The Second Week...again...for the first time...in London.

And so I've made it through another week in London. This past week has involved more food, exciting travel, and classic American tourist excursions that you all have to look forward to reading about right now. How exciting. I officially give all readers complete permission to live vicariously through me. See the world through my eyes, experience the bits and pieces that I allow you to experience, and most of all, feel homesick when I feel homesick. I'm sure that's the best part anyway. Now for London.

WEDNESDAY(of last week): Wednesdays are good days for me when it comes to school. I only have one class in the morning and then I have the rest of the day off. The only problem with this is that it seems like I'm the only person in this program that has the rest of the day off. Shopping seems like the most logical thing to do when this sort of thing happens, so go shopping was exactly what I did. Only for bread and pastrami though. Not that exciting.

THURSDAY: In terms of excitement Thursday was full of it. I got to have tea at Kensington Palace, which I must say was one of the better experiences I've had thus far, and also one of the first clearly British things I've done. We sat at a table and had tea and mini-cucumber sandwiches(which I did try, for the record), scones, and cake. We discussed the weather and in general had an awfully British time. Other exciting news was that it was the first night of my group's weekly "family" dinners. Not a bad way to kick off the weekend(emphasis on the "end" of "weekend" because that's more British).

FRIDAY: We went to Stonehenge on Friday. It was my goal to be the most touristy person in my group, and so I wore the "Stonehenge Rocks" shirt that Spenser got for me. I had saved the shirt for that day specifically so that I could have an epic reveal of my nerdy tourism for all the world to see. It was very exciting. The rocks were cool too, but looking like a tourist and being super proud of it felt much more American. We also went to the Salisbury Cathedral where I got to see the Magna Carta and felt much less cool wearing my "Stonehenge Rocks" shirt.

SATURDAY: I went shopping again, twice actually, on Saturday. Once for myself and once to help show a couple people where the store was at. It was certainly good exercise. Plus, the grocery store was having an epic half-off sail, which means as a college student I have to take advantage by buying the complete supply of canned goods and non-perishable items. I didn't actually do that though, but my friends did.

SUNDAY: I went to a more normal church on Sunday. Now to move on to the fun part. I decided to use my Sunday afternoon to take a nice 3 hour walk around the city. It was very exciting. I walked through Hyde park, which is always exciting, and I also got around to going to Portobello Road for the first of many times to come. It was certainly a great place to walk around. Then when I was walking back through Hyde park I spent some time watching British people. It was very exciting. I saw a father teaching his son how to play football(soccer) in the distance and it made me think of how cool British people were. Then I walked by and heard the father talking in a perfect American accent. I don't understand why a British person would do this.

MONDAY: School started again on Monday, and it was my bad day of school yet again. The good news is that I got to have a hamburger that night for the first time since being here. It'd been a whole two weeks since I'd had a classic hamburger, so I was quite happy with it. Though, in all honesty, I've probably gone longer than that without having a hamburger many times in the states without even thinking about it. I suppose you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. I should get the rights to that phrase. It seems very original and clever.

TUESDAY: Tuesday my Humanities class went to The National Gallery for a museum trip. It was very interesting to stare at a few of the paintings for minutes on end. I'm so used to going to museums and just walking through quickly so that I can see everything that it is a nice change of pace to be able to have the time to just look at a couple paintings in one trip. I have the next two semesters to go to all of the museums here and see everything I want to see. Which is quite a bit, but also not very much.

WEDNESDAY: There is a communal guitar in the lounge here at the house, which I find myself playing for a couple hours each day, but not this day. I really like the guitar, but one of the strings broke and it made me sad. I could still play it, but it didn't sound the same and I really just want it to be fixed. It will happen soon enough, and when it is fixed I'll be even happier with it than I was before I'm sure. Aside from that the day was relatively boring. And it would seem that the sun has now set on this week. Here's to the future that seems like it will never come.

Week One...again...for the first time...in London

And so it would seem I have made it to another country. It has been a while since I've written and so I'm going to do the natural thing and pretend the last four months are completely irrelevant to this blog. I have decided to not use the format of attempting to write every Saturday, and instead I have chosen to write just when I happen to find the time. I'm a much more laid back person now. Obviously. Anyways(sorry Mom), I am now in London, England. It is quite the thrill really. But I'll share the intricacies of British life more as this blog progresses. I no longer have my little blue man, but I'm going to assume that the readership of this blog have the imaginations to place him where he need be. So I suppose now I shall tell you about the experiences of the last week.

WEDNESDAY: Wednesday was basically a non-day. Got to the airport at 11:30 to leave for London, and then was on a plane for ten hours until I got there. By the time I did get to where I am now it was...

THURSDAY: Arriving in London was quite the thrill for me. I have never been this far away from home and so it has been interesting to experience this new found freedom. It's like I have all of a sudden become more independent. Which is why I'm writing this blog for my parents and friends and family back home to read. Independence. My first real meal in London naturally had to be something completely British, and so we went to a restaurant called Wagamama's, where I had curry chicken and rice. So very British.

FRIDAY: Friday was spent in orientation for the London program, where we spent a whole lot of time hearing about what we would be doing in said program. Relatively unexciting stuff. But we did spend time walking around the city and getting to know our surroundings, which was exciting. Once again when we went to lunch I decided to have some good old fashioned British food. A spicy chicken sandwich with potato chips(french fries). So very British. I did enjoy the napkins they had at the restaurant though. Mine said, "Now remove all evidence." I found it quite clever.

SATURDAY: Saturday was the biggest day so far I'd say(though technically all of the days have been equally big, accept for the one I am currently in which is not finished yet, so who knows what might happen). We went on a group photo scavenger hunt which was very exciting indeed. Most of the pictures on this blog will have come from that one day. We basically saw all of the big sites in London, while acting like insane lost American tourists. But we did all of the normal things. Took a picture with a cabbie, took a picture with a man wearing a Union Jack t-shirt, and ate more British food... pizza. Totally normal British things to do.

SUNDAY: I went with some friends to a church called Hillsong. One fun thing about the church was that it was in the same theatre that shows the We Will Rock You musical. Though it did seem somewhat strange to go to a church that had a statue of Freddie Mercury on top of the entrance. The church itself was more like a motivational conference than a church. A band played music and there was lots of jumping around and that kind of thing. Then a preacher went up and talked, naturally having a slow musical build up as his sermon ended to make sure everyone had an emotional connection. Then there was more singing and jumping and then it was over. (The picture to the right is clearly not the church we went to.)

MONDAY: It didn't quite seem right to be going to school in a place like this. It really still seemed like vacation. But Mondays are certainly my toughest days this semester, considering the fact that I have 3 classes. Hopefully I'll be able to do alright in all of them. If not then maybe I'll try to be average in all of them. In any case, I'll be consistent. We did go out and have crepes for dinner that night. Not your normal run of the mill crepes. My crepe had Indian curry chicken with rice. Quite delicious. Quite British. As usual.

TUESDAY: I woke up at 7:30, even though I didn't have class until 10, because I'm attempting to turn myself into a morning person. I believe it's possible, it will just take some work. So that means if you're reading this in California and you want to talk to me you could just stay up until midnight and chances are I'll be awake and totally willing to have someone to talk to. School was much easier and somewhat enjoyable on this day, but I'm not getting my hopes up that it will always be like this. I'm sure it will be dreadful soon enough. In any case, I have now been away from home for an entire week, and in my opinion(which will always be correct) I have adjusted quite well. It's technically Wednesday now, but where I come from, the sun has set on what has been my first week in this grand new place. Here's to the future that seems like it will never come.