i relish the anonymity.
eleven weeks left...
daily updates:
3 october 2009: i think i might have had the best night of my life last night.
i have met so many people here, but the majority of them have been americans. we tend to gravitate towards each other. i am working really hard to stop that. last night, a boy who lives in my building (max) invited me to dinner with some of his british friends. first, we went to a roof-top bar for students. max has a really close friend named kim who is going to graduate school here. we met her there, along with her flatmate and her flatmate's boyfriend. afterward, we went to a tiny italian restaurant. there i met another boy named james. he was quiet and reserved and stereotypically british. it turns out he supports himself by painting. we got into heated discussions about art. he likes traditional, i like more modern. after dinner, he said he was going to new cross to meet some friends. max and i invited ourselves along. it turns out that new cross is on the outskirts, so we took a tube and a train! it was definitely grimy, and there were absolutely no tourists. but once there, we went to this very seedy authentic bar, connected to an even more seedy night club. it was amazing! we stayed there until four in the morning, just talking and drinking. james invited us to crash at his place, because the tubes had stopped running and it would have been very hard to get home. so we, and two others, walked to his house. it was five stories! i couldn't believe it. we stayed up in the sitting room until seven, then i crashed with max (who is gay) in one of the guest bedrooms. i forgot my camera, so i don't have any pictures. but the location was artsy, the drinks were cheap and the conversation was great.
another boy who lives in my building, jon, is a big manchester united fan. so we've been watching the matches at another seedy, hidden local pub. we've been a few times and it is simply brilliant. the people get so into it, i love it. the pub even has an entire room dedicated to the united team. it's up the stairs and hidden, there's an entire table with united memorabilia, and a huge flat screen tv. on the nights of the big games, the room is a sea of red and white clothed people, yelling at the tv and screaming at the goals. it is so amazing.
i feel like i'm seeing real london, not just the touristy ritzy parts. i've been out to the pubs every night since i've gotten here though. i need to watch how much i spend, or i won't have any money for travel!
6 october 2009: i started classes today! my first class was "art in london", followed by "the making of britain". it was such a great experience. i feel like i can handle them, maybe even succeed. so far classes don't seem much harder than they are back home. on an even better note, i met some great british students, who are in the majority of my classes (megan, ricky and james o, not to be confused with the other british james). we went to the pub at three, after class ended, and stayed there until eleven o'clock! what amazing conversations we had. we ended up playing british bingo, which is so different than american bingo. there are no letters, just numbers! how weird is that? the prizes were shots and a pitcher of beer. because there were so many of us at the tables, we each won a shot every round and we won a pitcher as well. the picture is of my bingo card. the teal writing was written by me, the random blue marks by the drunkest jon i have ever seen. jon is my drinking buddy, he's the only one who likes it as much as i do. but this was the first time i've ever seen him drunk!
7 october: i started "the french revolution". turns out, i have already studied everything we're going to cover! it'll be great to see how differently they teach the same subject! there was an inflatable laser tag night at the student bar, so i went with megan, ricky, jon, and craig. we played a couple of times, and had our asses handed to us. megan has pictures from that night, so i'll try to get them from her.
8 october: i started french, which was a complete disaster. i think i might be in too hard of a level. i don't want to switch, because the level below completely ruins my schedule. so far, i only have morning classes tuesday, wednesday and thursday. my schedule is absolutely ideal for traveling. i have many trips planned, and i don't want to mess with my schedule. besides, being in the harder class might make me learn french even more! that night, max got a big group of americans together. we went to camden for the pubs. after the pubs closed, the group split up. jon, max, kat and i then went to picadilly circus for the clubs. we went to "on anon" again, where we met a very cute italian who was smitten with kat. until he met max. upon hearing that max was gay, he divulged that he was bi, and spent the rest of the night trying to decide which one he wanted! he would spend ten minutes with max, then switch back to kat! finally, we just got in a taxi and left him behind.
this was my first night out with kat. kat is an american student from los angeles. we have clicked instantly, she is bubbly like i am and very attractive. we make quite a striking pair, as we have been told by many people. even more fortuitous, we have compltely different taste in men so there will never be a competition. it feels like the perfect pair. i have grown quite close to max and megan as well. jon is my drinking buddy/big brother.
9 october: i spent the day running errands, and enjoying a day off of classes. everyone was off traveling, but i decided to stay here for the weekend. kat was the only one left, so we went to dinner at an amazing italian restaurant. we decided to explore old street, so we met megan there and had a pub crawl! we must have gone to twenty pubs, just going up and down each main street in the neighborhood. we'd have one drink and go somehwere new. it was quite interesting, and nice not to get wasted. we met a lot of people, and tried many different drinks. i also liked just drinking with girls. back home, all my friends are boys. here, we go out with girls and meet boys. it's different, but really fun!
10 october: during the day, i went to the knitting and stitching show! it was so interesting. i didn't see too much new information about knitting, which disappointed me. but the needleart was so amazing! it was actual art, with thought and self-expression and meaning. i've had an image in my head for the past two years, and have been unable to satisfactorily express it. i've tried painting, drawing, photography and sculpture, but none of those mediums have worked. i think needle felting or embroidery over paints/sketching might do the trick! i made felt while there, and bought a kit to make even more. i just need a felting needle, some canvas and some charcoal. hopefully i can figure out where to find them here.
the night after the show, kim invited me out to come out with her and her friends from south africa. so kat and i hopped on the tube to goodge street. we stayed there for a little while, then met megan in camden. camden gets old really quickly, and the pubs close at midnight, so when i found out that james, the artist from last weekend, was partying in picadilly circus, i decided to meet him there. the rest of the group went home while kat and i jumped on the night bus. i rode in the top of a double decker bus! it was great, and such a relief to finally figure out the night buses. we'd been taking taxis cause it was such a daunting task. taxis get really expensive though, and the night bus is only a pound. we met james and a friend at "tiger tiger", and stayed there until the lights came on when the place closed for the morning. we then shared a taxi out to new cross, and stayed up talking in james sitting room again. then kat and i crashed in the guest bedroom. the mattress there is quite comfy, especially compared to the one that came with my flat: it is made up of huge, hard springs that stick up and assault your pressure points. i wake up with bruises on my particulary bony bits, like my ribs and hips. so, needless to say, i am quite keen on sleeping elsewhere.11 october: kat has family here, and she invited me over to come and meet them. we spent the day with them, sightseeing and playing with their one year old little girl. i went to bed at nine. it was a very relaxing day, especially compared to the rest of the week.
weekly highlights:
dates: 3 october- 12 october [days thirteen through twenty-two]
sights seen: london!!!
somewhere new: london!!!
someone new: countless :)
something new: i made felt!
what i miss: food that has taste and actually fills you up. food here is horrific. the only thing i've truly enjoyed eating has been italian food, which, of course, is the most expensive. even the fast food here is bland. i also miss my hair doing what i tell it to. damn you humidity, i miss the desert's dry air.
what i love: football. the pubs and the clubs. the tube. the grey skies. the people. the indian food. the opportunity to wear heels and tights every day.
what i am not so sure of: classes. i have no idea how those will end up. i think some will be easy, some deceptively so, and some just might beat me. also, i am quite unsure of my flatmate. we had some issues, but now that i am inviting her to travel with me, she seems much happier. we'll see.
photos!!
my flat. it's so tiny! but it has a bed, a shower and a stove top. what else do you need?
the last three are the view from my window. my window is really dirty from all the rain. but i have no idea how to clean it, it only opens about four inches.
