London... week 1.

Well an update about London is much overdo.

Since I last blogged all of my visitors have left and I am settling into the "big city" lifestyle in London. Two weeks ago, the Monday after we arrived, I had my day of orientation at the University. Having not bought a weekly tube ticket yet, and unsure exactly where I was going, I decided it would be best to walk to class. Leaving myself plenty of time I was able to leisurely stroll to the American Student Orientation session via Buckingham Palace, Green Park, New Bond Street, and Regent Street. As I walked past the Queens residence, through a beautiful park, past the designer boutiques and Rolls Royce dealership on New Bond Street - it hit me... London was much unlike anywhere I had been and the next three months of my life would be much unlike a semester or quarter at DU.

Orientation was nice and brief - they do not mess around here with useless information. Essentially we were given a brief lecture on how to be safe in London, received our schedules, got scheduled for an appointment to see the adviser to confirm our time tables (this was the only other part of orientation the whole week) and that was the extent of orientation.

Without plans to meet Matt and Monica until around six p.m. I had a few hours to get settled into my room - buy sheets, etc. and explore the area around the flat. Bart, a friend from DU who I knew before coming to London, and I headed for the Argos nearby to buy everything a first year student would need for a dorm room. Argos operates under a very odd (well, odd to anything I had seen before) system of buying. Basically you look through a large book with everything they stock, punch numbers into a computer to check if its in stock, and purchase all items sight unseen. You then wait until your items are retrieved from the stockroom and you are on your way within ten minutes. Imagine shopping online and the UPS man bringing your purchase within the hour. Punching in the numbers for the cheapest pillow and seeing one left was much like playing the lotto. You could only hope to make it to the register before everyone else with the special item code to get the best deal. While it seems very convenient, shopping without seeing something is very stressful and not an experience I quickly want to repeat. However, I was able to get the bare essentials of home and settled into the "purple palace." Yes, the photo below is my room (err... closet) with bright purple walls.



After settling in, Matt, Monica, Bart, and I made our way to a nearby Indian restaurant to share stories of the day (Matt and Monica had further explored London). Over the next few days Monica and I explored further areas of London.

The very next morning we attended the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Who knew that the whole ordeal took nearly an hour and a half with various processionals, marching bands, and rituals? Much to my surprise the changing of the guard is quite the ordeal and something I hope to make it to again during my time in London, after reading some about the justification for certain actions and movements by the processional... I mean, there has to be a reason why the guard marches back and forth from the gate to the palace a certain number of times... right?

After checking out the changing of the guard we made our way to London's version of Chinatown. Chinatown in London comprises of about four square blocks of Asian markets, noodle houses, and the typical things you would find in any well equipped Chinatown. I was most surprised by the rabbits and other meats hanging in the display windows of nearly every restaurant. Luckily, Monica and I found a friendly no frills quick Asian cafe to grab lunch. Having just briefly walked through the streets of Chinatown, I plan to go back in the coming weeks to have a look inside some of the Asian markets. The evening was spent cooking dinner (for the first time in two and a half weeks we did not wander around aimlessly trying to find a place to eat) and relaxing.

The next day I explored the Westminster campuses attempting to associate myself with the academic buildings so I would know where to go for class before meeting Monica and her friend from home for lunch near the Marleybone campus (where I have two classes). After lunch Monica and I went for another adventure on the tube to Harrods. If you are unfamiliar with Harrods, basically, you can buy anything and everything at Harrods in the most opulent and ritzy department store I have ever seen. We began on the ground floor and wandered through boutique area to boutique area, from jewelery to chocolates to fine teas. Five floors later, I had seen it all, where else can you have lunch at a sit down restaurant, buy designer ski wear, and plan you funeral (yes, Harrods offers such services) without leaving one roof. Simply amazing.

In stark contrast to Harrods, we made our way to Camden town, catching the markets just as they were closing. Camden Town has a very punk / alternative slant to the street vendors and shops with tons of tattoo parlors. While the markets were closing we were able to wander into a discount Aldo shoe store. Similar shoes to ones I wanted to buy in Denver for $100 were only 20 pounds, and they say everything in London is more expensive, I beg to differ. Camden Town is another location I hope to come back to before I leave London. The rest of the evening was spent cooking and relaxing and allowing Monica time to prepare for her trip to Dublin.

My next post will highlight some of my adventures in the past week including: finalizing my class schedule, a trip to the Borough market, first week of classes, yoga in my Devising London class (yeah, this is a good story), a visit to the Banqueting House, a trip to the Imperial War Museum, and a trip to Stonehenge (including more pictures)... Look for that in the coming days.