Sick, Sick, Sickkk

So I have been getting sick for a few days now. At first it was flying under the radar, but after a few late nights and a few drinks things have taken a turn for the worse. Today, on a beautiful day, I have been bed ridden to try to nurse myself back to health. In order for you to get the jist..I was told by megavideo (a video streaming website I was using to catch up on 'Weeds') told me I had watched 87 minutes of video today and I had to wait 120 minutes or sign up for unlimited use. Yes, its that bad.

Since the last time I wrote anything, my life has been just an attempt to be settled in New Cross. I had another meeting on Thursday about the communications department. My class is on Mondays from 1-2 with a seminar at 2 pm. It should be interesting to learn about the psychology of the media. After the meeting I had some lunch, then went back to Lewisham with Megan M to walk around and explore the mall. We went looking for cheap white shirts to wear to the blacklight party we had planned on going to in town. Instead I bought a scarf and some pound stretcher special items to add to the kitchen. We got home and I was exhausted. Nick cooked dinner for everyone. Delicious pesto and pasta with some nice white wine. What a gentlemen. We headed off to the club after dinner and it took an hour to get there. Once we got inside I was told we weren't on the VIP guestlist..B.S. Anyway to make a long story short we still had a good time and go to do everything the VIPs did.
On Friday I was pretty low key. I went to the fresher's fayre and picked up some free stuff and pamphlets about clubs at school. After this I spent over an hour at the grocery store with Megan shopping for necessary supplies. I now have a stocked cabinet/fridge/freezer. Megan M and I made delicious tacos for dinner. Meat entered my diet for the first time in about a week. We were mellow on Friday night since a bunch of us were getting this plague. We hung out and met some British students at Desiree's friend Caity's flat (after we discovered the library to watch movies was closed on a Friday). It was a pretty early night Friday.

On Saturday Desiree, Megan M, and I all went to the Tate Britain for this free event about music, fashion, art and culture in London. It was pretty neat. Most events were sold out but a lot of the walk in ones still had things to do. We even got there on time, so now we know for the next free event to go early. We made buttons and listened to music. I made a ruffle cuff like they wore back in the 1800s. It was an interesting day. After the museum we walked along the river before catching the bus back to school. A bunch of us went to F8 (Nick's flat) to chill out for the night and have a few drinks. It was fine until I woke up this morning (Sunday) and felt miserable. I hope it goes away soon, especially since classes start tomorrow.

Groundlings

Today I went to see a Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe. I woke up feeling sick still but toughed it out. We took the replacement bus service to London Bridge where we got some sandwiches in a cafe. We then walked all over to find the Globe, but alas we did find it! We picked up our tickets at will call because my friends are so smart and ordered them ahead of time. The standing seats/groundling tickets were only £5. Pretty cheap deal. Walking into the theatre seemed surreal. It was like I heard a choir sing, yet I felt as though I'd been there before because I have seen so many pictures of it. The stage had beautiful ceiling painted on it. Unfortunately it was a rainy day and it is an open air theatre so everything was wet. Luckily though we go places next to the ramp so we could lean during the show. It was a matinee and lasted about 3 hours. The show was AWESOME! The actors were great and it was nice to see another spin on the show.

After the show ended we headed home very cold and wet. I immediately made something to eat and snuggled in my bed for the night. I was beginning to feel a lot better so I knew that I would be ready to go out tonight. Around 930 a few of us met up to go to the Student Union's Club Sandwich. Before ten there isn't a cover to get in. Of course they kept everyone in line until after 10 so they'd have to pay the £3 to get in. Once inside the place was practically empty. It had a lot better music this time, not a ton of techno. They played some Whitney and of course the country favorite...S Club 7 (anyone else remember them?). We had a good time dancing. We came home around 1 when I realized I had to be up in a few hours to go to another department meeting.

Pure Suicide

So today I had my departmental meetings for Psychology & Anthropology. The psychology one went well and my international liason is really nice. She explained everything depending on the level classes your taking. Of courseee I'm taking two 3rd year classes. Luckily I'va had enough psychology to squeeze by. For each psych class I have to write 2 papers per term as my only assessment..sickkk. My anthropology meeting didn't go as well. Unfortunately my class (Psychological Perspectives in Anthropology) was cancelled. So now I needed to find another class to take. I opted to take another psych class...no clue why. I talked to the international office, my liason, and bunch of people at SMC to finally pick Neurodevelopmental Disorders...oh wait that's offered Spring only. So after finding another class I am offically enrolled in Psychopathology. So the reason this is suicide....I'm completing all of my SMC 300 level classes in one semester abroad. That also means I have 6 papers to write to determine my final grade.

After all of this was sorted out Megan F and I went to Lewisham Center to get my blankets and towels. I spent £45 on a king size duvet, pillow, and towel. I know a bit expensive buttttt its nicer than what I have at home to use anddd I plan on bringing it back to the states to use :). After we returned I started to feel like I was getting a cold. I decided to skip the pub quiz night at the student union and get some rest. I was in bed around 1130 and it felt soooo good.

Drunk People are Funny

After a late night last night, waking up for a 9 am meeting was not fun. The meeting was even worse. Basically everything they told me I 1) knew already, 2) didn't need to know, 3) didn't apply to me. After the meeting we all made a trip to Sainsburys, the grocery store across Lewisham Ave. I got some groceries and a silverware set to split amongst 4 of us. We then headed to Iceland, which sells CHEAP frozen foods. I'm talking £1 for 12 chicken patties cheap. After running late at Iceland we sprinted to find the library for a tour. We had to pass through the Richard Hoggart Building. In an attempt to go out of a set of doors, I set the fire alarm off. Sick, right? We turned around and walked at a quick pace the other way. I was most definitely red in the face and was a dead give away as the culprit. Later that afternoon Nick told me they had roped off the doorway. I'm that person...greattttt.

We finally go to the library. It is huge and has brand new IMacs. They are in the process of redoing the library and its pretty cool. She showed us all of the places we would need to know which was very helpful. After to the tour I went to get my student card. After I went on a few excursions to find towels, pillows, blankets, and some other things I desperately needed. I hadn't had a towel to shower with so I'd been using the airplane blanket they gave me. No such luck finding anything other than some cheap tupperware and a sharp knife. I then proceeded to buy Vodkat for £5.99. Not sure what it is but it was cheap. I came home and decorated my room which made it feel a lot better.

That night we went to a couple of pubs to relax and get a few casual drinks. Two of my flatmates came too, which was really cool. We went to this one bar and it was full of people my dad's age. So we had one drink there. We met this Irish guy who said Fuck everyother word. A drunk guy passed out and was later kicked out of this quiet bar. The last character we saw was this man who continuously played the regaee version of 'Can't help falling in love with you'. We then proceeded to the Hobgoblin, which is the pub outside of my room. It was a chill atmosphere. From there we all parted ways and I went right to bed.

There's a bar on campus ?!?

My homestay with the Richings ended today. I was practically heartbroken. I gave them all of my contact information on some classy SMC postcards and gave them an SMC mug to drink their 12 cups of tea a day out of. We headed off around 1130 for Goldsmiths. I passed out on the bus and woke up in Lewisham which is about 15 minutes from campus. In Lewisham center there is a mall with a lot of stores in it for all budgets. However, the entire area where I am is very ethnic and a bit scary at first. A lot of graffiti on store fronts and a lot of metal grates over windows. We arrived outside of Loring Hall and were greeted by some RA's and helpers to bring our bags in and get our keys.

I'm living in flat D6B. My room is nice and pretty spacious. It has a bed, a wrap around desk, closet/shelf space, and a personal bathroom. The common dining area and kitchen space is also quite large and has windows looking out at the parking lot/other blocks. However, I'm living with 5 other Americans, which is heartbreaking. No offense to any of them because they are all super nice, but I wanted to live with some other international students or at least some Brits. I'll hopefully meet some soon. At 2 a group of us went to Creme Tea to get free food and tea. After we went back to our flats to attack the mess around us. I finally got things settled and had my internet running, which is something I hadn't had since I left. All of the stores close early on Sundays so we settled for Tasty Kebab for dinner. I managed to get some chicken and chips for £2.20.

I was able to finally reach people online and after Skyping for a bit, I headed to the student union to redeem my free drink voucher, which they gave me at a housing meeting earlier in the day (aka Saint Mikes get on that...I guarentee an increase in attendance). The welcome party was packed with students. We got some drinks and found a place to hang out. A DJ started to play some music, techno of course, and we all went out to dance. Overall it was a pretty cool night with a very convient bar on campus :) .

Fish 'N Chip Dinner

Today Tiffany and I had a free day to do whatever we wanted. We woke up around 9 am and Rita made us a traditional English Breakfast. I am very skeptical of this because its a lot of 'real food' early in the morning. Reminds me of eating last night's leftovers for breakfast (cough, Parid)...yuck. We went into Woking, the town we were staying in and went to the shops. There are two presincts/malls in the town and lots of places to eat and cafes. Fashion is a lot more out there with bright colors than it is in the US, so don't make fun of me when I get back and wear bright yellow tights or something :) . Most clothes look like they cost the same here but in fact they are double. So if a shirt costs £12 = $24.

After we explored the malls and T.K. Maxx (the exact same thing as T.J. Maxx) we went to the Woking Market, which had fruits and vegetables, as well as knick knack items. We went in search of the town museum but couldn't find it so we went to The Lightbox Gallery. They had two free exhibits. One was the history of Woking and about the train line that is used primarily for commuters headed to London for work. The other was about the human face. It had a few paintings and sculptures. We also saw a statue devoted to 'War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells. It is of the alien creature in the book. Instead of going to Guildford to look at more shops we went back to relax in the Richings beautiful garden. Tiffany wrote postcards and I helped Kieran with his Math homework. This took FOREVER because he gets distracted so easily, but I know the Richings appreciated the break.

At 630 we met friends of the Richings to go to the Quiz Night at the equivalent of a VFW Hall. Pamela and Charlie are amazing! They are fiesty and brought the whole group together and laughing. It was £6 for the quiz and Fish 'N Chip dinner. Michael introduced us to a bitter shandy, which is 3/4 lemonade (like Sprite) and 1/4 bitters. You can also get a lager shandy which has lager instead of bitters. The quiz was hard and even though there was a question about America I couldn't answer it. The tallest mountain in North America is Mt. McKinley and is named for President McKinley in case you were curious. The dinner was delicious and the night was an all around great time. They felt bad because we hung out with 'old fogeys' all night, but I had a lot of fun. When we returned the 4 German students arrived but we were so tired we went right to bed.

I practically met the Queen

Sleeping in this morning meant 8 am. We went to Windsor bright and early this morning to spend the day at Windsor Castle, one of the Queen’s homes. Michael came along to be the unofficial tour guide. The tickets were £12 which ended up being well worth it. At 11 am we saw the changing of the guards. The Fusiliers were being taken over by the Irish battalion. The ceremony included the Irish battalion’s band and lasted about 45 minutes. I learned that woman are allowed in the battalions and in order to be in the band you must play at least 3 instruments. After the changing of the guard we went into Saint George's Chapel. The outside had hundreds of gargoyles while the inside was beautiful with stained glass windows. It also contained the sarcophagi of many Kings and Queens.

The next stop was Queen Victoria’s Dollhouse. The dollhouse was larger than I am height wise. It was decorated in every possible detail, included complete place settings for the twenty-five seat dining room table and Rolls-Royce limos in the garage. The State Apartments contained everything from paintings and family crests to china and armor. The Royal Library had pieces on display as well in a gallery, which even included some Da Vinci works. Along side was an exhibit of the Royal Family. Every true Brit mumbled something under there breathe when they saw the picture of Prince Charles and Camilla. Michael won’t allow him to become King, as though he has control. Old moats at the castle have been transformed into gardens, some even have waterfalls. It is absolutely beautiful.

After a photo with Michael, we headed down to Woolworths, which is basically a Target, to get lunch at the ‘café’ I had a toastie (grilled cheese) and chips…what a surprise. Next we walked around Windsor and went to meet the group for a trip to Eton College, an all boys high school. The uniforms they wear look like conductor tuxes…unbearable. Also all of the boys look very young and are very rich; I could tell by the crisp white polo which was supposed to be their football jersey. Tiffany, Megan F, Nick, Tom, and I all went to a coffee shop to rest after walking around Eton College.

When we arrived back in Woking, dinner was all set. Rita made sausages, sweet potatoes, potatoes, chips, cabbage, and fried mushrooms all drenched in a brown gravy. All of my favorite things!...not. However, I did stomach it as best I could. To end the night Kieran talked us all into watching ‘The Pacifier’ just like in the cinema; with popcorn and the lights off. Tiffany and I tried to discuss what we wanted to do the next day, which we had free, when we were continuously shushed by Kieran. Although cute it was still a bit annoying.

Real American Hot Dog

Today we had a free day until we met up with the group to go to our homestays. Megan F, Megan M, Desiree, and I decided to go to Leicester Sq and Picadilly Circus. Leicester Sq didn't offer much other than some restaurants and phonebooths to take cliche photos in. In Soho we found bookshops with an adult section in the basement, sex costume shops, sex shops, and even a nude show. The stores all had interesting novelties too.

We walked through Chinatown which was really cool and out to Picadilly Circus. It was a tourist trap but cool all the same. We decided to walk towards Big Ben and head back. However, on the way we saw signs for Buckingham Palace and thought what the heck. So we walked through the most beautiful park..St James' Park. There were flowers, people, and animals everywhere. Birds included swans, ducks, pigeons, and even pelicans! When we reached Buckingham I was not impressed. It has a large gate in front of it with one guard about 50 yards away...aka nothing too exciting.

After this we went back towards to hotel where we had dinner at this restaurant called Ed's Easy Diner. It was an American style 50's diner. The menu was interesting. American hot dogs cooked how Americans do (if anyone can explain what this means that'd be great) and the American Burger which contained things like salsa and guacamole (true American staples...huuuhh?).

After lunch we met the coach and headed for Guildford, where my homestay was. It was about 2 hours to get there. A girl named Tiffany and I stayed with the Richings. Their 8 yr old great-grandson Kieran met us at the car park as well. The family LOVES America and has been to Florida/Disney about 6 times. As we unloaded the car he immediately asks if we will watch him ride his bike. Of course we told him and he rode it up and down the street. He was adorable. We all chatted a bit and Tiffany and I had some soup for dinner before we turned in (around 1 am). However, I'm sure Rob would loooovveee Rita, a fiesty older British woman is just his type ;).

Bohemians

Today I learned about the homestay and the family I'd be with. They seem cute and appear to be elderly. They also told us about classes. They'll be a lot different than in the States. A 70% in the US is an A here. However, most classes have either one exam, one paper, or one presentation. So there is no professor collecting homework questions during the semester. This will be a little harder and I may have to actually read...buzz kill.

I paid for all of my trips, which was £190 ($400) and applied for an absentee ballot. Megan and I then went in search of a T-Mobile to activate her phone. We headed to the store where they told us it was 'just around the corner on Oxford St'. My ass it was. More like a 20 minute excursion to find the street. Then we went into at least 3 coffee shops to ask and each one said 5 minutes from there. After dealing with all of that nonsense we headed back to the hotel to change and meet people for dinner. Myself, Megan F, Megan M, Desiree, Deanna, Chris, Casey, Margie, and Val all went to a pub called the Rising Star. It had a 10% student discount which was very appealing to my budget. I got fish and chips to fit in as a true Brit. I got my £7 worth...a huge piece of fish and a mound of chips plus peas...don't have any idea why or why they are served 'mushy'.

After dinner we headed to the Dominon Theatre to meet up with Arcadia and go see 'We Will Rock You'. Its a musical about a time when music was only produced by computers. The main characters were rebels (Bohemians) and were in search of Queen's Holy Grail of a guitar and their Rhapsody. My seat was 6 rows back from the stage...not a bad spot for a free ticket. All of the songs were Queen and all of the names and jokes played on Queen lyrics.

I headed home after the show to pack up my bags for the homestay in the morning while attempting to do a crossword which was the hardest thing ever. I only recognized two of the question topics let alone the answers.

Spotted Dick

This morning I was a new woman. I was rested and finally ready to eat something. Deanna and I went to the hotel breakfast which we were informed was £15..sweet just $30. Luckily Arcadia was paying for our breakfasts this week. The spread included a traditional English breakfast which includes baked beans, fried tomatoes, fried eggs, toast, tea, meats, breads, jams, and fruit. After breakfast we had meetings about adjusting to English life. We talked about safety and they asked questions about the UK. For each answer right you were given a candy bar you thought you knew from the US but it was something different, either familiar or totally new. Something I'll be bringing back with me. We had a lunch break during which we went to get cell phones. I bought prepaid with £20 for UK minutes and £10 for US minutes. In total for minutes and phone it was £45. After our break we had 3 politicans come and speak to us and answer questions we had. One was a black woman representing the labourer party in Parliment, a conservative man from Parliment, and a liberal democrat from the House of Lords. They were all very informative and hilarious...they also made a lot of remarks about Sarah Palin who is not popular over here.

After this meeting all of the Goldsmiths students went to the Tower of London. We had to take the Tube alone and meet everyone there. We had no idea what we were doing so we hopped on any train, which was the right one luckily. Outside the station an accordian player was playing for money. When she saw the group of Americans (yes, we stick out that much) she played the chicken dance...umm okay? The Tower of London was enormous and we barely saw anything. However, we did take a kind of tour with some dressed up actors. Deanna, Megan (another girl in the program) and I had been part of the trebuchet during an attack and were the best launchers of bladders filled with urine...something to put on my resume. We saw the crown jewels and other beautiful pieces that belong to the Queen and past rulers.

Next we went to this Italian restaurant called Ask. So delicious. We had appetizers, a main course, and dessert, which was this delicious honeycomb cheesecakeeee. YUM-O (just for you Laur ;) ). A few of us took the tube to see some sights. We went to Westminster to walk around. As we walked up the steps Megan said "Oh something cool and old!" As we keep walking we all realize its Big Ben & Parliment...no big deallll. After we walked around a bit we headed back to the hotel to get some rest because we realized we were all jet lagged still.

Don't know what spotted dick is? Well don't panic no need to see a doctor. It's a dessert that is a cake with raisins in it that look like spots. The Brits have a way of naming their food to make it sound appetizing.

Walking Zombie

Last night I arrived at Logan to head off to London alone..aka I was scared shitless. I go to check in around 615 and am getting nervous. There is no line. My bags are taken right away and the woman says I need to be through security by 830. Sweet. Dr. J, Carl & I go for a drive back to the Dirty E then to Revere Beach..way to kill time, eh? Finally I went back to Logan around 730 to head through security & wait patiently for my flight to head out. The plane was huge and had beds in first class. I had no idea where my seat was so I asked an elderly man who told me I was all the way in the back...thanks douche bag. I ended up sitting next to a 23 year old guy who was in Boston on business. He was nice enough and helped pass the time with conversation. By the time I was ready to sleep this kid had around put back to bottles of wine. However, I needed the 'water closet'. I was window seat and needed to bother two people to get out. As I did the seatbelt sign came on. I had to wait according to the flight attendant. Eventually I got to go and jumped over the sleeping wino, but the situation was just my luck. I then put on my eye mask and woke up an hour away.

After running around Heathrow and taking the tube with my massive bags I got to the group & coach. It took 45 minutes to get to the hotel. I showered and could barely keep my eyes open. When I landed it felt like 330 am but was 845 in London. After unpacking what I would need, my roommate Deanna and her boyfriend Chris & I all went exploring Euston, in Central London. I bought a phone card and called the rentals & Parid to let them know I wasn't dead and didn't crash into the Atlantic. At 4 p.m. London time I had a meeting for Orientation and dinner which consisted of mayo and veggie sandwiches and some Greek topped pizza...for those who know I'm picky looks like I would have a feast that night...not. A group of us went walking around that night to find cell phones but the store was closed so instead we went to a Pub called 'The Court' an drank £2.50 cocktails....of course I got 'Sex on the Beach' and sang the song the whole way back to the table. We all felt like zombies and headed back to the hotel to go to bed...it was 930 pm. Way to make the most of our first night.

FYI...London is 5 hours ahead of the East Coast & one pound is double the US dollar (so £1 = $2)