What a week!

So it's been awhile since my last post, but I've had good reasons. Last week wasn't very exciting, just going to class and hanging out, nothing unusual, so I didn't feel the need to bore you with mundane accounts of my day to day duties. Starting Sunday though, the week has been crazy, and it's only gonna continue for at least the next week, but I feel more like the next month.

Sunday was the Chinese New Year celebration in Trafalgar Square. I had read a fair amount about it before going, but I had high hopes as apparently it's one of the biggest Chinese New Year events in the world, of course China leading the way. I met up with Michelle and Hannah and we headed into the madness that was the transformed Trafalgar Square. The decorations were neat, Chinese lanterns hanging everywhere, lots of balloons, a few huge dragons (it's the year of the dragon) throughout all centered around the central main stage. The stage was home to all of the singers, dancers, comedians, magicians and speakers that were performing throughout the day. Along the outskirts of the square were tons of small tents and food trucks selling everything from Chinese food, to doughnuts, to stuffed animal dragons, to those little firework poppers you throw on the ground and they spark and make a pop! (Tons of those, completely covering the ground, best of luck to the cleaning crew for the event.) We stayed for a little bit, but other than standing in the masses looking at the stage and shopping, there wasn't really much else to do.

 

A firework display as seen from my room on Monday night, the actual Chinese New Year.

The Main stage.

That being said, we headed over to Chinatown where we knew there were other, smaller, celebrations going on. Chinatown, as expected, was packed. There were literally lines just to get into restaurants. After seeing the masses, we quickly abandoned our original plan of having Chinese for dinner, and walked around Soho finding a quirky little pizza place to eat instead. While sitting in the restaurant, we did see half of a decorative dragon costume run by, followed minutes later by the tail end sprinting to catch up. That was about as Chinese as our New Year got. It was cool, especially the decorations, and I'm glad we went, but overall, a little bit of a crowded disappointment- for whatever reason I was expecting a little more.

Chinatown

Chinatown

Monday was quite the day as well as it was my 21st birthday! My only class for the day happened to be cancelled due to my professor's cold, so I got to relax and enjoy! I got to sleep in (always a good thing) and spent the day online talking to friends, going grocery shopping, and baking a cake for later that night. 7 of us ended up meeting up and going to dinner in Chinatown since we didn't get the opportunity to on Sunday. After dinner we all headed home and got changed before meeting up again and heading out to Hawaiian themed Mahiki! Such a great night with great friends, which really helped make my first birthday away from home or school. Turning 21 isn't quite the same when the country's drinking age is 18, I didn't even get carded for anything, however it was a blast!

Liz got to mix our drinks....

...while our bartenders had themselves a photoshoot

The rest of the week is gonna be hectic as well! Tonight is Lara and I's weekly Tuesday Italian dinner night, tomorrow will be spent writing one of the three papers who have rapidly approaching deadlines, and Thursday we have tickets to go see Matilda the Musical! We've been trying to get tickets for awhile, but nearly every show thus far has been sold out, so we ended up just getting the cheapest seats we could from the box office instead of going to one of those discount ticket offices. The weekend will likely be spent exploring some more and working on these papers and then the following week is Paris! I can't believe I've been here for nearly a month already, it's crazy. It seems like just yesterday I was home, yet at the same time, I feel like I've been here forever. We've been saying around here that we figured January would go by slow, and then as February hit time would fly with all the schoolwork and weekend trips, so here we go, hold on tight!

Oxford!

This weekend has been great- very relaxing. Friday I had no classes, and it was wonderful waking up without the aid of an alarm clock for the first time in a while. I spent it being a bum- running errands, doing some reading for class and watching episodes of Modern Family- my new addiction. It was wonderful.

Saturday was a great day as Liz, Emily and I headed out to Oxford in the morning. We got to our bus early, and when we arrived, the bus driver agreed to let us on the earlier bus...but only if we sang for him. We thought he was kidding...he wasn't. He even pulled out his phone to record our performance. One off key "Happy Birthday" later we were on our way to Oxford- but not until he decided to play our song through the bus microphone so the whole bus could enjoy the musical genius that was our trio. Oh, Richard, you'll forever be my favorite bus driver. Oxford was a blast, so much more fun than I anticipated. We walked around town, went up the "hanging hill" where criminals were executed, and wandered into a pub for lunch. After that we hit the covered market and Christ Church College. Fun fact: Oxford isn't an individual school. It's the name that is collectively used by the 38 smaller colleges in the town. Each college has their own campus, dorms, and classes, yet refer to themselves collectively as Oxford University. The sports teams uniforms say "Oxford" but you apply to the individual colleges, not Oxford itself. Anyways, we went into Christ Church, arguably the most famous of the 38 as it was the home to Hogwarts in the movies. The campus was beautiful- so Harry Potter haha.We went into the cathedral, courtyard and hallways before entering the Great Hall- home to the sorting hat and cafeteria of Hogwarts.

Christ Church Cathedral

Courtyards of Christ Church

Hallways of Hogwarts

The Great Hall!

We ended our trip getting DELICIOUS cookies and milkshakes from this place called Moo Moos. The line was insane, we waited probably 15 minutes to order, then another 30 to actually get our shakes but they were so worth it. They literally had any flavor you could imagine, well over a 100 listed on their menu. I opted for Kit-Kat, Liz got Cadbury Creme Egg and Emily got Rice Krispies- winners all around. After that we headed back to the bus for the short hour fifteen minute drive back into London.

Today we all met up again, plus Ariel to go to Brick Lane market. A series of unannounced tube closures and an hour later, we ended up in Notting Hill at Portobello Market instead. Notting Hill is adorable, straight out of the movie. Beautiful town homes and lots of cute shops. We wandered into a small organic cafe then headed out to peruse the market. While I didn't get the purse or watch on my wishlist, I did get a fresh strawberry and creme crepe and was happy as a clam the rest of the day...until the Ravens lost. Still don't understand how you miss a field goal when your entire career is based off of your capability (or lack thereof) to make field goals. Better luck next year boys.

As I mentioned in the last post, lots has been happening as far as booking trips! Ariel and I are fully booked to head to Paris the second weekend of February for three days, and Ariel, Lara and I are booked for our student union sponsored trip to Amsterdam the first weekend in March. We're aiming to pick a date for Barcelona this week! Sooooo exciting, I can't believe this is my semester.  Birthday week has officially begun in London time, so off to figure out some ways to make turning 21 in a city with a drinking age of 18 a little more interesting!

Back to School, Back to School

So this week was the first week of classes, and while very different from the United States, all went well.

My Monday class is Body and Society- an upper level sociology class. The professor is really laid back and open to anything, and the class itself is very similar to a medical sociology class I took last semester, so even though its my highest level class, I think I'll do just fine in it. Like all of my other classes here, there is no daily (well weekly actually, since we only meet for each class once a week) homework, there are only two graded assignments- both papers. While one of them is a bit long, after last semesters 45+ pages, 7 is nothing.

Tuesday my class didn't start until 2.30 which was nice, except for it didn't let out until 5.30. When the sun sets before 4 every day, it was absolutely brutal to go into class with it sunny, watch the sun set, and walk out when its pitch black. I'm not used to three hours straight of class or night classes so it was a little difficult to continue to pay attention. The class itself is really interesting though. It's Olympic Cities: Leisure and Regeneration. Pretty much we talk about how the Olympics in general, with an obvious emphasis on the 2012 London Olympics has on the city and the people living in the city. There is only one paper and one group project for that class, and we even take a day to go tour the main Olympic site here which will be amazing.

Wednesday was my early morning (9-12) Art and Society class. This class is available only to exchange and study abroad students, with the whole focus being that our learning should be in London, not just in the class room. We meet for one hour in a lecture hall where were told about some significant sight in London (Tuesday's was the Tate Britain art museum) and then the remaining two hours are spent traveling to the site and then touring it. I'm really excited for this class, not only because its actually only an hour in the classroom, but because we see so many notable London museums and buildings throughout the course. Next week were going to St. Paul's Cathedral, and other weeks include various exhibits at different national galleries- many of which I've been told were a necessity to do while in London.

Lastly, Thursday's class was Globalization and Media- a lower level sociology class. Thankfully a girl on my floor, Sarah is in the same class and seminar as me, so I had a walking buddy. Class doesn't start til 1, which is really nice, expect for lecture ends at 2 and my seminar for that class isn't until 4. The class seems really interesting, all about the inter-connectivity of the world due to various forms of media. After lecture we walked around a few little shops in the area until it was time for seminar at 4. We have a different seminar leader than lecture teacher which is a little strange, but our seminar leader was awesome, so happy and enthusiastic and let us go at 445 when we were supposed to get out at 6. I don't hate it. This class is the only one that I have a final in- all the rest are just papers and projects due either the last week  of class, or are to be turned in online in May during the final exam period. Only bummer is that here they don't release the final exam schedule until March or so, so I won't know when the final is. I'm hoping it's before my May 18 flight home, but also hoping its towards the middle of May so that way even though the first week of May technically is final exam period, that I have that freedom to stay out and travel a bit more if I don't have a final immediately.

Sarah and I came back to Marylebone and started preparing our floor dinner. All 6 of us had finally moved in, so we did a potluck style dinner last night to get to know one another. There are 4 American study abroad students, and then two full time degree seeking students who both happen to be internationals, a girl from Japan and a boy from Pakistan. After talking to them it was great cause they gave us a heads up on alot of their favorite places to go in the city, cheap places to buy things (apparently there is a one pound store relatively near by) and talked to us alot about their experience being here. They are both first years, so don't know all the ins and outs but do know a lot more than us. For example: our semester here is 12 weeks. Apparently 2 of those weeks are "reading weeks"- one in the middle of February, and the other is actually the last week of class which is right before our month long spring break. At first I thought it was the biggest of jokes, but then I realized that I have three papers due the end of the reading week in February, so I will absolutely be using those class-less days slaving away in the library, and then the second reading week my family will be here, so the timing couldn't have been better.

In other news, I am finally starting to book weekend trips to other places. The school student union offers a trip to Amsterdam the first weekend in March for a steal of only 125 pounds for two nights hotel and our travel to and from plus cover into a club in Amsterdam. A lot of people here are planning on going, so Ariel and I are booking our spots this afternoon. Paris is also in the works. It's looking like the first or second week of February a small group of us will be escaping for a three day Parisian holiday. Were also in the process of looking at other dates to block off for a trip to Barcelona a few of us really would like to go on, and then hopefully within a few weeks will have planned our month off spring break- hopefully to Germany, Italy and Greece. After all these cloudy days, I need a beach. That's pretty much all that's been going on this week. It seems really busy, but actually with no homework and only one class a day, I have absurd amounts of free time. I know once the semester gets into swing I'll need to use that to start taking care of my papers well in advance so I can actually have spring break as a break, not writing the papers I have due in May. I have no Friday classes, so today is gonna be a lazy day of lounging around, booking trips, and going over the few readings I have for class next week. Tomorrow, Emily, Liz and I are taking a day trip to Oxford, so I'm sure towards the end of the weekend there will be another post with plenty of pictures to accompany it.

So Many Sights, So Little Time

The past few days have been packed with all sorts of adventures, so I will probably find myself blogging more often just so I don't forget the details!

Thursday was our first free day post-orientation. I sort of wish they had more events planned for later in the week because we literally had Thursday-Sunday with nothing to do, so I was afraid I'd end up getting really bored and staying in my room. Thursday was far from that, luckily. I met up with Anna, Michelle and Emily and we went down to Westminster to see Big Ben, the Eye, and Westminster Abbey. To our dismay, when we got to the Eye we learned it was closed for the next two weeks, so we couldn't get on like we had planned, but all the better reason to go back down in a few weeks when it reopens. From there we just sort of went where the wind took us. We explored Covent Garden and went through the fabulous markets (Michelle and I got a brownie that was to die for,) Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, and ended up in Victoria with a quick tour of Emily and Michelle's dorm and dinner at a delicious Asain restaurant. It seems to be a trend here that our little adventures turn into huge days of sight seeing and walking much more than anticipated.

Houses of Parlament

Westminster Abbey

London Bridge

Olympics countdown in Trafalgar Square

The girls in front of the National Gallery

Friday and Saturday were much more relaxed than days preceding them. I spent the days attempting to wake up early and beat this jetlag, running errands and going on actual runs, and just finishing getting completely situated. Friday night a bunch of us from the larger group that was together on the cruise met up at a pub in Camdentown- a growingly trendy area of London. We attempted to take the bus there as buses are much cheaper than tube rides, but found ourselves somehow on the outskirts of London near Heathrow Airport. Turns out we took the right bus, but the wrong direction- an expensive (30 pound cab ride) yet educational mistake. I've taken the bus since, and have been sure to double check and make sure I'm headed on the right number bus, but most importantly in the right direction. Saturday day was more getting situated and Saturday night five of us went out to celebrate Hannah's 21st birthday. Our goal was to score last minute tickets to see Matilda the Musical from one of those last call ticket boxes, but unfortunately they were sold out. The guy said the show is one of the most popular here right now, and we looked online and you can get regular tickets pretty cheap- only like 20 or 25 pounds so were gonna pick a day and just get tickets that way to make sure we can see it. As the show didn't happen, we just explored Covent Garden some more and wound up at a little Italian restaurant for Hannah's birthday dinner. After that, I called it a night as I had an early morning Sunday.

Sunday's wake up call was early - 7 am- but so worth it as it was the day Anna and I had booked our tour ticket to see Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath. Windsor was first, around 50 minutes from the city. Sadly, the castle was closed so we couldn't go in, but our wonderful and kooky tour guide William took us all around the little town filling our noggins with facts and giving us plenty of photo opportunities. Windsor really is a cute little town. Lots of landmarks- the castle, the chapel where Charles and Camilla got married, a short walk to the college William and Harry attended, with lots and lots of charm. The only thing I wish was that it was warmer and that we actually got to go inside of the castle. Knowing its less than an hour away though, there's lots of potential to go back and actually see the inside.

Windsor Castle.

Royal Garden

Next was Stonehenge, about an hour fifteen minutes from Windsor. We were given an hour to explore, but after about 20 minutes Anna and I returned to the bus. It was really neat to see, something that was truly awe inspiring and it was so surreal that we were actually there, but in the freezing cold and wind, we could only stare at some rocks for so long before we headed back to the bus. Note to self: next time, plan tours when its above -1 degrees Celsius. I would describe it as something I am so lucky and happy I got to see, and would recommend it to others, but wouldn't necessarily see again myself.

Rocks on rocks on rocks.

After Stonehenge was our final destination- Bath. Bath was beautiful. A relatively large city paved with beautiful cobblestone streets, quaint cafes, and lots of history. My favorite part of that day by far was going to the Roman Baths in Bath. The Baths were beautiful. The museum takes you through the ruins of the Roman temple of Aquae Sullis before bringing out to see the largest of the three natural hot spring baths. We weren't allowed to touch the water, and frankly I wouldn't want to - it looked nasty, but you could clearly see the steam blowing in the wind off of the water. You end up seeing the other two, smaller hot springs, the only still around in the United Kingdom, before the tour ends in the Pump Room. The Pump Room is the Baths restaurant that is home to the pump connected to the actual spring underground. All are welcome to have a glass, so Anna and I made a toast to our day and took a sip. Would I ever drink hot spring water again? Absolutely not. It was hot and tasted super metallic, almost like a rusty water fountain tastes, but as they say, when in Rom(an Baths).

Bath Abbey.

The Great Bath from the second story terrace.

Just hanging out with my Roman friends.

Anna and I. Our tour guide was really into taking pictures of us. Everywhere we go he pointed out numerous places that make good photo ops and if you walked by while he happened to be framing one out, you were trapped, no getting out til he took your picture. He was over enthusiastic, giving us all quite a few unintentional laughs, but over all meant well, knew a ton of stuff, and made a great tour guide. He even brought us chocolate to eat on the trip home!

One of the waterfalls still running inside the ruins.

The Great Bath at ground level, if you look closely you can see the steam.

The pump that sourced our spring water.

The trip home from Bath was long, nearly 2 and a half hours, but good old William provided us with movies to watch so the time went by fast. It was a draining day, plus today was the first day of school, so after a few quick skype sessions, I called it a night- my first time here asleep before 12.30! Classes started today, and I had my only one - the body and society. The was classes work here is you only meet once a week, but for three hours- a one hour lecture and two hour, smaller seminar. My class was 10-1 and went really well. I was a little nervous because its a level 6 class which is equivalent to your final year of studies, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The class went great though, my teacher is funny, really good about explaining things with examples and in multiple ways, and even paused to describe British references she was making to the four American students in the class. The class seems super interesting, and very similar to a medical sociology class I took in the fall, so I think it will be good. Only two assessments too, both papers which after last semester I have plenty of experience with. It is a little strange though being in class for such a long time, and having much less formal structure. Our professor puts a ton of readings online and we are just told to "prepare" ourselves with them before each class- no real specific reading assignment which is throwing me off a little. On the plus side though- no textbooks to buy. I'm really interested to see how my other classes this week are as they are lower levels and one is only available to exchange and study abroad students. I'll keep you posted after this week!

Bars and Bridges and Boats, oh my!

The past few days have each been so different, yet the blur together as I feel like I've been here for so much longer than I actually have. I already feel much more acclimated to the city even though its only been a few days. I'm confident using the tube, walking around by myself day or night, and am starting to develop a sense of orientation in respect to my dorm. The jet-lag is still present though. I normally think of jet lag as being really tired really early, like it is in California, but its the opposite here. I can't fall asleep even though I'm in bed trying until like 3 or so here which would be around 11 US time. Going to bed isn't the bad part, it's waking up. I've been trying to wake up earlier and earlier to get used to it, but so far 10.30 is the earliest I've been able to, I suppose because my body thinks 10 here is 5 at home. Luckily this week is really relaxed with nothing to do early in the mornings, so I pray by my 10am class Monday I'll have fully converted to London time. The whole 24 hour clock thing I need to work on too, as silly as it is, it's really throwing me off.

Monday was quite a busy day. We had orientation in the early afternoon and I met two girls there that I have hung out with since. Most of orientation was pretty generic information that I already know, or that was supplied to us in a massive packet they handed out, however it did have some good information in it. For example, you can't just hail a taxi from the street here. It's actually illegal. You must call a cab company and they will direct their closest driver to your location. That being said, along with wanting to keep in contact with the new friends I was meeting I went to get my UK mobile, did some grocery shopping and a bunch or errands immediately after orientation ended. Later that night, a girl on my floor and I attended a "social outing" our student event coordinator put on. There were about 20 of us, mostly Americans with our British coordinator who headed out to Mahiki- a really neat Polynesian themed club. Eliot- the British student knew a manager at the club so we were able to get in for free and got a few free drinks, so the entire night of meeting lots of people ended up costing only a one way tube ticket.

Tuesday was a little more relaxed. I went to breakfast with a few girls I met the previous night at the club, and then went to my adviser meeting at the Education Abroad Center where I ran into a lot of people I had met the night before which was really nice. I was able to change my schedule around so I have Fridays off (hello Thursday through Sunday trips) and learned that I actually only have one final exam. The way the system works is we have 10 weeks of class, then essentially the entire month of April off to "study" and then the month of May is reserved for final exams. Each of my classes only has two assignments, most of them papers, but in three of my four the last assignment is due before our month off, great news so hopefully I'll be able to extend my April traveling month into May a bit, and since my return ticket is before the finals period ends, its looking good that I'll actually be able to come home when planned. Later that night Lara and I met up to go to an orientation event for independent students like ourselves. We got to meet a fair amount of others like us, some from the states, but a lot from other places which was really neat. The bar had a "pub quiz" so we spend an hour and a half or so attempting to test our knowledge of British pop culture. Fun fact: don't put three Americans, 1 Colombian, 1 German, and 1 Swiss student in a group and expect them to do well. We proudly took last place.

Today was a great day, probably the best yet. I met up with Liz and Anna, the two girls from orientation this morning and we explored the famous Regent's Park. I was a little underimpressed though, especially after already being to Hyde Park. While the park was nice, well maintained, popular with joggers, it just seemed kind of blah, nothing exciting- no gardens, no sculptures, just a green space really. Tonight we had our "boat party disco" as the last orientation event. Liz and I headed over together since we live in the same dorm, and due to unforeseen tube traffic were a bit late. The invitation said they were leaving promptly at 5.20, and at 5.30 we were still on the tube. Luckily, they did send a person out to catch the stragglers like us, and we headed to the Thames to get on the ferry. The cruise was pretty neat- we got to see the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, The Eye, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament all lit up and from the water. The sights were amazing, and I met up with a lot of the people I had met at the international bar the night before.  We ended up forming a group of ten- mostly American with some Swiss, German, Danish, French and Colombian additions. The cruise didn't end til 9 though, and as we boarded around 5, none of us had eaten dinner and we starving so our group of misfits headed to a pub just across from the boat dock. The pub was great, and apparently a chain with out of their pubs being directly across the street from my room. My grilled chicken sandwich came with fries and any pub drink I wanted for only 5 pounds. Can't beat that, so needless to say our group absolutely plans on headed back there often. It was really nice to meet people who were from other countries to learn about their backgrounds and even nicer to finally meet a group of people I feel really similar to. All of us seemed to be very much on the same page in regards to why we are here- to travel, to explore and to see the culture- not just to go to bars and clubs like some of the other Americans here. We all exchanged numbers, and I absolutely plan to see them all again in the next few free days we have before classes on Monday, and hopefully we wind up traveling places together. Especially after being with the group today, London's finally starting to feel a bit like home.

Some of the girls of the group Margarita from Mexico, Liz from Canada and Manuela from Colmbia in front of the Tower Bridge.

More of our group with the bridge as the backdrop. Most of my pictures of it came out blurry, so these are the best I have so far.

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

The London Eye.

Liz and I in front of Big Ben.

Mind the gap, please.

Well, I made it. The past two days have been a whirlwind.

Yesterday our plane arrived about 30 minutes earlier than planned and Lara and I headed to customs and to find out way out. Customs was super easy to get through- I had an envelope of assorted papers that I was told would be needed to gain entry, but I just needed to show her my acceptance letter and BAM! student visa! Getting to the dorm was much simpler than I anticipated. We took the high speed train into Paddington Station, and from there Lara and I went our separate ways- her dorm is south so she took the tube, while I took a taxi to my northern dorm. Checking in was easy- complete with a preordered bedding set waiting for me, and a maintenance man to carry my luggage and teach me how to use my key and the doors (you can't just open them, you need to hit a button for them to move.) The day itself was a bit rough, lots of unpacking and organizing into my itty bitty room, needing to buy towels, food, and toiletries but not knowing where to go, unable to pay for things with small denominations of cash cause I wasn't sure which coin was which, and just a lot of stress. The biggest thing was that it was kind of lonely. I'm in a private room with a private bath (if you would call it that, my wingspan can cover the entire "room") and no one was seeming to be in the common areas or communal kitchen. You can't get access to other sections of the dorm without living there due to the key system, so it was very isolating. I met a few people while out running errands who live in my dorm, but they are all part of a larger privately run abroad program and had already been together and in London for a week, so I felt like a bit of an outsider. Lara said she had experienced pretty much the same thing in that no one is really super social or goes out of their way to introduce themselves, so to prevent ourselves from just sitting in our room all of Sunday, we made plans to meet up.

As you enter my room.

My "bathroom." See that white thing blocking the sink? Yep that's the shower. My bathmat needs to be folded to fit between the shower and the toilet, it's that small.

The bed and desk area.

The view from my 11th story room.

Today was so much better than yesterday. I went to bed around 9 London time, and woke up around 10 for a full 13 hours of much needed sleep. A relaxed morning led up to meeting Lara at "The Globe"- a Sherlock Holmes style pub for lunch and to watch a bit of the Man City-Manchester United game. What did I learn? You seat yourself, order at the bar, and here on Baker Street, there are a lot more Man U fans than Man City ones. From there we set out walking just to explore and decided to head towards Hyde Park- a 10 minute walk or so from my residence. The park looked big on our map, but boy is it big. We saw a bunch of greens and memorials before we hopped on the underground  for my first tube experience.

One of the many statues in Hyde Park.

Part of the Princess Diana Water Fountain Memorial.

Street vendors blowing larger than life bubbles. a real hit with the kids.

The Prince Albert Memorial

After the leaving the park, we didn't realize how much ground we actually covered, and it turns out we were only a tube stop away from Buckingham Palace. Our simple walk turned into a tourist excursion as we went to the palace and watched the guards, explored the nearby grounds and then headed towards the SoHo district. Neither of us really knew what to expect in SoHo, but it has been brought up many times already, so we headed out. My best description: the Times Square of London. I always felt like I was in a city, but this made me really feel like it was a city. Huge flashing and neon signs, street vendors in costume, and trendy looking hotels. Conveniently, right on one of the SoHo side streets is Chinatown. Full of cute restaurants, and lots of outdoor vendors we walked around and enjoyed the huge lanterns hanging from the sky and the grand oriental arches welcome you as you come in and out of the district. We originally intended on getting Chinese food for dinner, but on our way we found a little "Cellar Cafe" with a sign advertising two course for only 7.95 pounds. We went down a steep staircase to find the smallest restaurant I've ever been in. We grabbed the last of the 6 tables they had, and from where we were could see everything- the kitchen included. While a little strange, the food was good, huge portions and cheaper than our pub lunch. My only vice? No take away containers for the half a plate of 4 cheese pasta I had left. After that we called it quits for the night, not at all expecting to have the day we did. 

The guard outside Buckingham Palace.

 

Buckingham Palace main gates.

Soho.

SoHo.

The W hotel with M&Ms world underneath.

 

It's nearly 8 here and I'm getting ready for a Skype session with my parents, and working on setting up a Flickr account for all the photos I plan and have taken. The next few days should be a good time- orientation Monday, an international independent student bar night Tuesday (great because large private abroad groups aren't invited, just students who came here solo) and a night time cruise on the Thames on Wednesday. My goal is to do the main touristy part of London, Big Ben, the Eye, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and everything in that area one of those days before our nighttime activities start. I'll keep you posted!

Oops, I nearly forgot, we found platform 9 3/4 too!