2 weeks deep

So, as of today, I've officially been gone for two weeks, and I must say, so far, so good. I was a little nervous going into this whole deal without anyone I'm really friends with, but the experience has really been amazing. It's strange to think that I'm already 1/12 of the way through my semester over here, and probably even less since I will most likely be finished with finals/heading home a week or two before my scheduled return date of June 12 (epic return in time for Dillo Day? Possible). The city of London itself has gone above and beyond what I was expecting, which was a lot. The people, the culture, the atmosphere, everything is just cool as hell. I wish me and Rauh had won the lottery before I left so that I could do everything, but alas, no such luck. Regardless, even while trying to stay within my budget, I've gotten to do some really cool stuff. The other day, myself and a couple other kids went to the British Museum, which I did see when I was here in high school, but I could probably spend a week in that joint. Plus, its free so I'll definitely be going back over the next few months.

Today was also the first time I've seen the sun since I arrived in the UK, and not because I've been partying so much that I've been living nocturnally. It's just always cloudy here, so maybe all that Vitamin D is what's put me in such a good mood. So because of the sun's glorious appearance, I decided to check out a local park that I was told is pretty neat. It was actually

really cool, and it had a hill that offered some sweet views of the local area and Canary Warf, which is a business district seperate from London's central financial center, and it contains the tallest building in the city. (Pictures included: looking south towards Canary Warf from the top of the hill, and looking north from the same spot, into the park) There was also a schnazzy little (free) art gallery in the middle of the park featuring an exhibition on childhood which was pretty interesting.

Also, props to Kegan Daugherty, who's iPod provided the soundtrack for my saunter through the park. The nostalgia provided by middle school favorites such as Blink 182, Alkaline Trio, Getto Boys, and Rage Against the Machine nicely complimented my stroll. After the park, I threw the frisbee around with a couple other kids, before we headed to Brick Lane. Brick Lane is probably the coolest place I've seen since I've been here and doesn't really compare to anything I've seen in the States. It's this old street in a Bangladeshi area with a ton of restaurants, stores, night life, etc. Quick side note first however: so the way some of the London buses work is that they are those kind of double length buses with a squishy-like connector in the middle. You're supposed to swipe your card when you get on, but if you get on the back half, you can just ride for free, unless its one of the very rare occasions where there's a cop/transport authority person on board. This doesn't work with the famous double-decker buses, but basically everyone does it with the double-length ones. People literally call it "the free bus". So anyway, our original plan was to take the free bus to Brick Lane and check out this bagel place that was recommended to us by a British kid, but while we were walking to the bagel place, we were overwhelmed by one of the most insane/amazing smells I've ever experience. Turns out we were walking past the famous Brick Lane Market, held every Sunday. There were food stalls from probably every country imaginable, even Mexican, which you don't really see on this side of the pond, and those stalls were the cause of the fantastic smell that had overcome us. I opted for a healthy helping of Chinese food with a Brazilian soda called Guarana Antarctica, all for 3 pounds. There was also stalls selling clothes, antiques, bikes, all kinds of shit. I'm sure some of it had fallen off a truck at some point, but it was really like nothing I've ever seen before. I wish I had brought my camera, but luckily one of the other guys did so when he puts up his pictures, I'll steal a couple. We eventually did make it to the bagel place, which was pretty good (and cheap!), but I'm sure any Jewish people/New Yorkers would have some better place to recommend. I think the reason the Brit recommended it was because it makes fresh bagels and other baked goods 24 hours a day, which I imagine would be amazing at like 3 am on a Saturday, but I'll let you know if I ever get to experience that. So alas, my plan to have a quiet Sunday doing laundry and some reading was thwarted by the city of London, but I'd say it all worked out for the best.

In terms of night time activities, I really tried to do a better job of controlling my drinking coststhis week, as that has traditionally been my number 1 expense, and I think I did a decent job. However, I still managed to squeeze in some raging, including playing my first game of beer pong since arriving. It's tough to find ping pong balls and solo cups (damn metric system), but we managed to succeed in scrounging up a game. Monday night is 1 pound drinks at Draper's, the on-campus bar/club (yes, on-campus), so naturally it was pretty crowded, but still pretty fun. I feel like its a fair assumption to call it the Keg of Queen Mary. Along those lines, Thursday included a trip to the Deuce of Queen Mary, the New Globe, which is actually probably classier then the Deuce, though more crowded, believe it or not. Friday included an abortive trip to a club in favor of cheaper drinking at Draper's, which I really had no problem with. I mean, going to clubs is great, but not really my cup of tea, and I'll always choose cheaper drinking within walking distance of where I live. I then decided to stay in Saturday night to stay within my meager budget. From this point forward however, I'm afraid I will have to maintain a Mike Roche-esque social calendar, trying to only rage one or two nights a week. As Roche himself might say in this situation, mega sad face.

It's not all bad though, as this restricted drinking agenda will allow me to continue to check out London and also to travel around Europe. On that note, my first trip commences Thursday (no class Friday, WOOT), as I will be Chunnel-ing over to France for a weekend in Paris. The following weekend, we have our program arranged homestay in Swansea, Wales, where I will be staying with a Welsh family for the weekend, experiencing a more relaxed, small town side of Britain. I'm actually really looking forward to the home stay. Exciting stuff. Oh yea, and classes started this week, though for some reason those don't seem that important....