My lack of sleep is not conducive to my health

I know I said I slept really late on Monday, however, it didn't seem to carry over to the rest of the week.  Tuesday I once again woke up early to work on a paper and then had to sit through my class trying to stay awake.  What kept me going was Caroline's depiction of Kevin as "Dad Man."  Long story.  Then we had our internship orientation where they told us the basic knowledge of what you should and shouldn't do, and then they started to scare us.  They told us that we can still botch up our interviews next week and lose the internship.  It's rare, but it does happen!

After some grocery shopping to stock up on lunch food for the next week, we went to Sports Cafe.  It is a really nice looking bar, but it is all Americans.  Since our goal is to meet as many Brits as possible, this was definitely not helping.  But we stayed and had fun and watched the creepy guys tie sweaters around their waists.  We made sure to leave in time to take the last tube home so we wouldn't have to figure out the bus system.  Good times had by all on the tube.

When we woke up at 7:15 this next morning, we realized that it might not have been such a good idea to go out like we did.  We took an 8 am bus to Warwick (2 hour busride, slept the whole time) and stopped at a rest stop aka "Welcome Break" and Lauren went in to buy some water.  I went to open my water, not realizing that Lauren had accidentally bought me carbonated water, and it exploded everywhere.  I guess my karma was getting me back for going out the night before.  We got to Warwick and hung out at the castle.  It was so neat and we got to go all throughout it.  I wish they would have given us another hour so I could have seen the combat and stuff, but I did find time to climb 530 steps to the top of the tower.  We then got back on the bus and headed to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Anne Hathaway's (Shakespeare's wife) house and walked on the same exact floor that Shakespeare did and then to his birthplace (which we later found out was just his birthplace because he did not live in Stratford).  After that it started to torrentially downpour and gave us only one choice of things to do during our 4 hour break: go to a pub.  Now normally I would have loved sitting in a pub, sipping on beer and cider for 4 hours, but when you are lacking sleep, like I was, it is hard to finish even one pint and stay awake.  I got some delicious fish and chips and then we headed to the theatre to see Taming of the Shrew (10 Things I Hate About You is based off of it).  The theatre was neat, but the play was so hard to follow because not only did they modernize it, but it also was a play within a play.  It might have also been hard to follow since I was struggling to stay awake.  I was told that they changed the ending to the play so I guess I will have to read it to really understand it.

On the bus ride home I dabbled in sleeping and playing this 6 degrees type game with movies and actors.  I wasn't playing to begin with so I started shouting out movies and I don't think that it made Lauren happy.

Today I once again woke up early and wrote my paper.  We find out our internships and interview times today and then my flatmates and I are getting all dressed up and going to see Sex and the City.  It came out here yesterday, but since we were Shakespearing it up until 12:30 AM, we couldn't go.  Oh and Paris tomorrow!

Things I've learned:

1.  Parking garages are called "Multi Storey Car Ports"

2.  Shakespeare APPARENTLY died in a pub

3.  Sports Cafe raised their pound pints to 1.50 pints and they start after 10

4.  Roof thatching costs 17,000 pounds (AKA $34,000!!)

5.  All Shakespeare gave his kids when he died was 5 pounds, but he gave his friends 10 pounds.

Cheerio and, in Miss Frasco's words, God Save the Queen

Procrastination is slowing wearing me down

I don't know why I think it is necessary to do everything possible before I write my papers for my class.  Last night I did everything from send random emails, to go to the store and even make multiple playlists on my iTunes.  I am totally regretting it this morning since I got a total of 4 hours of sleep in order to finish my paper when I woke up.  But I guess part of the reason for me going to be so late was the fact that I slept in until noon yesterday.  Crazy right!  I was so mad at myself for doing it too.

After finally waking up, some of us went to a restaurant called Giraffe for lunch and it was so good.  It has dishes from all around the world and everything is decently priced.  I'm still in favor of London food.  After lunch we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A).  Oh and I forgot to mention that it was raining during this whole time, a miserable rain...even made Caroline cry and Marylyn's umbrella turn inside out multiple times.  Anyways, the V & A is HUGE.  There is so much to see and do.  We probably only got through a fraction of it.  I saw Japanese, Korean, Medieval European and Leighton artifacts and creative play sets and lots of jewelry and some sweet photography.  In the creative play exhibit there was this fake old lady who made an unstoppable creepy laugh everytime we walked by.

Last night, while attempting to write our papers, the boys came home, drunk, and distracted us from writing.  I guess that's what happens when they realize that they wrote the wrong paper while they are hanging out at the Texas Embassy drinking margaritas.

In other news...3 days until Paris!

Things I've learned

1.  Many things in museums are actually plaster casts and not the real thing.

2.  Even native Londoners hate the rain.

3.  Baker's Oven is closed on the bank holiday.

4.  Sommerfield's sells delicious and healthy individual tiramasu cups.

5.  Finding hotels/hostels in Paris is difficult.

Off to my WONDERFUL (gag me) class.  Cheerio

We have another flatmate

And we have yet to name him/her.  A nice little mouse, we think, has decided to call our kitchen home.  No one knows how he/she might have gotten in there, but all we know it that we have been very clean since we've gotten here.

Saturday was the first day that we were able to sleep in at all.  It was nice, but I woke up startled at 11 am and decided that I felt bad sleeping in while in London.  So after a late breakfast we went to the Tate Modern Art Museum on the Thames.  Since it's a Bank Holiday Weekend, a lot of the tube lines were closed, so we spent 15 minutes trying to find an alternate route.  Fortunately, even the London natives were looking tirelessly at the map also trying to find where they should go also.  But we made it there, yes even Marylyn, and went to the most bizarre museum I have ever been to.  There was this performing arts group tying themselves up as mummies while playing the strings instruments.  And this was the least strange of the many things they did.  I saw everything from Picasso, to Matisse, to Monet, and the rest just flew over my head (who gets their artwork put in a museum that just rips a canvas slightly?)

We didn't stay long because we were hungry so we "dined" at this nice cafe for over 2 hours.  The food was so good and our waiter was from Oregon and apologized for not being British.  I would totally go all the way back there just to have that hummus/pesto/spinach and artichoke dip plate.  After a little browsing at a store, Julia and I went for a walk with some Strongbow (alcoholic cider) in Kensington Gardens.  We took pictures of the Palace and tried to find the Peter Pan statue (I will continue this search soon).  We came back and began or strange night.  It consisted of mice (potentially), a possible burglar, a knife, ding dong ditch, and peeping tom.  Let's just say it's a long story and not easy to type out.

This morning we woke up bright and early to our first rain since we first arrived (we've had amazingly perfect weather so far) and headed off to Bath and Stonehenge.  I spent the entire 5 hour round trip bus ride reading and finishing Twilight AKA the best book ever and now I'm craving the next book in the series.  Everyone else of course slept all of the bus rides.  So we got to Bath and that was pretty neat.  I was frustrated because whenever I wanted to take pictures of things, the bus was moving.  Especially when I we drove past the Gay Street sign and the "Reed" restaurant.  The architecture was a lot different than the London architecture, but just as breath-taking.  This is the second most expensive place in England to live in, to London of course.  I think I would have enjoyed the Roman baths more is there wasn't thousands of people there also making me claustrophobic.  We tasted the water at the end and found it to be rather disgusting and incredibly warm.  Then we split up for lunch and some of us went to this nice cafe and I had my first spot of English tea.  Tea and cream isn't too bad!

Next was Stonehenge, and can I just say that it was probably one of the most anti-climatic things I have ever seen.  Now I will admit that I was warned, but honestly, I didn't expected it to be right there on the side of the road like a "World's Largest Peanut" display.  We were given an hour to do what could have been done in 15 minutes: take pictures of a bunch of rocks.  Sorry history buffs, but that's how I felt.

We got home tonite, made dinner and just hung around the flat.  Then, miraculously thanks to my dear friend Shannon in the States (my world traveling friend), we booked a trip to Paris next weekend for only a 47 pound busride (only $95 to get to Paris).  I cannot tell you how unbelievably excited I am right now.  Paris is a place I have dreamed about, along with of course London, since I was a little kid.  I cannot wait!!!!!!!

Things I've learned:

1.  Baked potatoes AKA Jacket Potatoes are VERY popular

2.  Stonehenge isn't all it's cracked up to be

3.  I'm always hungry here because the portions are tiny

4.  Finding hotels is difficult

5.  Pashminas are a necessity in London

Cheerio all! (especially Angie, sorry there are no embarrassing stories today!)

poor marylyn...

...she got stuck on the tube.  That's right it happened.  We were getting off to go to this art exhibit and kevin got stuck in the door and then right behind him was poor little marylyn stuck on the tube.  What ensued was like out of a movie.  There she was hands up with a priceless look on her face, "WHAT DO I DO?"  The rest of us were laughing and walking along next to the train.  I swear our flat needs to be on a reality show (we've already decided to call it "Frat Flat").  Honestly, I am still laughing about it while I am writing this entry.

We took the tube, got lost, asked around to everyone and finally found this "Agit Pop" art exhibit in this print studio.  It was really neat because the guy who put together the exhibit gave us our own private tour of it.  I mean most of it went over my head but it was really neat.  All the art is from political issues and such.

We came back and found this little restaurant called MOR-ish where the waiter made fun of us for being American (we did not understand his jokes).  And then went out to Mango's for Alan's birthday.  I think I found my British love there.  I mean we didn't talk, but we made eye contact quite a few times.  I'm telling you, it's fate.

This weekend is a Bank Holiday so we plan on doing lots of tourist stuff.  I will let you know how it goes.

Things I've learned:

1.  NEVER say fanny in England

2.  Don't have 9 people walk out of the same door on the tube because not everyone will make it out...

3.  When Alan gets drunk he talks in a British Accent

4.  Boys buy drinks for girls in England too

5.  They soak the fruit for champagne in vodka

I walked into a pole

So I'm realizing that I'm doing a lot of embarrassing things here, sober, so I might as well draw attention to them in as many ways possible, such as making them the title of my posts.

Yesterday we had our WONDERFUL (notice the sarcasm) class with dear old George and his pleats (gross I know).  I have a system down for that class.  I pay attention long enough to make my one comment, only to have him "play devil's advocate" every time because he loves the sound of his own voice, and then I just zone out and daydream about the British boy I plan on meeting.  In the two hours of that class I was able to create where he lives, how we met, his family background, and our first two dates.  Pretty successful right? (gosh I'm ridiculous).

After class I called the Odeon Cinema (the big movie theater here) and attempted to find times for Indiana Jones only to be greeted by one of those recordings that ask you to say your options instead of pressing numbers.  This is how I realized that speaking in an American accent does not work for this service while in Great Britain.  It honestly took me five times to say "Kensington High Street" and another five to say "Indiana Jones" (I even tried speaking in a British accent).  Let's hope I didn't use up all my prepaid cell phone minutes on that stupid phonecall.  Anyways, we went to see Indiana Jones.  Now in English cinemas (they don't call them movies or theaters, it's cinema) they play commercials and previews for literally 30 minutes.  By the time they are over, you feel like you've sat there through an entire film.  My favorite commercial was the one for an "axe" type product (I'm such an ad major).  Okay back to the movie, it sucked.  I was so excited for it only to be disappointed by it.  All I have to say is ALIENS?!?!  Seriously Spielberg, what were you thinking?

After that I spent the rest of the night skyping and showing people my flat with my webcam that finally works. (the rest of you need to set it up/actually go on it so we can talk!)

Things I have learned

1.  British automated phones hate American accents

2.  People have no shame in London

3.  The Weakest Link still plays in England and the host lives in my neighborhood

4.  The tighter the pants the better in London

5.  Movies are 7 pounds...matinee...

i'm beginning to think in a british accent

Yep that's right.  Strange I know.  Especially since I am mostly around Americans all day.  Oh well, it is was bound to happen sooner or later.

Yesterday we went to class and made it there ON TIME with room to spare.  All that I have learned in that class so far is how much I clash with my professor.  (yes I am being very nice in my description)  After reading my first paper, he didn't give me a grade, he only put "hopelessly confused."  It is going to be virtually impossible to impress this guy.  At least he let us out early...

In the afternoon we went to British Life and Culture and listened to some guy drone on about actors and theatre in London.  It was so interesting that I, once again, dozed off to sleep.  But this time I was definitely not the worst one.  My flatmates and I just love to fall asleep in these lectures...haha

Then last night was the big Barclays Premier League Championship between Chelsea and Manchester United.  This is like the Super Bowl of this football (AKA soccer) league.  The borough that I live in is South Kensington and Chelsea so the area team was the one playing.  Some of us went to Imperial to watch the game there.  The had a huge screen set up in the quad with a cookout and hookahs (yes hookahs).  And both bars were open with TVs playing the game.  Honestly, if Mizzou allowed alcohol at their on-campus events, there would be a huge turnout like there was last night.  It was so cool watching the game with real live British football fans.  All of us Mizzou kids were supporting Chelsea so we wore Blue, but most people were Manchester fans (they were described to me as the Red Sox of football.  people only like them because they are good.)  After two overtimes and two shootouts, Manchester won and everyone went crazy.  Overall a great night.

Things I learned

1.  Don't ever say soccer here

2.  Go to the Imperial bar on Wednesday for cheap drinks

3.  Leicester Square is the place to go out

4.  Leicester is LESTER and Gloucester is GLOSTER

5.  I found out my internship early...River Publishing in Promotions...more details to come.

i got locked out of class

Yeah so today my flatmates and I were running a bit late and had to walk to Imperial college by ourselves for the first time.  Needless to say it took longer than we allotted time for and showed up 15 minutes late to our class that was at 10:30.  Our professor locked us out, but then he let us in after a 5 minute lecture on being late.  He then proceeded to lecture about the freedom of the press around the world in a DISCUSSION-BASED class and made half the class fall asleep.  This is going to be a long semester with George.

After class the program office called me in to tell me that I had a pre-screening this week for my possible internship at a publishing company in promotions.  But then I got an email this afternoon that it wasn't necessary...I wonder what that means...I find out my internship next week.

Then we went to the British Museum and learned about the history of England until the Great Fire of London in the 1600s and only to find that the rest of the history was under construction.  What poor planning.  So we went back on the tube (my absolute favorite way of transportation) and had a grand old time.  Lauren was sitting down and tapped this old lady on the arm to see if she wanted her seat.  The lady starred Lauren down and then looked away and continued to talk to her husband.  It was hilarious and even the old British man sitting next to lauren with is iPod in laughed.  I'm sure he was getting kick out of us the entire tube ride.  We then went to STA to schedule our trip to Stonehenge and Bath on Sunday.  Can't wait!  I hear Stonehenge is boring, but it's something that you have to see.  Plus I promised Brent I would go to Stonehenge and take lots of pictures so he can show his class.

Then Christy and I went to a Chinese restaurant called "No. 10"  down the street for a little date night.  Delicious chinese food and it wasn't that expensive.  Then we went to Sainsbury's to get some food to eat for meals so we don't have to eat out.  Only 7 pounds for all the food I bought!

So then my flatmates and I went to a Wine Bar, only to find that there was no one else at this hole in the wall place that was totally not worth it.  So we stop off at a pub that was completely full and had no place to sit.  So we went to the store, bought some wine and then came back to our flat to watch movies and drink wine, and that's what I'm doing now.  Gosh I love London!

Things I've learned today:

1.  The English don't like people being nice to them on the tube

2.  The Plague is different than the Black Death

3.  Newquay is the best summer place to holiday

4.  Walking to Imperial takes 15 minutes

5.  Never talk to random guys who skype you because they may be pedofiles (long story).

Alright, time for some more wine, movies and bed.  Good night all!

I fell asleep in class

Day three in London and all I can think about is how much I love it here!  Everything I see and experience is amazing and I am OBSESSED with the architecture.

Last night, my flatmates and I (minus Marylyn who was sick last night) went to dinner at this Portuguese place called Nando's and it was good.  Then we went down the street and met the guys at O'Neill's Irish Pub.  After going to all these pubs, we have learned a valuable lesson:  girls don't order full pints, only half pints, otherwise you are considered "butch" aka a lesbian.  So I guess I will be drinking lots of half pints...

Today we had to get up bright and early and had orientation at school from 8 am to 4 pm.  They told us our schedule and apparently we don't find out our internships until next Tuesday and then we start on June 2.  They took us on a tour of Imperial College and told us about 50 times that "Imperial is the MIT of Europe, I mean, MIT is the Imperial of the States."  Then we met with our professor and he already assigned us a paper for tonite, which I have yet to start.  After lunch we went to Hyde Park and just relaxed and people watched.  My favorite were the Asian tourists.  There were three older Asian women who took a prom picture in front of this statue thing we were sitting at.  The pigeons here remind me of the squirrels in Columbia and how they are not afraid and will run right up to you.  So Christy decided to chase them and attempt to catch one.  Mission: failed.

After that we went back to school for a lecture on British culture.  Now this is where the title of the blog comes in.  The lady was so sweet and had really interesting things to say, but I think the jet lag finally hit me or something because I kept drifting off throughout the lecture.  So embarrassing since I sat second row, aisle.

Then we took the tube to a mall so we could go to Primark which is similar to Wal-Mart but people act like there is no tomorrow in there, grabbing anything and everything.  We stopped in Sainsbury, a grocery store, which we have by our flat also.  But the area we went is not as affluent as South Kensington, where we live, and you can totally see that just by how the Sainsbury differed.  Then we had dinner at this cafe by our flat that we've been to twice now and I think it's our new favorite place.

It's funny when you walk around and realize how different Americans really are from the English.  We dress completely differently and pretty much stick out like sore thumbs here.  My goal is to try and fit in as much as possible by the end of my stay here.

So STA came today and talked to us about different trips we can take through them for reasonable prices.  This weekend there is a Bank Holiday on Monday so we have a three-day weekend.  Some people are leaving, but some of us were thinking that since we just got here and are trying to get acquainted we might just go on a daytrip to Stonehenge and Bath one day and then go around London the rest.  We have to save as much money as possible because this city is EXPENSIVE.

Okay well time for bed so I can get up and do my homework in the morning before class since I still didn't take a nap from when I was passing out in class today.  Cheerio (that's for you Angie!)

Welcome to London!

WOW!!  There is so much to say I don't know where to even begin!  I have been in London for just over 24 hours and I am already obsessed and never want to leave.

Our plane ride was quite interesting.  We flew on the "luxurious" Air India airline (notice the sarcasm).  The flight attendants wore traditional indian dress, the windows had taj mahal type frame around them, and the seats were the most uncomfortable things ever.  My seat cushion kept falling off the seat itself and the flight attendant hated us and all our questions.  I thought after benedryl and 2 mini bottles of wine, I would pass out, but unfortunately, I kept drifting in and out of sleep.

We got to London and went straight to our flats.  All the Mizzou kids are in Hogarth.  I have 5 other girls in my flat (Christy, Lauren, Caroline, Julia and Marylyn).  We have two bedrooms, a double and a quad.  I live in the quad and our room overlooks the tube (the train system) and a train comes by every 30 seconds, all the time.  We have a kitchen and a nice sized living room.  And then the bathroom is the scariest part.  We seem to have a window that is stuck open and is in the shower...kind of sketchy I know.  Luckily we live on the first floor so we didn't have to trek our stuff up the stairs.  Our street is very nice and we live around lots of hotels.  The borough we live in, South Kensington, is a royal borough because Queen Victoria used to live here and is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods.

Next we walked to our college, Imperial, and saw some things around the area.  They gave us a HUGE serving of fish and chips that none of us thought we would eat all of.  But when the last time you ate was dinner the night before in a timezone 6 hours behind, I guess you do eat the whole thing.

Then last night, the whole group went on a pub crawl.  We went to a couple pubs were we mostly drank cider, which is the popular thing here, and then headed to the pub in the student union of Imperial.  We met some students and then decided to follow this kid on our trip who has been to London before and go to some club.  He took us on a ten mile hike and we ended up at some place that we left after 3 minutes and went for food to Pizza Express.  Now I know that sounds like a fast food sbarro type place, but its actually an upscale place.  There were even wine glasses on the table (I guess the best word is very "posh").

Today we went on a 3 hour tour of London and learned how London is actually more than one city.  It's the City of London and the City of Westminster, which is where most people live and shop, and the Boroughs.  We also drove next to a ferrari gathering where there were at least 15 ferraris just driving along and hanging out.  We also saw the changing of the guard.  After the tour everyone went their separate ways and we ended up in Picadilly Circus for lunch and then found our way home on the tube.  Our first tube experience!  Nothing too exciting, but I did realize that I'm going to have to get over giggling everytime I hear a British person speak.

Everyone needs to start going on skype so we can talk and I don't have to pay 4 pence (8 cents) a minute tot talk to people on my phone.  Alright, cheerio.

P.S. I promise my posts won't be long like this all the time!