"I think I'm part crazy fat naked British man. But only on the inside."

The above sentence happened about 30 seconds ago when Sarah was recounting her adventures trying to get into Wimbolden and talked about the crazy British man who told them that there are invisible UFOs all over the world and we need to find them. Brilliant.
Today was low key to the max, which was nice. I was struggling to stay awake a little in class, but I got to start looking for information about later day trips for the program between classes, and I'm kind of excited about this part of the job.
We started the Walls of Londinium walk today and got about halfway through - this is pretty consistent, so apparently we walk slow, but it was fun. We got some pictures with Trajen and the Tower of London ("How's Tower of London? How's Big Ben? Tuppence a bag . . .") and other various and sundry things including the burial place of Mother Goose.
I was going to go with everyone to Wimbolden tonight, but I was behind on a bunch of stuff and found someone else willing to make the attempt on Thursday, so instead I went to Regent's Park for a bit of Machiavelli studying (So much different than reading Mrs. Dalloway there) and the grabbed Gelato on the way home. I also feel singularly brilliant for putting together a Google document for the walks class I am in charge of, which I know doesn't sound like much but it is when you are as moronic about Excel as I am.
Anyway, sorry there's nothing too exciting - tomorrow will be a good time, and I've got to spend some time being productive, right?
Also, notice the new sidebar feature, "Britspeak." I'll be adding fun stuff as I find it.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?"

Sundays are good days in London - except for travel. Ick. Today was our first day in the Wandsworth Common ward, and of course we missed our train and had to wait for the next one, and then we didn't push the button to make the doors open soon enough, so we had to ride down an extra stop and ride back a stop. Other than that, it was lovely, and we were only about 15 minutes late. (The title of my post today comes from someone's response to the door that wouldn't open on the train.)
This ward is much more "cosmopolitan" than the Crystal Palace ward was. There are more Americans and Brits, and people from everywhere else. All the same, Bishop Asiadu is from somewhere awesome (not sure where yet) and they still needed a pianst despite all of the Americans, so I got to play in Sacrament meeting today. I stumbled through some of the songs, but the piano was beautiful, and the Scottish lady leading was quite nice.
I was the only student who sat with the professors today, and it was a blast. We talked about Austen film adaptations and Thomas Hardy and E.M. Forster and other things of the sort, and the professors are starting to pass around rights to the T.A., so I get to start making some copies for Dr. Holland tomorrow. (Yes, Makalya, Matt Holland, and he is awesome, as is his wife.)
During the break between dinner and our fireside, I clicked on a link and found the funniest blog ever, www.seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com. Oh my gosh. I'm still laughing.
The fireside was fun - Brother Chittock is always a joy, and our stake president, Brother Pemberton is hilarious, as was his story about his great great grandpa who got married at the age of 67 to a 17 year old and fathered 8 children. Wow.
Post fireside goings on involved fantastic conversations with Sister Benfell and Erin Avondet (another soulmate - we both like Lost and The Office, Twilight (in spite of ourselves), and Obama. I shared the seriouslysoblessed link with her, and I think she enjoyed it as much as I did.
The phone card worked, so I got to talk to the parents (I think I'm the only one here not using Skype) and then I read (and thouroughly enjoyed) my Machiavelli readings for Poli Sci tomorrow. I'm not sure Machiavelli had it all right though - he seemed to think the French had a pretty good system going with the king and the nobles, because the nobles had a right to rule and were well-loved by the people. Yup. I bet the people just loved all of those nobles that they sent to the Guillotine, eh?

"Megan, I don't remember how old I am!"

The title of this post comes from my roommate Cami (the one in the scarf in this picture), who honestly couldn't remember earlier today, much to my amazement and enjoyment. Kudos to Cami.
Things are in full swing here across the pond. The Woman in Black was pleasantly scary - maybe not quite as spine-tingling as the reviews led us to believe, but pleasantly eerie with a twist that I totally predicted.
This morning we started classes because we couldn't afford to wait all the way until next week to start. I'm sitting in on Dr. Benfell's Shakespeare class for TA purposes, and then I'm taking Dr. Holland's Poli Sci 202 class, which I think will be interesting. Dr. Paul's Victorian Women's Lit class is in between, so I definitely took a nap in between my classes. Lovely.
After class we went out and finished the walk that we were rained out of yesterday, which meant more wandering around the West End, especially Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and Leicester Square. The picture I've got here is from Leicester Square - we found this cute Charlie Chaplin statue and needed a picture. The girls in the pic with me are both in my room - Mallory (in pink) is bunking under me, and Cami is right across from her. They're good roomies and fellow explorers. I think the highlight of the afternoon was when we were walking past this theatre that's having some gay pride festival later in the week. (Gay fun fair! All the fun of the fair!) Mallory said she thought she would maybe skip that one. I looked at her very seriously and asked why. Without skipping a beat, she said, "Well, if you feel that way about it . . ." and put her arm through mine. Hilarious. (The other highlight was our short McFlurry stop. British McFlurries are better, really.)
When we finished the walk, we came back for a brief attempt at homework (I read 3 chapters of The Prince) and then we went to Khan's for lovely Indian food. Mmm. I think it was a successful endeavor for all who participated.

Finally, tonight was the GLORIOUS Mozart Requiem performance at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. I don't know how much I can really say about it and do it justice, but it has been awhile since a classical music concert held my attention that long. I was getting chills when the choir sang, and the acoustics in that place are just heavenly, not to mention the fact that it was the Mozart Requiem which really just is unbelievably wonderful.
On the tube on the way home Dave struck up a conversation with some guys about Wimbolden and we got some tips about how to get in. Keep your fingers crossed - we're going to make the attempt during the upcoming week.
Church in the Wandsworth Common ward tomorrow. Until next time!

Of Yogurt and William Gladstone

Feeling much better now that I'm not as sleep deprived, and today was a lovely Englishy day. I was so happy to wake up to the prospect (and fulfillment) of having English yogurt for breakfast that I was the first one up and ready in my (14 person) room. I swear everything is better here - the milk made my bowl of Cheerios the best I've ever had, and the yogurt was better than I remembered. After breakfast and a few minutes with Sylvia Plath in the sitting room we had a brief(ish) orientation about how to behave ourselves, and then a huge group of us headed out on the town for the London Theatre Walk, part 1 (as it turned out.)

It's really fun already knowing something about how London is laid out underneath, because not having to worry about the tube is making it easier to figure out how everything else is situated. I'm discovering that a lot of things I thought weren't close at all are right next to each other. We were walking along the Thames today from the Temple tube stop and I realized that we were right behind the fun little street that I always use to get to Trafalgar Square. Who knew the river was so close? (Answer: not me.)

The walk today took us from the river up the Strand and through the major part of the theatre district and down to Covent Garden. We were supposed to go further than that, but we got a good old fashioned rain storm on James street (after we stopped for lunch at a place called Canteen - the paninis were amazing! I didn't know that I like salami until that chicken/salami/tomato/cheese came into my life), so we decided to cut it short and just ride the tube back to Charing Cross, where we bought tickets to see (sort of - we bought seats with no view, so I guess it's hear) Mozart's Requiem at St. Martin-in-the-Fields tomorrow night. Tonight I think a few of us might try to see The Woman in Black at the Fortune theatre - it's supposed to be very good and also spine-chilling. I hope we get tickets, but if not I'm sure we can find something to do. 

Pictures and review to come, once I have them. Class starts tomorrow, which means homework starts today, so I should probably do a little reading before dinner. Cheers!

There is nothing like puking with somebody to make you into old friends.

The title of this post has nothing to do with my trip over here except that I read it in The Bell Jar and thought it was hilarious. 

I'm here! I'm very tired, because I had zero luck sleeping on the flight last night and I've been running around and imparting wisdom (haha) all day. 

Once I got to Dallas (after a pretty bumpy flight) I hit the eats department and got a chicken tarragon sandwich at a place called Au Bon Pain (with good bread, for you non-french speakers) and then started wandering around trying to find a pay phone to call the parentals. Instead I found Veronica, a girl from my program who was on my flight, and she let me use her phone and then suggested we try to switch our tickets so we could sit by each other. The lady at the gate was very sweet and most helpful, and we ended up in the center section, but on the end and by each other.

It was a longish flight, made longer by the aforementioned inability to sleep. I did get to watch The Other Boelyn Girl (the only thing that appealed to me, for some weird reason), catch a few bits of Office episodes, and read more than half of The Bell Jar (my attempts at falling to sleep to it failing completely because I tried my plan just as Esther was having shock therapy. Whoops.)

After a quick ride on the Heathrow Express and a miserable one stop in the tube with much dragging of luggage, I discovered that I still remembered where the Centre was, as well as the gelato place (Illy) and the waffle place. 

Once we were settled a little I led an expedition (the first of many today, this one with Veronica, Stephen, and David) to the Notting Hill Gate tube stop to get Oyster cards, and then while Veronica went in search of cell phone options, I took Stephen and David to Gregg's for lunch to prove that not everything here is $26. 

We also made a quick trip into Trafalgar Square, walked through Kensington Gardens, ate sandwiches, and were assigned to wards. It's weird to be back in a different room with different people, but I love how it still feels to come "home" to London and still feel comfortable here after time away. And now I'm going to skim TimeOut for a few minutes and get some SLEEP. For the record, I feel like this whole thing was more interesting in my head before my head started to fuzz over. It will get more interesting as we go along. :)

Cheers!

The First Playlist

Songs about/mentioning England/London:

• "London Skies" - Jamie Cullum
• "England Swings" - Roger Miller
• "London Calling" - The Clash
• "Clark Gable" - The Postal Service
  
• "A Foggy Day (In London Town)" - Michael Buble (at least that's the version I have)
• "River of Orchids" - XTC
• "Mighty Ocean" - David Wilcox
• "Kensington Line" - Big Head Todd and the Monsters
• "The Legionnaire's Lament" - The Decemberists
• "English Trees" - Crowded House
• "London Bridges" - Josh Rouse
• "London" - The Smiths
• "This is England" - The Clash
• "London's Burning" - The Clash
• "For Becca, In England" - Peter Breinholt
• "Werewolves of London" - Warren Zevon
• "Snails" - The Format ("Should we move to the UK?"
• "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines" - Panic! At the Disco
  
• "Cliffs of Dover" - Eric Johnson
• "English Girls Approximately" - Ryan Adams
• "Kathy's Song" - Simon and Garfunkle
• "Try Again" - Keane (no actual mention of London, but I'm POSITIVE that when he says, "I fell asleep on a midnight train, I missed my stop and I went 'round again," he's talking about the Circle Line.)
• "Morning Crescent" - Belle and Sebastien

Songs that make me think of London (because I discovered them there or sang them a lot there):

• "Lizzy" - Ben Kweller
• "Believer" - Ben Kweller
• "On My Way" - Ben Kweller
• "Summer Skin" - Death Cab for Cutie
• "You Don't Own Me" - First Wives' Club
• "Undone (The Sweater Song)" - Weezer
• "Mana Mana" - The Muppets
• "We Are Nowhere and It's Now" - Bright Eyes
• "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" - Bright Eyes
  
• "Pleasure and Pain" - Ben Harper
• "Sheep Go to Heaven" - Cake
• "In My Life" - The Beatles
• "An English House" - Kings of Convenience
  

Can't wait to see what I discover this time around. Let me know if you find any amazing London or England songs.

Feelin' Groovy

This is my London blog. I'm not sure yet if I need one, but I'm thinking that some people won't really want to read the journal o' London, and I still plan on posting random musings on the other one as they strike me, so we'll just have both so you can pick how much of my London experience you care to . . . experience. Enjoy.