London: A Day in the Life of a Directionally challenged Uni Student

So, I've said a lot of what I've been doing in my free time in this blog: National Gallery, Kew Gardens, getting lost, British Museum, British Library, getting lost. However, I have yet to fully brief you on my host family, my classes, activities, and other day to day stuffs. What follows is a rough depiction of a semi-average day plus several observations of cultural differences.

So, my days usually begin around 7ish when my alarm goes off. I use my new mobile and it has a rooster for the alarm sound. I find it ironic as London is possibly the last place on earth to find a live animal that is not a Tube rat, a pigeon, a fox or a zoo animal- roosters probably least of all.

I get up, go through the normal hygiene procedures, with some variances. In England (Possibly Europe as a whole) energy and water prices are rather high. Because of this, things like daily, 10 minute showers are a luxury that I really can't indulge in. So, I've gotten used to the every other day 6 minute shower. You probably didn't want to know about my bathing habits but, hey, these are my experiences in a foreign place and how a nation views their energy resources is an important part of how their culture.

I make a sack lunch. London is expensive, in case you hadn't heard. The dollar's favor-ability varies daily, but even so food prices in a restaurant aren't cheap. So, tight-wad-Hannah has a PB&J (Yes, there's peanut butter here in Canaan) sandwich, usually with some sort of fruit and whatever else Sainsburys has on sale. Sainsburys is the local grocery store. They've got decent prices and 1 pound sausage rolls which, believe me, is a good thing.

Breakfast is toast, tea and usually a banana. I'll discuss tea later. My breakfast habits seem to terrify my host parents. I'm not sure why, but English people seem to have larger portioned meals, which baffles me.

Anyway, at around 8:30 I walk the 15 minutes to the local tube station. I go through a small, residential area which could be mistaken for the Dursley's neighborhood in Harry Potter. I also go a bit through the town. It has a significant Muslim/ Sikh/ Indian population so I generally walk past two kebab stands, three fresh beg/ fruit venders, a vegetarian deli, at least two halal butchers (that's like kosher for Muslims), and various other shops. Oh, English people call stores shops. it's not a huge change but I like saying it. Pubs are surprisingly few and far beaten in the area around my house. I expected a bunch but I guess it's sort of a dying art now.

I actually enjoy my tube experience, all-in-all. During peak-times (7-9am, 4-8 pm) It's a bit of a, well, a bad word. However, its fast, generally reliable for the area it covers, clean and safe. Yes, there can be delays and the odd person will throw-up and cause the whole system to get shut down, but really, its not too bad. Usually there's a newspaper lying around, and the views are nice when the tube runs above ground. I suppose it suits my introverted personality. There are people around, but I don't have to, nor, indeed, am I expected to talk or interact with anyone. I can day dream, listen to music, read, or people watch to my heart's content. The people watching is probably the bets you'll get anywhere, anyway. I've got material for probably five different characters by now.

My schol ,which is in fact not really a school but a building with classrooms where we hear lecture, is about an 8 minute walk from the station. Its in a Georgian (early 18th century) building with "new" Victorian (late 19th century) editions. Sometimes I really love living in London.

I may have already given my class list, but here it is again. I'm taking Shakespeare "The Dramatist"(literature), 19th and 20th Century English novel(literature), Empire: the British Experience(History) , and Britain today (political science). I'm really enjoying my classes. In shakespeare, we're studying the Scripts (not texts) in the context of them being plays. That's it. As my professor would say "I don't give a #@$% about a Marxist-Feminist-post modernist- perspective. We're going to get our hands dirty with the verse." It's real meat and bones analysis which i think is my strength. I do better in literary analysis with things like meter, sound, rhythmic devices and so on to limit me. Anyway, right now we're studying jane Eyre in my 19th and 20th c class. If you know me , you should already be smiling and winking and making whatever sorts of visual recognition that shows that you understand how INDESCRIBABLY HAPPY studying this book, HERE, makes me. AH! I LOVE IT! Today, we spent a good 4 minutes discussing whether we like the Rochester/ Jane romance. I KILLED. ok, sorry. My pride is getting in the way. I just get so gosh darn excited about this book. But you don't want to here my defence for Rochester....
History has been fascinating. We did a bit of the American Revolution from the British perspective. Did you know that we lost? Yup, we sure did. If we had stayed with the empire we would have been much better off. Oh well. I'll be doing a study on the Gallipoli campaign in WWI and the role of the Australians in securing "victory". great stuff.
Britain Today is also great. We're going through nationality and politics and pretty soon we'll do some history. As its "Britain" today, we also get some scots, Wales, and Irish stuff. Hence our class trip to Edinburgh next week. I'll let you know ho my own personal adventures in Scotland go next time.

So, on average I have two classes a day: 1 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon. in between, I east lunch. If its thursday, I have a six hour break between classes. Today I filled that time by buying a youth railcard and getting lost somewhere around Holborn. I ended up going through Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and leicester Square. To be honest, all of the tourist stuff is kind of grouped together. It was fun, though because I got to go t=down a few sketch alley ways that, probably 1 hundred years ago, had laundry lines between windows instead of trendy bar signs and Pizza Express shop fronts. I get all misty-minded when I think about it. Someday I don't get lost, and I have another agenda. I've also used the time to catch up on class reading and visit the British Museum, which if it was less crowded would easily be my favorite hang out spot. Curse you crowds!

After my last class I usually get to the tube station around 5:45. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get home so I usually get dinner around 7:30-8. Dinner. Well, as I said earlier, proportions just aren't the same here, at least for me. For myself, I usually like a fist sized portion of my main and double that of vegg. Well, on average I get a plate full of main (like, a platter) which may or may not involve something green. Not to say that what Mary cooks is not delicious. I'm usually really excited to get home and eat as her food is pure comfort. I think I've had potato-something for dinner every night. Its always hot, and as I get home late Mary always cooks mine specially for me. With four busy kids plus myself my host mom serves dinner in shifts. Myself and my host dad usually eat together later at night. Sometimes the oldest boy, Ritchie, eats later, sometimes not. Whether Mary herself eats I have no idea. All in all, everything is quite tasty, but super-dee-duper filling. Like, my head swims with how much food she feeds me. And then it's time for desert! I don't think I have ever in my life eaten desert EVERY night, right after dinner.

Well, after such a filling dinner I try and get whatever homework I have done before falling asleep. And that's my day.

Now, tea. From what I understand, its not as widespread a love in England as we Americans think. I know several fellow students have host families who do not drink or even like tea. However, with the Butlers, tings are probably as stereotypically English as far as tea is concerned. First of all, I'm always offered it. If I look thirsty, "would you like a cuppa?", if I'm studying "would you like some tea, Hannah?", if I'm watching tele, "tea, Hannah?", if I've just gotten home, "Have some tea to warm you.", if I'm going out, "Have a quikk cup before you go," if I make the mistake of staying in one place for too long, "want some tea, Hannah?" Seriously. I kid you not. I like tea, as most should know. Ok, that's not true. I LOVE tea. So, I enjoy not having to ask. I can help myself, of course but generally I don't have to. All I have to do is look like I'm going to the kitchen and bam. Kettle boiling, tetley out and ready to go. Another thing is that i have apparently committed a mortal offense by not taking my tea with milk and sugar. My hot parents are tolerant but Granny (mary's mom) I think may be seriously offended. Now, I'm not syaing this a s a critique. I'm actually in love with the proliferation of tea in this household. I just was not expecting something so stereotypically english to be so prolific in this otherwise very Irish household. It's GREAT!

Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow I'm testing myself by making a trip to Bredfield. I'm trying to find the house my parents lived in in the 80's. Its a test as when i got to Scotland I'll be on a similar quest to find a castle for a friend. We'll see how my directional skills go. Oh, and I'll be going it alone. Hurray for personal growth!
Cheers!

London: The Art of Getting Lost

So, London is an easy place to get lost in. Really easy. You see, the city was never really planed- not since the Roman times anyway. So, there are no square blocks. It could be a hundred feet to the next street or one hundred yards. Also, the streets have this funny habit of changing names as they go- for NO REASON. Case in point-
Kensington gardens would be much easier to get to if Kensington Road (its street placement) was not also Kensington High Street or Kensington Gore.
Needless to say, I've spent a good deal of my time getting lost in London this past week or so. I've also done my best to LOSE London as it is a city and I am not a city girl. Nature is far more appealing and restorative to me than th hustle and bustle of the tube at peak times or city skylines.
I ended up making it to Oxford the Saturday before last. It is a lovely place but a city nonetheless. My uncle told me I could not call the first five minutes of town we saw "Oxford" as it really was not that pleasant. But, once we got closer to Christ Church College it became much clearer why he loves the area. Oxford University is broken up into many colleges, spaced around the city. Some, maybe even most are in really old buildings. The area we toured had a good deal of gothic architecture which was brilliant. I love the carved detail and the ornate spiers.
We tried to have lunch at the famous "Eagle and Child" but, unfortunately it was a Saturday and everyone in London seemed to have the same idea. So, no pint next to Tolkien's favorite spot. But, we did get sandwiches and ate them in the park where a group of guys were playing rugby. It was kind of chilly, but quiet which I appreciated. Pubs are great but they're crowded and noisy in general and I'm a person who revels in open, solitary spaces. We also got banana-nutella crepes in the park which were probably one of the most fabulous things I've ever tasted. In. My. Life.
After Oxford came Sunday- church. Needless to say I was a bit anxious about this church of my uncles.
"It and evangelical-charismatic-anglican sort," he told me.
Well, for someone trained to know what all this means there might not have been a n issue. But I have no idea what "charismatic" means. Evangelical is a term that can be applied to a whole lot of different denominations and anglican, to me, just means Catholic without a pope. Of course I had no need to be worried. In actuality, the church was very similar to where I when in Spokane. It's a bit different from my dad's style but not in huge ways. I mean, the guy who sat in front of me was wearing pink corderoy trousers and his wife did have on a rather shaggy fur coat but, they're British! They also had bacon sandwiches and biscuits which was great too. All-in -all, I found it really encouraging to see that Jesus doesn't have cultural boundaries, biscuits or not.
Monday I had the day to myself. I went to the British museum. Well, I should say I got lost twice on my way to the British museum and then I went. As I said earlier, London is tricky. And I have no sense of direction. None. Whatsoever. But I loved the museum. I saw the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin marbles, great Greek statues and some other wonderful things. I aslo went to the National Portrait Gallery. That was my haven. It was awesome! Instead of pieces of abstract or landscape art, it's just portraits of kings, queens, writers, and famous people. It was my element. I got to stand next to a life sized portrait of Henry VIII. He's taller than me, FYI.
The next day Uncle Tom and I went to Kew Gardens. It was wet and rainy but there wee no crowds which was exactly what I needed. Although it has some lovely green houses, Kew Gardens also has a bit of untended park which means I can get my tree fix quite easily. I spent a good 70 minutes by myself which was essential to my sanity.
Wednesday I went to the British Library to write a few postcards and see the magna Carta. Which I did. Its huge and old and terrific. I love old things. I also saw the Gutenberg Bible, Jane Austen's Manuscript of Persuasion, Charlotte Bronte's manuscript of Jane Eyre, a very old copy of Beowulf, and some older copies of Shakespeare's plays. Pretty terrific stuff for a public library.
Thursday I took the day off to play Mario Cart with my cousin Janae. I literally did nothing but that all day. It was great.
Friday I went to Portobello Market. That place is the best. No joke. You can literally by anything there. Cleaning products, army surplus, records, jewelry, antiques, vintage clothing, books, hair dryers, food, bags, rugs... even police call boxes if you have the quid :D I bought a sweater (jumper), a green scarf and a bague rain coat. I could've spent all of my money there. Silver tea pots! Fist press copies of bleak house! GAGH! But I resisted temptation. I also tried to walk to Kensington Park. I say tried because I got lost again and ended up somewhere near SOHO. I got back to Kensington by tube and did a walk before going home.
Saturday I attempted the Natural History Museum. That was a mistake. Apparently, on cloudy, likely to rain Saturdays all London Mums and Dads decide to go to the Museum too. So, there were lines everywhere. It was packed. I got a pretty good look at the mechanical t-rex (he didn't eat me, in case you were worried) but I got fed up with the crowds and rboke fro Kensington park. This time I found it quickly, ate my lunch on a bench (I had packed one) and decided to spend the 10 quid for axes to Kensington Palace. This turned out to be a smart move as no one was there so I spent the rest of my day relatively crowd free. Kensington Palace in itself is alright. It's the sort of place my Granny might enjoy as they have a lot of exhibits on Princess Dianan's fashions and mid-century debutantes. There was a bit of history and a few reenacters- Sir James Holbrook and Mrs. Garrison. It was really cool to be in the older, late-seventeenth century bits because they were no most ornate. As there were very few people there besides myself I got to explore in piece. I have to say, my overactive imagination was crafting up all sorts of stories to go along with my setting and I had more than one Beauty and the Beast flashback. I discovered that, if there aren't tourists around, even the most touristy palaces and castles can be pretty cool.
Sunday I came to the Butlers home. Dave, Mary and their four kids plus Granny for a bit. They are a lovely family. The kids are all polite and active, if a bit boisterous at times and Granny is probably the easiest person to talk to on earth. She's Irish too which makes it extra fun. I love how Dave and Mary are so attentive to their kids. They don't spoil them, but they keep track of what their kids eat, their time on tv and help them with their homework. They even read a story to their youngest, Asiling (Ash-leeng) before bed.
I've had my first day of Orientation and have one more tomorrow. wednesday I start classes. I'm tired. I'm going to bed.