Exciting Literary Adventures in London, Mainly.

Blogging last semester was really easy because every weekend I went on a trip of some sort and had new adventures and sights seen to write about. This semester is very, very different. For a variety of reasons (money saving, academic, because London is actually awesome to hang out in) I am not traveling every weekend and it feels like I have less to write about even if, in fact, I do still have lots to say.

Over the past 10 days or so I have visited the Camden markets, frequented Brick Lane, gone to the East End markets, gone to the British Library with a literature class, saw the clocks exhibit and the British Museum with another class, went around to see where the Bloomsbury group used to meet, the library that inspired George Orwell's Ministry of Truth in 1984 (the Senate House library I use regularly), where T.S. Eliot use to live, the church where Ted Hughes (gag) and Sylvia Plath got married, and other sites of literary significance. I've eaten Indian food, finally saw Black Swan, saw "The Rivals" (1775, Sheridan) at the Haymarket Theater for a class instead of going to a spoken word event, wrote my first paper with a thesis in probably 8 months, and have worked on memorizing my poems in preparation for performance. I visited a potential service site for my social welfare class that would involve volunteering in an after school program in Hackney that specializes in taking kids out on the canal in kayaks and canoes (in this weather??? kids are so crazy sometimes). I'm still trying to research other service sites. I bought a plane ticket to Vienna for my birthday to meet up with some of my favorite UPS-ers. I've been researching nightlife with no cover charge (re: London on a budget) and experimenting with cooking (I share a kitchen with three other girls who all have celiac's).

My classes are picking up. I love my reading lists for my two literature classes. We've read "A Spell of Winter" by Helen Dunmore, "The Wasp Factory" by Iain Banks, "Regeneration" by Pat Barker, and now I'm about to start reading "Notes on a Scandal" by Zoe Heller and "Time's Arrow" by Martin Amis. All contemporary fiction!!!!! Love it. Love this professor, definitely one of the best literature instructors I've ever had. She's by far my favorite instructor here and she's so inspiring I really do think I'll read all the novels she assigns (a rarity for an English major like me). The other four classes I'm taking are less interesting and less exciting. But hopefully once I start service for my social welfare class that one will pick up. My women's studies class is pretty intuitive. Everything else I have to say about the rest of them I'd just rather not post on the internet.

Most of my program is in Scotland for the weekend but since I'm doing that with Priya after this semester is over, I'm here in London soaking up the London-vibes. Saving money? Perhaps.

Classes, Dancing, and Sightseeing in London

This past week classes started which would be more exciting if they weren't as time-consuming and reading intensive. I have two novels and a play minimum to read a week. That is not including articles for my two non-English major classes. But since last week was introductions, etc I had time for some extra activities. Tuesday evening I went to a blues dance lesson in Shoreditch. It was fun and helped me get back into the "swing" (haha) of things. Wednesday after class I went with another girl on my floor to a bunch of Beatles sights. We started at abbey road, which I crossed three or four times in case you are wondering, and then saw Apple Records. Then we went to Paul McCartney's house and to the Beatles store and to where Apple Records used to be. We went to where John Lennon used to live and where he and Yoko Ono got busted for drugs. We also went to where Paul McCartney used to live with some other girlfriend. It was pretty cool and it didn't rain that much (surprising for London). I was pretty excited about going to all these awesome historical Beatles sights. Most of them were in Westminster and near Regents Park. Later that night two other girls from my floor and I went to an spoken word open mic in Shoreditch called "Kid, I wrote back" and I met some British poets. AWESOME. One of them invited me to his performance poetry workshop group the next week. Thursday evening began the series of weekly trips to the theater. We saw "Amphibians," which is a new play and it is site-specific about ex-Olympian swimmers trying to move on from past romance and past swimming careers. It was a lot about movement and dance as much as it was about plot. I am doing a presentation on it this Thursday for class. Friday during the day we had the last of our tedious orientation sessions (free at last, free at last) and we went out later that night. Saturday two other girls who live on my floor and I went to the Tower of London. We saw the crown jewels, the bloody tower, graffiti and engravings of prisoners, some military and armor history (in the white tower), the ravens, the chapel, the sites of private beheadings (like Anne Boleyn), and the changing of the guards. That night I walked around Covent Garden with some other girls from my program and we split some Thai food. Saturday night was an early night due to ridiculous amounts of homework. Sunday morning, bright and early, IES took us on a tour of the East End markets in Shoreditch and Spitalfield and through Brick Lane. This is a much funkier part of London, feels more like Capitol Hill in Seattle, and has food from EVERYWHERE. I got Ethiopian (one of my favorites) for lunch. After this I came back, tried to a bit of homework, and then went blues dancing!!!! So exciting. Made me miss all my favorite Seattle dancers, however. Monday night I went to the poetry performance workshop and it was really small, just three other poets, and I was definately the youngest and most experienced but I like the group. They are open-minded and constructive and might help me get spots at some open mics. Exciting, no?

All in all I would say this was quite an excellent first week in London. Now just to see if I can stay on top of my school work and figure out my trips for the semester...

The Beginning of London

Well here I am, in Grandma's homeland, in a dormitory, in the most posh neighborhood, in London. I arrived Wednesday morning, early and jet lagged, of course. Since then I have had two days of orientation, one IES-sponsored bus tour, stressful friend searching, some beer, and a night of swing dancing. Wednesday I got my unlimited week transportation card (an Oyster card) for way too much money, 33 pounds. I got a new SIM card for my phone. I got an adapter for my electronics. Bought some groceries. My roommate was delayed in Dublin so I didn't meet her until Thursday evening, after too many orientation sessions at the IES center in London. She is an actress who studied abroad last semester in Dublin. Friday we had another orientation session in the morning and then the afternoon to run more errands. I blew out my computer charger so I was without one for a while. Friday evening the program took us ice skating at the Natural History Museum not to far from our dorm. That was kinda cool but it had been raining all of that day so there were way too many puddles for an ICE skating rink. I called upon my skills from elementary days past to make it around the rink. Saturday we went on a bus tour around the city and saw the main sights like Parliament/Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, some other great church of somthing someone's marriage, and the Roman traditional entrance to London including some random old bricks/ruins, and the Tower of London. Of course we didn't actually go in anywhere, we just saw it from the outside. Slightly anti-climactic.

I've set up my class schedule and I'm taking six classes and one as Pass/Fail to ensure early graduation. I am taking a community learning approach class on the British social welfare policy, a class on the past 300 years of women's history (this will be my p/f class), an introductory class on theater in london that requires us to go see plays every week, a class on the modern British novel, a class on women writers worldwide, and the creative writing workshop. It might be a lot of work but who knows. They are IES classes after all. If nothing else, it is a lot of time in class since each one meets once a week for 2.5 hours each. Thats fifteen hours in class every week and equals 4.5 UPS units (one semester at UPS is usually about 4 units).

Friday night I went out with my roommate, one of her friends from home who is studying at a different program in London, and three other girls from my program to Leicester Square and got some tapas and sangria. Leicester Square is definitely a happening place, full of casinos and clubs. After all the discounted international nights at clubs in Milan, I refuse to pay a cover fee. So after the Spanish tapas bar, one other girl and I went to a pub for a bit, then walked around Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, and almost back up to Picadilly Circus until we found the night bus that took us back to the dorm. Saturday night I was determined to go to this swing dancing event I found online. I found one person to go with me and we went. It was at a pub called "The William Blake" and it was mostly a beginners' night so it was a bit small and I'm not much of a swing dancer but I still had fun. They played a few bluesier songs that I found some beginner blues leads to blues to with. We met some people though to give us recommendations of different music venues, British bands to check out, and favorite pubs. One of them was married to a teacher so I did a little "I'm a tutor of everything!" self-promoting. I think I'm going to go to a blues lesson and small social dance on Tuesday so I'm excited to tap into the swing and blues community here.

Today I didn't do much. I slept later than I meant to and ventured out on an epic and long journey on the tube to find the street everyone told me had all the computer stores so I could buy a new computer charger. So I did and its about 9:35 pm here and I think its time to make some dinner. Classes start tomorrow and its my brothers birthday and this is the first time...ever??? that I haven't been in town for it. Happy 17th little bro.

The Halfway Point

I guess you could say I've reached the halfway point. One semester down, about to begin the second one. Lived in one foreign country for three months, about to move into a second. And in between I got to hang out (very shortly) at home in the land of huge streets, oversized food portions, and American accent English. Oh I was spoiled by home. There was definitely some reverse culture shock upon returning to Chicago, but nothing as extreme as I've heard it described before. Yes the streets were SO WIDE and there were no vespas and everyone spoke English like it was not big thing and the food portions were GIGANTIC and so many advertisements on the street were all about food, often pictured alongside obese people. All of this was very strange. The lack of hoity-toity fashion capital style was way less oppressive and I didn't have to convert the price of everything into dollars since it was already, you know, in dollars. What a luxury!

But now I am sitting in Montreal during my layover between Chicago and London, using the free Wifi, and wondering a little bit about how I am going to get from the airport to the dorm, how expensive the pound is going to be, what the other people on my program will be like, and how much easier it really will be to meet locals now that the language barrier is eliminated. I'm wondering what classes will be like, how much writing I will really get done, if I will be able to find a job, how many of the cities I really want to go to I will actually pop into. Lots of questions but I'm not have as worried or stressed as I was this time in August, boarding my plane overseas.

I'm really, really glad I'm not going back to UPS but I really do wish I had had...three or so more days left at home in Chicago. Oh well, London here I come!