Cheerio!

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Oh me oh my! London, I love you. It's just four days into this whirlwind trip, and already I feel like I have been here forever. I have seen so much in such a short amount of time. As usual, I didn't sleep on the plane, and I arrived in London at 7 AM, bright and early. Surprisingly, I was able to find my way into the city and my dorm (by myself) with almost no troubles. Surprising, because reading a map of London is like trying to nail jello to a wall, as the city is built on cowpaths. There are a few main roads, but there are a million little side streets. In this way, it is a little like Boston, however the only reason I can find my way around Boston is because I have lived there my whole life. There is no logical way to figure out a city like London, it's not a grid like New York City... but oh well. Nothing of terrible consequence happened on the first day... actually that's a lie. We went to the British Library, which had an exhibit by the Coexist Foundation, whose goal is to promote better understanding between Christians, Muslims and Jews. They had all these old, old Qu'rans, Bibles and Torahs. They were all so beautiful, it baffles me how much detail goes into every page of these pieces. They also had other religious artifacts and descriptions of traditions of the three religions. It was a well done exhibit, and I think ideally creating better understanding between the religions is a good idea, but I'm not so sure it is a plausible one. Unfortunately, when it comes to religion, I tend to think that people are too stuck in their ways to break any ground concerning the current situation in the world. I hope I am wrong about that, though. That night we got our first taste of pub life, which is a rather big scene here... people of all ages go to these places for lunch, dinner, drinks. I love the atmosphere of pub life, and I'm hoping to get to know some locals while I'm here. If there's one thing I absolutely love about this city, it's the sheer amount of museums they have here, and most of them are free! A group of us stumbled upon the Royal Academy of Art while wandering around Piccadilly Circus, and it was truly amazing artwork. My dorm is really close to the British Museum, also free, which I'm going to have to return to because it is so enormous. Hm, what else? Okay, well in all honesty, the food here is less than delightful. Much of what I have encountered is either flavorless, or if it has flavor, it is because it is covered in an ungodly amount of: cheese, sour cream or grease. Gross. However, I did have some very delicious Bangladeshi sweets on Brick Lane, which is an Indian/Bangladeshi/Muslim neighborhood. It wasn't the nicest part of the city, but certainly a very unique and interesting place nonetheless. I found a Sari shop and I had to go in... I absolutely adore Saris, to the point where I want to wear one as a wedding dress. We also went to some art galleries in that neighborhood, and poked around some shops. Everything here is pretty expensive, but I'm slowly starting to accept that. The fashion here is absolutely fabulous. I could actually stand on the street and just stare at everyone's outfits all day. Everyone has their own style here, and the only consistant patterns I've noticed are that everyone has great shoes and jackets. Which reminds me, the warmest it has been since I've been here is 60 degrees. But, despite the food and the weather, I am having a great time getting to know London, and I know that every day will offer new adventures. But for now, I am going to try to get some sleep, which has been a challenge since I've been here. Cheers!

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Photos

Trapped!
I guess everyone needs a photo in one of these... what no one mentions is the musty smell, and the smutty postcards inside the booth. Still cool though.

British Museum
This was a really great sculpture outside the museum.

Mask
I just loved this mask from the British Museum

Brick Lane
Lots of great graffiti in this little neigborhood.

Gothic Church
I go to class across from this church... yea.