Well, I made it through my first week! I think I’m officially on the correct sleeping schedule and I’m slowly learning to be prepared for every kind of weather that London can throw at me. In the seven days that I’ve been here, I’m pretty sure I’ve experienced every kind of weather London has except for snow, which they only get occasionally. I’ll have to figure it out as I go, I suppose.
After I wrote yesterday, I went with Bree and our friend Thomas to the UK’s largest Comic Book store which was actually really interesting. I wish I had brought my camera with me. It was in the Covent Garden area, a part of town into which I had yet to venture. It’s absolutely gorgeous over there. Most streets are blocked off for pedestrians and it’s just a major shopping, eating, and more shopping area. I’m sure I’ll be back in that part of town again soon though so I’m not too worried about not having my camera that day (Wednesday). Later that day, we went grocery shopping again since we got our 60 pound food stipend and ended up stocking up on some great food deals. Let’s just say that Poundland is my new favorite store. Everything’s a pound and you can find your basic food staples (not to mention special deals on Dr. Pepper) for a pound. I think YES.
I had class again yesterday (Thursday) and it wasn’t nearly as disappointing as class on Tuesday. At eleven was Music, Culture, and Identity taught by the same professor as my Performing Culture class. This wasn’t nearly as disappointing as Performing Culture (PC) had been (maybe because I lowered my expectations) but still not what it should be. He had no outings planned for us and we basically spent the entire 2.5 hour class going over the syllabus. All of the major assignments are due the same week as the major assignments for Performing Culture. He more or less copy-and-pasted all the due dates from the PC syllabus onto this one and has no intention of changing that. I figure I just have to get through a semester of him and then I can leave the country and be far, far away from him and his disappointing teaching.
After class a few of us decided to get tickets to see Legally Blonde the Musical that night so we ventured out to the box office at Leicester Square, forgetting that Thursday-Saturday are the busiest theater days/nights of the week. Prices were incredibly high so I think we’ll try again Sunday or Monday. But it would have been nice to see a show. Even though I’ve already seen Legally Blonde in the states, I still want to experience hearing British actors pretend to be American!
Next was my British Life and Culture Class in which I met the British version of my Public Speaking Professor/Academic Advisor/Generally Awesome Guy, Dr. Olson. His name is Mike Fosdal and he truly is the QUINTASCENTIAL British man. He was absolutely hilarious and incredibly smart. He basically gave us a small introduction of the city from different perspectives and went over the rubric (which only has three or four assignments on it!). But we’ll be going on excursions or walks almost every week of the semester, including a day trip to the coast at Brighton! (Katherine Anne- I would like a detailed description of what happens at Brighton in Pride and Prejudice, please.) His will definitely be my favorite class of the semester which is probably a good thing since his is the class I really came to learn from.
Today (Friday) we went on a field trip to Kew Gardens out in west London. It was a rainy, dreary day (again) but the gardens were absolutely stunning. I’m not sure that I could even compare them with the ones that I saw in Paris because they were so typically British, which is a term that I’m finding difficult to explain. (I’ve posted pictures here but there are more on my Facebook page if you have access to it.) The most exciting point of that trip was definitely finding a peacock. Yes, you read that right, Bree and I found a peacock. I’m pretty sure it was female but it was absolutely the most beautiful animal I’ve ever seen. (In my whole entire life). After a few minutes of following it around and taking pictures he/she started to puff up so we decided we better leave it alone but it was still incredible to see a random peacock when we least expected it!
As for the rest of the day, we’ve been editing pictures, doing homework, and watching British game shows (which by the way, are absolutely the funniest thing on TV). I think Bree is joining the rest of the group for a pub-hopping night later on and I’ll probably stay in and do some writing…maybe talk to that guy I like. I made it through the week with almost 1300 internet minutes left so I have a lot to burn before midnight tonight when they get reset!
Hope everyone’s doing well!
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