Various Scenes

It has really been a long, but short, few days here in London. It seems like I’ve been here forever, not just a few days, but at the same time the days go by pretty quickly. Yesterday, which seems like forever ago, we went on a sightseeing tour of London in the morning. There was a bit of a mix up with our tour guide people, so the bus driver, Debbie, ended up driving and talking, so I felt bad that she had to do both but she did a pretty good job. We saw the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and stuff like that.

We then picked up quick sandwiches and did some essential errands. Later that night, I went out with my friend Allie from back home, which was a lot of fun. I got to see her flat (which is a lot bigger than ours) and meet her very nice friends. I then went to a pub with them and saw other study abroad students there. It was a pretty exciting night! I then slept very well because I am trying to catch up on my sleep from the jet lag…

However, that did not go very well because we all had to be up early to walk over to Imperial College for our day of orientations. It was okay. We ate lunch at the local pub on campus, DaVinci’s. My flatmates and I then met some Germans who went to Imperial. It was a very interesting because they thought some of our laws in America were absurd, as we think of some European customs. They did not like the fact that Americans are so fast paced and they did not understand why it was illegal to drink before we were 21. Pubs do seem to be a huge part of cultural life here, not even for the alcohol part, but just for socializing in general.

We also walked around Imperial more and South Kensington where Imperial is. We then walked to Hyde Park and around Kensington Gardens to see Princess Diana’s Memorial. Despite the fact that is was raining and somewhat cold, which I know is not rare for London so I should get used to it, the Garden was really pretty. Unfortunately, we got to the Memorial 10 minutes after it had closed, so we observed it from afar. We then picked up a quick bite to eat at the student union at Imperial and went to our first day of class.

We have class every Monday night for International Issues in Journalism. My teacher has had an incredible career. It is a career that most journalists would fantasize about. He has worked in over 50 countries and most major cities in the US. He taught at Mizzou for a while before retiring, although he is still teaching here in London and working for the European Union, so he seems to still be quite active. So that class seems to be interesting and it is not a huge amount of work so I may actually get to see things while I am here in Europe.

So that is what has gone on the last few days. Tomorrow is pretty much a free day besides class tomorrow night. I am going to finally buy a European cell phone and Tube pass, and possibly get to do other exciting touristy things as well, so hopefully the weather will cooperate.