First Week!

Hello loyal blog readers! Things are going well so far. I've registered as an official student, complete with ID card. I've been spending most of the past week walking around and getting to know the city more. Some pretty cool things happened, so check it out!

Pub names that I've seen while walking around:

• Hornimen of Hayes
• White Swan and Cookoo
• the Turk's Head
• the Nag's Head
• the Blue Eyed Maid
• the Boot and Flogger
• Spread Eagle
  

Apparently I look local
So in the past 5 days I've had 5 people ask me for directions! And once I was actually able to help you...oh yeah! But seriously, it's been great having time to just walk around a ton. It's a fantastic way to see the city, and I love the moments of "hey, I know where I am!" I now know multiple ways of getting from my residence to the school, without a map =)

London Weather
OK I don't want anyone to say "I told you so" but it is COLD here! I was prepared for some cold, later on, but it has been in the mid-40s-- that's December weather in Virginia! So I've resorted to wearing my winter coat and scarf already--September isn't even over yet! I went shopping for a more substantial winter coat, but London stores seem to be a slave to the 3/4 sleeve length coats. To make things worse, I guess it isn't usually this cold this early, and the heat in my residence hasn't been turned on yet, and the maintenance man is on holiday. This means everyone freezes!
Here I am shivering in my room! I wore my winter jacket and scarf inside. Mom, I need a blanket!!

So one of my flatmates is from Ireland and he said it rains a ton there. When I asked him if people carried umbrellas or had raincoats, he said that in Ireland, mostly only women carry umbrellas! Men just duck their head, hunch their shoulders, and jog a bit to get out of the rain faster. This struck me as pretty hilarious.... And you know what? I noticed it to an extent here! A lot of men in suits carried umbrellas, but a LOT of men didn't, even though it was raining pretty hard. Crazy...

Cell Phones
OK so cell phones have never made me happy before. I've never had the newest, or flashiest, or even really talked or texted very much. But my cell phone here is making me very very happy! Number one, i now know the time. I've pretty much stopped wearing watches (they tend to stop on me, something about kinetic energy?) and rely on my phone. So not having a phone means not knowing what time it is! Second, I like the safety of knowing I can call for help. Except for yesterday when I got lost in East London and had forgotten both my phone and map... Third, with the network I'm on, it's actually cheaper to make international calls and texts than to call within the UK! So I can call people at home in the US for 5 pence a minute (10 cents)! I've also been texting Emily in Botswana, which is pretty awesome =)

Totally Random
So I went to Selfridges (a huge department store) and in the food hall they have an aisle of "American" fod. Including Oreos, Cheez Whiz, Instant Potatoes, hot dogs in a jar (see picture), instant mac and cheese, and more... And all of these things were absolutely outrageously priced--Oreos cost 7 pounds ($14!!!) and a box of instant mashed potatoes was 5 pounds ($10!).
you know Americans love their hot dogs in a jar...

Rat Race
Today (Saturday) was the London Rat Race. The sign read, "This is an urban adventure which sees teams of 3 competitors take part in a multi-sport adventure event all the way across the city. They will run, bike, navigate, climb, abseil and kayak their way around the course which is only revealed hours before they begin, covering up to 80km in the process! During their journey they will counter various "Rat Traps" where they will perform special tasks before moving onto the next checkpoints. Although this is a tough event, anyone can entre. Competing within this one we have an eclectic bunch of teams, from postmen to post grads, from stockbrokers to students and from lycra-clad racing whippets to armchair adventurers!"
So the rest of the day I would see teams of 3 people running around. Get this--I saw a man running, and he attached a "leash" around his chest to the man running behind him. So if the man behind him slowed down, he would be dragged forward!! Insane....
The race began on Potters Field, near my dorm

Other Pictures from the week
this is AWESOME! It's a temporary public art exhibition thing--a gigantic swimmer coming out of the ground--looks like he's swimming next to the river

Oxford Street is absolutely insane on weekends--like Times Square on crack. But it has every store you could ever imagine--shopper's heaven!

Can you tell that I'm in love with where I live? This is a view of the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge--part of my daily commute!

A cool looking fountain with a dolphin and a man. While I was sitting here, I saw a group of kids wade into the fountain, shoes and all, and collect money....