What I've Been Up To: Wales, etc.

OK, so a quick update on what I've been up to this past week:

Wednesday I went back to Brick Lane for dinner for a friends birthday where we negotiated down to 8 pounds per person for appetizers, main course, and wine. After Brick Lane we all went to The Rocket which I've already mentioned is one of my favorites. Music was again awesome- still lovin the 90s.

Then Friday was my main adventure for the week, which was a day trip to Wales, more specifically the capitol, Cardiff. From London its like a 3-4 hour bus ride, so we meet at 7 40 (after waking up at 7 20) to hop on the tube and catch our bus leaving at 8 30. Once we got to Cardiff, we grabbed something to eat at what we thought was a Deli. They take us down to the empty tables downstairs amidst colored lights and lounge-style couches when we see posters all over the walls realizing we are in fact in a drag queen bar, for breakfast. hahaha. I would somehow end up in a drag queen bar unintentionally. There weren't shows going on or anything but the food was good even if the server did try to get us to change our mind on all of our orders.

After satisfying our grumbling, empty stomachs my friends (Teena and Sarah) and I headed to Cardiff Castle aka Castell Caerdydd. After going to the wrong entrance and being confusedly stared at, we had to make our way around to the other entrance which gave us a chance to walk around the park. If it had only been warmer I would have stayed in that park forever. It was green and sunny with cute dogs and bikes and runners all around. My freezing hands and feet voted no to staying there forever, however. After making it to the castle doors and buying our tour ticket, we headed inside and the cutest little Welsh man showed us around, including long awkward pauses in his little speeches making him sound like a mix between a flight attendant and a news anchor. The tour was really interesting though and watching this woman and our guide play their little flirtatious game made it all the more so.

Outer Wall of Castell Caerdydd

The Old Part of the Castle

When the tour was over we watched a little movie then toured around by ourselves and climbed the old castle revealing a beautiful view over Cardiff. Check it out-

View of the Castle Grounds and Cardiff

After the castle, we did a little shopping, a little coffee drinking, a little wandering and then... a tour of Millennium Stadium, home of all things Welsh sports, most importantly rugby and football (remember not American football). We got to go see the field, go into the locker room, check out the press room, sit in the President's booth, including both Queen Elizabeth's and Prince William's seats. It was actually a lot more fun than I am currently making it sound. In fact, it was probably one of my favorite things I've done since I've entered the UK.

Holding the Trophy from when Wales Beat Australia

And after a good day in Wales, we had a three hour bus ride home. On the bus ride we proceeded to be the obnoxious American girls who didn't stop talking the entire way back, but our outgoing/annoying antics lead us to meet two really sweet people. First, a girl born and bred in Wales who thought we were absolutely ridiculous for taking a day trip to Wales. She repeated over and over again how intrigued she was by us and our weird accents and day trips. And then a guy from London who undoubtedly wanted all of us to shut up but he was in the middle so he kind of had to talk to us. It solidified to me that people from the UK in general are really sweet and friendly. I could totally move here!

Last update: I finally made it to Borough Market! I have been trying to go since I got here but kept on not going for one reason or another. Over winter break I saw a Barefoot Contessa special about Ina in London. In the show she went to Borough Market so obviously it went on my list. I mean if Ina loves it, then who am I to not go? It didn't disappoint. There were fruits, vegetables, weird meats, pig heads, mulled wine, sweets, baked goods, flowers, and really anything else you can imagine. I will definitely be making a return trip.

A Loud Borough Market Vendor

Oxford: The Ultimate College Town

I am increasingly growing more and more in love with UCL's student union. Why? because they let me do things for cheap. You can organize different events and day trips all at discounted rates but its not like a school field trip where they hold your hand through a boring tour. Nope, they just drop you off and let you do as you please.

Yesterday, some friends and I went on our first day trip through the union to Oxford. As is obvious, Oxford is home to the University of Oxford, but what a lot of people don't know is that University of Oxford is composed of about 38 colleges and Oxford the city has I think 2 other completely separate schools. Thats why its the ultimate college town- it's insane how many colleges they can fit into such a small area.

Oxford is absolutely beautiful, though. The architecture is all intricate and historical and my camera is now probably overheated from taking pictures of things that seemed important but in reality I had no idea what most of them were.

While in Oxford we climbed a tour to check out the view of the city, roamed in to several churches, ate at the cutest pub, tried to check out as much of the university we could without being charged, checked out some museums, and bought the comfiest Oxford rugby shirt that I've pretty much been wearing since.

Here are some highlights:

View of Oxford from above

Covered Market and Camera Building (because of the circular shape)

My new pet at the natural history museum

Left: Christs Church at Oxford

Center: Us in front of the palace? castle? school? who knows

Right: FOOTBALL!

If only it was warm enough I could have rented a bike and the day would have been even better.

And the good thing was I wasn't really sick at all the whole time. I started getting sick monday night, then I'm pretty sure I was dying tuesday through most of thursday, but Thursday night, Friday, and most of Saturday I was fine which worked out great, but by the time I got home Saturday, death struck again and its still continuing.

But at least that gave me some bed/computer time to upload pictures, write this blog post and plan everywhere I want to travel. Want a list of everywhere I want to go, many of which I've already planned/started to plan? Ok, great! (hehe sorry if your answer was no)

Within UK

-stonehenge

-Edinburgh, Scotland

-Brighton

-Cardiff, Wales

-Bath

-Dublin, Ireland (ok not part of the UK but you know what I mean)

And elsewhere

-Paris

-Madrid

-Barcelona

-Italy (like everywhere)

-Porto

-Copenhagen

-Bruges

-Amsterdam

-Swiss Alps

I realize this leaves out a ton of places including pretty much all Eastern Europe but I don't want to eat up my entire savings account so all start with Western and if money/time allows continue onward.

Any other suggestions??? Let me know!

Alright now back to moping on my bed and waiting for Funny Face to download :)

First Weekend of The Semester

Ok, so technically this was the 2nd weekend I've spent here, but it was the 1st weekend after classes started and after I finally settled in a bit and the 1st weekend I didn't have planned orientation activities to go to most of the time. For all real purposes, this weekend was my first weekend in London. Since I don't have work or ESA or Daily Colonial and my last classes is on Thursday, I have a long free weekend.

I'll give you some highlights of places I went. Places I recommend we must go when you come visit me (as I hope many of you will).

(1) The Rocket- its a bar near campus which sounds boring enough but they play 90s rock and hip hop with music videos and everything and they have mini pool tables. I love the 90s. Enough about that.

(2) La Perla- I finally found good food in London. And mexican none the less. Its not the most authentic mexican food in the world, but it tastes like the kind of mexican food you find in Georgia, which is good enough for me. Another bonus- its within easy walking distance of my flat.

(3) Brick Lane- this is the street/area known for its Indian and Bengali food but during the weekends (at least) they also have a market with a bunch of different ethnic food vendors and other weird odds and ends. This place also has a ton of thrift and vintage stores. Needless to say, I'll be making my way back when I have more time to shop.

The gate to Brick Lane...

And this is just the restaurant part of it. The market part was about 24X more awesome.

And I vaguely remember I would tell you the weird things I notice about this place culturally since I already had my list about the quirks of the school. So here are some:

(1) These people eat dinner so late. 10 PM dinner? no thank, unless you want my stomach growling for 3 hours beforehand.

(2) They go out early. Which doesn't make since given the above statement. In the rare event that I actually go out in DC rather than watching movies with friends or knitting or doing whatever lame thing my 85 year old soul desires, we usually leave about 12 or 1am. Here things start closing then.

(3) I have yet to meet many british students. I have met a ton of Americans here for the semester or the year and people from lots of other countries like Germany, Jamaica, Italy, Greece, Canada, etc but barely any Brits. Why? I'm not sure. I think it has something to do with the fact that affiliate (study abroad) students seem to stick together and something to do with the fact that a lot of British students live an hour or so away from campus but besides that I don't know.

(4) As I briefly mentioned, the food is not so great. Not a big surprise.

(5) Everything costs the same as it does in the US except instead of a $ you have the GBP in front. Which makes everything about 1.5 times more expensive here :(

(6) I am a slob compared to these people. Everyone is always dressed up. I need to go shopping...

And if you haven't noticed, I am a big fan of lists.

Oh, also I went on a bus tour of London which rather than making me feel like I knew the city better, actually made me realize how much I didn't know/hadn't seen. I have so much to do over the next 5 months...

That is all.

Much love,

Erica

Weird Things About This Place

So, I have been here for about a week now and have had two full days of classes so far. I thought it was about time to inform all of you about some of the weird things about school in London. Some good, some a little less than good. Most good though, really, I'm not just saying that.

(1) Most of my classes meet once a week. And I have 4 classes, so unless I change my classes (which I may) I have 4 class sessions all week and one optional tutorial (aka discussion section). So far no classes on Friday and none on Monday until 2. Some of my classes are 3 hours long but it really doesn't feel all too bad because... leading to number...

(2) I get breaks in the middle of my classes. In my infectious diseases in developing countries class we literally stopped for tea. My professor said lets break for tea and everyone went to the cafe downstairs. It felt really stereotypical but in a really good way.

(3) Our student union has bars, like school sponsored, alcoholic beverage selling bars. And they have drinks for 1 pound.

(4) Students go out on Monday nights. But not so much on Thursday nights.

(5) You don't buy textbooks but you have about 5 times as much reading.

(6) Everything, food and gym memberships and coffee, are all cheaper on-campus. This makes sense to me but its definitely different than GW.

(7) Class meetings end in March, we have the month of April off, and May and June are only exams.

(8) Some of my classes have like 8 lecturers. Its an Intro course so I guess they're trying to cover all of the basics, but who do you get in touch with? Who's office hours do you go to?

Thats all I can really think of right now, but thats just the weird things about the school system. Once I figure out everything more, I'll let you in on all the weird language and cultural difference.

Room Pics as Promised!!

Yesterday I said I would post some pictures of my room as soon as I finished unpacking and today I finally found clothes hangers so its all done! And as promised, here are some pictures. And take it in because i doubt my room will ever be this clean and organized again.

The bed half of the room....

Isn't my new bedding cute? And notice my painting from kenya on the dresser... And yes that is my suitcase at the end of my bed with a lace table runner draped over it ...

And here is the other half of the room...

Desk, chair, sink, bright blue door, you know the usual suspects (and a new red coat because I left my peacoat in Marietta)

And now for the kitchen...

The bright blue paint appears again. I've decided I'm a fan of it. It brings a little caribbean to cloudy, rainy England.

I have a bathroom too but bathroom pictures seem kind of weird to me. I have a sink, a toilet, and a shower like every other bathroom. Nothing fancy but it works and seems to have hot water most of the time so I'm happy!

And if you haven't already, read my former post because this is just kind of a boring picture post.

Arrived in London! My Pride Has Not...

I'm here! and finally. That was probably the single most ridiculous travel experience I have ever had and that's saying a lot. So sadly I must admit that this time I have to blame myself rather than the airlines or other incompetent passengers, etc.

First of all, I had been waiting to hear from UCL about housing since the 'middle of December' which is when I was told I would be informed if I had somewhere to live or not. Jan 4 rolls around (the day I leave) and I still haven't heard anything. I look at my address information listed on UCL's version of Blackboard and it vaguely says "Schafer House" with no room number or anything. Then I kept reading these emails about having to confirm housing and pay the deposit prior to arrival which I obviously didn't do because I hadn't received my formal offer so I didn't have the paperwork or anything. So, this is probably not my smartest decision, but I decided to hop on the plane to London with no idea where I would be living. And on the way to the airport is where the fun started...

As many of you know, I'm not always the most organized person in the world and I have a really convenient habit of forgetting things. And usually important things. Generally I'll forget deodorant or pajamas or underwear or something like that when I travel. Important, no doubt, but it can be bought. This time I decided to forget all of the paperwork necessary to get my Visa once I got to Heathrow... and realized while in the heart of downtown Atlanta, around 6 PM, in traffic. Probably the most annoying time ever because you're not at the airport yet so you feel like you should turn around... But of course time was not my friend. Oh and to top it off I forgot my coat on my way to one of London's coldest winters ever. Sitting on the kitchen bar so i wouldn't forget it. I give myself far too much credit.

Well, my mom and I came up with a somewhat genius plan. When she got home she would scan all the documents to my email and then when I got off the flight I would cry, get them to let me into a business class computer center or whatever those things are and print them off. We even had it down to how and when I would tell the flight attendants my situation and everything. It was the perfect plan. But do those things ever work out as you plan them, really?

I get to the check-in desk and things start getting better. I don't have to pay for any of my luggage and with a little rearranging nothing was over the weight limit. Then there is no line at security (a miracle of the most unexpected kind in the infamous Atlanta airport). Then there is a money exchange near my gate so I get some pounds etc. so all looks well.

The flight goes by smooth enough, I don't sleep very well and there is this odd old british man who keeps smiling at me but besides that no complaints. I watched the social network and they put lemon in my diet coke :) (Kelsey, if you read this I was thinking of you when he asked if I wanted lemon hehe it may be a sign that you were supposed to be in London this semester)

Then I get to the airport and there is no business center before immigration so that I can print my documents. And no one to ask so naturally I just go up to the immigration officer and explain my horrifyingly embarrassing situation which of course makes him give me the "you silly American girl face" but politely helps me anyway. Then with people line up behind me I plop my laptop on the counter and pull up the email attachments one by one. And somehow with a laugh he lets me into the country.

Then I get my bags, walk through customs without showing them anything (what's the point of customs if all you do is walk through it with no checks?) and once I'm sitting outside at the terminal I realize I still don't have anywhere to stay. And no phone. So I'm emailing my parents who are talking to housing while I wheel around my bags on a cart and look like a paranoid homeless person when I freak out that someone stole my wallet when it was at the top of my carry-on. I think it should be said that I'm generally a laid-back person. Most of the time I'm even unreactive to a fault. The lack of sleep and build-up of stress had really turned me in to a crazed maniac.

Then my parents call say that they talked to the residences office and they gave them the name of the place I'm staying I just need to go in and sign a form accepting the offer. Relief! Well, somewhat. I still had 2 bags and 2 carry-ons to drag around and 2 addresses to find that say only the street name and no number. Luckily however I got the nicest cab driver in the world I'm certain. He takes me to campus stays with me while I find where I need to go (and actually he was the one who eventually found where I need to go) and helps me with all of my bags. The only bad part of the cab ride was that it cost 90 pounds. For you US folks, please google convert that. It's quite a fun number.

Once I found my room, however, I must say its worth it. I have my own bed room with a big window and a sink and mirror and then share a bathroom and kitchen with one other girl. Its really a beautiful room, especially after I bought all of my bedding and started to put my stuff away (which is still in the process in case you were wondering)

And now I'm finally getting settled in and went to get groceries so I could break my 36 hour soy latte fast...

Let's just hope that all of my registration stuff in the next couple of days runs a little more smoothely. Oh and after already spending up my prepaid minutes I have decided that international calls are not in my budget so please send me your skype information if you want to keep in touch :)

Much love,

E