Two Entries in One Day, Too Many

After I wrote the entry below, I napped for about 3 hours. It was much needed, because I've had two early lectures in a row now. I was 10 minutes late to one and 20 minutes late to the other thanks to the bus system. Apparently, during rush hour when buses fill up, drivers stop but decide not to open their doors to let in more passengers. And so I waited and waited while time ticked away. It wasn't that bad to be late for the first lectures, although I was sitting in a chair outside the classroom for Political Economy unable to see the board. It was really refreshing to see that Political Economy is based on the contributions of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison though. Thank you, America.

Today was a day of rest post-4PM. But I have had zero human interaction since then and I've gone on a spree of looking for cheap season passes of tv shows to buy on Itunes. Itunes is a glorious thing in the UK, because I can still buy things in US dollars AND I'm spending a gift card. Anyways. I think this is as deep as my homesickness (for DC) goes. I just crave the ability to watch American TV whenever I wish and unfortunately for me, I'm provided with an inadequate web connection for downloading torrents and can't stream in the UK. TV and movies and the internet have been my link to normalcy. I have already watched Something's Gotta Give twice, in 20 minute increments, and Notting Hill one and a half times.

I was hoping to sleep in tomorrow, but I feel compelled to meet my faculty mentor and his office hours, or should I say hour, is 9:30-10:30 on Wednesday. I guess it will force me to start my day early, even though I have no classes or lectures. Traveling to school is definitely an adjustment, but I think it's a good segue into the "real world." See you later.

No Money, Mo' Problems

I think that one can judge the wealth of others by what cereal they're buying. If they're buying that grainy crap or 2-for-1 of something that's clearly not delicious, then they're poor or frugal. If they're buying delicious sweet things, then they're looaddded. I've been trying to save money wherever I can here, whether it's ordering a cheese omelet rather than a ham AND cheese omelet to save 40 pence or opting out of seeing Spamalot with friends. Today, due to starvation of two days, I finally went to the grocery store and continued my streak of frugality.

There are several problems I encountered. One. I picked up a 99 pence bag of frozen peas. Awesome. Wait... I don't have a bowl. Or a fork. Or a knife. Or a spoon. Since realizing this, I've been on the look-out for something that will make do, but I haven't seen anything yet. So... for now, no peas. I did, however, buy cereal even though I don't have a bowl. I did the 2-for-1 thing. Milk. Orange juice. Four microwave dinners. A bundle of bananas and five nectarines. Fourteen pounds, an arm, and a leg.

In another effort to save some money, I sought a grocery store where I could top up (the over-used phrase meaning "to add money to") my Oyster card, which is used for buses and tubes. Then, I thought, I could charge the 20 pounds for the 7-day travel card AND buy some food, and it would make the credit card transaction fee all the more worth while. That was a failure. An utter failure. Also, my phone service, a failure. I regret not getting T-Mobile or something, not because it's cheaper but because for some reason, I can't top up online and am going to have to go to a Carphone Warehouse every time unless I call the Mobile World people and sort this out. Sorting out is what I'm tired of doing. I still have to sort out my health registration stuff, but it was raining today and I couldn't find its road. So I'll have to do that tomorrow.

Eating is terrible when you are counting the pence of each bite. I think that biggest failure of my being an adult, as I'm supposed to be at this point, is eating. This summer, if I was too tired from work or too busy, I just would delay meals until late. And I find that the same thing happens here, except now even worse because each bite is so damn expensive. Anyways, money sucks. Send relief aid to Citibank.

Edit (05/07/08): Once there was a picture of cereals on this post... but then 40 people a day came to this entry because of... no more.

First Weekend Photos

So I've been a lousy tourist and haven't taken many photos... until now. Here is a preview (click on them for a less distorted picture) but you can see all of them by clicking HERE. Meggan has more and so does my aunt so those will come soon, since I know looking at pictures of old building is boring.

10 miles in London... WALKING

I feel at home in London. This weekend, my high school friend Meggan visited me from Barcelona where she's currently studying abroad. I was determined to be a good host and to show her the sites... even though I hadn't really seen any of them myself. Apparently the motivation to be a good host is all that I needed to get acquainted with the city. In basically one day, I feel like I became a Londoner. And all I needed to do was walk over 10 miles. Ten miles. Yes, I am bolding all the sites to drive the point home that I saw all of London in a day, basically. Call me obnoxious, but I'm going to boast.

I will briefly, to the best of my ability, retrace our steps from Saturday. We walked from my dorm up to Borough Market, saw Southwark Cathedral, walked past Sir Francis Drake's ship (a replica) The Golden Hinde, stopped by Shakespeare's The Globe Theater, passed the Tate Modern, crossed the Millenium Bridge, went to St. Paul's Cathedral, walked past another Christopher Wren-designed church called St Bride's, walked down Fleet Street to The Royal Courts of Justice and LSE, went to Trafalgar Square and saw Nelson's Column, headed South and ran into a march for Burmese monks, took pictures of Big Ben and The London Eye, and then headed to Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Woo. Then we headed even further West towards Buckingham Palace. We stopped and got fish and chips and hard cider at a pub a ways away from the touristy area and caught a little bit of the Australia vs. England rugby game. Then we continued on after Buckingham Palace to Picadilly to check out where we'd be eating later with my Aunt, Uncles, Mom, and cousins. After finding our restaurant, we headed North to shopping between the and Bond Street and Oxford Street underground stations. Who knew you could have so many Burberry stores in such close proximity? Finally, we went a little bit East for a slight taste of Soho and Chinatown. We walked back and killed some time at Grosvenor Square where the American Embassy is located before returning to Picadilly for dinner, where we had a good meal with good family. Lastly, we walked back to my dorm near Borough. I think that might've been the most walking I've ever done in one day, considering we didn't take the tube at all.

Today, we took it a little easier. We walked to Borough Market again, ate omelets in the shadow of Southwark Cathedral, and went to The Tower of London. We actually paid entry fee and got to see the crown jewels. The view of the Tower Bridge was also great. We were less ambitious today since yesterday was so tiring, so our only other goal was Notting Hill (see photo of me in front of the Travel Book shop from the movie Notting Hill), which I had explored on Friday with my mom. This time we took the tube and made it there in good time to look around and get Meggan back to the Picadilly Line, where I could send her off to Heathrow.

After the whirlwind of a weekend, I managed to buy cleaning supplies and school supplies before coming home and staying there. At first, I regretted buying cleaning stuff (toilet cleaner and spray cleaner) plus laundry stuff for 15 pounds, because I read that my bathroom is cleaned for me fortnightly (every 14 days). But damn. After I took a good look at it and my level of disgust rose to peak levels, I brought out my guns and disinfected like there was no tomorrow. I sprayed, I mopped, I brushed. The most disgusting thing was taking the toilet brush out of its container and realizing that shower water had been collecting in it. DISGUSTING. But I am now satisfied with the level of clean and don't regret buying the supplies.

Now, I feel a little sick. I haven't really felt 100% since getting here, since I was pseudo-sick before traveling and now I just need to take it easy and relax. No more 10+mile walks. Alright. Big recap. I hope to skype with more people soon.

Hooded Sweatshirt

Somehow, I only feel at home in a place in which I own a hooded sweatshirt sporting its name. Presentation High School. Georgetown. Now LSE. I'm not quite at home yet, but I'm getting there. London is less scary. My neighborhood is less scary. I went to Brick Lane (I think) and had amazing Indian food near the Liverpool Street tube stop. It was my first tube ride alone, since I've been taking the bus everywhere and I made it confidently and successfully. The food was great. I had lamb korma and chicken tandoori with a pint of cider. Mmmmm good. The company was even better, all Georgetown friends from D6 (Darnall 6th floor, my freshman stomping ground). I know it sounds exclusive and unadventurous, but it really has been very difficult to meet British students or even just plain LSE students. I've met some General Course students here and there, but no one who I've stuck with. Back to where we ate... Women and men on Brick Lane stand outside their restaurants and try to coax you in with 30% off deals or free pints, etc. It's weird with everyone trying to convince you to eat. But the place we ended up choosing was good.

After eating, we met up with a group of General Course students on a pub crawl through Southbank. This was nice, because I live on Southbank (South of the Thames, rather than North) and returning home at night was less of a hassle. We walked through London along the Thames and made our way South, stopping at three pubs. I can't remember their names except for the last one, The George. I had a half pint of Peroli at the first, a half pint of... something at the second, and a pint of Guinness at the George. I was carded at the George. Sigh. Alright. I am exhausted and am going to the Freshers' Fair early tomorrow... so good night. This was my attempt at a life summary.

I'm Alive

Short update. Things are looking up, since I met a few other Georgetown kids who live in my residence hall. So now, I don't have to dread figuring out to get back all by myself. My area isn't the greatest and it's just not comforting to be lost (or just not completely sure of where you're going) and alone. Today, following an extremely long-winded introduction by our Canadian dean to the General Course, I caught dinner at a pub called The Monument... right by the monument. I don't know what the monument is called, but it's near Tower Bridge and commemorates the Great Fire. You can barely tell what it is because it's surrounded by scaffolding and net at the moment. I ordered a sandwich and a half-pint of Guinness. Then I was carded. Carded in Europe. So that was a little funny. The Guinness was so good compared to the Guinness that I briefly tasted on St. Patrick's Day last year at Georgetown. Mmmm. The amazingness was somewhat overshadowed by how sick I felt though. I had a bad headache and was wondering how I would survive 4 hours on a boat, my next activity. But I decided to tough it out and luckily I did, or I would still no zero people from Sidney Webb House. That is all for now. I am so incredibly tired.

Update to Kill Time

I'm writing this from an LSE computer lab and the keys are messing me up. I took a walk to LSE this morning at 10AM with a group from my dorm and it turned out to be less helpful than expected. I pretty much have no idea how I got here. Also, I forgot my map but luckily, there's one enclosed in a packet I did remember to bring. The LSE campus isn't much to look at and no one really knows what's going on. Oh well. Friendliness is at a minimum. In fact, I just totally helped a French post-graduate and she just left without saying anything. Haha. Ok, I must be off to find the Peacock theater for "induction."