Sugar and spice and everything nice...

We found our mecca here in London. We= my classmates and I. Our mecca = an American sports bar that serves cheap wings (20 of them for £3/$6...and they actually taste good) and beer while showing football and other various sports on about 151 different screens around the establishment. We went there last night, and it was nothing short of amazing. So, whenever I'm feeling homesick or in need or some good American grease, that is EXACTLY where you will find me. (Don't worry...that's the number of wings we split between 4 of us. I for sure didn't eat that all on my own. :) ).

P.S. I updated the photo album with more pictures from last night and some adventures wandering around the British Museum.

PICTURES (A boring, but practical title)

Sweet! I figured out a way to make my pictures more accessible to you! On the right hand side you will now see a picture of Big Ben and the London Eye. If you click on it, a new window should pop up that will allow you to see all of my pictures! I'll let you know when I update the album so you don't have to peruse through things you've already seen. I don't have it set yet, but the people at google are amazing and I mark a map that will tell you where I was when I took the picture. This way, you might have a visual about where everything is in London and how it all fits together. (WARNING: the map function may become too complicated and time consuming for me, but we'll give it a shot. But like I said, it's not quite ready yet.) Time for bed for this lass.

Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in.

It still really blows my mind that I can take a 10 minute walk and see some of the most amazing sights in the whole world. I think my favorite one so far is walking down Charring Cross Road, and coming upon Trafalgar Square to find that down the street you can see both Big Ben and the London Eye. I can then walk down the street and sit and watch the sun set in amazing park with green grass and beautiful flowers. How lucky am I that I get to be over here and have this opportunity? Wow.

Kristen Cunningham came in town tonight! She's in-between dropping her luggage off in London, and then heading out to Spain tomorrow. I got to spend a little bit of time with her and her cousin tonight, but will get to spend more with her in a couple of weeks; she's going to stay in my flat for two nights. It's so nice to see someone from home. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving this, but I already miss so many people. Thanks to those of you who are keeping me in your prayers and thoughts.

Speaking of my flat, I know I've said it before, but I'm going to try taking some pictures of my flat to show you what it and the area I live in look like. This weekned...maybe. :)

TV dinners in the UK come with the rice in one tray, and chicken in another. It's not two separate meals...you're supposed to eat them together.

Here are a few more things that a different about London:

- Washers and Dryers. Well, really, it's just washers. They are tiny, and the load I have in right now takes about 2 1/2 hours to get done. I must be doing something wrong, because really, it doesn't take that long. And as for dryers, they don't dry. They leave your clothes "damp for ironing." Rrrrrrriiiiggghhht. My t-shirt does NOT need ironing. So, I'm going to work as hard as possible to keep my clothes clean and wear them as many times as possible before washing them.

- Smoking: On July 1, London went smoke free. That means there is no smoking in any facility that is open to the public...AMAZING!!!!

- Parks: Parks, and going and sitting in parks, are what people do on the weekends. They just sit and talk and simply get to know and enjoy each other, without the distractions of TV and computer and all the other distractions of the modern world.

- Television (again): this is more about the television that the Brits chose to bring over here. Right now, we have "Friends." If we're lucky, once a day we'll find "Scrubs" or "Dawson's Creek". But then, they bring in just awful shows like "Hope & Faith" (a.k.a. Kelly Rippa over-acting), and "8 simple rules," or old "Home Improvement" (which isn't awful...just old.) I've been here almost two weeks, and I still have no idea what the Brits are thinking when the plan their TV line-ups.

I went to the library today to look for a book, and I realized how much I miss TOTAL silence. I mean, it's quiet (some nights), but never completely silent. Even in then parks. Silence isn't good all the time, but sometimes, my ears need a complete rest, just like all the rest of us.


Thank you, to all of you, for reading my blog. I get comments every once in a while, or hear that people are reading, and its nice to know that I'm not writing to an audience of me, myself, and I. So, keep reading. I'll keep writing, and making poor attempts at being funny. :)

Nutella and Wine...now that's my kinda way to spend a Sunday night!

NOTE: This is a fairly long post, but it’s filled with wonderful happenings, the best of which (I think) are at the bottom. So…if you dare…read on!

Wow…what a weekend. It’s been a LOT of fun, but I’m extremely tired. ☺ You already know about Friday, so I’ll go back to Saturday. First let me clarify, I don’t have class on Mondays. Yes, no class on Monday for the entire semester. It’s wonderful.

Okay, Saturday: Jenn and I went to the Tate Modern Art Museum. Modern art isn’t exactly my thing, but I know that some Monet is kept there, so I thought I would check it out, and in the process, give modern art another chance. I think this is a good time to interject why I feel the way I do about that genre of art: the last time I was at Tate, something about the human body was one of their exhibits. The first thing I saw was a room with a movie, and on the screen there was a man running around naked in an empty room. Art? Really? I didn’t want to throw in the towel after just one piece, so I kept going. The next piece I remember was a collection of 30 or so different pictures that all contained ways to flip people off in different countries. At that point, my friends and I left to make our own modern art with the sugar packets in the café.

Anyway, this experience was much better (with the exception of the snot dripping giant head in the picture above). In fact, I want to go back. There are a good number of pieces that still confuse me as to how they are considered art; a canvas painted brown with a coral colored stripe on the side doesn’t invite me to think about anything, and doesn’t really take any talent to do. But, there are several artists that I really enjoyed and have “invited” me to come back and look a little more closely. My favorite artist there goes by the name of Cheri Samba or Cheri Cherin. Check him out. After that Jenn and I went over to St. Paul’s Cathedral (on the other side of the river) via the Millennium Bridge. That was really the most exciting part. Except for seeing lots of manpris. Tis the season! (Manpris-->)

Saturday night we met up with some of the people from our program and hung out for a while. Sunday was just as uneventful. Julie, another girl in my program, and I went walking along Oxford Street. It’s the most known street in London because of it’s shopping. It’s pretty close to my flat, so I’ve been perusing a couple of times. This was the first time on the weekend…. I wouldn’t recommend it. Busy.

Today, on the other hand, was quite the day. My roommates and I got up early this morning to go to Leicester Square and observe people attempting to break the record for the most people dressed like zombies in one place at one time. What, you say? Yes, you read it right. Apparently CNN thought it was worthwhile to cover as well; here is a link to their news story on it. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2007/08/27/black.uk.zombies.record.cnn

Then we headed out to the Notting Hill Carnival, the world’s largest street fair. And large is right. It was fun…there was a lot of fun music, and such, but in order to even have a moderate amount of fun with all those people, you have to be absolutely sloshed. Which I was not. But I’m glad to go to see what it was all about. We didn’t get to see any of the Vegas type costumes, but there were a lot of good smells (lots of ethnic food cooking) in a completely charming neighborhood on a glorious day in London. Here is the BBC link to what I was SUPPOSED to see at Carnival. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6965859.stm

On our way home, we found out another portion of our group was relaxing in Hyde Park, so I went to join them. Hyde Park is gorgeous…absolutely amazing. Thanks, Sarah, for correcting me on the location where Finding Neverland was taped. Kensington Gardens are the place, and there is a Peter Pan statute in Hyde Park (right next to Kensington Gardens) commemorating where J.M. Barie chose to write the book/play, and today, I visited that statue. I can’t say enough how wonderful Hyde Park is. I love it.

After that, the group I met up with decided to head to Trafalgar Square to get some TexMex food. Although it’s somewhat of a rarity in London, you can find it. And it is wonderful…or at least tasted that way because it’s somewhat similar to what I know from home.

Maybe now you understand why I’m so tired. Classes start again tomorrow, so the next few days won’t be quite as exciting as the last few.

P.S. Sorry for the sidesways pictures. I don't know how to rotate them on blogspot here.

Her name was written on the photograph right next to her red sunburned face

Here's a link to the pictures I've taken so far and have posted on facebook. You don't need to be a facebook member to view them...just follow the link. You'll see a couple that have been posted on here, but there are a good number more that will hopefully make your button pushing worthwhile. :)

http://ku.facebook.com/p.php?i=16817912&k=ZWDZ53W4U5VMYALFVD55W

(I THINK this should work. Take the link to this message, then click on the picture of Big Ben, and it should take you to the album. If it doesn't work, someone PLEASE let me know and I'll find another way to post my pictures.)

The temperature went up...that means its man-pri season

So, we're done with the first week of classes, and I think it's going to be all right. Secured Transactions is going to give me a run for my money, but other than that, shey should all be pretty good...and hopefully I'll learn a bit without having to study too hard. I am in London, after all. I've got to see the city while I'm here.:)


Last night my roommate Jenn and I decided to out and explore the nightlife a little bit. We found some fun places in Covent Garden and Lecister Square. There are different "categories" if you will, of places that serve alcohol here. Those that are also restaurants close around 11 or 12. If you want to stay out, you then have to find a place that is your more typical American bar or club. (I use "typical" very loosely in part b/c I've never been to a "club" club. But it looked like it does on the movies!!!) So, Jenn and I were at one of the pubs that closes around midnight, and didn't quite want to go home yet, but didn't really know where to go. Jenn decided to ask some random British guys on the street where we should go, and they ended up taking us to this club. (don't worry Mom...we didn't go through dark alleys or anything like that. There were ALWAYS people around.) They were nice and fine to talk to until they decided thye were going to take us home that night. Um...NO. So, as casually as we could, we told them "we had to meet our friends somewhere" (yes...we said somewhere. No specific location. It was lame...but we got away.) We weren't ever in any danger, but next time we want to go somewhere, we will be asking GIRLS where we should go.

US Debit cards don't have a chip that UK Debit cards have, and you can't, as a result, get cash back from the grocery store.

I'm learning more and more about whats' different here in England. One of the biggest things I've noticed is the way they prepare food/ grocery shop. People walk everywhere, so they typically only buy food for a couple of days, and then go back to the grocery store again. For people like me who LOVE to grocery shop, this isn't a big deal. But for those of you who aren't too keen on it, sorry. :) That's just life here. I do have to say, however, that grocery shopping isn't quite as enjoyable for me here as it is at home. There is a lot of math that I have to do (i.e. converting pounds to dollars, converting kilos to pounds, etc..) Plus there is the process of digesting the new packages, types of foods, different names for things (i.e. cookies are biscuits, zucchini is some other name) and if it's actually something I actually want to try.

Speaking of types of foods, the Brits are VERY big on organic food. Unlike at home, it maybe costs 20¢- 30¢ more here for something organic. Because of our KU Law Journal Symposium last year, I actually think this is more of a Europe thing than solely British. There are a lot of EU regulations about genetically modified foods and what percentage of some food can be modified to consider it organic. I probably mixed some terms there that don't really belong, but that just goes to show how much I pat attention. :) The whole point of this is that because there are also no preservatives in the organic food, you have to eat most things within a couple days after you open it. I just opened a pack of ham yesterday for lunch...I'll be having ham sandwiches for every meal for the next couple days. And oh yeah, they don't refrigerate eggs either.

The TV here, at least TV after 11 p.m. becomes what most Americans would classify as pornographic. For example, "Big Brother" just like the one at home, is HUGE here. I think that, if you really wanted to, you could watch the people in the house 24 hours a day.
Well, they also have a Big Brother type forum thing where they discuss who they think should be kicked off. In the process, they showed someone running around the bathroom completely naked. Crazy things like that are the norm. We now have cable....and all the ups and downs that come with it.

I'm going to have to stop romanticizing the London Skies soon if it doesn't clear up. It rained again today, and harder than any of the rest.

Final note: I have had an obsession with the music of Jamie Cullum for a while now. He's this amazing British artist whose first album was mostly jazz but has turned toward rock, funk, and pop in his subsequent albums. It has a LOT of piano, combined with insightful lyrics (I have to give him credit for the phrase "romanticizing London skies) and is just fantastic. Well, I just found out that he is putting on a concert in about 3 weeks, not far from where I live. I'm stoked. Apparently it's just an electric show, so he won't play a lot of the stuff I love, but I think it will probably be worth it. Now I just have to find someone to go with me.... Regardless, I'm going. :)

The EU consists of 27 member countries....and the UK is anything but a supportive member country.

I have to let you know that Wednesdays will generally be pretty boring days. I have 5 hours of classes from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m., which doesn't leave a whole lot of time to do anything else. OKay, well that's not true...but Wednesdays will probably be pretty boring. Tonight, however, we had another "welcome" party at a pub in London. It was wonderful. It was really just our group getting to know each other, all out together and having a good time. The pubs here are wonderful. There are all decorated with deep cherry wood and have this amazing cheerful atmosphere. And oh, did I mention that there is no smoking indoors ANYWHERE in London? It's absolutely fantastic. One word of warning....if you're a light weight like me, be careful of the cider beers. They taste like apple cider from home, but are must more potent.

I'll try and have more pictures soon. The people I'm with think that I'm crazy for taking so many pictures, and I want pictures with people in them. Needless to say its a balancing act, but I 'll get it sorted out after a bit here.

Other than that, nothing really exciting. I had this amazing hot dog from a street vendor outside the British Museum today (we walk by the museum on the way to class), but I spilled it on my jeans. I also went for a run for the first time since I've been here. I probably only went about 3 miles (you have to stop every 100 yards to cross a street and there aren't any parks near where we live), but it was great. I'll have to do it more. Regents Park is just beautiful. It reminds me of the park in "Finding Neverland." I'm not sure if they shot it there, but its juts gorgeous. Not many people run here, though. They walk so much they don't necessarily have to. But the people I do see running run with large backpacks on their backs. Hmmm.....

It's been raining/ no sun for about 5 days (note: that's every since we've been here). Pray for some sun.....please.

For being a pretty boring day, I certainly wrote a lot. I'll be done now. Cheerio!

Who wudda thunk?

This is going to be a list of things that Americans probably didn't expect about the British. I'll update it periodically when I am flooded with new insights.

- Many MANY Brits are now calling football "soccer." There are stores everywhere that sell apparel and refer to the sport as soccer in the shop name.

- Brits use that "A4" paper size that I've never seen in the U.S.

- Sweaters are called "jumpers"

- "To-go" is called "take-away"

Brick Lane is like Calcutta, but safe.

Okay...so now that you (maybe) have had a chance to catch up with my journey here, I'll update you what's happened since we've arrived.

Saturday: We had orientation all day, so there wasn't really any opportunity to do anything fun. All the flats in our building are filled with people from our program, so it's nice to have them around. Saturday night we hung out with those people in Flat A and just got to know each other a bit better.

Sunday: I went to mass in this small church nestled between two coffee shops (approximately). We then went on a bus tour of the big London sites. It still floors me that I can hop on the tube and see some of the world's most wonderful sites in just 5 minutes. British television is awful...and we spent Sunday night watching ones of the only bearable things on tv: Seed of Chuckie. (Note: we get 5 channels in our flat. We were watching in Flat A. The channels we get are BBC 1,2,3,4 & 5 showing such things as elephant mating and English infomercials).

Yesterday: We got a tour of the University College London library where we have access and are allowed to study. Then we also took a walking tour where our guide showed us some things that Londoners know...and tourists don't. :) My roommate Kiki's birthday was yesterday and she wanted to celebrate by getting Indian food. Our tour guide told us that THE place to go in London for Indian food is Brick Lane. It took us a while to navigate our way there, but it was fun and well worth it. It was my first Indian food experience...and it was great.

Today we started classes. Getting through one of them is going to be a struggle, not only because of the subject matter (secured transactions), the professor (not the most captivating teacher ever), and because there is so much else to do. A couple of girls from the program and I went to Westminster Abbey to evening song to hear the boys choir sing. Well, the boys choir was on vacation so we heard a different choir who were just as good. But needless to say...we'll go back.

I believe that is quite enough. We're going to watch some bad TV and talk a bit. Cheerio!!

Indian food doesn't make my stomach hurt!

I now have internet access from home and school. It's not lightning fast (apparently wireless internet is a new thing to the Brits), but it will certainly suffice enough for me to make more regular posts, possibly chat w/ people on AOL/Skype/Gmail and respond to e-mails. Because of that, we're going to back up a little bit, and write about my journey to London. It was a Comedy of small errors, but I'm here safely now and that's all that matters. I'll try and update with some more current stuff later on today.

Well, I’m here. The adventure started off, well, as an adventure. My flight to Charlotte went off without a hitch. In the Charlotte airport, I noticed the other person from KU, Nick, was looking at the departure board. We sat and chatted for a while until we realized we were at the WRONG gate. When we finally realized where we were, our flight to London was almost completely boarded. Oops. Thank goodness we noticed.

Once we arrived in London, the plan was to take the train from the airport to the check-in location. But in attempting to get my train ticket, I accidentally booked a bus ticket….an error I noticed only AFTER the clerk rang the ticket. Needless to say, my first transaction in London had to be voided and re-rung. We then got on the train, and only after we sat down and were comfortable in the blue seats did the “conductor” come around and tell us we had to move because we were in the first-class section. Normally, moving seats to the proper section wouldn’t be an issue. BUT, when you have two, 50-pound suitcases, and two carry on bags that don’t fit through the aisles, changing sections isn’t nearly as simple as getting up and moving to another seat. On that note, I would like to take a minute to thank the inventor of the wheeled suitcase. God love him. There is NO WAY I could have gotten all my stuff from the airport to my flat without the lovely wheels. I would also like to give a standing ovation to the person at Samsonite who decided to put FOUR wheels on the suitcases so that they may be turned and twisted with very little work at all. That saved me a twisted elbow or wrist or two. (Oh…I forgot to mention that “we” is Nick, myself, and my roommate Jen who was also on the Charlotte flight.)

Other than those things, the only noteworthy item was the side dish we had at lunch. Let me start by saying that many items on a British pub menu are described as “mushy,” and mushy peas accompanied both Jen and my meals. But not only were they mushy peas, they were mushy peas with a “hint of mint.” Gagging a bit? So did we.

I haven’t slept more than 6 hours in the past 48, so my bed is calling my name. Tomorrow is orientation and I have a feeling there may also be some sleeping through that.

Make sure to look RIGHT, then left, then right again when crossing the street.

Okay...so I mentioned it was cooler here. When I said cooler, I actually meant downright cold. People are wearing wool sweaters and scarves and stuff already. I think this is a bit unseasonable, but still. I didn't pack nearly enough cold clothes, so I'll have to make a stop at some cheap store like H&M to get a sweater or two that I can wear.

These first few posts are going to be short. I don't yet have internet on my laptop, so I'm working at a keyboard in the computer lab that has symbols in different places and takes more effort to punch the keys. I'm still adjusting to the time differnece (6 hours for those of you in Kansas and Iowa), so that is more effort that I'm able to put in right now.

We went on a bus tour today to see all the major city sights. Although I've been here before, there really isn't anything like seeing some of the major world wonders in person. I took some pictures, but again because of the laptop internet issue, I can't post any yet. I also don't have too many...I'm trying not to over-indulge on the picture taking just yet.

Its weird because although Europe is very secular, there isn't a lot open on Sunday mornings or evenings. Thus, my roommate and I have spent this evening in the computer lab.

Tomorrow we have a walking tour of the area our school/flat is in. We're going to Covent Garden...probably one of my favorite places in London. But for now, I must bid you adieu and return to my flat.

I would NOT recommend the mushy peas with a hint of mint....

Only time for a brief update....I'm here, things are going well. It's about 70 degrees and a welcome change from the 100 degree heat at home. I'm tired, but running well on adrenaline because I'm just so excited to be here. Gotta head back to orientation. More on the journey over here and the first few days soon.

Well....I'M OFF!!!!

Just waiting

Well, I'm pretty much all packed, have all the random things that I need to go, have printed all my travel documents, and now I'm just waiting. I suppose that's a good thing...I'll have time to hang out with my brothers tomorrow, but I wish I could just go. Anticipating what's coming is probably worse than actually going. If anyone thinks of anything random that I might need, please let me know. I appreciate it. This is probably my last US update....I'll have lots to say next time. :) Cheerio!

Cheerio!

Cheerio! This is my new blog to keep you up to date on all my happenings in Europe. I can't guarantee that I'll update it everyday, or even every couple of days, but I will do my best to fill you in on as many of the details as possible. I leave on Thursday, August 16 at about 12:30 p.m. and will check arrive the world's most expensive city at around 8:30 on Friday morning...2:30 a.m. here. That's all I have from now. I may have more pre-departure words, but no guarantee on that either. :) I've enabled the comments section so anyone (not just those who are registered with the site) can leave feedback, if you so choose. I'm off to pack and figure out some way to get all my stuff over there without exceeding the 50 pound, 2 suitcase limit. Hmmm......