Getting Around and New Friends

How could I have forgotten to mention the American friends I have met??? #blasphemy (yes I just used a hashtag in my blog, get over it) All but one are from up north and you can definitely see the differences in culture. We communicate via Facebook messaging so we only use text messages and minutes when necessary! We get together every now and again during the week and every night during the weekend and chat it up about the awesome time we are going to have and all of the some countries we are going to visit and the musicals and plays we are going to see. I think I'll just describe how I met each of them !

Jen I meet on the bus coming to university. When we got off the bus I really didn't think that I would see her again because we didn't exchange information or anything. Liz is my flatmate and I met her while we were both moving in. Later that night me and Liz were walking her mom to the buys stop where I again saw Jen. Me and Liz were on our way to dinner and asked her to join us. She said she would come later! Me and Liz were eating and had small talk with the two guys at the table next to us who happen to live in the first above us . Then Jen and Lorraine showed up (which is where I met Lorraine), and Darci asked to sit down at our table. Yaaay!!! The next day at breakfast I met Amanda and we all say next to each other at orientation. Unfortunately during orientation we had a fire drill, while we were waiting to get back in the building me and Liz met Joel. He goes to Texas Tech, but we forgive him. That's basically it!

The first Friday we were here we decided to go into central London and explore the city! The plan was to early rush Hamlet which was playing at the Young Vic and then walk around cereal London! When we arrived at the Young Vic there was already a line waiting on tickets. Were still waited only to be told there were no more tickets available for that nights showing. So we just started to weak around theatres and look for student tickets, but we came up short. Some told us to come back later that night.  So in the city we were, we stopped in Picadilly Circus and it was a wonderful site. When I stepped out of the tube station it was a mini New York City. Since I've never been to New York and I know nothing about architecture I didn't know that New York mirrors Picadilly Circus. We walked down towards the theatres and saw the theatre where Phantom of the Opera was showing. I'm still deciding if I want to see that musical, because the are others that I HAVE to see! (i.e. Wicked which I just bought my ticket for!!)

We came to The National Art Gallery and went inside. It was an enormous exhibit, but I found myself getting bored after awhile because I can find art to be boring after awhile. The museum reminded me of global/world and Spanish in high school because we looked at art as a part of our curriculum and went to an art gallery at SMU. Once we were done we took pictures in front of the art gallery. (I think it has some fancy name, but I don't remember it!) There were lions that sat on this really high pedestal that we had to climb to take a picture with the lions. Now it's about lunch time and I'm starving.  We ate at this cute little restaurant that I think was a public.  Actually that's what I'm going to call it because they have more pubs than restaurants. It seemed really fancy on the inside, but the servers clothing didn't look like something you would wear if you were working in a fancy restaurant.  I ordered honey glazed gammon (ham), fried egg (very well done), and chips. It was really tasty, and reasonably priced.

Once our bellies were full we continued our trek through central. We headed to Buckingham palace, because what is a trip to London without atleast one trip to the palace. The palace was really nice, but kind of unnecessary! I mean the was a lavish gate and it literally lead to the other side of the sidewalk. But we still took pictures and acted like complete tourists!  Once we were done at Buckingham Palace we walked through Hype Park. By the time we got here I was bored and tired so I was ready to go home, but we did see the Princess Diana waterfall tribute and the Peter Pan statue. When I got back I crashed in my bed and didn't wake up until late Saturday night!! 

Kool aid!!!!!!!!

My first cup of Kool aid in a week!!!!!!!!

Beginning of a Great Time....

Touchdown in London Town!! I have been in London for a week now and I am having a BLAST!! The first days were were very quick, but filled with lots of activity. I arrived in London on Thursday January 5th at 6 in the morning. The flight was not as horrid as I thought it was going to be and I kind of enjoyed it at some moments. Getting through the airport was not the most exciting thing. I was confused and carrying 4 bags of luggage through the airport. I eventually made it to my destination and on we traveled to the university.

It took around 2 hours to get to the university because of construction, but most of my bus (including myself) feel asleep and didn't wake up until we got to the school. We got off the buses and headed to get our keys and head to our flat. I am living in Pooley House which is situated in the back of the campus with the train traveling in behind it. (Guess which side my flat is on?) The flat is really nice! There are 8 people living in our flat (2 guys, 6 girls) and we share a kitchen. The ethnicity of my flatmates are 3 English, 1 Northern Irish, 2 Americans, 1 Swedish, 1 Korean  and 1 Bangladeshi. Everyone in my flat gets along except for this one chick who plays her music very loud. I don't think that me and my sensitive ears can take anymore of it. -__-  My room is probably one of the largest. I have a mini fridge with a community freezer in the kitchen. The kitchen has two ranges and two sinks so there is ample space for cooking.

I got to the room and unpacked what I thought was necessary to unpack. The majority of my clothes are still sitting in the space saver bags in a corner of my room. I took a "little" nap and when I woke up I went to dinner with my American flatmate. There we met up with one American girl that rode on the bus with me earlier that morning. Later that night we went to the grocery and walked to the grocery store and bought small stuff that would last us for a few day It was a 40 minute walk there and back.s.  That was about it for Thursday. On Friday we had orientation until 2 and after that we met up and took the Tube (the subway in London) to Westfield Way which is the largest shopping mall in Europe and was built for the 2012 Olympics. We went mostly to get our phones, but we ended up walking through the mall just looking at the stores (there are around 300 stores in the mall and it is 3 stories :D) We came back to the University and then walked to a bar across the street and just hung out. On Saturday everyone went grocery shopping at different times. The problem was everyone walked back instead of taking the bus. BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER! It was a 20 minute walk and I was carrying about 20 pounds of groceries on my back! I came back to my room and rested until we went out again to a pub and chilled.

Monday classes started and it has been a very confusing process for associate students (study abroad students). We are not allowed to access the online registration so every class we want to add or drop we have to go to the department head and get their signature and then go to the study abroad director's office and sit with him while he makes the changes in the system. It has been a big pain because you have to catch everyone at their office hour and pray that the class you want to get into is open.

I practically have my schedule made, I just have to get the signature to drop my social psychology course and then go to the study abroad office and have them lock it into the system. My schedule as of now is Monday's I have class from 10-1 and then 3-5, no class on Tuesday, Wednesday 9-11, Thursday 10-2, and no class on Friday. It's a pretty nice schedule. I am taking 4 classes and I have been to three of them. There is a lot of reading, but I do not have to buy books for every class. I just go to the library and read the pages for that week, which is kind of nice.

The Library. The library is REALLY nice! It looks more like a club when you walk it because it has neon lights on the ground floor, but there is a open feeling when you walk in even if you do not know what you are doing.

The rest of the week was filled with me sleeping or learning about British and Northern Irish culture or even learning about myself. All of my American friends are from the North and my flatmate is a linguistic major and I never noticed how southern and accent I had until she pointed certain things out such as "y'all" and the foods I eat. But it's still interesting because I get a chance to compare everything to northern American, Sweden, Bangladesh, Britian, and Northern Ireland so I have loved every minute of it.

Overall the first few days here were really nice. I was/am still getting over jet lag, but it's been a fun experience.