rowdy stadiums and bouncy castles: week four

freedom lies in being bold. [robert frost]

ten weeks left...

 daily updates:


12 october 2009: i have no classes on monday, so i had a nice lie-in during the day. that night, i went to the rocket to meet jon, his visiting cousin sam, craig, kat and a girl from bulgaria named maria. the rocket is the london met student bar, you have to be a student of my uni to get in. on monday nights they do one pound beer, ciders and shots until nine. so we ordered extra and stayed there until about eleven. jon spent the whole time hitting on maria, but failing miserably. after that, we went to tiger tiger for their student night. i can now say, officially without hesitation, that i do not like tiger tiger. but, nontheless, the night was fun. we had kfc afterwards. oddly enough, it's the only fast food place that tastes remotely similar to those back home.

13 october 2009: tuesday was a great day. i went to my first real art history class, we met at the national gallery and studied the renaissance art. after class,  i went with two girls from my class to this tiny little restaurant nearby and ate breakfast food. when i went to my afternoon class, it turned out it was canceled, so a big group of us all went to the rocket. i stayed there for a while, but then left to meet up with the artist james to price art supplies. i would like to start making and embroidering paintings. but we couldn't find what i needed. i did, however, go to iknit. i will be going back there for the knitting group! after that, we ate quickly and i returned to the rocket for bingo night! which was canceled, so jon, his cousin, megan, rikky and i all left and met a different james, from class, at the ministry of sound. which was the best club i could have asked for. it was really hard to get into, they wouldn't let in the boys we were with. but megan and i were allowed in, so we selfishly met class james, who was already inside. the music was amazing. i hate dancing. i mean i really hate it. but i danced all night. we left when the club closed, and we ended up crashing on class james' couch, because the night buses are so hard to figure out. but, amazingly enough, we all woke up in time for class the next morning!

14 october 2009: turns out class was pointless, cause all she had us do was write a 500 word essay to be turned in next week, which wont be graded. it was just "to get us thinking." after class, i went home and slept. that night, craig, jon and his cousin and i went to the hobgoblin. the hobgoblin is a local pub about three blocks from us. the owners are very nice, and the atmosphere is amazing. we pregame there almost every night, before we hit up the clubs. the drinks are cheap, the staff is friendly and the owners usually stay open later for you.  if you're ever in london, look up "the hobgoblin angel" and have a great time. after they closed, we went to a pub in leicester square which had multiple stories, built around trees.

15 october 2009: thursday was quite a productive day. classes were canceled, because the teachers were on strike! with my empty time, i decided to plan some trips. i bought my ticket to friday freshers night, and i booked a tour to explore stonehenge, bath and windsor castle. then i booked a trip to go coasteering in wales next weekend!! it's an adventure weekend, so one day you go coasteering (cliff diving!!), the next day they teach you how to surf, and the final day you go on this gorgeous coastal hike. i've been cliff diving before, but ive never really been surfing. that weekend is promising to be quite entertaining! i think i'll buy a disposable camera for it, so i can take pictures. i'm still trying to figure out what to do for halloween. i was thinking either dublin or edinburgh. but i might have to go alone. max and kat want to go to amsterdam, my roommate wants to go to madrid, but i want to stay in the uk or ireland. i'm not sure how safe it would be for me to go alone. but i did come here alone, and i have traveled alone before.

that night, i went back to old street for a very calm night out with max and miranda, two people who live in my hall.

16 october 2009:  the freshers party!! at six, i headed over to megan's flat to pregame and book plane tickets for a weekend in dublin. her computer freaked out and we were unable to book them, but she's going to try again tonight. we met rikky and my flatmate at the rocket. at first, it started out really slowly, but the later it got, the better it got. there was a bouncy castle!! known as a moon bounce back home,  so we jumped on that a couple of times, until megan's dress broke. there was a cover band of the kings of leon, called the "kins of leon", which was actually enjoyable. and then a dj whom i had never heard of came on. megan was very excited, she even took a picture with him. we then met two very pretentious boys, and we left to get food. we hung out with them until the tubes opened again, just in time for the trip to stonehenge. or so i thought. 

well, i didn't make it stonehenge. it turns out my flatmate went to the hospital last night. she'd been having trouble breathing all day, and she left the rocket earlier cause she couldn't breathe. i guess she woke up at four in the morning with her eyes swollen shut and her throat closing. the ra here rushed her to the hopsital, and it turns out she was having an allergic reaction to the hay where she rides horses. we, of course, rescheduled our trip for the seventh of november.  

but here are pictures!

17 october 2009: i didnt do much during the day, i didnt get home until late morning and i just ended up falling asleep right when i got back. i did go out with my roommate to help her get lunch though. that night, kim, artist james, max, miranda, and myself all went out for dinner and drinks. we went to an asian fusion restaurant. i had chicken curry. it was good, but not great. we then went to a couple places for drinks. it was a bit awkward being around james, but i figure we can be friends. max, miranda and i left early because we had to get up and study the nexy morning. i dont think james believed me, but it was the truth. max and i ended up getting amazing indian food on the way home. a perfect end to a not-so-good night.


18 october 2009: i got up early and max and i went to study at the library. turns out the library is closed on sunday! we ended up going and studying in the cafe. afterwards, we got pizza and i went to camden to meet up with rob (one of the people i met on friday) we went an outdoor pub for a couple of hours and had some good conversation. i got hungry, so we stopped off at a tiny hole in the wall cafe. the walls were papered with comic books and in the corner sat an old refigerator stuffed with books. a very interesting place. i ate a toastie! it was basically a grilled cheese sandwich, but british style. i really enjoyed it. we went to a couple more places, before we went our separate ways. i ended up heading out to kennington and meeting up with steve-not-simon, who still insists on calling me alice. probably because i stubbornly/drunkenly called him simon for the first few hours i knew him. i met him tuesday night when i went to the ministry. he is one of class james' four flatmates. class james had already gone to bed by the time i got there, since he had to work early. we drank and watched some films: dumb&dumber and starsky&hutch, both of which i had never seen before. he and his flatmate were infintely more entertaining than the actual movies; they tried so hard to copy the american accents but failed miserably and hilariously. i drank some very old, stale, quite possibly moldy, wine. it might have been the most disgusting thing to ever enter my mouth. but i drank it quickly, repressed the nausea, and felt the perfect amount of tipsy.


megan and i booked our tickets to dublin! we're going the first weekend of december. i've been told that i need to stay in london for halloween. apparently there are huge parties and its a very big deal. so the day before, megan and i are going to thorpe park for the scarefest. then we'll be here for halloween night. hopefully, i'll go to edinburgh sometime in november. i have two weekends free...


19 october 2009: i didn't wake up until late, seeing as how i didn't have any classes today. i spent the day trying to figure out my debit card, which didnt work. i think i have to switch banks. this is getting ridiculous, i havent had real access to my money since i got here. but on a good note, i went to my first football match tonight! i a got free ticket from john to the fulham v hull city match. it was absolutely amazing, i cant wait to see manchester united. but we sat deep in fulham territory, close to the field. the fans were rowdy and the action was amazing. fulham won, two to nil. i went with john, craig, and two other girls from my program, lindsey and pamela. the game was so exciting, i wish i had known all the songs. but i definitely am going to be addicted to football by the time i leave here. i've already started naturally calling it football, not soccer! football back home has now become "american football". i think it comes from the many years of french.

the stadium was so huge, the fans so rowdy, and the game so intricate that i was a bit overwhelmed! i still really enjoyed it, and can't wait to learn more!


oh, like the shirt? my mom made it.  like the sweater, in the pictures above and at the beginning of the post? i made it.

 
weekly highlights:

dates: 12 october -19 october 2009 [days twenty-two through twenty-nine]
sights seen: even more london!

somewhere new: south london!
someone new: countless again! but most notably, rob and steve-not-simon.
something new: i went to a football match!!

what i miss: being able to spend money.
what i love: football. clubs. vodka with lime and lemonade. losing a jean size, my diet and the amount of exercise i get here has really toned me down. i got out of the shower today and i realized that all my cellulite and ripples are almost completely gone. i just wish it was bikini season! that's the first time i have ever said that. my face has slimmed down as well, thankfully.
what i'm not so sure of: sundays. nothing is open, but steve says that's because everyone is tired from eating their sunday roast. not sure which i prefer: feasting every sunday or actually being able to shop.

i can't believe it's already been a week since my last post. the last week went by the quickest of all, it feels as if i posted only yesterday