London lately, belatedly

NOTE: You can see more pictures here!

I suppose it's time to update this blog that I thought I would so faithfully keep. It's impossible to know where to start because so much as happened in the last MONTH (I cannot believe it's already been that long!), so this will probably be the much abridged version of what a real blog would have been all this time. This first entry will probably be massive and sound horribly touristy, trying to list all that I've done, but oh well- here goes!

I said goodbye to Fayetteville on December 29th and Ashley and I set off for Fort Smith, which surprisingly was a pretty awesome and non-stressful airport! Also had comfy armchairs, which is definitely an upgrade from the usual hard and terrible airport seats. After a quick stop in Dallas, I was on my first trans-atlantic flight! It wasn't nearly as bad I thought- except that the window seat we thought we had turned out to be an aisle seat, which is much more problematic for sleeping. When we arrived in London, Heathrow also was nothing like the horror I was expected after listening to rants about it for years, but maybe we were just lucky. It IS very worrisome that the woman at Customs took my word for it that I'm a student studying abroad for 6 months and stamped my student visa without asking for a single lick of documentation. I'm sure the UK immigration agency would be thrilled that anyone could just waltz right in and stay a while!

The real horror was the hour long Tube ride to King's Cross and the hellish hostel awaiting us there.

Hostel near Kings Cross

Getting the third floor with all our luggage was quite a feat, but maneuvering it to get things out in a space this small was even harder! There was about an inch of space to sleep in, as the bunk "beds" were stacked 3 high and about half the width of a normal twin bed. Add to this FREEZING showers (literally numbing my scalp it was so cold) and an overall grimy-ness and you get the picture. At least we were in a 6 person room, unlike when Miranda joined us the next day and had a 12 person room with 11 guys and a stench of feet. Lovely- at least all other hostels will be like palaces in comparison, so it can only look up!

We spent the first couple of days just exploring the area. I was still getting a feel for London life and trying not to get run over by double-decker buses when crossing the street. Good thing on every corner, it's painted on the ground "Look Left" or "Look Right" for tourists like me! I was pleased to find that Coca Cola tastes only slightly different because they use real sugar but is still good (I can hardly tell now), Starbucks is more or less the same (although I've started getting coffee from other shops recently), and that it comes in handy to have a wide range of international food tastes because traditional british food is usually disappointing!

The British National Library turned out to be pretty close to Kings Cross, so one day we checked it out. It is a lot like our National Archives and Library of Congress all rolled into one, and I had no idea when we went exploring that I would get to see the original Magna Carta! That was a pleasant surprise for the history nerd in me. 

Then it was New Years Eve before we knew it! Without going into the saga of the whole night (I can't write a novel here), I'll just say that the brits sure know how to put on a fireworks show, and the view from a rooftop club called The Penthouse probably helped a fair bit too.

Getting excited to celebrate 5/6/8 hours earlier than our friends!  

2011! 

Starting on Jan. 1, I had orientation activities for about a week, which needless to say was hardly enthralling. BUT I finally got to move into my home for the next few months! Can't complain- it's a single bedroom and I share a kitchen and bathroom with one other suite-mate. The building is a new 33-floor skyscraper that houses only students, and is located near Liverpool Street Station, pretty much in the business district. The area is really lively with restaurants and shops and pubs, and every weekend there is a market just around the corner. There's a pub right down the street called "Dirty Dicks" (I'm not joking) that is actually older than America. Sad. 

Anyway, when I had some spare time around orientation activities, Ashley and I explored the shopping district around Piccadilly and Oxford Circus and checked out the Ice Bar, where everything is made out of ice and it's kept below freezing. We ate at Dans Le Noir, a really cool restaurant where you eat in the pitch dark for a "sensory experience" and all the waiters are blind, and they don't tell you until afterwards what you ate (no worries- just lamb, duck and pork!). We went to two beautiful concerts at St. Martin in the Fields off Trafalgar Square- one jazz concert, and Vivaldi's Four Seasons :)

And probably the highlight of the rest of Ashley's time visiting was our 2 day trips around England! On the first day we went to Windsor, Bath, and Stonehenge and on the second day to Leeds Castle, Lacock (a little medieval village), Dover, and Greenwich. I could literally write a novel about all the amazing things we saw on those days, but the castles were my favorite part! 

Outside Windsor

Leeds Castle

Roman Baths... at Bath

(Remember, more pictures here!!)

But alas, sadly Ashley's visit was over :( and it was time for classes to start. 

Since classes are worth more credits here, I'm in 3 full classes and another optional History of London class (my favorite one), where we mainly go on tours around historical parts of London. Classes are fairly similar in style to the US, except that they only meet once a week and the reading/homework is much less structured for you. The main differences I've noticed are that it is so not cool to participate or discuss in class (whereas at home you usually get graded on participation!) and that a lot of british students act quite rude in class and don't mind talking at full volume over the professor, which is obnoxious. 

Generally, though, I really like all of my "modules," and I still have 3 day weekends (Fridays off) which is good for traveling. :) I will be taking advantage of that this weekend for my first european trip outside of London- to AMSTERDAM! I'm sure there will be a post about it on here in the near future.

I know I'm forgetting and leaving out tons of stuff (including nightlife), but it'll have to do for trying to cover an entire month. I promise the entries will be more varied and often in the future :) But for now I want to get out and take advantage of the 1 hour left of daylight (it gets dark at 5pm here!) before it's time to do some reading (sadly). 

Cheers!! x