Saturday Night

Hello there,
So I slept in Zone 1 (Central London) last night. But I will get to that later.
Weekend is happening. But more than that! Thursday I went to the Courtauld Gallery here in London, which is this small gallery that is part of a university here. They have an extremely impressive collection, which includes (among others) a copy of Manet's "Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe" that he did himself, "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère" (also by Manet), Degas' Dancers, and Van Gogh's "Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear." Whilst admiring the van Goghs, I happened to bump into this kid Roger from first semester of freshman year of college. I hadn't seen him or spoken to him since then, so I totally freaked out and ran away. I realized I had to say something to him, so I approached him and he acted as if it was no big deal. Which was totally wrong, we were on separate continents. Anyways, After that museum we had our first lecture for Modern Art in London which I did find very interesting.
Friday I had nothing to do, so I attempted to get tickets to see a performance of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," as a Russian theatre company had come to London to perform it for two nights only. I called, and unfortunately both nights were sold out. While on the phone, however, I ran out of minutes and was forced to "top up my mobile," so I called the company and gave them my credit card information to purchase 30 pounds worth of phone usage. However, despite knowing that I was studying in London, my bank considered that suspicious usage and put my card on hold. I tried to contact the company, but they wouldn't accept my information on the website and I couldn't very well call them, so I sent my mother an email and went into London to buy some books for classes and drop my computer off at the Apple Store. I got to London relatively late (3pm) and they said they didn't expect to be able to fix my computer that day, which was expected. I then headed over to the book shop. After gathering up all of my books (spending about half an hour in the process), I went to checkout to have my card declined. I then frantically called my mom to get her to contact Bank of America, but she was unreachable and I was stuck with my useless card and 10pounds in my pocket. So I then went to a pub and got a pie and sat there for a while, watching the crazy protests in Egypt on the television. I then got on the tube and headed back to Harrow. On the last train I had to ride, I got a call from the Apple Store saying that they had fixed my computer and I could pick it up whenever. I could have taken the tube back (it would have taken like fifteen minutes), but my card wasn't working so I wouldn't be able to pay for it, so I didn't have my computer for that night somewhat unnecessarily, which was frustrating.
I decided that when heading to the Apple Store the next day I would see as much of London as possible, so I decided to go to Hyde Park and picked some shops and things out of my travel guide that seemed interesting. So I headed out around 11, making my first stop at Hyde Park. Hyde Park seemed very beautiful, except 20 degree weather in January under a gray sky is probably not the best time to see it. I took some nice pictures there, which will be posted up ASAP. They have a lake there that you are allowed to boat in, for the rather reasonable price of 9pounds per hour, so I will be spending a lot of time there come Spring. I stopped in this cute little café right off of the water and got a mocha and a raspberry muffin, but only after having to battle my way through this huge barrage of pigeons that were flying away from the edge of the lake.
After that I headed to this art book store, Taschen, which I suspect is a chain where I picked up a bunch of reasonably priced art books. I was able to purchase several smaller ones, compared to the huge monolithic volumes usually sold on art, which saved me a considerable amount of money. I then headed to this cute little independent bookstore to grab some other books I needed for class. Afterward, I realized I was right near the Saatchi Gallery so I stopped in there and gave it a quick look away. I didn't stay for too long because we are going there in my Modern Art in London class so I wanted to save most of it for there. I took some pictures of some of the better works though, which, as before, will be online ASAP. I also stopped by the book store from the day before and books I was forced to leave there the day before.
I then found my way to this independent record store with the highly promising name Sister Ray's (after the Velvet Underground song). In there, I found this incredible discovery of their selection of used single's by the Smiths, which in addition to, obviously, sounding great have awesome covers of duotone images of 60s celebrities. I found two to get, one being Shakespeare's Sister (a reference to Virginia Woolf on top of it) which has a 60s British television star on it, and another one which I forget because they didn't have the actual ep in the back. I also found a small poster for the Fall, and managed to get both the Shakespeare's Sister ep and the poster for 4.99 (both featured at the bottom).
I was then totally exhausted after my long day and carrying about thirty pounds of books around (one of the straps for the larger bag broke as well) plus an umbrella, so I decided to start plotting out my evening. I wanted to have a night out, so I was going to start by going to this wine bar, Gordon's, and having some wine and dinner there. I would then make my way to this apparently incredibly friendly pub, the Golden Eagle, where there is a piano and lots of boozy group singing, which seemed incredibly appealing. Apparently "Consider Yourself" from Oliver! makes its way into the playlist occasionally, which would make me feel very welcomed. So I stopped at the Apple Store and picked up my computer beforehand, adding to the weight I had to carry. However, they fixed the disc drive and replaced the casing of my computer (it was a little cracked and dirty as hell and is now crisp and clean) for free! Apparently my computer is still under warranty, whereas it would have cost 84pounds before, roughly $140.
I got to Gordon's expecting to have a relatively quiet time with my wine and dinner, but the place was totally packed. I was forced to leave my bags outside with a friendly looking group of people - probably not the best idea but I ran inside really quickly and they seemed trustworthy. After getting to the bar and placing my order I realized I had no cash and there was a 10pound minimum for credit cards, so I had to run out to an ATM down the street. I then came back and got my Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and ordered a steak sandwich, both of which were great. This is where my night got vastly different from expectations. I was sitting at this table outside (under heatlamps) next to these two girls who looked to be about 25-27. While sitting there eating and drinking, I noticed that they seemed to be talking about me (they were very close so it wasn't hard for me to figure that out). So I just like, kept sitting there, at which point they said excuse me and asked if I would like to join them. So I moved about a foot over and sat at their table, at which time we all introduced ourselves, their names being Kitty and Alex. So we sat talking, mostly about American television and what it is like being an American in London, and ended up having a pretty pleasant time actually. It turned out that Alex had just turned 25, and I am assuming Kitty is around the same age as they were friends from school. I don't think they expected me to be five years younger than them, as I look pretty old, so I tried to keep the conversation away from revealing that embarrassing fact. They had a cask of Amontillado inside (as in the Edgar Allan Poe story), so I also got a glass of that. It was alright. I think it is a type of Sherry. I wouldn't let myself be entombed in a madman's wine cellar over it though.
Kitty and Alex were going to this Belgian restaurant and invited me along with them, so I accepted and we set off, me still carrying my massive bag collection, which was incredibly unwieldy. We got to the restaurant and there was about a forty minute wait, so we went to a very old bar down the street where I got some sort of IPA. Kitty refused to allow me to pay for myself, which was kind-of embarrassing. On the other side, they were like adults with careers so, whatever. After discussing college life in America and frat parties, we headed over to the restaurant. We went down into this basement, which actually did have the feeling of a Belgian monastery, helped by the fact that the waiters had robe like uniforms on. They specialized in mussels (one of my favorite foods), so we each ordered a pot of mussels and got a bottle of wine for the table. We ate and drank, enjoying the company and the atmosphere. The food and the wine was incredibly good, and afterward I ordered myself a Belgian beer brewed in typical monastery style, apparently. The beer was really good. We then discussed sharks, shark week, and Steven Spielberg movies (perhaps you can see the line of thought there).
So we finished up the meal and they asked me for my plan for the rest of the evening, having no real plan, I told them that and they asked if I would like to go to a club or something with them. I accepted and we set off to find a club. We didn't find anything for a while, so we stopped in this one bar that Kitty knew. Apparently, the wizened old bartender, Tom (BOOM great reference), told Kitty that he thought girls from Wingham (some random coal mining town in England) are beautiful, or something, and it turns out that Alex was from Wingham, so they told Tom that, and he freaked out, and gave Alex her drink for free and invited her back behind the bar to take a picture with them. So I got myself a Manhattan and we talked over different things, including fears of flying, the socioeconomic state of New York, and a bunch of other topics. I then told them I had to be getting back on the tube, as it was 11:30 and I was probably already going to miss the Metropolitan line back to Harrow, because the tubes stop running at the most ridiculously early time they could think of (it is around 12:05 usually). However, they told me they would stay out till 7 with me (when the tubes resume running) or I could sleep on the couch at Kitty's flat. So I accepted the offer and we went out to find a club. We passed many up because they didn't want to listen to house music, and finally found our way to this club where the bouncer said they were playing 60s and 70s-esque music inside, so we went inside. It turned out it seemed as though the club was for rich trophy wives and their husbands to go to, so we ended up inside with a bunch of 50 year old woman fighting desperately against their aging. We danced in their for about two hours (the club required I check my bags which was an incredibly welcome relief) and we all had a few drinks and had a very good time. Around three the bar was closing down so we had to leave, so we stumbled out and make a long trip to a bus station to take the bus back to Kitty's flat. We waited at the stop and discussed Prince William and Kate Middleton's upcoming wedding, which I personally can't wait for. I saw a shirt that said William <3 (real heart) Kate, which I might get. Because I'm stupid. Even if I don't get the shirt, I'm definitely going to go to Westminster Abbey (well, stand far away from Westminster Abbey) and watch the procession and see the wedding. Maybe I'll even get to catch a glimpse of Elizabeth!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So we got back to Kitty's flat and I was tired as hell after my extremely long day and really wanted to go to sleep, but the couch was in Kitty's kitchen and the two of them were talking. So I just sat there fighting off sleep, not really contributing much to the conversation. After a while the two of them went off to bed, me telling them I probably wouldn't see them again as I was going to get up at 7 and catch the tube. Kitty said she would get up then to let me out. So I passed out for like 2 hours and woke up from my cell phone alarm, around when Kitty actually came in to see me out. So I headed for the tube, carrying my huge haul, and got back around 8. I then took a nap and woke up and wrote this. I'm really hungry, but I don't have any groceries, so I might go into London to go see Regent's Park and get some food while I am there. Hope this was informative and entertaining! Here are the pictures of the Smiths ep and the Fall poster.

January 26th

So I haven't updated this in a while, so I figured I'd let everybody know what is going on in my life.
Monday, I went into London to get my computer checked out, as my drive is broken. I headed over to the Regent Street Apple Store and it turns out I have to get my entire disc drive replaced. Which is annoying but necessary. After going to the Apple Store, I walked around for a bit and went into Hamleys Toy Store and watched a puppet show. Hamleys is the biggest toy store in London and I saw colorful characters outside so I decided to stop in for a bit. I spent a bit of time looking through the store, then looked at some clothes before catching the Tube back right as Rush Hour was starting to kick in. I then came back, had some dinner, watched some Frasier, and read for a while.
Tuesday I had class from 2-5, which was my Space/Place:Text/Context class, wherein we look at different visual media and look at it from a Modernist perspective and think of how it relates to the culture it was produced in. The teacher is some twenty-something hipster with a stutter who wanted us to watch a Radiohead music video, but we ran out of time. He seems very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject, so he ought to be a good professor. I briefly spoke to him and I think he took quite a shine to me, so we will see how the year goes there. I then came back and repeated the night before.
Today I got up really late for some reason and had some breakfast. I had no class so I did some of my readings that are due this week and researched some of the textbooks I'm required to get. I still haven't figured out where exactly I'm supposed to pick them up, but I will figure that out one day. It may be the library, but I'm not sure. I got really overwhelmed because the other day my Modernism and After professor gave us this like 60 double-sided pages packet of papers, and I was under the impression we were supposed to read it all by tomorrow and I was worried I had gotten in over my head here before I realized it is the reading for the entire semester. I suppose I could do it in a week, it would just require more work than expected.
I like to buy like fresh, natural foods that don't last for very long, so I'm very bad at getting all of them in before they expire. I've got to start buying in smaller quantities or food with more preservatives. Probably the former.
If it were up to me, the only way people would be able to read this blog would be with Yakety Sax blasting out of their computer speakers. Unfortunately, I do not have that kind of power. Here is a link to Youtube video featuring it though in case you would like to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnHmskwqCCQ
Tomorrow I'm going into London to see this museum with a great Impressionist collection for class, and I will try to swing by the Apple store afterwards. Hopefully, they won't have to keep my computer for too long. I'm probably just going to watch some Frasier and fall asleep at this point. Have fun!

London at Night

So I finished up my week of classes here with no problems. I was able to find everything successfully and all. Thursday I had Issues and Challenges in Creative Practice which is a general media studies class, and then I had Modern Art in London after that. That class seems especially cool, every week we go to a different museum and then head back to campus to discuss it afterward. For our first meeting we went to Tate Modern and had to walk around and describe like 25 paintings we saw in our notebooks. Time consuming, albeit enjoyable. Friday I had Modernity and After, not really sure what it was. I figured it was some kind of class on Modern art, but I did not know anything more specific than that. Turns out it was a class on Modernist Photography, which ought to be interesting.
After class I went and took a nap, then headed to London to go to the BFI with some friends. I went in a little early and walked around Oxford Circus before heading down to Southbank to go see Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was incredible; seeing some of these movies in theatres is definitely a totally different, better experience than watching it at home on a small tv on a dvd. Firstly, the quality of the image there was unbelievable. Also, the sheer size of the screen was welcome. It was especially great during that first scene where she gets out of the cab and stands in front of Tiffany's (eating her breakfast). There is a shot where she stands in front of the building and the camera pans up showing the size of the building. And with the orchestrated Moon River playing in the background I almost lost it. Afterward we walked around Southbank for a little bit and got some dinner (it wasn't particularly good). Then I swung by the International Students House for a little bit before heading home.
As I got off the tube at Northwick Park (the stop for the University) around 11:30, I bumped into some people I knew who were going out to some club and invited me to go with them. With my only real plans being to go back to my room and watch the Simpsons for hours I decided to go with them.
We took the Tube into London with two other guys who went to the University, one who lives in my flat and ended up at this club. We stood in like for about half an hour - fourty-five minutes and got in. It was extremely crowded and we had to stand in line for another twenty minutes to get our coats checked.
We went into the club, I got myself a drink and danced to this DJ set that was performing. They did a pretty good job and I had a fun time. We then moved around the club a little bit and I watched some guy on some sort of drug get carried out by security because he couldn't stand. As they pulled him away, he did that thing that dramatic baby did where he held his hand up and screamed "NOOO!!" into it. Around four in the morning, one of my friends felt sick so we all left and the rest of the group got food but I wasn't particularly hungry.
Then the tubes didn't run until around 6:30 or so, so we walked around London realizing how close to the Thames we were. We had a good look at St. Paul's by the moonlight with nobody else around which was really incredible. It is extremely hard to see London totally alone I would imagine; you'd have to go at a very specific time I bet.
We crossed the Millennium Bridge and went to the other side of the Thames and walked along the river there, passing Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the way. There are steps leading out of the river, I suppose for if you fall in and need to get out, which are very easy to access from along the riverside. Like, steps leading over the barrier and down to the river. So I went down that to put my hand in the Thames. As would be expected, at 5 in the morning in January, the Thames is REALLY cold. We then made our way back to the Tube and caught it back and I ended up at home around 7.
Yesterday I got up around 3 and went out and bought groceries because I was out of food. After that I just came back and watched the Simpsons all night basically because I was worn out from the night before and the grocery trip. Buying groceries is a grueling experience. The supermarket is about a 10 minute walk away, but when you're carrying about a weeks worth of food it is super hard. Today I will probably just stay in and read or something. Tomorrow I am going into London to get my computer looked at and then I am going to go see The Birth of a Nation at the BFI at 6:10. I'm also trying to get tickets to see Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House, and either The Magic Flute or the Barber of Seville. We'll see what happens there.

18/1/11

Today I had my first class. Today my first class was canceled. So after having gotten up and dressed and fed and everything, I decided to watch Nosferatu the Vampyre (Herzog) that I got out of the library the other day. I was really enjoying the movie, Herzog does a great job getting a dreamlike state for the movie, but about 40 minutes into the movie my disc drive just kicked out. I have had trouble with my disc drive for the past year and a half at least, but it seems as though today was the breaking point. It got to the point where I can't insert discs or it seems as though I won't get them out. So that was the end of me watching Nosferatu (at least Werner Herzog's version {!?}).
So since I had nothing to do, nothing to watch, and I don't have class on Wednesdays, I decided to look at the calendar for the BFI. They were showing Night of the Hunter tonight which I have really wanted to see, but it was for Member's Only. However, they were also showing the Big Sleep to the general public which I have wanted to see, so I ordered a ticket for that offline.
A little while later, I headed into London using the marvelously easy to use Underground and got off at Oxford Circus, because the Apple Store is on Regent Street and I wanted to look into getting my disc drive fixed. I made an appointment for next Monday so hopefully it will not be too much to replace the disc drive (because I'm sure that is what is going to have to happen).
I then grabbed some McDonald's as a larf and to compare how it is in London. It is basically the same here. And I felt sick afterwards.
Then I headed over to Topman to just look around and kill some time. They have a vintage section there and I found this really really nice old suitcase, the kind I have been trying to find for fucking years. It was £48 and I figured fuck it, I'm never going to be able to find a suitcase like that again. Turns out £48 is $78. So I didn't get the suitcase. But I did get this nice checkered red and blue short sleeve shirt that's skinny and you are supposed to button up at the top button and style your hair really intensely to look like a real British person in.
Then I headed over to the BFI as I didn't know how long it would take to get to Waterloo. It didn't take very long and it was an extremely easy walk from the underground stop so I got there really early. Getting a membership only costs £30 for the rest of the month, so I might do that (if I see about 3 movies a week [they are playing really good things that I would love to see in theatres {Breakfast at Tiffany's!! (gay voice}] it would be a good idea economically. So I headed over to the free private viewing area to kill time before the movie started and found that they had Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau, so I popped that on to compare the two versions.
Then I watched The Big Sleep, which ruled and was a great experience seeing it in a theatre. It was really nice they had a red curtain that opened to reveal the wall they would be projecting on, and showed a trailer for Breakfast at Tiffany's (they're doing an Audrey Hepburn retrospective thing this month). Seeing the movie was great, and I was in a theatre of appreciate older British people. Which ruled.
Anyways, after that I was hungry as shit so I got off the tube at Baker Street and found a pub and got a steak and ale pie and a pint of beer. Upstairs was the Sherlock Holmes Bar (he lived at 228B Baker Street), but I didn't go up because I'm not an idiot. Then I just got on the tube and came back here. So now I know getting to the BFI is extremely easy and you only have to transfer once. So looks like I will be going there a lot more.
So now I'm back at my room and probably am just going to read, watch some Simpsons, and write some. I decided on the tube that I want to do that picture a day thing to see if London changes me at all, so here is the first. January 18th. (This is me in that new shirt I bought, attempting to look as British as possible. I may have failed).

Last Few Days

So, I haven't updated in a few days. And, comparatively, a lot has happened! Wow, looking back I have missed a lot. So, Wednesday we had this "treasure hunt" (I guess they don't use the term scavenger hunt here) throughout London with these random groups we were assigned. I was in a group where 3 of the 4 other people were excited to do the treasure hunt (whereas I wasn't all that excited), which turned out to really be a blessing in disguise. I actually was like, "Oh, this will be so lame I don't want to do this," but ended up going along because I really had nothing to do. In fact, the night before I ended up sending the wheels in motion via Facebook. So, Wednesday I went into London to meet with my adviser and tried to move my Friday class to another day so that I would have a four-day weekend (I don't have class on Monday) - didn't happen. So, three day weekend. Nothing to complain about.
So, it turned out my whole group was meeting with our advisers at the same time. Afterward, we walked through a great portion of London (we were walking from 1-8:30) doing the treasure hunt. Some of the places we went really ruled, such as the Royal Portrait Gallery, which was a a part of Trafalgar's Square, where I almost had a breakdown because I couldn't handle how beautiful I thought the square was. The sun was setting and a light rain was falling and all the streetlights were turning on, and the way the light was glistening off the water was almost too much to handle. I have found that London at sundown (which generally occurs around like, 3 o'clock or something fucking stupid like that) is really the most beautiful time to look at London. Also went over to the BFI (British Film Institute) where, by the looks of things, I will be spending a lot of time because they are showing a lot of really great movies there (such as Breakfast at Tiffany's) that I would love to see in a theatre. Royal Portrait Gallery had some great portraits, most of the awesome ones I took pictures of which will someday make their way to Facebook. But, I got Ian McKellan, that Thomas Moore from the Barnes and Noble copy of Utopia, James Joyce, Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens (who looked very different from what I expected), that Blur painting, and a few more. Anyways, that night I went over with the hunt-mates to some college in the area where one of the girls boyfriend went to school, and we went out drinking around there. I had a great time, but am required to take the Tubes back because my school is so far away. The tubes shut down at midnight, so I had to leave at like, 10:30 to make sure I got back. That seems like it will be a problem this semester, especially if I want to go to concerts or something. Looks like I will have to be using the London Black Cab system a lot.
Thursday we had this fucking boat cruise down the Thames which was basically the thing I was probably most excited about on this trip. I also thought we had an open bar on it (turned out I was wrong). But so I woke up at 1 and caught the like 3:30 tube out to the harbor to catch the train. The international students got two boats and I was one a different one from several of my Harrow friends so I got to hang out with some other people I had met along the way. Being on the boat, of course, ruled. Despite the fact that the bar wasn't open I was still drinking and, admittedly, after a while the waves were kind-of leaving my stomach a bit queasy, but nothing really came of that. I ended up hanging out with one of the girls from my treasure hunt most of the time and some girls from the Nordic Isles, which was interesting. My only faux-pas of the night occured when, the two girls who didn't know each other both realized they both spoke Swedish and told me this, and I didn't really know what to say. My only real encounter with Swedish is from like Ingmar Bergman movies, so in a desperate attempt to keep conversation going, I mentioned that to Americans Swedish sounded weird. Why I thought that was the best thing to say, I don't know. But they seemed to brush it off and it didn't ruin my rap or anything so the night went on. I also wore my tie with the little anchors on it in celebration but was worried people were going to make fun of me for looking like an idiot, but actually received two compliments on my dress so that went well. After I got off the boat I went out to get some drinks, and then ended up going back to the tube pretty quickly. On the way there I ran into the most horrifying woman, some British beggar woman, who was screaming in some square for someone to help her who made my blood run cold so I just quickly walked past her. After I got past her and into the station I found I had like 15 minutes before the train left and knew nobody would help her, so I went out and gave her like 2 pounds 50. Hearing her speak again was just as scary, and I tried to call out "good luck" to her but my voice caught in my throat and nothing came out. It was awful.
So I took the tube back home and went to bed.
Yesterday, nothing happened. Towards the end of the day I started to feel a little sick, kind-of like I did when I had mono, so I stayed in that night to see if it came to anything. #hypochondriac
Today I woke up and did some reading, took a nap, took a shower, and did a bunch of other useless shit. I also watched some Simpsons (I have done that every day, including watching repeat episodes with commentary - pretty interesting). Then I walked into town to grab some dinner and got a beef-and-ale pie and some sort of British ale which I didn't like all that much. On the way back I was invited out with some people to go into town to grab some drinks which I did. I ended up having a pretty good time. We ended up going to the pub I went the first night and it was karaoke night I guess? After a little bit some British guy walked up to me and mentioned I had an American accent and started talking to me about it. Feeling awkward in this conversation, I introduced the rest of the people I was with and let them take over in the conversation. He was clearly there to talk to them, so I just sat back and chilled for a little. But he was actually a nice guy and did talk to me a fair share. After a while, he was like, "I'm buying a round of drinks! Who wants one!?" and nobody took him up on the offer, but somehow I ended up being the only person he was buying a drink for. That was the first time anyone has ever bought me a drink. So I didn't know the etiquette or anything of if I was supposed to wait in line with him or anything, so I ended up just staying where I was. Anyways, it was kind-of awkward, and then I realized someone was buying me a drink and the only thing I have ever learned was if someone buys you a drink, make sure they don't put anything in it. So I kept my eye on it. He didn't put anything in it. Later, before I left I wanted to take a shot for the road and asked my group if they wanted a shot. They were all like yeah!, including the British guys friend. After I got to the bar, I realized it kind-of seemed like I was offering to buy them all shots, so I got in this really awkward situation where I had to go back for money and seemed to have offended the friend. But oh well, I will probably never see those guys again.
Anyways, I came back here and am probably just going to watch some Simpsons and go to bed. It was a pretty good day. Apparently tomorrow there is a big student union meeting at the bar on campus which ought to be fun. We'll see how that goes. Bye!
(Also, got Scott 4 by Scott Walker, Olé by John Coltrane, and Ogdens Nut Gone Flake by Small Faces. All very good. Except for that ridiculous Seventh Seal song by Scott Walker).

Kate Bush's song Wuthering Heights is epic as hell.

Last night and today

I bought groceries yesterday. I got a lot of pasta, some apples, bananas, cereal, whole grain bread, strawberry jam, eggs, peppers, carrots, and some cleaning supplies, toiletries, and toilet paper. Later I was sitting in my room with nothing particularly to do when some girls from my hall knocked on my door and invited me to his party happening in the kitchen of the flat next to mine, which I ended up going to. It was a little awkward, because after the amusement that stems from me being from the United States I didn't really have anyone to talk to, and it was really loud and I already have trouble working through people's accents so I really couldn't say much. But after I while I began talking with these two guys who were pretty nice. I was also given a membership pass to the Tate Modern by another kid.
Today I went to the Tate Modern and was amused by my ability to navigate around London alone on the tube. It's really easy. Except I ran into a problem coming back because the train I was on (the Metropolitan line) bypassed my stop because it is a very small stop. The stop is basically right outside my door and functions mainly for the University from what I can gather. Some people from the town use it, but there is a bigger stop in town that I think is more convenient for most people. So basically my stop is the Jersey Ave of the Metropolitan Line. Anyways, the tube I was on bypassed my stop for Harrow on the Hill, so I figured I could easily just take the other train south and get off in one stop. However, I hopped on the wrong train and ended up going even farther north into Zone 5, which my ticket didn't cover. So I had to persuade the station operator to let me get back onto a train going the opposite direction for free, which ended up happening. I also got to listen to this delightful elderly British couple.
So the Tate Modern was pretty cool. They had a good collection of Abstract Expressionist paintings, a really really cool painting by Francis Bacon that I loved, a Monet, and a bunch of the other stuff. I illegally snapped some pictures, but forgot to bring my camera cord to London, so I will only be able to upload all of my pictures from the trip when I get back to the States. After that, being in Bankside, I walked over to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre which ended up being situated in a really cool area. In April they are going to be performing Hamlet, and as I reckon that is the place to see Shakespeare I'm going to attempt to go. They tickets go on sale on like February 12th or something, and to stand only costs like 5 pounds so I'm going to work on getting those. That'd be a lot of fun, and I think it would be fun to watch Shakespeare standing in the front of the Globe Theatre. Then I got some sushi and came back here and took a nap. When I woke up I made myself some pasta, ate an apple, and drank a glass of milk. I then did a little reading and watched some videos of Jon Stewart on YouTube. The worst part about London is that I can't watch the Daily Show, and ComedyCentral doesn't allow you to watch the episodes they upload to the website when you're in the UK. Also, Netflix doesn't do InstantWatch here, and I only brought one season of the Simpsons (and not even all four discs of it), so I have nothing to watch. So I've been watching Wizard People, Dear Reader a lot.
Tomorrow I have to go into central London to meet with my adviser. I'm glad I have to get up at a certain time because I will be able to get into London before like, 3 o'clock like I did today. And the sun sets around four or something here so I was kind-of pressed to get back as the sun went down. Although I did make it to the Globe at the perfect time, because the sun was down and it was lit by the streetlights and I think I got some nice pictures of it. There was this really nice building that a bridge connected the Tate to over the river which I didn't know. Turns out it was St. Paul's Cathedral, something I would like to see, but didn't head over to. It was too dark anyways.
So I might do this scavenger hunt thing tomorrow in London with this group I was assigned to yesterday. I kinda hope that works out, I don't really have anyone to hang out with as I haven't really spoken to too many people yet. There's also this like boat ride down the Thames Thursday night for the international students where I would be able to like hang out with some people so it's whatever.
But I guess I will read now or watch some Simpsons. Cool.

5 pounds says I get hit by a car within the first week because of looking the wrong way when crossing the street.

Tonight

Well, so I met all these people last night and had a good time with them, but as for tonight I have no idea how to contact any of them or how to meet up with any of them. And I don't think there are any like official things planned for tonight so I have no idea what the fuck I'm going to do. Sucks.

Last Night

Last night I went out with that thing the RA had organized. I showed up at the reception place to meet up with people, and didn't see those people I had kind-of met before. But I started talking to this one person, her name was Brooke, and ended up going to the pub with her and these two other girls, Meagan and Jennifer (I'm 99% sure I got those names right). All three were very nice and I spent the whole night not remembering what their names were because I am really bad with names. So we drank beer and whatnot and had a good time. Then we went with this other RA to this club/bar/pub(?) across the street at what point the other two girls dropped out and so I hung out there. There were two levels to the club, the first floor playing like, club hits and shit, the upper one playing like 60s garage rock. So I went up to the second level and they were playing good music, such as Dirty Water by the Standells. So I talked to the DJ for a little while, I don't think he particularly wanted to talk to me though, I think he wanted to do his job.
This was just a strange story that I feel merited retelling: At one point I was standing at the second floor thing like sorta bobbing my head and like holding a beer or whatever and singing along to a song and this older woman (mid-to-late 50s) was pretending to film the room on her iPhone, but was clearly filming me. So I like, spotted her doing this, and she just like walked up to me and started filming me up close. So I didn't know what to do so I sort-of just like looked at back her puzzled, and she told me she wanted her husband to get glasses like mine so she was filming mine to get an image of a pair or something. It was really fucking weird.
So after a while I was just getting tired as fuck, but did not have the slightest idea how to get back to the campus so I had to wait for everyone else, and the RA wasn't jet lagged or anything so he wanted to stay out and everyone wanted to stay with him. But so after a while we all walked back, we all meaning Brooke, the RA, two other girls, and myself. We ended up at some girls room and I was wondering why the fuck I went because I was extremely tired, and you know, had no real interest in going over to this girls room. So I had to excuse myself and leave, which was pretty awkward to do, but it had to be done. Whatever. It was a great night though.
Also, I have had two cheeseburgers so far and have had no problems with them at all. I actually really enjoyed the cheeseburger I had at the pub. Except it was awkward because my eating habits are all fucked up because of the time difference, so I ate like about half of the burger, and one of the bartenders came along to clean up the table and asked if I was done with the burger and asked me if I thought it was no good. But it actually was. Also, I bought a round of shots at one point and spilled my own. It really sucked.
But so now I got that one Brooke girls number and we were supposed to meet up for brunch. The problem is, I've been up for like about an hour and a half, and have no idea what the protocol is for calling people for breakfast in a different time zone before they have adjusted. For instance, maybe she planned on sleeping for like a few more hours or something because of jet lag. Oh well. Something must be done.

My current ID I'm using:

Friends!~?!?

Well, so I just spent the past few hours sleeping. I woke up covered in drool, which went all of my coat because I hadn't gotten my sheets and what not yet. Anyways, when I went downstairs there was this pretty big group of international students (USA) standing around who I sort-of started talking to and they invited me out. Turns out they were going to that thing that the RA organized. Guess I'll go to that and see how it goes.

First Day

I just got into my room at school! It is a little smaller than my previous dorm room. However, this one has a personal bathroom. With a shower and everything. It's really great. And I have a nice view out onto a grassy knoll. There doesn't seem to be anything in particular for me to do right now, I asked an RA and he said he was trying to get as many people as possible to go to a pub up the road at seven. That will hopefully be fun (but perhaps very lame). I was going to take a shower but then I realized I didn't bring any toiletries. And also, I don't have a dresser, but I do have a closet. Maybe something can be done about that. The plan ride over was awful, I almost had approximately three panic attacks. Towards the middle as we were flying over the Atlantic ocean I started to calm down a bit, but the end was brutal. I'm not really afraid that planes will break any more. I don't think that really ever happens.
I've got to unpack and shit, but since I don't know where I'm going to put all of my stuff I guess I will have to hold off on that for the time being. I want to take a nap, but I don't have any pillow or linens or anything (I have to pick those up later), so I'm going to sleep on this bare mattress thing with my bag as my pillow.
The RA was really nice and friendly, and things seemed off to a good start. Then I went to try to find my linens and couldn't figure out how to get back to my room so I asked some girl for help and she was sort-of like "...what's the problem? What do you want me to do about it?" and so I was sorta like "okay nevermind then" but then she realized I was new. And hadn't slept in like, approximately two days. I couldn't sleep at all on the plane. Then I met some older girls who live on my hall in the kitchen, and it was kind-of awkward and I didn't really know what to talk about them with. Failure. Anyways, I'm so tired I'm going to take a nap. Here is a picture of me in my room to excite everyone.