How to Succeed in The British Education System Without Really Trying

What a terrible blogger I am. It is certainly not for lack of wondrous amazing experiences and adventures and funny British-isms that I haven't posted lately. It is for lack of time! I am writing this to you from the library at City University on what is quite likely the last day I will ever spend on this campus. I just finished with my psychology exam which was unfortunately difficult and has left me with what may be a permanent claw in the place of my hand. It's a testament to my commitment to you, my loyal readers, that I am typing this at all.

No. That's not true. I'm really just killing time before meeting up with a friend to go to a pub. But the bit about the really hard psych test was true... and my hand does still hurt. Here's the thing about this test. As an international student who is leaving in just a few days (yikes!) I got the pleasure of sitting said exam today, 3 days after the final class where as my peers won't be taking theirs until January 12th. So I got significantly less time to study which is not comforting when you are faced with some pretty tricky essay prompts. On top of that though, is the fact that British people, or at least those at City University, are total nutters about staging exams!

*Note: this is all 3 days old, I write it then forgot to post it but I feel that if I were to change the afore mentioned times now the post would lose some of its impact... also, I don't wanna change it all.*

You know you are in for a long two hours when you can't even figure out how to fill out the front of the exam booklet! Should you ever find yourself sitting a British exam here as some tips; ten minutes of reading time before the test begins does not mean you can review your notes, in that reading time all you are allowed to do is read the questions... for ten minutes. Also, during these ten minutes you are not allowed to make notes on the prompt, just stare at it. This was my first and only formal exam (thankfully) so these ten minutes were really baffling to me. After that initial confusion I set off on a whirlwind essay writing spree on a subject that, aside from the past 9 lectures, I have absolutely no background information on. It was exciting! The rest of those two hours is a blur of hand cramps and really wishing I had used the loo before the exam after all that tea. I literally wrote scrawled my last words the moment the administers called time. Whew! Glad that is done with! 

Here's the thing about the British education system, it's very different from America's system. I am not saying that either one is better or worse than the other. They are just different. I personally have been using the American system for the past 14 years so, naturally, attempting to operate in the British system straight away for just one term is a bit of a shock. I am used to going to any given class between 2 and 4 times a week and doing a bit of homework or a small assignment after each one. Here there is one class a week (usually for a grueling 3 hour lecture), one piece of course work (usually a short essay or presentation), and a final project (a longer essay or an exam). That's it, that's all your grade is based on. So yeah, there is a lot of pressure on those few assignments, not something I particularly enjoy.

So my friends, here is the answer to succeeding in the British education system without really trying; you don't. If you don't put in the effort you are going to crash and burn. But on the plus side, when you see a 70 mark on your paper, do not fret that you have barely even pulled a C. 70 is equivalent to an A here, it's a first level grade. The system does go all the way to 100 but some how marks higher than 70 are reserved for publish worthy, gilded, or magical documents. At least that's how I understand the system to work.

London's Position in the Spacetime Continuum

I am writing here to announce to the world some shocking scientific news. There is a very powerful space-time anomaly which is effecting the entire city of London.

Frankly, I am shocked that physicists haven't evacuated the whole city to conduct further testing. I don't know how long this has been going on but I can only surmise that it has been quite some time based upon the reactions, or lack thereof, from the native Londoners.

As evidentiary support for this claim, which, I realize, must seem fantastic, I lay out for you these three events which I have experienced first hand and whose validity I fully attest to.

Exhibit A: Waterloo Train Station

     A few weeks back Sarah and I went to a wine and cheese festival in Southbank (think London Eye and Across the river from parliament). After feasting on cheese and, well, not wine, I decided to take a bus rather than the Tube back to my place because it's cheaper and more scenic if not faster. Waterloo is a big station and is serviced by several bus stops. After a quick consultation with the map I found a bus going to Islington Angel which stopped at Waterloo Road which appeared to be just around the corner from where I was standing. So I set off and 10 minutes later found myself wrapping back around the enormous train station with Waterloo road no where to be found. So I turned around to look once more at the map.
On my way back around the station I start to notice signs saying things like "lift to Waterloo road" and pointing back into the station. So I went into the train station from the outside world at ground level, turned immediately right 180 degrees and went down an escalator. At the foot of the escalator I found my bus stop right outside. Now if you were following along, you, like me, would have been confused as to how I could have gone down from the ground floor and not actually gone underground. By all reason it seems that the street I had previously walked on in search of Waterloo Road should have been right above me but, alas, blur sky. Clearly the laws of space do not apply here.

Exhibit B: The Infinite Church Bells

     Obviously, London is a very old city. There seems to be a historic church on every corner. Many of these churches were built in a time before clock towers and certainly before watches and came equipped with a full set of bells which would ring to mark every quarter hour. Though some of these bells have been removed or no longer ring for any number of other reasons the sound of tolling bells is still very much common place   throughout London.
     As the intelligent readers that you are I am sure you are familiar with how church bells work. Every 15 minutes they toll out a short melody comprised mainly of perfect fifths and every hour on the hour one of the larger bells is stuck repeatedly to mark the hour of the day. Thus, the most strokes of a large bell you should ever expect to hear at once is 12, at noon and midnight. How then am I to explain the day Emily and I passed a church in Chelsea and heard its large bell struck at regular intervals for at least 2 full minutes? The only reason for a the bells to chime for that long is that they were marking a million o'clock, time works differently here.

Exhibit C: December You Say?

     My stay here in London is allotted to last for 3 months, from September 19th to December 18th. By my recollection I arrived here last week and have just begun to settle into my new home. But then, this very morning, I have a look at the calender (who am I kidding, no one has calenders anymore, it was my phone) and what do I see glaring back at me other than the date "Thursday, December 1". Ha! Another of London's impossible time tricks I say! Surely two and a half months have not gone by already. I will be the first to admit that time does, in fact, fly when you're having fun and I have been seeing and doing some pretty incredible things since I've been here to be sure. But, by all logic, it surely cannot be December first if time has been moving in the way that I am accustomed to, that is to say 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour, 24 hours to a day, and so on. Indeed, were time functioning in this way I would still have plenty of time left before I return to the U.S. to explore this fascinating city and the rest of the UK, but with less than three weeks left this is simply not the case.

With this evidence taken well to heart I am completely confident in my conclusion that some thing is deeply amiss within the very fabric of spacetime here in London, England. There is obviously nothing that I, nor anyone else, can do about this strange phenomenon so my only logical option is to go along for the ride. That's why, from this moment on, all I can do is enjoy to the fullest every last minute, however long that is, that I have in this wonderful place, where ever this is. 

What the UK Thinks of Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving my friends!!!

It is strange indeed to be away from my family and friends this year but, surprisingly, I'm not actually a complete sniveling wreck like I had expected to be! Why? Three reasons:

1) I am too busy with school work and having awesome UK adventures to get too hung up on being away from home. I have class, a meeting, a voice lesson, and a choir rehearsal on the day that pretty much everyone in America has off. If I were just sitting around my room bored I'm sure this would be a completely different story. Already this morning I have attended a special lecture with a middle eastern musician who taught us all to improvise in modal music, it was actually really fascinating, and now I'm off to a voice lesson and choir rehearsal. What's that saying about busy hands being happy hands?
2) I have alternative plans with my fellow American-in-London, Sarah. Come Saturday we are going to take her kitchen by storm and hobble together a makeshift feast like every other American study abroad student in the world! We could go to one on London's fancier restaurants and spend £50 each on a glamorous, gourmet version of the traditional spread but I like our way much better! I'm calling it Two-Day-Late-British-Thanksgiving... Sarah doesn't know that yet. I have complete faith in our combined abilities to cook a meal (well, I have realistic confidence...) and I'm just hoping that somewhere, in the vastness of the interwebs, I can find streaming video of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I have, however, decided to hold off on watching Elf until I can quote the whole thing with my mom. I seriously can't wait!
3) Thanksgiving simply does not exist here in the UK. And why would it? Heck, a pretty big part of what those early pilgrims were thankful for was not being in England, right? Nope, here in London, as well as all of the other cities I've seen in the past few weeks, it is well into the Christmas season. The lights on Oxford street were on the day after Halloween. Without Thanksgiving there to act as a speed bump, the "holiday season" is just a big, scary snowball hurtling down a steep hill from Halloween to Christmas. In a weird way, the fact that Thanksgiving just isn't an issue here is really helpful, it would be pretty terrible to see all of the locals gearing up for feasts with their families and have to eat deli meat in your dorm.

Now, as I said, Thanksgiving is a very American thing. We Americans take the holiday for granted, we've been making hand turkeys and construction paper pilgrim hats since we were old enough to use scissors. As such we are fooled into thinking that Thanksgiving is common knowledge. Well guess what, to the rest of the world, especially the UK and Europe, Thanksgiving is a pretty baffling concept, the Brits don't even know how to wish someone a happy holiday. "Merry Thanksgiving!...?" Here are just a few of the hilarious Turkey Day misconceptions I've heard in the past few weeks:

-Thanksgiving is the ultimate American holiday and is more popular than Christmas
     A few weeks ago I was in Ireland (that post is still in the works, sorry) and my friends and I went out to a bar to see some Irish music. It was crowded and the only places there were to sit were at the bar itself. Long story short, we all ended up getting chatted up by Irishmen (don't worry, Mike). The guy I was talking with was a nice guy who was clearly just trying to make small talk and at some point our conversation turned to holidays. He pointed out that Americans are known to celebrate even the most minor holidays (which, sadly, includes Halloween in their book) whereas, in these parts, Christmas is really the only major holiday. It took me a bit by surprise when he asked whether Christmas or Thanksgiving was a bigger deal in the states. I explained that Christmas is still basically the biggest, most commercial holiday but that Thanksgiving is a close second and that in some families it may be considered a bigger deal. He looked doubtful. That's when I realized that to Europeans and basically any non-Americans, Thanksgiving is a mysterious and glamorous, all out American extravaganza. Who knew?

-And the pilgrims were...?
     This morning I was asking the people at the front desk of my residence hall a few questions with Gill, another student from DU, and in between some how being signed up to organize some sort of holiday music extravaganza in the lobby, the subject of Thanksgiving came up once again. Gill and I decided to share some of the lovely holiday stickers that my mom sent me to give the front desk (and its staff) a touch of festivity. They played along, probably because they felt bad for us, but it was amusing to see two grown adults wearing Snoopy stickers on their shirts. The guy (whose name I have never known) went for the sticker that shows Snoopy and Woodstock sitting together wearing, what he called, "funny 17th century outfits." I pointed out that they were pilgrim hats. Blank stares, no response to this at all. It is becoming clear to me that most people outside of America, if they even realize Thanksgiving exists, have basically no idea what it's all about. I am beginning to find all this mystery a bit hilarious.

-So by celebrate you mean drink right?
     This one is probably my favorite. Yesterday, Gill and I came back from class and stopped at the desk for some reason or another. The lady working asked if we were going out later that night, implying going out to party. We were both a bit confused for a second until she then pointed out that it was the night before Thanksgiving. Then we were really confused. Apparently when the rest of the world hears that it's a big celebration they assume it's the kind of celebration that involves loud music and copious amounts of booze. Now I'm not saying that there isn't a good bit of wine and such passed around at Thanksgiving and certainly there are relatives all over the country who end their meal (maybe even begin it) in a less than sober state. But when she asked if we were hitting the bars in honor of Thanksgiving I just couldn't help but giggle. She was so earnest about it and all I could think of was her imagining our whole country going out to bars for ridiculous themed holiday drinks and some weird appropriation of turkey.

I guess the reason I find all of this so funny is because we take it all so much for granted that it is just amusing to take a step back from all of the givens and see what it must look like from the outside. At the same time though, it is really great to know that Thanksgiving is way better than the rest of the world apparently thinks it is. Sure, if any media does make it over here regarding the holiday, it's probably about the guy who set his house on fire deep frying his frozen turkey or the lady who ran down an elderly person with a shopping cart at 3:00 in the morning in the toaster aisle at Walmart, we aren't exactly giving them the best image of the holiday. But what we know, that they don't get to see, is that it really is the storybook holiday that it sounds like. People really do think about what they're thankful for and spend the day with their families making wonderful feasts. It truly is an awesome holiday! The rest of the world doesn't know what they're missing out on!

In keeping with the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are just a few of the things that I am thankful for today:
-The past 2 months and the next few weeks. My time in London thus far has been an amazing experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even a whole truck load of cranberry sauce
-My super awesome parents who let me go on this trip and put up with my incessant messages when I'm in random crisis mode. They even pretend to miss me!     
-My fellow Americans in London for keeping me sane
-All of my wonderful friends at home who send me lovely messages and make me feel loved

Now go forth, my fellow Americans, and eat your turkies, watch your football, and fall asleep on your relatives' couches! And do it proudly! Because you are all part of the cool club who celebrates Thanksgiving!

Very Much Love To You All!!!

P.S. If you're going out for a wild Black Friday shopping spree, for God's sake, don't trample anyone or get trampled!

Remember, Remember the 5th of November...

...The gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

As many of you are probably aware, this past Saturday was November 5th. For a lot of people it's a date you only sort of half-notice while writing it out on a page of notes or something and having it jog your memory back to V for Vendetta. The movie which isn't about the gunpowder plot per se but it sort of uses it as a backbone and sets the story to a dystopian future. Or maybe you didn't even realize that the fifth of November is actually minor holiday and you were just wondering what was up with the creepy masks cropping up as profile pictures on your newsfeed. Or is it just my friends who do things like that? The point is, Guy Fawkes day isn't too big of a deal in American because, quite frankly, it has nothing to do with us. But here in Britain it is a different story entirely, let me tell you about it!

*Disclaimer: my account of historical events in this blog are based upon what I half listened to my teacher say while we were standing in front of Parliament (What? It is a very loud, busy road!) and Google. It may not be completely accurate but hopefully it's at least entertaining.*

In 1605, a fellow called Guy Fawkes and 12 of his buddies decided to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Why? Well for the same reason any politically minded group tries to blow anything up, they felt that they were being treated unfairly and wanted to make a point, and hopefully murder the Monarch who was causing the problem at the same time. As they say - "Guy Fawkes was the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions." You see, they were Catholic and had been getting a lot of crap from Queen Elizabeth I's Protestant monarchy. When King James I took over he was supposed to fix it; but he didn't, in fact, he sort of made it worse. So there ya go, Guy Fawkes and his Catholic buddies were fed up and logically the only way to take care of the problem was to wait until King James I and all of his closest advisers were in the Houses of Parliament to conduct some official business and blow the sucker to bits. Problem solved. And no one exactly went out of their way to stop them. At first the group set up camp in a house that they had bought across the street with the plan to dig a tunnel over to the cellar of Parliament through which they could sneak in absurd amounts of primitive explosives. But then, lo and behold, a few months before the big day, a storage room basically right below the Lords Chamber went up for rent. Fawkes and the rest of the men knew the golden rule of real estate (location, location, location) so they snapped that cozy little studio up with out any suspicion whatsoever and managed to haul something like 39 barrels of gunpowder down there with out anyone batting an eye. Really it is amazing that this plan didn't work. I mean come on, they barely even had to try to be sneaky.

Here is a picture of said Houses of Parliment I took
during class earlier in the week.
 As you can see, it's still there

Here's the problem though. Apparently Guy just let any old, non-committal schmo onto his gunpowder slinging team because one of his men actually had a brother-in-law who would have been in Parliament when the planned attack was to take place. In what was probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for their in-laws, this fellow got to feeling guilty and sent a cryptic little note on over to his extended family warning him not to go to work the next day. Either because he was a goody two shoes or he really just couldn't figure out what he was supposed to be getting out of a note that probably read like the work of a primary school kid who was new to riddle writing... and writing, the brother-in-law showed it to his Lords and Commons pals. They clearly got the message because on November 4th, they searched the houses of Parliament and found Fawkes hiding downstairs with the gunpowder. I don't know if any one knows why he was down there but it is my bet that he sucked at rock, paper, scissors and ended up with the job of lighting the powder. And thus their plan was foiled and all the members of the band were either arrested or ended up blowing themselves up while drying out their left over dynamite by the fire so they could try again later.

406 years later (and 5 days now, wow I'm slow at posting), there are Brits all over England celebrating this event as a minor holiday fondly dubbed Bonfire Night. It may seem a little odd to celebrate your government nearly being overthrown by terrorists in a violent uprising but I think there are two, equally valid, reasons this occasion is seen as worth remembering and the day has become a holiday. First, let's face it, London has been on fire a lot in it's long history, the whole city has basically burned to the ground at one time or another. But then, when someone tried to set it ablaze on purpose it held out! I'll drink to that fine display of fortitude, or lucky coincidence, and so will the rest of London's population! The other explanation is that 4 centuries ago, Guy Fawkes and the rest of the gang failed so epically that their story has gone down in history and they really just can't seem to live it down. You think it's fun to poke fun at someone for two weeks over one coffee spill to the crotch? Well this is like that, only the mistake was way bigger so everyone is still laughing at you.

And how exactly does one celebrate the near death experience of a historical landmark/government center (centre?) and subsequent capture, torture, and execution of the perpetrators? By having the local school children create replicas of them (the perps, not the buildings) to throw onto huge bonfires that are lit all over the city for people to stand and drink around while they wait to see fireworks which, I suppose, represent the explosions that didn't happen! Sure, it may sound a little bizarre and my teacher claims that it's all become just an excuse for a party but, hey, it's fun! Personally, I headed out to a park in Southwark with a friend who was in town for the weekend where we experienced a celebration not entirely unlike Independence Day back home. There was a really great fireworks show set to music that kicked off right at 7:00 (it gets dark at 5:00 here with daylight savings!) as promised. After counting down with the "worshipful mayor of Southwark", we stood in a large field and watched the impressive display from a distance that was so close it probably would have been deemed unsafe in The States. Unlike the 4th of July however, bonfire night is a chilly evening in November, people come out see the fireworks and leave, so there's no laying out on the grass and spending the the whole day in the park. On Bonfire Night you come, crane your neck all the way back for 15 minutes, and leave. But it's fun! Especially when you're an American college student who realizes, "Hey, I'm in London, England celebrating with the locals on Bonfire Night. How cool is this?"

This is just a fraction of the huge crowd out for the event in Southwark

Each explosion is essentially a tongue stuck out
at poor old Guy.

We had a very long day traversing all over the space-time anomaly
that is London but we were still stoked to see fireworks!

And that, in a structurally unsound nut shell, is the story of Bonfire Night. Hope you enjoyed!

Also, just as a heads up, I've got some traveling coming up in the near future so keep a look out for new posts about even more exotic places... sort of.

Cheers!   

Cheese It's Good!

    When you think of countries that are famous for their cheeses you probably think of France or Switzerland and rightly so; France produces more than 500 different types of cheese and the Swiss gave us that holy stuff. When it comes to purveyors of fine cheese England often gets left off the list. That has to be a mistake and I hope that this post can convince you to add England to your mental list of places with good cheese!

Exhibit A: Cheddar Salad Sandwiches 
     As a devout disciple of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy I came to London expecting to find a lot of boring, stale sandwiches being sold at coffee shops and quick stop type places. After all, Adams has been right about plenty of other things, why shouldn't I believe him about this? *snickers*  Luckily, this does not seem to be the case. The sandwiches I have come across here have all been quite tasty! However, most of the ready made things that you find at campus cafes and the like are the tuna/chicken/egg salad varieties. I am no fan of mayo so those are all immediately out of the running. But wait... what is this? Cheddar Salad? Cue the Heavenly Chorus of Voices! (But ignore the picture of Spongebob). White bread, tomato, lettuce, and British cheddar... all good! British cheddar is white and a little bit stronger than the standard cheddar cheese in America. I would say it's something like the medium sharp cheddar from Wisconsin but not quite, maybe it's a little creamier? What ever it is, it's delicious and at just £1.90 at the uni's cafes it's a new staple of my diet.

perhaps my favorite lunch standard

Exhibit B: The Ploughman's Lunch
     The Ploughman is a pretty standard lunch offering for many pubs in London. Before I left, the seasoned travelers in my life who had been to London before and experienced the pub food for themselves all told me that it was just one of the weird things that pubs try to pass off as lunch; "just a hunk of cheese and a pickle" they said. But for someone who makes a habit of eating a loaf of bread and a block of cheese (preferably straight off the block) and calls it dinner this seemed like a great lunch idea!
     One day I ended up at a local pub near my school with some friends for lunch and the ploughman was on the menu so of course I had to order it. I got three big chunks of cheese (brie, stilton, and British cheddar), a small bit of salad (the generic British term for any type of lettuce-y thing), a few odd garnishes which stayed on the plate, a whole basket of breads and cheeses, and a pickle (sweet not dill).

The cleverly named pub.

A standard Ploughman's Lunch. So good!

Exhibit C: Wine and Cheese Festivals
     So this may not be exactly English cheese specific but still... there was cheese and it happened in England so I say it counts! Last weekend there was a cheese and wine festival in Southbank, the very down town part of London where the London Eye, Parliament, and Big Ben are. Sarah saw it in Time Out and we decided that it would at least be a fun place to stop by for a bit. When we finally found the festival tucked away behind Royal Festival Hall we were a little bummed to see how crowded it was. It wasn't a very large festival by any means but there were tons of people there, so many that it was quite difficult to walk around amongst the vendors' tents and see what there was to sample. However we did see several people with huge trays of cheeses and breads so we decided to make getting one of our own the goal. We had to ask some one where they got theirs and then wait in a rather ungodly que  but we finally walked away with a plate full of four different cheeses. The man at the booth rattled off the the long, fancy names so fast that I honestly have no idea what any of them were but they were all delicious! I don't know anything about wine and the few sips I've had in my lifetime haven't been my type of thing at all so Sarah and I decided to split a cider. We found a place on the side walk to sit and enjoy our purchase in the fall air. That made for a good outing!

Can I say delicious again? Delicious!

     We've all heard of "the freshman 15" where college freshman gain 15 pounds from eating starchy cafeteria food all the time. I never had that. However I don't think I will be so lucky as to escape the foreign 15 the traveler's 20 Britain Belly quite so easily with all this cheese around!

A Quick Tour of My Life in Islington

Hello again! I'm sorry I haven't been posting as much as I would like to, things just get busy and I have a hard time grasping the concepts of conciseness and brevity... I know that comes as a shock to you. Anyway, I've been here a while now and only just got around to taking pictures of some of the things around my immediate area. That means only one thing: virtual tour time!

I'll just stick to the major landmarks and such for right now because if I were to go into the cute little hidden details of the neighborhood I would easily crash Blogger's server with pictures! So here we go.

Let's say I want to go out for groceries, the first place I would go would be Sainsbury's (because they have malted milk biscuits for 40p!) on Liverpool Street which is off of Upper Street in a town center known as Islington Angel or just Angel to us locals. There are two ways I could get there:

I could walk up City Road which is busy and
good for night time or...

... I could walk the back way through some
residences and a long, narrow park.

Either way I will end up in Angel which is where all the stores, restaurants, pubs, cinemas, post offices, and other such necessary things are found.

The end of Upper Street, essentially where Angel starts.
The brown building on the left is the original Angel Inn.

Here in Angel you can find...

Camden Passage, a little alley-like street just
behind busy Upper Street. There are tons of
cute cafes, restaurants, and shops here
 and a vintage market on the weekends!

The Angel Tube Station which is on the
Northern line... which always seems to be
down. This station apparently also has the
longest escalator in in the entire underground
network with 318 steps.

Now, let's say I wanted to go to school, which I don't usually but it is the reason I'm here after all.

Here's the College Building which is where all my music
classes are.

an awkward attempt to show that the entry
is a tower with a clock.

and here's the University Building which is mostly library. 

 I think this is considered the main entrance though it's just
one of many.

The main part of the school is made up of 5 interconnected
buildings across from this; Northampton Square.

After a day at school I would walk back to my residence hall which usually takes me anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes. I'm guessing this is due to some type of space-time fluctuation or worm hole effect because I always seem to be walking at the same speed but I just can't figure out the standard timing of the journey. Anyways, no matter how long it takes I know I'm almost there when I see:

My building, Liberty Hall. Glamorous, no?

And there's my window!

After tapping my electronic key fob against the reader pad and feeling like a spy entering a restricted government area I would go through the front door, not the mysterious revolving door to the right which seems to be locked in place. There, the on duty desk attendant will either look up and smile or ignore me completely depending on who is working. My room is in a prime location and I only have to walk straight down one hallway to get to my door where I will find:

My room!
(recently cleaned)

And my desk... which is usually much more cluttered and
covered with rings from my tea mug and biscuit crumbs.

And lastly, here is my bathroom mirror with the
infamous outlets above in which I desperately
tried to charge my laptop on my first night here.
(the rest of my tiny bathroom is pretty standard
and not really picture worthy)

Yep, that is basically what I see in a day here in Islington. Then I wake up and do it all again the next day... 

...with my pants on, of course!

Thanks for virtually following me around my neighborhood, one of these days I plan to go out and photograph more of Islington's hidden treasures so look for that post in the future!

Cheers! 

Olympians of the Future!

I've been trying to think of a good introduction for this post for ages now. Just something quick about how I'm a huge fan of the Olympics and how exciting it was to get to see the future Olympic Site, maybe there'd be a witty comment thrown in for good measure. It's just not happening, I'm drawing a blank. So let's just skip the boring intro (which is what this is turning out to be, I guess) and go straight to the video.

Actually, first, let's take a quick pause for an epic anthem. Ah yeah, that is good stuff right there. Does any one else fall into wonderful day dreams of gold medals and parades and international brotherhood when you hear this song? No, just me? OK then, on to the video!

That's right, I said video! This is a little mini-tour that Sarah and I whipped up from the viewing tube at the future site of the 2012 London Olympic Games! Enjoy! And when you're watching the games in a few months, remember you saw it here first!

Whew, I hope you appreciated that fine field-based journalism because it took a lot of research and configuring to get the video to post. I had to download special software and everything!

And  lastly, I have decided to share with you my champion pose. Because no post would be complete without me reminding you what a complete dork I am!

Cheers!





Living in The Beatles' World

     Everybody who knows me knows that I am a huge Beatles fan. My obsession seems to come in waves; one day I'm just a regular person who hums along to "Love Me Do" when it comes on my iPod shuffle and the next I'm sitting in between the full sized speakers of my parents' stereo in the dark while Abbey Road revolves merrily away at thirty-three and a third rotations per minute near by. I may also be crying a little at this point... Yeah, I'm that weird.

     The most common reaction I got when telling my friends and family that I had chosen London as my study abroad destination was something along the lines of, "Oh yeah, so you can see all the Beatles stuff?" No, that is not why I chose London, there were a lot of factors like language, school offerings, music department requirements, and such that went into the decision. The Beatles thing was just a major bonus!
    
     Of course, the destination at the top of my list of things to see and one of the very first places I went to see upon arriving here in London was Abbey Road Studios and the associated crosswalk, or zebra crossing as the Brits would say. Those were some of the greatest few minutes of my life. Honestly, there isn't much to see there anymore, it's really just another street, but just knowing that the men of the greatest band of all time have walked that very side walk is more than enough to put any true fan into a state of awed, nervous, twitchy, humbled amazement. Or maybe that was just me... Fellow Beatles fan Patrick Allegri sums up the feeling quite well in his article about Beatles attractions in London. 
     (You can read the full story of my trip to Abbey Road about halfway through this post, in case you missed it)

A shot that didn't get used for the cover

     Today I was able to get in another dose of Beatles when I went out to see one of the special UK screenings of Living in the Material World, a Martin Scorsese documentary about the quiet Beatle; George Harrison. Now, if you were to ask me every day for a year who my favorite Beatle is I'm positive you would get more than one answer but George Harrison would almost definitely be the answer you got most. That, combined with the fact that I just happen to be on a once in a lifetime trip to the UK at the time of this documentary's release meant that I had to do my best to see it!

     Although it may not seem like it from the content of these posts, I am in London mainly to go to school and as such I wasn't sure if I could fit a trip to the cinema into my schedule. The official premier was actually last night but I had a late class and the tickets were all sold out! Luckily, I discovered that one theatre was doing a slightly extended run of showings and after much planning and many visits to the London Transportation website I ordered two student tickets for Sarah and I to see a showing at the Ritzy Picture house. The movie was at 2:00 (although it didn't really start till 2:30) and I had class until 1:00. It was an estimated 29 minute tube ride and a 5 minute walk from the station to the theatre. With all of the planned maintenance going on in the tube system I knew I would be cutting it close. I spent the whole morning hoping that the tubes would be on my side just for today!

     I got out of class 10 minutes early and eagerly made my way to the nearest tube station and quickly found my route with the help of my beloved tube map iPhone app (I can't decide if I love the way that rhymes or if I hate it). As I was making my way down to my first train I came upon a group of people who had been stopped by a tube official and wouldn't you just know that Northern Line was closed down due to "passenger actions" (my theory is that someone didn't mind the gap and got their foot snapped off). Luckily, the transportation department staff members are all insanely knowledgeable about the tubes and since there was a major closure there were plenty of them on hand to help people rework their routes. One such lady directed me to get on the next train and take it to Victoria Station where I should change over to the Victoria line which would take me all the way to Brixton Station. And, joy of joys, about 25 minutes later I was in Brixton station with a solid 20 minutes before the movie started! What's more is that there were signs right outside the station pointing us to the theatre which turned out to be just down the street! Some how I had dodged Northern line's curve ball and made it in plenty of time!

     The cinema itself was adorable and auditorium 5 is like a small private screening room with a smaller than average screen but extra comfy, deluxe chairs! It was a very cozy place to settle in to enjoy the 4 hour documentary. The show was actually meant to be a 2 part HBO series but the screening showed both parts back to back with a mini intermission in between. It may be the Beatles bias talking or I could just be at a high point in a wave of adoration but I really enjoyed every moment of this documentary. And that is saying something coming from someone with a fairly strict 2 hour attention span who has never been a fan of documentaries. It was all very nicely crafted and had a natural flow to it with no obnoxious narrator, all the commentary came from interviews. I loved all of the obscure clips and photos of Harrison and The Beatles that made up most of the film, none of those that we have all seen a thousand times scattered around the internet. It was a lot of fun to watch all of this in the company of other Beatles fans and to hear them chuckling at the wry sense of humor the group infused into so many of their press conferences or off handed remarks from Harrison or any of the other interviewees (which include Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Dhanni Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr). I'm sure I wasn't the only one to tear up a bit at the end when Ringo wiped away a tear while recounting his last moments with George.

     All in all, I highly recommend you take the time to watch this film at least once. It gives such a well rounded and deep look into the life, death, and music of a truly inspired and great man. It is set to air on HBO in the US at some point in the very near future (tonight?) but given the time difference I really can't begin to tell you when so just check out the official page for info.

     I hope you enjoy it, I know I did!   

Hey you're 21!?! Yeah, No One Here Cares...

     Obviously, the big excitement about turning 21 in America is being able to go out to the bars and order a drink. That is not the case around here as the legal drinking age is 18. So really there is nothing too special about turning 21 in England.
  
     I turned 21 at some point on Tuesday, September 27th; whether it was at 12:42 Denver time or London time I don't know. Tuesday was also my first day of classes and I decided that it would be exceedingly weird and not a great way to make new friends to walk up to my new classmates and proclaim my birthday girl status to them. So yeah, basically no one in this time zone even knew it was my birthday.

     I know that it sounds pathetic so far but I promise you it wasn't really! After a day of classes and a grocery store trip, good ole Sarah came over to celebrate with me! She danced over and gave me a lovely card and then we went out for a birthday dinner at a little Italian place in Angel that we sort of randomly decided on. Did you know that asking for a marinara pizza will get you pizza crust with sauce on it... no cheese? We didn't, but that's what we got! Luckily, it was some mighty delicious sauce and crust so we still managed to eat the whole thing and a side order of fancy meatballs.

     The only alcohol this restaurant offered was wine. I'm not a big wine fan and I wouldn't have had the slightest idea what to order (I know you're shocked) so we just stuck with water. Still though, a part of me really wanted to have a drink on my 21st birthday. So on our way home from the Italian restaurant Sarah and I made yet another stop at Sainsbury's. Let me tell you, I felt like a real champion watching that evening's purchase ride the conveyor to the till.

If a tub of Cornish vanilla ice cream and two ciders doesn't say
I'm 21, let's party! I don't know what does!

     In the UK it is standard for the clerks to check your ID if you look to be under 25 so I did at least get carded on my 21st birthday, that seems almost American! Plus, when we showed the guy our Colorado driver's licenses he got to chatting about how much he loved American football and the Denver Broncos, who knew! We took our glamorous purchase and headed back to my flat for the night.
    
     But wait there's more! The day before I had made a special trip to M&S to procure a cake for us to split in honor of both of our birthdays. Now,combine all of these things and we're getting much closer to a celebration...

Looks like a party to me!

     We spent the rest of the night watching Rio and jamming to it's insanely catchy songs while enjoying our ciders. It was a pretty big deal (to me) that I finished my whole bottle. It turns out that 500 ml of cider makes my feet really hot and leads to a very good night's sleep! (Hi Mom and Dad! How you doing with the drinking news? Weirding you out yet?)

Yep, with cake, ice cream, and cartoons the only thing setting
21st birthday apart from my 5th was the location... and the cider.

     I know I've joked around a lot in this post but honestly it was a really nice birthday and probably not all that different than what I would have done at home; though there wouldn't have been any Kopparberg Cider because they only sell it in New York in the U.S. I had a really nice evening with a good friend and truly enjoyed seeing so many lovely birthday messages from the other side of the pond on facebook and in my email. Thank you all for the wishes!

     In closing...


Cornish vanilla ice cream looks like a butt!



Weekend of Adventure!

     This is the story of last weekend, I'm sorry it's taken me a full week to finish it.

     After a week filled with hellacious travel, a wild goose chase of an orientation, and plenty of homesickness I was more than ready for a weekend of fun and that is exactly what my good friend Sarah, already a seasoned London study abroad-er, did for me!


Friday Night

     Sarah bravely rode the tube (that's the London underground) over to the stop in my neighborhood where I met her and took her back to my flat. We were planning a sleep over at my place to be followed by a day of sight seeing on Saturday and we were going to need supplies! That meant a trip to the local Marks & Spencer which is almost, but not quite entirely, not unlike Target (oh how I miss Target!).

Yep, these pillows will do, and they're 2 for £7!

     While we were there, Sarah discovered that I hadn't even gone grocery shopping yet and decided to sponsor me on my first trip to Sainsbury's. It's amazing how even though everyone speaks English here and there aren't really any terribly unusual cultural customs you can still end up looking like a confused American in the till line.

This was a very happy moment for me!

     Finally having a food supply to speak of and a new £9.99 pay-as-you-go phone in my pocket (also found through Sarah's guidance and wisdom) it was time for the real fun to begin. I had been in London for 3 full days at this point and hadn't so much as looked at a pub yet. That ended right then with my first trip to a British pub called The Angel which is a fairly new, college student type place. It was there that I got my first beer and my first fish n chips.  Having literally never had even a sip of beer before I had no idea what to order so I let the bartender pick for me. He gave me a Fosters because apparently most people like it... I did not. I drank maybe 3 sips before deciding I wasn't gonna get any further on that front. I might try beer again and opt for something a little more British but I doubt that I be ordering many more beers on this trip.

Could I look any more awkward here?

Fish n Chips!

     Now full of deliciously fried pub food, Sarah and I returned to my room where she set up camp on my floor and took charge of planning the weekend ahead of us!

She is an expert planner!

Tea, biscuits, and London for Dummies it's gonna be a good weekend!

Saturday

     We took a bus (after discovering that the Angel tube station would be closed all weekend for maintenance) to Camden Market. Camden Market is a huge outdoor market that opens every weekend for people to wader through and get lost in while looking at all kinds of interesting things for sale. We spent most of our time in Stables Market which is known for their funky vibe and vintage shops. This market is situated in what used to be a horse stable and hospital way back in the 1800's, hence the name. The original cobblestones, narrow archways, and tunnels combined with the huge, metal horse statues and punk rock stalls make it a really fun place to be. I could have easily spent the whole day there combing through the endless racks of vintage and handmade wares but I was too excited about our next stop to really linger. I will definitely return to Camden Market for some serious shopping!

Main road of Camden Market where 5 or 6 smaller markets branch off.

All of the store fronts had huge 3D signage

This is just a tiny corner of Stables Markets, no big deal apparently.

     From Camden Market we rode the bus (my first double decker!) to the greatest moment of my life thus far! That bus took us to the trail head of the pilgrimage that every true Beatles fan yearns to take.

     The bus let us off at a stop that was exactly 0.7 miles from the sacred ground that lay at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, London so we walked through the quiet neighborhood enjoying a lovely fall day as I got more excited and more nervous with each step. Finally, up ahead we saw a small gathering of people and the distinct white wall covered in the graffittied love of thousands of fellow Beatles fans that told us we had made it. I was practically drooling on myself out of sheer joy and disbelief at this point and Sarah racked up major friend points standing by me and letting me have my moment.

Marveling at all of the amazing music made just beyond that fence

Yes, I felt like a major tourist goober but it simply had to be done! 

"Sarah, I gotta do this barefoot, don't ask me why"

Our humble message.

This was taken by the 24 hour webcam where you could have watched
me walk across that road about 17 times and almost get run over twice
 if I would have posted this earlier. Sorry... kinda.



     Feeling completely impressed and humbled and happy beyond all reason we set off for a bit of lunch and home for the night where I slept soundly and happily indeed! I'm positive that will not be my only trip to Abbey Road Studios but of course I will always remember it as my first!

We had lunch at the classy foreign version of Colfax's famous
Pizza Express. I think I still prefer the original and their $1 slices.

Sunday

     I got up early (ish) on Sunday morning and embarked upon my first tube ride, solo no less, over to Sarah's place in Kensington so we could spend the day seeing things in her neighborhood. 

Taking the tube is easy-peasy even for me!

     We had another round of tea a biscuits (here with Sarah's earl grey rather than my PG tips) and planned out our day while making ourselves some sandwiches for later. We decided that our first stop would be another semi touristy destination:

Harrod's

     If you didn't already know Harrod's is a ridiculously large, sinfully fancy department store. It sort of reminds me of the Macy's in New York as far as size goes but it's even fancier inside. When we walked through the front doors we found ourselves in the midst of a room full of purses that cost more than what I could hawk my car for (don't worry Kevin, I would never do that!). From there we ended up in what I can only describe as the world's fanciest, most gourmet food court. There was everything from finely prepared traditional British food to fresh sushi and gorgeous pastries (which we gave into on our way out). Mind blown, Cinnabon will never compare. We rode the Egyptian Escalator up, up, and up and surveyed what each floor had to offer. Our favorites were the toy kingdom and the pet kingdom where we could only imagine the fancy, snooty kids and dogs who would be bringing home these luxury items. On our way down we were serenaded by a woman in a glamorous red gown who sang the Habenera from Carmen from a balcony above the escalator. Insanity!

This is me riding an escalator in the world's classiest store Buddy the Elf style!

Egyptian Escalator

     Our last stop of the weekend was the Science Museum. Like the majority of the museums in London it was completely free to enter and offered us a full afternoon's worth of entertainment in their very high tech, far superior version of The Hall of Life from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. There we learned:

That my toe thumb has a whorl print pattern...

...and what Sarah would look like as a man. Foxy!

     We finished the day and our epic weekend out with our sandwich lunch in one of the many beautiful parks in Kensington where we watched street performers sing cover versions of Elton John songs and a street hockey game simultaneously and side by side!

Pretty park!

     Thanks for reading this crazy long post about my crazy adventurous weekend and thanks to Sarah for providing the adventure! Stick around for more (hopefully shorter) tales of adventures and excursions in London.

Much Love!