Hello everyone,

This past weekend I went into central London for the first time. We had a guided tour for a couple hours and then got walk around ourselves. A group of us took the train in together from Kingston which was a smooth 30 minute ride and then we had to take the tube over to Westminster for the start of the tour. As soon as I walked out of the station the first thing I saw was the amazing St.Stevens tower (home of the bell named Big Ben, as we all learned on my trivia game). It was a really great first impression. We were a little early so I got a tea and lemon cake. The walking tour showed us tons of the biggest sights: Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Tralfalgar Square and the London Eye. It was really incredible to see all the stuff in real life. Much more impressive and bigger than I expected. The tour also came with lunch at a pub nearby Tralfalgar Square. I had salmon with vegetables and a legal beer. So all that, only five pounds. Definitely, the best deal I’ve encountered so far.

We then separated into our own groups and looked around ourselves. My group took pictures in the Square for a while and then rode the Eye ferris wheel. It’s a bit expensive and I promised I'd go on it with Kait when she visits, so I saved my ride and walked along the Thames taking pictures and looking at everything. Afterwards, we went over to the National Museum of Art and got to look around just for a little bit before it closed at 6. Everyone was in agreement that we have to go back again soon. London is much easier to navigate than new york and its much cleaner too. I think I'll be going in every weekend if I can. You can get a ticket that includes train there and back and all subway access for the whole day for only 7 pounds. It’s a really good deal. I think I’m planning my next trip to explore around Camden and to see the Abbey Road street from the Beatles’ album cover.

Today was my first day of class. I only had one class, both the lecture and seminar meetings. Mondays might end up being one of my favorite days of classes. My subject is really interesting and in between the two sessions I can grab a subway sandwich on campus. The best part is the subways here have this “sub-of-the-day” deal. You can a certain sub for only 1.99 and mondays is turkey, ham and cheese. Really good. I know subway deals aren’t the most exotic foreign experience to read about but this is a very exciting and delicious prospect. Anyway, the class I had today was 20th Voices in Poetry and lots of my favorite poets are covered in it. The class is definitely not as intimidating as I thought, I think I’ll actually be one of the know-it-alls. I met with some international kids after to walk back home and we were all in agreement: in class we definitely felt very american. I think the british students kind of don’t like us, especially if we answer the questions. Oh well.

I did some grocery shopping today, for real this time. Since I’ve got here I’ve just gone a couple times and picked up a frozen dinner or a cup of soup. Today I stocked up a little more because I’ve heard again and again you need to save money by making your own stuff instead of eating out all the times. So I grabbed some coldcuts, bread, apples and some beverages... Again, I’m not really detailing any exciting foreign experiences here. Grocery shopping is pretty universal. Still, I’ve been on a mom-plan or a meal-plan all my life so this is pretty fun for me.

Tonight I’m meeting up with some friends at the Kings Tun pub, they’re going to head out to this club afterwards. I’m finding that the money/dance scene isn’t really my cup of tea, so I’ll probably head home after and do some writing. Then tomorrow is my second class and if my calculations are correct another delicious sub-of-the-day deal. Meatball hero, 1.99!!! How can I pass that by?!

Here are just a couple pictures. I've got a couple more I want to share my internet connection is being a bit slow and you know I've got places to be, people to see, so I'll post them in the next update. Plus, I've got a ton more pictures that I'll just show off once I get home.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers*,
Roy



*I don't actually say 'cheers' in real life, yet.