QueenElizabeth

Tonight was definitely one of the best times I've had here thus far. As much as I loved London, I have to admit that Leicester has a much homier feel and better bars. The consensus is that the Orange Tree bar in Leicester is where it's at. They play really good music ranging from indie, to mainstream rock like Red Hot Chili Peppers. They don't make you pay to check your clothes (which led to a group of people boarding the bus wearing only shorts and tank tops in 30 degree weather), and they don't care if you are wearing tennis shoes or not. Plus the orange lighting scheme gives it a cool feel. Arun, Ryan, Lyndsey and I headed out tonight around 8, figuring we'd only spend an hour or more there. However, it was ... read more

Finally experienced the Knighton townies last night. Myself and my pack of American friends went into town to try to find a coffee bar. Since I've been here I've really gotten into drinking cappucinos etc. and I also wanted to find a good place to stake out at night and write papers. We didn't quite find that, but we did find a Spanish bar that sold really cheap (1.80) bar tapas and bread with olive oil. We went back and forth between that place and an incredibly cheap and friendly Kebab stand (TJ's Flames). Arun and I both got the humus wrap, and it was definitely better than anything I've had in the states. All of the people who told me that British food was rubbish underestimated the overwhelming amount of authentically ethnic restaurants throughout Britian. ... read more

Steadily approaching week three in GB. I finally have a routine set down with my classes (which ended up being History of the English Language, Medieval Lit, and Current Issues in International Relations). I am absolutely in love with the city of Leicester. It has a wonderful city centre with an open air market that operates on the weekend. The best food I've had since I've been in Britain has surprising come from a place called McIndians - a fast food Indian restaurant that Arun and I discovered. They have a small concession stand near the uni that Arun and I hit up for lunch as often as possible. I've eaten a good deal of British cuisine at this point and nothing has rivaled good old McIndians. For the record Americans have absolutely nothing on the ... read more

Sorry about the delay in posts, this is the first bit of spare time I've had since I arrived. My first flight went off pretty well. The clerk at Continental Air was very nice and rearranged the seats so that I could sit by the window after I told him it was my first flight. Thankfully I met up with other American abroad students at the Cleveland Airport, so it wasn't very hard at all to navigate Newark once we got there. British Airways was amazing. The food was actually good, they gave out free bottles of wine, and the movie selection was pretty decent. Another interesting feature included an interactive map that showed the path of the plane as well as outdoor temperatures, altitude, etc. We made it to Heathrow in under 6 hours. We ... read more