Trips and Trafalgar Square

Haven't had much going on since last time. We started our first full week of classes on Monday. I'm really enjoying my British Television Studies class. My teacher is very relaxed and knowledegable about the system. It's actually way more interesting than I had originally thought. We watch a lot of clips and shows and film so four hours of class goes by quite quickly. I have to walk about fifteen minutes to get there and we get a 30 minute break in the middle of class so it's not too bad. Tuesday I felt really sick so I went to Carla's right after class. I did my laundry and rested on the couch most of the day. She made us a really nice chicken parmasean for dinner when Peter got home. Then we watched a great French movie about a school for troubled boys and a choir they start there. I didn't think I would like the subtitles but after a while you forget they're there. The music was so beautiful. Then Anthony and his friend got in and we chatted with them for a bit. I headed home to sleep and felt a little bit better on Wednesday.

Wednesday night I met up with Anthony and we went to this really cool pub called Gordon's which is like in the underground tunnels of London but it was crowded and hot so we took our bottle of wine and sat in Trafalgar Square. It was so great. It's like those things you always want to do but never actually get around to. Spontaneous and beautiful. Such a good time. Then we took a scenic walk past Buckingham Palace and Green Park and hung out back here in the kitchen. We can't have guests stay here late so they had to leave about 12. This morning I had to go to the Branding Museum for my marketing class. It was kind of boring but we have to find a topic there to write our paper on. Then Alex, Allie and I met Anthony and his friend to go down to Brick Lane. It's in the financial district and is famous for its Indian Food. Alex has her internship interview there tomorrow so we wanted to make sure she knew where she was going. We hung out at a cool place for lunch and walked around a while.

We just got home and the girls and I are going to make tacos for dinner. Alex, Allie and I decided to order our groceries online because they deliver for free if its over 100 pounds. We just made it by combining our orders so that will be here within the hour. It's nice not to have to carry our heavy stuff all the way from the store in the cold or pay for a cab. Hope everyone at home is doing well. I'm mailing postcards tomorrow. I'll talk to you all soon!

Well it's 2:48 and I've been up for ... oh about 2 hours. Last night was Reggie's 21st birthday so we had a big night. The rest of orientation week was not fun but Friday we went to Tower of London. It was way more fun than I thought it would be. It was really cold but the tour guide was really funny and I learned a lot. Then we came back, made a couple of frozen pizzas and pasta and had a nice dinner in the kitchen. We got Reggie some pretty cupcakes for her birthday. Then we finally got everyone together to head out. We went to Notting Hill Arts Club. It's like a trendy, indie type underground place. It had good music but an expensive cover charge and pricey drinks. Still a really good time. Unfortunately, I lost my coat check ticket when we went to leave so I had to wait until literally everyone cleared out of the club before they would give me my jacket. I don't know what time we got back but we all slept pretty late today. We made breakfast and are finally getting it together to go out for the day. It's pouring out so it's not much of a sightseeing day but we're going to go to the Natural History Museum. What's great about most of the museums here is that they're free to go in. Later, we're going out to Thai for Reggie's birthday dinner and to a pub after. I've gotta start getting ready but I'll upload a few pictures before I do. Missing everyone at home. Update again soon!

Snowy London

This morning Alex and I woke up to some snow in London. They don't really "do snow" here. I think someone told me that there's one snow plow for the entire airport so people really tend to freak out because everything comes to a halt when it snows. It's funny because none of the sidewalks are shoveled or salted or anything. It was mainly just slushy but it was pretty. My aunt said that it's only snowed like twice in the last fifteen years so it is a pretty big deal. We had another whole day of lectures from 9:30 to 4:30 which was like absolute torture. Some of them were really interesting but it was just such a long day. I'm really happy that part of orientation week is over. We had dinner with our flatmates last night which was okay and then Alex, Allie and I came back and watched a movie and went to sleep because we're still so exhausted. I feel a lot better now that my shower is fixed in my room. Tonight we're going to a comedy show and dinner set up by the program which should be okay. We'll probably go out somewhere afterwards. But it is so freaking cold out that I just don't want to walk anywhere. I'm already sick of wearing my boots and my peacoat all the time. I think it's supposed to get warmer soon. Even just being in the 40s would be a big improvement. I'm just ready for this week to be over so I can actually get started doing things and seeing where we're living. Tomorrow we have class 9-1 and then I think I'm going to go pick up some more things with Carla. Here are a couple pictures of the snow out my window and one from when we met up with Joe and Mark.

Hi from London...

It's my second day here but I feel like it's been a lot more. I already feel very at home. I moved in yesterday and then had a lot of orientation meetings. Then I got settled in the room and went over to visit Carla and Peter. Alex and I walked and it took probably less than 15 minutes which is really nice and convenient. Then some girls and I went out to dinner at a little Italian place and to a pub for a drink. All of the bars close here really early so we got kicked out at 10:30. We tried to stay up for a while here but I was so exhausted. I think I'm going to lose weight here because we really don't eat often and when we do it isn't much. I can't make myself spend a lot of money on groceries and so food just isn't around. So I'm looking forward to that. Unfortuately, I've been perpetually dehydrated since I've been here also. I don't ever pee because I don't ever drink water. But I'm trying to be better about that. It's not worth it to buy bottled water so I've just been using the sink but it's kind of inconvenient. Yesterday felt like the absolute longest day of my life. Today I slept until 11:15 even though I had the good intentions to set an alarm for 10:30. It was a nice idea when I went to sleep but my body refused. I walked over to Carla's and we went shopping for some groceries and sheets and got my Oyster Card. It's so so nice to have her here. She's the best resource. Just as I got back Alex and I had to run downstairs and meet a group to go to Westminster Docks to go on a boat trip. It was pretty fun because the tour guide told us some good information about the sights and you got to see everything. Then the windows fogged up and you couldn't really see anything anymore. We went up to the top at the end to take pictures. It was really pretty just as the city was beginning to light up. We came home, cold and tired, and cleaned up our stuff a little. I have to shower down the hall because our shower only has one temperature. It's boiling. We put in a request but nothing's been done about it. It's also pretty cold in here all of the time. The heater in the corner doesn't produce much but as long as we keep it on high and the drapes closed it's not too bad. Tonight is pub night somewhere close that the program set up so we're going to get ready for that now. We were hoping to drink a little bit here before we go but we only have less than a bottle of wine so we'll have to do something about that soon. I'll post pictures in a minute. Tomorrow is all lectures about British culture and student life so I won't update about those because they'll probably be incredibly boring. Talk to you soon!