Orientation Weekend

So, I haven't posted anything in a really long time because the party just hasn't stopped. But I'll do my best to recount the past few days in order.

FRIDAY

Friday morning the rest of the group, those not interning, arrived to Madison House and everyone looked like zombies. That must have been how we looked when we first arrived! By this time, I felt like I'd been in London for a few weeks-not just a few days. It's crazy how familiar a place can seem even when it's really not. We had another brief orientation meeting basically going over everything we had already heard. The plan was to go shopping for some really cheap clothes after the meeting, but we didn't have enough time so instead Laura, Mary and I just walked towards the other side of Bedford Place (towards Russell Square) where no one had been yet. We walked past The Hotel Russell which is a gorgeous, grand hotel where many of the passengers of the Titanic spent their last nights. We found the underground station and continued to walk down Southampton. We found a nice little pub called the London Pub that I made a mental note of.

Then, the entire group took a west end walk right up the River Thames and caught beautiful glimpeses of the Eye, Big Ben, Parliament and St. Paul's Cathedral. Our tour was led by Rustin (our program director) and took hours!! I mean, it was interesting and really cool but my feet hurt so bad afterward! Everyone was so hungry by the time we got to the restaurant. We went to a place called Tas, it's Turkish. We had Turkish pizza. It wasn't good. First of all, dinner lasted 3 hours while we just sat there growing more tired by the minute. It was dark by the time we left the restaraunt and remember, the sun doesn't set til 9:30. Then we all walked across the Millineum Bridge towards St. Pauls and headed toward the Tube.

Mary and I were so tired, we checked out some videos from upstairs and watched a Brtish comedian named Catherine Tate. She's pretty funny-very British sense of humor. Then we just went to bed because we had to be up bright and early the next morning for more walking tours!

SATURDAY

9 a.m. came much too quickly as I tried to stay awake in the shower. Walking around ALL DAY in (surprisingly) sunny London really takes it out of you. Anyway, we rode the Tube to the east end of London. There we were met by our tour guide, the old and adorable Harry Jackson, who led us through the east end. The east end is..intersting. It looks like Harlem. Filled with Bangolie and Jewish families and markets. The east end is also infamous for Jack the Ripper. I stood in the exact place where his first victim was found dead. GROSS! The east end was also bombed mercilessly during WWII. However, many buildings were still left standing from the 1700s though they look much different and are used for much different things. We also walked past the Royal London Hospital which is where the Elephant Man was taken to be studied after his discovery across the street. His bones still remain in the hospital even though Michael Jackson tried to buy his remains for I think 1 million pounds. My feet hurt so bad after all of it.

From there it was a free evening so we had a group of about 7 and went to the London Eye! It was so cool to see the city from up above. We even found the area where we are living. I got tons of great photos that I should be uploading soon. Then we all headed to the same pub Mary and I had the other night because it was the only one we knew wouldn't be crowded on a Friday evening (because it's underground and easily missed-probably one of the best kept secrets in London). I had a burger this time and it was really good! I also had a pint of Strongbow (my new love) which is like a cider rather than an ale. It is delicious.

The general concensus for the night was that everyone wanted to go to a pub instead of a club because we had to get up early the next morning yet again. So we went over the the London Pub (my mental note came in handy) and it was lovely. Inside was kinda crowded so we stood out in their little courtyard. It was such a great time, but I left early to skype with Dan because it was our four year anniversary. As soon as I got back to the house, it started to rain! Five minutes later I heard everyone else stumble in. Good thing it was so close!

SUNDAY

Today started out with a Royal London Walk led by another tour guide named Deborah Charles. She led us through Green Park where there are no flowers. Apparently, a bunch of nuns died in the park after Henry VIII turned them out of their monastary and that's why flowers don't grow. We saw Spencer House which belonged to Princess Diana's family since the 1700s until it was bought by financial companies but still perfectly preserved. I'm pretty sure you can tour it. We also saw the house in which Prince Charles resides when he's in town. unfortunately, he and the boys (William and Harry) weren't in. Then we made our way towards St. James's Park and watched the Changing of the Guard. It was really cool to see. They do it every day in the summer and every other day in the Winter. What was cool was that all of the guards are active military so they basically either get guard duty or they go to Afganistan. I'd rather have gurad duty, even though the tourists are really annoying. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and Parliament. Unfortunatley, my camera died before I could take a picture of the protestors camped out on Parliament Square.

I had Pizza Express for lunch and it was delicious. I got just a basic margarita pizza and a fanta for like 8 GBP. Then we had a crazy scavenger hunt and my group definitely got lost trying to find our way from Liceister Square to Covent Garden. We came in second I think but that's ok. We had our last meeting and got 74 GBP for food for a week and a half. Unfortunatly, most of that will probably be spent at the pub next Saturday during the World Cup. So excitied!

After the meeting, Tessa and I researched our trip to Liverpool then went to sit in Russell Square Park before it started raining. Then I warmed up Paella for dinner with a Stella Artois. Great night.

I am so tired! Tomorrow morning I have my first class-Media and Politics. Class is at 9 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. then our outing is until 1 p.m. I don't know what I'm going to do after but I'll probably just explore some and maybe go running, which I really need to do. And go to the store. Pizza for dinner tomorrow night! We have to eat it before it goes bad.

-APC