Apparently British IS a Language

Since I know my lovely audience has been sitting on the edge of their seat in an anticipation of my next installment, I'll tell you now: it's only going to be a quick recap since I have four and half days to cover in one post. Are you ready??




Sunday, 09.05.2010

The school provided us with a lovely boat trip down the Thames (pronounced like "Tims"), which was amazing! We sailed past the Tower of London and under the bridge we sang about so much as children! I simply cannot relate how incredible it was to feel the weight of history like that. I guess in certain aspects, it hasn't really hit me that I'm actually living in a foreign city. Odd, no?

Anyway, we landed in Greenwich ("Gren-itch") and proceeded to have quite the time wandering around the gigantic Greenwich Market :) I found a cute change purse - since the coins actually DO matter here - an elegant scarf, and a flex (cool/hott) dress! The change purse is hand-made and HOT pink with metallic swatches of fabric sewn on like bubbles; the scarf is a teal with a sort of paisley pattern in blue, purple, and fuchsia for the last six inches; and the blue dress is one-shouldered with a zipper design across the bodice. Apparently, the fashion students make them and sell them at market.



After Greenwich market, we explored the Queen's Palace (essentially a collection of paintings) and straddled the Prime Meriden!! It was really cool in a geeky way :) Then we headed home for some rest before heading out to Zetland Arm's to finish off our day with the perfect pint.







Monday, 09.06.2010

I don't have class on Mondays so Amanda and I slept in before jetting off to the gym then more grocery shopping after. It was mostly catching up on my journal and such after that. Then, dinner with Nicky! Yay! Although it was a little worrisome since there was a Tube strike that began around 5pm (1700), but no worries, it all worked out! We ended up going to a pub for dinner. It was quite nice to just sit and have a chat after the hustle-and-bustle and never-ending activities of the last five days. Monday was a very simple day because after that, I just went to bed (mostly to ensure my sleep-deprived body could wake up for class at 730am).







Tuesday, 09.07.2010

On Tuesdays, I have literally 11 hours class. No joke! From 9am to 8pm (2000). It's killer! But I survived and I'll actually enjoy all of my classes. There's a bit more work than anticipated (like performing a field experiment...I don't know how I'm going to pull that off), but otherwise everything is just peachy.



Then, Nicky and I met up again to try and maneuver our way to Piccadilly. Alas, it wasn't to be as (due to the Tube strike still in effect) we took the correct bus the wrong direction and ended up in the suburbs of London. We skipped rocks at the Thames and then called it a night.







Wednesday, 09.08.2010

And now, at last, an entertaining day! I spent the whole tramping across London and its outlying suburbs with a cute British boy. (No worries, he was quite legitimate! Seriously, he's a perfectly lovely boy.) It was a lot of walking! Probably about 20 miles total… He swears we lost “a stone” each! (If I remember correctly that’s about 15 pounds and 6.5 kilograms…)



We met up at the Tube station, wandered around Kensington Gardens, got lost on the Tube, meandered through the Financial District, ate lunch by the Tower of London, and ventured over Kew Gardens (where Monet painted his Waterlilies). Then, dinner at Leister (“Lester”) Square followed by some nice conversation at the local pub.



I learned bunches of British slang that I can’t seem to recall right now, but if I heard it I’d know it!







Thursday, 09.09.2010

So far only one class and laundry to report. Nothing special. But after I finish posting, I’m headed off to “top up” (add money to) my phone then sightsee. Finally, I get to see a production of War Horse at the West End! Supposedly, it’s atrocious but who cares? It’s on a British stage!