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...

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....

Endings and Beginnings

Hello all!
So, welcome to my blog. I promise to do my best to make it fun and interesting--no boring stories about what I learned in class!
So thanks to everyone who came to see me off on my last day! It was wonderful to see everyone, even though no one danced for me. I WILL spread the game to London....
Here are a few pictures...


Roommates for a time! Callie is struggling to get away...


me with all of my suitcases--had to pay an overage charge! But it doesn't look like that much to me...


TO LONDON!!
So then my plane ride over was fantastic! It was only maybe 20% full, so I got a whole row to myself =)
Immediately after checking in, a girl in the flat across from me said she and her mom were going to the Tesco (a big Walmart-like store) that's a distance away. Apparently it's the only big super-store like that that sells everything you need--BECAUSE the dumb dorm doesn't give you a single thing, like toilet paper or trash bags. So I made a nuisance of myself and tagged along, relying on their directional sense. Nothing can describe the Tesco besides pure and utter chaos. A ton of people, cutting each other off in the aisles, crowding up everything...so strange. So I bought as much as my arms could carry and we figured out something GENIUS. You pick up this telephone inside of Tesco, and a cab company picks up. You tell them where you want to go, they give you a number, then you go wait in the special cab area. Then after a wait, a taxi cab pulls up, calls out a number, and you hop in! It's like a special shuttle service from Tesco to your home. So when you're bogged down with a ton of stuff, you don't have to walk. And it was actually CHEAP. Amazing....
So here are some pictures of my dorm/flat/room

My little, little room. But lots of storage--for all the stuff I'm going to buy!!

my flat's common kitchen and dining area

View from my balcony!! It's super cool


I took a walk around my residence, and here are some pictures to entertain you.

The local pub...well actually there are like a dozen within a several block radius, but this one is literally right next door

Gainsford Street! This is me!

a cute little street next to mine

the tower bridge is in my backyard!!!!

OK so sorry if it's not quite as interesting as you had hoped, but I am jet lagged! I can't seem to remember when I slept last.
Take my poll! More to come...

My Address

Write to me! Visit me!

LSE Butlers Wharf Residence
11 Gainsford Street
London SE1 2NE
United Kingdom