A Room with a View

Today is Sunday.  Today is laundry day and finish-reading-and-studying-orgo/psychology day.  So naturally, I'm blogging instead.

We have been in London for 2 1/2 weeks already.  People have finally caught on that I am not in New York anymore by virtue of my foreign Facebook status updates and influx of pictures from non-New-York-y places.  They're all inquiring as to how I am doing in London, and I find myself answering that I AM GREAT!  (blogger's note: this is a touchy-feely entry; read at your own peril)

This might be the first time in my life that I have been so happy for such a prolonged period of time.  I'm not emo, I'm not depressed, but usually if I were at home, I would feel...neutral, nonchalant, "meh".  Here, when people ask me how I am, I can always and honestly reply that I am content with my life, happy, comfortable, safe.  It helps that the expected seasonal affective disorder due to London's supposed ubiquitous rain and clouds has not affected me - on the contrary, we have had many days of blue skies and sun!  I heard New York is actually colder and rainier now!

One of my favorite things to do here is look out the window of my dorm room.  The view is not spectacular, but it is very interesting and dense nonetheless.  I'm doing it right now, actually, which is why I am writing about it.  From my room, you can see the steeples and spires that make up, not a church or cathedral, but rather King's Cross/St. Pancras Station.  It is a bit Hogwartsian, if you ask me, and Undergrond scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed in St. Pancras.  Also you can see a massive hangar building, which is the rear platforms of the station.  Nearby is Tesco's on Caldonian Road.  I can see when it is open (12pm on Sundays) and when it is closed, and when people file in and out with their groceries.  Finally, there is a large apartment building directly in front of us that is a weird, indescribable shape, but is pleasant to look at.  There are lots and lots and lots of smaller/shorter buildings all around, and it looks like a bit of a mishmash from up here, but it is quirky enough to be interesting.  Yesterday morning, we looked out the window and noticed that it had snowed overnight and there was a light layer of frost covering all the rooftops.  The best thing is that we face southwest, so we can sometimes catch the sunset on a cloudless day. 

I love London, I love my life at this very moment ♥

Beefeaters, Fish, and Chips

29 JANUARY

Today, we had our first Food Processors potluck brunch! Several of my friends met on the 7th floor communal kitchen of Nido, each with food in hand and ready to eat. We had stuff like: quesadillas, home fries, chocolate chip pancakes, pies (my roommate and mine), crepes, French toast, bacon, bangers, coffee cake, baked brie, cheese and crackers, and cocktail shrimp (don't ask - all I know is it was good). Unfortunately, we had to wait for the people who were contributing plates for over 45 minutes...but we ate and it was gooooooooood. We were all hit with the itis, bent over and trying to breathe deeply. That part was less good, but at least I was good and full for the rest of the day.

Then, a few friends and I went on the Tube down to Piccadilly Circus. First, we went to Fortnum & Mason's, a huge and gorgeous department store that sells foodstuffs. When you walk in, you are met with towers of chocolate and coffee and tea products. Apparently, the Queen drinks her tea from here!! A smallish box of tea cost £22/$35. A bar of chocolate about the size of a Hershey's bar is £5/$8. EIGHT DOLLARS FOR A CHOCOLATE BAR. Nonetheless, gorgeous and drool-worthy.

Next, we wandered along London's version of Times Square (Piccadilly Circus) to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. After wandering around the square and admiring Nelson's Column and his guard lions, we ventured into the lavish National Gallery. I had two main objectives in today's museum-going, and I was happily satisfied. First, we found Hans Holbein's Ambassadors. I first learned about this in ConWest last last year, and there is a fascinating bit about this painting that I encourage you to look up online. Let's just say, it's a great optical illusion. Next, we found Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, which I first saw in Art Appreciation back at Stuy. In art class, we analyzed the painting to bits, including the calligraphy script on the wall that says "Jan van Eyck has been here" and the biblical stories in the mirror hanging in the back. Then, we wandered to see some Monet, van Gogh, Renoir, Seraut, Botticelli, and a lone da Vinci sketch. All in all, the National Gallery is a beautiful museum!

Finally, we walked to the banks of the Thames to again catch night-time shots of the London Eye and Parliament. It was chilly, but beautiful and non-rainy and fun!!

30 JANUARY

This morning, we went to the Tower of London as one of our NYU excursions. The weather was beautiful, blue skies and sunny, and cold. BUT I heard it's below freezing at home, and we were a bit warmer than freezing, so it's all good. We walked across the Tower Bridge, which brought back memories of walking across the Brooklyn Bridge back home. When we arrived at Tower Hill, a procession had started, and a long line of soldiers marched into the promenade area. Apparently they had just returned from overseas and were being welcomed back to London and to HRH the Queen's fortress. I stood watching with family members, and heard people around me saying, "That's my lad!" It was very touching, and certainly not something you see every day.

Then, we went on a tour guided by a Yeoman Warder. They are more widely known as Beefeaters, but this is not a nice thing to call them. The guards of the Tower of London are former soldiers in the British Army, Navy, or Royal Air Force. After 22 years of service, they can retire and take on the job as tour guide/guard to the Tower. Someone told us that they became known as beefeaters because they used to taste the first cuts of meat before the king ate, to check if there was poison, and then there was some French corruption of the word beouf into beefeater. Our guide had a great sense of humor and was so entertaining! We saw the chapel where Anne Boleyn is buried. Then, we saw the gorgeous, amazing, beautiful, glistening, sparkly CROWN JEWELS. Oh, how I wish I were a royal so I could wear a poufy purple velvet thing on my head, bejeweled with massive amounts of precious gems.

Anyway, we wandered around the premises for a couple of hours, until we were starving and ran to the nearest/cheapest fish-and-chips place. We managed a place with orders for £4, which is a great deal cheaper than everywhere else. And now, here I am back at Nido, about to embark on a great rest-of-the-weekend of reading, reading, studying, reading...

What a great weekend!

I Flew...

...on the London Eye!

Earlier this morning, several of us went to orientation at St. Andrew's (Barnsbury), a primary school in Islington, for the SHINE Program.  The SHINE Program is a volunteer opportunity for NYUL students, such that they work with primary school kids as tutors, or playmates for the nursery kids.  I had heard about this opportunity before we came, and I am happy I got the chance to do it.  It is going outside of my comfort zone a bit; even though I have tutored kids before, it was either because I knew them well (my coworker's daughter) or that I didn't have to get to know them at all (kids in the public library).  With SHINE, we would have to get to know the kids in our year for the rest of the semester.  It is also quite a heavy responsibility to take care of the kids while at school.  At training last week, they reminded us of all the things that could go wrong, including a child revealing sexual abuse or bullying....  And we have to be the responsible adults and notify the teachers while trying to maintain calm!  Phew....  Well, I still look forward to the program a lot!  I think it will be very gratifying and I will go back home very proud of myself for having done it.

Another thing I am going to be involved in is the office job at the Academic Center.  I applied for the job position in November and I finally got short listed for an interview on Monday, and officially hired yesterday.  I filled out all the paperwork today, and hopefully will start next week?  It is mostly clerical work, obviously, and I suppose what little money I get from it will be sent home so Mom can deposit it and I can maybe use it here for little goodies.

All this new, fun, exciting stuff comes with a grain of salt, though....  I really have to be conscientious about budgeting my time.  So far, it seems that Monday mornings, I will be at work, and afternoons I will be in Organic Chemistry.  Tuesday mornings, I will probably also be working, and afternoons I will spend slaving away in the (far superior) Organic Chemistry lab.  Wednesday day is class entirely.  Thursday mornings will be at St. Andrew's for SHINE, and afternoons will be the last class of the week.  During the week, I will have to do all my homework at night, plus cook and try to clean, and study and do laundry on the weekends.  Oh goodness.

On to more interesting things...today was our programming trip to the London Eye!  NYUL does this interesting thing where they essentially give you a £50 budget for the semester to spend whichever way you choose, on events like tours, sporting events, theatrical shows, etc.  I did the Eye today, and on Saturday I will be at the Tower of London!

The weather started out lovelily today...but definitely took a turn for the worst right around the time we walked down to the Thames.  Of course it had to rain, and it was definitely not forecast - and even SUNNY during the day - so I thought I would be safe ditching my brolly at home.  False.  So, I couldn't really take scenic shots of the banks of the Thames in the rain.  Plus, I was soaked.

We saw a 4D show about the Eye, which involved funky 3D glasses, and bubbles and snowflakes being blown at us.  Then, we actually got to ride the thing, which was a bit insane: the Eye is essentially a giant Ferris wheel that does not stop...so you have to run inside one of the capsules, lest you fall into the Thames River below (nah, there is an edge to save you from that watery fate...I heard there are eels in the Thames...ew).  Once you get in, it's a bit nauseating, but...exciting!  Of course, we had to go the day it was cold and rainy, so the transparent walls of the pod were rain-streaked, and it was nearly impossible to get clear shots of anything.  We did see a great stretch of the north side of the river, though, and it is quite gorgeous at night.  Nothing like the New York City skyline...but it was beautiful!

Obviously the main thing you see is Parliament and Big Ben.  I must have tried taking fifty photos of it, but it was so difficult with the rain and the darkness and the weird distortion of the pod windows....  Anyway, it is a very cool bit of architecture.  I think...Neo-Gothic?  It's got lots of vertical lines and repetitive patterns down the way.  I heard the minute hand of Big Ben is as long as a double-decker bus!  And, it was apparently named after the guy who designed/built it, so as one of my tour guides pointed out, we're lucky the guy wasn't named Richard.

London has got some great bridges spanning the Thames to take you from the north to south banks.  We actually walked across one to get there (The Queen's Jubilee/Hungerford Bridge - awesome suspension design) and one to go back to the north bank (Westminster Bridge - beautiful view of Parliament, right under Big Ben).  There is also the Millennium Bridge a ways away, which people inform me was part of the last Harry Potter movie, where dementors swoop in over London.  I am ashamed to admit I do not remember this scene a lot...probably since I haven't bought the Half Blood Prince DVD yet and have only seen it once in theaters (hangs head in shame).

I reckon the Eye is something you have to do three times, at least: day, sunset, and night.  We've already got (rainy) night taken care of, so hopefully in the spring, I will have more lovely pictures and tales to come from the top of London.

Get More Bang For Your Quid!

I have not spent a lot of money here yet, and most of my pounds have gone towards essentials like mobile and SIM card, books, and food.  They say London is an expensive place to live, and it undoubtedly is because of the exchange rate and whatnot.  But, I've found some comparative deals and it makes me excited.  I can't wait to be able to splurge on yummy food and fun stuff.

The main grocery store around us is Tesco.  (Tesco : Waldbaums = Marks & Spencers : Whole Foods)  It is so close to Nido that we often bump into fellow classmates while shopping.  Today, since we've been around for a couple of weeks and been able to settle down, we were able to look at more splurge-y/yummy foods instead of the bare essentials, and here are my thoughts.

- One of the primary things you see when you enter Tesco is the frozen microwave meal selection.  They are £1 ($1.60) each for a quite-filling no-cook dinner!  There are: creamy mushroom pasta (yummy), cheese and broccoli pasta, spicy beef pasta (less than yummy), vegetable curry, chicken broccoli pie (really want to try but is actually £1.60 or something), etc. flavors.  Although these aren't good for every night, they are really helpful for nights when we come home from late events like walking tours or orientation events, or lunch in a snap.  In the area of frozen foods, we also bought a pizza today that was around £1.64 ($2.66). 

- There is a deal for 2 bars of Cadbury's for £3 ($4.88), but mind you, the bars are HUGE and dense, like 3 Hershey's bars glued together.  Speaking of candy...they have cheap Mars bars too (duh), and apparently Cadbury's makes things like hot chocolate mix.  I will be so excited to eat lots and lots of Cadbury's.

- Tesco also sells boxes of Twinings tea, I think 50 bags for £1-something.  Their Earl Grey smells and tastes delicious, and I might get a box of Lady Grey also.

- Tesco-brand white bread is 47p ($0.76).  Bread!  For like 15 slices or so!  Sure, it's just white bread, probably not all that healthy, but it lasts a while and is versatile for breakfast (Nutella!) and lunch (chicken and cheddar...mmm).

- Muller yoghurt is possibly the (second) best yoghurt I've ever had (first is obviously the one from Florence...).  The 195-mg containers of yoghurt are way larger than La Yogurt or Yoplait at home, and they are 5 for £1, and come in awesome flavors like toffee (my roommate doesn't like this one so much, but it's good) and vanilla with dark chocolate sprinkles.  They also have other varieties of yoghurt, including these tiny tiny pots that are designed for you to get the right amount of calcium and vitamins, and other pots with cool flavors like fig and rhubarb.  Can't wait to try those next week!

- Tesco sells 4 cartons of juice for £3 ($4.87).  They are kind of small, but taste good, and I haven't had yummy juice in a long time.  Also, they are good for mixed drinks....

Next subject: Boots!  Boots is the main pharmacy here, and their products are also reasonable.  I wouldn't have brought so much soap, shampoo, and toothpaste had I known Boots was so close.  Particularly, they sell those huge tubs of Nivea cream for like £3 ($4.88)!!!  The same size in the US would be like $11!!  I also bought some disposable cameras from Boots last weekend to make a photo collage for my architecture class, and although it costs money to develop the pictures, the cameras were £3 each, with 27 exposures on each.  Not bad at all.

Anyway.  I wholly expected to spend a lot of money here, but I'm glad I haven't yet.  This way, I can save money to enjoy myself during spring break.  After break...I will buy all the Twinings and Cadbury's my heart desires.

Good night!

Contrary to Popular Belief...

...there is a sun in England, and it does set, and gosh what a beautiful sunset it was!  I think I'm going to collect memories of sunsets around the world.  So far, most common has been Shore Road, by the Verrazano Bridge.  Another good one was the winter sun, setting behind Lower Manhattan, viewed from the Brooklyn Bridge.  My favorite of all time is under the Tuscan sun, viewed from the cupola of Il Duomo.  Today's was...surprising (literally - I was reading organic chemistry when I noticed the adjacent wall was lit up, which it never is, on account of it being so cloudy all the damn time) but beautiful nonetheless.  In fact, I'm still looking right out at the post-sunset sky and, although the clouds look dusky and dark, the sky is streaked with orange-and-pink colors and I can't help but feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.  ♥

I Saw Time

Yesterday was our day trip to Greenwich, a small town just down the Thames River from London.  It was, all in all, a bit of a downer, starting from the very beginning:

I was required to go on the trip for my Seeing London's Architecture class, but that wasn't too bad; I was planning to go anyway.  My fellow classmate and I met up very early to take the Underground down to Westminster Pier.  The Tube is awesome, to say the least.  I tend to make comparisons of everything to everything else in New York, so the Tube system is - from what I saw - far superior to the MTA.  The stations are wide-open, spacious, and clean.  People are alerted to stand on the right side of escalators and walk on the left side, so even individual behaviors are kept in check.  The trains themselves are a bit small compared to the subway.  But, they come every 1-2 minutes during rush hour!  I can't tell you how many times I've just missed the closing doors and had to wait 10 to 20 minutes for the next arriving D train.  Yesterday, we missed one train on the Victoria Line at Kings Cross/St. Pancras...and another one literally followed behind.

When we arrived at Westminster, we discovered we were 45 minutes early.  We walked around the immediate neighborhood, surveying Big Ben/Parliament and Westminster.  Then, we popped back to the pier to see our NYUL staff...who informed us that the early boat was broken and we would have to wait another 30 minutes.

Finally, when we got on the boat, my intrepid classmate and I stood on the deck the entire time so we could observe London's cityscape...though it was windy, cold, and rainy!  We got to know our professor a bit (but more about that character later).  London along the Thames is a very interesting sight.  We saw the typical structures along the banks, like St. Paul's Cathedral, the Globe Theater, the Gherkin, and various bridges.  I, like an idiot, was taking notes and trying to make sketches during the boat ride, which resulted in extremely frozen extremities.  Not a good way to start off.

When we docked in Greenwich, my class was herded into a walking tour in the rainy town.  Greenwich is quite lovely - it has a lot of royal and naval history, and things like the Queen's House, the National Maritime Museum, and the Royal Observatory.  Haven't heard of Greenwich?  Well, it's the same Greenwich of Greenwich Mean Time!  The Prime Meridian runs through the Observatory, splitting the world into theoretical east and west hemispheres, and it is the "zero" time zone, I suppose.  Greenwich is also the place where Queens Mary and Elizabeth (daughters of Henry VIII) were born.  Yay famous.

We ate lunch at The King's Arms, a cute little tavern/pub thing.  I had a yummy scampi and chips (fried bits of shrimp - they look like...shrimp nuggets?) and Earl Grey tea (SO GOOD, especially since the weather was awfully cold and wet).  Then, we met our professor for our actual required class.  The day got less and less fun...

We walked around Greenwich Market and observed...trusses in the roofing. So much fun.  The smells from the market were very distracting: a mixture of Middle Eastern food (falafel) and Ethiopian food...mmm!  Then, we observed bits of houses and the church of St. Alfege.  Finally, we trekked to the Queen's House.  We saw an architectural model of the house itself, and I pointed at the window trying to signal my friend, "Look at those cool balustrades in the window!" but the professor called me out in front of the entire class (he somehow creepily learned my name when we were on the boat, though I never introduced myself...CREEPER), "Best not to touch the model, Sandra!"  What does he think I am, five years old?!  I've been to museums before.  Frustrating point number one.  Then, we had to sit in a room and sketch for two hours.  What the what?!  (Frustrating point number two)  I am not an artist.  I took this class because I thought my head would explode from too many sciences.  I love history, art, and architecture...but I have to manage a sketchbook for all the things we see.  I also apparently have to have a lot of patience to sit in a room and draw and shade lines.  I admit, it is quite relaxing and fun to draw or just doodle, but our professor had us in there until closing time!  My friend and I bolted from the Queen's House in an attempt to see the Royal Observatory and straddle the Prime Meridian...but alas, it was closed by the time we hiked up the hill.  We had no choice but to stand behind a gate, gazing longingly at a damn line in the ground, but were not able to stand upon it.  That was the most frustrating point, number three!  We did, however, manage to see the laser-beam version of the Prime Meridian, but that was nowhere near as fun as standing in both halves of the world would have been.

Indian buffet tonight, and hopefully some studying.  Ta!

WEEK 1

Today concludes the first week of school here in London!  Before I know it, fifteen more weeks will have passed and I'll be dreading the fact that I have to leave this amazing place....

So, this week I had ORGANIC CHEMISTRY II, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LAB, COGNITION, SEEING LONDON'S ARCHITECTURE, and SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY.

Organic Chemistry is taught by Dr. Urch, about whom I heard great things even before I arrived.  He is old-ish, but very chipper and tends to say things like "whoops-y daisy" when dropping a dry erase marker or "shut up" when molecular models don't go the way he wants them.  Orgo has always been a huge difficulty for me...but perhaps it will be more tolerable with the lovely and lively Dr. Urch.  He is also the lab professor, and this is the most relaxed lab I've ever been in.  Get this: we don't have to pay for broken glassware!  We also get lab coats, and while goggles (safety glasses) are mandatory, gloves are optional, and they don't freak out at you when you don't have dishwashing gloves (we use latex).  Everything is in miniscale, so we had 3.6 grams yield...whereas back home, we would get fractions of a gram and desperately try to make excuses as to why we only had 0.03 grams of acetaminophen....  Also they encourage us to write lab reports in a narrative form ("My partner and I did this...") so I actually had fun writing my lab report!!  (POSTSCRIPT: IF ANYONE GETS THE ANSWER TO THE POST-LAB, HOLLER AT ME)

Cognition is a different story.  Our professor is a Dutchman, Dr. de Fockert.  He...speaks very quickly....  And the subject seeeeeems interesting...but the reading is quite dry....  I dunno, I'm quite up-in-the-air about it all.  I won't drop it because I don't want to quit...but I also might not have such a blast in this class.

Seeing London's Architecture seems great so far.  Our professor is Benedict O'Looney (great name) and he was born in the UK but raised in NYC!  He is so enthusiastic about his trade, and I am honestly interested in the architecture and history of London anyway.  We also have to go on required trips to sketch buildings, so it's a good excuse to go sightseeing, and then get a nice sketchbook/collage book.

Finally, Social Psychology.  I'm not going to lie, Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic (is that how you spell his name?) is hot and Argentinian.  The class sounds really interesting...but I can't really figure out how to input good information for discussion.  Hot professor = good, though.

ANYWAY.  Day trip to Greenwich tomorrow.  Greenwich, for you ignorant folk (j/k), is where the 'zero' time zone passes through, also known as the Prime Meridian.  I am supposed to bring my sketchbook and try to make some doodles, so I hope the weather is fair (but it is scheduled to rain...).  Good night folks!

Just some things...

- The milk in London tastes really good.  Different cows, different milk.

- Speaking of groceries, certain things are very cheap here like Nutella (£2 = $3.28), Oust air freshener (£1 = $1.64), chicken lunch meat (94p for 30 slices = $1.54), and yoghurt (£1 for 5 190-gram containers).  Certain things are very expensive though, like Starbucks coffee.  If a Starbucks coffee cost $3 at home, it would be around £3 here ($5!).

- Fires happen often.  Our first morning, we passed a litter bin (I dunno, is that 'garbage can'?) on the street outside Nido that was on fire and the firefighters were hosing it down.  Then, I realized the cause of this is that people stand right by the bins, smoke the rest of their cigarettes, and then throw them away.

- Londoners say "cheers" and "yeah?" a lot, as in "thank you" and "is that alright?" respectively.  On the airplane, we got a lot of "cheers" for handing the flight attendants stuff, and at Marks & Spencer, the cashier said, "5p for a bag, yeah?  £10.01, yeah?"

- I asked an employee at St. Pancras Station yesterday, "Excuse me, where is Platform 9 3/4?" and he told me, "In Kings Cross Station".  WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHERE PLATFORM 9 3/4 REALLY IS??  I've heard from other people it's actually in St. Pancras because they filmed the movies there....

- I read somewhere that London is the city that never sleeps, but that is an outright lie.  NEW YORK is the city that never sleeps.  Yesterday, I walked around St. Pancras Station and all the shops closed at 5pm.  The library they provide for us in lieu of Bobst closes at 9pm.  Fellow NYU-ers understand the weight of this statement.

- Londoners hate Mondays more than New Yorkers.  I got pretty bad treatment yesterday in the late morning at the Senate House Library, and also one of our NYUL staff who is usually bright and chipper was kinda...ergh.

- Tesco = Waldbaums

- Boots = CVS, Duane Reade, Rite Aid...

- Argos = no equivalent.  This is a store where people literally shop from catalogues.  There are counters with these HUGE books and you just flip through them, write down the codes, and present them to the cashier, and the item "magically" appears.

Anyway.  Enough ruminating.  I've got plenty more to come, but I have orgo lab in a couple of hours and want to get ready for that.  Cheers!

Magna Carta and Elgin Marbles and Smirnoff Ice, Oh My!

15 JANUARY 2010

Ugh, rainy London day.  Within a few blocks of walking, my sneakers were already drenched.  Nido is, however, conveniently close to the British Library so we hit our first sightseeing site quickly.  The "Treasures of the British Library" gallery was really fascinating!  We saw manuscripts of Handel's Messiah, one of only 180 remaining Gutenberg bibles, and even the Magna Carta!  Good thing I'm a history buff.  Also, I saw those things that Rick Steves was talking about - for those of you not in the know, in his London episode, he showed the digital kiosks where you can flip through actual manuscript images and zoom in and look at, for example, illuminated bible texts.  So cool!  Actually, some of my favorite things were the Arabic/Persian manuscripts because the script is just so beautiful.

After the Library, we hit the British Museum, the site I've been waiting to see since the sixth grade.  Background story: in Humanities, my assigned monument was the Parthenon on which to write a research report.  I loved learning about ancient Greece, so the project was actually interesting for me.  When I first heard about the fellow named Elgin who took many marble ruins from the Acropolis, I thought, "Huh, what a crook!"  Plus, the Greek government is still fighting to get them back in their own museums, even 300 years later.  However, I was glad Elgin put the marbles in the British Museum, because I got to see them yesterday!!  I've seen plenty of Greek and Roman sculpture at the Met, but these were so fascinating because they made up such a famous temple, one about which I pride myself to be knowledgeable.  Anyway, after I forced my travel buddies to spend about an hour in that one room, we left.  On the way out, I glimpsed a beautiful statue of Aphrodite that I am really fond of; and the Rosetta Stone!  So spiffy.

That night, NYUL hosted an event at Smithy's Bar.  Yes, bar!  I am proud to admit that I purchased a bottle of Coca Cola for £2.20.  No, I did not buy alcohol.  Yes, I did sip some from other people....  We danced a bit and screamed the lyrics to the American songs the DJ played.  Let's just say...alcohol is indeed liquid courage.  All in all, a fun night!!  My first time "out", save for Art Bar in Florence...but that doesn't count, right?  After Smithy's, a bunch of us stayed in Nido's lounge to play foosball and pool until 1:30 in the morning.  I was sitting at one of the benches and happened to strike up a conversation with a visiting Spaniard, also!  My Spanish is embarrassingly rusty, but it was fun!

15 JANUARY 2010

Today was our first sunny-blue-skies day in London!!  You have no idea how excited I was when I woke up!  And I'm not even a morning person!  Plus, it was perfect for our "panoramic coach tour" of London today.  We saw some random sites and were allowed to stop for pictures.  We saw: the Prince Albert memorial, Harrod's, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Parliament/Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and St. Paul's Cathedral.  It was good to see so many sites all in one shot, but it was kind of boring sitting in the bus the whole time...ehh.  I think everyone on the bus was dead tired/hungry, so we all ran to our kitchen afterwards; we cooked a quickie dinner of ramen and salad.  Yum!

Tomorrow, classes start!  I have organic chemistry II at 1:30 pm, so no worries about waking up too early.  I probably will though, I promised myself to not sleep away the hours.  Thoughts: I am worried about orgo, since I didn't do too well in orgo I, but I also committed myself to studying even harder.  I am also worried about my other classes.  NYUL doesn't fail to remind us that classes are still classes, and it's not just easier because we're in London.  Hard work, it's going to be, trying to juggle classes + fun....

...LET'S DO THIS.  Cheerio, loves!  ♥

Who the Hottest in the World Right Now / Just Touched Down in Londontown

GOOD EVENING FROM NIDO, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM!

Sorry I haven't updated earlier!  I really wanted to, and I was planning what to write, but I haven't gotten much spare time yet...so here's the happenings so far:

12 JANUARY, 2010

I said goodbye to my family two days ago (12 Jan) and headed for JFK.  I was sad and weepy, I'm going to admit.  The flight was kind of interesting.  NYU students took up many seats, and I was between two friends, so it was all good.  I wasn't able to get much sleep, though, which I regretted once we landed and I had to drag 2 50 lb. suitcases (one with broken wheels...so literal dragging) and a 20 lb. carry-on.  I suppose that was all quite uneventful...

13 JANUARY, 2010

Our first glimpse of London (after Heathrow, which was also uneventful and uninteresting) was a bit snowy.  Apparently the UK doesn't do well with snow, because they declared school and college closings and the buses were all messed up due to about 1 inch of the snow on the ground, which was quickly becoming slush anyway.  I saw bits of quintessential London: double-decker red buses, red telephone booths, black taxi cabs....

We arrived at Nido and checked in.  Our room is 12.30.  When I first opened the door, my honest and immediate reaction was the sinking of my heart.  Our room is quite TINY!  Then I opened the bathroom door and nearly cried.  Our bathroom is even TINIER!  We have two beds, two desks, a microwave, a strange and funky electric kettle, a poorly placed bulletin board, and a pair of closets.  Some nice features: a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking southern London, and back-lit mirrors in the bathroom.  However, it will take some getting used to, the bathroom: I can barely towel off or put on clothes without bumping into the sink or the door handle. 

The first night, a few friends and I took a short evening walk around the area with the aim of finding a pharmacy/grocery store (Tesco).  I ended up buying a liter of milk from a sketchy hole-in-the-wall for £0.99 (about $1.60), and as I found out today, that is cheaper in the hole-in-the-wall than at Tesco.  Weird.  The rest of the evening, I cleaned up our room and went to sleep on my very soft and smushy mattress.

TODAY, 14 JANAURY, 2010

There was much hitting of the snooze button this morning.  We walked down to Bloomsbury (the academic center where NYU London and the University of London are located) in the morning, to be greeted by a free lunch (yum).  I suppose when British people try to imitate American food, it's not too bad.  We had vegetables, veggie lasagna, and some chicken in sauce, and chocolate cake.  Then, we sat through an extremely boring orientation (one of the NYUL coordinators is kind of a "hot British guy" btw; don't judge me).  Then I went to buy a mobile at a place called Car Phone Warehouse (sounds completely sketch, but looks like any old cell phone store in the States).  I ended up buying a mobile for £5 and £20 worth of minutes (300 minutes and unlimited texting for 30 days or so).  Finally, I went to a pub quiz.  This was actually quite fun!  I realize I had seen pub quizzes before, but forgot what they were and was definitely intimidated by the facts that pub=alcohol and quiz=grades.  It was basically a massive team trivia game about all things British and European.  I can't believe I couldn't recognize Julie Waters' face (Mrs. Molly Weasley?!), but I was glad to get "Battle of Hastings" and "Bath".  The quiz ended with a dinner of completely deep-fried finger foods like onion rings and samosas and egg rolls and fried shrimp...and pitchers of beer for £5.95 ($9.75).  I refrained from drinking, although I nearly tried but gagged and chickened out when I smelled it.  Gosh, how am I going to survive in this city if I can't even stand the smell of beer?  After eating, we ventured to the grocery store, Tesco, where we bought immediate foodstuffs like cereal and bread.  Aaaaaand, now I finally have a bit of time to myself before another packed day, although it is past midnight and I should go to bed.  Soon, soon.

That's enough recap, I suppose.  Now onto the touchy feely stuff!  I am not really sure what to feel just yet.  For the most part, I am happy and excited!  I am in a new city and I get to spend time with my friends exploring it.  I have the freedom to stay out late at night (although I have to worry much more about safety, apparently) and I even have the freedom to buy alcohol if I liked.  I am learning to live by myself, buy my own groceries (with a lot of help from my roommate), and soon we will be cooking and doing laundry too!  All this comes with the anxiety of having to start classes in a few days, though.  I am very nervous about taking Organic Chemistry II here.  I did very mediocrely in Orgo I, so I hope I don't fall behind this semester.  Then, I'm taking two psychology classes which are likely reading-intensive, with papers to write (I haven't had to write a paper for a while!).  Finally, I'm taking Seeing London's Architecture, which sounds like a fun fine arts class, but might also have a lot of reading, writing, and also drawing/sketching!  In sum, LOTS OF WORK.  BLIMEY.  Also, I have been waiting for certain post to arrive at my house in New York before it can be sent here, and the post in question is important material, so I wonder should I trust the mail to get here safely?  Finally, I really want to sightsee soon, but we haven't the time!  Between orientations and events, I haven't even had time to visit museums or take many pictures (plus, the misty weather is NOT good for my camera...).

Speaking of sightseeing, on my itinerary for the near future: the British Museum, the National Gallery, the British Library, Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Big Ben/Parliament, one of the bridges spanning the Thames, Hyde Park (in the spring, maybe), Chinatown/Soho, the London Eye...oh, how the list goes on!

Anyway, I'm quite content with my life and environment now!  There are nuisances and strange things, but...I'M IN LONDON, BABY!

Hope to have time for more and longer updates, but here it is for now.  Cheers, loves!

I'VE GOTTA FEELING. WOO-HOO. THAT TONIGHT'S GONNA BE A GOOD NIGHT.

Emotional roller coaster.  Today I'm feeling much better.  I admit, I cried a few times yesterday.  I exclaimed some things while I was wailing like, "I changed my mind, I don't want to go anymore!" but I obviously recant such statements.

I leave my house in about five hours, leave the country in nine.  I'm spending my last hours here fielding well-wishers by phone and by IM and Facebook.  I'm honored that people have taken time to wish me a safe and happy trip.  I'm going to miss you all!

No Day But Today

Today is my last full day in the U.S., my beloved New York City.  Call me an emotional wreck, but as I type this and think about this, my fingers are quivering and I feel tears welling up in my eyes.  I've been pretty chipper and upbeat about going to London, but the reality has finally set in and I don't like the reality so much.

For one, I still haven't received a textbook yet.  I ordered the book for Social Psychology from some used book site, and they shipped it out 12 days ago.  Twelve.  Days.  And if it doesn't get to my doorstep tomorrow, my family will have to send it to me.  Pain in the arse, if you ask me.

Second, I am still unsure of my banking situation.  I feel like each option I have, I will incur a ridiculous amount of fees that I could better spend in other ways.  Also concerning the mail, I'm waiting on a debit card from HSBC, which, if doesn't arrive tomorrow, will have to be sent to me.  Another pain in the arse.

The most overarching issue, though, is how much I will miss home.  I have never appreciated my family as much as I do now in these few hours before I leave.  It sounds almost morbid, but I wish I had more time to spend with my family.  It pains me to know that they will miss me too (that is, I think they'll miss me).  I can't even pinpoint what I will miss, it is just this general feeling that I won't see the things and people I am used to seeing every day for the next four months!  I was never one who liked change, even good changes.  It takes me a long time to acclimate to any change, and I never find the process pleasant.  This is arguably the biggest change in my life, and this malaise is not nice.

Oh God.  Oh God, oh God, oh God, what am I doing?  What have I done?

I'ma Buy You A Drank / I Got Money in the Bank

Just a short post today because it's late and I'm tired.

I learned something quite pathetic about myself this week.  I am horribly indecisive.  Also, three bank tellers at the Chase bank on 19th Avenue know me by name.  How is this related you ask?  On Monday, I went to Chase to swap some $ for £.  And then on Tuesday, I picked up the £ and exchanged more $, because my grandparents gifted me some $ when they learned I had to preorder £ ahead of time.  And then on Thursday (not Wednesday - that was Christmas Krunk Bitch Time/HOLLA-days! ♥), I picked up the £ and exchanged more $, because my mom thought I wouldn't have enough.  Finally, today I went for my last pick-up, and the teller said, "Sandra, right?"  Oh, the shame.  Had I decided to exchange a set amount of money in the first place, I would have saved myself plenty of trips to the bank, and the tellers and I would not be on first name bases.

Three more days!

Queuing

They say that standing on queues is a big thing in the UK.

Today, I ran errands in the neighborhood, including the post office, library, and bank in preparation for The Big L.

In the past few weeks, I've been to the post office more often than usual - to mail my visa paperwork, to buy money orders, etc.  The post office in my neighborhood is kind of cute, actually.  Most of the people working there are Chinese and they speak to each other and joke around in Cantonese behind the counter.  I never expected there'd be such a relatively high concentration of Chinese people in that one post office.  However, it is expected that all the Chinese people that use the postal services think they have special privileges now.  Since it is the Monday after a long weekend, the post office was filled with people, who all begrudgingly joined the queue.  Then, once in a while, a small Chinese lady would shuffle up to the front of the line, arms ladden with boxes to be mailed.  There is a clerk who hovers around the office and helps with random stuff, and he has no choice but to accommodate the skipper.  Nearly everyone on line cursed her privately; even I was going to say to her in Cantonese - in case she didn't get the idea from ten people yelling at her - "Hey!  There is a line!"  Then, a kid about my age was taping up a box on the side and held his spot on line with another box.  As the line inched forward, he would pop back on line and kick the box forward a bit.  Once, he missed the mark and a gap formed in the line.  The older woman before me totally flipped out, and they exchanged not-so-nice words.  "There's so many people in here, the line is to the door, you can't do that, yadda yadda ya..."  Honestly?  Like...a foot of space starting an argument?  How petty, crazy lo-fan.

Next up, at the bank, where I intended to buy GBP with USD.  There was another long line, and a bit ahead of me was an elderly lady, an American grandmaw with red-orange hair in a black mesh headscarf.  She was annoyingly pushing one of those cart/wagon things next to her on line as though she were trying to push her way in front of the woman in front of her; the old lady was definitely invading her personal bubble.  I don't know why this annoyed me more than the argument that went down at the post office, even.  Then, a banker in a suit who looked not unlike an older, fatter Robert Spencer came over, took her hands in his and kissed her on the cheek.  Oh, gosh, I realized then: she's a widow.  Anyway, side note: the bank teller who dealt with my currency purchase had no idea what she was doing.  I was even telling her how to go about: "I think it's $120 divided by 1.7, not the other way around..."  She eventually had to call over three other tellers to help her out.  Seriously?  I could get a job at JP Morgan Chase, you just wait and see.

Anyway, lesson learned: I jump to conclusions too often and pass harsh judgment on others.  I erroneously think I'm better than some people when they act strangely in public.  Perhaps this should be one of my new year resolutions I should work on improving.

Another lesson learned: A lot of stuff happens in your surroundings that may not be worth observing, but things can get interesting when you open your eyes and take out your iPod earbuds.

Ta!