen." I guess they don't know how to spell? The tea was great I tried this brand called Pukka, because it was calling to me. The label was green and I kept it. I'm so weird and sentimental about things like that. Anyway - we chatted at the cafe for a long time and then finally figured out that we were all meeting for dinner. We happened to have Italian again (Brighton has plenty of good, cheap Italian restaurants.)

After that we all got back to the station. When we got to the station, however, Mandi and Kemper and I all needed to use the restroom. The rest of the group must not have noticed that we were gone because they hoped on a train without us. Maybe it's stupid, but that hurt my feelings a little bit. Moving forward, the bathroom at train stations charge you. I had to pay 20 pence to use the facilities. We figure they do this for vandalism reasons as well as upkeep...but I was a little indignant about that. Next they'll be charging me to breathe air. Sheesh.

Anyway I got back here yesterday and wrote a post about Thursday and Friday. This is my post for Saturday. Brighton was a nice break from the city. I know I don't ever want to live in a huge city like London - and Brighton's not small, necessarily. BUT Brighton is quaint and the people there seem nicer.

(I forgot to mention. It finally happened. Someone finally made fun of my accent to my face. We were walking down to the beach and a group of probably drunken middle aged men were yelling through the streets to each other. I was caught right in the middle of them and one of them turned to me and asked, "Do you know where there's a pub with a pool table?" His accent was pretty thick but I have no idea what kind of accent it was except that I'm sure it was vaguely British. This is the thirtieth time that someone has asked me, a foreigner, for directions. I politely responded, "No, sorry," and started moving off. I heard them screaming back in a very nasally voice to each other, "no, sorry!" as they wobbled down the streets. Unfortunately for all the bystanders we realized that their five o'clock somewhere had already come and passed. Ugh.)



I miss you guys!

A Matter of Life and Death

Well let's see. It's time for an update!

FIRST AND FOREMOST!!! I finally got my package on Thursday. The oreos are half gone and now I can sleep at night without being cold because I have my blanket! It makes this flat with it's strange noises and spiders a lot more like home. (Yes Mom, I promise I've been sharing my oreos. Mostly.)

I have been neglecting my blogging duties due to an increase in the amount of homework that I have. So I thought I would sit down and write about the past couple of days.

Thursday is essentially our Friday. (I don't have class on Friday) so after class I knew I couldn't just sit down all day - I'd have to plan something. I didn't know what to do exactly besides something that involved walking. I looked up a bunch of the weekly markets and decided to go to Spittalfields market. It's an indoor market with different themed days. I thought that Thursday was vintage day but it turned out to be antique day.

Well, Kemper and I took the tube (OH mass transportation how I hate you so!) and we managed to successfully get from the tube to the market. It was really neat. There were so many booths with cameras and costume jewelry and albums and everything that a fun antique store in Little Rock has to offer. They also had a bunch of independent artists selling their homemade crafts and such.

We walked around all afternoon and luckily avoided the sudden downpour of rain because we were in the covered market. I bought a journal from this artist who binds her own books. The journal has cloth and stuff on it and a British flag. I know I keep a blog - but I often like to write things down in my journal as well. It's really neat. I'll take a picture of it and post it later.

Anyway after that Kemper and I returned to the flat to grab our reading and head to St. George's. St. George's is a now a public park, but it used to be a cemetery for homeless bodies as well as some really rich families of London in the 1800s. It has a certain peace about it that other parks or squares around here don't have because it doesn't have a bunch of busy streets right around it. It's sort of back off in an alley - which sounds sketchtastic - but it's really peaceful. Seriously.

I managed to mostly finish Ms. Dalloway. I don't really know how I'm feeling about Virginia Woolf...I can't help but read her works as if they have a bit of feminism in them - because they do.

Anywho...After homework time I went and had some dinner with my Guardian newspaper. I have that project due in a week where I have to report on the bias of the paper with other facts and I've been picking up copies when I can. I like the subtle humour that seems to run through the articles. ALSO - what's up with this Koran burning business? Yeeeshh...This is a horrible way for Americans to be seen - especially from abroad. Now I have this worry that every Londoner that I meet is going to accuse me of being ridiculous. OH NO!

On Thursday night Kemper and I met up and went to a small music venue called Borderline. It is literally a stone's throw away from the flat. It's a lot like Juanita's and we looked up their music they had lined up. We saw two pretty good bands - (both Canadian) The Mountains and the Trees and The lines. However, the last band, Elliot Brood, who had some good music online sucked live. We left in the middle of the set because it was simply not up to snuff.

Friday I spent a whole afternoon in the Library trying to get some sufficient reading done. I am so upset with that establishment. Apparently their printer is out. WELL...I don't see how a printer is enough to keep me from getting my card!! The weird thing about London (and perhaps England as well) is that you have to swipe a card every time you go in as well as leave some important building or event. (IE you have to swipe twice on the tube and twice in the library - to enter and exit). Well, he let me in with the button and so I trapized gracefully through the turn-style. The library man gave me implicit instructions to return in an hour to pick up my card.

I went and wandered through the hugely beautiful library and found myself on the fifth floor - the music section. I studied next to the Beatle's books figuring that their biographies are comforting to me. However, true to my word, in an hour I went back to the information desk on the fourth floor to get my card. Well, of course, there was a different worker guy. So I spent fifteen minutes trying to communicate with him my problems about the card. He acted sympathetic about the technological problems of the printer and told me to come back in exactly an hour's time. Sound familiar? :-/

SO. I then went to the seventh floor to study amongst the "Language section." I felt quite at home next to Voltaire's Candide and essays. I nearly finished my book before I realized that it was time to trek back down to the information desk. It was a new worker guy and he directed me to a different desk entirely. Well the new desk directed me back to the information desk and I had to spend another fifteen minutes trying to convince the guy to simply let me out of the Library. By that time I'd been there at least three hours and I was tired of being surrounded by scholarly literature and people who can't figure out how to work around the failings of technology (a printer!!!)

After that I came back to the flat and made breakfast for dinner. It was absolutely delicious. Then I headed over to visit Mandi and Kemper to get ready for our trek to see a movie in a cemetery. Sound creepy? Of course. It's not even Halloween yet but I like to get ready early. :)

Mandi found out about this free film festival online and she asked if we wanted to go. The festival was showing old movies and the one we were going to was called, "A Matter of Life and Death." If I were a movie guru I'd tell you who the actors and actresses were but I have no earthly idea. I just know that I really enjoyed the movie. Old timey movies are always better - life was good back before they came up with the NC-17 rating for movie goers.

Anyway - getting to the cemetery was kind of cool. We took a red bus (yes a red double decker bus!) and then we took a train. Don't worry - we were still in London - but we were pushing the suburbs. It was so neat. My ticket is the coolest thing ever - it's an old film strip. We sat on Mandi's Hendrix blanket and joined in with the families and their children and did something that somewhat made me feel like a community. It was really cool. And it was completely free. I'm going to try to be on the lookout for things likes this in the future.

Only - next time we go see a movie at nighttime in a cemetery - I'll take a jacket. :) Need to work on dressing for the weather. It's been two weeks but I guess I'm still yearning for the Arkansas heat.

Well - that was my Thursday and Friday. I miss you guys. Sorry it's taken me so long to post. I'll do better in the future hopefully. (Anyone want an oreo?!)



Cheers.