Sunny Sunday

So after waking up at 12 p.m. my flat mates, our friend Jamie and decided to go to Hyde Park today to take some touristy pictures.  Once we got there we were looking for Speakers Corner but stumbled upon a Muslim protest against Israeli terrorists in defense of hurting children in the Gaza strip.  Although it wasn't what we thought at first it was pretty interesting to watch.  I had never seen a live protest before so it was pretty eye-opening.  I realized that I don't really know too much about what's going on in the world either.  Most of the news is either local shootings or robberies, high school sports and celebrity gossip.  After thinking of all the usual junk I listen to or watch everyday I feel guilty not knowing about other parts of the world.

After the protest we headed over to the actual Speakers Corner for another new experience.  Speaker's Corner features various people who literally stand up on step ladders and voice their opinions to the public there.  For example, today there were 2 or 3 speakers talking about religion and promoting Christianity yet there were people there bashing the speakers too.  There was also a Princess Di/Queen impersonator, a guy giving our free hugs and another guy singing gospel songs.  

While we were at Speakers Corner we met this guy, Billy, who was from Texas but was working and living in London for now.  He was telling us all about the people at Speakers Corner and how they come every week to bicker and argue.  It was a very different experience because although we have freedom of speech in America I've never seen people debate or argue in each other's faces like they did today.   Apparently here though, it is quite normal for Speaker's Corner.

I also went to Westminster Abbey today for an organ recietal.  It was GORGEOUS!  I'm not a big one for classical gospel music but this was just the coolest thing you can ever experience.  Imagine sitting there listening to beautiful organ music and looking up and seeing all these old, classical arches and marble statues along the side of the walls.  It was just the best experience in London so far.  I'm pretty sure I'll be going back next Sunday for another concert.  I loved it!

Well tomorrow is the first day of classes so I should rest up.  We are taking a 4 mile walk through London to learn some history about different aspects of the city.  It will be a great photo opp. - as long as it doesn't rain!

first Friday in London & meeting new people.

So the first Friday in London was exhausting & exciting.  In the morning our group had orientation at CWC from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.  I think that was when the jet lag all hit us, hard, because looking around the room everyone had bags under their eyes and plenty of yawns throughout the meeting.  After orientation and an hour nap I felt much better and ready to see some of London.   So my wonderful friend Katie G. studied abroad in Australia last year from January until April and while she was there she met a friend named James.  Before Nikki and I left for London Katie G. told us we had to meet up with her friend so on our first weekend night in London we figured what else better to do than meet some new people!  Nikki and I were a little nervous not about meeting new people though, more about how we would find this pub we were suppose to go to by tube + bus.  Yet, we found our way without calling James to ask for help!

So this pub we went to was so cute!  To me, a tourist, it seemed like the typical little English pub where everyone was sitting down chatting and making friends.  Nikki and I had a great time meeting new people and everyone we met Friday night was so interested in us studying here and giving us tips on how to 'survive' in London.   Nikki and I even found our way back to our flat afterwards via many different bus routes.

Saturday was gorgeous in London!  It was sunny and warm so what better way to spend the day than shopping on Oxford Street.  I've already found a store that I am forbidding myself to go into: Primark!  This store is absolutely AMAZING.  Primark is a department store with trendy everything: womens & mens clothes, shoes, home stuff and so on.  Yet, it is very, very cheap.  I bought a pair of boots for 15 pounds...probably only about 23 US dollars.  I even got 2 pairs of skinny jeans for 7 pounds each (aka 12 US dollars).  I'm already in love with it which is why I can't go back for another 3 or 4 weeks.  Even standing in line for the fitting room I made a friend!  This lady was standing in line in front of me and we started up a conversation about what to do and where to go in London.  After 20 min. of talking and waiting in line we are now facebook friends with her and she gave us her e-mail so we can get in contact with her brother who knows what to do in London.  

Later Saturday night some of the girls wanted to go out in London.  I brought 2 travel books with me and after looking through them we decided to try this pub called Waxy O'Conners.  Once we went inside we were in for quite a shock.  It seemed like a little place but it wasn't!  It had probably 4 or 5 different floors to it with this inside decor of fake trees with lights strewn about.  As crazy as it was it was a lot of fun!  Oh, and it was my first time trying a Guiness.  Different, but I would order it again.

Anyways, it was a good first weekend in London.  I've been making friends everywhere..who says the British are stand-offish?!

The first couple days.

Okay, well as you know I've had to refigure my blog.  Sadly to say my work before I left didn't matter...and I had to make a new blog.  Anyways, I have compiled a little list of what I have done so far in London.

Wed., January 13

So we arrived into London around 12 p.m. via Heathrow Airport, got the entire groups luggage, packed it into a charter bus and arrived at our flat.  My flat is on the 10th floor, which offers a great view of London complete with the top of the London Eye.  The group also had an orientation from our flat managing group, Anglo American (Anglo American is a London-based company that provides housing for international students studying in London) and finally that day we went down to the tube (aka subway) station to get our Oyster cards, a London transportation pass that allows us to travel by tube or bus to almost every part of London.  Needless to say after this day the whole group was exhausted and quite jet lagged.

Thurs., January 14

So on this day we went to our school, City of Westminster College (CWC), to get our student ID cards and register for our classes.  CWC is a junior college, comparitively it would be an Ivy Tech back home; a community college with people age 14-84.  Besides our school IDs some girls and I went shopping for groceries, which was quite exhausting itself because we had NO IDEA what to buy.  I've seemed to manage with the basics: cereal, bread, ham, cheese, coffee and CRUMPETS!  I've had crumpets for breakfast the past 2 days, they are pretty similar to an english muffin just not as crunchy.  They are becoming a breakfast regular.  Also something else neat the whole group did on Thursday was fill our a British quiz.  Our professor gave us a quiz with 10 questions about London.  Random questions such as: What is a pub quiz?  What is a Chelsea Tractor and who drives them?  Who doesn't go south of the river after midnight?  The funny thing is our group had to answer them individually without looking online.  So we had to actually go and talk to British people.  Ahhh!!! Talk about intimidating, asking British people about their own culture.  The funny thing is once we started talking to them about these questions they were more than helpful and didn't mind telling us all the answers.  Here was our complete quiz along with answers:

1. What is a pub quiz? - Literally, this is a quiz at a pub made up by the bartender.  Appranently it is a big phenomenon here.  Barman (not bartenders, barman) will schedule one on a certain day and teams will come to compete against each other.  It is supposedly great fun.

2. What is 'the knowledge' and who has it?  'The knowledge' is knowing the streets of London and how to get to certain places and cab drivers have 'the knowledge' because they know how to get where.

3. What is a 'Cockney'? - A cockney is a person from East London, you can tell because they have a certain accent.

4. What do Cockney's call a 'currant bun' and why? - They call the sun, as in the London Sun Newspaper, a currant bun because they rhyme everything.  Sun...currant BUN.  That sort of thing.

5. Who will not go South of the river after midnight? - This is somewhat of an urban myth but taxi cab drivers won't go because they are scared.

6. How do you get an ASBO?  You get an Anti-Social Behavior Order (ASBO) by breaking the law.

7. What is a Chelsea Tractor and who drives them? - It is a 4 wheel drive car that rich people drive, basically to show off how rich they are.  Also, Chelsea is a rather wealthy part of London...that's why it is a CHELSEA tractor.

8. If you were in 'the Clink' where would you be? - You would be in jail!

9. Why is there a number 30 bus called 'The Spirit of London'? - So, I don't know in what year this happened, there were terrorists who tried to bomb a certain number of buses in London.  Bus 30 was hit by one of the bombs and in memory the government of London bought a new, sort of souped-up bus which is now called the Spirit of London in honor of the old bus 30.

10. What would you get from a 'hole in the wall'? - Money, because a whole in the wall is an ATM.

Interesting huh? It makes me wonder, if you had to make a quiz about American culture?  What would you put on it?!?

 

Having some problems...

Well in an attempt to copy and past the blogs from my past blog site....I was unsuccessful.  That's why there are 4 empty blogs there...Opps!  Anyways, I guess I will mess with this blog later.  Right now it's 45 degrees and sunny out so I think I might catch a bus to Hyde Park and take some pictures =]

Don't worry I'll post them up here for all to see!