Autumn in London '06

The End of a Long and Winding Road

2006-12-16T10:02:00.000Z

Hi Everyone,

I realize that this post is going to cover two weeks' time, but really, there was nothing to write of last week. From the beginning of the day on Monday, 12/4 until mid-morning on Wednesday, 12/13, I've been working on Essays, articles, paperwork, and helping Kevin with the editing and reediting of his monster of a dissertation. Last week really passed with little incident and little time to think, with the only break in our academic action a trip to Surrey Quays to see the new Will Ferrell movie "Stranger than Fiction." It was alright, I think, but in the end it was kind of ruined by the unnecessary inclusion of Queen Latifa in the film. Oh well.

The one thing I will say about the writing papers for British classes, though, is that it's much more stressful than I thought it would be. I was worrying about everything from citations to number of sources to formatting, you know, the little things that I'd become accustomed to and thought were second nature in American papers. Actually writing the essays (I had two) was hard enough, as the prompts were very open-ended and the resources in the library were few and far between. In the end, I just did the best that I could, and I guess we'll see if that was good enough in the eyes of my British professors. Kevin, meanwhile, has been beating his brains in trying to finish his 30-page dissertation to satisfy the Hansard society. Frankly, I think that the classes (which both included a large essay and a final exam) and the internship were probably enough for an undergraduate in a foreign country for only 3 months, but I guess they thought differently. Anyway, I've been trying to help him out as much as I can with editing his piece and giving him second opinions and such, but I feel so bad for him. At the same time, I'm so proud of him for how much he's dealt with and how much he's come through.

As this week began, however, the mood started to change. All of a sudden I could see the light at the end of the tunnell, and this was a weird feeling indeed. As I started going though my final classes and saying goodbye to my professors and my classmates, I continuously heard nothing but variations of "we'll miss you." My Latin American Cinema professor even went as far to say that the class would not be the same without me. My journalism professor even took me and the other Americans soon to be leaving out to the pub after our last class. Really, looking back, my experience in my classes in Britain was extraordinary. Now, having a new perspective of how higher learning can be, and how much more involved and gratifying it can be, it may be difficult to sit through my classes at NU this Spring. I guess we'll see with that one too.

But the hardest part about leaving was saying goodbye to my flatmates. On Friday, Germaine decided to single-handedly cook a roast dinner to commemorate our time at Goldsmiths and to properly send everyone off into the holiday season. The dinner was excellent, and filled with talk of memories and goodbyes. After dinner, as everyone prepared to go to the union to party the night away, I said my last goodbyes, as I was headed to Kevin's place to get a good night's sleep before heading back to the states. It was emotional (moreso for them I think, as I rarely get emotional in situations like this), and we all promised to stay in touch. But it was what Jess said that I think will stick with me. She told me that I'd changed her view on the world, and that meeting me was a once in a lifetime occurence for her. And I guess they've all changed me too. Now I think that I have a much more hollistic view of the human race, a view that cares so much less about where someone was born or where they grew up. In our world today, the nation seems to be rapidly making itself obsolete, as the human race, like it or not, seems to be gelling. It'll take some time to think about this further and to really come to a conclusion, but there is little doubt that this trip has changed me, and I'm a much better person for it. In a few hours, we'll leave for Heathrow and eventually for America, but I know that when I look back, I'll find nothing but good memories. Memories of change, memories of experience, and most of all memories of something other than the US. But as much as I'll miss London and England, I am very happy to be coming home to see friends, family, and to return to something a bit more stable. It's been good to be abroad, but it'll be great to be home.

Sickness and Essays

2006-12-03T21:43:00.000Z

Hi Everyone,

Well, it’s been an interesting and very stressful week. I apologise that I will be unable to write more than once per week from now on, because I have so much to do before the end of the term academically. Anyway, moving on…

Monday, Brendan’s last full day in England, we decided to see some sights and just walk about London. We saw Westminster Abbey, walked along the Thames, walked through Hyde Park, looked in the Museum of Natural History, saw the Victoria and Albert Museum, and walked along Oxford Street admiring the lights and the sights along the way. It was a great time; London is such a lovely city!

Tuesday, though, began what was a not-so-good rest of the week. After seeing Brendan off and going to my class, I got a call from Kevin. He felt extremely sick and had blacked out a couple of times overnight. I rushed right over and together we went to a walk-in clinic for the NHS to see what was the matter. He was feverish, flu-like, and was basically totally miserable. After a brief wait, he was seen by a doctor who said that the problem was, for the third time this year, Strep/tonsillitis. So Kev got his medicines and we went home. For the rest of the week, whilst Kevin was bed stricken and miserable, I did his errands, brought him food, went to and from Blockbuster more times than I can count, all the while still doing the things that I had to do for my classes during the week It wasn’t fun at all, but it was okay. I knew that he would do the same for me, and I love him so much, I would do anything for him!

But perhaps most disappointing of all was that we had a trip to Rome planned for Thursday to Saturday, which was supposed to essentially be our anniversary trip (our anniversary is today, December 3rd). But obviously, with Kevin still feeling sick, we didn’t go. It’s too bad, but it’s alright. So for our anniversary we instead took a trip on the London Eye, the giant Ferris wheel that goes over 500 metres up into the air! It’s so amazing to see London all sprawled out. It really is an enormous and beautiful city! For dinner, we went to a nice Thai restaurant in Fulham, which was lovely to say the least. Expensive, sure, but it was a great meal and a nice atmosphere. I really just hope that Kev gets better soon, as in the coming weeks we have a lot of course work to do!

Colchester

2006-11-27T13:41:00.000Z

Hey Everyone,

So what an interesting weekend it’s been. Since Brendan is here, and one of the principal hobbies that we both share is a love of the card game Magic: The Gathering, we decided to experience the British Magic scene. It started Friday night, when we went into central London and participated in a small event near Russell Square. This was alright, it was low-key, and it was fun in the end. But the main event was the next day. There was a much larger tournament in a town Northeast of London called Colchester, and we decided to go. After a short train journey from Liverpool Street, we arrived in the quaint little Essex town of Colchester. Situated on a hugely steep hill, Colchester is the sort of place you likely think of when you think of towns in the English countryside. Whilst there were certainly signs of the modern world there (an ASDA, a Pizza Hut, etc.), most of the houses and other buildings looked like they had been there for some time. And some of the churches there looked to be close to 700 years old, if not older. Shame is that we didn’t bring a camera, but trust me when I say that it was a nice little place.

Anyway, after some searching and a bit of getting lost, we found the tournament’s locations hidden behind a larger building in a hall that looked as though it was the home base of the UK equivalent of the Boy Scouts. The Hall was decked out in pictures of the Queen and other British things, and there were all sorts of “scout” paraphernalia about as well. I won’t bore you with the details of the tournament itself, but I’ll just skip to right near the end. I had long been out of the running, but Brendan (who is much better at Magic than I am) had just won his semi-final match and was waiting to play in the final. The time was about 10:15 pm, and we knew that the last train to London left at 11:03. If this was just some random tournament, we would have surely just gone, but this wasn’t. This was a Pro Tour Qualifier, a tournament that grants the winner a free trip to play in a Pro Tour Magic tournament, the top prize for which is usually something in the neighbourhood of $40,000. Yes, people can make a living playing Magic. So it was important that Brendan try to win, and not rush, in the finals. As it turns out, Brendan did win at about 10:55, and after finalising the paperwork and such, we booked it to the train station. Of course, we got there at 11:05 or so, and the train had left (damn the punctuality of British trains!!!). We were informed that the next train would leave at 7:00 the next morning. So we set out looking for a hotel to stay the night in Colchester. To make a long story short, there are none…so that meant that we would simply have to wander the streets overnight.

Actually, looking back on it now, it was one of those experiences that will stick with me for the rest of my life. But whilst living it, it was a nightmare. First of all, it was a chilly night, and I was not properly dressed to be outdoors the whole night. Second of all, there isn’t much open in Colchester past 1 or 2 am, so the time passed very very slowly at fir st. But after some wandering around (which included an exhaustive search for a hotel, moving from Kabab shop to kabab shop, trying at all costs to avoid having to talk to drunk college kids, and a failed attempt to hand out in the 24-hour ASDA, which is apparently only open 10-7…yeah, go figure), we did eventually, at about 4 am, find a 24-hour convenience store with a bus stop bench outside it. Here we spent the rest of the night, which included a riveting chat with a boy from Essex who “didn’t speak no blood yeh, cuz he’s the king yeh, an he doan caer if his fly’s down yeh cuz he’s the king yeh,” trying to fend off some drunk girls looking for cab money in exchange for being pretty, and having a nice chat with the guy tending the store. Apparently, he’s a minister during the day, but it doesn’t pay well enough. Good man, very kind.

Anyway, at 7 we finally boarded the train to London, got back to my dorm, and slept all day. It was great, but the thing I think that has stuck with me the most is now having some sort of idea of what it might be like to be homeless. I mean, I had a coat, and money to buy coffee, and was allowed into shops with no question and I was still miserable. I can’t even imagine how it would be to have no coat, no proper clothes, no money, and to be so stinky and dirty that no one will help you. Never again can I take my life for granted, because I have it so good that if I were the type to have a guilty conscious I’d be ashamed to be alive. Really, life is very, very, very, very good.

PM Questions and Brendan's Visit

2006-11-24T14:39:00.000Z

Hey All,

Well it’s been a very interesting and fast-paced end of the week! I’ll start with my second and much more exciting visit to Parliament. On Wednesday morning, Kevin sent me a text message saying that he had scored tickets to another session of Parliament. But this time, it was no ordinary session, but rather the Prime Minister’s Questions! This is the bit that you may have seen on TV where the opposition parties and anyone else gets to ask Tony Blair questions about his policies and his plans and he has to answer them. Can you imagine that happening in the states? Anyway, while it wasn’t a verbal fistfight by any means, it was very interesting to see the leader of the British government have to defend his decisions in front of a live audience!

And then, Brendan came. As I’ve foreshadowed a bit, my friend Brendan arrived Thursday morning to visit for a whole week. After getting a bit lost trying to find his gate at the airport, I found that his flight was a bit delayed anyway, so it wasn’t a problem at all. It was great to talk to him face to face on the tube ride back from Heathrow (no small journey let me assure you), and also great to see someone else familiar. I guess you never realise how much you miss the regulars in your life until they become people you only get to see once in a while.

But the real fun of Thursday was that it was Thanksgiving. Normally, this day means nothing to the Brits, who have no such holiday and do not (obviously) recognise the US version. But because of us three Americans living in my flat, my flatmates decided that we should cook and have a Thanksgiving dinner anyway. Good thing we have so many people who know how to cook! Kerri bought a 20 pound turkey (we couldn’t find a bigger one) and Germaine, Stacey, and Kerri did most of the cooking. In the end, we had all of the Thanksgiving staples, from turkey to stuffing to mashed potatoes to cranberry sauce, it was all there! And with Brendan and Kevin and a few of Kerri’s friends in on the action as well, we had quite a group around our modestly sized table. But the food was excellent, and the conversation was even better! It’s truly amazing how much more the average British kid knows about the world, about politics, about government, and about everything than the average American (who is, by the way, nearly useless). We had a great time, and for British cooking the food was exceptional! I’m so glad that I managed to get flatmates who are this cool J.

Kingston Calling

2006-11-20T09:08:00.000Z

Hello All,

It always seems like the exciting stuff happens on the weekends (funny how that is, isn't it?).

This time, Kevin and I had a sort of random and all-over-the-place sort of weekend, which started Friday with some mundane laundry and homework action. As the evening drew nearer, however, we both decided that we wanted to go do something fun, so we chose to seek out the legendary crosswalk, made famous by the Beatles, on Abbey Road. After some internet research, we set out for a stretch of Abbey Road (it's a big road) situated near the border of the London Boroughs of Camden and Westminster, north west of the city center. But our journey didn't meet with the success that we had planned. After more than an hour wandering about a rather residential part of Camden, we were still unable to find any trace of the crosswalk. So we decided to grab some drinks and head home to watch a moviefilm.

Saturday, after sleeping in well past noon, Kevin set out to do some work on his dissertation. I was planning to go home and just chill out, but then I got a text message from our mutual friend Ryan, who's also studying abroad in England this term, that said he was coming to London for the day. So, I met up with him and we walked around Central London for a few hours, just chatting and catching up on each other's experiences in London thus far. As dinner time approached, we went back to South Kensington to meet up with Kevin, and from there we decided that we'd go back to Ryan's university to go to a club there with some of his friends. Ryan goes to school in a suburb of London called Kingston, a good 20 minute train journey south west of London.

When we arrived, Ryan showed me around the area near his school. Kingston is a very nice little suburb, with lots of houses and much more green space than in London. A bit later, Kevin met up with us, and we, along with Ryan and his friend Russell, all went to a club in downtown Kingston. The venue was small, crowded, smokey, and not very well decorated, but we still had a good time.

Sunday was a day of relaxation after a busy weekend, and we culminated the evening by, you guessed it, watching another movie. Thanksgiving fast approaches, and Brendan will be here visiting soon!

Stay tuned...

The Value of Effort in Education

2006-11-16T19:41:00.000Z

Hey All,

It's been a pretty uneventful week by and large, so today I mostly want to share with you all some thoughts that I've had recently based upon my experiences in my classes this week.

To start out with, the topic discussed in my Music Aesthetics class on Tuesday was the very same topic on which I plan to write my essay in that class--Music as if a Language. Officially, the title of the essay is "Is Music a Language?", but the lecture was essentially completely relevant to my work. The tutor in this class, Anthony Prior, is that brilliant sort of professor who knows his subject matter inside and out (in this case, the philosophy of music and musicality) and puts it to good use by playing devil's advocate with whomever is brave enough to challenge a position that he explains. He also has a very dry, English sense of humour, which makes the class all the more enjoyable.

Wednesday, in my hands-on journalism class, we did some peer reviewing and talked at length about reviews--how to do them, the ethical implications, styles, fears, etc. The level of participation was high, and a lot of constructive conversation came out of the class.

Thursday, in my Latin American cinema class, we had a record high for number of students who actually saw the film. This meant that, for the first time all semester, I wasn't the only one talking the whole class, which made for a much more pleasant experience.

Basically, after reflecting on this week in classes, I've determined that education really is so much more exciting when you get into it. One might think that I would have had a realization of this nature before, and in some ways I have, but I've never really had this same perspective on my education before. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was living an enriched life, a full life.

Just a few thoughts that I've had :).

AMSTERDAM!!!

2006-11-13T23:54:00.000Z

Hey Everyone!

Well it took a little bit of time to recover, but it's finally time to tell you all about Kevin and I's time in Amsterdam. We left Kev's place at 10:30 am on Thursday morning, with just enough time to catch our 11:00 train to Gatwich Airport, from which we would be flying. Flying from Gatwick is a lot cheaper than flying from Heathrow, thus the extra effort to get there. Besides, Heathrow is a monster of an airport, and getting through security and such would have been a whole different nightmare all its own.

Anyway, we arrived at London Gatwick a little bit before noon, and since our flight was at 1:35, we had a bit of time to wait. We tried to get some lunch, but because of the ludacris prices at the airport restaurants, we had to settle for McDonald's (ick). Soon enough, though, we were on our way to Amsterdam via Easyjet, and we landed at Amsterdam Schipol Airport at about 3:45 (hour flight plus hour time change). Immediately, the excitement of the trip was evident, as we had a blast just looking at all of the ads that were up in Dutch, the zaniest language ever. I honestly have no idea how anyone can speak it quickly, its words have more extra letters and silent letters than English words have in their entirety, and the whole thing sounds very difficult. At any rate, it was okay, because unlike most Americans (and most Brits), almost everyone in Holland is at least fluent in two languages, and just about everyone speaks brilliant English.

After taking a train from Schipol to Amsterdam Station Centraal (yes, the two a's both belong), we emerged into a whole different world. The Oulde Zildje (old city), where the station and our hostel are, is like no place I've ever seen. The streets are narrow and mainly made of cobblestone, and what little space to travel in must be shared by cars, trams (think T trains on the streets in Boston), pedestrians, but most importantly bicycles. Honestly, while it's true that there are more museums per square mile in Amsterdam than anywhere else in the world, it's probably also true that there are more bicycles there than anywhere else as well. Everywhere we went there wer dozens of bikes chained to just about every fixture that could be seen, and most of the streets had cycle lanes exclusively for bikes, though those often filled and many bikes also travled on the sidewalks and on the streets. We must have been nearly run over a hundred times in two and a half days. Intense. I think that the masse of bikes can be attributed to the general attitude of the Dutch, and to their attitudes towards environmentally friendly transport and good health. It's a model upon which other cities, especiallty London, should base themselves.

The second remarkable thing about Amsterdam is the canals, which are beautiful. Between every two streets in the old city are canals with bridges crossing them to connect the streets, and along the canals are the most beautiful old buildings, with grand old European architecture. Many have been there for nearly 800 years. Within the canals are a myriad of water birds, from mundane seagulls and ducks to beautiful little black birds with white beaks and majestic swans. On occasion, a river tour boat passed by, but mainly the canals I think are relics of the past, once used to defend the city but now just a part of its grandeur. Also, the lack of railings along the canals lets people get very close to the water, which makes the whole experience just feel that much more real.

So Thursday, after touching down, checking into our hostel, and spending some time just taking in our new surroundings, we decided to first get something to eat. We ended up at this little Italian place that made excellent (and fairly big) pizzas for only 6 euros, a far cry from London prices! Next, we decided that we would try to find Amsterdam's gay neighborhood, Amstel/Reguliersdwars. We ended up at a little coffee shop called Betty's Too, which was totally decked out in Betty Boop paraphernalia. After a coffee and some relaxation there, we continued to explore Amstel and the nearby areas, just wandering around the streets. The dynamic of the city is remarkable, with a sort of controlled "anything goes" attitude prevailing in most respects.

Later that night, we decided to, for experience's sake, take a trip to the infamous red light district. While I won't describe exactly what goes on there, it is a sight to behold I assure you. I wouldn't want to spoil the experience for anyone who may visit it in the future, as the shock and awe of it all is a vital part of the experience for a Westerner (with the possible exception of someone from Las Vegas).

Friday, we slept in a bit before embarking into the city to do some of the more touristy things. We checked out the Amsterdam Dungeon (waste of time and money)--where we had to slot in with a huge British family on holiday--and afterwards went to a little café for lunch. The place was mostly unremarkable except for the friendly resident cat. Missing our kitty so much, we were of course delighted at the chance to pet a friendly coffeeshop kitty. Next, we walked down to the museum quarter, where many of Amsterdam's famous museums are. We walked by the massive Riks Museum, which mainly exhibits works by Rembrandt, and ended up going to the Van Gogh museum just down the road. While it was beautiful inside, and the artwork was of course stunning, it was about as much fun as an art museum can be.

On the way back to the hostel, we walked by a little mini-market and happened to notice a young kitten sitting in the doorway that looked remarkably like our cat! So of course we had to detour to pet this one too. We also had a brief chat with the store's owner, and seemed to connect over our love for our cats. In reference to the movie Euro Trip, we dubbed this kitty Vaandercat.

That night consisted mainly of some more wandering, including the exploration of a mall-like complex near the Reguliersdwars, but we did end up having a fairly deep conversation with a coffeeshop owner and another patron of the shop late in the evening. The topic was U.S. foreign policy and Iraq, and it was simply remarkable how much two ordinary citizens of Holland happened to know about the world around them and how articulately they were able to voice their opinions on the matter in what was obviously their second language. It just made me think a lot about Americans and Brits, and how little of the world around them many of them seem to understand or want to know anything about. If I can say one thing about the Dutch people that I've encountered, it's that they do pay attention, and they do force themselves to learn.

Saturday, we simply did some more wandering about the area just east of where we were staying. Here, we walked by the Jewish History Museum and strolled through an area of fairly affluent-looking homes. The combination of the beautiful craftsmanship and the cobble-canal backdrop made the area simply gorgeous. Other small items of note were a frantic dog wandering about at highspeed--but still seeming like he knew where he was going, an Italian coffeeshop with the attitude that the customer is always wrong, an anarchist bookstore, and another vaandercat named smokey that took particular affection to Kevin as we ate at another small café.

Exhausted, we returned home Saturday night and spent Sunday doing pretty much nothing at all. But the experience was so worth it because if finally gave us the chance to see something new, an entirely new worldview in action! Be sure to check out the pictures page (the link is in another blog entry below) for an update with pictures from this amazing trip.

Till next time!

Class Registration and the Mid-Term Elections

2006-11-08T23:36:00.000Z

Hello All,

This will probably be a quick post, as not a lot has happened during the beginning of this week.

Monday was just another boring day with little to do in terms of required work. Sometimes I find these periods of downtime to be particularly enjoyable, though, as they give me time to relax and to think. Sometimes, living in London, times to do these things can be few and far-between, if they're available at all. The city is so busy, has so many people, and moves at such a fast pace that it often begs the question: "Is this really worth it?" No matter what I may gain from this trip, I think the thing that will stick with me the most is a new-found appreciation for downtime.

Anyway, Monday night was a bit more exciting. You see, it's reading week here at Goldsmiths' College, which means that most classes do not meet. The time is designated for doing research and thinking regarding essays or projects that will be due in about 5 weeks' time; of course, the actual application of this time is, for many, simply an excuse to travel, to party, or to sleep. I guess I'll be doing a bit of all four. I have made some headway on my research for the two essays that I'll have to write, Kevin and I will be going to Amsterdam Thursday - Saturday, and I'll most definitely be sleeping in when I get the chance. Monday night contained the partying.

My flatmate Becks had her friend Adam visiting her for the week, so along with Kevin, Jess, Germaine, Frankie, and Kathy, I went out to a club called G-A-Y. As the name suggests, the club is predominantly for gay people, mostly of the younger generation, although a lot of straight girls make it out there as well. I would guess the security of being able to dance without being oggled all night is the main driving factor for many of them. Most of the club was fairly typical for a gay club: not a lot of space, a stage, house music, etc. There were, however, a few good things about it.

For starters, the cover charge was only 50p, which is very cheap. Also, drinks were only 2 pounds each, also very cheap. But the best part of all was the second dance floor upstairs that played 70's and 80's dance music and was much less crowded. This is where we spent most of our night, and it was a lot of fun.

I didn't get back in until about 4:30 am, so Tuesday really just became mostly a lost day. I slept in, did some work on my research in the early afternoon, and then went to Kevin's place in the evening to try and follow some U.S. midterm election coverage. Yay!

Wednesday I spent doing a bit more work, but mostly I just spent a lot of time going over the results of the elections. It looks like the Democrats will win both houses, and a few key republicans were knocked out of their seats. Luckily, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) was one of them. Rick may be one of the most evil men alive, it's good to finally see him out of office!

Eventually though I had to stop reading and go to my journalism class which, because it's not part of the main college, was still meeting this week. Afterward, I went to Kevin's flat and attempted to register for classes, with mixed results. I got a whopping one of the classes I wanted, as the online system wouldn't let me sign up for the other three due to some sort of major restriction. I have no idea why this would be, so as usual I'll have to phone up my advisor to try and sort it out. Stupid NU.

But regardless, our train leaves Victoria Station at 11 am tomorrow to take us to Gatwick Airport, from which our flight to Amsterdam leaves! I'm very excited about this trip, and I'll post a blog entry detailing the whole thing as soon as I can.

Til then!

Borat, Fulham, Wimbledon, and some Natural History

2006-11-05T20:36:00.000Z

Hey All,

Well what an exciting weekend it's been! Where to begin?

Thursday night was the special premier of the Borat Movie. If you're not familiar with Borat, he is a character played by British comedian Sacha Cohen. Borat is a journalist from Kahzakstan who is sent by his government to America to learn cultural lessons to fix Kahzakstan's problems. What follows is a searing satire of the closed-mindedness of the West and of the world in general. It's great stuff.

Our movie viewing party consisted of myself, Kevin, and two of the other Hansard Scholars: Ehmad and Shaun. We first tried to go the Odeon Cinemas at High Street Kensington. To our dismay, however, the tickets sold out while we were in line! So we ran to a nearby internet cafe and went online in search of another theatre. It was 9:00 pm, however, so it looked like our search would fail. But then we thought to check the theatre at Surrey Quays, and of course there was a 9:30 pm showing. So we bought the tickets online and rushed to Surrey Quays. Somehow, we made it just in time for the film to start (it's about a 45 minute tube ride from Kensington), but boy was it worth it! One of the funniest movies I've ever seen!

Friday was just a boring laundry day, and almost completely unremarkable. Saturday, though, was much more exciting! Kev and I bough tickets to see a Barclays Premiership Football match between Fulham FC and Everton at Craven Cottage in Fulham, an area of southwest London. The kickoff was at 12:45, but we had our tickets waiting for us at the stadium. Since the e-mail that I was sent when I bought the tickets said that the ticket office closed at noon, I figured we had to be there by then. But we woke up late, and didn't arrive until about 12:30! Luckily, the e-mail must have been lying, because the office was still very much open. And as it turned out, our seats were amazing! They were four rows back of the home-team net, and although the sun was brutal, the view was amazing! And so was the game. Fulham, which boasts two former U.S. soccer stars--Carlos Bocanegra and Brian McBride--won 1-0. The atmosphere was so intense, and the whole experience was a blast!

Afterward, Kev and I decided to go explore the Wimbledon area of London which was nearby. Really, Wimbledon is very quaint, with lots of little shops and restaurants and cute old fashioned architecture. It was very nice.

Today, all we really did was go to the Natural History Museum located only a few blocks from Kevin's flat. The museum had free admission, and was situated in a gigantic building with beautiful architecture! The main exhibits were on dinosaurs and mammal evolution, and the whole thing was pretty cool.

Keep checking the picture site for more updates as we can upload them, and thanks as always for reading!

Halloween!!!

2006-11-01T22:15:00.000Z

Hello everyone!

Well, one thing that I had been wondering was whether or not the British celebrate Halloween, and I guess the answer is yes! I found this out Monday when I decided to go grocery shopping with one of my flatmates. The local supermarket, Sainsbury's, was having a 50% off halloween costumes sale! That was a big clue, but then Jess told me that there was a Halloween dance at the Student Union and that costumes were required. Now, I'm not normally a dress up kind of person, but how could I refuse? I'm in London, I'm young, I'm healthy, why not have a good time?

So I picked out the only costume that would fit me (there were only kids' costumes left, so I had to pick the biggest of those), which ended up being a skeleton with some plastic chains on the front. Pretty nice, I liked it a lot!

On Halloween, my regularly scheduled class was cancelled to make room for one-on-one sessions with the professor regarding our essays. This is my Music Aesthetics class, and after meeting with the professor I decided on the topic "Is Music a Language?", a challenging but I think interesting question. The professor gave me a list of some sources that he thought would be helpful, and I was on my way.

As it turns out, I decided to augment my costume with a giant sombrero that was for some reason lying about the flat. So I really looked like I was going to un celebracion del dia de los muertos, which was fine by me.

The actual dance was a bit underwhelming really. It was open to the general public, so the place was very crowded, and the live band that they had was not very good. Additionally, the large crowd made it impossible to get to or from the bar, so I left after only an hour or two, but it was still fun to dance in costume. And I got so many compliments for my costume as well, as despite my (what I would call) lackluster effort in its construction, the general level of creativity at the dance was extremely poor.

And today has proven to be another boring one, with a day spent reading articles and the night spent at my journalism class. Oh well, they can't all be exciting. But the Borat movie comes out tomorrow night, so I'm very excited for that.

Oh, and good news! Pictures are finally online! Just follow this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevininlondon/sets

And as one last note, I want to wish a belated happy birthday to my best friend Brendan (Oct 29), who just turned 21. Happy Birthday Bren!

Cinema, Sickness, and a Loquacious Trip to the Coast (if a trip is capable of being so)

2006-10-29T23:37:00.000Z

Hey Everyone,

Well it's been quite a weekend! And quite a range of good and bad as well.

To begin with, Friday was meant to be a boring sort of day, filled with Kev's laundry and some lounging around before a trip to the cinema to see Saw III. It all began that way, but as the day went on, I started to feel more and more ill. We ended up going to see Saw III at the cinema at Surrey Quays, an area quite close to New Cross that is home to the closest thing to an American mall that I've yet to come across. It has a gigantic ASDA (the UK's branch of the lovely Wal-Mart Corp.) and several other shops and restaurants, many of them with American themes. Also included are a giant bowling alley and, of course, the cinema, which was massive! Along the walf from the tube station to the cinema, though, I really started to feel fluish, but decided that it would be alright once I sat down. Boy was that a mistake.

See, if the film that we were seeing was something like, say, Bambi, I may have been alright. But Saw III is essentially a 2 hour gore fest with no plot or continuity. Basically, it was just one disgusting human dismemberment after another. This theme, combined with my condition, made me feel physically ill about half-way through a scene in which a woman had to reach into a cup of flesh-eating acid to get the key to unlock the harness that was holding her in a contraption that, if she didn't release herself within one minute, would rip out her ribcage. I just had to leave, and I feel really bad for Kevin missing the film, but he left with me and all but carried me to my room. After taking some ibuprofen and a long, hot shower, I felt a bit better, so Kevin went out and got some take-away food and we hung out in the kitchen watching game 5 of the World Series. Apparently, one of the five channels I get plays American sports late at night. Nice.

After the trauma of Friday, Saturday was much more low-key. Kev and I just hung out for most of the day, then we went to Blockbuster and rented "The Matador" with Pierce Brosnan. It was okay, but not great.

Sunday, however, was much more exciting. Kevin, John and I planned a day trip to the seacoast town of Brighton, about 50 miles south of London. Brighton is home to some of England's nicer shoreline, and also about the gayest town in the UK. John had been there before, and was meant to be our guide, but he missed the bus there, so Kev and I just went by ourselves. We arrived a bit before noon and wandered to the nearest attraction to the coach station, the Brighton Peer. Basically, the BP was just a carnival tacked on to the end of a pier, with crappy food and annoying tourists abound. We left shortly after not being able to eat the chicken and chips we ordered due to fear of severe illness and walked about a comercial district in the towne centre for a while, which was nice. It's a quaint little town really, a lot like Gloucester, MA but busier. We then took a local bus to the Brighton Marina, a ritzy area like Marina Bay in Quincy but with more shopping. We wandered about there for a bit before returning to the centre of towne. Our bus back didn't leave until 9, and it was about 5 at this point, so we got some food, went to see a movie (A Good Year with Russel Crowe, veeeery good movie, you all should see it), walked along the beach a bit sipping coffee and admiring the beautiful sunset, and eventually found an American sports bar that was playing NFL games. We stayed there watching the Ravens destroy the Saints before getting back on the bus and going home. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't sick still, but it was a lot of fun anyway. The town was so nice and cozy I thought, and supposedly it's the most gay populous in the UK, though there were so many random tourists there that it was tough to tell for me.

Oh, and the highlight of the day, really, was the giant flock of seagulls that kept flying in circles around a giant rig of some sort just off the shore. Soooo random, literally, they just flew in circles above it, all in unison like birds do. Fun times!

Karaoke, Club Sandwich, some boring classes

2006-10-26T16:58:00.000+01:00

Hey all,

So it's been a bit more of a colorful week than usual, as I decided to spend some more time out with my flatmates.

Monday, the Student Union was holding it's weekly Karaoke/Disco night, so I went to that with most of my flat and John from Peckham. It was actually quite a good time, and John and my flatmates connected famously. Kerry, the girl from New York, performed two Madonna songs. She actually has quite a nice voice, and did well (despite the fact that noone was paying attention to the stage). John, Justin, Tom and I tried to sign up to sing "Don't Speak" by No Doubt, but they didn't get to us before the night switched over to the disco component at midnight. It was a fun night by and large, and I might go back again. Hopefully Kevin will be able to come this time.

Tuesday was a pretty uneventful day, more like my typical weekday, but Wednesday I went back to the Union for Club Sandwich, an open-to-the-public club dance night held every Wednesday. This was a bit less exciting, so I left a few hours into the evening.

Tonight, Kevin, John and I are probably just going to cruise some of the bars around New Cross. It should be a good time, as I havn't really had such a night in the area since I've been here.

Oh, and the weather's finally started to resemble the British weather that I was warned about. It's been a bit cold, a bit damp, and mostly overcast for much of the week. Not unbearable, mind you, but not a lot of fun either. This weekend promises to be one filled with cinema, as three good films are scheduled to come out: A Good Year, Saw III, and All the King's Men. And we'll get to see at least one of them for free, as a local newspaper--The Evening Standard--was giving away free tickets as part of a promotion. Free stuff is always good!

Life in England is slowly but surely becoming more normal to me, and London is really starting to become much more familiar than strange. Aside from the constant fear of running out of money that seems to have taken up a permanent residence in my active subconscious, life here is really quite enjoyable. There are busy days and slow days, and days with busy and slow bits. And I've really started to grasp the local terminologies and slang terms. Makes me quite glad to be living with mostly local kids, as I fear Kevin isn't getting access to the same cultural exposure living with all Americans. But he does get to work with British people, and he's been telling me loads about all of the cool, progressive people that work alongside him. Seems as though his internship is turning out to be exactly what he was hoping for, which is great!

Til next time!

Someone's Stolen a Train Near Aldgate...No Wait, There's Just Someone Wandering the Tracks

2006-10-22T20:55:00.000+01:00

Hey Everyone,

Even low-key weekends end up with stories to tell.

This weekend, Kevin and I were content to just find somewhere to rent some movies, watch them, and do not much else, so Friday, we did just that. We signed up for memberships at the UK Blockbuster (somehow not directly connected to the US one) and rented a French film called Grande Ecolle. We watched it that night over fries and Danish beer, and developed a new appreciation for the complexities of sexuality (but isn't that what most French films are about?).

Saturday, we decided to check out a street market called Portobello Market. Apparently, it's one of the biggest in the world. When we got there, we found out why. Basically, the market consumed the entire length of Portobello Street in North Kensington, near Notting Hill. There you could buy just about anything, it seemed, from fresh produce to fish to flowers to antiques to rugs to clothes to (you get the idea). We spent a few hours just wandering about looking at all the things for sale and all the people gathered there. Eventually, we did end up buying some generic England National Team soccer jerseys for 30 pounds each (a bargain). Trying to get back proved interesting though.

Basically, to make a long story short, we changed buses about a dozen times and eventually ended up somewhere called Queens Park in the borough of Brent, NW of the city. Tired and frusterated, we got some food and just hung out the rest of the night. But we couldn't have imagined that the next day we'd have an even more frusterating transportation experience.

Today we decided would be dedicated to blogging, e-mailing, calling, and paper writing. But first, our movies had to be returned. So we made our way to High Street Kensington to return them. After successfully doing so, we got some coffee and headed back. On the tube ride home, however, we suddenly stopped in the middle of a tunnel.

After waiting several minutes, the conductor came over the intercom and said that a train had been stolen near Aldgate! Naturally, we were all a bit worried. That didn't sound good. A few minutes later, however, the conductor came back on the intercom and told us that it wasn't a stolen train, but rather a man had been seen wandering the tracks near Aldgate, and all power had been cut from the tracks while they went to find him. About 30 minutes later, the train crawled into the next station, and we left immediately to walk the rest of the way home.

But all is well, because the Pats are killing the Bills, and I have Mondays off :)

Till we meet again!

Parliament!

2006-10-19T17:25:00.000+01:00

Hey All,

Well every day here seems full of suprises, every day brings new opportunities. Well, I guess I should start on Tuesday.

I was sitting in my Music Aesthetics class and Kevin sent me a text message that said, "would you like to go to a session of parliament?" I said yes of course, and I met him after my class at the Westminster tube station, right across the street from Westminster palace, aka the Houses of Parliament. Apparently, Paul Holmes, the MP Kev works for, had written two tickets for his constituents to sit in on a session of the House of Commons. But because no constituents came forward to claim the seats, he gave them to Kevin. So I went to meet him at Westminster, dressed in a shirt and tie, and we walked towards Parliament. Because we had MP-signed passes, we were able to bypass the long line to get in and go straight through security. And then, there we were, standing in the main lobby of Parliament. Being inside reminded me of being inside some parts of Westminster Abbey. Ornate statues and wall paintings decorated the room, and the architecture made it seem like I was waiting for an audience with some ancient King. Combined with CCTV cameras and futuristic message boards displaying that day's scheduled committee meetings and what not, the scene was oddly juxtapositional. As we waited, I noticed that a lot of the other people who had come to sit in on the same session were not nearly as well-dressed as we were. Some teens were wearing ripped jeans and t-shirts, and most were wearing sneakers. In effect, this made Kevin and I seem more like we belonged.

As the session's beginning drew nearer, I got to bear witness to an old British political custom. Before any session of Parliament begins, the Speaker of the House and his court enter the chamber. Everyone waiting was forced to stand to one side, and all of the security forces took off their hats. Then, someone shouted "Speaker!" from one of the side hallways, and a few seconds later several men in official dress came walking out. Following them was the Speaker himself, equipped with his wig and flowing robes. Behind him, a man carried the end of the Speaker's cape and two more brought up the rear. It's astounding that a country so involved in the modern world can have so many antique customs still in use.

Following this procession, we were allowed to line up to enter the public spectator's booths. Several minutes later, we were seated and watching the British political process unfold before our eyes. It was like watching a meeting of the U.S. Senate, but with more discussion! On this day, the Minister of Transportation was present and was to take questions from various MP's concerning transportation situations in their various constituencies (e.g., "why hasn't [this road] in my town been fixed?", "why has [this train service] been cut back?", etc.) In each case, the MP has to address the Speaker with the question, and the Minister of Transportation has to do the same. For example:

MP: Thank you Mr. Speaker! The town of Aldwych in my constituency has a population of 25,000 residents, yet only 7 trains run to Aldwych station each day. Neighbouring Dulwich has less than half the population, but 20 trains run there. Would the right honourable gentleman agree with me that something should be done to rectify this situation?"

Minister: Mr. Speaker allow me to assure my honourable friend that train service levels in her constituency are being looked into and I would be happy to arrange a meeting with her to discuss the matter further.

Crazy no? After the session Kevin and I got some lunch in the Portcullis building, a building just for MP's and staff (very cheap and very good), then he had to go back to work. While I waited for him, I decided to explore an area near Kensington called Sloane Square. It was a nice little shopping area with a bunch of little shops and major stores all mixed together. It was a bit like Newbury Street I guess, but a bit more wide open. After Kev got out of work, we met up and had some food then called it a night.

Wednesday was a bit more boring I suppose. I just did some errands and went to class.

Tonight, Kevin and I are going to meet up with our friend John and check out some establishments in the Holborn area of London, near LSE where Kevin takes his classes. Who knows what the weekend will hold.

The Internet Cometh!

2006-10-16T10:01:00.000+01:00

Hello All,

Well it has been another exciting weekend. I find that simply walking around London is so much fun, and such a rush really. This is such a cool place!

Anyway, we did quite a bit this weekend. Saturday night, Kevin and I and another Hansard Scholar named Shaun, who is also from Northeastern, went downtown to a place called the Sports Cafe. We were told that this was the best (and possibly the only) place in London to watch American sports, and we were all eager to watch some of the baseball playoffs. Because of the time difference, the only game that we could watch was the Detroit/Oakland game 4. It started at 4:30 EST, so that meant that it started at 9:30 here. We got there (after a bit of searching) and sat down at the bar in the rear of the establishment, with a tv showing the game right in front of us. But the place showed so much more, with monitors all over the place. And this place was fairly large too! Anyway, the tv's were fine, the drinks weren't tooooo expensive, and the atmosphere was okay. That is, until we had been there a while and realized that the music that they were playing made the place seem more like a night club than a sports bar. It got me to thinking that what we Americans consider a sports bar to be is a unique concept. Here, everywhere plays club music, which probably contributes to the stereotypes of Europeans that they go out and party all the time.

Sunday, Kevin and I set out to find the house that his paternal grandmother used to live in. Kevin's dad Keith was actually born here in England, and at his request, we were off to find his mother's old house. We were able to take the Tube there, at the northern extreme of the Victoria line, an area called Tottenham. As it turned out, the house was within walking distance of the Tube stop there. The street was fairly typical of an outlying community in London, fairly run-down, but not slummish per say. When we found the house, it appeared to have been converted into some sort of small religious establishment, although the signs that adorned the building did not look recently posted, and the condition of the small lawn in front of the house didn't suggest that whoever lives there now maintains the place. After taking a few pictures, we returned to New Cross to relax for a bit before heading into South Kensington. There, Kevin and I started watching this programme on the 100 greatest albums of all time, and despite my intent to leave earlier, we ended up watching the whole thing, and I had to take a night bus back to New Cross.

Actually, I rather like taking night buses. I get to see all kinds of areas of the city, and just experiencing traveling inside a motor vehicle in England is a kind of unique experience for me, even after having been here nearly a month. Driving on the other side of the road just doesn't get old! I ended up taking a bus from Piccadilly Circus via Victoria and Vauxhall, a different route than I normally would have taken, but it let me see a few new parts of the city, which was really cool. I think I'll experiment with a few more routes (there are SOOO many of them!) before I leave.

And, to explain this post's title, the people from NTL are supposed to come this afternoon, meaning I'll finally have internet in my room! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

~Zack

Into the Swing of Things

2006-10-13T15:36:00.001+01:00

It's now been two weeks of classes, and things are starting to become more and more routine. I'm still spending money at a ridiculous rate, but I'm getting better at buying food from the supermarket as opposed to eating at restaurants, which is certainly a good thing. Still, I have an awful lot of free time, which has let me spend more time exploring and experiencing the area around me.

New Cross, despite my initial impression, is actually not such a bad area. While it is true that there are an awful lot of fried chicken and kabab houses (as well as a fair number of hair stylists), I've yet to feel unsafe here. I think that because it's a lot cheaper to live here than in central London, a lot of people who may not have the most lucrative jobs simply live here and commute in every day. The bus stops are always packed with people, and the train station is always very busy. But because a lot of these people are immigrants, many from the Caribbean or Africa, it somehow seems foreign to me, which might explain my initial feelings for the place. But having been in central London visiting Kevin a lot, I certainly appreciate the cost-of-living change.

Anyway, this week has been mostly laid back and not too terribly exciting. Kevin started his internship, and so far he's loved it! The MP he's working for is named Paul Holmes (I think that's how it's spelled), a Liberal Democrat and a gentleman who is quite involved in a lot of social action committees. Kevin will mainly be doing research for him, as well as answering letters from his constituents, answering phones, and doing various other things that need doing. Unlike a Senator's office, though, MP's do not have huge staffs. In fact, Kevin will join Mr. Holmes' research assistant as the only other member of the staff! Basically, it means that Kevin will be doing real work that really matters, which is great for him!

Last night, which is the start of the weekend for both Kevin and I, we went along with our friend Matt to the Charing Cross area of London to see a comedy show. The entry was only 3 pounds, which wasn't bad at all, so we figured we'd give it a go. It was actually quite a good time, as the venue was the basement of a local bar. The space was small, but not cramped, which made it so the comic was standing right next to all of us. There were three comics total, along with the MC. Personally, I thought that the MC was funnier than any of the comics, one of whom used too much local humour, which was totally lost on me. Either way, the evening was a lot of fun, and I look forward to another weekend

Another Weekend (plus one boring Monday)

2006-10-10T10:34:00.000+01:00

Hey All,

Well another weekend has passed (which is Friday thru Monday for me, by the way), and I think that I’m starting to feel both more at home here in London and more longing for home in the States. It’s a strange feeling living in another country, even one in which English is the spoken language. But London is so much more than that. London is perhaps the busiest city in the Western world, certainly one of the biggest too. Moreover, New Cross, where I’m staying in London, is a bit of a low-income area, so to speak, which presents its own difficulties in regards to feeling at home. I’m definitely making a lot of friends, and I feel comfortable navigating my new surroundings, but at the same time, I don’t have that safety net to run to if I need it. Not that I anticipate needing to run away, but it’s a feeling a bit like not having health insurance for a few months while your company switches providers. You don’t expect to need it in the near future, but it invades the back of your mind anyway and sets up shop, keeping you always on your toes.

So how bout them Sox? (Did I really just hear that Manny wants to be traded again, and this time to an NL team?????)

Anyway, back to this weekend. This go around, Kevin and I took it easy. Friday night we saw “The Depahted,” the new Scorsese film starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, and (of course, it’s a Scorsese film) Leo DiCaprio. V6 pery well done, I’d recommend it to you all (but be warned, it is about the Irish mob in Boston, and very violent, but it’s worth it to hear Jack Nicholson speak in a Boston accent ;)). Saturday, we decided to hit some of the more touristy things, visiting Westminster Abbey first. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed inside (and they charged 6 pounds), but what an experience! The structure itself is nearly 1000 years old, and has been home to coronations, funerals, and other historic events in British history. The architecture defies belief, with arcane spires and clerical imagery and art galore. It made me wonder, looking upward at the high ceiling and geometric perfection just how they did it all without modern building technology. Amazing.

Next, we took a peek at Downing Street (the British equivalent to the White House), ate at a local pub, and then relaxed a bit before heading out again after dark to see some sites by moonlight. We first went to the London Bridge area, only to realize that the famous bridge that we had in our heads was in fact Tower Bridge (London Bridge is nothing special, it’s just in a nursery rhyme). So we went to Tower Hill, the home of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, and walked from there along the River Thames, just taking in the sights. The weather here makes for wonderful night walking, and sticking to the lit areas it even feels safe! We left the Thames path at St. Paul’s Cathedral, a towering edifice fit to be a royal palace! Seriously, the thing is enormous, with more beautiful architecture and an aura of importance emanating from it. It’s really just too bad that the most ornate and beautiful buildings in the world are houses of religion. Why can’t mankind create such beautiful things in dedication to realistic world peace?

Anyway, we ended up finishing the evening with coffee and bread at a lovely little French café near St. Paul’s. It was a bit pricey (then again, everything here is), but lovely none-the-less, with a very charming décor and friendly staff, even late at night.

Sunday was a bit more relaxed. We took a trip to the legendary department mega-store Harrods located at Knightsbridge, only to find that we were about 37 tax brackets away from being able to buy anything there. We moved on to an area called Notting Hill, just north of Kev’s place in South Kensington. There we found a nice (but expensive, again) little pizza place for lunch, and a few more reasonably priced shops.

That pretty much concluded Sunday, and Monday was unremarkable for the most part. The only real action was a failed attempt to watch the controversial “Death of a President” program. Unfortunately, it aired on a pay channel, so we’ll have to wait until it breaks onto the free networks in a week or so. OH, and Kev found out which Member of Parliament he’ll be working for. I forget his name at the moment (apologies), but he’s a front-bencher in the Liberal Democratic party and the chair of many important committees, with a strong record for civil rights for all citizens and ecological issues. Kevin’s dream MP, basically. I’m so happy for him! He starts his internship today, so I’ll let you all know how it goes when I hear from him. Till then, thanks again for your eyes!

~Zack

P.S. I can’t figure out how to get the pictures to post to this blog, so I’ll find another way and include a link when I do! Thanks for your patience!

At Last, Classes!

2006-10-05T16:26:00.000+01:00

Greetings Everyone!

Well, finally, after almost two weeks here in London, I've had some classes. Truth be told, I've felt a bit useless at times since coming here. I hadn't been in classes now since the middle of June, so it was nice to finally start in on them.

The first class I had was Wednesday night from 7 to 9. The class is called "Hands-on Journalism," and it is part of the Professional and Community Education (PACE) department here at Goldsmiths. Essentially, this means that the class is open to members of the community, and therefore the range of ages, professions, and walks of life in the class is quite diverse. There are three students in the class who are clearly over the age of 30, two of which do not speak English as their primary language, and at lease three others are post-graduates already in the working world. There are also, however, a lot of undergraduate students, and a lot of them are (ironically) from Boston. And, also, most of the American students in the class are Journalism majors in some fashion. This came as quite a shock to the professor, who believed that she was to teach an introductory class to older students who knew little to nothing about journalism. She vowed to give those of us who are quite beyond that level something more advanced to do, but time will tell whether or not this class is going to essentially be an academic waste of time. Hopefully it will be at least a refreshing change of perspective.

The other class that I've had, which I just had this afternoon, is called "Latin American Cinema." Funny that I've crossed the Atlantic to learn about our neighbors to the south, but it should be a very interesting class. While it is conducted in English by a woman who does not speak much Spanish herself (a bit of a disappointment, really), the class culture seems to be very conducive to good discussion. Contrary to most of the classes that I've taken in the States, this class seems full of students who really want to discuss, want to participate, and want to learn, and that makes for a very good class, generally. Also, I like that we are required to view the films outside of class and then spend the class time purely on discussion. I was a bit afraid that it would be a bit of a "blow-off" course in which we basically just watch movies the whole time. And the professor, despite not being a native Spanish speaker or natively from a Latin American country, does seem to be very knowledgable in her field, so that should be good as well.

Outside of the classroom, it's been a bit of a slow week, with a lot of nights in reading Angels and Demons or just chatting with my flatmates. When Kevin gets back this weekend, I'm sure we'll do a bit more. Till then!

Weekend Madness

2006-10-02T13:45:00.000+01:00

Oy!

So it’s been an interesting weekend so far, as for the first time Kevin and I decided to go out and experience gay life in London. Friday night, we met up with two guys called Lee and Mathieu whom Kevin had been talking to via MSN Messenger before we left the States. We met up around 8:30 pm by the High Street Kensington tube stop near the hotel that they were staying at. From there, we took a taxi to Soho.

From what I had heard, Soho is supposed to be London’s equivalent to the South End, but we discovered that there really wasn’t a lot there. Despite having been in London since April, Matt (who’s from Canada) didn’t really know a lot about London or where to go. Lee, despite being British had only recently moved into London, so he didn’t really know much either. We were then joined by another guy from Goldsmiths’, who was also new to London, and together the five of us wandered around Soho looking for something to do. Eventually, we ended up at an Indian restaurant that had a bar. After spending a few awkward minutes drinking there, we decided to just hail a taxi to take us to Club Heaven, a famous gay club somewhere in London. But when no taxi immediately presented itself, we decided to take a rickshaw instead. For those of you who may not know what a rickshaw is, like me before I boarded one, it’s basically a bicycle-drawn, open-air taxi. And let me tell you, riding a rickshaw at night through the streets of Central London is an experience not quite like anything else. Half amusement park ride and half death trap, that sort of thing.

Anyway, we made it to the club after a bit of searching and nearly hitting a bus, but not long after we went inside we realized that all the trouble was worth it. Club Heaven is a massive venue, with a sizeable dance floor and several lounge areas with ample seating. The bar is situated away from the dance floor and was quite long as to accommodate many customers at once. The music selection was good as well, with a good mix of house, techno, and some R & B.

At first, Matt wouldn’t dance (he has a bit of a patronizing attitude toward a lot of things), but Kevin, Lee, Justin and I all had quite a bit of fun dancing (and drinking) the night away. At about 3:00 am, after quite a fun evening, we all left and went back to Matt and Lee’s hotel room, where we all shortly fell asleep. Unfortunately, the room had to be vacated by noon the next day, but c’est la vies.

Saturday night was a bit more toned down, as Kevin and I went to see the film “Children of Men,” starring Clive Owen, with Lee. Matt didn’t come, but we met him afterward when we all went back to their new abode to watch the first half of the movie “Eurotrip”. At that, Kevin and I were tired so we went back to South Kensington and retired for the evening.

Sunday provided a bit of a reprieve from extreme action, so to speak, as I pretty much spent the whole day doing laundry or shopping for next week’s food. Also included below are some photos that I’ve accumulated so far, despite having little to do with this post in particular.

After now having spent a little over a week here in London, I think I’m finally starting to feel a bit at home here. I’m now quite good at navigating the Underground and I know my way pretty well around New Cross and the area near Kevin’s place. But this next week is going to present some interesting challenges for me. Kevin and the rest of the Hansard Scholars are going to be taking a trip to Scotland this coming Tuesday through Friday, so for the first time I’ll be almost totally on my own. While I do have quite a lot of friends here now, nobody can bring me more emotional and psychological comfort than Kevin can, and with him being so far away it’ll be interesting to see how I react. I’m sure I’ll be fine.

This coming week is also the first week of classes for me, so I also have a bit of a mixed bag of excitement and anxiety to deal with on that front. One of my classes doesn’t meet the first week, so it’ll only be the two, but I’m very eager to find out first hand what the differences are between British university classes and American ones. I guess only time will tell!

A Week in London

2006-09-29T16:16:00.000+01:00

Cheers Everyone,

Okay, so I finally have a legitimate internet access here at the Rutherford Information Building (AKA the library) at Goldsmiths', so I should be posting much more frequently now.

Anyway, it's been an interesting week here in London. Mainly, I've just been doing all sorts of registration stuff. I had "enrolment" on Wednesday, when I got my ID card and officially enroled, and I had department meetings all day Thursday to find out when and where my classes meet. I know I have a lot of catching up to do though, so I'll rewind a bit to Sunday...

After my first wonderful night in New Cross I awoke to meet a few of my flatmates in the kitchen, which is virtually outside my door. I have 7 flatmates all together, with one being from upstate New York (Kerri), one from California (Stacey), and 5 from the UK (Germaine, Amy, Jess, Becks, and Fi). As you may have noticed from scanning the list, Germaine and I are the only guys in the flat, which could be interesting, but everyone is so nice! Aside from Stacey, who mostly just keeps to herself, the rest of us have been hanging out quite a bit together.

I also discovered that morning that my British flatmates are all "freshers" (aka freshmen) here at Goldsmiths, meaning that they are all 18 or 19 years old. But it's amazing to see how much more mature they are than I would expect an American of the same age to be. Could just be that I have exceptionally mature flatmates, but I think that it's more of a cultural difference. I guess we'll see.

At any rate, as I mentioned, I have been spending a lot of time with these guys. We've been to a dance party at the Student Union, for a walk to Deptford High Street (a little street market with lots of odds and ends, a few blocks from the college), and we've had numerous flat parties through which I've met a lot of random people. We also went to a stand-up comedy evening at the Union on Tuesday, with the winner and runner-up from the national competition doing bits. I found the runner-up, a guy named Russell, to be a lot more funny than the winner, an over-the-top bloke who reminded me of Jack Black a bit, only more crude, but the evening was a lot of fun none-the-less.

Between all of this I've also been making frequent trips to central London to see Kevin, and he came to New Cross to spend the night with me once. It's such a relief having him here with me. I guess it makes me feel as though no matter what happens I'm not completely alone over here. Also, it's just a lot of fun to have someone to share this experience with, and even though we're in different parts of the city, I think that this experience will be good for both of us.

Anyway, I don't have any official obligations until next Wednesday now, when my first class meets, but expect another post sometime this weekend, this time with pictures (yay!) as I get the camera up and running.

Touchdown Heathrow

2006-09-29T16:11:00.000+01:00

Hullo Mates,

Well, I’ve finally arrived here in London, Europe’s biggest city and the most diverse place in the world. I arrive in the birthplace of my native language as Londoner number 7,500,001 or thereabout, to take a few elective courses at Goldsmiths’ College of the University of London toward my degrees back at Northeastern University. But this experience is about much more than that, of course. To satisfy the “journal” requirement for the Study Abroad Office at NU, I’ve chosen to keep a blog which is, of course, what you’re reading right now. I plan to update said blog 2 or 3 times per week or perhaps more often if something extraordinary occurs.

Straightaway after arriving at Heathrow Airport (a country of its own, really), the lot of us walked down several corridors to the immigration line. While I expected to have to pass through customs of some sort, I had no idea that I’d be waiting in a line longer than your average line at Disney World. It got me to thinking about some of the obvious similarities between the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as some of the differences, when it comes to immigration. Scanning the line, I could see people from all over the world, dressed in every way imaginable and speaking a myriad of languages. Some of these people, like me, are here to study. Some are here on vacation, and some on business. But intuitively, I could tell that many were here to make money. Money to send back home. Money that, given the extraordinary value of the British Pound Sterling, will be received like lottery winnings by the worker’s family. Given that a similar thing happens in the U.S. quite frequently, and given the reaction to it there, I would expect that immigration would be quite a contentious issue in the U.K. Smaller country, stronger currency, fewer jobs to be had…I would think that this would be a major issue here. Only time will tell.

At any rate, between waiting for the whole NU group to assemble (and temporarily losing 3 people), the hour-long shuttle ride to Goldsmiths’ College, and being bounced back and forth between registration buildings to find my room key and access card, I had become quite tired. Add that to not having slept at all on the plane ride over, and I was beat. Still, I threw my bags in my room and headed off to Central London to meet up with Kevin (for those of you who may not know me well enough, Kevin is my boyfriend who is also studying in London this term, only at the London School of Economics [LSE] through the Hansard Scholars Programme) at his flat in the South Kensington neighbourhood.

We spent the afternoon wandering about Central London, taking in all that is one of the most expensive urban regions in the world. We walk by real-estate agents advertising flats for 1,000,000 pounds each. And that’s just for a 95-year “rent-hold.” You see, all of the property in the central part of the city is technically owned by the estates of long-dead dukes, lords, and earls or their descendents. So one cannot buy a flat in the area, one just effectively owns it for about a century.

And that’s just one of the many very different things about my new country. Cars driving on the left side of the road, people walking even more briskly than in Boston, smaller cars and cars that do not make appearances in the States, crazy words in Shoppe windows and more and more and more. I’ll get to all of that in future posts.

Finally, after a long day of fretting about how expensive the city is and the fact that I do not have internet access in my dorm room in New Cross, where Goldsmiths’ is, I finally return home to my dorm room at about 22:00 (that’s 10 p.m.), unpack (not a long process for me), write this entry (for posting in the future when I figure out where to get internet access), and go straight to sleep, despite not having a pillow, mattress cover, sheets, or a duvet (comforter). I haven’t met any of my flatmates yet, but I’m sure I will tomorrow.