Blogs from Bloomsbury, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 7

Well I guess wednesday is the same no matter where you are in the world. Tonight I have to do Laundry and write a paper. Ugh. Oh, happy 4th to all of you in the states. I'm doing very well. Yesterday I went to the National Gallery and saw some pretty super sweet paintings. Including monet, van gogh, and some other really old famous names. It was mindblowing to think that I was looking at the original works of people who are so talented. I also bought my ticket for the train and ferry to Dublin. I leave tomorrow night, and come back on Sunday. I am begining to notice more social differences between the people and the culture here, and home. I think I've only seen two pregnant women since I got here, which to ... read more

So after much time spent holed-up in the flat, I finally ventured out this afternoon. First, Emily, Sherry, and I headed to the ATM and the grocery store, Waitrose. I needed to stock up on fizzy drinks without caffeine, vita-waters, rice cakes, jello, dry bread with jam... exciting, huh? But it is working, so I'll stick to it! It was quite an excursion for me and I needed a nap when I returned home. Yet, after doing a tiny bit of work and watching some of the Wembley Stadium Concert for Diana on tv, the sun was truly shining outside. I am a firm believer that this was Princess Diana's way of acknowledging her boys' efforts to commemorate her. This is especially since we haven't seeen this much blue sky since we arrived over a ... read more

So today people can no longer smoke indoors at all! Yet, I did not get to enjoy the turning point revelry the last two nights. I will take you all back to Thursday evenig. After class, I came home to a nap and some homework, oh yes, and laundry. Let me start with our laundry: we have this very interesting machine that is an all-in-one: it washes and dries! Yet it takes about 3 1/2 hours per load and they are tiny loads, so we pretty much have it going all the time it seems. I do not complain though because it's free! Our things do either come out damp (steam dry), or wrinkled, so the iron is also our friend! Then John, one of my flatmates, and I, headed to the Foundling Museum. This little ... read more

Ah. It's so nice to finally be here. After a 24 hour trip, a quick stop in Chicago to meet up with Chad, Erin and Jack, and a lot of airport waits... I arrived. The weather was rainy, but me and Brad the guy who was my travel companion on my flights braved the weather and went out for drinks and dinner. I was going to stay in, chill, and get familiar with my dorm, but the second I got in the room I was overwhelmed with a strong urge to explore. Explore we did. We had Thia and drinks. I tipped the bar tender... I guess that's not what you do here in the U.K. oops. : ) But the drinks were only 2lbs, about 4 dollars, and it didn't seem outrageous. Then we walked ... read more

Ahh... the catch-up. Well, since I last left you with the vision of the mouse on the pub floor, I've had a couple of lovely experiences. First, we took a journey yesterday as a class, to a neighborhood outside of London called Harrow. There was a "song-fest" occurring, where a music specialist for the borough pulled together several schools to do one big concert. There were about 430 children aged 8-12, and it was a perfect opportunity for us to work on our observation of rehearsals, students, and teachers. It was a nice experience, particularly since I am such a children's choir nut. I watched one little girl for about 15 minutes straight to observe her on-task and off-task behavior, and it was very entertaining. The difficulty was that she and her little friend next ... read more