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.