Tower of London

Jocelyn, Akin and I decided to go to the Tower of London. It cost us £12 to get in and we got there too late to get a tour, but it was still worth it. The Tower is home to years of killings in London. It used to be a fortress, but now it’s just a tourist attraction. There have been queen’s killed there (one because she couldn’t produce an heir) and the nephews of one of the kings. Clearly, although I’m enjoying being a tourist, I’m not retaining much information properly. So don’t rely on much of the facts that I’m presenting. In fact, I can’t tell you how many buildings I’ve incorrectly identified on this web site. I’m working on it though...

We saw where people were held in captivity. They etched their names and drawings into the walls. We also got to the see the crown jewels. There is a little conveyor belt that you stand on and it goes by the glass cases where they keep the crowns. We must have walked on it 4 or 5 times (it wasn’t busy when we were there). The crown that the queen wears when she opens Parliament is amazing. It has so many jewels it doesn’t make any sense.

We also went to Wagamama’s for dinner. Mom really wanted to go to Wagamama’s while she was here, so I was excited to be able to go. The saki machine didn’t work though, so I couldn’t have saki at all. We did have really good food.

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Houses of Parliament

Out of sheer boredom and the pursuit of becoming London’s best tourist, Meagan, Akin and I visited the Houses of Parliament just two days before it closed down for session. We received guided tours, but we really weren’t able to take photos inside. We got to see where the Queen opens Parliament and we got to see both the different houses. 

Afterward, Meagan and I went to Hampstead to an “American” grocery store to pick up some imported items. I finally got relish, but it’s sweet not dill, and she was able to get graham crackers. There was marshmallows, and chocolate chips and canned pumpkin and root beer. It was not actually a very big store and the front part was actually a French place or something, there was meat hanging to dry from the celiing.

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Party in the Flat

Well, so far, I think that it’s safe to say that i have one of the more social Masters flats in our building. I will make sure to post photos of the rooms here, but they are HUGE! None of us who came with a few measly suitcases can figure what we’re going to do with all this space. My parents stayed in my room, so it comfortably fits three single (twin) beds. There is also a full bath in my room. Now, don’t go getting excited about this seemingly wonderful “loo”. If airplanes had full bathrooms, they would model them after our bathrooms. For the life of us we can’t figure why the rooms are so big, but none of us have enough room to stand in the shower with the curtain closed. I’m trying to master it, but every time that I go to wash my feet, my butt accidentally hits the water fixture (which is WAY too bulky) and changes the water temp to scalding hot. I do have a wonderful picture window (with no screen, you should see the mosquitos they have here, in our rooms) and I fully plan to pretend I’m Carrie Bradshaw as I do my homework romantically in front of it. 

Our flat is actually pretty fun. We constantly have people from other floors coming to our floor for dinner. We walk to the local Sainsbury’s grocery nearly every day. My friend Jocelyn and I had one walk home with about 5 plastic bags before we Tubed it to Notting Hill to pick up one of those old lady “trolley” carts to wheel our groceries. Most nights are filled with loud talking and laughing, “cooking” if you want to call it that and wine, beer or alcohol of some sort. During the first week, we’ve had a lot of randoms on the floor as you’ll see from the prison lineup photos that I’ve posted. None of the girls are much impressed with the guys yet, but most everyone who lives in halls is either international or an undergrad, so we’ll have to wait until classes actually start.

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Tate Modern

We all decided to get out of the dorm and go to Tate Modern. Jocelyn and I wanted to see the Kandinsky exhibit that was going on, but we would have had to wait too long. While we were up in the cafe getting some food, we ran into Natalie Portman! She was very tiny and dressed pretty normally.

After the museum we went back to the Indian restaurant, Chula, where my parents and I ate the first night we came here. The two Indian girls we were with were very excited and said that the food was pretty good. 

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Brighton

The school organized a trip to Brighton, a town that is by the ocean. We didn’t know what to expect at Brighton and really, we never did figure out what we were supposed to do there. My friend Kerry, from New Zealand and I, pretty much just sat by the trampolines all day. 

Each of us tried the trampoline, except for Jocelyn. It kills the inner part of your legs so I did not love it. I will have pictures of it up here pretty soon. Drew faired worse than me. He was on for less than five minutes before he decided he might still want to have children, so he better get off. Kerry, was able to actually do a flip. 

We had the world’s most disgusting food ever at the pier and really it was gross. I got fish and chips because I thought that I might give the UK signature one more good try. The fish was literally dripping in grease. I can’t even tell you how many napkins it would have taken to actually make it edible. 

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Thames River Cruise

One of the best evenings I’ve had so far is the night that we went on a cruise down the Rives Thames. Although it was very hard to find the proper pier (and our friend Drew wasn’t great with his directions) we boarded a three-level boat and headed out on the water just after sunset. We rode under the Tower Bridge, saw a couple get engaged while we rode under another bridge (I think London Bridge) and we met more people. 

Again the American’s and Kerry from New Zealand were pretty close, but I branched out and met up with three people from Turkey, my Romanian friends and two people from Africa. Haven’t heard many British accents yet, but hopefully that will come. 

Of course, the bottom level of the boat had a DJ (who played Sexy Back and London Bridge), so I met up with the Indian girls from yesterday and danced until I had to get some relief on the top level of the boat where it was colder. The guys will dance a little here, but mostly they stand and watch, which is a ton of fun. There is one guy who you will see sweaty in all the pictures because he pretty much refused to come off the dance floor.

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First Night Parties

London certainly knows how to welcome the students to “uni”. The first night that we met with other international students, we were escorted to  the bar, with pretty much unlimited wine and beer, for a party. Everyone was really friendly. Most of us Americans found one another pretty quickly, but I made quick friends with some Romanian girls, Ashley from Canada and Demet from Turkey. Oh, and one of the first two people I met were both from California and they both worked for Apple! 

On the 13th, we went to London’s International Student House (ISH) for a party. I was one of the first people on the dance floor that night and I pretty much stayed there. It’s hotter than I don’t know what in London, so a club with no air conditioning (not bad air, no air) makes for an interesting dance floor pretty quickly. The next day many of us could recognize one another from dancing the previous evening. 

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For my parents and me, sightseeing around London was great. Mom and Dad came with me to London for school, but we came early so that we could enjoy everything this city had to offer. We saw Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park (every mile of it!), Charles and Camilla, the Princess Diana Memorial and a ton more.

It was tough for everyone to say goodbye, but it was a great trip. Mom, you’ll be happy to know that I took two Indian girls back to Chula because they missed the food from home and although it wasn’t 100% exactly like home, it was the best food they’d eaten since they’d arrived. It’s amazing, you can eat there for under £30 per person.