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!

Olympics & Orientations

Day 3

Another predominately sunny day has come and gone in London. And that stereotype continues to be shattered for me. I have quite an affection for the sun so this has been quite lovely.

There was an orientation for Study Abroad students from 9-1, led by one of the people that I have been exchanging emails with all Summer, so it's nice to finally be able to put a face to a name. They basically just went over some services that are available to us here, the local area, talked about traveling in and around London, practical shopping and a number of other things to do in the city.

Following the orientation, my flatmate Jess and I decided to go the Olympic Park and large, new shopping mall. We thought it was just one tube stop away from Mile End station (which is a few blocks from campus), as it turned out that's not quite the case. So, we got off the tube, went outside and saw the massive shopping mall, and all I'd heard over and over was that 'you'll be able to see the Olympic Park right past the mall!". Not the case. We saw some housing developments, which we decided must be accommodations for the Olympians. I took pictures of them regardless and that's how I will explain them when showing my pictures, even though it might just be some housing development that has nothing to do with anything. We ambled around for awhile, realized that we didn't know where it was, and finally decided to go back to the station and ask. I was incredibly determined that we should find it ourselves, but it's a good thing that we asked because I don't think that that would've worked out.

As it turns out we had to take another train, one additional stop and then it would be right there and obvious. Thanks everyone, who told me it was one tube stop. I could've saved some money on my Oyster card (speaking of which, does anyone have any idea why it's called an 'Oyster card'?). Getting lost or getting off at the wrong stop is certainly part of and I think really a necessity when you're in a new city and maybe even more so in a new country.

We got on the train and went a very short distance and it became obvious that this was the correct train to be on; we could see the main stadium and the swimming building, which was quite cool to see.

Contrary to what was said at the Orientation earlier in the day, "If Ikea made stadiums, that would be it," I think it looked very adequate. Granted, I didn't get right next to it or inside of it, but I wasn't too far away and it looked fine to me. When we'd gotten as close to the grounds as we could go there was a little shop and cafe. Everything at the shop was pretty expensive. And that's now, the games are practically a year away still! Think about how expensive that place is going to be when it's on. I bought a pack of erasers for £3 just because I thought it would be cool to have a little something from there. And now I can sell them for scads of money in 50 years (probably not though).

After wandering around that area for a little while we took the train back to Westfield Shopping Center. Where I made a few exciting purchases; an incredibly cheap cell phone, a calculator watch, and a tiny alarm clock. The cell phone was nice because we went into one store and I explained that I would only be here for a few months, I don't need anything fancy, and I won't be using it very often, the clerk said that it would be cheaper and easier for me to go to a store a little down the way. I was shocked by this because it seems to me that whenever you're in the market for something people will do just about anything to sell you something. But he didn't. We went to the other store that he'd recommended and got a phone. The guy who helped me set it up was hilarious. He asked all these questions about high school in America. The best was, 'What the hell is a pep rally?"

If you'd like to talk on the phone let me know, and I will call you because it won't cost me that much, but if you called me it would cost you a lot.

I also wanted a watch and the cheapest one I found was £2.50, a blue calculator watch. Too good. I also purchased a tiny orange alarm clock, that actually works! Many of the shops were 'quite posh', a little out of my price range. But, I did venture in TopShop, which made me miss Lizzie and Addie because they're always saying it in a British accent.

At this point the mall started getting incredibly crowded and we were both a bit overwhelmed. We left. Then we made it back to campus and had some dinner with our other flatmates, Benn and Tristan. I really enjoy the communal mealtimes, it's a pleasant way to wind down and talk about the day with the people that you live with.

Had an epic skype session with Jessica and then went to bed.

Day 4

I had grand plans of waking up this morning at 7:30 to take a run by the canal (there's a canal that runs along campus), but that did not happen. The alarm went off and I was just too tired. When I woke up again it was 8:45 and orientation round two started at 9.

I freaked out for a minute, let that pass. Then I quickly changed out of my pajamas, slammed a bowl of cereal, and ran to the ArtsTwo building, still a bit early!

Some of the major departments did presentations.

TIME PASSES

I've just returned from an orientation on how to use the online learning website. Fun times. In finding out how to access this website I've found out that there just about a million books that I need to buy. Yay.

Today has been full of orientations that have succeeded in making me feel a bit more disoriented and stressed about the coming classes. I suppose that's the way it is every semester though.

I think I'm finally going to go on that run by the canal. It's the international student boat cruise on the Thames tonight, so you can look forward to that later! I'm hoping it will be more than just a booze cruise for some of the students ; )

You've left me here alone, I'll walk the streets of London

I did not do well with the word of the day, but I think that while I'm in London I will have enough to write about to sufficiently fill a blog entry. So, that will be on hiatus until my return in December.

In lieu of the word of the day, let's talk about transatlantic trips! On Thursday I had tea with Amy (which was lovely) and as I was biking home from her house and over the Stone Arch Bridge, looking at downtown and feeling more Minneapolis Love than I've ever felt, I realized how much I'm truly going to miss home. Minneapolis is a beautiful, wonderful, amazing place and it's been my home for twenty years. This Summer I've grown to appreciate it more than ever before and it was tough to leave. BUT it will still be there when I get back in all its mid-December glory. Everything and everyone where its supposed to be when I get back and that's a comforting thought. And three months is really not much time at all, I can barely believe how fast June turned into September. By the time it comes I'm certain I'll be sad that the experience is coming to an end.

Thursday faded into Friday, as it has a way of doing, and I was ready to go...and then I wasn't...and then I was again and I fluctuated the whole day. Until it was finally time to go to the airport and it wasn't a matter of being ready or not, I was going. The idea of actually leaving, actually studying here in London has just been such a nebulous concept for 10 months that even on Friday it felt like it couldn't really, finally be happening.

The plane ride itself was one of the best I've had. I had a nice and interesting seat mate who didn't take up too much space and gave me helpful hints about England as she's a law student at Cambridge. Also, thank God for Benadryl. I took two and actually slept for a good five hours, so when I got to Heathrow I wasn't completely and utterly exhausted.

Speaking of Heathrow, I feel like people make such a fuss about it, but it just seems big to me. Not that there's anything wrong with it. Fortunately I managed to navigate its size with my two suitcases and make it to another terminal to meet the Queen Mary group and catch the shuttle.

The ride from Heathrow to the University was exciting. We drove through a large portion of London, so I've seen The London Eye, The Thames, Parliament, and Big Ben. I'll actually go and visit them soon and be that tourist with the obnoxious camera. It has to be done. Conveniently, the bus parked right outside my hall. I picked up my key from the front desk, went to my room, which is on the first floor, right inside the door, and took a deep breath. Waiting for me in my room was the box of 'essentials' (pots, pans, plates, silverware, bedding, etc.) that I had pre-ordered and was worried might not arrive until Monday. That was a relief.

After getting most of my things put away, I realized (or at least I thought) that of the six rooms in my flat, I was the only one there. So, I decided to take a walk around campus to see what was going on. I managed to get a bit lost for a decent amount of time, but didn't really meet anyone and when I came back to the flat it seemed that I was still the only one there. At that point I started to have a little bit of a moment. I felt so disconnected from everything and everyone. There was no one in the flat, my internet wasn't working and I don't have my London phone yet, so I couldn't talk with anyone, it was dark and I wasn't tired. But, I wrote in my journal and reflected on how amazing this experience is going to be and that I can really deal with one rubbish night.

And when I woke up this morning, well rested with the sun streaming through the curtain, I realized just how okay everything is going to be. I walked into the kitchen and two of my flatmates, Benn and Jess, were eating breakfast. I was so excited that they actually existed. We made introductions and expressed our mutual excitement that we were meeting. We went grocery shopping and went in together on a number of things which is nice and probably much cheaper than doing it individually AND I am not the only vegetarian! Which is also rather exciting.

I am officially enroled as a Queen Mary University student as of this morning, I even have an id card with a silly picture. I don't know if there's much that could make me more official than that. I also made two trips to the library to sort out my internet connection difficulties, because nothing can ever just work on the first try. This evening three of my flatmates and I decide to meet the other flats of Varey House and ended up hanging out with a group two floors above for a few hours, we got on quite well. Now that I've actually met people, realized how great my flatmates are, gotten a few things accomplished, and seen that some days are completely sunny in England, I feel loads better.

I also found out today that classes don't actually start until next Monday, and that's Tuesday for me because I don't have a Monday class. Hopefully I'll be able to get a bit of sightseeing in this week.

Chances are if you're reading this, I miss you already. But, we will see each other again soon and it will be all the sweeter for the time apart.

hold my head, we'll trampoline

You know what's weird about waking up at 4 am?

Everything.

First of all, it just feels unnatural. Second, when you're biking under the stars and moon, however beautiful and welcome that might be, it still feels like nighttime. Third, having already been awake for three hours at 7 am is just preposterous.

But, it is nice to see the sun rise. That's a sight I haven't had the privilege of in a long time.

'Why is Tianna waking up at 4 am and galavanting around the city on her bicycle," is a question you might be asking yourself.

In response I would say to you, "As much as I wish I had some epic story about rolling around Minneapolis at all hours, I do not. I'm biking a mile and a half to open at Turtle Bread". This is all well and good, but I am sucker for the hearing and/or the telling of a better story.

Short story long, I've been awake since 4 this morning.

You know, I'm kind of glad I woke up at 4 today. Since I was done with work at 1, I've had hours to experience the beauty of today. I think there's a promise of magical potential in most every day, but today was just one of those glorious Summer days.

For the last week or so it's really seemed like Fall has been furiously trying to secure a foothold in these parts. Cooler days, cold nights. But, today I swam in a body of water and it felt wonderful. I'm planning on it again tomorrow.

I am endlessly amazed by the amount of good a little blue sky and warmth does for my soul. I hope the weather takes this into consideration during my stay in London because I am not too jazzed about weeks of gray.

To switch things up and get me to talk about something other than the weather I decided I'm going to have a certain focus to my blog for a little while; I'm to flip to a random page in my portable pocket dictionary and whatever word my finger lands on is going to guide my writing. I think it just makes sense as an English major on my epic England adventure to use words as a guide.

Homogenize: Make uniform throughout.

This will be my word for tomorrow.

I never find out until I'm head over heels

I'm going to London in a little over a month. For the semester. I really want this blog to be something that I use regularly will I'm there; as an update on my day-to-day, for anyone that's interested, and as a record of my travels for myself.

I haven't been a very good blogger yet. I resolve to get better. In the month leading up to my departure I will do this, so it becomes a habit. It only takes twenty-one days, right? I've got plenty of time.

So, did I mention I'm going to London in a month? Because that's happening. And (as always) I'm playing with a dichotomy of emotions. On the one hand; I'm so excited and ready for a big adventure thousands of miles away from everything and everyone. To walk along the Thames, to see Big Ben and Parliament, to ride the tube, to go shopping, to go to a myriad of museums, to learn, to meet new people, to do non-touristy things. Then on the other hand I've never been away for this long and I'm a bit nervous about it. Plus, Minneapolis is amazing in the Fall. I'll always be in love with this city. Fortunately, my excitement is vastly outweighing my nerves and need for those radiant Fall colors.

I can barely believe that it's almost mid-August. This Summer has flown by (as always). Fast or slow, every moment has been magic. Biking around, being with the friends you love, discovering special spots, talking, laughing, swimming as many times as you want in different lakes, everything from the mundane to the miraculous is better in the summertime. I'm in love with this city, I'm in love with this season, that's why it's always so hard when it's over. But this year I have a big adventure to look forward to.

Yesterday was one of those perfect Summer days; cool enough and not a cloud in the sky. I woke up at 4:30 for work and got to see the sun rise. Then spent the day shopping for my dad's birthday. After spending all morning and a large portion of the afternoon biking to different places in different parts of the city, with some successes and some failures, every moment of which was glorious, I ended up at Paperback Exchange. Definite success. I bought eight books for $16.40. That store is a true gem.

Later, my parents and I walked to dinner at Pizza Biga. We had a great time, which was much appreciated. I feel like my family time has taken a hit this summer. I'm constantly working or hanging out with friends or both. But, I really do enjoy spending time with my parents, they're cool people. We walked home, were fascinated by the moon, and laughed until our sides hurt. Great day.

By the looks of it today is going to be another one. I'm going to get out there and enjoy it. I hope you are too.

everything's in order in a black hole

Sometimes I feel like my mind is aging in reverse.

The older I get, the more and more I feel that anything is possible. I feel like that limitless sense of wonder and acceptance, usually reserved for children is expanding instead of slipping away. And maybe that's how it is more often than I know. This isn't what I thought growing up would be like though. I'm glad my perceptions were wrong.

A few days ago I had a scary movie night with a friend and our conversation worked its way to the subject of "intelligent life", and the probability of its existence. This question has always baffled me, not in the sense of a "yes" or "no", but more of the "how" and "where" aspect. I've always believed in the "yes".

After taking Astronomy last year I have a better framework to understand my reasons for saying yes. I know I've ranted a bit about Astronomy before, but, what an interesting, mindblowing class. So, here's how I see it, the closest star to us is the Sun, which is 93 million miles away. The closest star beyond that is 4.3 light years. A light year is the distance light can travel in a year. In 8 minutes light can travel 93 million miles, in a year....so much farther. Every single other star that you see in the night sky other than these two, are farther away than 4.3 light years, some significantly so. My point is that the Universe is a HUGE place and the idea that we are alone in this infinitely large expanse is, frankly, preposterous to me and much more unsettling than the notion that we are not.

In one of our lectures my Professor showed a slide of a picture featuring hundreds of galaxies and I thought to myself, "I wonder if somewhere in this picture, in one of these galaxies there are beings, like me". Then I had a mental image of others looking at a picture like I was looking at, containing the milky way and wondering if somewhere in that picture in one of those galaxies, there was life.

The more and more I think about this the more likely it seems to me (not necessarily the mental image bit, but the rationale bit).

Switching gears, I just checked my grades for roughly, the thirtieth time in the past three days and they are finally(!) all posted. I somehow managed to get an A in the one class that I was really unsure about and finished the take home final essay for about an hour before it was due. I'm not complaining though, not at all. Just a little shocked.

Also, I really want to take Sign Language next semester, but I've already registered for 4 classes and 5 just seems like a lot. Three of the four classes I've registered for are either essential to my major or the teaching program. The one class I feel I could drop is comparative politics, which I thought would be really interesting and fun. I'm not quite sure what to do. Thoughts?

New Years' Resolution #1: I will update my blog more often. It will happen.

Also, this website is pretty awesome.

a pandemonium of parentheses

So devoted blog readers aka maybe two people, it's been awhile.

The rest of my (and yours too, I presume) summer happened since the last time I typed words into this rectangle and pressed "Publish Post", and it was 90% glorious and wonderful. 10% everything else that isn't those two things. Highlights include;

1. Comic Con. Comic Con was epic on every level. I spent a week in San Diego with one of my best friends, without my parents (not that I would have had a problem with my parents presence, I've just never taken a trip without them that wasn't school sponsored and therefore, chaperoned (not that I did anything that would have warranted me slipping away from a chaperone, it was just nice to feel so independent, you know?)). A. I just used a double parentheses, is that what that's called? B. How does one punctuate a double parentheses? (I should probably know these things if I'm thinking of majoring in English).

I felt independent, you get it. I got my own plane ticket and stayed in a hostel and navigated a bus system in a different city. Shout out to San Diego bus system, btdubs, it was really nice and easy to use.

Back to Comic Con though. If you're not familiar with Comic Con, you should really check it out. It's this four day convention that happens every july in San Diego where a lot of people get together in the ginormously massive convention center and appreciate/geek out/have a blast about comics, tv shows, movies, video games, etc. I feel like at it's inception (speaking of Inception, greatest movie ever, right?!) it was MUCH more about the comic books than it is now, and for some people it's probably still that way, but it's very pop culture-y. Which I am really okay with. I might feel differently if I had been going there for 40 years but, this year was my first.

The main events that I was interested in were the movie/tv show panels (because who doesn't want to see movie stars? And because my newest aspiration is to write for television). I went to a bunch of panels and saw a bunch of famous people, which was very exciting and if you'd like me to list them for you, I can (I have a list saved as a draft of a text message on my phone for just such occasions, because I am that awesome.) but, I don't think it's necessary to recount all that right now.

One of the greatest panels I saw though was Joss Whedon and J. J. Abrams. (!) So brilliant. These men are responsible for some of the greatest television to ever happen. I don't know if I mentioned anything about Lost ever... The conversation was wonderful and inspiring. I know some people are very skeptical of television and it's legitimacy as an art form, granted some television is terrible, but, sometimes it's magic. I think it's just that I've always loved being told a good story, no matter what the medium. So the long and short of it is, the conversation was riveting, thus I want to write for television. Or write at all for anyone, even if it's just me.

I also went to the San Diego Zoo, wondered around downtown San Diego, wondered what the hell a "Tracy Morgan's Imagination Salad" could be, met people from Canada, Austrailia, Germany, and Holland, saw David Wain (if you don't know who he is, look him up for real.), met Daniel Dae Kim, saw Inception, discovered a crazy semi outdoor mall (what do they do when it rains?), discovered pinkberry (greatest fro yo I've ever had), and basically had a wonderful week with my buddy.

That was a pretty loaded number one.

2. This didn't really happen this summer but, it's noteworthy and ongoing. I started an improv class two weeks ago and I absolutely love it. My friend and former french teacher posted some info and a link (and I am a sucker for links) about an improv 101 class on her blog. So, I thought to myself, "Tianna, haven't you been thinking that it would be a good idea to try something new? And maybe this is exactly what you're looking for." And it was. So, thank you very much madame for being so enthusiastic about improv and sending this opportunity my way.

I started two weeks ago and I was really nervous and really excited. There was no need to have been nervous, everyone was so nice and supportive. The class itself is filled with all these exercises that help you to push away your insecurities and inhibitions and just say or do whatever feels right. It's brilliant. I can't exactly say I've been a person who has let life pass them by, (especially not at only 19), but I can say that there have been things, certain instances where I thought about doing something and I didn't. The cons outweighed the pros in my mind, and I look back and am unhappy that I didn't try. I don't want to feel that way and improv is helping. This whole year I think I've changed a lot, come out of my shell, gained a bit of confidence, and tried new things and I want to continue.

Improv allows you to be whoever you want, say whatever you think, and be supported all the way through. Which in real life translates to not being afraid/apprehensive/worried about taking a chance, or over thinking it until the moment's passed you by, and just doing it. I love that.

This is not to say that now I think I should act on every whim or that everything that comes into my mind should come out of my mouth (although, I think, 70% of it already does, (un)fortunately?), but it's a good feeling, to be up for it.

These were only two things and one of them didn't even happen this summer, but I'm tired and I should probably get some sleep. Maybe, I'll leave you with a fun fact to make up for not recounting more of the past 3 months of my life. And when I say maybe, I mean, I have every intention of doing just that; Did you know that a group of parrots is called a pandemonium? And a group of ravens is an unkindness or a storytelling? AND my personal favorite, a smack of jelly fish.

ps I will write more here. It's a promise.

pps Here's more animal group names, I know, you're welcome.