Week One

Ok Ok so I was finally able to get out with my camera and explore London.
Hmm since my last post, it has just been the same thing everyday, just at different places:

Walk somewhere for hours upon hours.
Come back home, get ready, go out.
Repeat.

My legs are dying but they love me nonetheless, my calves are rock solid hahaha.
Let me try and remember my days…

Monday was an orientation and then we went and finally got cell phones from “Carphone Warehouse” which has everything so you can compare and choose and la dee daaa. I got pay as you go and I feel a lot better with a cell phone now that I can communicate with people. (and also know the time…)

It was kind of interesting however, to not have a cell phone or internet, or a way of knowing the time. It was nice to be unattached but I have to say that I appreciate knowing what’s going on. Monday is also the day we were finally able to figure out the internet. WOOO!

Later that night I went to the Hobgoblin (the local pub that is conveniently my view when I look out my window) where I saw a couple people I knew, and then saw the majority of my flatmates there so I decided to hang out with them. It was fun.

Tuesday
First we had departmental meetings which lasted about 15 mins each that just made me tired from waking up so early for them.
We went on an adventure to find towels and we ended up finding them at the Lewisham Shopping Centre which is about a 15 min bus ride. It looked like a normal mall that you could find in the states, only different names of stores, a supermarket inside and people spoke in accents. Other than that, I could say I went over to the Brunswick Square Mall. However, I am quite glad to not say that.
Tuesday night…we decided we wanted to go into the city to check out the scene there and go to pubs and whatnot. We traveled over on a (free) train then took the underground to Piccadilly Circus:

piccadilly circus daytime

We found a pub in Chinatown to go to. O’Neills, an Irish pub in Chinatown in London. Perfection. It was a lot of fun and there was a live band playing and they were entertaining. We were there for some time and then we decided to go to another place. We arrived to “Onanon” and paid 5 quid to go in, but it was well worth it. After we had drinks, we went upstairs and they were playing all hip hop/pop/r&b/rap/fun musics to dance to. and we danced and danced and danced for a few hours and it was so much fun. We figured out the night bus to take us home and the night ended at around 3.

Wednesday I finally got to sleep in…I had nothing to wake up for, which is wonderful. All that I had was a proper British Tea at 230 in Central. So my CEA friends and I found our way to central and even though we left about an hour and a half early, we still only made it with 15 mins to spare. I had a scone for the first time ever and it was DELICIOUS, with jam and british cream,yumyumyum.

Wednesday night we went to the Student Union club because every Wednesday is “Club Sandwich” there which just means that they open up the dance floor and it becomes more of a club than just a bar. Everyone came over to my flat beforehand and then we went over to the club. It was ridiculously packed because it was the first night but it was so much fun!!!! We just danced, met people and had a good time.

Thursday I went to Greenwich Park with my flatmate Taryn and Kelly. It was absolutely breathtaking. It’s just a huge park and it was just so beautiful, and at the top of the hill you can see the the city..it’s amazing.

Looks unreal..

After Greenwich, we got back and then started to get ready to go into central to our fav. pub…O’Neills…an Irish pub (its a chain) but our fav one happens to lie in the midst of Chinatown, which is AWESOME btw. Everythings so much more festive. There was a live band playing and it was ridiculously fun and entertaining. There was a bunch of us who went, most of the kids from CEA and the majority of my flatmates:

Friday was the fresher’s fayre which included all the clubs and societies chillin at one spot so we could go through and decide what clubs/societies we wanted to join. I am more than likely going to join the Drama Society so that should be fun and a good way to meet more people : ).
Friday night we went to the Hobgoblin pub that is around the corner from halls and it was fun, we just sat around and met new people and had a good time.
I am in love with New Cross because of the people around here. Everyone is so friendly (for the most part) and it is so quirky that I feel anyone is accepted. I love the people I’ve been surrounding myself with and I am just so excited and anxious to bring more people into my life.

Saturday will go down as one of my best days in my life- I got to tour Buckingham Palace…the Queen’s home. It was surreal and unbelievable. Everything I looked at, walked on, by, touched, …is all history. It has all been  here for so long and it is so crazy to be able to see all of it and experience it all and learn everything. I have never felt more interested in these experiences. I am appreciating the small things so much more just by not wanting to close my eyes. At home I will allow things to fly by me without taking a peek but here..I never want to close my eyes, I want to see everything and imbed it into my brain in hopes that I’ll be back and recognize it. The most beautiful things appear when you take a second to look, and if there’s any lesson i’ve learned here so far, that is it.

After Buckingham palace, we went to go get dinner and I had my first fish and chips!! It was delicious : ). Then afterwards I found my way to the theater to meet Karen for Wicked. Oh my god, it was such a good show and so much fun, I really really enjoyed it. I went home and went to sleep because Sunday was a very early, busy day.

Sunday morning I woke up at 630 because we had a CEA trip to Oxford. It was early, bu not too horrible. We took the bus to Paddington Station to meet with our tourguide. Once we got there, we had to take a 2 hour train ride to Oxford. The ride was not bad and as soon as we got there, my mouth couldn’t stay closed. I was in awe ..every single building in that city is absolutely breathtaking. Again, the history is incredible, and how I would looooooove to attend school there. haha. Or I’ll just wait because they give out honorary degrees to people..who are famous..and do great things..so I’ll just wait for that.

This is where they go to school there….

Seriously?!?!? Why can’t Montclair look like this?!

All in all, Oxford is GORGEOUS and amazing. We took a walking tour and we went into beautiful churches and the place where Harry Potter was filmed and it was really really cool. I am blown away here. Absolutely. I love it.

Me in front of Buckingham Palace

 

My computer is being ridiculously slow so I will post more pics later!!

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~ by dariainlondon on September 28, 2009.