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