Remiss in My Duty

Please forgive me for slacking in my responsibility of keeping you all informed. Classes have started, and without sounding too dour, fun and free time have ended. For all that, my classes are going pretty well. Shakespeare is cool, my prof is both knowledgable and passionate (a necessary and lucky combination) and we've read Midsummer Night's Dream, which I liked. We got to go see that play at the Globe, one of the many late nights I've had this week. History of London looks to be pretty neat too - the prof is just full of fascinating little facts. We have two class meetings a week, one lecture, and the other that is a walk around a part of London with our prof teaching us about the city. It's totally awesome. My Poli Sci class is going to give me a run for my money this semester; it's full of smart poli sci majors and I'm just not that educated in this subject.

Another night this week we went to the musical The Harder They Come. I would not reccommend it. The music was amazing, stunning voices (although it was reggae, so it all sounded the same) but the story was stupid. The audience had no reason to like the main character, he was cocky and stupid, and the whole political backstory left so much to be desired that we had no reason to care.

Today we took a boat down the river Thames to Greenwich, which was pretty cool. We spent most of the day in too large a group, not a good plan (herding 7 people, some of them particularly pokey, through a museum can be tricky) but once we split into smaller groups I had a much better time. I got a little sunburned though - certainly didn't think that would happen in London! Where's the famous british rain?

I hope all is going wonderfully for you in the states. I miss you guys a ton!

Yeah Saturday.

MIA

So sorry that I've been incommunicado lately. Classes have started, so free time has ended. We've also gone to plays the last two nights. I'm so tired! I still have a metric ton of poli sci reading, but I don't have class until 3, so I'll do it in the morning. I hope everything is going well for all of you at home. I miss you!

Goodnight

Lost in a Stinky Crowd and at the Symphony

I think I just might become a symphony addict. We went this evening and it was absolutely wonderful. Enchanting. Bewitching. I tell people that rock concerts are better when you know the words, and it's the same with classical music. The first composer we listened to (prokofiev), I'd never even heard of him, but the second selection was Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor, which I have a recording of. It was amazing to get lost in the music, and knowing the music made it so much better.

Earlier in the day, we went to the Notting Hill Carnival, which was not amazing. It was crowded, loud, dirty, and stinky. Plus, a little girl who shouldn't have been there mushed her ice cream cone on my pants. Eww. Well, I can say I went, and I can say that I'll never go back.

Classes start tomorrow with mixed feelings from Katie. I'm glad to be getting back into academia, but at the same time, I'll miss wondering around and spending all day exploring London. I'm only taking three classes this semester, so there will still be plenty of time to wander.

Cadbury still rocks.

Goodbye Olympics, but Thanks for Existing!

Lovely day doing London things. We got to go on a big bus tour this morning, all around London. It was cool to see all the sights, which we will undoubtedly visit in more depth at some point. Our tour guide was just a hoot, which made it more interesting--yeah that she wasn't some dry, boring old person.

After the tour we did something really cool. In a couple of the larger squares around London, giant TV screens had been set up for people to watch the Olympics. Well, today was the last day of the games, so we went to Trafalgar Square and watched to closing ceremonies in a whole group of Londoners. The summer games are coming here next, so everyone was all excited and patriotic. How lucky are we to be able to be a part of something like that, the British people welcoming the Olympics to their country. I love the Olympics so much. For a couple of weeks we are all united in the common pursuit of being really awesome at things. Way to go world.

We also used the tube for hte first time today. Now that we know basically what to do, it's much less scary. I'm totally going to be able to go to church on my own. We actually drove past my churchbuilding near Hyde Park today, so I got to get a look at it and I know what tube station to use. Sweet. We had company over for dinner tonight, a couple of Oberlin students, and we had crepes with chicken and feta, which was totally delicious. One more day of summer (Notting Hill Carnival and Prom Concert) and then back to the old grindstone. I need to go finish Midsummer Night's Dream!

Goodnight Moon

Today, Peanut Butter. Tomorrow, maybe Peas

Orientation yesterday was kind of boring. It wasn't class stuff, but I have lots of opinions about that anyway. I often feel like stuff like that would be way more useful like a third of the way through the semester. Seriously, who remembers stuff from the first few days of classes. I always write stuff on my syllabus about what the teachers' late policies are and I get all stressed about all the stuff I have to do. Of course, I forget it all immediately. Those first few days of classes (which, remember, I have not yet done for this semester) are more full of more forgotten information (did that make sense) than any other days.

Also- Italian Job is about the coolest movie. Heist movies rock. Even more than a monkey, I want to do that!

Today, we found a huge grocery store that even had peanut butter. It was quite a walk from our flat, but still, peanut butter. I bet they have hummus and frozen peas too. Don't worry, I won't eat them together. We also found an awesome old used bookstore that not only had two copies of Timon of Athens, but also that perfect old book smell. It's one of those smells that triggers an all around state of well being, like the way Anna's car smells, or the cabin. A very productive day of adventuring.

Sleep well!

Interesting Things I Have Realized Today

Interesting things I have realized today:

- We really need much less food than we eat. I've eaten today probably less food than fits in a Chipotle Burrito.

- I'd forgotten how delicious Cadbury chocolate is. Stuff at home just doesn't compare.

- My sense of direction is better than I thought, but still not that great.

- I am straight up a Toys-R-Us kid, I don't want to grow up. Having a full time job takes a lot of time and having to buy real things like food on a limited budget is scary.

- Today, I didn't really wake up and become my chatty, noisy, squirrely self until about 5. Before then, I was largely monosyllabic and unopinionated.

Looks like I'm finding myself, eh?

Cheers

Greetings From the UK

To appease the requests of the multitude who seek a peek into my oh-so fascinating life:

Look out world, someone let Katie have a blog.

Molly and I arrived in London yesterday morning, after a night on the plane with little sleep. Due to some sort of error along the way, I was in first class, which was quite odd. Not only was I the younges person in the section by about 30 years, but I felt much too unsophisticated. The meal was multiple courses and they even put a "table cloth" over my tray table. Weird.

Our flat is nice, larger and nicer than we all expected. It's long and spread out, which means we have to walk a ways from the kitchen to the dining/living room, but that also means that we're not sitting on top of and bumping into each other all the time. We live just a few blocks south of Regents Park, which we discovered today is quite green and beautiful.

The last two days have been mostly exploring the streets of London, getting lost and unlost, and not getting hit by the crazy drivers. Molly and I got asked for directions twice - we must not look like tourists :)

We also discovered today that brits would call Molly's suspenders braces and that we shouldn't call out pants pants because that means underwear, but to call them trousers instead. Seems like we could get into trouble with the second one.

Hope you all are rocking the states!