everyday adventure

Comfort is finding the nearest grocery store. Don't have a fridge yet, can't cook, but I went grocery shoppin'! Tea biscuits (cookies), fruit (slightly bruised - 1/2 price!), and of course Chili Coriander Flavour potato crisps. It's the little things.

Also signed up with a bank. Banks aren't nearly as generous with free stuff as they are in the U.S. I'm paying 4 pounds (~$7) a month just for a savings account. But without a bank account, it's hard to get a job, and other key stuff.

And I sure need a job.

I signed up for 5,000 clubs at the club fair, or 'Freshers Fair.' Jitsu, yoga, food appreciation society, debate club, hummus society, Dubai club (why not?). Hummus society? Really? Really.

The clubs cost money but hey - it will be money well spent when I'm all zenned out and baking something amazing for a debate event over hummus.

So according to my events info, classes start tomorrow, so I went to my department to get some help signing up. This lady with perfectly red-pink hair informed me that we are to have 'inductions' tomorrow in which all would be explained. Which was apparently announced on some website that I'm psychically tuned to. And that possibly classes for us won't start until mid-October. Wow! This school is so different from VA Tech. I don't know what's coming at me until it's there.

After all that, more shopping - one mug, one plate, one bowl. I bought an electric tea kettle. With a funny British plug!

O brave new world! I'm ready for ya.

fish 'n chips!

Sunday.....MOVING DAY! The tube line that goes to my residence hall was 'under maintenance' this weekend, making the journey extra intriguing. Dragging one's worldly possesions around London isn't anyone's idea of a good time. Moving generally sucks. But it sucks much less with a fellow adventurer. Traveling through London means getting on intimate terms with its network of buses, subways (tubes) and cabs - and now that I live on the other side of the River Thames, I'll get to know the ferry system too. After cramming all my heavy bags into the room, Stuart and I played tourists. Initial impressions of our exploits:
- The Changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace - over five billion people stretching their cameras over their heads to record the spectacle, we caught a glimpse of maybe a guard's fuzzy hat. But it was worth it. Especially when - and I kid you not - the royal band started playing a Ricky Martin song.
- Fish 'n Chips - every bit as lovely as advertised.
- Shopping - nerd shopping, that is. Picadilly Circus has a 2-story Apple store! I thought I'd never get Stuart out of there.
- Took in a show - a muscial, in fact. About New York City and zen. It had muppets.
- Strolled about a park - St. James's Park. Even the ducks look different in London! Black ducks with little white faces. The trees are changing colors here, which made me happy.
- Had tea with a sort of pastry. Not sure if it was a crumpet or not. Some French custard thingy.
It was hard to see Stuart off today. I'm a little more homesick than I thought. Thank God for planes, and trains, and Skype.
Tomorrow I fight the masses to stake my claim on classes. And student discounts cards.

Westminster - one night in the Queen's backyard

 Stuart, my friend from Germany, will be here any minute! He's helping me move into my residence hall and will be galavanting about London with me for the next few days. We're staying one night in Westminster - a posh borough that boasts Buckingham Palace , Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral, and pages of other tourist sites in my guidebook.

I brought the wrong cord for my camera, so until I get that 'sorted out', I won't be able to post photos so I'll share my sketches.

While waiting for Stuart to arrive I wandered around Westminster Cathedral. Here are some renderings of it - impossible to get everything. It's a ginormous and incredibly detailed masterpiece of architecture.

ups and downs

I'm getting used to baked beans for breakfast. They're pretty good with toast. 

O Registration Day! I forgot what a pain in the #$#% registration day was. The line went up four flights of stairs. Wow. 

Now that I've got an address (!!!) it's a race to get ready by move-in on Sunday. I had to find sheets and towels for the room - and discovered Primark. If Wal-Mart and Target had a baby, it would be Primark. Shopping here was not for the faint of heart or tired of feet. I was so wiped out that when I got home I fell on the bed and passed out for an hour. 

All the great ideas I had about the public transportation system in London were dashed today by delays, hot, crowded buses and tubes, and 50 billion stairs.

It was an up-and-down day, frustration and quiet, exhaustion and furious activity. Thank God for tea. 

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
May be surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone

As I walked through the tube station this song was echoing down the halls. The street musician's electric guitar reverberated down to my shoes. His voice hung in my head all the way home.

jet lag is for wussies

Wow. I'm actually here. It's hard to fathom - that right outside this little window is a whole new country. It's 10:30 pm my time, and quiet. It's been a long but good day.

I arrived at 11 am and managed to work in some initial essentials:

-rode the 'Tube' - London's underground subway system

-bought a 'bacon butty' in the Ireland airport Burger King (bacon, catsup, and a bun???)

-drank something delicious called H2Oh! 

-took a nap :)

-went grocery shopping and paid in pounds

-didn't get pick-pocketed, despite the high level of paranoia generated by my guidebook (and my mom) on the subject

-tried out my pluggy thing that's supposed to make my laptop plug work and it didn't

-managed not to break out my map in public so as not to arouse suspicion of my tourist status

-did not, even one time, say "Righto" or "Cheers" (it was hard.)

I leave you now to collapse into bed and regain some of the five hours I've lost. 

Cheers!

Getting all my Nachos in

This morning I picked up the package from the UPS delivery station. I took it to Hardee's and ripped it open gleefully over my biscuit. Feverishly scavenging through the contents, I tossed aside my diploma, marriage license...where's the Visa???? Then I found something stuck inside my passport. It was a sticker. 

No new badge, maybe with a cool hologram? Or a portal?

$250 and 2 1/2 months of document archeology and all I get is a sticker?? Really?

Still, I held it in my hands, not believing it was real.  Over the weeks it became a sort of holy grail of travel, that which we seek with earnest fervor but never obtain.

It's official. I'm goin' to London.

Better suck down the nachos while I still can.