Chinese New Year

I visited Chinatown for the Chinese New Year. It was pretty much insane. It was so crowded and there were those dragons dancing to a drum beat all over the place. Once I finally got out of earshot of one, there was another dragon. And the amount of people was crazy.

Chinatown was all decked out with paper lanterns and such. I got a couple of these custard pastries that are amazing.

After Chinatown, we visited a couple used book stores, but I decided I should probably finish the books I already have before buying more. Then we wandered into Covent Garden for a little while. After getting food and wandering a bit, we saw a little bit of a street performers act, but it was kind of strange.

It was an awesome weekend, and tonight I am going to movie night that the pastor on campus hosts.

For class today, I visited Buckingham Palace, and we discussed the architecture and history of it. I'll have to go back on a day when it's nicer out to see the changing of the guard and sit in the grass in St. James's Park and relax.

Saltwater breeze and seashells in the sand

On Saturday, Mona, Lindsey, and I went to Southend-on-Sea. It's this smaller town on the coast.

It was only an hour train ride to get out of the chaos of London to get to the ocean.

The three of us spent a lot of time just walking along the coast and picking up seashells or mistaking a fish head for a seashell and almost picking it up, luckily this did not happen to me.

It was overcast for most of the day, but it can't be anything but beautiful on the seaside.

And, I finally ate fish and chips. I am actually pretty glad that I waited that long because the fish was fresh and local. The restaurant had the most amazing batter.

Unfortunately we were overcharged for the train due to our own stupidity, but other than that, it was an awesome day.





It was just a fun little town, with some nice shopping areas and cool little seaside houses.

Of white cliffs and literary tales

Last weekend, I went on a day trip to Dover Castle and Canterbury that the school planned for international students.

Dover was awesome. We toured the war tunnels, which are these underground barracks, operating room, strategy rooms, etc. that are in the white cliffs. I had no idea that these tunnels even existed. Then we just walked around - a very hilly area - and went up the tower and got a beautiful view of the coast. As much as I love living in the city, it was nice to go to the coast.

Canterbury was interesting. We were all starving after walking around all day, and one of the guide people with us just wanted to tell us a little about the history before setting us loose. My friend pointed out a girl with a doughnut, and I honestly wanted to steal it.


Anyway, we went to this Cornish pasty place, took a quick survey, and got free lunch. So once I decided that I was no longer so hungry that I was going to steal food from a child, we set out to see the city. I didn't want to go to the cathedral, and instead just wandered around on the streets. A friend and I found a cool used book store, and I got Pickwick Papers for £2. It was a fun little town.


Still on the agenda . . . a post about today's day trip to the ocean, market purchases, and the best cookies. Ever.

Peppermint tea, Punks, and a prestigious penman

Saturday was a strange combination of events.

I went to the Dickens House museum for a class – I had to go there and then write up a short little entry about it. Anyway, it’s a house that Charles Dickens lived in while in London, and a lot of his famous works were penned there, including Pickwick Papers and Nicholas Nickleby, which I happen to be reading at the moment. 

So my friend and I were there a bit before it opened and decided to wander around and get some coffee while we waited for the museum to open. Well, I got a cup of peppermint tea, and let’s just say the world was against me and my peppermint tea. While in the café, I was walking to the door, and the lid popped off, resulting in a couple different burns on my fingers. I put the lid back on and walked back to the Dickens House museum, and then realized that drinks aren’t allowed in the museum, and I had to throw it away. So after paying and getting burned, I didn’t even get to drink the stupid tea. Needless to say, I’m off hot beverages at the moment, too traumatized.

After a bad start to the day, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the museum. A lot of the rooms were restored to the original use, and there was a video about his life. The library was amazing. It had a bunch of different copies of his work and even some of the original manuscripts. Only problem is, now I want to read all of Dickens’ works.

After that, we met up with some of our other friends in Camden, which is known for its street market. I’ve been to a few of the markets on the East End, and I figured this one would be similar. It was insane, though. Besides the fact that the markets were huge and had a bunch of different stalls, it was mainly aimed for the punk population. If I want to get a tattoo or piercing while I’m here, I guess I know where to go.

After that, we went to Regents Park and threw around a Frisbee. One of my friends is really into ultimate, so she tried to teach us the techniques of Frisbee throwing, but I never really got the hang of it.

So that was Saturday’s events, but I have a lot more posts to come.

Three weeks in . . .

So, after three weeks in London, I decided to start a blog about my time here. It's much easier than writing a thousand different e-mails and having to e-mail photos and stuff.

Anyway, so far, it has been fantastic to live here. Campus is in the East End of London, so it's a fun, eclectic neighborhood - kinda arty, and no, not like Urbana. There's this cool art gallery about 5 minutes down the road that has shown artists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Picasso - you don't know me very well if you don't understand my love of almost all Pollock works. When I went, there was an exhibition about individual and group identity that was pretty interesting. The cool thing is, they get a lot of up-and-coming artists and local London artists. Another cool thing is almost all of the museums are free, so I've already been to the Tate Modern, Tate Britain, National Galleries, British Museum, and there are a whole lot more on my list to see.

Another place that I have been frequenting is St. Paul's Cathedral.

We had free passes to go in and walk around and decided to climb to the top - 530 steps later, I was out of breath, but the view was amazing.




I also went down into the crypt, where I decided that it would be weird to be buried in the crypt of a cathedral. While I'm not religious, a friend and I did attend a couple Evensongs at St. Paul's, which was . . . interesting, to say the least. The singing was cool, but the readings were kind of intense. Also the first night, the organ solo at the ended sounded like something right out of a Tim Burton movie or a slasher movie.

Classes so far have been cool. For my architecture class, we go on little outings every other week. Last week we went to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the Foreign Office.

It's been nice on the weekends to go visit the markets. There are a
few big name markets near us that every Londoner knows to frequent - Brick Lane, Petticoat Lane, and Spitalfield. I think in the coming weeks we are going to go to West London and try out Nottinghill and also search for a good secondhand bookshop.

Luckily we found a bookstore that was closing and had mega sales - 3 books for 4.99 pounds. I ended up getting some good classics - Crime and Punishment, Nicholas Nickleby, and Madame Bovary. I know, pretty deep stuff. But I had to get at least one Dickens novel because I am visiting the Dickens' house in London for one of my classes, and I feel the need to read something of his while I'm there, so Nicholas Nickleby it is.

I've already got a couple trips planned with one of my flatmates - Belfast in Northern Ireland, and then Dover and Canterbury.

Just yesterday, we watched To Kill a Mockingbird, the pastor does a Monday night free movie screening. Anyway, that was the second time I've seen it, and while I've decided that Gregory Peck definitely only belongs in black and white, I absolutely love that movie. Don't get me wrong the book is better, but I think I'll have to purchase that movie when I get home, and reread the book, again, for the fourth or fifth time.

Much more is on the agenda for the coming days and weeks, so stay tuned.