Lions, TigerTigers and Bears!

Almost two weeks of class down. So far my classes are fairly interesting, but very overwhelming. Everyone in my classes are in that particular major, it's not so bad for the first year courses but in my two upper level courses I feel very behind. They do things very differently, only meeting for class once a week, but that class is divided into a seminar and lecture. The seminars tend to be a bit more interesting due to the fact they're much more interactive and you have an opportunity to speak up. In each class there's no class participation, no real homework other then doing readings, just an essay due halfway through the semester (which is only 4 weeks away!) and an exam at the end of the semester, which is probably why I feel so overwhelmed. Hopefully it isn't as bad as it seems, and my lack of "proper english" as Rachel's professor would like to call American English, doesn't effect my grade too much.

My creative writing in London course is my favorite course because it's only a seminar. 3 hours long, but still much more interesting then being talked to for 1-2 hours. Our professor is really forcing us to get out into London and write about our surroundings. Truly experience London. This weeks assignment is to walk up to a random Londoner and interview them...not something I would willingly do, so we'll see how that turns out. (Sidenote: if you want to read any of my creative writings, which I will be typing up my writings for class there soon, you can check out my other blog).

Last Wednesday we got to go on a boat tour down the River Thames. It was wonderful and beautiful. Seeing all of the iconic landmarks from this historic river was unreal. Also got to meet some great new people.

This past weekend was another weekend of exploring the city (there's just so much to do!) Friday night was not very exciting, but Saturday was a very long, very hot day. Our initial plan was to go to the zoo. We mixed up our parks though and ended up going to Hyde Park...the zoo is at Regent Park. This turned out being a great mistake though because it was such a beautiful day why not walk around the park a little bit? We went to the Princess Diana memorial fountain and it turns out, you can play in the fountain. It was the perfect day to go, 80 degrees out, although the water was freezing. There were tons of children and their parents enjoying this unseasonably warm weather in this beautiful part of Kensington Gardens.

After we went to the fountain it was back onto the tube and off to the zoo. The London zoo was nice, but small. Not exactly what I expected but of course we needed to go see the Reptile house where Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone filmed the snake scene.

It also had a lot of very random statues that we took full advantage of picture opportunities. It was nice, but I probably wouldn't go back.

That night we finally ventured to our first club.
Greatest. Experience. Of. My. Life.
It definitely wasn't what I expect when I think of a club. America's clubs feel much, dirtier. We went to one called Tiger Tiger and we had the time of our lives. Not because we were dancing to popular music, oh no. Rachel and I found the 70-80's light up disco floor. It was amazing. Taught the Brit's how to do the Hand Jive, danced to Footloose and belted I will survive. My kind of place.

This weekend we're going back to Tiger Tiger and I cannot wait (I'll also try to get pictures there because you just need to see this place to believe it).

A Tourist's Life

The past few days have been full of doing very touristy things. Going to the places you always see on postcards, in movies. Granted there are so many of them (and they're all so expensive!) you definitely need to pace yourself. The last two days I went to the Tower of London and the London Eye.

The Tower of London was absolutely beautiful. It's unreal how old this place really is. Being American I don't think we can quite grasp the concept of being in a building that has been around since literally 700 years before our country was even born. And getting to see the crown jewels was beyond words. There was a gold punch bowl that I'm pretty sure I could sit comfortably in. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures of the jewels, it's one of the most well guarded places in England and I was not about to risk taking a picture. 

Our next stop was the London Eye. I'm not exactly a huge fan of heights but the view it gave was more then worth it. You could see everything. It was amazing to see just how large this city really is. 

I'm in the process of making a list of where else I need to go, but currently number one on the list is getting to go into Buckingham Palace, which we will be doing on Monday! Which is also the day I am beginning my classes. I guess it's kind of back to the real world soon.

"You'll do alright, you've got love in your eyes."

One of our first nights in London we went to a pub called the Nag's Head. It wasn't a very busy pub, but it was good. There were five of us sitting around talking and this very drunk, rather old man comes up to us and starts trying to talk to us. At first he couldn't quite get out what he's trying to say but the music was loud so he had a lot of trouble hearing. He just asked the normal questions, where are you from what are you studying. But then he decided to stick around. Talk to us a lot more. Even asked all of us to marry him, we all politely declined. Then he offered to buy all of us drinks, we continually said no until eventually one of the guys with us decided to say yes just to make him happy.

They stood and talked for quite some time until eventually they both (Josh especially) wanted to come back over to our table. The irishman, who we've now come to learn's name is John, turns to me and tells me how pretty my eyes are. I thank him and then he just stands there and stares at me for a moment and says "You'll be alright." I smile and nod my head as he continues, "You've got love in your eyes." At that moment I think we all kind of realized, he's not some creepy old man trying to convince all of us to marry him, he's just a genuinely nice person who maybe got a little too drunk (although according to John "What is drunk? And what is not drunk?" ) but he just wanted to talk to someone.

He also told Josh, "There's people who just want to live their life, and I am one of those people." Which is how I want this semester to be. I want to live. I want to experience everything once, whether or not I think I will like it. 

I'm living in one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been in and I want to take advantage of everything I can.

My 2nd to last night in the US

Well, the flights are booked, my bags are packed, my passport is valid through 6 months after I leave London and I am ready to go. I've gotten a lot of advice about living in London, some useful, some...not so much.

• Go to museums alone
• Everywhere is expensive unless you know where to look
• Just walk around
• Wear a different pair of rain boots every day
• Always say please and thank you when ordering at a bar
• And of course, have fun! (but not too much!)

There's a lot going through my head in the last hours of me being here, excited, nervous, anxious. Honestly, I just want to get onto that plane and start this adventure already! I've been building it up so much in my head since November of last year that I can't even believe it's here! But my time is coming soon enough, and I cannot wait. See you all in London!