Having Fun

The people here are great =) I know most of what I post is about how fabulous London is, but here is one all about how great my flatmates (and the people next door) are.

A dinner with my flat and the one next door. We are having chili! mmmmm......

Going out for a birthday celebration

The peeps in the flat next door. A lovely bunch =)

We had Christmas dinner cooked by everyone--roast chicken, carrots, potatoes, sweet potato fries, salad, Christmas pudding, and a cake. It was delicious-- and how fun it is to have a meal with friends! Definitely better than sitting alone at the table eating a tired bowl of pasta!

Carving (or rather, picking apart) the chicken. This was such a find. An entire raw chicken with herbs and pork rosemary stuffing for 3 pounds!! That's good value....

Everyone eating Christmas dinner

Yes, I'm squeezing his butt....

Apparently you're supposed to set the English Christmas pudding on fire with alcohol?!

The Usual Pretty Pictures

OK here are the usual beautiful pictures of London. Yes, yes, I am quite the photographer =)

I love how it looks like the Tate Modern spider is crawling all over London. St. Paul's in the background

A section of a copy of Rodin's Burghers of Calais in front of Parliament

Parliament in the dark.

Christmastime in London

Christmastime in London is amazing! Everything is so beautiful (when it isn't rainy and wet!). Actually, speaking of, the weather is crap here. It's always rainy and freezing cold and there are puddles everywhere and it gets dark at 4:00 PM. And they say it will get even worse in the coming months!! Aaack!!! Back to beautiful Christmas... the city is so big so everywhere you go, it's decorated in a unique way. There are trees and lights everywhere. I'm posting some of my favourite Christmas spots: Covent Garden, Oxford Street, Hays Galleria, etc.

The market at Covent Garden--I love this because the decorations are so tasteful and elegant

I think this is called Carnaby Street or Wharf or something.. it's off of Oxford street and it's a buch of great little stores and I love these unique decorations

Beautiful twinkling blue lights around Southbank/Waterloo. I LOVE walking by here at night.

Angel decorations down a side street of Oxford Street. In case anyone didn't know, Oxford Street is THE shopping street. With literally any store you can imagine. You could spend days shopping here!

An ice rink an gorgeous tree at Somerset House, near my school. Maybe one day I will pay the $24 to skate there....

It's a big deal here to light the Traflager Square Christmas tree. It started as a gift of a tree from Norway in 1947 to say thank you for help during WWII. So I went, thinking it would be great. They play it up like the Rockafeller tree, so I had high expectations. Well first, of course it was raining. So that automatically brought it down a notch. And the tree was.....disappointing. Like a Charlie Brown tree. Fairly tall, but super scraggly and thin. And just a few lights draped haphazardly over it. And you couldn't hear the choir singing carols. And the rain made the tree branches droop even more than usual. Maybe I'm too used to "America--bigger and better", but it was sort of a disappointment! Picture below....

Sorry to end this posting with such a sad photo, but it was a sad tree.

Visits from People I Love! Thanksgiving!

November was full of visits from people I love. For Thanksgiving, Kathy and Monica came! We had a fabulous time...I showed them my favorite London stops and we had the most delicious Thanksgiving meal on the planet on top of the OXO Tower (it has some of the best views of London in the city). Yes, it was strange to spend Thanksgiving here because no one seemed to care! No turkey, no cooking, no Macy's parade, no football, no feeling of exploding from food overload. But the most important thing is that I gave thanks for having the most fabulous flatmates ever, and that this London experience has been extraordinary. And that I got to spend it with family, how wonderful!

Kathy and Monica!!

We went to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London (a way to get in for FREE!!) and saw this procedure for locking up the tower that they've done every night for over 700 years!At Greenwich--beautiful as ever!

Just after Thanksgiving, Nicole visited! She came to the big city from this little hick town in America called New York. So naturally she was like a country mouse out of her element =) First adventure was finding her... she arrived into the airport at around midnight, took a train to central London, than a night bus to about 10 minutes from my flat. So she calls at around 2:00 AM and I attempted to meet her at the bus stop (I got a bit lost!). Crazy that the night never sleeps here. Probably there are more normal people out at 2:00 AM than 2:00 PM! But she made it here and we had a fabulous time. We saw the crack at the Tate Modern, went to Covent Garden, shopped at Portabello Market, ate at a pub, had fish and chips, attempted to go to quiz night, played card games with the flat, took a walking tour of Westminster, and had girl talk time at night! An amazing time with a dear friend!! Alas, it was too short.

Sleepover with Nicole! I may not have a big floor, but it's open for whoever wants to visit =)

Nicole under the giant iron spider outside of the Tate Modern. The spider even has eggs in an egg sac. Watch out!

My First Visitor

So nothing exciting happened this week.
JUST KIDDING! My dear friend, Emily, visited London on her way home from a two-year term working as a missionary in Botswana. Her experience is fascinating, so you should read of her adventures on her blog (emilyinbotswana.blogspot.com). I had the idea for my blog from her, so credit to you! Her boyfriend, Andy, also came to London to be on vacation with her. So here is what we did during her week here...

1.) See Spamalot
Emily, Andy, and I went to see Spamalot, which is a musical based on Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. It was hilarious! Even though we had nosebleed seats (FOUR flights up from the stage, and tall men blocked our view). There were even binolulars for rent up where we were. The best part was when everyone in the audience sang along with "Always look on the bright side of life". We had never heard of it (it's from the Life of Bryan) but it a HUGE song here! Absolutely everyone knows it.

Spamalot at the Palace Theatre--hilarious!

How nice it is to get dressed up for a show

2.) Have the Exciting and Authentic London Experience
Things I made Emily and Andy do...

• Cheesy poses for the camera

Like so...

The absolute ultimate in cheesy London photos!

• eat greasy fish and chips
  

fried food + beautiful historic location at the Tower of London = happiness!

• go to a pub quiz and WIN!
  

We went to the quiz night at one of LSE's bars, and the team with my flatmates, Emily, Andy, and I WON! That's right, we're smart. We won a 30 pound bar tab for that night, tickets to Crush (a party that occurs every Friday night), and a flight to a European city! Not too bad....

• See fireworks for Guy Fawkes Day (Bonfire Night)
  

okay, okay, so no, I did not take this cool picture, but we did see fireworks! And there was a carnival

• get caught in a gang war of fireworks and screaming rockets in the middle of the street

Sadly, we were too busy getting the heck out of dodge to take a picture! But the story is: we were walking back to the tube station from seeing the fireworks. Policemen warned us to maybe take the bus to the station, as teenagers were out setting off fireworks in the street. We walked! So all of a sudden, the gaggle of teenage girls in front of us start screaming their heads off and running away. And firework rockets went screaming down the middle of the street, too close for my comfort! And then we saw up ahead a war zone of rockets and fireworks being launched across the street at each other, hitting cars and buildings! We got out of there pretty fast...

• See the Queen

Yes, I saw the queen AGAIN! We were on Fleet Street and a police officer wouldn't let us cross the road. Then a motorcade drove by, and we saw the Queen in the backseat of a big black car! Two queen sightings in less than a month... maybe she is following me.

• Force Emily to do horrible, Western things

Like eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream. OK, if anything, Emily forces us to do stuff! By saying "I haven't had this in TWO years!"

3.) Had a Great Time
I had such a great time with Emily and Andy! It was amazing to have friends here (especially ones who have been holed away in Botswana for 2 years!) and show them what I think is cool here.

The place where we saw fireworks for Bonfire Night had a huge carnival with haunted houses and moon bounces and merry-go-rounds and a concert and a swing ride, which we went on!

fun fun fun...oh and classes to

Favorite Things...
I've been in London for just over a month, and everything is fantastic! Maybe I'll make a list of my favourite (notice the UK spelling!) things....

1. how international the student body at the LSE is. In one of my seminars of 15 people, five continents are represented. You get so many new perspectives on the issues that you study.
   
2. finding new places in London that are really cool. Like staircases all over that lead down into the river. Not that you would ever want to wade in...
3. fish and chips
4. markets; there is one near where I live where they hang rabbits and chickens by the neck for sale. There is also a stall to buy goose liver fat, yum!
5. dinner with flatmates
6. walking around at night (in a safe area, no worries!) and seeing the things you see everyday, but with no one around
7. having a cuppa (tea that is!)
   
8. riding on the top deck of the bus (extra special if I get the front row seat)
   
9. getting to the point where I often see people I know on the LSE campus--not everyone is a stranger anymore!
10. that I'm getting used to being a student again--pasta for dinner 3x a week, updating my blog at 1:00 AM, willing my eyes to stay open in morning lectures, reading for classes whenever I get a free chance...

Everyone Likes Pictures...
You gotta love Westminster Bridge!

Love the big red buses!

Isn't this a lovely image of peace? What we're all working towards...

Big Ben is always a favorite


Another vantage point of the houses of Parliament

Autumn sort of crept up on me here, because I'm used to the extravagant Virginia leaves changing. This is a lovely park

Creepy looking stairs leading down to the river--these kinds of staircases are all over the city. On this particular one, we saw a very very sick bird who had come to this place to die.

Classes
The past month has been fantastic, as I've said. I've gotten into the swing of classes--they are definitely intense! You have to do a ton of reading, it's very independent-research based. I'm taking a class on globalization, a class on complex emergencies, and one on foreign and security policies of Russia and Eurasia. They are all incredibly fascinating, and it's great when I can make connections between them. Like how a lecture/seminar in global ethics is relate-able to discussions on perceptions of war. OK, not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it!

Day trip to Dover
Today Ty (a next-door flatmate) and I took a day trip to Dover, England. I really just wanted to go somewhere and get out of the city for a bit, and chose Dover rather randomly. It's a couple of hours southeast of London, and is where the chunnel begins, leading to France! We had a bit of trouble getting there (canceled train, connection, etc) and didn't end up arriving until almost 4:00. Oh, and of course it was a rather crap day in terms of weather. So it was rather late and dark, but Dover was great! There is a huge castle sitting on top of the cliffs, overlooking the water. The white cliffs are really famous and spectacular. I would love to go back again, when the weather is nice and there is actual daylight!
Ty takes her first train ride ever! We bought a giant box of cookies from Marks and Spencer (the best food store ever!) for the ride

playing around with the color accent settings on my camera

a great little church in Dover

So the Dover Castle is on top of a really big hill, and as it was getting dark (and OK so we're lazy) we didn't want to walk up, so we tried to hitchhike a ride. No one wanted us, though!

a cool looking little street

Dover is where the chunnel to France is!

Posing by the water--it is the Straight of Dover, and in the way way distance is France

Ty and I! It was quite windy

The white cliffs--gorgeous!!

the queen!!

Today is such a momentous day that I have to post twice. Today....I saw the Queen of England!! That's right, Queen Elizabeth II. I was walking back from school and there was a crowd of people and a ton of policemen around the HMS Belfast (a old war ship converted into a museum). So I asked what's up and someone said the queen was going onto the ship! Yes, I'm gloating because I saw the queen today....
There she is....the little old lady in the purple suit and pink hat! What fashion!

The Queen's cars

A copper guarding the queen!!

A Walk to School

OK so I thought I'd take you on the walk that I try and do everyday--the walk from my residence (near the Tower Bridge) to the LSE (near Aldwych). It usually takes about 45 minutes and is amazing. It's almost entirely along a path following the river west and passes landmarks like the Tower Bridge, the Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre, St. Paul's, etc. So enjoy!

A block or so away from my residence, you're walking down the street, and BAM! The Tower Bridge around the corner! This is a really cool area that used to be all warehouses and was taken over by artists in the 1960s I think, then gentrified in the 1980s.


This weird looking building is the City Hall. From across the river it looks like a sphere, but from this angle it just looks strange. The mayor of London, Ken Livingston, works here!

Southwark Cathedral (pronounced suth-erk, really fast!) A gorgeous place!

This is where the river path veers off, and you have to walk down some really cool narrow, cobblestone streets. This is the Clink Prison Museum.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre!

This is the Millennium Bridge that crosses over to the City (the financial district) and puts you right at St. Paul's Cathedral. I always thought it was an interesting juxtaposition--the millennium bridge leading to this really old and historic church...

The Tate Modern museum, with a giant metal spider thing out front.... the museum is a converter power plant!

OK now I've crossed over Blackfriars Bridge to get to the north side of the Thames. This is a view of I think it's called Queen Victoria walk--basically a river path that I think is really beautiful.

A view looking to the north, you can see the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. The bridge is Waterloo Bridge, which I sometimes will cross because you get an amazing view of the city.

This is Aldwych, a really really busy intersection-like place. The building is the Australian Embassy. Almost to the school!

The Royal Courts of Justice are right next to the LSE!

And this is the LSE! The main entrance is Houghton Street. There aren't many people here yet because it's only 9:00 AM!

Oh yes, the Economists' Bookshop! A place for economics and politics nerds like me...