An American werewolf in London

How to describe the International Student Boat Party...the comment I think I heard most often was, "I thought it was going to be an open bar". If that doesn't tell you all you need to know, let me elaborate; for about 75% of the people it just seemed like an excuse to get 'totally wasted'. That's fine, have a good time. But I didn't come here to just be in a constant drunken haze.

The tube stop we met at was Tower Hill, which is right by the Tower of London, which is of course on my list of places to see. Check. We saw London Bridge and went under Tower Bridge. I was on the deck just looking at the river and the different parts of London for a long time. I mingled, met a few different groups of people, did a bit of dancing, and generally enjoyed myself. I was under the impression that there would be a bit more site seeing though.

On Wednesday morning I went to 'Freshers Fair' with Jess and Roxana. All the different student groups were trying to recruit. I found a few that I might be interested in joining. The theater group does improv! I can get my improv on in London!

Later that afternoon I pulled out my touristy card, which I'm sure will be pulled out constantly, and went to see Parliament, Big Ben, The London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, and Trafalgar Square. Great night! As we stepped out of the underground station there was Big Ben and Parliament. Unfortunately, Parliament isn't in session right now, otherwise I would be all about watching the politicians debate, I think the session starts up again in mid-October, I might go back. Stay tuned for that.

On top of the fact that it's simply really cool to see these places, it was a beautiful evening! Sunny, warm, and the lighting was perfect for taking pictures. Westminster Abbey was very epic in size and content, everything in it seemed to be on such a grand scale. I was very happy to have finally visited Poet's Corner, where many of the greats are buried or commemorated.

Before and after seeing Buckingham Palace, we walked through a few gorgeous parks and saw a black swan, no not Natalie Portman, an actual swan. I took the obligatory picture with a guard, but he talked to me! I walked up and apologized for the obnoxious picture taking and he said, very quietly, hardly moving his mouth, 'It's alright'. I thought they weren't supposed to talk?

The closest you can get to 10 Downing Street without being some sort of government official is a large guarded gate at the opening of the street. We got as close as we could then walked on, found a Tesco (grocery store) and had dinner in Trafalgar Square.

Yesterday, I went to the English department and got my schedule or 'timetable' as the Brits call it. I have class Tuesday through Friday two hours a day. Not bad. But, it looks like I'm going to have a lot of reading and a lot of independent work.

Last night Jess and I found a large Tesco about a mile from here. There's a small one a few blocks away but the selection isn't anything to write home about. We walked over there and had a chance to explore our neighborhood a bit more. This Tesco made my dreams come true. I've been craving avocado and portobello mushrooms and they had them!! So jazzed about it. On the way home, both of my bags split (as they would), but we made it work.

All of us had dinner together last night. We've all been together for certain things, but I think this is the first time that we've all been together for dinner. That was lovely.

Big plans for today;

1. Walk to WHsmith and buy some notebooks and stationary (to write letters!)

2. Write letters!

3. Take pictures of campus and surrounding area

More sight seeing for sure this weekend, plans to go to the British Museum on Sunday!