I promised myself before I left that I would update my blog as often as possible. Of course, as anyone could have predicted...I haven't even thought about it since I left. And now...with only twenty minutes before I have to hop on a bus to meet with my tutor (at his house) for the first time, I've decided to attempt to cover on of the most epic weeks in a 20 minute time slot.
Sept. 30
Began as a frustrating day. Ash and I went out exploring, got incredibly lost, and ended up stumbling upon Soho...kind of. We were told the area of Soho we were in was the closest the UK comes to a red light district. Great. We ended up finding the cool Soho later on though and it was amazing. We then stumbled upon Piccadilly Circus, St. James's Park and Palace, Buckingham Palace, and finally made it back to the hotel. We had dinner at Porters with IFSA kids and I was introduced for the first time to Spotted Dick (amazing).
The night ended with a drink at the Crown and Anchor with Ashley in Covent Gardens, which is amazing. It was our snooty pub night where everyone was drinking wine and looking intellectual.
Oct. 1
Began with meetings and presentations. Apparently I was meant to live in England because conservative politics (as we think of conservative politics) does not exist there. Even the Tories are semi Liberal. Love it. They don't understand how issues like gay rights, abortion, and the death penalty exist in the US because they don't mix religion with politics at all.
We were also advised to dress in black and try to tone down the noise (as British people tend to be much more reserved and quiet than us Americans). Apparently British people also have the idea that all Americans are gun toting. We were told to expect questions about whether we have ever fired guns before. We were also given a safety talk by an ex-London police officer. He told us about his trip through Europe as a kid our age when he was mugged three times, had his passport stolen, and wound up in an Italian jail because he was sleeping in the subways. He was able to escape because the Italian police had to go out for pasta and left the door to his cell open.
Oct. 2 Highlights:
-Lunch at Tas (Turkish Restaurant)
-Walking tour of Soho, Chinatown, and the city of Westminster
-Coach and Horses pub in Soho
-Walked by the Hare Krishna dancing and chanting down the streets in Soho
-Dinner in Neal's Corner in Covent Garden at Piazetta (coolest area ever).
Oct. 3 Highlights:
-Tower of London
-Globe Theater
-Millenium Bridge (of HP6 fame)
-Walk by St. Paul's, London Eye, House of Parliament and Big Ben
-Westminster Abbey is closed on Sundays....ugh. Just another excuse to go back to London
-Harrod's
-Walk by Royal Albert Hall, Prince Albert Memorial, and Kensington Gardens
-Always get to an attraction an hour before closing or they won't let you in...even if they sell you tickets.
-Kensington Palace is being transformed
-Peter Pan Statue
-Speaker's Corner where we thought we were about to witness a riot...but didn't
-Animals in War memorial (no idea where this is or how we ended up there)
-Dinner at il Castelletto (yummy yummy yummy)
Oct. 4 Highlights:
-Someone in the hotel decides to use the fire exit door so the fire alarms go off for 10 minutes and the elevators won't work for over a half hour. Thus, we had to lug our luggage down four flights of stairs. Great.
-Met the visiting student tutor Dr. Elisabeth Dutton.
-Found out our tutorials, mine are: The Rise of the Novel and Oxford Fantasists
-Drinks/Dinner/Student Bar/Clubbing with the JCR reps
Hmm...caught up almost. We are in Fresher's Week at the moment so things are incredibly crazy. There are club nights every night as well as millions of activities during the day with the Fresher's and JYA students too. All in all....Worcester College in Oxford is amazing. You know it is when everyone starts chanting the name at a club while making the "whatever" sign.
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