A Look into my Life

No class on Tuesday? Find something to do! That’s just what I did. A friend and I decided to take a mini day trip to the very east side of London to a small town called Leyton. This town housed a remarkable place called ASDA. It’s a very odd name. In America is means WALMART!! Well not exactly, but when you are 4000 miles away from the nearest Wally World it will do. The chain is actually owned by Walmart and it does bear a striking resemblance to a Super Walmart. My big purchase of the day? A bag of Doritos, Cool Original (because these people don’t have Ranch!). 

After that, a late lunch at Pizza Hut to round out this American(ish) day. I’m still waiting on Pizza Hut pictures. So until then…

Two more days until Scotland!

Instead of claiming over 3000 victims a day, the plague has only ruined 3 days of my time here. I’m starting to feel like my old self and regular service will resume shortly. Yesterday (Saturday) I went with some friends to the British Museum. I’ve finally figured out why they are all free. That’s the only way people will go! Seriously though, there are some great things in there but I’m tired of looking at old chunks of rock through thick planes of glass with other rude tourists stepping on the back of my shoes and pushing me out of the way. As of right now I’m only going to check out two more on my own, the Science Museum and the Imperial War Museum. I will be attending a few more art galleries and such for my classes however.

Today I went to Petticoat Lane Market which is oddly place on MIddlesex Road. I got there a little late, 12:00, and it was packed! There were just massive mobs of people moving through the tiny central isle, vendors screaming prices out, and people arguing with one another. They were selling either clothes or junk. Well, I guess it could be said they were just selling junk. I didn’t get anything but it was cool just to walk around.

As a notice there will be an interruption of service this weekend (Friday-Sunday). I’m heading North to SCOTLAND! I’m very excited. I will be taking a train from London’s King Cross station (which is located basically in my backyard) to Edinburgh on Friday. Spending the night there and then departing for Inverness Saturday morning, returning to London late Sunday. I’m really looking forward seeing the countryside of the UK. Going by train will make this even more exciting. I will only have basic web access since I’ll only be bringing my iPhone, so updates will be very few and very short. Stay tuned for next Monday though!

The past two days I have been coping with what can only be described as the plague. It’s been terrible and I’ve tried my best to battle through it. Today got the best of me and a five hour nap followed my outing this morning. I did call NHS to make sure that I will survive. They said I should be fine. Thank gosh! I did nearly lose my life to a cyclist. I was crossing a small alley and he came out of no where! Then I nearly lost my head, the tube door started to shut, I’m a bit too tall. Thankfully I ducked in time. The door wasn’t going to lose though! It tried to eat my bookbag at the next stop. I prevailed though!

Regardless of how I felt this morning I had a schedule to keep. I got up, cleaned up the flat some since some of my flatmates went to Amsterdam this weekend. I then headed down to the river to watch a lift at Tower Bridge. It was quite uneventful, but neat to see regardless.

Next I headed to Buckingham Palace. This is the last few days that it will be opened. I toured through the Queen’s Gallery which was a waste and very boring. After that I caught the changing of the guards. Again rather boring. I stayed for most of it. But being sick and crammed together with a bunch of tourists was not on my list of things to do.

After that was the Royal Mews. This is where the Horses, Coaches, and Motorcars (he he!) are kept. From what my tour guide said today was a lucky day! The Bently State Limousine was parked outside in the court. It’s an odd looking thing. It was specially made for Queen Elizabeth II. There are two identical ones, Bently One and Bently Two. There are also three Rolls-Royces (all from the 40s and 50s). There is also a number of coaches that can be seen. The most noteable being the Gold coach. It weighs roughly around 9000 pounds, takes 8 horses to pull and normally travels around 2-3mph, no steep hills. As you can tell, I did enjoy this portion of the day!

Take a look at the photos. There aren’t many but still a good look. I’m heading to bed! I got to kick the plague!

I’ve been here for three weeks and I have hardly mentioned the actual reason I’m here, to learn! While here I’ve been juggling four courses and trying to learn the culture. No easy task! Each class I have meets for three hours once a week. The class structure is varied, sometimes we are in the classroom for the full three hours, other times we meet somewhere around the city for walks around certain areas, tours through museums or strolls through the different galleries.

My first class is Understanding Britain. The class is about just that. Each week is a new topic about British life. There is a lot of discussion that goes on. This past week we had a walk around Central London and saw ruins from when the Romans inhabited this area many, many moons ago. We also walked through the London Museum, which I find to be a total waste of time and impossible to navigate through. Thankfully it’s free to enter.

Next up is International Trade. This class is by no means an economics class in the traditional sense. It’s more about the theory of how international markets affect one another and the ties that they hold. There are thankfully no graphs, no calculations, and open-ended exams. I’ve only had one class so far. Last weeks was canceled. I’ll be heading there in a matter of hours.

20^th Century Art, how exciting! The best way to describe this class is an art appreciation class. There are no artists to memorize, no dates to cram just simply express how you feel about the piece(s) that you have chosen, do some research and you’re gold.

Post-war British Pop Culture. I’m not sure what to make of this class. It certainly is odd with a unique professor. We go around to different landmarks around the city to discuss what once was and what now is. We are left to interpret what popular culture is for and write a paper on it.

These courses are manly writing, lots of writing. But I will battle through it and prevail! Hopefully.

Up for this weekend is the Queens Gallery and Royal Mews on Friday for sure. Its my last chance to go there as Buckingham Palace closes down after this weekend. I guess the queen doesn’t like tourists tramping through her house while she’s there. Saturday will involve a visit to the Science Museum, I believe its something similar to the Carnegie Science Center and the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

I wasn’t satisfied with just walking across Tower Bridge. I had to do more. Rising out of bed early Sunday morning I headed back down to the City. There is a ‘Tower Bridge Exhibition’ in which you can go up inside the towers and walk across the walkways. Of course I wanted to do it! When I arrived I was confronted with NO line. I determined it was either to early on a Sunday morning or this was a very unpopular attraction. Afterwards I vote number 2. After scanning my book bag, a common thing around here I was whisked 4 stories into the air and released into the north tower. There was a short video on the bridge and why it was constructed. I then walked across the walkway to the south tower, taking pictures along the way. In the south tower there was another video on the construction of the bridge followed by a walk down the west walkway and back into the south tower where I descended the endless staircase back to road level. Next was a walk through the engine rooms which used to power the lifting mechanisms by steam and hydraulic pressure. This was along the south bank of the river. Check out the pictures, I like this part the best!

I had originally planned to go through the HMS Belfast(naval museum) next but I decided to go through City Hall which is adjacent to Tower Bridge since it was open house in London. Many of the buildings were open to the public this weekend. I could find a listing of open buildings so this was the only one I attended. I tried the Bank of England but sadly they were working, ON A SUNDAY! Back to City Hall…You’re whisked to the 9th floor which is called London’s Living Room. Its a large open area at the top of City Hall with a large open area the entire way around the building. I walked around there for a while taking pictures. There’s no better place than here to see the city and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Descending from the top was done by the huge spiral staircase.

Again, not a lot going on this week, just a walking tour for my one class and the London museum later today. I’ll post details for that and get class info up either tomorrow or Wednesday. Take a look at the pictures of course, they’re up!

Lets get the important business out of the way right now! It was a landmark day! I saw my first UK spec, right hand drive Explorer! I think I was more excited about that than anything else today.

So onto the towering day. I visited the Tower of London today. It was quite a remarkable sight. I entered just in time for a Yeoman Warder (also called Beef Eaters for an unknown reason) tour. The guy was very knowledgeable and very funny. He wanted to throw a pensioner through traitors gate because she kept talking! After that was a walk through the Crown Jewels. Unfortunately they do not allow photography so no pictures of that. They were however spectacular! They glistened like nothing I have ever seen before.

Next up was the White Tower. This included scenes from the Royal Armouries (note the wall displays in the album) and the armour of Henry VIII (he must of thought he was well endowed). The ravens are kept in the garden within the Tower. It was thought that the kingdom and the fortress would fall if the ravens ever left. I believe they have clipped their wings to prevent them from flying away. 

Next up was Tower Bridge. I didn’t do much more than walk across it. The size of the structure is amazing. I will definitely be revisiting it for more pictures and hopefully going through the Tower Bridge Exhibition. Whatever that is. That may be on tomorrow’s agenda.

The day didn’t start off that great. I hoped to leave early but trying to get a group of people organized and out the door proved otherwise. I then found that there were major planned engineering works on the tube system this week which provided no direct route to Tower Hill. So onto the bus system I went. For a first time I think it went well. Overshot a few bus stops but it wasn’t bad. I did ride on the top of a double decker which provided an odd sensation.

Like I mentioned, I don’t know what’s on tomorrow’s agenda but stay tuned to find out! 

So today I made it to the London Transport Museum. The name of it really struck my fancy. The first couple displays had me wishing I would have saved my £6 though. The displays then quickly turned to the evolution of the Underground. Its amazing that the lines have all been dug by hand with the ones closest to the surface being dug as a trench, a tunnel formed, and then back filled and built on top of. There was no actual tunneling. The deep tubes however were made sometime after that and actually tunneled through the earth under London. In the shallowed tubes steam engines were used to pull the cars along the tracks before the electric trains were used. Vents were opened in the top of the tunnels to allow the coal smoke to escape.

Another interesting period in London transportation is the use of tram buses. These looked like standard red buses but were attached to an overhead cable system and used electricity to move. No diesel! There are 3 pictures of one of these tram busses. Make sure to look at the top of the picture to check out the power leads.

Afterwards I walked around Covent Garden. It seems to be one big tourist trap but was nice to walk around. I got an ice cream cone while I was there. I was hungry! I then attempted to head to Holland Park. I was told its very nice and has peacocks and other critters wandering around. But a 15 minute delay on the Central line had me heading back east towards my flat.

Not sure what is on the list for tomorrow, check back to see what I decided!

So I received a package yesterday. It arrived at school and was VERY heavy. So I went down early this morning with my empty suitcase in tow. It just fit in the suitcase and I drug it back to my flat. 

When I got back I opened it to find soo much stuff it was amazing. I, without a doubt, have the BEST SISTER EVER!! Thank you soo much for all of the goodies. I will be set for the rest of the semester! It has completely made my day. I sit here typing and eating a PopTart in London. It doesn’t get any better than this!!

Needless to say I have a few jealous roommates and I now guard this package with my life! Thanks again Jamie!

Just a little update from yesterday. I went to Tate Modern, a British gallery for my art class. And then a walk around Regents Park  and Camden Market for my British Pop Culture course. I will revisit these places to shop around and get some pictures for everyone.

I will get some information up about my classes in the near future, I haven’t forgot! But right now I’m on my way out the door heading for the London Transport Museum. Stay tuned!

I just wanted to say thanks for all of the messages and email. They’ve really helped in the past couple days.

I don’t have anything to report on today. Its was relatively quiet except for finding a really good, really cheap sandwich shop. I have a feeling I’ll be there quite a bit and giving them a few of my pounds.

By request I will be writing about what my classes and what they all involve. I will hopefully have that up by the weekend. I have a busy day tomorrow, I go to Tate Britain, an art gallery for my art class and a walking tour through Regent’s Park for pop culture. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments section or email me!

UPDATE- Comments are now on, forgot about it.

It’s been a very rough and very hard 24 hours. But I’ve managed to pull myself together and put on a strong face, the show must go on. Last evening we were given tickets to see The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre. It was a very slow play, but had its frightening moments. I just can’t really get scared at a play though. The loud noises that they made were more surprising than scary. It was a good first performance for me to see here but I would never recommend it.

This evening I participated on a Jack the Ripper walk through East London. I saw the site where each murder happened. Some streets were just as they were in 1888 and others have developed into modern day structures. Our guide was excellent and gave his guess as to who it was and why it was done. Has to deal with the government and royal family of course and a large cover up. But what isn’t these days? I do wish I would have researched it a little more before before I went but he did and excellent of going through the entire story. So go Google it!

Not much else to report for the next couple days. I hope to tour the Tower of London and check out the London Transport Museum this weekend. I also scheduled a weekend in Scotland for 3-5 October. Should be fun!