A Week In Review

I have a lot to cover, so here goes!

January 9th - It was our first free day. 2 of my roommates (Annie and Michelle) and I went off on our own to Portobello Market over in Notting Hill. It was our first time taking the tube. It wasn't too hard... it is definitely more organized than any subway I've been on in the US. We found out quickly that on the escalators you must stand on the right because people keep walking up the left.

The neighborhood actually kind of reminded me of San Francisco. There are 2 miles of shops, stalls, carts, and tables. It mainly houses antiques, but you can find the most random stuff there. I've made it own of my goals to get some good vintage jewelry while I am here. We stopped at the Hummingbird Bakery (similar to Sprinkles or Crumbs) for cupcakes. They were delicious! They weren't too big (like at Crumbs) and not overly sweet. Annie and I split a black bottom (dark chocolate with cream cheese frosting) and it was amazing - and this is coming from someone who isn't a big dark chocolate fan. Michelle's red velvet was delicious too. Side note... red velvet is usually my favorite, but my roommates and I decided to always buy different foods when we are out so we can try as many things as possible. For lunch we went to a place called Progreso. It was quite difficult ordering because so many Londoners have thick accents. The city is incredibly diverse, more so than LA or New York. At one point when we were back looking at stalls, we were taking pictures of stacks of old books. This old man came up behind hind us and yelled at us to stop taking pictures. We just responded "ok..." and he was like "JUST DON'T!" Not always the friendliest bunch of people haha. It started snowing outside and was windy so we stepped into one of the shops along the street. Their electricity wasn't working so it was almost as cold inside as it was outside. It was time for us Cali girls to head home. While we were speed walking back to the tube their were still groups of musicians playing with bare hands and heads and you just think, "They are crazy!"

me, Michelle, and Annie

Portobello Road

Hummingbird Bakery

January 10th - All 26 of us went on a coach tour around the city today. Angie narrated our hop on-hop off tour past Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Prince Albert's Memorial, Buckingham Palace, etc. We waited to watch the Changing of the Guard at the normal time, but the guards came late and from a different direction than usual. Angie said she had never seen it happen before but thought it was probably because of the extraordinarily cold weather. After the tour several of us went to Harrods on Oxford St. That store is incredible. It feels like Disneyland with all the saturated colors, music, bright lights, and costumes. It's so big that it isn't hard to believe they will sell you anything. A yacht? Check. A vacation? Check. An elephant? Bring them the permits signed by the government and you have yourself a check. We walked around all the food areas and went up a couple floors but decided we would have to come back to spend more time there.

on The River Thames w/ the Tower of London and Tower Bridge in the background

Westminster Abbey

Harrods at night

January 11th - Stopped by the British Museum for the first time. It is literally around the corner from my flat. We went through the Egyptian section and saw the Rosetta Stone and the mummies. The museum is so big we decided to take it a section at a time so we can get through it all and not be overwhelmed. We went to the Peter Jones department store to pick up a couple of things for the flat.

ceiling in the lobby of British Museum

Rosetta Stone

January 12th - First day of classes. Our classes are done in the European way. We have them once a week for 3 hours. A lot of our assignments don't have an actual due date... they just have to be turned in by the end of the semester. I think it's a good way to teach self-motivation. My first class, Intercultural Britain, is with Philip Drummond, an old British guy with a dry sense of humor. He's a bit old-fashioned and talks slowly. It's going to be a long 3 hours, but it should be a good background on the UK. My second class, the Geopolitics of Information, is taught by Shawn Powers. He has traveled all over the Middle East for his dissertation and I feel like I am really going to learn a lot from him. In a couple weeks we are visiting Al Jazeera English, which is located in London. At night our group saw Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre. Our program pays for our tickets... we have 3 more shows we can attend throughout the semester. It was really entertaining to watch a musical tweaked for the British sense of humor.

The Victoria Palace Theatre

January 13th - During the first 8 weeks of the semester we have a lab for our class The Rhetoric of London. Our first trip was to the Tower of London. I really loved looking at all the old buildings and the crown jewels were so beautiful. My favorite was probably Queen Victoria's crown, which is a lot smaller because she was only 4'10''. On the way home we stopped at a different supermarket than normal, Waitrose. It is SO much nicer than Sainsbury's! There is much more of a selection and I was finally able to buy a notebook. They even have a conveyor belt and shopping carts. A little slice of home:) For dinner a small group went to a Portuguese chicken restaurant called Nando's. The food was really good for a decent price. Definitely planning on going back.

all the girls w/ our tour guide Angie

standing in front of the slit made for shooting arrows and for light

Kristy, Michelle, me, Annie

"Off with her head!" ...where Ann Boleyn and other royals got their heads chopped off

January 15th - Had another class with Shawn Powers yesterday on Media Consumption. I think it's going to be just as good as his other one. Sorrel (one of the girls in the Accent office) took us to Borough Market, which was made famous by the British chef Jamie Oliver. The food there was delicious. Needless to say, I bought a lot of food... including mushroom pate, bread pudding, Malaysian chicken curry, pumpkin ravioli, and eidel-weiss beer, a German wheat (really good!) The market also houses two points that were filmed in the Harry Potter movies, The Leaky Cauldron and the nightbus stop. At night we went to a club called Plan B in Brixton that was having a hip hop night. The music was just ok... not quite as hardcore as hip hop from the US but it was still fun. Apparently after I left some people started rapping live that were pretty good. The club had rows of bleachers on the sides where people would chill and watch the dance floor or make out. It was quite odd haha.

Borough Market
Turkish Delight... not my favorite
lots of good beer!
Malaysian chicken curry, my delicious lunch
The Leaky Cauldron
me, Victoria, Olivia, Amy at Plan B

January 17th - It was finally sunny for the first time since I've been here. Kristy, Annie, and I went bought lunch and brought it to Regents Park and ate it on a bench there. It was so refreshing to escape from the city. While I love living in the city, you all know I was raised a country girl and get out in the open air from time to time. I can just imagine how pretty the parks are going to be in the spring when they flowers all blossom. I can't wait to have real picnics! While the parks are really pretty, in some ways they seem a little to stiff and contrived. I like how things grow wild naturally, and the flora here is a bit constrained.

Kristy, Annie, me

As for today there hasn't been much going on. We had a brief tour of a library that we get to use and I did a little grocery shopping. Sorry this post was so long... they will normally be much short since I won't be writing about an entire week. If you've made it this far congratulations and til next time, cheers!