It's been nearly two weeks since I first arrived in London, though it seems like I've been here much longer - in a good way. One thing that hasn't changed since last week is that I still have not had a single class this semester! I will officially begin classes this Tuesday, October 6th at 11am with "19th & 20th Century Art in London Collections." I got pretty lucky with my schedule - I think, anyway - and I only have class at UCL on Tuesdays & Thursdays; my Villanova class is on Monday nights in South Kensington.
What have I been doing for the past two weeks if not studying & going to class?
I made the ten minute walk down to Oxford Street from my dorm room and fell further in love with the area I live in. Stores with every style of clothing pinned with ranging price tags lined the bustling street as I narrow-mindedly made my way to my long anticipated target: TOPSHOP. I only heard of Topshop a short time before leaving for my trip but ever since the five story store entered my mind, I had to get there. I tried on a million things, not knowing which size I was or which style I would make my own, let alone the pound to dollar conversion. My biggest hesitation with buying things at Topshop was that these metropolitan, European styles would perhaps never be worn again when I return to Southeastern PA next semester. But that was just a hesitation - not a halt to my shopping. I figured, hey.. I'm in London.. I'll deal with next semester then.
You can see my priorities when I talk about Buckingham Palace after Topshop... but in reality, I did go sightseeing before shopping. From the front, Buckingham Palace didn't look very royally palatial to me; it seemed more of a state building that you might find in D.C. had the USA been an older country. However, my friends & I made our visit just in time to catch one of the last days of the tour through the inside of the state rooms in the palace. The palace looked beautiful from the gardens that the tour eventually let us out on. Everything inside was gorgeous, ornate, and full of royal history that continues on today.
That fact is probably the coolest thing about going to all of the London historical sights: their traditions are still very much alive. Everything you see is still used in the administration of the state. Their preservation of royalty is also fascinating.
I haven't gone inside the houses of Parliament or Westminster Abbey, but I've visited the area a few times and plan to peek inside soon. I learned, from multiple people, in what seems to be one of those facts that Londoners won't let tourists mistake, that Big Ben is actually the bell inside the tower - not the clock, as even I believed it was before a million locals ingrained the truth in my head.
After walking over Millenium bridge, I took a ride on the London Eye, which was spectacular. The ride offered views of every corner of London. There is a big difference between the London & Manhattan skylines: buildings in London are relatively low. There are sparsely located skyscrapers but really nothing comparable to NYC buildings. This low skyline makes for a never-ending view of both the inner and outer city, which was so cool to see. I live around the block from this hideously ugly but very tall telecom tower so spotting my neighborhood from the sky was not a problem.
The Crown Jewels at the Tower of London was one of my favorite tourist stops so far. It is so neat that all of the real jewels that have been worn for centuries and are still worn on the right occasion today are on display for the public. The US keeps our sacred piece of paper hidden behind a massive vault... their billions of dollars of jewels are right out in the open, though at night they are similarly locked in a huge vault. I wonder if that says anything about our countries- we vault paper, they semi-vault jewels... never thought of that until now. Well, actually, my friends & I have been talking about how people are generally more laid back here, enjoying a pint at the pub what seems like every night of the week as opposed to the cut-throat New Yorkers who wait for the weekend to go all out.
Speaking of pubs, nightlife in London has been so much fun. Last week, as part of Fresher's Week at UCL, we checked out Koko, a Broadway-style theater converted into a multi-level nightclub... I loved the venue, it was so clever. The past two nights I spent at O'Neills in Piccadilly Circus. I had been advised to check out O'Neills, the three-story pub featuring live music on the top floor, from multiple parties and all of them knew exactly what they were talking about. It was soo much fun, with people swinging and dancing on every floor, and enjoying the band on the top floor. The ranging ages and nationalities it attracts makes for a really good mix of people, which is entirely different from Tuesday nights at Sports Cafe, also in Piccadilly. The beer pong tables, lounges, dance floor, and cheap drinks it features on Tuesdays lures every American college student spending the semester in London. Though it seems completely typical, it actually makes for one of the best nights of the week because you finally get to be in a place with a familiar feel where you know people. I ran into dozens of Villanovans, a girl from my hometown, and the people I met earlier during my time at UCL. The general consensus among all of them was that Tuesdays would be spent at Sports Cafe.
Besides the cheap drinks at Sports Cafe, there isn't much in London that is cheaper here than at home - except theater tickets. Wednesday night I went to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria theater for only 30 GBP, which is roughly $55. When I saw Wicked on Broadway in NY a few years back, my family paid around $110 a ticket in February for advance tickets in May. We bought our second row Orchestra (though to the side) tickets a day ahead of time in Leicester Square. Since I had seen it before, I wasn't sure how the British accent would fit in to the production - but it actually had little affect on it... we'll see if the same goes for something like Jersey Boys.
After my first week (which is really just two days) of classes, I'm heading to Amsterdam for the weekend. Though I'm interested to see how these classes will be, I'm really excited for my first trip!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
We'll figure it out...
I have this new weird obsession with the color purple... luckily, it's been appearing a lot this season so I've been able to find it on many different items, including my new sunglasses which I bought especially for my trip to London! ... I'm not deluded, I also bought a new umbrella.
Speaking of London..... I flew over earlier this week with one of my very good friends, Molly, who is also spending the semester here, though at a different school. Ever since I arrived here, all I can do is compare what I've encountered to what I'm used to. Molly & I quickly noticed a catchphrase coming to life as we wondered how life would be different in London and how we would learn to deal with it: We'll figure it out....
So lets see - What's different?
My dorm, which is primarily a freshman dorm - though fortunately it also houses a large number of international affiliate students also from the States - is completely co-ed. Accustomed to the single sex floors of Villanova I've been living in the past two years, sharing a bathroom with probably thirty to forty other people, including BOYS is actually very different. I find it kind of strange that I think this difference is so strange... but I can't deny these feelings. I haven't run into any benefits/consequences of this situation - but I'll note any that arise since this oddly interests me.
Being a study abroad program and needing only a C in order to transfer my credits without affecting my GPA at Villanova, you could imagine my surprise when the Political Studies Department handed me over 100 pages of policies and probably seven syllabi that are longer than any others I've ever seen. Here, an A is considered anything between 70 and 100 percent... but an 80 is considered extremely hard to get, as it denotes work worthy of publishing! Holy geez. Not only that, but the grades are based entirely on one or two essays - class participation is not considered. Even worse - the professor (or tutor, as they've been called) is but only one of potentially three (but definitely two) people who grade the paper so that there is no favoritism or grade inflation "as there is in the States," as the department chair explained to my shock and horror... GREAT! Hopefully, I miraculously know the material and am able to do well without too much effort even though I've literally never seen so much suggested & further readings listed on syllabi in all my years of schooling.
When I was first browsing through a store- Tesco, which is similar to CVS - I thought to myself, "why does everyone say London is so expensive?!" I found wine for 3.62, fruit bowls 2 for 2.00, meals at decent restaurants for 8.95, and drinks for 1.50. It took me a few days - and the depletion of my wallet - to really impound in my head that the pound is nearly double the dollar, which is unfortunate. What a cruel tease!
The drinking age! Being ID'd without that nervous knot knit in the pit of my stomach is one of the most happyyy feelings... even better is not being ID'd at all. Wine with dinner, beer at the pubs and with burgers (for only 3.95, which, again, originally seemed like an unbelievable steal!) ... it's been fun. This next week is considered Fresher's Week at UCL. The first week of the term, there are no classes... only university sponsored events at some of London's "best clubs," which I so far, know nothing about. When I bought my tickets, they stressed how strict the clubs are about having a legitimate ID for being 18... no problem!
---
On a sidenote, I've met great people, I'm enjoying city life, I love my location (it reminds me of a more modern/clean-cut version of the area south of Washington Square Park in NYC), I think my school is going to be great, I can't wait to travel, and so far, I seem to be figuring it all out quite nicely. I even learned that my favorite game of "Hey Cutieee!" translates to "Hey Fittieee!" here... watch out, the game is going international.
Peace. Love. London.
Speaking of London..... I flew over earlier this week with one of my very good friends, Molly, who is also spending the semester here, though at a different school. Ever since I arrived here, all I can do is compare what I've encountered to what I'm used to. Molly & I quickly noticed a catchphrase coming to life as we wondered how life would be different in London and how we would learn to deal with it: We'll figure it out....
So lets see - What's different?
My dorm, which is primarily a freshman dorm - though fortunately it also houses a large number of international affiliate students also from the States - is completely co-ed. Accustomed to the single sex floors of Villanova I've been living in the past two years, sharing a bathroom with probably thirty to forty other people, including BOYS is actually very different. I find it kind of strange that I think this difference is so strange... but I can't deny these feelings. I haven't run into any benefits/consequences of this situation - but I'll note any that arise since this oddly interests me.
Being a study abroad program and needing only a C in order to transfer my credits without affecting my GPA at Villanova, you could imagine my surprise when the Political Studies Department handed me over 100 pages of policies and probably seven syllabi that are longer than any others I've ever seen. Here, an A is considered anything between 70 and 100 percent... but an 80 is considered extremely hard to get, as it denotes work worthy of publishing! Holy geez. Not only that, but the grades are based entirely on one or two essays - class participation is not considered. Even worse - the professor (or tutor, as they've been called) is but only one of potentially three (but definitely two) people who grade the paper so that there is no favoritism or grade inflation "as there is in the States," as the department chair explained to my shock and horror... GREAT! Hopefully, I miraculously know the material and am able to do well without too much effort even though I've literally never seen so much suggested & further readings listed on syllabi in all my years of schooling.
When I was first browsing through a store- Tesco, which is similar to CVS - I thought to myself, "why does everyone say London is so expensive?!" I found wine for 3.62, fruit bowls 2 for 2.00, meals at decent restaurants for 8.95, and drinks for 1.50. It took me a few days - and the depletion of my wallet - to really impound in my head that the pound is nearly double the dollar, which is unfortunate. What a cruel tease!
The drinking age! Being ID'd without that nervous knot knit in the pit of my stomach is one of the most happyyy feelings... even better is not being ID'd at all. Wine with dinner, beer at the pubs and with burgers (for only 3.95, which, again, originally seemed like an unbelievable steal!) ... it's been fun. This next week is considered Fresher's Week at UCL. The first week of the term, there are no classes... only university sponsored events at some of London's "best clubs," which I so far, know nothing about. When I bought my tickets, they stressed how strict the clubs are about having a legitimate ID for being 18... no problem!
---
On a sidenote, I've met great people, I'm enjoying city life, I love my location (it reminds me of a more modern/clean-cut version of the area south of Washington Square Park in NYC), I think my school is going to be great, I can't wait to travel, and so far, I seem to be figuring it all out quite nicely. I even learned that my favorite game of "Hey Cutieee!" translates to "Hey Fittieee!" here... watch out, the game is going international.
Peace. Love. London.
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