photos photos photos

Sara and Christie!

The London Eye (huge regret- I missed my chance for discounted tickets)

Another photo from the Millenium Bridge just because I'm so obsessed with it.

A window inside Parliament...

updateZZ

I finally have news about the internship I'll be doing during the second half of my program here! I received this email yesterday:
Dear Mackenzie, I am pleased to inform you that FIE has provisionally placed you in an international internship with World Photography Awards. World Photography Awards is a global, annual awards programme for both professional and amateur photographers. As one of the largest photographic events existing today, The Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA), reach far beyond an awards programme for the still image. The website can be accessed at: http://www.worldphotographyawards.org/
Hopefully more information will follow soon (anticipation, anticipation, anticipation), but I think that it's safe to say that I'm going to LOVE it. Fingers crossed that I'll have access to some good photo printers and (maybe?) a darkroom.
Leeds was so much fun! The English countryside was pretty gloomy, and Leeds itself was more industrial than picturesque, but the people made up for it a million times over. We danced until almost 4am at the student union on the first night, and we hung out at Christy and Sara's hilariously perfect friend Abi's house the second night. During the day we wandered around aimlessly and semi-explored the neighborhood around Chris Price's dorm building where we were staying. I've never slept so badly in my entire life though, as we shared one tiny dorm bed between all three of us both nights.
Yesterday I did a tour of parliament, walked along the Thames, shopped at Primark (the only store cheaper than Forever 21), and concluded the day at the Tate Museum. My favorite piece was a photo proof sheet by Robert Franks that documented his travels around the US. You might recognize this photo of his (I'd seen it before, and so I reckon it's pretty famous):

I love London!

Millenium Bridge

End of week #2

After getting about one hour of sleep last night, I woke up this morning at 8 and headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum for the third time. Today I was with my Islam class, and we did a very targeted tour of the Middle Eastern and South Asian sections. I'd already been through them both once before, so I ducked out early, and took the tube to the Millenium Bridge (a totally futuristic pedestrian bridge near the Tate Modern and Globe Theatre). I'm doing a class presentation on it for British life and Cultures, and I wanted to take some photos to use in my powerpoint. Now that the fun part is out of the way, I have to actually do the research. I'm heading to Leeds (sans computer) tomorrow, so I'll be MIA for a little while.

I'm back!

After a voltage catastrophe rendered my IBM thinkpad lifeless for almost a week, the arrival of my uk powercord has finally brought me back into internet action, and I have a lot to update! I'm going to Leeds this weekend with Christie, Sara, and Katy to visit friends of friends that go to school at the university there. The weekend after we're taking a free trip with FIE to Bath, Stonehenge, and Bristol, and the weekend after that is Istanbul! We happened upon the Imperial College (the university that FIE is affiliated with) Bar the other night, and the cafeteria-like atmosphere and 1 pound ciders encourage conversation with everyone, and this week has been all about making friends with the Londoners there. Imperial College is apparently the MIT of England, and I've met a lot of physics majors who want to go into banking. Best of all though, I met a girl there last night who is going to call me this week about trying out for her field hockey team next week. She's going to lend me shin guards, and hopefully my SPA middle school gym class experience will be sufficient.... In general though, I've just been messing around London town, eating lots of amazing food (Indian, Morrocan, Italian...) and seeing lots of interesting things (the vintage market on Brick Lane, a musical called Blood Brothers starring Melanie C aka Sporty Spice...). I never want to leave!

It's only Tuesday, but I've now had one session of each of my classes! Although it's probably too early to choose, my favorite so far is (oddly enough) Shakespeare. Tomorrow morning's class has already been canceled in favor of a night time rendezvous at a pub near the Tate Museum. Afterwards we're going to take a walk along the Thames and visit various places related to Shakespeare (such as the location of a no longer existent fighting ring, where viewers would bet on how many dogs a single bear could kill, and then they would watch the bloody action). My Islam class comes in a close second. The teacher was born in Iran but is not a practicing Muslim. To be honest, I warmed up to him quickly mainly because he looks absolutely identical to Charlotte's second husband Harry from Sex and the City. He has a much deeper tan, but still the resemblance is crazy.

Because we're in London where the primary language is English, the mandatory language class characteristic of most study abroad programs has been replaced by a mandatory British cultures class. I chose British Life and Cultures (which seems exactly the same as the British Life and Media and British Life and Business alternatives, which some of my friends are taking). In our first class today we discussed our first impressions of London, and British people in general. We read a passage about Margaret Thatcher's political style, and the author gave an anecdote about Thatcher's tendancy to dismiss young promising politicians that she didn't like by vaguely proclaiming that they were "not one of us!" It's a phrase that comes as no suprise after spending a short period of time here. Social rules (such as no talking on the tube during rush hour) aren't written down anywhere; they are just known. "Look at that American swagger" a few English men sneered at our American group of ten or so when we walked into a bar the other day. When I asked a security guard at the tube station how to get out, he glared at me angrily and silently pointed in a vague direction with a look that declared "how dare you use the tube if you're not a regular". Katy asked for honey in her tea at a coffee shop, and the man looked apalled and waved her away. "No honey here" he muttered as though the request was totally alien. People do not seem conversational (unless I meet them at the bar) and I'm incredibly thankful that at the very least I speak their language, so that I'm not totally lost. However there are some perks: we've been highly discouraged from ever tipping more than 5 or 10% at restaurants because customer service does not exist, and in clothes shops the workers leave a wide berth between you and them, and never pester any shoppers annoyingly. Hopefully I'll soon pick up on enough of these silly social rules, and I'll no longer be dismissed the second I so much as look the wrong direction or speak in my American accent for "not being one of them."

Yesterday Katy and I woke up early to check out Club Kensington, the gym she got a membership to on Kensington High Street. We walked the mile or so to jump start our excercise, and we picked up a cup of tea and a Stan's cookie on the way. Katy had a guest pass for the gym and so we both worked out. It was a dingy little place with lots of industrial metal and flourescent lights, but the environment was comfortable and the people were friendly. There are daily yoga classes, and I may become a member just so that I can go to those for free (FIE students get a special 99 pound membership fee). Afterwards, while walking on on high street, we discovered Marks and Spencer, a department/grocery store that seems like an British version of Trader Joes. We bought a box of 160 bags Marks and Spencer brand English Breakfast tea after a woman in a very proper woman in felted coat and top hat told us it was the best tea around ("even better than Harrods!") We tried to escape the cold and take the tube home, but of course the circle line we wanted to take was closed in both directions. We took a bus to a bar with kids from our program last night, and then finished the night at a club near Trafalgar square. The DJ played lots of Lady GaGa, and we made some hilarious British friends. Today we woke up early for a bus tour of central London, but no one had gotten enough sleep, and everyone was motion sick.

Day 1

I caught the snow falling for five minutes or so outside my and Katy's bedroom window today when we were napping between orientation lectures. One of the speakers this morning told us that the English are obsessed with the weather, and so far thats proven to be true. There's only a centimeter of snow on the ground, and yet there have been airport delays and cancellations and everyone complaining and trodding around in boots. While sitting in the cab yesterday my nostrils were suddenly filled with the overwhelming stench of cat litter. "Smell that, miss?" my Scottish cab driver asked; "the stores are running out of salt, and so people are dumping cat litter all over their icy walks." The temperature is always around 30 degrees though, and the snow is merely a decorative layer, so I really can't complain considering I've come from a place where everything is a few feet deep in snow, and my thermometer was regularily reading below -10 Jet lag is killing us. It's 7:3opm on a Friday night and we're beyond ready for bed. We're going to run to Tesco for some honey and PG Tips (tea that costs like 39p for 40 bags) just to stay awake. We're going to wake up early and do some sightseeing as we have the whole day off!

Jet Lag

My flight was uneventful. I watched a few movies, ate two complimentary meals, and tried unnsuccesfully to sleep a little.

Our bags took a while to arrive, and while I waited I struck up a conversation with a woman from Detroit who had apparently taken a trip to London 20 years ago, met an Englishman she then married, and has lived in London ever since. "Have a fun six months" she told me. "But then get the hell out of this place". She also reccomended that I take a trip to Brighton and "stay the hell away" from Brixton.

Our flat is on the fifth floor of a really cool old building called Manson Place with a white townhouse-looking front. There are no stairs and it's a little dingy, but it's very quant and charming. We share the apartment with a lot of other girls from LMU. Katy and I have a private bedroom, but we share the kitchen and little bathroom with everyone.

I spent the day trying to get my act together and running errands. I picked up a pay-as-you-go phone, wandered through Tesco, and payed for my Istanbul trip at the begining of February.

Off to a meeting, and then either out or to bed! Both sound equally appealing.

First Post!

Sitting in the kitchen now, having a last cup of coffee before a 4pm flight. I'll be in London by 7am tomorrow morning!