Today has been a good day. I had another class today, Representing London: The 18th Century. It's all about London in the 18th century and how it's different and similar from how it is now, along with all of the literature that came from that time. So far we've only looked at Jonathan Swift and a lot of different kinds of maps of London, but it's pretty cool. I like how the English classes here incorporate the history aspect along with the literary part because the historical setting is a huge deal at the time something is written.
I'm learning so much more than I expected to also. In 1666 there was the Great Fire of London in which the majority of the city burned down because everything was made out of wood and thatched roofs. Basically London was being rebuilt in the 1700s and becoming modernized, which greatly influenced the writers of that time, and that's what we're learning about in my class. It's so interesting because I like history, but I'm not that huge of a fan, so it's the perfect combination of history and English.
I guess that class also helped me to figure out why the British are so obsessed with drinking beer all the time. (For example, the other day at 2pm I walked out of one of the campus convenience stores and there were 5 guys sitting at a picnic table all drinking pints of beer. That's just not normal.) We looked at two paintings in class by William Hogarth, "Gin Lane" and "Beer Street." They were both painted in 1751 and they're imaginary views of random streets in London. My interpretation of the paintings and what I got from the professor is that liquor and wine is (and was) associated with foreigners and immigrants and was thought to have a ruinous effect on the people and on the culture of London. On the contrary, beer was associated with being British, and therefore good. All of the people in "Beer Street," although drunk, looked healthy and happy and the town in the background was prosperous. In "Gin Lane," everyone was basically the opposite; the people were skinny and sickly, there were babies lying on the ground and the buildings were falling apart.
The point is, drinking beer is British and therefore a good thing. I guess it's kind of like how Primanti's is a Pittsburgh thing, cheesesteaks are a Philly thing and cook outs on fourth of July are an American thing. It's just their culture, it's what they all do. I understand it a lot better now.
After class I came back to my room and ate cereal again for lunch (I had it for breakfast) and some pears. I took a nap, watched some Gossip Girl and then booked a trip to Madrid for November 18-20! I'm so excited to go to Spain, I've always wanted to go there.
At 5 I went to a media for all of the media outlets on campus. They have a quarterly magazine called CUB, which after looking at it seems really awesome. I signed up to write for the Features section. The editor seemed to like me a lot especially since I had experience in the journalism and editing area. She liked that I'm an associate student (study abroad student) and could bring a new perspective. I also signed up for the News Section for the QMessenger, the newspaper, because I had to. I mean come on, I love News.
I had delicious tortellini and garlic bread for dinner at the Curve! It was wonderful. I also emailed the English adviser here so I can try to get into Poetry and drop British Politics. I love the English classes I've taken and I really want to improve on my poetry analyzing skills. Right now I'm waiting for my parents to get on skype.
There was a car accident at Villanova the other day and one boy is in critical condition and the other passed away. Prayers to Nova Nation <3
M
Thursday, September 30, 2010
[Day 13] Sunshine
As I said, yesterday was my day off. It's nice having Wednesdays and Fridays off, but I definitely have enough work to fill my free time during those days. Since we only have class once a week, I have a lot of reading to do for each class.
Yesterday it rained on and off for most of the day, but it wasn't too cold out. Around 3 I went to Brick Lane with Sammi, Talhah, Kate, Erin, Daphne and Kate's friend from home, Peter. Queen Mary is in Mile End and Brick Lane is about two towns away. We walked through Mile End, Stephney Green and Whitechapel before we got to Brick Lane. On the way we passed a lot of fruit stands and clothing stands on the side of the road. There are markets all over the place here and they sell everything you can think of.
Brick Lane was different than I expected, as is everything here. I thought it was going to be a little shopping district, but it was more of a market area with either really strange cheap things, or really expensive vintage stuff. I took a couple pictures there, I'll put them on here once I upload them. This area has a high Indian population, but it seemed like Brick Lane was basically only an Indian community. Needless to say, I had a hard time finding something to eat. We walked for a long time, of course I complained the entire way because I was hungry, and by some miracle we stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant. I was the only one that was hungry so we went in there just for me basically. We got a plate of nachos to share and I was the only one to get real food. I got really tasty spicy chicken fajitas while some of the others got fancy mixed drinks. My food was so good, but unfortunately I think for the first time in my life I experienced heart burn. It was awful and it was just like the heart burn commercials. I'm not letting that stop me though, I love spicy food and I love Mexican...that was the first time I've had heart burn anyway, it was probably a fluke. I hope.
On the subject of food real quick, I said this yesterday, but I really need Italian food. Everyone that knows me knows that all I eat is some form of spaghetti, pizza, cereal and occasionally a burger or steak. The food options here are the following:
I'm obsessed with talking about food right now so I'll continue...there's a farmer's market on Thursdays and Fridays on our campus, I might go buy some bread and vegetables. Mostly because I haven't eaten many vegetables while I've been here, and because our bread got moldy after like three days. Wait, speaking of weird things. They don't refrigerate their eggs! Isn't that bizarre!? I googled it, and it seems fine, but it's just really weird to me. Also, sneak peak for later in this post, I finally found a McDonald's. Best Christmas ever.
Anyway, back to Brick Lane, after we ate and walked around in the rain (my rain coat is wonderful for it because it's long enough that my legs don't get wet), we took a bus back to QM. I changed my shoes and then I went to central to go on the London Eye! I'll put up a picture of the Eye later today or tomorrow.
The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel in central London on the river that over looks everything. It's amazing. I went on it with my Villanova program group, so I took the district line in to Westminster and transferred to the Jubilee line and got off at Waterloo. The Waterloo station was huge, but I'll get to that later. I kind of wandered a few blocks in the rain looking for the Eye. You would think I would've been able to see it from the station, because that's what I thought, but I couldn't.
I was walking down a street when I just happened to glance over my shoulder and I saw it out of the corner of my eye. I had to turn around and walk towards it, I navigated through the streets til I got to it. I can't wait to put up my pictures because it's astonishing up close.
I met my group and they gave us our tickets (it's normally 18 pounds) and we split up into two groups to get on the pod things that take you up. It moves very slowly, you can barely tell, and it lasts about 30 minutes. I really liked going at night, especially because I love Big Ben and Parliament, and they were lit up brightly against the dark sky. Pictures didn't turn out too well because of the rain, but it was still so worth it. All you see is lights and city for miles and miles. Afterward we walked through this 4d exhibit they had set up, which was just 3d glasses and bubbles in the room, nothing special. Then I took pictures outside with Kerri and Mary, two Nova girls, and walked back to the Waterloo station.
This is the part when I found McDonald's and my semi bad day did a 180. I stood back for a while deciding what to get and I settled on a McFlurry because I still wasn't hungry from the fajitas earlier. The man waiting on me couldn't understand me when I said, "what kind of McFlurries do you have?" and he kept saying "caramel sundae?" so I just eventually said yeah that's fine. Well, he gave me a vanilla McFlurry with chocolate chunks in it, so I paid him the pound and got on the tube a very happy American girl.
Also on a note relating to the tube, look how steep the escalators are in the tube, they go so far underground and they're so steep:
Anyway I didn't do much after that. I learned a little bit about futbol from some British guy I talked to, that was the most exciting thing. I had another class today, but I'm going to take a nap now so I'll post again later today.
M
Yesterday it rained on and off for most of the day, but it wasn't too cold out. Around 3 I went to Brick Lane with Sammi, Talhah, Kate, Erin, Daphne and Kate's friend from home, Peter. Queen Mary is in Mile End and Brick Lane is about two towns away. We walked through Mile End, Stephney Green and Whitechapel before we got to Brick Lane. On the way we passed a lot of fruit stands and clothing stands on the side of the road. There are markets all over the place here and they sell everything you can think of.
Brick Lane was different than I expected, as is everything here. I thought it was going to be a little shopping district, but it was more of a market area with either really strange cheap things, or really expensive vintage stuff. I took a couple pictures there, I'll put them on here once I upload them. This area has a high Indian population, but it seemed like Brick Lane was basically only an Indian community. Needless to say, I had a hard time finding something to eat. We walked for a long time, of course I complained the entire way because I was hungry, and by some miracle we stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant. I was the only one that was hungry so we went in there just for me basically. We got a plate of nachos to share and I was the only one to get real food. I got really tasty spicy chicken fajitas while some of the others got fancy mixed drinks. My food was so good, but unfortunately I think for the first time in my life I experienced heart burn. It was awful and it was just like the heart burn commercials. I'm not letting that stop me though, I love spicy food and I love Mexican...that was the first time I've had heart burn anyway, it was probably a fluke. I hope.
On the subject of food real quick, I said this yesterday, but I really need Italian food. Everyone that knows me knows that all I eat is some form of spaghetti, pizza, cereal and occasionally a burger or steak. The food options here are the following:
chicken
fried chicken
curry
potatoes
chocolate
I can only eat so much chicken, fried chicken and potatoes. I don't eat curry. I eat chocolate all the time, but unfortunately I can't live off of it. The chicken is starting to taste like cardboard, the fried chicken is making me sick and the potatoes need some sort of flavor besides potato, but they don't have any flavors here. I'm obsessed with talking about food right now so I'll continue...there's a farmer's market on Thursdays and Fridays on our campus, I might go buy some bread and vegetables. Mostly because I haven't eaten many vegetables while I've been here, and because our bread got moldy after like three days. Wait, speaking of weird things. They don't refrigerate their eggs! Isn't that bizarre!? I googled it, and it seems fine, but it's just really weird to me. Also, sneak peak for later in this post, I finally found a McDonald's. Best Christmas ever.
Anyway, back to Brick Lane, after we ate and walked around in the rain (my rain coat is wonderful for it because it's long enough that my legs don't get wet), we took a bus back to QM. I changed my shoes and then I went to central to go on the London Eye! I'll put up a picture of the Eye later today or tomorrow.
The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel in central London on the river that over looks everything. It's amazing. I went on it with my Villanova program group, so I took the district line in to Westminster and transferred to the Jubilee line and got off at Waterloo. The Waterloo station was huge, but I'll get to that later. I kind of wandered a few blocks in the rain looking for the Eye. You would think I would've been able to see it from the station, because that's what I thought, but I couldn't.
I was walking down a street when I just happened to glance over my shoulder and I saw it out of the corner of my eye. I had to turn around and walk towards it, I navigated through the streets til I got to it. I can't wait to put up my pictures because it's astonishing up close.
I met my group and they gave us our tickets (it's normally 18 pounds) and we split up into two groups to get on the pod things that take you up. It moves very slowly, you can barely tell, and it lasts about 30 minutes. I really liked going at night, especially because I love Big Ben and Parliament, and they were lit up brightly against the dark sky. Pictures didn't turn out too well because of the rain, but it was still so worth it. All you see is lights and city for miles and miles. Afterward we walked through this 4d exhibit they had set up, which was just 3d glasses and bubbles in the room, nothing special. Then I took pictures outside with Kerri and Mary, two Nova girls, and walked back to the Waterloo station.
This is the part when I found McDonald's and my semi bad day did a 180. I stood back for a while deciding what to get and I settled on a McFlurry because I still wasn't hungry from the fajitas earlier. The man waiting on me couldn't understand me when I said, "what kind of McFlurries do you have?" and he kept saying "caramel sundae?" so I just eventually said yeah that's fine. Well, he gave me a vanilla McFlurry with chocolate chunks in it, so I paid him the pound and got on the tube a very happy American girl.
Also on a note relating to the tube, look how steep the escalators are in the tube, they go so far underground and they're so steep:
Anyway I didn't do much after that. I learned a little bit about futbol from some British guy I talked to, that was the most exciting thing. I had another class today, but I'm going to take a nap now so I'll post again later today.
M
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
[Day 12] Day Off
I didn't get a chance to post yesterday because I was pretty busy. I'm starting to miss home a little bit. It's the little things, like the fact that all of the steps here are as tiny as the kind you find in stadiums, or that my shower can't decide if it wants to burn my skin off or give me hypothermia, so it alternates between the two for the ten minutes I'm in there. I also miss Panera and Eat N Park, I love those places. All of the food here is basically chicken, beef and potatoes. Good luck finding any pasta that has real flavor to it (I really want my mom's spaghetti). Oh one more thing, initially the tube was cool, now it's just annoying.
It's not all bad though. These people love their chocolate. There's Cadburry chocolate everywhere and it comes in every different sort of arraignment you can think of. Also as long as you don't go to a fancy restaurant, the food is fairly cheap, or at least reasonable. In terms of school, they give us course packs instead of books. The course packs are basically all of the readings we have to do for the term compiled into one big book, four only about 8-10 pounds. It's so much cheaper than buying a $150 book or seven little books for just one class. Another thing is, I love my room. My bed is right by the window so I often pull the curtains open and read or write in here while sitting on my bed. It's so cozy.
I left you at Monday night when I was going to get dinner. Well I went at about 6 and all they had left was tuna. Gross. I didn't eat tuna in the States, I'm not eating it in the UK. I stopped at the Village Shop with Kate (on campus convenience store) and bought a box of chicken nuggets. So for dinner we each cooked up some chicken nuggets in the oven and I had some yogurt and doritos also.
Later that night I had the brilliant idea to add another English class and drop my Politics one, but I don't know if that's going to work. I'm going to have to talk the English department here into doing so, they didn't seem too thrilled at the idea unfortunately.
Yesterday, Tuesday I had my first English class. It was Literatures in Time: Texts and Contexts from the eighth to sixteenth century. It was a gigantic lecture! I've never been in a classroom with that many people. It was especially odd because it was English. It actually ended up being totally fine though. There are two professors that teach each class, they kind of take turns talking. The class is a combination of the works of literature that came from the eighth to sixteenth century and the history around the works. Basically who wrote what, read what they wrote, and understand how history influenced them to write this. The lecture was for an hour then we broke up into much smaller seminar groups.
My seminar group met in a different building and had about 15 people in it. Most of them were British, but there was one other American and two people from India. It's a level 4 class, which is like a first year class. We went around the room saying stuff about ourselves and if we had any experience with Medieval literature. I was one of the few that has, I've read Chaucer and Beowulf and all of kind that stuff, in senior year of high school. I think it's really strange that I'm in their country, where all of this stuff was written, and I've read it and they haven't. Anyway, the class discussion was really interesting and I like our seminar leader a lot. We have to read Beowulf in its entirety for next class, which is kind of boring and a little difficult to get through, but I read it a few years ago so I have an idea of what's going on. After class I read some of it, I'm about half way through it.
I bought a ticket for a walking tour of the 2012 Olympic site. My friends and I are all going to do it, it's next Wednesday. I'm really excited to go see it. The Olympic site is fairly close to here I think, it's somewhere east of here. The East End, where I live, is slowly being renovated and updated because the Olympics will be so close to here and this area will get a lot of attention. I can't wait!
I tried to do my laundry yesterday also, but the laundry room closest to me (in the next building over) was broken. The next closest one had like 20 people in it so I decided I would just wait til today. After I gave up on laundry I went to eat dinner at the Curve. The food was alright, some sort of beef, green beans and little crispy potatoes. I'm happy I got the dinner meal plan though because I would not want to cook for myself every night.
Last night I had Orientation for my service-learning class that I'm doing through Villanova. I took the tube to South Kensington, where I met two other Villanova girls that go to King's College. When I was at the counter checking to make sure I had enough money on my oyster card to get to South Kensington, I got so confused. I said, "Do I have enough money to get to........South Kensington?" I was so lost for a second because I kept wanting to say New Kensington, which is near home, but I knew that's not where I was going. It was awkward.
Anyway Kerri, Mary and I walked around South Ken, which was a really beautiful area, before we had to go to the EUSA building. I want to go back there soon, separate from my class, because the Natural History Museum is there and it's gorgeous.
In the class I met about 10 other Villanova students, who already knew me because I frantically emailed them earlier this month about my Visa. We found out exactly what we're doing for the service-learning class. I'm going to be volunteering in a school/after school care program with kids and playing with them or helping them with their homework. I'm really excited for this because I do something similar to that at Villanova and it's so much fun. There are also other Villanova kids that will be going to the same place that I am. I have to complete 30 hours in the time that I'm here, which isn't really that much. We also have a class once a week and we'll get a grade in it at the end that will go towards our gpa.
It seems pretty cool because I'll get to see different parts of London and work with children. They gave us a student oyster card that has 80 pounds on it, with a 30% student discount, to use when we're going to class or our volunteer site. I'm so happy about that because in the UK you can't get a student oyster card unless you're here for six months, which means I don't qualify for one. Eusa gave us one because we're volunteering, so it'll be cheap to travel.
Eusa also has a support system set up for us with emergency phone numbers and all kinds of other things if we need help. They have trips planned for us, like tonight we're going on the London Eye. There is a weekend we can go to Wales if we want, I don't know if I'll do that, and a few other things that I can't think of right now.
When I got back, I hung out in my room for a while then went to the New Globe with Sammi, Anna, Kate, Martha and Lucy to chill. I'm glad I went because there were a lot of people there and I met some more kids from QM. I got back and went to sleep around 12:30.
I don't have class today so I'm just doing some reading and I might go to Brick Lane...I'm not sure what that is, some kind of shopping district, but everyone talks about it all the time. I should also do my laundry. I'll take lots of pictures when I go on the London Eye tonight, it'll be cool. It's like a huge ferris wheel in central London and you can see everything from it.
Anyway, here's me in Canary Wharf the other day:
M
It's not all bad though. These people love their chocolate. There's Cadburry chocolate everywhere and it comes in every different sort of arraignment you can think of. Also as long as you don't go to a fancy restaurant, the food is fairly cheap, or at least reasonable. In terms of school, they give us course packs instead of books. The course packs are basically all of the readings we have to do for the term compiled into one big book, four only about 8-10 pounds. It's so much cheaper than buying a $150 book or seven little books for just one class. Another thing is, I love my room. My bed is right by the window so I often pull the curtains open and read or write in here while sitting on my bed. It's so cozy.
I left you at Monday night when I was going to get dinner. Well I went at about 6 and all they had left was tuna. Gross. I didn't eat tuna in the States, I'm not eating it in the UK. I stopped at the Village Shop with Kate (on campus convenience store) and bought a box of chicken nuggets. So for dinner we each cooked up some chicken nuggets in the oven and I had some yogurt and doritos also.
Later that night I had the brilliant idea to add another English class and drop my Politics one, but I don't know if that's going to work. I'm going to have to talk the English department here into doing so, they didn't seem too thrilled at the idea unfortunately.
Yesterday, Tuesday I had my first English class. It was Literatures in Time: Texts and Contexts from the eighth to sixteenth century. It was a gigantic lecture! I've never been in a classroom with that many people. It was especially odd because it was English. It actually ended up being totally fine though. There are two professors that teach each class, they kind of take turns talking. The class is a combination of the works of literature that came from the eighth to sixteenth century and the history around the works. Basically who wrote what, read what they wrote, and understand how history influenced them to write this. The lecture was for an hour then we broke up into much smaller seminar groups.
My seminar group met in a different building and had about 15 people in it. Most of them were British, but there was one other American and two people from India. It's a level 4 class, which is like a first year class. We went around the room saying stuff about ourselves and if we had any experience with Medieval literature. I was one of the few that has, I've read Chaucer and Beowulf and all of kind that stuff, in senior year of high school. I think it's really strange that I'm in their country, where all of this stuff was written, and I've read it and they haven't. Anyway, the class discussion was really interesting and I like our seminar leader a lot. We have to read Beowulf in its entirety for next class, which is kind of boring and a little difficult to get through, but I read it a few years ago so I have an idea of what's going on. After class I read some of it, I'm about half way through it.
I bought a ticket for a walking tour of the 2012 Olympic site. My friends and I are all going to do it, it's next Wednesday. I'm really excited to go see it. The Olympic site is fairly close to here I think, it's somewhere east of here. The East End, where I live, is slowly being renovated and updated because the Olympics will be so close to here and this area will get a lot of attention. I can't wait!
I tried to do my laundry yesterday also, but the laundry room closest to me (in the next building over) was broken. The next closest one had like 20 people in it so I decided I would just wait til today. After I gave up on laundry I went to eat dinner at the Curve. The food was alright, some sort of beef, green beans and little crispy potatoes. I'm happy I got the dinner meal plan though because I would not want to cook for myself every night.
Last night I had Orientation for my service-learning class that I'm doing through Villanova. I took the tube to South Kensington, where I met two other Villanova girls that go to King's College. When I was at the counter checking to make sure I had enough money on my oyster card to get to South Kensington, I got so confused. I said, "Do I have enough money to get to........South Kensington?" I was so lost for a second because I kept wanting to say New Kensington, which is near home, but I knew that's not where I was going. It was awkward.
Anyway Kerri, Mary and I walked around South Ken, which was a really beautiful area, before we had to go to the EUSA building. I want to go back there soon, separate from my class, because the Natural History Museum is there and it's gorgeous.
In the class I met about 10 other Villanova students, who already knew me because I frantically emailed them earlier this month about my Visa. We found out exactly what we're doing for the service-learning class. I'm going to be volunteering in a school/after school care program with kids and playing with them or helping them with their homework. I'm really excited for this because I do something similar to that at Villanova and it's so much fun. There are also other Villanova kids that will be going to the same place that I am. I have to complete 30 hours in the time that I'm here, which isn't really that much. We also have a class once a week and we'll get a grade in it at the end that will go towards our gpa.
It seems pretty cool because I'll get to see different parts of London and work with children. They gave us a student oyster card that has 80 pounds on it, with a 30% student discount, to use when we're going to class or our volunteer site. I'm so happy about that because in the UK you can't get a student oyster card unless you're here for six months, which means I don't qualify for one. Eusa gave us one because we're volunteering, so it'll be cheap to travel.
Eusa also has a support system set up for us with emergency phone numbers and all kinds of other things if we need help. They have trips planned for us, like tonight we're going on the London Eye. There is a weekend we can go to Wales if we want, I don't know if I'll do that, and a few other things that I can't think of right now.
When I got back, I hung out in my room for a while then went to the New Globe with Sammi, Anna, Kate, Martha and Lucy to chill. I'm glad I went because there were a lot of people there and I met some more kids from QM. I got back and went to sleep around 12:30.
I don't have class today so I'm just doing some reading and I might go to Brick Lane...I'm not sure what that is, some kind of shopping district, but everyone talks about it all the time. I should also do my laundry. I'll take lots of pictures when I go on the London Eye tonight, it'll be cool. It's like a huge ferris wheel in central London and you can see everything from it.
Anyway, here's me in Canary Wharf the other day:
Monday, September 27, 2010
[Day 10] Classes Start!
After more than four months of not going to school, I had my first two classes today!
My first class was at 10am, British Politics. Before I even went to class, I had to find out where it was. As I said before, they do higher education a little differently here and the various departments spent all of last week figuring out where and when the classes would be. Each department puts out a timetable with all of their class locations at times. This is different than at Villanova and even most of the US because we usually sign up for our classes months before the semester starts and the teachers, times and locations are all available when we sign up for classes. My American flatmate Kate also was taking British Politics, so we left our flat at 9:30 to figure out our individual timetables. The politics department was on top of things and had timetables posted in their office.
British Politics was from 10-11 and I had a class right after that, at 11. We still had about 15 minutes before class started so we walked upstairs to the history department to get my location for my next class, Building the American Nation: The United States, and the line was ridiculously long. We qued (here, waiting in line is called queing...I'm not sure how it's spelled but it's pronouced like the letter q) for 10 minutes then decided to just go to British Politics and I would figure it out after.
BP was in a big lecture hall in the Arts building and the professor mainly told us about the requirements and how the course would be set up. Although I don't know that much about the British political system, it seemed like as long as I keep up with the reading I'll be fine for that class. We have two essays and possibly a test, I can't remember. We have one book to buy, I haven't bought it yet, that only costs 30 pounds. We got assigned to seminar groups, which are smaller discussion based groups and they're at different times. The seminar groups have about 10 people in them, as opposed to the lecture which had at least 50 people. My seminar is on Mondays from 12-1 but I didn't have it today because we haven't read anything yet. The professor for that class seemed really nice and helpful also.
We got out of class a half hour early because it was the first day so I went back to the history department. Luckily I ran into a girl I met at Drapers last week and she was in the same history class as me so she knew where the room was. We walked to the class together, in the Law building, so I made it to the right class on time. It was also a big lecture hall, with about 40 people in it. We didn't go over the syllabus in this class, our professor mostly just lectured, but it was nice because it was the history of the US from the Revolution to about WWI in 40 minutes and I basically knew it all. I'm so interested to see what we learn in this class exactly because I want to get their perspective on American history...I'm really interested in their views of us, that's why I keep asking people I meet about what they think of us. I'm sure it will be on the liberal side, but most written and taught history is liberal. Last fall I took a history class about the British Empire; I think it's cool that I took a British history class in America and I'm taking an American history class in England. Maybe I should have done it the other way around, but that would be too boring for me.
After class I realized that I had to go back to the history department to get my assigned seminar time because my professor didn't tell us our times. It ended up being simple to do that, I kind of cut the line. Anyway, I went to lunch at Mucci's (the on campus pizza place) with Kate and Sammi and had amazing pizza and a piece of chocolate cake. It's so cheap there too! It was only 3.80 pounds, about $5.
At 2 I went to my history seminar in the Arts building. The seminar was just an introduction, there are seven of us in there right now but more people might show up next week. We have two small essays and a big test in that class and we also have presentations during the seminar time. I signed up for a presentation in week 5 (the week of October 25) about slavery. It's more specific than slavery but I can't remember exactly what it is at the moment. There were American, English and and Norwegian students in my seminar, so that will give it a good mix of perspective. We have some required reading to do and some recommended reading that will help us on the exam if we do it, but it's not absolutely necessary.
After class I headed back to the history department to get my course pack, which is basically a collection of the required readings for history. It's a huge pack of papers that has different excerpts and it only cost three pounds. Then I went to the English department to buy my course packs for my two English classes and those packs cost 18 pounds total. From what I've seen the reading materials seem to be a lot cheaper here than they are in the States.
At 4 I went to a history induction where the professor explained to us what they look for in our essays and recommended some essay outlines for us to look at so that we're on the right page. The essays are expected to be a little different here, more direct and use a lot of primary sources, and also cite multiple historians' writings/opinions. She also introduced the concept of historiography, which I've never heard of. If we include that in our essays we should get higher grades. She told us that historiography was the study of how history is written about by historians. I understand what it is I think, but I guess until I actually study it and try to write about it I don't know how to explain it.
Another interesting thing she told us is that the grading system is different here. For example, 100-70% is an A, 69-60% is a B and 59-50% is a C. I kind of like that way of grading better, but I guess I'll find out. Apparently the requirements translate though...a B here merits the same level of scholarly work that it does in the States, even though in America a B is usually 92-86% (at least at Villanova).
Alright well I need to relax a little bit before dinner. After more than four months of not having class, today was a big step for me and I'm worn out. I have some reading to do for my history class next week and I'm going to see if I have anything to read for either of my English classes.
Last night I booked a day trip to Stonehenge with my friends! I'm really excited about that. For some reason I'm not really that interested in seeing much more of England than London (I guess because I traveled around Ireland a lot with my aunt last summer), but I think Stonehenge will be exciting. The trip is October 16 and we go to Salisbury and Stonehenge. (Embarrassing, I don't even know what Salisbury is, I need to look that up.)
Just to add a picture, here is me in front of Buckingham Palace before our tour, notice I wore my pearls in case I met Prince Harry...
M
My first class was at 10am, British Politics. Before I even went to class, I had to find out where it was. As I said before, they do higher education a little differently here and the various departments spent all of last week figuring out where and when the classes would be. Each department puts out a timetable with all of their class locations at times. This is different than at Villanova and even most of the US because we usually sign up for our classes months before the semester starts and the teachers, times and locations are all available when we sign up for classes. My American flatmate Kate also was taking British Politics, so we left our flat at 9:30 to figure out our individual timetables. The politics department was on top of things and had timetables posted in their office.
British Politics was from 10-11 and I had a class right after that, at 11. We still had about 15 minutes before class started so we walked upstairs to the history department to get my location for my next class, Building the American Nation: The United States, and the line was ridiculously long. We qued (here, waiting in line is called queing...I'm not sure how it's spelled but it's pronouced like the letter q) for 10 minutes then decided to just go to British Politics and I would figure it out after.
BP was in a big lecture hall in the Arts building and the professor mainly told us about the requirements and how the course would be set up. Although I don't know that much about the British political system, it seemed like as long as I keep up with the reading I'll be fine for that class. We have two essays and possibly a test, I can't remember. We have one book to buy, I haven't bought it yet, that only costs 30 pounds. We got assigned to seminar groups, which are smaller discussion based groups and they're at different times. The seminar groups have about 10 people in them, as opposed to the lecture which had at least 50 people. My seminar is on Mondays from 12-1 but I didn't have it today because we haven't read anything yet. The professor for that class seemed really nice and helpful also.
We got out of class a half hour early because it was the first day so I went back to the history department. Luckily I ran into a girl I met at Drapers last week and she was in the same history class as me so she knew where the room was. We walked to the class together, in the Law building, so I made it to the right class on time. It was also a big lecture hall, with about 40 people in it. We didn't go over the syllabus in this class, our professor mostly just lectured, but it was nice because it was the history of the US from the Revolution to about WWI in 40 minutes and I basically knew it all. I'm so interested to see what we learn in this class exactly because I want to get their perspective on American history...I'm really interested in their views of us, that's why I keep asking people I meet about what they think of us. I'm sure it will be on the liberal side, but most written and taught history is liberal. Last fall I took a history class about the British Empire; I think it's cool that I took a British history class in America and I'm taking an American history class in England. Maybe I should have done it the other way around, but that would be too boring for me.
After class I realized that I had to go back to the history department to get my assigned seminar time because my professor didn't tell us our times. It ended up being simple to do that, I kind of cut the line. Anyway, I went to lunch at Mucci's (the on campus pizza place) with Kate and Sammi and had amazing pizza and a piece of chocolate cake. It's so cheap there too! It was only 3.80 pounds, about $5.
At 2 I went to my history seminar in the Arts building. The seminar was just an introduction, there are seven of us in there right now but more people might show up next week. We have two small essays and a big test in that class and we also have presentations during the seminar time. I signed up for a presentation in week 5 (the week of October 25) about slavery. It's more specific than slavery but I can't remember exactly what it is at the moment. There were American, English and and Norwegian students in my seminar, so that will give it a good mix of perspective. We have some required reading to do and some recommended reading that will help us on the exam if we do it, but it's not absolutely necessary.
After class I headed back to the history department to get my course pack, which is basically a collection of the required readings for history. It's a huge pack of papers that has different excerpts and it only cost three pounds. Then I went to the English department to buy my course packs for my two English classes and those packs cost 18 pounds total. From what I've seen the reading materials seem to be a lot cheaper here than they are in the States.
At 4 I went to a history induction where the professor explained to us what they look for in our essays and recommended some essay outlines for us to look at so that we're on the right page. The essays are expected to be a little different here, more direct and use a lot of primary sources, and also cite multiple historians' writings/opinions. She also introduced the concept of historiography, which I've never heard of. If we include that in our essays we should get higher grades. She told us that historiography was the study of how history is written about by historians. I understand what it is I think, but I guess until I actually study it and try to write about it I don't know how to explain it.
Another interesting thing she told us is that the grading system is different here. For example, 100-70% is an A, 69-60% is a B and 59-50% is a C. I kind of like that way of grading better, but I guess I'll find out. Apparently the requirements translate though...a B here merits the same level of scholarly work that it does in the States, even though in America a B is usually 92-86% (at least at Villanova).
Alright well I need to relax a little bit before dinner. After more than four months of not having class, today was a big step for me and I'm worn out. I have some reading to do for my history class next week and I'm going to see if I have anything to read for either of my English classes.
Last night I booked a day trip to Stonehenge with my friends! I'm really excited about that. For some reason I'm not really that interested in seeing much more of England than London (I guess because I traveled around Ireland a lot with my aunt last summer), but I think Stonehenge will be exciting. The trip is October 16 and we go to Salisbury and Stonehenge. (Embarrassing, I don't even know what Salisbury is, I need to look that up.)
Just to add a picture, here is me in front of Buckingham Palace before our tour, notice I wore my pearls in case I met Prince Harry...
M
Sunday, September 26, 2010
[Day 9] Buckingham Palace
It's really strange that this is my ninth day; it feels like I've been here for only a few days, yet it feels like I've been away from Pittsburgh for forever. I guess that's what happens when you're in a new place.
As I said, yesterday we (being me, Kate, Anna, Sammi and Erin) went shopping at Canary Wharf. When we got back to QM, I took an hour long nap. All of this walking is really getting to me, I feel exhausted after every single trip. I'm happy that I didn't sign up for the gym because all of this walking is more than enough of a workout.
I would just like to quickly explain that the nightlife and hanging out culture is very different here than it is at home; people go to pubs and clubs just to hang out, which is not what people do at home (they go to bars to drink). A lot of my flatmates and other friends will just go to a pub down the street to hang out and watch futbol. Because that's the culture here, that's what my American friends and I are doing too. At the pubs here plenty of people will get pub food and drink pop or any other non-alcoholic drink, or just get one beer. I don't know what bars are like at home as I'm still underage in the US, but the pubs here are more of a hang out spot than a spot to drink.
Back to my night...after I woke up, my friends and I decided to go visit a famous pub in our neighborhood. I took a bus a few blocks down the street to The Blind Beggar, which is an old pub in Whitechapel (the next town down from Mile End). I went with Kate, Erin, Sammi, Talhah and Anna. According to the Fodor's London book that I have, the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, preached his first sermon at The Blind Beggar. The pub is more famous for its affiliation with the East End's old underworld gangsters, in particular Ronnie Kray and George Cornell. Apparently Cornell was the "godfather" of the London gangsters and in 1966, his rival Kray shot him in the saloon. It was pretty cool to be in there knowing what happened there. It was very Victorian looking, dark and dingy. It had two big fireplaces, a small pool room in the back and a beautiful dark red ceiling.
After The Blind Beggar we headed back for QM and stopped at another pub, the New Globe, on the way. At the New Globe we sat and talked for a little and watched some futbol highlights on tv. I really need to learn some more about futbol and pick a team to root for. This pub had a much newer feel and a much younger crowd, I guess because it was closer to QM.
We got back to QM fairly early and realized we hadn't eaten dinner, so Anna cooked some food she bought at Sainsbury's. I'm not really sure what it was that she had, but they were like pizza pockets with onions, potatoes and cheese in the middle instead of pizza. They were actually really good, it tasted like a pierogie covered in bread.
This morning I didn't want to get out of bed because it was so comfortable and I could tell it was cold outside, but the promise of seeing Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace gave me the incentive to pull down the covers. Today I went on a tour of Buckingham Palace, which was amazing. Erin, Sammi, Kate, Daphne, Anna and I took the tube to Hyde Park around 10:30 this morning. We walked through the park to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards at 11:30. There were so many people there, I couldn't believe it. I took a few pictures of the crowd, but it was absolutely insane. We got there about 45 minutes before it started and barely found anywhere to stand.
We were able to hear the drums and watch the guards march into the front gates of the Palace. It was really funny actually, it seemed like the old redcoats from the Revolutionary War were marching in. The drums were really loud and there were a lot of guards marching, some in red coats and some in black. We couldn't really see what they did inside of the Palace gates, but we heard the drums and we saw them march out.
Here is a picture of what I could see:
After that ended at 12, we went to pick up our tickets for our 12:45 tour of the Palace. We stopped at a little bakery to pick up a quick snack. I got a chocolate croussaint, which wasn't very good. The people on the street were so rude, everyone was pushing and trying to get into the different bakeries, and the guy inside the bakery was rude to me. It wasn't a very pleasant experience.
We had to go through airport-style security to get into the Palace and we weren't allowed to take pictures. The whole time through the tour they had different doors open so I kept my coat on because today was pretty cold (probably in the low 50s or high 40s). It was a self-guided audio tour for 15 pounds and it was definitely worth it.
We each had head sets that took us through a bunch of rooms in the Palace and told us tons of facts about each room. There was so much information in the tour, it's hard to remember it all. One of the things that I remember is that there is about 750 rooms in Buckingham Palace and around 230 bedrooms. Also during World War II (I'm pretty sure it was II and not I, I guess that's kind of a big deal and I should figure it out), the Palace was actually hit by a German bomb. Another thing I learned is that there are a lot of trap doors in the Palace, they even showed us one in the White Drawing Room. A mirror and end table are attached to a trap door that's used to enter or exit the room. It was so cool to learn things like that! I also learned about the traditional Christmas broadcast that the Queen or King gives on Christmas Day. I'm really happy that I decided to go on the tour, it was something I'll never forget.
Here is a picture of me standing on the steps behind Buckingham Palace and a picture of the Palace from a bit farther back:
I wore a new flower hair clip that I got at Canary Wharf yesterday, a red polka dot skirt, black tights, a white shirt and my new black rain coat. I love my new black rain coat, it's perfect because it's not too heavy or too light and the collar flips up around my neck to block the wind. Don't I look like I belong in that house? I think so.
We got back to QM around 3:30 and I found my debit card right away, which was awesome because I thought I lost it. At 5:30 I walked down the street with Kate, Daphne, Erin, Sammi and Catherine (another girl that we're friends with) to a restaurant called the Greedy Cow. It was so good! I got a beef burger with cheddar cheese and a side of mash (Mash = mashed potatoes). I got a tasty banana milkshake too. The meal was only 11 pounds too! So far the food hasn't been that bad here, just really weird. They have a lot of chicken burgers and different forms of potatoes. In Mile End there is a lot of Indian food as well. The banana milkshake I had tonight was so good though.
It was cold and drizzling when we walked back to QM, which was only about three blocks away. On the way we stopped at a little grocery store, Budgens, to pick up some odds and ends that we needed. Of course I needed milk. I also need milk. This is the third carton of milk that I've bought in a week, I really need to slow down on the milk consumption.
When I got back I hurried up to my room to put on the Steelers game. I turned it on the X online radio, it was halftime and we were killing! I'm so happy that Charlie Batch played so well today and it was sick that Brett Kiesel got that return for a td. 3-0 is absolutely wonderful. It makes me so happy to be able to listen to the Steelers while I'm here.
M
As I said, yesterday we (being me, Kate, Anna, Sammi and Erin) went shopping at Canary Wharf. When we got back to QM, I took an hour long nap. All of this walking is really getting to me, I feel exhausted after every single trip. I'm happy that I didn't sign up for the gym because all of this walking is more than enough of a workout.
I would just like to quickly explain that the nightlife and hanging out culture is very different here than it is at home; people go to pubs and clubs just to hang out, which is not what people do at home (they go to bars to drink). A lot of my flatmates and other friends will just go to a pub down the street to hang out and watch futbol. Because that's the culture here, that's what my American friends and I are doing too. At the pubs here plenty of people will get pub food and drink pop or any other non-alcoholic drink, or just get one beer. I don't know what bars are like at home as I'm still underage in the US, but the pubs here are more of a hang out spot than a spot to drink.
Back to my night...after I woke up, my friends and I decided to go visit a famous pub in our neighborhood. I took a bus a few blocks down the street to The Blind Beggar, which is an old pub in Whitechapel (the next town down from Mile End). I went with Kate, Erin, Sammi, Talhah and Anna. According to the Fodor's London book that I have, the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, preached his first sermon at The Blind Beggar. The pub is more famous for its affiliation with the East End's old underworld gangsters, in particular Ronnie Kray and George Cornell. Apparently Cornell was the "godfather" of the London gangsters and in 1966, his rival Kray shot him in the saloon. It was pretty cool to be in there knowing what happened there. It was very Victorian looking, dark and dingy. It had two big fireplaces, a small pool room in the back and a beautiful dark red ceiling.
After The Blind Beggar we headed back for QM and stopped at another pub, the New Globe, on the way. At the New Globe we sat and talked for a little and watched some futbol highlights on tv. I really need to learn some more about futbol and pick a team to root for. This pub had a much newer feel and a much younger crowd, I guess because it was closer to QM.
This morning I didn't want to get out of bed because it was so comfortable and I could tell it was cold outside, but the promise of seeing Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace gave me the incentive to pull down the covers. Today I went on a tour of Buckingham Palace, which was amazing. Erin, Sammi, Kate, Daphne, Anna and I took the tube to Hyde Park around 10:30 this morning. We walked through the park to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards at 11:30. There were so many people there, I couldn't believe it. I took a few pictures of the crowd, but it was absolutely insane. We got there about 45 minutes before it started and barely found anywhere to stand.
We were able to hear the drums and watch the guards march into the front gates of the Palace. It was really funny actually, it seemed like the old redcoats from the Revolutionary War were marching in. The drums were really loud and there were a lot of guards marching, some in red coats and some in black. We couldn't really see what they did inside of the Palace gates, but we heard the drums and we saw them march out.
Here is a picture of what I could see:
After that ended at 12, we went to pick up our tickets for our 12:45 tour of the Palace. We stopped at a little bakery to pick up a quick snack. I got a chocolate croussaint, which wasn't very good. The people on the street were so rude, everyone was pushing and trying to get into the different bakeries, and the guy inside the bakery was rude to me. It wasn't a very pleasant experience.
Here is a picture of me standing on the steps behind Buckingham Palace and a picture of the Palace from a bit farther back:
I wore a new flower hair clip that I got at Canary Wharf yesterday, a red polka dot skirt, black tights, a white shirt and my new black rain coat. I love my new black rain coat, it's perfect because it's not too heavy or too light and the collar flips up around my neck to block the wind. Don't I look like I belong in that house? I think so.
We got back to QM around 3:30 and I found my debit card right away, which was awesome because I thought I lost it. At 5:30 I walked down the street with Kate, Daphne, Erin, Sammi and Catherine (another girl that we're friends with) to a restaurant called the Greedy Cow. It was so good! I got a beef burger with cheddar cheese and a side of mash (Mash = mashed potatoes). I got a tasty banana milkshake too. The meal was only 11 pounds too! So far the food hasn't been that bad here, just really weird. They have a lot of chicken burgers and different forms of potatoes. In Mile End there is a lot of Indian food as well. The banana milkshake I had tonight was so good though.
It was cold and drizzling when we walked back to QM, which was only about three blocks away. On the way we stopped at a little grocery store, Budgens, to pick up some odds and ends that we needed. Of course I needed milk. I also need milk. This is the third carton of milk that I've bought in a week, I really need to slow down on the milk consumption.
When I got back I hurried up to my room to put on the Steelers game. I turned it on the X online radio, it was halftime and we were killing! I'm so happy that Charlie Batch played so well today and it was sick that Brett Kiesel got that return for a td. 3-0 is absolutely wonderful. It makes me so happy to be able to listen to the Steelers while I'm here.
M
Saturday, September 25, 2010
[Day 8] Shopping
Yesterday was such a relaxed day, I loved it. After our bus tour, Kate and I hung out in our flat for a while and napped a little bit. Erin, Daphne, and Sammi came over later to hang out. We all sat around and talked for a while. Then the five of us and Anna started discussing our plans to travel throughout Europe while we're here. We talked about Prague, Ireland, Italy, Paris, Scotland, Spain and Athens. I'm definitely going on the Italy and Spain trips, maybe Athens if we can tack that on to the end of the Italy trip for a good price and maybe Paris. I can't decide if I'm more excited for Spain or Italy. I'm excited to experience Spanish culture and speak the language, but I'm really looking forward to good Italian food and seeing all of the places I've learned about in history and Latin class. We're going to Madrid around November 18 for the weekend. It was the cheapest place in Spain to fly to, about $60 round trip. We're going to Venice and Rome for two days each during Reading Week, which is the week of November 8. Can't wait!
After we discussed traveling, we bought tickets to a tour of Buckingham Palace for tomorrow. We're going to watch the changing of the guards at 11:30 and take a two hour tour at 12. It should be pretty cool and it was only 15 pounds.
Erin, Kate and I tried to cook dinner after that. I put a mini pizza in the oven and didn't leave it in long enough, so the bread was all doughy. Kate made pasta that was pretty good with some sauce from Sainsbury's, but it was a rough clean up because the pasta got sticky. Then we watched Mean Girls with Kingsley and two of our flatmates, Jake and Lucy.
This afternoon we met around 12:30 to go to Canary Wharf to go shopping. The district line on the tube was shut down so it took us a while to get there. We thought Canary Wharf was going to be lots of shopping but then it turned out to be a little more of the business district, so there were shops, but they were extremely expensive. Jeans at the Gap cost 70 pounds (around $110). I bought earrings and hair clips, but that was it. There were a lot of people shopping so I guess they're used to paying that much money for clothes and stuff. I couldn't bring myself to buy anything big.
We ate dinner/lunch at Nando's. Our flatmates had been talking about it a lot and it was really good like they said. You ordered at a counter and they brought the food to you. It was mostly chicken and fries or mashed potatoes. (They call fries, chips and mashed potatoes, mash.) I ordered chicken with hot sauce and fries, I'm sure a lot of friends from home will appreciate that i got hot sauce. Everyone else got chicken burgers. The sauce on the chicken was so good, it was actually hot. They had bottles of different degree hot sauce and I got a 'very hot' one for my fries, but it wasn't hot at all, it just had some weird flavor. The 'hot' wasn't hot either, I was a little disappointed.
We took the bus back instead of the tube and had to wait outside for about 15 minutes. It was freezing outside today, around 50 degrees. I'm not used to that weather yet and it's super windy. I don't like it. The good thing about it here though is that it's really flat, so at least we don't have to walk up or down any hills while we're freezing.
Speaking of walking, I'm doing so much walking while I'm here I'm not used to it. I would guess that I walk at least two miles each day, but I can't be sure. All I know is that my feet hurt at the end of the day and I'm really really tired after we go somewhere. I'm about to take a nap now anyway.
I got a phone in Mile End after we got back. I got a pay-as-you-go T-Mobile samsung phone. It's pretty dinky, but it works and it's fairly cheap. It cost 20 pounds and I put like 10 pounds of minutes on it I think. I couldn't really understand the guy, he had an Indian accent, but I figured that was good because Sammi, Erin and Kate all did that to theirs. I've just been kind of floating around without a phone, I liked it. I figured I had to get one eventually though and today worked as well as any.
Every single day we ride the tube it's always packed. I can't believe how many lines there are and still, no matter what time of day or which line, each car is always packed. The transportation system here is ridiculous. The buses are also pretty packed too, similar to the pat buses in Pittsburgh. I can't believe how many people live in London. I like living in Mile End though. Villanova would love Queen Mary's diversity. Nova's number one priority is diversity and there's not much there. At Queen Mary I would guess that there is every race and religion, and tons of different countries represented. It's pretty cool to be surrounded by so many different kinds of people. I can't remember if I said it before or not, but Mile End is a very diverse neighborhood. There are a lot of Indians and Bangledashis (I don't know if that's the correct term, but I thought I heard people use it), as well as white British people. I'm not sure what everyone's religion is, but there are quite a few muslims here and a mosque or two on the street. It's very different to me but I think it's exciting. I would never have the chance to experience something like this if I wasn't here and as far as I know, I probably will never live in an area like this again. London is much more diverse than I realized and I like it.
M
After we discussed traveling, we bought tickets to a tour of Buckingham Palace for tomorrow. We're going to watch the changing of the guards at 11:30 and take a two hour tour at 12. It should be pretty cool and it was only 15 pounds.
Erin, Kate and I tried to cook dinner after that. I put a mini pizza in the oven and didn't leave it in long enough, so the bread was all doughy. Kate made pasta that was pretty good with some sauce from Sainsbury's, but it was a rough clean up because the pasta got sticky. Then we watched Mean Girls with Kingsley and two of our flatmates, Jake and Lucy.
This afternoon we met around 12:30 to go to Canary Wharf to go shopping. The district line on the tube was shut down so it took us a while to get there. We thought Canary Wharf was going to be lots of shopping but then it turned out to be a little more of the business district, so there were shops, but they were extremely expensive. Jeans at the Gap cost 70 pounds (around $110). I bought earrings and hair clips, but that was it. There were a lot of people shopping so I guess they're used to paying that much money for clothes and stuff. I couldn't bring myself to buy anything big.
We ate dinner/lunch at Nando's. Our flatmates had been talking about it a lot and it was really good like they said. You ordered at a counter and they brought the food to you. It was mostly chicken and fries or mashed potatoes. (They call fries, chips and mashed potatoes, mash.) I ordered chicken with hot sauce and fries, I'm sure a lot of friends from home will appreciate that i got hot sauce. Everyone else got chicken burgers. The sauce on the chicken was so good, it was actually hot. They had bottles of different degree hot sauce and I got a 'very hot' one for my fries, but it wasn't hot at all, it just had some weird flavor. The 'hot' wasn't hot either, I was a little disappointed.
We took the bus back instead of the tube and had to wait outside for about 15 minutes. It was freezing outside today, around 50 degrees. I'm not used to that weather yet and it's super windy. I don't like it. The good thing about it here though is that it's really flat, so at least we don't have to walk up or down any hills while we're freezing.
Speaking of walking, I'm doing so much walking while I'm here I'm not used to it. I would guess that I walk at least two miles each day, but I can't be sure. All I know is that my feet hurt at the end of the day and I'm really really tired after we go somewhere. I'm about to take a nap now anyway.
I got a phone in Mile End after we got back. I got a pay-as-you-go T-Mobile samsung phone. It's pretty dinky, but it works and it's fairly cheap. It cost 20 pounds and I put like 10 pounds of minutes on it I think. I couldn't really understand the guy, he had an Indian accent, but I figured that was good because Sammi, Erin and Kate all did that to theirs. I've just been kind of floating around without a phone, I liked it. I figured I had to get one eventually though and today worked as well as any.
Every single day we ride the tube it's always packed. I can't believe how many lines there are and still, no matter what time of day or which line, each car is always packed. The transportation system here is ridiculous. The buses are also pretty packed too, similar to the pat buses in Pittsburgh. I can't believe how many people live in London. I like living in Mile End though. Villanova would love Queen Mary's diversity. Nova's number one priority is diversity and there's not much there. At Queen Mary I would guess that there is every race and religion, and tons of different countries represented. It's pretty cool to be surrounded by so many different kinds of people. I can't remember if I said it before or not, but Mile End is a very diverse neighborhood. There are a lot of Indians and Bangledashis (I don't know if that's the correct term, but I thought I heard people use it), as well as white British people. I'm not sure what everyone's religion is, but there are quite a few muslims here and a mosque or two on the street. It's very different to me but I think it's exciting. I would never have the chance to experience something like this if I wasn't here and as far as I know, I probably will never live in an area like this again. London is much more diverse than I realized and I like it.
M
Friday, September 24, 2010
[Day 7] Explaining and Describing
I got a request from my mom to explain my flat and my flatmates.
I live in a flat that has eight total people in it. I live on the first floor, which is not the ground floor, but actually the second floor...if that makes sense. Here the ground floor is 0 and the next floor (which we would normally call the second floor) is the first floor. I have a key to my flat and to my room. My flat has a long narrow hallway with rooms on each side, as well as a kitchen. The kitchen has a big freezer, a counter, two stoves, two sinks, microwave, toaster and big kitchen table. There are a lot of cabinets and we all keep our stuff in our own cabinets. I live in room H, at the end of the hall.
My flatmates are Kate, Lucy, Jake, Martha, Anna, a boy who I've never met because he never comes out of his room, and a boy from Scandinavia that just moved in on Wednesday (I can't remember his name). Kate is from Boston and goes to BC. Lucy is from the Liverpool, England area but not in Liverpool and she doesn't have the crazy Liverpool accent. Jake is from England, somewhere around Birmingham I think. Martha is from England I also, I think she said west of London. Anna is from Ohio and goes to Smith College, I think it's in Mass. I don't know where the one boy is from because I've never talked to him and only seen him once. The other boy is from Scandinavia, like I said.
Here is a picture of my house (aka dorm):
The other people I talk about are Sammi, Daphne and Erin. Sammi goes to U of Illinois and is from somewhere in California, I think San Francisco. Daphne goes to USC, I think she's from California. Erin is from Maine and she goes to BC.
Okay well I guess that's all for now. Hopefully I've cleared some things up.
M
I live in a flat that has eight total people in it. I live on the first floor, which is not the ground floor, but actually the second floor...if that makes sense. Here the ground floor is 0 and the next floor (which we would normally call the second floor) is the first floor. I have a key to my flat and to my room. My flat has a long narrow hallway with rooms on each side, as well as a kitchen. The kitchen has a big freezer, a counter, two stoves, two sinks, microwave, toaster and big kitchen table. There are a lot of cabinets and we all keep our stuff in our own cabinets. I live in room H, at the end of the hall.
My flatmates are Kate, Lucy, Jake, Martha, Anna, a boy who I've never met because he never comes out of his room, and a boy from Scandinavia that just moved in on Wednesday (I can't remember his name). Kate is from Boston and goes to BC. Lucy is from the Liverpool, England area but not in Liverpool and she doesn't have the crazy Liverpool accent. Jake is from England, somewhere around Birmingham I think. Martha is from England I also, I think she said west of London. Anna is from Ohio and goes to Smith College, I think it's in Mass. I don't know where the one boy is from because I've never talked to him and only seen him once. The other boy is from Scandinavia, like I said.
Here is a picture of my house (aka dorm):
The other people I talk about are Sammi, Daphne and Erin. Sammi goes to U of Illinois and is from somewhere in California, I think San Francisco. Daphne goes to USC, I think she's from California. Erin is from Maine and she goes to BC.
Okay well I guess that's all for now. Hopefully I've cleared some things up.
M
[Day 7] Rainy Days
I was pretty busy yesterday so I didn't get to post. Yesterday was my first rainy day in London. I guess I'll have to get used to that kind of weather. It was kind of nice though, I like the rain sometimes. It gives everything a little sparkle. It rained all morning until about 3 and then cleared up.
Kate, Erin and I went to the politics department at 11 to talk to the head about classes. He was very nice and really helpful. I switched into British Politics. I think it's a good idea to take that because I don't actually know that much about the government here and what better time do so than now? I'm still waiting for the class to be approved by the political science department at Villanova so it can count as an upper level poli sci toward my minor. I emailed them a few days ago and they still haven't gotten back to me so I think I'm going to email them again. The head of the politics department here, Dr. Saull, told us to make sure that we're doing our assignments according to how our professors want them to be done. He said American students sometimes write papers a little differently or answer the questions in a different way, so we need to talk with our professors to make sure we're on track.
After that, Sammi, Erin, Kate, Anna and I took the bus to Sainsbury's (my first red double decker!) to find some cheap clothes for the Neon Rave that night. We'd been told that they splash paint on you and stuff so none of us wanted to ruin our good clothes...I do have an awesome neon pink shirt that would have been cool to wear. I also bought some Dorito's, milk and chocolate covered animal crackers because in the past week I realized I have a big snacking problem that I need to fulfill. Now I have some snacks in my room.
I came back and took a nap for a while and then went to dinner at the Curve at 6. I'm not exactly sure what it was that I ate, some sort of dish with rice and ground up beef and beans. I ate the beef, even though it resembled dog food. It was pretty good. I got a cup of tea too:) I said the other day that I thought I was catching a cold, well I've totally lost my voice now even though I don't feel sick. I was hoping that the tea would help but it didn't really.
Kate, Anna and I got ready for the Neon Rave and I mapped out the directions how to get home. We were going to take the tube there, we only had to switch lines once, and then take buses home. The tube only runs until midnight but buses run 24 hours. I looked up the bus routes on a map and wrote them down so we wouldn't have to remember them. Sammi, Daphne and Erin came over around 9 then.
Our other flatmates had some friends over too and they were all hanging out in the kitchen so we decided to join them. It was kind of awkward though because one of the boys was making fun of us a lot. He was making fun of our accents and stereotypical things that Americans do. I'm not really sure why he was doing that, but it was getting annoying, so we left the kitchen.
Around 9:45 we took the tube to Embankment then to Elephant & Castle and we all bonded on the tube ride. Our outfits were pretty ridiculous, for example I was wearing pink tights, a pink sports bra and a white t shirt. When we got to Ministry of Sound there was a huge line, it wrapped all the way around the corner. What happened next just didn't make any sense at all...
The doors closed at 11 and we were in the back of this really long line. As we got closer we could see them sending some people away, but we thought we were fine because we had tickets. When we got to the front of the line they wouldn't let me in because I didn't have my passport, but they told me to go through line again and maybe they would let me in next time. So Kate and I got back in line and when we got to the door they got angry because they said that they told us to leave since I didn't have my passport. They weren't very nice to us and they took our tickets this time, so we had no choice but to leave.
I'm not really sure what the issue is, no one could figure it out, but all we can come up with is that they sold more tickets than they should have and had not not allow some people in. I felt bad that Kate didn't go to go in because of me, but it was so stupid that they wouldn't let us in! I was really bummed.
To make it worse, those trusty directions that I'd looked up didn't work out so well. After taking one bus, we had to walk quite a bit to the next one. We almost got lost but stopped and asked for directions. No one could tell us how to catch the 25, which was the bus we wanted, but they told us how to get to the bus stop. Then we waited at the stop for a really long time and ended up being on the wrong side of the road. We finally made it back around 2am. Yes I know, it took forever. It was a good thing that we were together and I had written the buses down though because at least we knew what we were looking for.
I'm not sure what time I got up this morning but I just laid in my bed for a while and read my book. It's a pretty dreary day today too, and it's really cold. I'd guess it's about 50 degrees. At 2 Kate and I had a bus tour of London. It was a really informative tour. We drove over Tower Bridge, through Mayfair, St. James's, Piccadilly, all kinds of places. We learned a lot of stuff like Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is the only building left in London with a thatch roof because there was a fire that burned 80% of the city down when they all had thatch roofs. The bus driver was a little jerky on the brake though and so I ended up not feeling well, bus sickness I guess. It was a really nice tour though and we had two stops so we got some pictures.
I'm about to clean my room now; every time I'm getting ready to go out with my friends I also throw my clothes everywhere because I'm decided between outfits to wear. I didn't even wear what I bought at Sainsbury's yesterday, but I think it's ok because it was only about 9.50 and I will probably wear the leggins in the future anyway. I'm supposed to skype with Amanda and my parents at some point today, but I'm not sure when. Around 7 Erin and Sammi are coming over and we're all going to try to cook dinner. I don't know how that's going to work out. Oh I forgot, yesterday I kind of made myself lunch. I cooked up some spicy chicken that I bought at Sainsbury's (in the microwave) and tossed it in with my salad. I even had chocolate musse pudding for dessert.
Here's a picture from the other day when we went into central. This is a guard at Buckingham Palace.
I'm starting to be able to imitate the accent pretty well. Sometimes I even talk like them accidentally. I can distinguish between a northern accent and southern accent and I can tell if someone's from England or another country with a cool accent. Anyway, that's it for today.
M
Kate, Erin and I went to the politics department at 11 to talk to the head about classes. He was very nice and really helpful. I switched into British Politics. I think it's a good idea to take that because I don't actually know that much about the government here and what better time do so than now? I'm still waiting for the class to be approved by the political science department at Villanova so it can count as an upper level poli sci toward my minor. I emailed them a few days ago and they still haven't gotten back to me so I think I'm going to email them again. The head of the politics department here, Dr. Saull, told us to make sure that we're doing our assignments according to how our professors want them to be done. He said American students sometimes write papers a little differently or answer the questions in a different way, so we need to talk with our professors to make sure we're on track.
After that, Sammi, Erin, Kate, Anna and I took the bus to Sainsbury's (my first red double decker!) to find some cheap clothes for the Neon Rave that night. We'd been told that they splash paint on you and stuff so none of us wanted to ruin our good clothes...I do have an awesome neon pink shirt that would have been cool to wear. I also bought some Dorito's, milk and chocolate covered animal crackers because in the past week I realized I have a big snacking problem that I need to fulfill. Now I have some snacks in my room.
I came back and took a nap for a while and then went to dinner at the Curve at 6. I'm not exactly sure what it was that I ate, some sort of dish with rice and ground up beef and beans. I ate the beef, even though it resembled dog food. It was pretty good. I got a cup of tea too:) I said the other day that I thought I was catching a cold, well I've totally lost my voice now even though I don't feel sick. I was hoping that the tea would help but it didn't really.
Kate, Anna and I got ready for the Neon Rave and I mapped out the directions how to get home. We were going to take the tube there, we only had to switch lines once, and then take buses home. The tube only runs until midnight but buses run 24 hours. I looked up the bus routes on a map and wrote them down so we wouldn't have to remember them. Sammi, Daphne and Erin came over around 9 then.
Our other flatmates had some friends over too and they were all hanging out in the kitchen so we decided to join them. It was kind of awkward though because one of the boys was making fun of us a lot. He was making fun of our accents and stereotypical things that Americans do. I'm not really sure why he was doing that, but it was getting annoying, so we left the kitchen.
Around 9:45 we took the tube to Embankment then to Elephant & Castle and we all bonded on the tube ride. Our outfits were pretty ridiculous, for example I was wearing pink tights, a pink sports bra and a white t shirt. When we got to Ministry of Sound there was a huge line, it wrapped all the way around the corner. What happened next just didn't make any sense at all...
The doors closed at 11 and we were in the back of this really long line. As we got closer we could see them sending some people away, but we thought we were fine because we had tickets. When we got to the front of the line they wouldn't let me in because I didn't have my passport, but they told me to go through line again and maybe they would let me in next time. So Kate and I got back in line and when we got to the door they got angry because they said that they told us to leave since I didn't have my passport. They weren't very nice to us and they took our tickets this time, so we had no choice but to leave.
I'm not really sure what the issue is, no one could figure it out, but all we can come up with is that they sold more tickets than they should have and had not not allow some people in. I felt bad that Kate didn't go to go in because of me, but it was so stupid that they wouldn't let us in! I was really bummed.
To make it worse, those trusty directions that I'd looked up didn't work out so well. After taking one bus, we had to walk quite a bit to the next one. We almost got lost but stopped and asked for directions. No one could tell us how to catch the 25, which was the bus we wanted, but they told us how to get to the bus stop. Then we waited at the stop for a really long time and ended up being on the wrong side of the road. We finally made it back around 2am. Yes I know, it took forever. It was a good thing that we were together and I had written the buses down though because at least we knew what we were looking for.
I'm not sure what time I got up this morning but I just laid in my bed for a while and read my book. It's a pretty dreary day today too, and it's really cold. I'd guess it's about 50 degrees. At 2 Kate and I had a bus tour of London. It was a really informative tour. We drove over Tower Bridge, through Mayfair, St. James's, Piccadilly, all kinds of places. We learned a lot of stuff like Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is the only building left in London with a thatch roof because there was a fire that burned 80% of the city down when they all had thatch roofs. The bus driver was a little jerky on the brake though and so I ended up not feeling well, bus sickness I guess. It was a really nice tour though and we had two stops so we got some pictures.
I'm about to clean my room now; every time I'm getting ready to go out with my friends I also throw my clothes everywhere because I'm decided between outfits to wear. I didn't even wear what I bought at Sainsbury's yesterday, but I think it's ok because it was only about 9.50 and I will probably wear the leggins in the future anyway. I'm supposed to skype with Amanda and my parents at some point today, but I'm not sure when. Around 7 Erin and Sammi are coming over and we're all going to try to cook dinner. I don't know how that's going to work out. Oh I forgot, yesterday I kind of made myself lunch. I cooked up some spicy chicken that I bought at Sainsbury's (in the microwave) and tossed it in with my salad. I even had chocolate musse pudding for dessert.
Here's a picture from the other day when we went into central. This is a guard at Buckingham Palace.
M
Thursday, September 23, 2010
[Day 5 continued] Being a Tourist
I spent this afternoon in central London. I bought an Oyster Card at the Stephney Green tube station (it cost 3 pounds and I put 20 pounds on it) and we took the District Line to Westminster. As soon as we got off the tube and walked up the steps to outside, we saw this:
It's Big Ben, in case you couldn't tell. How amazing is that? I totally wasn't expecting it. We were really close to the Thames, so we could have crossed over and gone to the London Eye, but we decided to walk around and see the House of Parliament. The House of Parliament is literally the most beautiful building that I've ever seen. I can't imagine what's in there, it's huge. It's so beautiful though, I love it.
I'm not sure how you spell his name, but Talho is from Manchester and he was the one in the group that did most of the map reading, although I tried. (I love maps.) We walked for a while until we found Buckingham Gate and the Palace.
It's Big Ben, in case you couldn't tell. How amazing is that? I totally wasn't expecting it. We were really close to the Thames, so we could have crossed over and gone to the London Eye, but we decided to walk around and see the House of Parliament. The House of Parliament is literally the most beautiful building that I've ever seen. I can't imagine what's in there, it's huge. It's so beautiful though, I love it. 
Seriously though, I can't get over it. Anyway the first picture is of me, Kate, and Erin. They both go to Boston College but didn't know each other before they got here. We stood and stared at the House of Parliament for a while and decided to come back in October when Parliament is in session to take a tour and see the House of Commons and everything.
After that we went to Westminster Abbey, which is right across the street. It was really beautiful and also quite large. It cost 12 pounds to go inside and we decided to do that another day as well. I'm embarrassed to say this, but I didn't know what Westminster Abbey was until I got there. Apparently Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon are buried in there, which I find really cool.
At that point I pulled out my map so we could find our way to Buckingham Palace.
I'm not sure how you spell his name, but Talho is from Manchester and he was the one in the group that did most of the map reading, although I tried. (I love maps.) We walked for a while until we found Buckingham Gate and the Palace.The area around Buckingham Palace reminded me a lot of Washington DC. It was very high security, (I saw the guards!) and it looked very pristine and open. The Palace didn't look as palace-like as I expected it too, but it was really big. All of these buildings are really big. There were only three guards in red suits and we'd missed the changing of the guards; it happened earlier in the morning. I guess you can take a tour of Buckingham Palace up until October 2, when the Queen comes back from Windsor Palace. Unfortunately I didn't see Harry today, but maybe he'll be there next time I go.
Next we walked into Green Park and sat down to enjoy the scenery. Green Park was gigantic and really beautiful, probably my favorite park that I've ever been in. Hyde Park and St. James's Park were also nearby. The people there were intrigued by the squirrels, Talho said that there aren't a lot of squirrels around here. They had a ton of free lawn chairs that people were sitting in the sun in, reading and talking. It was really a nice day to do that, about 75 degrees and sunny.
After that, we took the path and walked towards St. James's. St. James's is a really really expensive section of London; the first thing we passed was the Ritz Carlton. All of the stores looked pretty, we even passed the place where Elizabeth James had her dress shop in the Parent Trap. We stumbled around for a while looking for a pub to have lunch in. We eventually found Tom Green on a side street a bit farther away from the main part of St. James's. I had a steak burger and fries, which was really good. I wanted to order my first pub beer but I was afraid I wouldn't like what they had on tap, so I ended up just getting a Corona with lime. (I know, I'm such a typical American.) It turned out to be a good thing that I didn't order the house beer because I tried someone's and it was gross.
We next walked to Piccadilly Circus, which reminded me of Times Square in NYC. It didn't have anything special like the New Year's Ball and definitely wasn't as big or crowded, but it was pretty similar. We walked through there and on to Lelcester Square, which was the theatre district. The premier of "Eat, Pray, Love" was today and they had a huge set up and apparently Julia Roberts was there, but we didn't see her.
I pulled out my map again and led us to Trafalgar Square. That was pretty awesome as well. It looked like something you see in the movies-tons of people, a museum, a fountain, a statue, and Big Ben in the background. I liked it there, but it was a bit crowded. I guess there are supposed to be tons of pigeons there but I didn't see any really.
After that long day, everyone was tired so we knew it was time to go back. We took the Bakerloo line to Embankment and got back on the District Line to Mile End. I liked the tube, it was similar to the NY subway. You have to make sure you tag in and out or else you get charged. Also don't forget to mind the gap, as if there weren't enough reminders everywhere.
I really liked walking around London today, and boy was it a walk. I was very wrapped up in my map and in looking at all the sights, but I was amazed at how many different kinds of people there were there all walking around doing the same thing I was. In some ways it's like NYC in that there are tons of tourists, but it's also a much more diverse pool of people and there are so many people everywhere. I had fun today :)
When we got back at about 7 we relaxed for a bit and Kate and I met our new flatmate from Scandinavia. Then we headed out to Drapers at 8:45 with Anna to meet Sammi and Erin. I ended up talking to this cute guy from Rome and he told me all the things he liked and disliked about Rome compared to London. He said London is very organized compared to Rome. It's hard to find things and Rome and the transportation isn't reliable and he also said that school system in London is also much better. His favorite places in Europe for weather are Rome and Spain, but for living and the city are Berlin and the UK. I really like talking to the Europeans and getting their opinions on everything. I'll listen to whatever they have to tell me.
We left around 11:30 and came back to our rooms. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get on here and post this, I guess because I showered and I was skyping with my friend from Nova, Meaghan. There are loads of people outside my dorm still, it reminds me of Stanford freshman year, but I'm going to sleep now. Kate and I are going to talk to the head of the politics department about a British Politics class and then we all have to go to Sainsbury's to buy cheap t shirts and shorts for the Neon Rave at Ministry of Sound tomorrow night. xoxo
M
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
[Day 5] English Induction
I think I'm going to have two entries today.
This morning I went to the English Department induction. The associate adviser for the English Department, Dr. Bari, was the sweetest women ever. She seemed like she knew what she was talking about and gave us a lot of useful information.
I'm taking Representing London: The 18th Century, a level 5 course, and Literatures in Time, Texts and Contexts from the eighth to sixteenth century, a level 4 course. I have to do some reading beforehand for each class, which I didn't know before this induction. i have to buy course packs also.
The English Department seems really strict about turning things in on time. There is a big penalty if you submit it even a few minutes late. Also, if you miss more than two classes you're dismissed from the class. Dr. Bari gave us a lot of information about libraries on and off campus (for example the British Library has every book everrrr) and info about local plays and different things to see for the arts.
Today I have to figure out what I'm doing about a cell phone because at this point it's starting to get inconvenient not to have one. In about a half hour I'm meeting some girls to go into central London (mind the gap!) to see all of the famous sights for the day. Maybe I'll post some pictures when I update again tonight!
Yesterday's post was pretty depressing and it seemed like I was homesick, but I'm really not and I really do like it here. :)
M
This morning I went to the English Department induction. The associate adviser for the English Department, Dr. Bari, was the sweetest women ever. She seemed like she knew what she was talking about and gave us a lot of useful information.
I'm taking Representing London: The 18th Century, a level 5 course, and Literatures in Time, Texts and Contexts from the eighth to sixteenth century, a level 4 course. I have to do some reading beforehand for each class, which I didn't know before this induction. i have to buy course packs also.
The English Department seems really strict about turning things in on time. There is a big penalty if you submit it even a few minutes late. Also, if you miss more than two classes you're dismissed from the class. Dr. Bari gave us a lot of information about libraries on and off campus (for example the British Library has every book everrrr) and info about local plays and different things to see for the arts.
Today I have to figure out what I'm doing about a cell phone because at this point it's starting to get inconvenient not to have one. In about a half hour I'm meeting some girls to go into central London (mind the gap!) to see all of the famous sights for the day. Maybe I'll post some pictures when I update again tonight!
Yesterday's post was pretty depressing and it seemed like I was homesick, but I'm really not and I really do like it here. :)
M
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
[Day 4] Culture Shock
Tonight I'm just relaxing in my room. Kate found a website that will let us watch tv shows on it, so I've mostly been doing that. A lot of websites don't work here because their licensing agreements prohibit them from playing things in the UK. I'm really tired and feel like I might be getting a cold. I'm trying to prevent that before it happens.
The longer I'm here, the more I've discovered that London is a lot different than I expected it to be. Honestly, I expected it to be fairly similar to America. I guess it was naive of me to think that just because they speak English here that it wouldn't be that different than home. It's extremely different than America, and I think that the fact that I didn't expect a culture shock is making the shock even more intense. I still love it here and I'm really happy I came.
Let's start with the nightlife and bar culture. They sell alcohol in the campus convenience store. Needless to saw, I had to buy a pint of Bulmer's when I saw it. As I said the other night, the kids here don't know many drinking games because they spend most of their time casually drinking or in the bar. They drink a glass of wine or a beer with almost every meal. They also can drink a lot, which I guess isn't surprising. They don't understand that bars are a big deal to us Americans, and that it's not normal for us to walk out of our dorm carrying an open bottle of wine in our hand. It seems to me that they just go to the bar to hang out and talk to their friends. Also, they go out so early! Last night Kate, Anna and I were just hanging around at like 8pm and all of our British flatmates were basically leaving for the bar. At home, we don't go to parties until around 10:30. In fact, I've showed up at parties at 11:45 or midnight multiple times.
I think this culture is a lot more conducive to responsible behavior. In the four nights I've been here (not including tonight), I've only seen one person out of control. This weekend at Nova I'm sure there were at least 15 kids that got VEM'd for alcohol intoxication. It's such a different atmosphere. No one is running down the hall crazily yelling, "I can't wait to get wasted!" Another thing on that note is that all of these kids know a lot about alcohol and their limits. I know mine too, but I feel like I only know a few go-to drinks that I'll ever drink. I guess that's because I've led a fairly sheltered life in that regard. These kids, (and even other Americans...I guess this could just be me living in a bubble) are all drinking drinks I've never heard of. I personally think that's a good thing that they know these things now.
Back to the culture shock thing...so far I haven't really found British people to be friendly, at least not in the sense of friendly that I'm used to. It's kind of hard to talk to them and no one approaches you to talk to you. I went to Drapers last night with Lucy, Kate, Martha, Jake, Anna, and Kingsley, and basically Kate, Anna, and I found ourselves searching for Americans to talk to. We ran into some girls that we met the other day, Sammi and Erin, who are both from the States, and hung out with them for a while. Also, I mean this is pretty conceited of me, but I'm used to being approached by guys when I'm out (obviously! Who wouldn't want to talk to me?) It only happened twice last night, which isn't normal for me. I was actually getting annoyed, which is pretty funny. I guess that's part of the culture too though.
After a while we found a British boy to talk to that introduced us to a lot of people, and then I started talking to a kid from Amsterdam. He and I spent a half hour to forty five minutes talking about politics and Bush v Obama. That was pretty interesting too, to get a European prospective on the American government. I'm glad I talked to him because I never really understood why the rest of the world loves Obama so much, but now I have a better grip on it. Kate talked him into buying drinks for us since we're girls, which he claimed was an American phenomenon.
I got my ID picture taken this morning. Unfortunately, it looks awful. The camera was at a terrible angle and the guy didn't tell me when he was going to take it. Oh well. I have a QMUL ID now.
This morning we had an academic meeting where Harry explained to us the education system here and how classes work. It's so unbelievably different than in America. First, you only take four credits per semester. Each class is worth 15 credits. You only take classes in your major (although the study abroad students are allowed to take classes from every department) and you get your undergrad in three years. There is no credit for class participation, but you have to go to class. Each class usually has a midterm and a final (either paper or test) and that's your only grade. They don't seem to really care about the person or how hard he or she tries, but only the output of your academic work. The reading is 'recommended' but not required. You're supposed to do better if you refer to the reading in your papers. Classes only meet once a week for two or three hours, and you also have a discussion class that's separate from the seminar. Level 4 classes are for first years, Level 5 for second years, and Level 6 for third years. (I didn't know this but luckily I'm signed up for one level four and three level fives). Harry seemed to hate on the American higher education system because he said they gave students too much special treatment. I didn't like that so much because I think it's a good idea to cater to the students. Everyone learns differently and excels in different areas. But I'm not here to criticize the UK's higher education.
I will criticize QM's class registration methods. Harry gave us our courses and told us that we had to go to each department to find out what times the classes are and where they are. Also we had to go to the department if we wanted to drop or add any classes. This was an absolute mess. The departments were overwhelmed with hundreds of students all the sudden and they didn't seem to be expecting us. No one was at the history department. The politics department couldn't help me today because they didn't have the class times or locations determined yet. (This is ridiculous to me, classes start on Monday and they don't know where or when they are?!) We couldn't find where the English department chair was because her office was in a flat but we were told a different number flat than she was in. I'm trying to drop a politics class, Nations, States and Nationalisms, and add a politics class, British Politics, but it didn't happen today. Harry shouldn't have been criticizing us when they don't even have anything figured out for themselves.
After Sammi, Erin, Anna, Kate and I spent the better part of the day getting absolutely nothing accomplished. Sammi, Erin, Kate and I went to eat lunch at Mucci's, the pizza place on campus. The pizza is so good! The pieces are much smaller than normal CampCo pieces though. Also they don't give you ice in your drink unless you ask for it. The four of us talked for a long time and bonded about being outsiders here. It's a really odd feeling that I wasn't expecting, but we really are outsiders here. There have been times in my life that I've felt like an outsider, but it wasn't like this. Now I understand why minorities always stick together. It seems like that's what we're doing, we're all looking for Americans to be friends with.
After that, Kate and I came back to take naps. I really like my bed here, it's so comfy. I woke up and went to dinner at the Curve at 6. I ate by myself, but I didn't mind. I like being by myself sometimes because it gives me a chance to think. The food wasn't bad, they had salad, beef lasagna, and fruit. After that Kate, Anna and I just hung out in my room and talked. We've been just laying around all day because we're all tired.
Kate and I both bought Queen Mary University of London hoodies in one of the school store today. College hoodies aren't as big here as they are at home. Mine is like ash/grey color, I can't wait til it's cold enough to wear it.
Bad news, I don't think I'm going to Oktoberfest. I didn't buy my plane ticket yet because I wanted to wait til I got my passport and was definitely coming to London before I bought it. Now the plane tickets are way to expensive, about $400 round trip. Instead I'm going to try to make it to Spain and Rome. So far it looks like Madrid is the cheapest place to go in Spain, about 25 pounds one way.
It's so fun making plans! Tomorrow I'm going to an English department induction and then I think we're going to center to see some sights. Supposedly it's like a 30-40 minute walk to center where all the famous tourist things are. I'll finally get to take some pictures!
I realize that this is a rather depressing entry and it sounds like I'm not having fun, but I actually am. I really like it a lot and I'm slowly getting better at meeting people. I just like to note for myself all of the differences so that I can always remember exactly what it was like here. Also if I ever write anything that's set in London, I have to make sure it's realistic, so I have to have the people and the setting on point. It's easiest to describe a place by saying how it's different than something else. I love Queen Mary and London though, I couldn't be happier right now.
M
The longer I'm here, the more I've discovered that London is a lot different than I expected it to be. Honestly, I expected it to be fairly similar to America. I guess it was naive of me to think that just because they speak English here that it wouldn't be that different than home. It's extremely different than America, and I think that the fact that I didn't expect a culture shock is making the shock even more intense. I still love it here and I'm really happy I came.
Let's start with the nightlife and bar culture. They sell alcohol in the campus convenience store. Needless to saw, I had to buy a pint of Bulmer's when I saw it. As I said the other night, the kids here don't know many drinking games because they spend most of their time casually drinking or in the bar. They drink a glass of wine or a beer with almost every meal. They also can drink a lot, which I guess isn't surprising. They don't understand that bars are a big deal to us Americans, and that it's not normal for us to walk out of our dorm carrying an open bottle of wine in our hand. It seems to me that they just go to the bar to hang out and talk to their friends. Also, they go out so early! Last night Kate, Anna and I were just hanging around at like 8pm and all of our British flatmates were basically leaving for the bar. At home, we don't go to parties until around 10:30. In fact, I've showed up at parties at 11:45 or midnight multiple times.
I think this culture is a lot more conducive to responsible behavior. In the four nights I've been here (not including tonight), I've only seen one person out of control. This weekend at Nova I'm sure there were at least 15 kids that got VEM'd for alcohol intoxication. It's such a different atmosphere. No one is running down the hall crazily yelling, "I can't wait to get wasted!" Another thing on that note is that all of these kids know a lot about alcohol and their limits. I know mine too, but I feel like I only know a few go-to drinks that I'll ever drink. I guess that's because I've led a fairly sheltered life in that regard. These kids, (and even other Americans...I guess this could just be me living in a bubble) are all drinking drinks I've never heard of. I personally think that's a good thing that they know these things now.
Back to the culture shock thing...so far I haven't really found British people to be friendly, at least not in the sense of friendly that I'm used to. It's kind of hard to talk to them and no one approaches you to talk to you. I went to Drapers last night with Lucy, Kate, Martha, Jake, Anna, and Kingsley, and basically Kate, Anna, and I found ourselves searching for Americans to talk to. We ran into some girls that we met the other day, Sammi and Erin, who are both from the States, and hung out with them for a while. Also, I mean this is pretty conceited of me, but I'm used to being approached by guys when I'm out (obviously! Who wouldn't want to talk to me?) It only happened twice last night, which isn't normal for me. I was actually getting annoyed, which is pretty funny. I guess that's part of the culture too though.
After a while we found a British boy to talk to that introduced us to a lot of people, and then I started talking to a kid from Amsterdam. He and I spent a half hour to forty five minutes talking about politics and Bush v Obama. That was pretty interesting too, to get a European prospective on the American government. I'm glad I talked to him because I never really understood why the rest of the world loves Obama so much, but now I have a better grip on it. Kate talked him into buying drinks for us since we're girls, which he claimed was an American phenomenon.
I got my ID picture taken this morning. Unfortunately, it looks awful. The camera was at a terrible angle and the guy didn't tell me when he was going to take it. Oh well. I have a QMUL ID now.
This morning we had an academic meeting where Harry explained to us the education system here and how classes work. It's so unbelievably different than in America. First, you only take four credits per semester. Each class is worth 15 credits. You only take classes in your major (although the study abroad students are allowed to take classes from every department) and you get your undergrad in three years. There is no credit for class participation, but you have to go to class. Each class usually has a midterm and a final (either paper or test) and that's your only grade. They don't seem to really care about the person or how hard he or she tries, but only the output of your academic work. The reading is 'recommended' but not required. You're supposed to do better if you refer to the reading in your papers. Classes only meet once a week for two or three hours, and you also have a discussion class that's separate from the seminar. Level 4 classes are for first years, Level 5 for second years, and Level 6 for third years. (I didn't know this but luckily I'm signed up for one level four and three level fives). Harry seemed to hate on the American higher education system because he said they gave students too much special treatment. I didn't like that so much because I think it's a good idea to cater to the students. Everyone learns differently and excels in different areas. But I'm not here to criticize the UK's higher education.
I will criticize QM's class registration methods. Harry gave us our courses and told us that we had to go to each department to find out what times the classes are and where they are. Also we had to go to the department if we wanted to drop or add any classes. This was an absolute mess. The departments were overwhelmed with hundreds of students all the sudden and they didn't seem to be expecting us. No one was at the history department. The politics department couldn't help me today because they didn't have the class times or locations determined yet. (This is ridiculous to me, classes start on Monday and they don't know where or when they are?!) We couldn't find where the English department chair was because her office was in a flat but we were told a different number flat than she was in. I'm trying to drop a politics class, Nations, States and Nationalisms, and add a politics class, British Politics, but it didn't happen today. Harry shouldn't have been criticizing us when they don't even have anything figured out for themselves.
After Sammi, Erin, Anna, Kate and I spent the better part of the day getting absolutely nothing accomplished. Sammi, Erin, Kate and I went to eat lunch at Mucci's, the pizza place on campus. The pizza is so good! The pieces are much smaller than normal CampCo pieces though. Also they don't give you ice in your drink unless you ask for it. The four of us talked for a long time and bonded about being outsiders here. It's a really odd feeling that I wasn't expecting, but we really are outsiders here. There have been times in my life that I've felt like an outsider, but it wasn't like this. Now I understand why minorities always stick together. It seems like that's what we're doing, we're all looking for Americans to be friends with.
After that, Kate and I came back to take naps. I really like my bed here, it's so comfy. I woke up and went to dinner at the Curve at 6. I ate by myself, but I didn't mind. I like being by myself sometimes because it gives me a chance to think. The food wasn't bad, they had salad, beef lasagna, and fruit. After that Kate, Anna and I just hung out in my room and talked. We've been just laying around all day because we're all tired.
Kate and I both bought Queen Mary University of London hoodies in one of the school store today. College hoodies aren't as big here as they are at home. Mine is like ash/grey color, I can't wait til it's cold enough to wear it.
Bad news, I don't think I'm going to Oktoberfest. I didn't buy my plane ticket yet because I wanted to wait til I got my passport and was definitely coming to London before I bought it. Now the plane tickets are way to expensive, about $400 round trip. Instead I'm going to try to make it to Spain and Rome. So far it looks like Madrid is the cheapest place to go in Spain, about 25 pounds one way.
It's so fun making plans! Tomorrow I'm going to an English department induction and then I think we're going to center to see some sights. Supposedly it's like a 30-40 minute walk to center where all the famous tourist things are. I'll finally get to take some pictures!
I realize that this is a rather depressing entry and it sounds like I'm not having fun, but I actually am. I really like it a lot and I'm slowly getting better at meeting people. I just like to note for myself all of the differences so that I can always remember exactly what it was like here. Also if I ever write anything that's set in London, I have to make sure it's realistic, so I have to have the people and the setting on point. It's easiest to describe a place by saying how it's different than something else. I love Queen Mary and London though, I couldn't be happier right now.
M
Monday, September 20, 2010
[Day 3] Orientation
I changed the time format to be in the time zone that I'm in. I'm not even sure what this time zone is called. Anyway, London is five hours ahead of est and seeing est on all of my electronics is confusing me. I need to figure out how to change the clock on my laptop.
Last night I mostly just relaxed in my room and skyped with a few people. My British flatmates went to Drapers and when they came back around 11:30 they invited me to go to the canal with them. (There is a canal right next to my building.) So Kate and I put our jeans back on and went to hang out with the canal with them. There were huge geese there, like gigantic ones.
Some kids came up to us and invited us to come to a house party, so we decided to go. Let me tell you, if that was a house party, these Brits have a few things to learn. It was a bunch of kids standing around in a dorm kitchen listening to music, talking to each other, and drinking. Definitely not like the house parties we have in the States. Kate and I told our flatmates that we wanted to teach them American drinking games, like pong and flip cup. Alcohol is a really big part of this culture, but they don't know drinking games like we do since they can all just go to the bar when they're like babies. It's weird how normal it is for them to just drink, while it's such a big deal to me and Kate. We were talking about how Pub Safe would totally be busting up their kitchen part. Also kids were like carrying around bottles of wine and cans of beer outside, wouldn't happen at Nova.
This morning we had Orientation. I used my new European hair dryer to dry my hair when I got a shower, it worked pretty well. It wasn't really orientation, more of just an info session. The famous Harry gave most of the speech. Harry is the study abroad office for the States. I probably emailed him more than I emailed anyone else this summer. They gave us a speech about academics, alcohol, getting around Europe, safety, counseling, health, and tips about being a real life Londoner. (so cool!)
Last night I mostly just relaxed in my room and skyped with a few people. My British flatmates went to Drapers and when they came back around 11:30 they invited me to go to the canal with them. (There is a canal right next to my building.) So Kate and I put our jeans back on and went to hang out with the canal with them. There were huge geese there, like gigantic ones.
Some kids came up to us and invited us to come to a house party, so we decided to go. Let me tell you, if that was a house party, these Brits have a few things to learn. It was a bunch of kids standing around in a dorm kitchen listening to music, talking to each other, and drinking. Definitely not like the house parties we have in the States. Kate and I told our flatmates that we wanted to teach them American drinking games, like pong and flip cup. Alcohol is a really big part of this culture, but they don't know drinking games like we do since they can all just go to the bar when they're like babies. It's weird how normal it is for them to just drink, while it's such a big deal to me and Kate. We were talking about how Pub Safe would totally be busting up their kitchen part. Also kids were like carrying around bottles of wine and cans of beer outside, wouldn't happen at Nova.
This morning we had Orientation. I used my new European hair dryer to dry my hair when I got a shower, it worked pretty well. It wasn't really orientation, more of just an info session. The famous Harry gave most of the speech. Harry is the study abroad office for the States. I probably emailed him more than I emailed anyone else this summer. They gave us a speech about academics, alcohol, getting around Europe, safety, counseling, health, and tips about being a real life Londoner. (so cool!)
I'm really excited about being here because East London is a really vibrant part of London and because the Olympic site of 2012 is a little east of here, they're doing a lot of renovations and updates. I learned how to take the Tube and figured out the map. They also warned us that Barcelona is a big spot for pick-pocketing. It sounded like the rivalry that Philly and NYC have....
Tomorrow we have to enroll and make sure our classes are all set. Once I have my classes figured out for sure I'll put them on here. I kind of want to change my Politics (Poli Sci) class.
Something interesting that I found out today is that the students here only go to undergrad for three years and they only take classes in their major. For example, if I went to school here for real I would get my undergrad degree in three years and only take English classes. Additionally they only take four classes per semester. I can't imagine taking four English classes every single semester. That's so much reading and writing. The classes here are more focused on individual work rather than class participation. Today Harry said, "In the US part of your grade is class participation. Here we don't think like that. You showed up for class? What, do you want a medal or something? I don't think so."
After class Kate and I walked around doing some things that we needed to do. We went to the Queen's Building to pick up our tickets for the Panoramic Bus tour on Friday. The Queen's Building looks amazing; it's an academic building but looks pretty similar to a palace. We also walked all around Mile End trying to find an atm that would work with her card, but then we realized that the card company shut it off because it was being used in the UK.
At 5:30 we went to happy hour at Mucci's (an on campus restaurant) with our flatmate Ana and used our free food and drink vouchers for dinner. The pizza was soooo good! The three of us decided with all of the walking we're doing and not very much eating that we're probably going to lose weight. Seriously, the food is pretty gross (besides that pizza) and there is so much walking to do. QM's campus is pretty flat, nothing like Nova's, so at least that's nice. After dinner Kate and I stopped in The Village, which is the campus convenience store, and we were both excited that they sell Bulmers, so of course we each bought a pint.
It's really easy to tell Americans from British people because of the shoes that they wear. The British people wear the weirdest shoes ever. They're like a cross between dance flats, riding boots, and saddle shoes. I think they're pretty hideous, but they all wear them, or some version of them. Americans wear well, normal shoes. I guess to the Brits they're not normal, but yeah. The girls also wear a lot of intense, obvious makeup. I feel like a lot of Americans go with the more natural look, while the British girls wear bright colored lipstick and eyeliner with fancy designs. Also they all rock the pale look, besides the Indian people, which is pretty cool. It's nice that not everyone is unnaturally orange.
That's about all I can think of for today. Tomorrow I get my picture taken for my student ID. I'm also going to try to look for a job at the job fair during the Freshers Fair this week. Since I got a Visa I might as well try to make some money.
M
Sunday, September 19, 2010
[Day 2] Making it feel like home
I've started to figure out what everything means and what everything is now. Yesterday I saw something about Freshers, I've figured out what that is. The students here only go to school for three years to get their undergrad degree. First year students are called 'Freshers.' (I think I was confused because I've never heard the word before and at Nova we have the smoothie place, Freshen's.) This is Freshers Week, which is like orientation, so there are a million things to do. It seems like they're not as clear as Nova was about conveying what everything is though. We haven't got our student IDs yet, so we had to get these green bands that say "I'm a real life QM student." I didn't know we had to do that until I was wandering around campus with those boys yesterday. There are also a ton of other things you can get tickets for. For example, I bought a ticket for the Boat Ball, which seems pretty cool. It seems kind of like the dances on the Gateway Clipper and a lot of people are going.
Last night, Draper's, the on-campus bar, had a thing. I don't even really know what it was. I guess drinks were cheap before 10. I've been hanging out with the girl that lives in the room next to me, Kate, so we went together, along with some other flatmates. We were both excited to be at a bar since we're both under 21, but it wasn't that great. I guess it'll be better when we know more people. We each just got a rum and coke (because they didn't have ginger ale), then tried to meet some people. Later in the night I saw Marqueta, the girl from Czech, so we hung out and danced with her for a while. Also I met a cute British boy that kind of looked like Robert Pattinson!
I've decided that British people aren't very friendly. Or maybe they are friendly, but it's just really hard to relate to them. Every conversation goes something like this:
Them: Hi I'm [whatever]
Me: Hi I'm Meghan
Them: Where are you from, the States?
Me: Yeah I'm from Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Are you from around here?
Them: Yeah, near Birmingham (or somewhere like that).
Me: Oh that's cool. Where are you living on campus?
Them: (wherever) What are you studying?
Me: English. What about you?
And basically that's the end of the conversation. I guess really don't know anything about Europe or England. If they ask me about America we talk about that, because mostly everyone seems to know much more about America than I know about Europe. It gets tough to relate to them and talk to them, especially if they have a strong accent. I guess that's why I've found myself listening for American accents or looking for someone that dresses like an American. I'm glad one of my flatmates, Kate, is from America.
This morning Kate and I went grocery shopping. The grocery store was about a 15 minute walk down the road. You had to pay one pound if you wanted a shopping cart so we opted to get baskets. Grocery shopping is really difficult. I had no idea what I was going to want to eat and I had to make sure I was able to make whatever I bought. They had really weird flavors of jelly and yogurt, fruits I've never heard of. Kate and I were excited because we each bought a bottle of wine. I also bought a hair dryer, since mine won't work here. My straightener won't work either. Kate is going to buy a straightener and we're going to share. Last night I zapped my alarm clock because I didn't realize the voltage wouldn't work, so I need to find an alarm clock too. The walk back was rough because it was that weird temperature where you need a coat when the wind blows but if you're wearing it in the sun it's too hot, and our bags were heavy, so we were happy to get back.
Here are pictures of my shopping bags and my fridge:
Ok I can't figure out how to line these up correctly, and I really don't care either. So they're going to be all over the page. I like my room a lot, it's pretty cute and the perfect size. I have my own bathroom too. It's a little tiny cube that basically only fits one person. The shower is pretty weird because you just pull the curtain over to cut the bathroom in half. I like having my own bathroom though.
Last night, Draper's, the on-campus bar, had a thing. I don't even really know what it was. I guess drinks were cheap before 10. I've been hanging out with the girl that lives in the room next to me, Kate, so we went together, along with some other flatmates. We were both excited to be at a bar since we're both under 21, but it wasn't that great. I guess it'll be better when we know more people. We each just got a rum and coke (because they didn't have ginger ale), then tried to meet some people. Later in the night I saw Marqueta, the girl from Czech, so we hung out and danced with her for a while. Also I met a cute British boy that kind of looked like Robert Pattinson!
I've decided that British people aren't very friendly. Or maybe they are friendly, but it's just really hard to relate to them. Every conversation goes something like this:
Them: Hi I'm [whatever]
Me: Hi I'm Meghan
Them: Where are you from, the States?
Me: Yeah I'm from Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Are you from around here?
Them: Yeah, near Birmingham (or somewhere like that).
Me: Oh that's cool. Where are you living on campus?
Them: (wherever) What are you studying?
Me: English. What about you?
And basically that's the end of the conversation. I guess really don't know anything about Europe or England. If they ask me about America we talk about that, because mostly everyone seems to know much more about America than I know about Europe. It gets tough to relate to them and talk to them, especially if they have a strong accent. I guess that's why I've found myself listening for American accents or looking for someone that dresses like an American. I'm glad one of my flatmates, Kate, is from America.
This morning Kate and I went grocery shopping. The grocery store was about a 15 minute walk down the road. You had to pay one pound if you wanted a shopping cart so we opted to get baskets. Grocery shopping is really difficult. I had no idea what I was going to want to eat and I had to make sure I was able to make whatever I bought. They had really weird flavors of jelly and yogurt, fruits I've never heard of. Kate and I were excited because we each bought a bottle of wine. I also bought a hair dryer, since mine won't work here. My straightener won't work either. Kate is going to buy a straightener and we're going to share. Last night I zapped my alarm clock because I didn't realize the voltage wouldn't work, so I need to find an alarm clock too. The walk back was rough because it was that weird temperature where you need a coat when the wind blows but if you're wearing it in the sun it's too hot, and our bags were heavy, so we were happy to get back.
Here are pictures of my shopping bags and my fridge:
When I got back I cleaned my room a little and now I'm almost done unpacking. I hung up a poster that QM gave me and a map. I went to The Curve, which is like the little cafe here (similar to Belle Air at Nova, but all on one flor) and got my meal voucher. I'm so happy that I got a meal voucher because I wouldn't be able to cook for myself every night. I also got my QM email address! Now I get to put Queen Mary University of London as one of my schools on Facebook, so exciting.
This is what my room looks like now:
Ok I can't figure out how to line these up correctly, and I really don't care either. So they're going to be all over the page. I like my room a lot, it's pretty cute and the perfect size. I have my own bathroom too. It's a little tiny cube that basically only fits one person. The shower is pretty weird because you just pull the curtain over to cut the bathroom in half. I like having my own bathroom though.I'm so excited because I found the Steelers game on The X online radio. It's fantastic! It seems that we're going to have a quarterback problem though because Dixon just went into the locker room. I'm so happy though because I was worried about missing games, and it makes it feel a little more like home. I've heard there are Steelers bars all over the world, so maybe some Sunday I can catch a game at one.
Our other flatmate just moved in. She's from Ohio. Oh speaking of cities, I just remembered. I met this British guy last night and told him I was from Pittsburgh. He said, "I only know one thing about Pittsburgh, it's one of your sports teams and I don't even know what sport they play." I said, "Oh what team is it?" He goes, "The Pirates." Seriously? The Pirates? After we talked a bit more and I told him that the Pirates have 17 losing seasons in a row so I have no clue why that's the only team he knows, he figured out that he knows the Steelers and Big Ben, as well as the Penguins.
On a random note, I've noticed that the girls here are all about wearing shorts with tights, or dresses with tights. Good thing I brought a couple pairs of tights. They also wear a lot of interesting make up. The guys mostly wear soccer jerseys or have the Robert Pattinson look, ya know coats with big collars and fitted jeans. So far no one that I've seen has terrible teeth.
I think that's about all for today. I have to decide if I'm going to go back to Draper's tonight. Since I already paid the four pound cover at the bbq, I get in for free if I go before 9. Three of my flatmates are going so I might go with them, but I'm pretty tired and I have to get up around 8:30 tomorrow morning.
MB
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