"Paddling is permitted, but please keep clothes on."

Alright everyone, here we go: London Day 2.

WE RODE THE TUBE!

Dear lovely readers,

There is so much that's going to be happening, I hardly know where to begin! I simply can't type fast enough! Today we had our orientation session at the CAPA International Center here in London, which was exciting simply because we had a preview of the many fun things we'll be doing this semester. For example, in a couple of weekends we will be going to Stonehenge and Bath. This is extremely exciting to me because 1) I feel like I know close to nothing about Stonehenge, and I am so excited to learn all about it, not to mention see it. 2) Bath is a very Jane Austen-y place, and we all know I'm a Jane Austen fan. Need I say more? I'm thrilled.

After the orientation, we had a lovely little reception at the Hoop & Toy pub in South Kensington, where CAPA had a buffet of traditional cold and hot foods served in pubs. It was delicious! Totally irrelevant, but might I add while we were there, a seriously old, obscure Shania Twain song, "Ka-Ching," (remixed, mind you) started playing... Shania. Twain. What on earth is going on here?! I was shocked to say the least. I mean sure, I know she's from Canada, but I just see her in a Texas, country-music light. I bothered the kind people at my table about it for about 10 minutes (I apologize Lauryn, Will, and James!) saying things about how people in the UK might like the song because it criticizes materialism, and aren't Americans just so stereotypically materialistic, etc. They assured me that I was reading too much into it. As I was not willing to drop it (typical), I found out that when the song "Ka-Ching" was released in 2003, it hit the top 10 in the UK, as well as in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, and Romania. So weird. Follow my link above to read more about it; I'll move on to more interesting things!

Lauryn and I ended up having a nice long talk with the publican there (the bartender, that is, however this man was not just some random employee - he seemed like the main man who runs the pub). He told us all about the different types of beer available in London, who drinks what kinds of beer (beer preferred by men vs. women and why), and which pubs we should visit by North End Road and when (don't visit the cheaper ones late at night, don't visit during a "football kickoff weekend" because the pubs at North End lie on the border between Chelsea and Fulham, so there will be very passionate fans from both sides just waiting to get into a fight!). He was also nice enough to offer us samples of different types of ales/bitters, among which were London Pride, IPA, and Hobgoblin, and he gave us the low down on pricier pubs, what Brits think of American beer, and how expensive buying bottled beer can get (At one really ritzy place, a single bottle of Budweiser can go for £10! Let me put that into perspective for you... That's almost $16 for ONE bottle of Bud. Sheesh.) Anyway, for me, this experience and the conversation were absolutely delightful and definitely a highlight of my day.

After we left the pub, Lauryn and I decided to walk a couple of blocks for a preliminary visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum. We're scheduled to visit again with our program and our professor is planning a class trip, too, so we will be well-versed in the V&A by the time we leave.

The traditional, touristy phone booth picture. We found this on our way to the museum.

The Victoria & Albert Museum in Kensington

We only explored a couple of the galleries on the first floor while we were there, especially taking our time with a section of the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries called Faiths & Empires 300-1250; you can check out the beautiful things we saw too, if you just follow my link!

I loved this oil painting from the late 12th century called The Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and St. John; it was absolutely beautiful in person.

This was the placard for the crucifix.

 We also saw the outside portion of the Ballgowns exhibition, the part that did not require a ticket. I definitely want to go back to see the actual exhibition because what girl doesn't want to admire tons of gorgeous gowns?

Some great Regency period clothing at the entrance of the Ballgowns exhibition.

There was a really cool, giant slide show that was being projected on the ceiling showing different fashions in ethereal black and white.

Before we left, we stepped outside to see the central garden, complete with a pool of water shallow enough to walk in if you're wearing your rain boots!

The garden at the V&A

There were a couple of little girls having a blast playing in the water, and I found the sign located in front of the pool particularly funny, mostly because I don't think I understand the rules exactly:

Don't swim! But you can paddle if you keep your clothes on? Hmm...

And check out these awesome chairs that were in the central lobby and also out in the garden:

They're like great, big tops! Lauryn was dying to try one. 

These chairs happen to be quite terrifying; you feel like you're falling backwards if you spin all the way around.

 Last but not least, when we got back to our flat later, we entered to win tickets to the iTunes Festival that will be taking place all during September right here in London! This is a free concert series, but the only way you can get tickets is if you enter a contest where the lucky people (who have to be living in London) are randomly chosen. If you win, you receive two free tickets to one of the concerts that you selected. I love a ton of these artists, so being able to see at least one of these shows would be awesome.

I hope we win some tickets!!! Cross your fingers!

I'm off to enjoy my long, long weekend filled with more London adventures! Feel free to leave any comments or questions you may have, I love to share!

Bye for now,

Les

The Southwesterners have landed in London!

Early this morning at 7:50 a.m. ( about 2 a.m. back in Texas, so very early in the morning!) my 9 hour-long flight landed at Heathrow Airport in the beautiful city of London, England. I've been dying to update, but it's taken me all day to finally get some internet access and settle down to write.

Mom and Dad saw me off at the Austin-Bergstrom Airport.

My lovely best friend Amanda came to the airport to say "good bye" to me, too!

After we finished settling into our rooms a bit, we were taken on a walking tour of our neighborhood in West Kensington, on which we were shown the tiny Tesco's grocery store near our flat, the post office, some nearby pubs, and the nearest Tube station. It was about noon when our little tour finished, so we decided to pop into a pub called The Cumberland Arms for lunch. Located on North End Road, this pub is bright and quaint, and it was overall a very nice place to dine for our first meal in the UK!

Most of our group at the pub... we were still waiting on a couple of them to arrive!

My lovely roommate, Lauryn Deering, and I decided to share the Antipasti platter, which came with "prosciutto, speck, salami Milano & finnocchiona, crostini fegato, Mozzarella, roast tomatoes & grilled courgettes." No, we did not fully grasp what that all meant exactly, but we decided to give it a try anyway.

And this is what we received! An assortment of meats (salami and pork) with thinly sliced roasted zucchini, roasted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese in the center, and some hard sliced bread and flat bread (at least this is the way I interpreted it!). 

There was one UFO (unidentified food object) on our platter though which looked like a brown paste spread over bread. When we asked what it was, a lady kindly informed us that it was "chicken liver purée," at which point all the noses at the table crinkled a little with distaste. 

From there things went a little like this: I cried, "Ah, chicken liver purée!" (as if that was the obvious answer), picked up a slice of the pasty substance, declared it smelled very much like the wet dog food that my little dog, Dawn, so loves to gobble down, took a sizable bite of the smelly stuff, and decided that it really was almost exactly what wet dog food must taste like.

Pre-chicken liver puree consumption... 

I'm going for it! 

"This smells like wet dog food."

Unfortunately for Lauryn, I told her that it wasn't so bad ("it's not that bad... it's not good, but it's not that bad"), and she decided to be adventurous, too. This is the aftermath of that regrettable decision:

"Eww!"

The rest of the table was willing enough to take our word on the matter and turned down my offer to sample the mashed chicken liver. This was one of the more memorable moments of our time at the Cumberland Arms, however the rest of the food was delicious; on the whole, our experience was very enjoyable and a great way to begin our time here in London.

Quite happy for some refreshment after a long journey!

Right now, we are sitting at a Starbucks coffee shop we found on Kensington High Street some time after lunch (we couldn't resist the free wifi!), which is about a 15 minute walk from our flat in West Kensington. We've had quite a few culture shocks today (Argos is a big-name store when it comes to household items, almost like Bed, Bath & Beyond, except that we walked in not expecting it to be a tiny catalog store. You search through catalogs or touch-screen computers, record the call numbers of the items you want, and take it to the cashier to pay and have your items brought to you. Very weird.), but we've made it so far! This is me right now:

I'm drinking a Caffe Latte mainly because they didn't have the White Chocolate Mocha, one of my favorite Starbucks drinks, on their menu... We shall find out shortly if this is a trend throughout the UK. For now, I'll just be satisfied knowing that caffe lattes are probably healthier than mochas.

 I am feeling so completely jet-lagged right now that I am next to useless, but I'm not going to sleep until it's a proper bedtime. I would also like to shout out to my wonderful family and my beautiful friends back home: I miss you all and I love you! I hope you enjoy reading about my first day here!

My lovelies back home!

To all you readers back in the states, have a wonderful afternoon!

Another post is coming your way soon!

Cheers,

Les

Lucky Les: Last minute adventures...

Lucky Les: Last minute adventures...: I know that I'm going to miss Austin (okay fine, and Georgetown, too) so much while I'm in London, so I've really been taking advantage of ...

1:06 a.m.

Tonight I find myself sitting in a small, eclectic coffee house in Austin, TX. The best part about Bennu Coffee is that it's open 24/7, which is a night owl's dream come true.

Bennu Coffee... I'm sure I'll be back!

My companion of choice as I sip my specialty mocha (a drink appropriately called "Pride & Prejudice" - they have literature-themed drink names here, swoon), is Craig Taylor's Londoners. This book provides an in-depth look at the lives that London has touched, from pilots to students and immigrants to publicans.

I highly recommend this book; it's an easy and fun read!

Written as a compilation of interviews, Taylor gives real people the opportunity to expresss their very invdividual experiences in London, as well as their genuine feelings about the city itself. What I appreciate most about this book is that it gives me an insight into how diverse life in modern-day London truly is, which is very valuable for me since I believe it's easy to idealize/romanticize a city like London.

My favorite stories so far have come from a London taxi driver, a Transport for London lost property clerk, and the woman who is the voice of the London Underground. Every person who shares his or her stories in Londoners has something off the beaten path to say, and I've already learned about so many fascinating things that go on in London. For example: To become a certified taxi driver, you have to study for a super difficult exam called the Knowledge of London. This test has existed since 1865 and to be able to pass it, you must study and memorize a book full of hypothetical runs around the city. You take the exam in stages until you've mastered it, and you basically end up with a map of London drilled into your mind. The whole process can take two to four years to complete. How intense is that?! Now that I know this, I'm going to have a huge appreciation for any taxi driver that I encounter while in London.

I suppose what I'm really trying to say is that I think this book provides far better preparation for living in London than a handful of touristy guidebooks ever could, and it is undoubtedly more fun to read. On that note, I'll return to my reading!

Also, only 11 days left till my departure... eek!

Happy Friday night!

-Les

Beginning

I'm an American student from Southwestern University located in the great state of Texas. I've started this blog to chronicle my experiences while studying abroad in London over the next 4 months.

I'm riding in the car in The Middle of Nowhere, Texas while I write this first post. I leave to London in exactly 24 days! My main concern right now is packing... The concern being that I have a feeling I'll definitely overpack. However, I'm really going to try to tame my inner Mary Poppins and pack only the bare essentials because, let's face it, I'm probably going to add articles to my wardrobe while I'm over there. No shopping for 4 months? Yeah right, I don't think I've ever done that.