Today was my last day in London. It was alright. It rained a fair bit today, just like I would have imagined it raining, a light bit of constant rain, not just sprinkles, but not a downpour either. We went on one last tour (of the East End) with our favorite guide, Andy, and then had lunch with him at an Indian restaurant there called Saffron. After that we had free time and I went to Harrods to get Roni some candy because I never did have time to find that sweet shop she liked. They had two huge candy sections: one fancy Harrods candy and the other an actual candy shop, though a lot of what was there was expensive jars of things as well. I was able to get some jelly babies and dolly mixture scooped into a bag. They had flying saucers, but only in a 5 pound (currency, not weight) jar and I was not paying that much for candy. I got about 3.5 pounds' worth of the dolly mixture and the jelly babies combined and went to a regular old street corner snack shop for some aero bars and maynards. I never did find a few of the things she'd wanted at a reasonable price. Of course the candy shop in Harrods was impressive, even if a lot of it was just multi-colored marshmallows shaped to look like different things. There were some made to look like those take-away sandwiches at cafes or burgers or shishkebab. I got pictures of protestors at the end of the visit to both cities: the Palestinian protestors on O'Connell in Dublin and the animal rights people in front of Harrods in London (they sell fur). After Harrods I headed back towards Camden where we were to have our last (London) supper at Wagamama restaurant back near our original dorms in Camden. It's a Japanese noodle place. I had beef teriyaki over noodles. I got to Camden a bit early and started wandering a bit until I came upon an internet cafe inside a video store. I obviously wasn't lugging around my laptop but I needed to let at least Daniel know that my phone has gone bonkers. The keypad is messed up internally, so I can turn the phone on, be alerted that I have a message, and not be able to hit the button that says "read" and read it. I was able to answer the phone by opening it when the cab company called to confirm my ride, but that's it. Now I'm just staying up. It's 3:30 am and my cab comes in less than 3 hours to take me to the airport. I'll be home soon!
...
And now I am. Oddly enough, it's only 7:30 am and I'm up. I got into LAX around 10:30 CA time. One would think I'd be sleeping in, but hey, it's 1:30 pm in London... and I slept a lot on the plane. I'm extremely tired, of course. I never went to sleep last night in London. I just stayed up, chatted with Daniel in the computer room at the dorms and got ready to go. It really is a shame I didn't get to sleep there for more than a couple nights. Maybe if the Ifor-Evans people had informed Chapman that they'd be renovating we could have been at the dorms on Great Dover St. all along. Oh well. The flight to Toronto was pretty long. I had an 8 hour layover in Toronto, ugh. I went through customs in Canada so I didn't have to go through them in the US. I don't quite understand the arbitrary decisions on where you have to go through customs. We didn't need any of the paperwork we'd gotten for entering the UK apparently, because we were coming from Dublin, which is odd. Historically there have been huge rebellions against the British in both Ireland and the U.S... but whatever, that's history. The first flight was pretty normal. I watched He's Just Not That Into You and a few episodes of 30 Rock, all the while floating in and out of conciousness but never really sleeping, I don't think. On the second flight, which was with the exact same airline (Air Canada), apparently you had to pay for the headphones to watch tv/movies. It was weird, but I'd already seen the selection on the previous flight and probably watched all I'd be interested in anyway. I got a lot of Yeats is Dead read in the Toronto airport. I only have about 50 pages left. I figured I'd finish it on the second flight, but I ended up sleeping through a lot of it, after dealing with a bloody nose... ugh. So I got home, met Daniel at baggage claim and he drove me home. I missed him so much. Next time I've got to take him with. :P I'll probably get some laundry done and then go back to sleep for a bit, take some melatonin when I go to bed for real tonight.
Monday, July 13, 2009
7-10
I've spent the trip feeling like the only one allowed to drink who wasn't, but now I have found my drink. It is the White Russian (vodka, kalua and milk). Oh my gosh. It is so good. Justine got me one at the pub across the way and then I bought another one for myself. Before the pub I had a long, but for the most part uneventful, day. I got up and got ready to go, started wandering towards the Globe, which is supposedly really close to our new dorms, but I had to ask a ton of people where to go because every time a sign directed me one place there was construction that led to a dead end and I had to take another route. While rambling around I grabbed a muffin for breakfast and then was reminded that the Tate Modern is right across the way from the Globe, so I hung out there, got lunch at the cafe, and then met the class at the Globe at 3:30 for discussion. We had dinner at the Pizza Express next door and then saw A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was good, the second half more so than the first, because we were in the groundlings and moved closer during the intermission. These new dorms are so nice. We have our own bathrooms! It's kind of weird because there's a shower head and drain on the floor and you just close a curtain which doesn't even completely cut off the toilet from the shower, but whatever. It's all mine! I wish we had been in these dorms all along! It even has a mini-fridge with delivery numbers for pizza places on magnets and little overnight bags with shampoo and stuff. They smell nice, too. Only one more day in London, wow. I don't feel so bad that I didn't have too much time to do things with all the lodging issues since I'd done most of the big touristy stuff with the family three years ago. I'm still having trouble finding an actual sweet shop with bins that you dig the candy out of so I'll probably end up getting Roni's candy from a grocery store or something anyway. I leave at the crack of dawn on the 12th, but then (another great feature to this place of lodging) there's a phone in the lobby that calls a cab company when you pick it up. Too bad we weren't here the whole trip. There still would have been the pub across the street to try to get internet from. I just haven't had time since moving here on such short notice. I'll probably post my remaining blogs when I get home, and there aren't many pictures because like I said, I'd done most of the touristy stuff, so it didn't occur to me to take too many pictures. In some places you aren't really allowed to anyway. I'm wishing we had had more time in these nice dorms, but I miss my boyfriend and my family, and heck, even my cruddy car. My feet are killing me! Home in a little lesss than 48 hours!
The Move (7-9)
I am typing this up from my new room, which includes its own bathroom and 2 beds. I asked to be sure I wouldn't have a surprise roommate, and they asured me I wouldn't. I went out today and when I got back I was told to "pack up my duds" by one of my classmates. She didn't know when or where we were moving, just that we were. The place we're at now is near the Eye, far from Camden. No internet here, but there's supposedly a pub across the street with free wi-fi. I'll sure miss the Camden Coffee House. Still, I'm a bit irked right now. I was so hoping I could make it through the trip without that female thing happening because I'd just finished a day or two before I left! I must be pmsy because I feel like everyone in the world is being condescending and talking to me like I'm an idiot (not to mention the physical evidence).
So anyway, I did the usual update at Camden Coffee House and looked up Jane Austen spots in London. There weren't a lot, because she didn't live in London. I was hoping I could find some that were maybe mentioned in the novels or something, but I didn't get the chance to search that thoroughly. There were two that I found. One turned out to be really great, and the other one wasn't. The first was the British Library. It not only had her writing desk with a first draft of Persuasion but also an early manuscript from when she was a teenager. It also had first drafts of Handel's Messiah, recordings of Joyce reading Finigans Wake and Yeats reading a couple poems including Isle of Inisfree. It had the Magna Carta, First Folio Shakespeare... No pictures of course with that kind of old stuff. It's a shame those things are never legible. I grabbed a sandwich at the cafe there on my way out. Then I went back to Kings Cross tube station and had a real London experience. It was closed due to some sort of electrical failure, so they were sending everyone to Euston station. I went down to Euston. Then I looked at the signs and my tube map and found that the line I needed isn't there, so I had to got to Warren Street Station. By that time I got on the Victoria line and went one stop to Oxford Circus. I might as well have walked. I walked a lot and had to ask a few people where to go. I had actually looked up sweetshops on Regent Street and google mapped it and found exactly where this place should be. I still never found it. The only candy store I saw was a Godiva shop and I know that wasn't what I'd found online. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go somewhere else. After that I went to my second Austen destination, 10 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, where her brother lived and she stayed when she was in London. Nada. No plaque. No nothing! But since I was already there, I explored the market a bit. I got some ricotta/spinach ravioli from an Italian booth. It was mediocre. The tomato sauce was all watery and got all over my new dress! Ugh. Ooo, but then I went and got a couple of little mini cupcakes. They were yummy. I went back to the dorms and found out we were leaving. The rest of the night has basically been us moving, and I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed now.
So anyway, I did the usual update at Camden Coffee House and looked up Jane Austen spots in London. There weren't a lot, because she didn't live in London. I was hoping I could find some that were maybe mentioned in the novels or something, but I didn't get the chance to search that thoroughly. There were two that I found. One turned out to be really great, and the other one wasn't. The first was the British Library. It not only had her writing desk with a first draft of Persuasion but also an early manuscript from when she was a teenager. It also had first drafts of Handel's Messiah, recordings of Joyce reading Finigans Wake and Yeats reading a couple poems including Isle of Inisfree. It had the Magna Carta, First Folio Shakespeare... No pictures of course with that kind of old stuff. It's a shame those things are never legible. I grabbed a sandwich at the cafe there on my way out. Then I went back to Kings Cross tube station and had a real London experience. It was closed due to some sort of electrical failure, so they were sending everyone to Euston station. I went down to Euston. Then I looked at the signs and my tube map and found that the line I needed isn't there, so I had to got to Warren Street Station. By that time I got on the Victoria line and went one stop to Oxford Circus. I might as well have walked. I walked a lot and had to ask a few people where to go. I had actually looked up sweetshops on Regent Street and google mapped it and found exactly where this place should be. I still never found it. The only candy store I saw was a Godiva shop and I know that wasn't what I'd found online. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go somewhere else. After that I went to my second Austen destination, 10 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, where her brother lived and she stayed when she was in London. Nada. No plaque. No nothing! But since I was already there, I explored the market a bit. I got some ricotta/spinach ravioli from an Italian booth. It was mediocre. The tomato sauce was all watery and got all over my new dress! Ugh. Ooo, but then I went and got a couple of little mini cupcakes. They were yummy. I went back to the dorms and found out we were leaving. The rest of the night has basically been us moving, and I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed now.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Crazy Stuff (7-8)
Today has been interesting and long. I slept until about 9:30 or 10 and then went to Camden Coffee House to update and post my blog for yesterday. I took the tube to Picadilly Circus but I really just walked towards Oxford Circus and ended up shopping there, and by shopping, I mean spending a couple hours at H & M trying things on. They have so much more variety in London H & M's. Heck, they have multiple floors. The one at the Spectrum didn't even exist until after our last trip here, I think. I had a racist moment, perpetuating the stereotypical fear of the "other" Justine and all her post-colonial references discuss. There are signs at Picadilly Circus station that say "Beware. Pickpockets are known to operate at this station." I walked up the stairs and out of the tube station and started to look at my map. Right after I put it away, a black man with scruffy-looking facial hair, one of those jacket vests, and a beanie saw me and asked if I needed help finding anything. I said I was fine, walked about 100 feet down the street and asked a white woman which way the shops were. I walked in the direction she told me to and there were all the shops. A lot of them looked like they're out of my price range. I ended up going into H & M and spending quite a lot of time there. It's sort of interesting that stores back at home typically allow you to bring 5 or 6 items into the dressing room, the ones in Dublin only allowed 2 or 3, but the big ones in London allow up to 10. I went into the dressing room twice and brought in 9 or 10 items both times. Needless to say, had anyone been with me they would have probably complained that I was taking too long, and I didn't even leave the ground floor! There were about half a dozen different things I really liked, but I'm pretty self-disciplined when it comes to spending. I ended up getting 2 dresses, one not on sale (a black dress, becuse every girl needs a nice black dress and all I've had in the recent past were awkwardly altered band dresses: 15 pounds) and one on sale (white with stripes of various blue and blue-green hues: 7 pounds). Odd how the tags all had 3 sizes, including "US #," and accurately enough both dresses I got said "US 6" but there were some things I tried on where a supposed American 6 or 8 were tight and a 4 was loose. It was weird. After I realized it was getting late and I needed to hurry up and make a decision there and check out I decided to go look for that sweet shop we went to 3 years ago that Ron liked. I asked somebody who worked at the Oxford Circus tube station and I think he said something about straight down Regent St. but I couldn't find it before I had to leave for the dorms, because there was to be an important meeting tonight...
Well, I haven't discussed things in much detail. I'm still not sure if it's appropriate to talk about what's going on, but it *is part of my London experience. I've just said that the dorms we're staying in are pretty bad, and I'm still not going to say anything much. For once, I'm letting others do the whining, and hoping to benefit from the result. Seriously, they had someone from the Chapman study abroad office fly out here. That's how bad it is. Some stuff I don't think is too bad. No soap in the bathroom? Eh, I carry hand sanitizer in my backpack all the time. Little Italian kids running through the hallways and their leaders opening doors without knocking (and that just for one night)? Eh, I was just sitting typing up my blog. If I'd been changing or whatever, I would have locked the door, and I don't need to take a shower every day. I just wet my hair with the sink in my room and brushed it the morning they were here. The awful thing is that they're doing renovations on the building we're staying in. Chapman was apparently never informed of this. I think it may have something to do with the travel/tour agency they were working with not disclosing this information, or maybe they never had that information? Tonight most of us went out to dinner at the Grand Union pub down the street (which Justine paid for) and then met in the lounge downstairs in the dorm to talk with the lady from Chapman. She told us about the process of events that had led to her coming there to objectively assess the situation. Of course there was a lot of "well this is travel" and "culture shock" talk coming from her at first, but by the end of the meeting she had heard and understood our concerns. They're going out tomorrow to look for a viable solution, because previous solutions have not worked out. For instance. I was in corridor P, right above where they were renovating, and the fumes and things were horrible. I then moved to corridor R, and the next day they started renovating right under it. The fumes in the elevator were almost unbearable. The light in the R hallway is supposed to be motion sensitive, but sometimes even walking up and down the hallway several times won't turn the light on. At least I'm right next to the bathroom. Of course the staff has been rapidly trying to clean things up since they found out that Chapman was going to be inspecting. This was discussed at the meeting tonight. I've gotten tiny bites and seen little black specks on my sheets. I was able to get new bedding. Other people are having terrible alergic reactions from the fumes and debris from the renovation. Those who were the worst have moved into hotels already. With the discussion of the timeline and processes that have gone on thus far, I doubt there will be any resolution before I go home. Heck, I've been counting down the days. I'm only in London for 3 more nights after tonight. We were never given a break down of how our money was being spent, just a "woohoo, we're under budget" and we're all regretting it. The dorm staff have been pretty condescending. I think I went to go ask about getting the little keychain we're apparently supposed to show at the breakfast line that was not included in my new set of keys for my R room, and there was an immediate "who's your team leader? Is your team leader Justine?" kind of like "Won't you whiners get out of our hair?" At this point, I don't know whether I'd rather get to move out for the last couple nights or be compensated for the trip, or at least the London leg of it. Oh, whatever, this is livin' the city.
Well, I haven't discussed things in much detail. I'm still not sure if it's appropriate to talk about what's going on, but it *is part of my London experience. I've just said that the dorms we're staying in are pretty bad, and I'm still not going to say anything much. For once, I'm letting others do the whining, and hoping to benefit from the result. Seriously, they had someone from the Chapman study abroad office fly out here. That's how bad it is. Some stuff I don't think is too bad. No soap in the bathroom? Eh, I carry hand sanitizer in my backpack all the time. Little Italian kids running through the hallways and their leaders opening doors without knocking (and that just for one night)? Eh, I was just sitting typing up my blog. If I'd been changing or whatever, I would have locked the door, and I don't need to take a shower every day. I just wet my hair with the sink in my room and brushed it the morning they were here. The awful thing is that they're doing renovations on the building we're staying in. Chapman was apparently never informed of this. I think it may have something to do with the travel/tour agency they were working with not disclosing this information, or maybe they never had that information? Tonight most of us went out to dinner at the Grand Union pub down the street (which Justine paid for) and then met in the lounge downstairs in the dorm to talk with the lady from Chapman. She told us about the process of events that had led to her coming there to objectively assess the situation. Of course there was a lot of "well this is travel" and "culture shock" talk coming from her at first, but by the end of the meeting she had heard and understood our concerns. They're going out tomorrow to look for a viable solution, because previous solutions have not worked out. For instance. I was in corridor P, right above where they were renovating, and the fumes and things were horrible. I then moved to corridor R, and the next day they started renovating right under it. The fumes in the elevator were almost unbearable. The light in the R hallway is supposed to be motion sensitive, but sometimes even walking up and down the hallway several times won't turn the light on. At least I'm right next to the bathroom. Of course the staff has been rapidly trying to clean things up since they found out that Chapman was going to be inspecting. This was discussed at the meeting tonight. I've gotten tiny bites and seen little black specks on my sheets. I was able to get new bedding. Other people are having terrible alergic reactions from the fumes and debris from the renovation. Those who were the worst have moved into hotels already. With the discussion of the timeline and processes that have gone on thus far, I doubt there will be any resolution before I go home. Heck, I've been counting down the days. I'm only in London for 3 more nights after tonight. We were never given a break down of how our money was being spent, just a "woohoo, we're under budget" and we're all regretting it. The dorm staff have been pretty condescending. I think I went to go ask about getting the little keychain we're apparently supposed to show at the breakfast line that was not included in my new set of keys for my R room, and there was an immediate "who's your team leader? Is your team leader Justine?" kind of like "Won't you whiners get out of our hair?" At this point, I don't know whether I'd rather get to move out for the last couple nights or be compensated for the trip, or at least the London leg of it. Oh, whatever, this is livin' the city.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
A Real London City Experience (7-7)
Hopefully by now you've all figured out that I've been having internet issues but have found a lovely little cafe down the street from the not-so-lovely dorms with free wi-fi. I went to have breakfast and update there this morning and will probably do the same tomorrow and the next day as they are also free days.
Anyway, I'm having a real London experience now! Silly Southern Californians, assuming we bring our weather with us wherever we go... Well!? It worked when I was in Dublin! AND the last time I was in London! Why shouldn't it now? :P Today was the first of our 3-day string of free days. I can't really afford to go off and do anything exciting like visit another country or another part of this one, so I'm stuck at these horrible dorms, *but I'm refusing to get up for breakfast here. It's mediocre and it ends at 9. I'd like to sleep in, and Camden Coffee House down the road is awesome. The toastie and hot chocolate I had this morning were good and they have free wi-fi so I was finally able to update after 3 or 4 days. I had 37 facebook updates (though most of them were those dumb ones like "your friends have taken these movie quizzes. Why don't you?"). Today, I walked to Camden Coffee House, uploaded the 4 blog posts I'd written but been unable to post and a ton of pictures as well, though I had a lot to update so I didn't bother with captions or anything. Then I came back to the dorm to put my laptop away and get my backpack together. I was planning on going to Leicester Square for the Half-blood Prince premiere, but Lindsay, the only person who had shown any interest, decided to get away from here and move into a hotel. Apparently that takes all day. Maybe she just didn't want to go that much anyway. I asked Alli and Paul if they were interested in going. They had plans to go see Big Ben and stuff. They hadn't gone on the Eye, I guess. I asked Elise, but she didn't want to. I didn't think anyone else was even around, so I headed out on my own, took the Northern Line down to Leicester Square, walked out of the tube station and down the street a little, and came upon the Odeon theatre, where all the big premieres are held. It was at least three hours before the web page I'd looked at said the stars were supposed to arrive, so I sat down in the Burger King on the corner for lunch. I didn't want to go too far. In fact, I probably should have taken it to go and gone off into the crowd with it to get a better spot. Of course there were already crowds when I got there. It had been off and on rain and sunshine, like most days here, but it wasn't too bad. Big crowds and umbrellas don't mix too well, so I was hoping it would stay light when it did rain... So much for that. I was standing around for about two hours. At first I tried to get in with the crowds that could actually see the actors come through, but even though I thought I'd come early enough I couldn't really squeeze through enough people to find a spot where I'd be able to see anything. I moved around to different sections of the crowd. At one point it seemed like there was hope, as they were closing off the section where they'd been letting people through to the street, and people who had been held back would be able to move up into that section. OMG! Of course I was right next to a crazed bunch of screaming teenage girls, and once the policeman even started to look like he was going to let them through they were pushing through like psychopaths. I swear, I never thought I'd feel claustrophobic outside, but there was litterally no room to move! So I just pushed my way back out and went over to where the big screen was. That actually wasn't bad. I stood right by the gate for a long time next to a bunch of 16 year old girls who are a disgrace to females everywhere. They all wore low-cut tops and had written across their necklines "I'd be easy for Ron Weasley." It disgusts me. Crazy fangirls. I got them to let me take a picture, so I have the ridiculousness recorded for posterity. Anyway, I was standing out in the off-and-on rain and the stars finally started showing up. There was Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliff, Tom Felton... and then it started pouring. Actually, it was more of a deluge. I seriously don't think I've ever experienced such intense rain before. My shoes, pants, backpack, everything was soaked through. As if the crowd wasn't bad enough, the crowd with umbrellas was simply unbearable. I couldn't see the screen even though I was right in front of it. I couldn't see to take pictures. I was dreadfully afraid my camera was going to be ruined, and I didn't want to come home with pruny feet. I'm sorry, but I'm not that kind of fanatic, and I'm a wimpy Southern Californian. I can't survive in the rain. Well, not that kind of rain. I ended up going back to the dorm, taking a quick hot shower and changing my pants and sweater as well as taking everything out of my backpack to dry, throwing out some things that weren't salvageable or important. Then I ended up going out to get a sandwich for dinner, wearing my flipflops because my Skechers are soaked through, and it was fine. Sure there were puddles, but it hardly even sprinkled on my way out the gate. I'm really feeling yucky, and I'm kind of bummed I didn't get to see Alan Rickman or JK Rowling or anybody cool, but whatever. At least I haven't caught pneumonia. This trip to London is turning out to be such a drag. After the first time I'd been to London, I was in love with it. I seriously thought "I could live here some day," but from my experience this time, I know I probably wouldn't survive. It's like that excerpt about "Dickens' London" we have to read for the class: massive overcrowding, rain overflowing the filthy gutters. I'm thinking about going down to the laundry room and throwing my stuff in the dryer because I doubt it will get dry by simply hanging over night. Well, maybe the backpack and the sweatshirt, but not the shoes. I'll go back to Camden Coffee House tomorrow morning and post this. I hope all is well with everyone. Thank goodness I'm getting out of this godforsaken city in 4 or 5 days.
Anyway, I'm having a real London experience now! Silly Southern Californians, assuming we bring our weather with us wherever we go... Well!? It worked when I was in Dublin! AND the last time I was in London! Why shouldn't it now? :P Today was the first of our 3-day string of free days. I can't really afford to go off and do anything exciting like visit another country or another part of this one, so I'm stuck at these horrible dorms, *but I'm refusing to get up for breakfast here. It's mediocre and it ends at 9. I'd like to sleep in, and Camden Coffee House down the road is awesome. The toastie and hot chocolate I had this morning were good and they have free wi-fi so I was finally able to update after 3 or 4 days. I had 37 facebook updates (though most of them were those dumb ones like "your friends have taken these movie quizzes. Why don't you?"). Today, I walked to Camden Coffee House, uploaded the 4 blog posts I'd written but been unable to post and a ton of pictures as well, though I had a lot to update so I didn't bother with captions or anything. Then I came back to the dorm to put my laptop away and get my backpack together. I was planning on going to Leicester Square for the Half-blood Prince premiere, but Lindsay, the only person who had shown any interest, decided to get away from here and move into a hotel. Apparently that takes all day. Maybe she just didn't want to go that much anyway. I asked Alli and Paul if they were interested in going. They had plans to go see Big Ben and stuff. They hadn't gone on the Eye, I guess. I asked Elise, but she didn't want to. I didn't think anyone else was even around, so I headed out on my own, took the Northern Line down to Leicester Square, walked out of the tube station and down the street a little, and came upon the Odeon theatre, where all the big premieres are held. It was at least three hours before the web page I'd looked at said the stars were supposed to arrive, so I sat down in the Burger King on the corner for lunch. I didn't want to go too far. In fact, I probably should have taken it to go and gone off into the crowd with it to get a better spot. Of course there were already crowds when I got there. It had been off and on rain and sunshine, like most days here, but it wasn't too bad. Big crowds and umbrellas don't mix too well, so I was hoping it would stay light when it did rain... So much for that. I was standing around for about two hours. At first I tried to get in with the crowds that could actually see the actors come through, but even though I thought I'd come early enough I couldn't really squeeze through enough people to find a spot where I'd be able to see anything. I moved around to different sections of the crowd. At one point it seemed like there was hope, as they were closing off the section where they'd been letting people through to the street, and people who had been held back would be able to move up into that section. OMG! Of course I was right next to a crazed bunch of screaming teenage girls, and once the policeman even started to look like he was going to let them through they were pushing through like psychopaths. I swear, I never thought I'd feel claustrophobic outside, but there was litterally no room to move! So I just pushed my way back out and went over to where the big screen was. That actually wasn't bad. I stood right by the gate for a long time next to a bunch of 16 year old girls who are a disgrace to females everywhere. They all wore low-cut tops and had written across their necklines "I'd be easy for Ron Weasley." It disgusts me. Crazy fangirls. I got them to let me take a picture, so I have the ridiculousness recorded for posterity. Anyway, I was standing out in the off-and-on rain and the stars finally started showing up. There was Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliff, Tom Felton... and then it started pouring. Actually, it was more of a deluge. I seriously don't think I've ever experienced such intense rain before. My shoes, pants, backpack, everything was soaked through. As if the crowd wasn't bad enough, the crowd with umbrellas was simply unbearable. I couldn't see the screen even though I was right in front of it. I couldn't see to take pictures. I was dreadfully afraid my camera was going to be ruined, and I didn't want to come home with pruny feet. I'm sorry, but I'm not that kind of fanatic, and I'm a wimpy Southern Californian. I can't survive in the rain. Well, not that kind of rain. I ended up going back to the dorm, taking a quick hot shower and changing my pants and sweater as well as taking everything out of my backpack to dry, throwing out some things that weren't salvageable or important. Then I ended up going out to get a sandwich for dinner, wearing my flipflops because my Skechers are soaked through, and it was fine. Sure there were puddles, but it hardly even sprinkled on my way out the gate. I'm really feeling yucky, and I'm kind of bummed I didn't get to see Alan Rickman or JK Rowling or anybody cool, but whatever. At least I haven't caught pneumonia. This trip to London is turning out to be such a drag. After the first time I'd been to London, I was in love with it. I seriously thought "I could live here some day," but from my experience this time, I know I probably wouldn't survive. It's like that excerpt about "Dickens' London" we have to read for the class: massive overcrowding, rain overflowing the filthy gutters. I'm thinking about going down to the laundry room and throwing my stuff in the dryer because I doubt it will get dry by simply hanging over night. Well, maybe the backpack and the sweatshirt, but not the shoes. I'll go back to Camden Coffee House tomorrow morning and post this. I hope all is well with everyone. Thank goodness I'm getting out of this godforsaken city in 4 or 5 days.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
7-6
Only one more week before I get to go home! I know, I know. I've been looking forward to this for so long, but things just keep turning out differently than I'd planned, and I'm just generally easily upset. I miss my boyfriend and I'm having the same sort of issues socially in relation to my hearing issues as I would at home. Just multiply them by about ten. Speaking of math, I had to ask Hallie how to convert farenheight to celcius so I can make my dinner in a bit. I bought 2 mini pre-fab pizzas at the grocery store for under 1 pound, and I figured they'd have cooking directions on the label, but I didn't pay that close attention. Well, I didn't see any, and the ovens in the kitchen I'm assuming would be in celcius, so my estimate of "oh, about 10 minutes at 350-400" would be irrelevant. It's finally started raining like it was supposed to the whole time I've been on the trip. I hadn't brought an umbrella but I always carry my emergency poncho in my backpack. I finally had to use it today. It's supposed to be a single use sort of thing, but I'll need it for the Globe. I bought an umbrella at the British Museum today out of necessity, but you can't use umbrellas in the groundlings at the Globe. There's a bunch of Italian kids that moved in for the night making all sorts of noise, but they're only here for tonight. Tomorrow is the first of our 3 free days. I plan on possibly going to the Harry Potter premier in Leicester Square, if I can figure out what time it is. It might just be cool to hang out there for a bit and see it from afar like we saw the premier of Pirates 3, because I'm sure it'll be insane. Now that I have time to do whatever I want... there's a lovely little cafe with free wi-fi down the street, so I'm sleeping in and going there for breakfast tomorrow. Woooo! Internet! I'll actually be able to post these things. Sorry I've been so out of touch for the past few days. They had told us these dorms would have free internet access, but they lied (about the computer room, about connection from the room, about these dorms being liveable)... all lies! I just tried the connection in Justine's old room, but it didn't work. I got the "reset the wireless router" repair suggestion, and obviously that's not something I can do. A few people are getting out and going to hotels for the free days or the remainder of the trip. People were trying to get hotel rooms the first day we got here, but everything was booked because of Wimbledon. I just want out, period. I feel sick. I got some sort of pin prick size bites. I'm thinking there are fleas or something in here. My feet are so worn out. They have been for a while and they keep getting more sore. Today they were all pruny from walking around in the rain all day. I'm just not having a great time. I'm really tired and my eye is really irritated. The London leg of this trip is turning out not to be so great.
Oh yeah, so activities today: I totally forgot with all my whining... We met another one of our guides this morning and he took us on a tour of the Bloomsbury area. I think that's where we were. He was talking about writers/artists who had lived in the area and their melodramatic lives. He said something like, "They loved in triangles and lived in squares." He led us to the British Museum and we were there for about an hour and a half. I thought the idea was to go around the museum and we'd probably get something to eat later, but most people had gone to lunch. I was hungry but I'd stuck around looking at boring old stuff. :P Oh yeah, after that we went to the Dickens house, but I really haven't read much Dickens to be honest, so it was of less interest to me than it would have been to say, my parents. On the way home I went with some classmates who wanted some coffee to a cafe and got a sandwich. The tomato/basil/mozarella sandwich is pretty common in the pre-made chilled sandwich racks around here, but at this place they advertised it as a panini and when I brought it up to the counter to pay for it they said it would be a couple minutes. I was a bit confused, but when I got it, panini style, it turned out to be really good, muchbetter than raw. Then we came back to the dorms and on the way we stopped at the grocery store where I picked up a couple mini frozen pizzas for 46 pence each for when I don't want to go out for dinner and/or everything's closed anyway but I'm hungry. Honestly, I don't understand how so many things can close at 5 or 6 when there are 4 more hours of sunlight left. Anyway, I think I might go try to make one now with that conversion Hallie gave me.
Oh yeah, so activities today: I totally forgot with all my whining... We met another one of our guides this morning and he took us on a tour of the Bloomsbury area. I think that's where we were. He was talking about writers/artists who had lived in the area and their melodramatic lives. He said something like, "They loved in triangles and lived in squares." He led us to the British Museum and we were there for about an hour and a half. I thought the idea was to go around the museum and we'd probably get something to eat later, but most people had gone to lunch. I was hungry but I'd stuck around looking at boring old stuff. :P Oh yeah, after that we went to the Dickens house, but I really haven't read much Dickens to be honest, so it was of less interest to me than it would have been to say, my parents. On the way home I went with some classmates who wanted some coffee to a cafe and got a sandwich. The tomato/basil/mozarella sandwich is pretty common in the pre-made chilled sandwich racks around here, but at this place they advertised it as a panini and when I brought it up to the counter to pay for it they said it would be a couple minutes. I was a bit confused, but when I got it, panini style, it turned out to be really good, muchbetter than raw. Then we came back to the dorms and on the way we stopped at the grocery store where I picked up a couple mini frozen pizzas for 46 pence each for when I don't want to go out for dinner and/or everything's closed anyway but I'm hungry. Honestly, I don't understand how so many things can close at 5 or 6 when there are 4 more hours of sunlight left. Anyway, I think I might go try to make one now with that conversion Hallie gave me.
Misadventures (7-5)
As my last entry states, we had a tour of the Globe today, which was cool. I'd seen a play at the Globe but never toured it. After the Globe tour we went and saw the Tower and also had lunch there. Then a bunch of people headed off to go on the Eye. I decided that it was a once in a lifetime experience (I would suggest everyone do it once, and it is kind of expensive). I'd had my once, and I wanted to make sure everybody knows I didn't die on the flight from Dublin now that I have a chance to use the web... Then as I was writing this I was thinking about how cool that area around the Eye is and how I should have gone with them and wandered around on my own while they stood in line for an hour. Oh well, plenty of time for wandering on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (all free days). I may go out to eat or something. It's only 6, but lunch was so recent, and we do have a kitchen here. Maybe I'll just get a frozen pizza from the Tesco down the street. Meal times seem so messed up when the sun doesn't set until 9:30.
(Yes, this first part is in the last post)
Boy, what adventures I had since writing that first part. I couldn't actually get to the room with the internet in it when everybody else was gone and noone could let me in to the Q corridor. I was sitting there feeling alone and bored and a million different other things besides when I decided I'd go out on my own and hopefully I'd meet up with my classmates at the Eye. Well, I only made up my mind after a bit of indecision, calling my boyfriend for a $20/5 minute phone call (we had been keeping in touch via internet and I was just feeling so lonely), and staring at a map of the city and tube system for a bit. So it was already nearly 9 (they said they'd be on the Eye around 8:45). I went ahead and called my professor to try to see if I could meet up with them to go eat after they were done with the Eye. Well, I couldn't get ahold of her even though I tried calling about half a dozen times (they were apparently on the Eye during most of the time I'd been calling, which was after I'd taken the tube down to Waterloo). People kept mentioning that I'd said I hadn't wanted to go on the Eye. Well, the idea was not to go on th Eye but also not to be stuck in this stupid dorm building all by myself. Hopefully I'd get something to eat, see some street performers or something along the way, and meet up with my classmates. I remember that area being pretty cool. The main problem was that I never got ahold of them, but also, daylight was almost gone. I actually had been in the area during the same time that they had, but I had gotten sick of sitting right in front of the Eye watching for people getting on and off when, in all likely hood, I'd probably miss them anyway in the crowd, and they wouldn't have a clue to look for me there because I'd never gotten ahold of Justine. So I walked off to the bridge to take pictures of the cool buildings at sunset, and apparently Justine did call me back right around 9:30 but I'd never gotten the call and never gotten ahold of her the 20 times I'd tried to call her since, not even knowing she'd called. So I was getting hungry and I figured I'd just play it cool, look for some place to eat around there, keep exploring the city on my own, but by this time it was actually getting dark and I wasn't feeling so comfortable being out alone. I'd only seen a bunch of nice sit-down restaurants that I wouldn't feel comfortable going to alone and that arcade my brother liked so much when we went before, which has a McDonald's attached. I pretty much gave up and headed back towards the tube station, still playing it cool, being stoic and striding along as if I was just another Londoner, but as it was getting dark I couldn't remember the way back to the station. I started wandering in that general direction and followed some signs that said Waterloo station, but those signs are so confusing. Half the streets curve around and an arrow that points straight might actually mean around a couple of corners. I made a few wrong turns and ended up in unpleasant looking back streets a couple times, even with directions from people, which, like the pointing arrows, were a little confusing, especially with those platforms in the middle of the street that branch off for pedestrian crossing in different directions. Anyway, I eventually made it and made my way back to Camden Town, although there I made it all the way back to the main cross street before forgetting which way to go to get back to the dorms. So here too, I tried to play it cool and started looking for some place to grab a bite. Unfortunately, It's sunday and everything closes early, so I ended up getting McDonald's anyway, bleh. Fortunately, a really nice couple using the atm on the corner was willing to help me out. They were going in that direction anyway and just walked with me to the bus stop. So here I am, back at the dorms, really tired, been here for a while (it's about quarter after 1 am) and I'm exhausted, but I wanted to get all of this down before I fall asleep. We don't have to meet up until 11, but I believe breakfast stops at 9 around here, so I need to sleep!
(Yes, this first part is in the last post)
Boy, what adventures I had since writing that first part. I couldn't actually get to the room with the internet in it when everybody else was gone and noone could let me in to the Q corridor. I was sitting there feeling alone and bored and a million different other things besides when I decided I'd go out on my own and hopefully I'd meet up with my classmates at the Eye. Well, I only made up my mind after a bit of indecision, calling my boyfriend for a $20/5 minute phone call (we had been keeping in touch via internet and I was just feeling so lonely), and staring at a map of the city and tube system for a bit. So it was already nearly 9 (they said they'd be on the Eye around 8:45). I went ahead and called my professor to try to see if I could meet up with them to go eat after they were done with the Eye. Well, I couldn't get ahold of her even though I tried calling about half a dozen times (they were apparently on the Eye during most of the time I'd been calling, which was after I'd taken the tube down to Waterloo). People kept mentioning that I'd said I hadn't wanted to go on the Eye. Well, the idea was not to go on th Eye but also not to be stuck in this stupid dorm building all by myself. Hopefully I'd get something to eat, see some street performers or something along the way, and meet up with my classmates. I remember that area being pretty cool. The main problem was that I never got ahold of them, but also, daylight was almost gone. I actually had been in the area during the same time that they had, but I had gotten sick of sitting right in front of the Eye watching for people getting on and off when, in all likely hood, I'd probably miss them anyway in the crowd, and they wouldn't have a clue to look for me there because I'd never gotten ahold of Justine. So I walked off to the bridge to take pictures of the cool buildings at sunset, and apparently Justine did call me back right around 9:30 but I'd never gotten the call and never gotten ahold of her the 20 times I'd tried to call her since, not even knowing she'd called. So I was getting hungry and I figured I'd just play it cool, look for some place to eat around there, keep exploring the city on my own, but by this time it was actually getting dark and I wasn't feeling so comfortable being out alone. I'd only seen a bunch of nice sit-down restaurants that I wouldn't feel comfortable going to alone and that arcade my brother liked so much when we went before, which has a McDonald's attached. I pretty much gave up and headed back towards the tube station, still playing it cool, being stoic and striding along as if I was just another Londoner, but as it was getting dark I couldn't remember the way back to the station. I started wandering in that general direction and followed some signs that said Waterloo station, but those signs are so confusing. Half the streets curve around and an arrow that points straight might actually mean around a couple of corners. I made a few wrong turns and ended up in unpleasant looking back streets a couple times, even with directions from people, which, like the pointing arrows, were a little confusing, especially with those platforms in the middle of the street that branch off for pedestrian crossing in different directions. Anyway, I eventually made it and made my way back to Camden Town, although there I made it all the way back to the main cross street before forgetting which way to go to get back to the dorms. So here too, I tried to play it cool and started looking for some place to grab a bite. Unfortunately, It's sunday and everything closes early, so I ended up getting McDonald's anyway, bleh. Fortunately, a really nice couple using the atm on the corner was willing to help me out. They were going in that direction anyway and just walked with me to the bus stop. So here I am, back at the dorms, really tired, been here for a while (it's about quarter after 1 am) and I'm exhausted, but I wanted to get all of this down before I fall asleep. We don't have to meet up until 11, but I believe breakfast stops at 9 around here, so I need to sleep!
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