Pigeons and Waffles and Guinness... Oh My!

I'm thrilled to report that over the past few days I've finally been able to start thinking of London as home.  While I had enjoyed the museums, clubs, restaurants, pubs, sightseeing, and people I experienced over the first week and a half of my visit, this last weekend really allowed me the opportunity to start getting to know the city on my own terms. I spent Saturday with a friend from Georgetown who's currently working towards her Master's degree in English at UCL... we ended up eating Italian in Bloomsbury and window shopping along Oxford Street where we decided to see what all the fuss about waffles was about (wherever you go there are either restaurants that serve exclusively waffles or vendors selling them from little carts on the street). We were somewhat underwhelmed by our $7 waffles but it was still great people watching and fun to soak up the vibe of a new corner of the city.

No matter how much time I spend on Oxford Street I always manage to see something new, and this weekend's crowds brought out students protesting Parliament's recent decision to raise the cap on college tuition from 3,000 to 9,000 pounds a year. There were students out en masse with signs and bullhorns and while I admired their fervor, I wished they had a little more appreciation for the fact that their system was capped in the first place. When I consider the fact that the vast majority of them assume little to no student loans and they always know that they'll never need to pay more than a certain amount (as opposed to American universities at which arbitrary fee hikes are the norm), I'm somewhat less sympathetic to their situation. That being said, it was invigorating to see students my age participating so actively in the political process.

The afternoon was cold and windy which made for a somewhat miserable walk through Hyde Park. The sun sets mid-afternoon in London this time of year so Shanley and I were treated to a seriously creepy (think the moors of Misselthwaite Manor) two hours of getting lost in/locked into the park. Our objective (seeing Kensington Palace) was somewhat thwarted by the fact that it was locked up and completely dark when we finally got there, leaving us with no other option than going to a local pub to warm up :)

Shanley clutching my Starbucks for warmth and trying not to get blitzed by swarming flocks of geese, seagulls, and crows... such is Hyde Park 

Pitstop for some Guinness therapy post-Hyde Park

My new favorite meal

The following day, I got the change to explore London Carly-style... that is, intentionally losing myself (this time, in Chelsea) and finding hidden corners of the city en route back to UCL. I walked from Chelsea to the West End which helped me connect a lot of different neighborhoods in my 'mental map'. The King's Speech was premiering at one of the local theaters so I bought tickets a few hours in advance then killed time by browsing through the neighborhood's many used/vintage book stores and grabbing espresso and a tart at a local patisserie! The movie was phenomenal... the theater tickets cost twice what they do in the states but the theater was very formal (velvet curtains, assigned seats) and the audience clapped before and after the film! As for the movie itself, apart from being fantastic, it gave me a good sense of why the English are so connected and loyal to their monarchy. The monarch represents the spirit of the British people, their sense of honor, bravery, and fortitude, in a way that a President or Prime Minister can't because they're so intwined with the politics of running a state. It promotes a sense of national identity that we lack in the U.S., and I'm more than happy to adopt the Royal Family (minus Charles) as my own!

In addition to finding new niches for myself through all this exploring, I've also gotten a better sense of the general attitudes, quirks, and culture of the British people. To my chagrin I've found them to be horrid pedestrians which requires me to be somewhat aggressive as I navigate London's busy streets.  It's also been really interesting to note the behavior of people in the service industry in light of the fact that their tips are automatically included in the bill. In my opinion, it really hurts the quality of service you get in most restaurants so score one for America on that point. This week I really have to start buckling down with reading and papers for my classes... more on that to come!

A Day At The Circus

So here's a little bit of morbid trivia I picked up over the past few days: apparently the English jurist/philosopher Jeremy Bentham (utilitarianism, Panopticon, etc.) was the 'Godfather' of UCL since it was the first university in the country to embody his ideals of education for all (regardless of race, class, religion, etc.). In light of the contribution, Bentham asked that after his death, he be embalmed and his corpse displayed at UCL. So, when you walk into the admissions office past a box with what looks like a wax figure, you are actually walking past the taxidermied body of good old Bentham. His head (which kept getting stolen -- ?) was eventually replaced with a wax one, the real one is now kept, mummified, in the school's vaults.

There are no words for how bizarrely macabre this is in person.

The past few days have been pretty hectic as I try to coordinate what courses (or as they say here 'modules') I'll be taking this semester. I was accepted to both the political science and history departments so they both need to confirm any change I make to my classes. They also handle all these transactions in person which means a lot of running around. On the bright side, I think I finally know where everything is on campus! 

As of right now I'm taking Violence in the European Age of Extremes, Gender and Politics, British Slavery and Abolition, and International Development and Public Policy. Each course will be assessed by two 10-page essays, and in some cases, a final exam. So far I've had Violence in the European Age of Extremes with a female Italian professor who I think will really challenge me (she likes to pick fights during class), and Gender and Politics with a well-intentioned but virtually unintelligible Japanese professor.

After class this morning I took the afternoon to walk around the Oxford Circus district of London for some shopping and pubbing. I discovered TopShop, went to Dior, and ate at one of my new favorite pubs: The Hog in the Pound. I also looked for a Drogba jersey (go Chelsea!) and finally found bedding at H&M... no more sleeping in long underwear! Despite getting caught in a late afternoon rain storm with no umbrella (when will I learn?), this was definetly one of my favorite London days so far!

London Calling

Greetings from Merry Old England everyone! As I'm writing this I'm watching the sun rise (for the first of the four mornings I've been here, it's not raining) over the rooftops of Central London from the balcony of my dorm room here in Ramsay Hall.  Jet lag does nothing for an insomniac like me so I'm up most of the night, but the trade off is worth it for the view and early morning runs to one of the local grocers for Orangina, Nutella, and fresh baguette (a.k.a. breakfast).  So here I am -- mostly settled in and ready to recount the adventures of the past few days!

I flew from Duluth to MSP to Heaththrow last Tuesday and arrived in Heathrow early Wednesday afternoon.  Carting my luggage through the airport, lightrail train, Paddington station, and the Tube was a challenge to say the least but I happily saved 36 pounds I otherwise would have spent on a cab. Although they're pricey, the taxis here fantastic as I learned on my way home from the pub the other night. They look like little black shag mobiles and the drivers are all extremely friendly.  I'm also a huge fan of the Tube which looks like a classier, clorox-wiped version of our metro system in D.C. After checking in with the international office (which I thankfully stumbled upon instead of wandering around campus for an hour), I grabbed a sandwich from a mini-grocery called Tesco and passed out from 5:30 that evening until noon the next day.

On Thursday I met up with some fellow Hoyas at the first of two days of orientation for international students, which was kind of a joke since we were all Americans and already knew that it was ill-advised to try and light a stove while intoxicated.  I then proceeded to get hopelessly lost for a few hours (all within blocks of my dorm) in an attempt to find the political science building. When I arrived there to set up my course schedule, a receptionist told me, "oh we just do that over e-mail". The bright side is that all that wandering around gave me the chance to tour the neighborhood which is filled exclusively with university buildings, hotels, pubs, cafes, restaurants, and shops. UCL is in central London meaning that it's a short Tube ride away from the theaters and nightlife of the West End and within walking distance to  sites like the British Museum and the shops along Tottenham Court Road. When I got back to Ramsay I met up with a girl I had gotten to know last semester at Georgetown through a Women and the Law class. We went shopping for bedding (with limited success -- most places had uber-moder, Ikea-esque furniture for Saks prices) then went out for Indian food near Oxford Street at a little place called Raj Tandoori where we talked politics over drinks and lamb curry.

After massively oversleeping and failing at taking a shower in our pseudo-modern, eco-friendly bathroom,  I ran to campus to find out that enrollment had ended an hour earlier than was printed in our orientation guide so I wouldn't be able to officially register for classes until classes actually started... on Monday... fail. I went out with girls from Columbia, Georgetown, and George Washington to The Court, a pub a block away from Ramsay, for pints. We pre-gamed back on our floor then met up with some friends of friends in the West End at a club called Ruby Blue. Epic music + sick bar + the girls = great first night out!

Leicester Square Club/Theater District

Saturday and Sunday were spent touring around with girls from Georgetown, Oberlin, and Columbia and all ended at pubs with pints and fish and chips (yummy!). Armed with Rick Steves' London 2011, The Little Black Book of London, and the Literary Guide to London, I've been eager to soak up EVERYTHING! So far we've gotten to Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Whitehall, Trafalger Square, the National Gallery, and the British Museum!  Check out some of the pictures:

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

One of Her Majesty's guards

Trafalgar Square from the National Gallery steps

Big Ben & The London Eye

Westminster Abbey's famous Rose Window