One week already?

I have been in London for a whole week already? Craziness! This morning started out a little disappointing. Michelle, Karien, Rachel and I decided we were going to check out Hillsong Church, a "megachurch" that is located in Dominion Theatre. I was really excited because Watoto Children's Chior was going to be singing this morning. So we hopped on the tube, bypassed the stations that were closed and got there with plenty of time. However, one of the hostesses came up to us and explained that a pipe burst during the night so the morning service was cancelled :( Talk about a bummer! So we travelled back to Vandon to try to figure out what we will do the rest of the day. I decided i would take advantage of the open washer and dryer.

It ended up being a pretty chill day today, which was good to catch up on a few things here at the andon House. A few groups went out and explored: one went to a fashion market, one went to the Invictus movie Premier (with Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman & Clint Eastwood), and a group of guys went to check out the Manchester United v Arsensal game at Emirates Stadium (they didn't get in the stadium but found some locals to watch the game with) and then there was our group who decided to make brownies and watch a british movie and just hang out! That's about all for today!

A London Weekend

First weekend in London! I can't believe I have only been here one week! We've done so much that it seems like it should have taken us longer to fit it all in! Today was the sunniest day we have had yet although it was really chilly. There was a bit of snow on the ground when we left for our tour this morning. We started at St. John's Cathedral. It was pretty sweet our tour guide told us bits of history about it as we walked around it. There was a platform thing where there would be 4 sermons going on at once and also there are golden pineapples at the peeks of a few steeples that is a sign of hospitality. From the cathedral we crossed the street to hear about London's coat of arms and crossed the 'wibbly-wobbly' bridge. It really wasn't wobbly but when it was first built it was. After we cross the bridge, we went in the Tate Modern Museum or something like that. It had a big black steel box that if we would ever go back it gets darker and darker and darker until eventually you lose all your senses. Sounds like quite the experience huh? Then we moved on to the modern reproduction of the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare plays are performed starting in April through August. Hopefully i can catch one before i have to leave for home. Mark said last semester they went to one and it poured buckets of rain the whole time....but said we should experience a play just once. Then we moved on to where they think the Globe Theatre was originally built. There was a lot of archeology done and they found perserved nut shells and other remains that they used to tell where the rich sat and where the poor sat and how much each seat would have been worth. Interesting huh? Our guide them brought us down a street where there was bear fighting at one time. It sounded very gruesome! They would put two bears in the ring and bet on which one would survive; before they fight they would do anything to make the bears mad like not feed them or tear off their claws or something on that sort. Yeah, like a said, gruesome! but the people back then loved that sort of entertainment. They tried to make that building into a theatre but people stopped going so they turned it back into a bear fighting ring and the people came back. What would PEDA do about that?! We then walked through a street of where a few more theatres were, like the Rose Theatre, and made our way to a Pub that Shakespeare's dad owned. The same one where Tom Cruise drank in in the last part of a movie (don't remember which one). We made our way through a part of Borough Market. This is a gourmet food market where you can get anything from Turkish Delights and other sweets to meats to wines and cheeses. Right as we entered the market our guide pointed out a major filming place, for example where Bridget Jones' flat was and where Tom Cruise filmed something or other. We ended up at the oldest pub in London. (there are 9000 total by the way). By the end of the tour i could not feel my hands any longer. I was a little too optimistic on the weather and didn't remember my gloves. I misunderstood the sun. however, it was still really cool to hear a little more of the history. We walked back through the market to see what else was there and then headed back to Victoria Station where we got a few groceries, made some lunch.

A few guys wanted to find a place to get tickets to a concert so me and Erica decided to tag along and then we realized that we wouldn't make it there before they closed. so we decided to walk around Oxford Street for a while and see if we could find any shopping deals. i was successful! I bought a few "londonish" items that will help me blend in more and not look like such a tourist:)

One thing we have to get used to is closed Tube lines on the weekends. Today District and Circle weren't running for maintenence reasons. These are the ones that I use the most so far, so that really threw me off! I am still making progress on the Underground though I think:) we'll see what happens when i have to find places myself!

Birkbeck & Scavenger Hunt

Alright. Today was another huge day. We made our way to Birkbeck College at 9:00. Right alongside the building we have our class is the Senate House. This was the famous Batman building that was used in all 3 films! Just a little tidbit for ya! We had an orientaion meeting for our required courses for Central's program and also had a travel seminar with a rep from STA travel. He gave us some pointers on how to plan trips. They have a few package deals to a few places a few of us are looking at like Scotland, Paris and even a few to Spain. We shall see what we can find! Then me and erica went exploring and found the British Museum, where she will be interning this semester.

At 2 we all met again at Vandon to start our scavenger hunt around London. We all got placed into groups of 2 or 3 and had to bring back items from around 10 places around London. For example, take a picture in a red phone booth, take a picture on the Lions at Trafalger's Square, buy something at Hamley's toy shop, a leaflet from St. John's Cathedral, ect. We had 3 hours to complete it. It was a way for just to get used to using public transport and understand where everything was. The girls i was with sure knew what they were doing, and i think i made slight progress, but I'm just a little slower to figure it all out then they. When i'm by myself, i'll find it. It just may take a little longer :) But we covered some serious ground in those 3 hours! We are all exhausted! It even snowed a little for like 5 mins. It wasn't like the snow at home tho. it was like little tiny round pellets. It was different! O and i got to use my umbrella for the first time last night and this morning! not my boots yet but i know they will get their time!

It is my official first weekend in London. Not really sure how it will be spent yet, but there is so much to do and so many people to get to know yet!

We went to changing of the guards for the first time (for me) today! it was pretty cool. The band comes down the road that looks like red carpet with the guards following, they enter the courtyard of Buckingham Palace and then another band with another group of guards come down another street. They face each other, one guard from each group yells something that i couldn't understand and then members of the bands get out stands and the band plays for awhile while the guards move around to their different spots. We really weren't sure what or why they were doing what they were doing, but i'm gonna research it and figure it out so next time i go i know! This happens every 2 days so i think i'll make it to a few more!
After this, we again, took the Tube to a differnt part of town, this time to baker's street, to walk around. It seemed a more residential area of London. Oh and we found Sherlock Holmes' office, so that was pretty sweet.
Erica, Alfonso, Britta and I decided to make some lunch around 3ish. Since Britta has experience in the kitchen she gave us a cooking lesson! We made pork chops with mushrooms, onions and bacon, and garlic mashed potatoes and oh it was so good! The rest of the afternoon was just chill until we left at 6:45 for Lion King. Well, me and erica were a little late because it was raining so she wanted to go change her shoes. So we ended up having to find the theatre by ourselves and 2 others girls. We got directions from someone in the group and found it very easily! The show was seriously amazing! I couldn't take pictures in the auditorium so it's really hard to discribe in a blog. It followed the movie almost exact but obviously all the animals were people. It was so awesome! I really hope we can see more shows! We gotta find the 1/2 price ticket booth very very soon! That's all for now! Tomarrow is a very eventful day!

Jan 27, Oxford Street, Internship! & My first Fish and Chips

Today was pretty much a do whatever day. Nothing too big planned. Michelle and I decided to go check out Oxford street to go check out the different shops and maybe find something that made us look more....Londonish! We found a few really cool shops but didn't really find anything we liked at the moment. Just wanted to get a feel for what was out there. There's a lot of skinny jeans and leggings with long shirts it seems. we met up with Alex and Joe and did little more looking around and then ended up going to Pizza Express for lunch. We figured like a fast food pizza place...nope it was more classy than that! we just keep learning. It was good food though. Then we headed back to Vandon; only got on one wrong train but it was easily fixed by back tracking. Had a little down time so chilled/rested for a while until my advising meeting with Mark and Beth.

The meeting was just a get to know you meeting and info on my internship. I will be working at Hoxton Trust with another girl from my program. It's a non-profit organization that works with the people in the community and other smaller businesses and advises them on business practices and legal advice and that sort of thing. It focuses alot on helping businesses interact with the community so they can benefit each other, from what i understand. I will be doing alot of things on the computer for them like website stuff, blogs maintenence, database sort of things. I am anxious to go and check it out to learn more about it! It will only be once a week instead of 2 so i might get to pick out another class as well. We will see what happens! Mark also told me that the lead singer of Blue (a UK band) is in "Legally Blonde: the musical" here in London so i am def going to have to see if i can check that out!

A group of us decided it was time to get a traditional fish and chips dinner. I am glad we decided to split it because they def give you a good portion and it was so good! Definetly worth it! I finally got to skype my parents and have a good chat with them! If any of you have skype you should probably add me and we can talk! :) The rest of the night was spent getting caught up on this blog for ya'll and just chilling in the lounge!

Jan 26, LMU day!

We made it to LMU today after 2 tube changes! Sue, Nicola and James (or joe? i don't remember. anyway, he's from Australia so he's cool!) eached talked to us about the campus, academic responsibility and living in London on a budget. It was overwhelming and boring at the same time. They do things a little different over here. We meet one day a week for each class with an hour lecture and then we split up into 2 hour seminar groups to discuss the lecture. With each assignment we hand in, we have to attach a cover sheet with special bar code that the Undergraduate Office goes through when we hand it in to them instead of the prof. Because we are international students who will be leaving the semester early, we will miss the actualy exams and have to meet with the lecturers to discuss an alternatitive exam. There are 2 campus at LMU, city and north, because two combined a few years back. There are double facilities including 2 stadiums, student unions, lots of libraries and classroom buildings. My class is at North and from what i can figure out, i think my class might be in the same building as our orientation was in.

After orientation, Erica and I went with Alfonso, Dan, Benji, Ben, Jason and Dave to Emirates Stadium - the home of Arsenal Football Club. It's the 2nd largest club stadium in England. Fonsy and Dan both play soccer at their schools back home so they were pretty pumped about it! We decided to hop on a random double decker bus that took us into Islington where we just walked around a few hours. It was a good time to chat with different people in our group. When we got sick of it we decided to find the underground. Right as we approached it, I got hit on by a Red cross worker, who introduced himself as Eddie. When i told him I was from MN, he wasn't so anxious to get my blood :) However, when we got through the entry, we were down to 6 people....no Erica or Dan! I started to freak out! but when we got back to Vandon, they had just gotten on the train ahead of us! Talk about stress!

I crashed after that! My first nap and it was well needed! Erica and I just chilled in our room after that. Today was Australia Day so, being a British holiday, we just had to go out to experience it, right? it's the day they celebrate for the first landing on Australian ground or something like that. We waited in line at the Walkabout for what seemed like a very long time. It was fun to experience it! They had a live band and they played a bunch of Aussie music (and from other countries like US too). They even played a few i learned on my Student Ambassador trip like "waltzing matilda" and another one i don't remember the name to. We had to walk back to Vandon cuz the underground was closed so, Michelle and our new friends Alex, Joe, Bailey, and Rachel walked back. We walked right past the London Eye and Big Ben...no biggy :) My pics didn't turn out so great at night but i'll get back there! We made it back to Vandon successfully! End of Day 3.

Jan 25, London Day 2

Wow, what a day! When they said hit it hard the 1st day of orientation they weren't kidding! The morning started out trying to figure out the shower...in short the water pretty much just dripped out with no pressure whatsoever. Then down to a breakfast of yogurt and banana because I was running late and we had to leave at 9 to go to West Minster Chapel for talks with Mark and a police officer about expectations and cultural difference and also on being safe in London. Then back to Vandon at 12:30 for sandwiches and an hour of chill time. At 1:30 we used our Oyster cards for the first time to get on the Underground to meet our tourguide, Shawn, for a 2 hour walking tour around London. I'm sure 54 students walking to St. James Station is quite the site to the locals. We started the tour at Tower Hill and saw Tower of London, Tower Bridge, London Bridge (falling down falling down :)) a memorial of all who were executed for varities of crimes, martyrdoms, treasons, etc., lots of financial businesses, Garden Park, St. James Park, the National Gallery, Trafalger's Square, the Theatre district, where the Great Fire started (it went from Pudding (st.) to Pie (some street) and ate it all up:)) and so much more!
We returned to Vandon for meetings about internships and house rules. I still don't know what i will be doing but i'll find more out on Wed when i have my advising meeting with Mark, our director. We were on our own for dinner so Erica (my roommate), Mike and Alfonso decided to go check out phones first and then went to grab a bite at Wagamama's. It's a noodle bar! A new experience for me! I ended up ordering some vegetarian meal (cuz i didn't really know what anything was)...but I learned how to use chop sticks and used them the whole time! My yashi-yasa sobe was alright but not something i will be wanting all the time. They decided that it's time i be introduced to sushi soon...Hey I know what you are all thinking! But what better time than in London right? I'm feeling brave! After dinner we decided to take advantage of our oyster cards and get a feel for the Tube. We started on Victoria, changed at Green Park and ended up and Picadilly Circus, which is like our Time Square kinda. It was really sweet! Lots of lights and tons of things to do! We also found Chinatown, the theatre where Mamma Mia is showing, Ripley's Believe it or not and again much much more! The cars here are pretty much awesome! There are Jaguars, mercedes, Porsch, BMW and VW every where i look! For real! The first car i saw when i stepped out of the airport was a black Jag! It was sweet! anyway, we successfully made it back to Vandon without getting lost, chilled awhile in the lounge and watched Hell's kitchen and then headed to bed. Had to be ready at 9:15 am for orientation at London Met!

Jan 24, First Day in London

Alright so i'm about 4 days behind on this posting thing so lets see if i can bring you guys up to date. My flight went really well and actually i met a girl right before we started to board in Minneapolis who was going to London with a different program and we decided to meet up when we got to London to clear customs together! Very nice to have someone going through the same thing. I had an open seat next to me to after about 45mins I was out and slept for the next probably close to 6 hours of the 8 1/2 hour flight! Didn't even watch a movie. However, they did have the new Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley cd so i def listened to them to pass the last 2 hours. As we were flying into London i noticed a few things that i knew what they were like the London Eye, Tower Bridge, football (soccer) fields, those row boat things that teams race in on the river and some things that i had no idea what they were but i was sure i would found out. I met up with Laura when we landed, cleared customs without any problems, went our separate ways and i found my shuttle desk. I had to wait about 20 mins for the shuttle to come to i sat on a bench and just people watched which was very interesting. The fashions here are so different than back home. My sweats i travelled in i'm sure made me look like a bum but at least i got to sleep 6 hours on the plane :) However, i probably will no wear them to class like i do at NW almost everyday. Driving here is insane! It felt like we were just speeding through town and all of a sudden, SMACK! the brakes work! Maybe thats the way it is in all cities but goodness! Hang on tight!
Right as i arrived at Vandon House door (my home in London), i met a very nice guy, Dan and his dad who helped me carry in my luggage and then Michelle, who helped me find my room. I then followed her back to her room so i knew where she lived...First lesson learned, you need a key to get into your room. So if you leave your key in your room, you can't get in. So i made the first trip down back down the 3 flights of stairs to get the master key, back up to unlock it and back down to bring the key back. After I got back into my room, i wanted to check out the internet situation, so i plugged a few things in and bam! lights out! blew a fuse....back down the stairs to tell the front desk and back up to finish unpacking in the dark! What a great first day! So much learning taking place already! At 5 we all met in the dining room for Domino's pizza, met our director Mark, and assistant director, Beth. They both took us in group for a small walking tour of the area and ended up at our first pub. We decided to fill our Oyster cards (transportation cards) so we could use them Monday. We walked to the first Underground station and it was closed but the very nice lady pointed us in the right direction to West Minster. I saw for the first time Big Ben, London Eye and West Minster Abbey off in the distance! Talk about amazing! It just didn't feel real! St. James Park, however is a little sketch at night, but I assume in the day, it will be pretty sweet! We headed back to Vandon, chatted awhile in the lounge and then crashed. End of Sunday, Day 1.