The Blog

Knightsbridge is the name of the tube stop I get off of, the area I live in, and one of the nicest parts of London to live in. When speaking to a Londoner I try to avoid telling them the location of my housing because it only reforcers their stereotype of those "very wealthy americans". I have decided to give you a miny tour of the area complete with about one picture because that's all that will upload for now.
First off. I go out my door, turn down a charming cobblestone alley, cross the street, turn right and there is Harrod's.
(alright. i was going to insert a picture here, but the uploader tool isen't working at the moment-check back later for pictures. )
For those of you who the name Harrod's means nothing let me explain. (For those of you who know Harrods-yeah, i know, unbelievable) Harrod's is about the biggest/most expensive department store in the world. Harrods doesn't pay for electricity or for those million little light bulbs that cover it at night-it makes it's own electricity. Harrod's doesn't pay the city for water, no no, it pumps it's water up on it's own. Harrods will sell absolutely anything from a single bobby pin to a real live elephant if need be (and has). In it's windows display you will see the usual you know...clothes, plasma tvs...cars. To be walking in Knightsbridge with some kind of green Harrod's bag trimmed in gold says something about you (the more you have-the better). Even if you can't afford anything in Harrod's (like me) it is still worth going in and having a stroll about the place. Yes, you feel very small when you look on the price tags, but it is beautifully constructed and supposedlly the food area is something to write home about. On a side note the owner of Harrods is the father of the man who died in the car crash alongside Diana princess of Wales.

So aside from Harrod's. There are other key shopping stores here, but none stand out so clearly as Harrods.
About 3 doors down from where I live (that would be past the imported rug seller and the pub) there is Mr. Chow's which seems to be a charming little chinese food place. This is rumored to be Prince William's favorite place to have chinese. My eyes are open. Across the street is an unmarked club which is where, I'm told, several stars go to kick back. Last night the street was said to be parked full of mercedes and rolls royces and when I arrived home i noticed there were some men in black coats with camaras waiting outside it. But when you live in Knightsbridge...you just keep walking when those things occur. (I did hear someone say that Brad Pitt and his newest love were in town-but eh, i never believe the rumors)

Well i've always been a believer in the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words", but i guess that only goes so far. It is time for an update of words. Though i'm not certain on what to say exactly. This past week I got a bit sick and was unable to do anything terribly exciting. I had my internship and my classes. Classes seem to be alright. It is difficult to adjust to having three hour classes. I'm not sure even super-humans could really pay attention every second of a three hour period.
Today i attended Camden Market with my roommate. It was amazing. Last weekend we had went to Portabella Road Market (if you have ever seen the movie Notting Hill-this is the market from the movie). However Camden Was ten times better than Portabella. It was geared towards a younger crowd and had amazing donuts.
Went to see the Stomp which was very nice. I did not expect it to be as impressive as it really was. It was only 8 individuals on stage for an hour and a half straight just banging on random objeccts and dancing around. funny too. good times.
alright. well i'm going to cut this short so i can get around to go out to dinner.

This is a pretty bad picture of the door to our flats.

Alright, I am feeling a bit discouraged at this moment in time because I just wrote an entire entry only to have it all disappear. It is just a reminder to me of how unstable words are I guess. I know that this entry will not be quite what it was before. Things I previously wrote in the lost entry will reshape themselves and be modified into something new. Alright, enough of that...
London! I have been here only a week and I feel as though I cannot share everything of the week in just this one entry. I have conquered the transportation system, found my internship, started my internship and classes, done some shopping, done a bit of a sight seeing tour (big ben, tower bridge, queue for the Harry Potter auditions, etc..), and much more.
Let’s start with the transportation. I love London transportation. Once you figure out how it works, it’s one of the greatest things you can imagine. Alright, so I shouldn’t say it’s all wonderful-I still find myself sometimes confused by the bus system. I need like a bus list thing with all the numbers and the destinations...But I love the tube. Everyone either reads or listens to music. It is the perfect place for me. And it’s so easy to understand. Color coated and all of that. Perhaps I may at some point see this as a hassle. Rush hour gets a little bit crazy as you have to smush yourself in with the weird British.
The internship now. It seems as though it is going to be an eye opening experience for me. During my interview my supervisor (a lovely Canadian) told me that if I could survive at this school I can survive working at any school back home. This means the school is a bit crazy. Though I imagine it would be how any all girls’ inner city public school would be. The girls are a bit out of hand ALL the time. It is hard to see how any work is accomplished during class time due to the endless chatter, the irrelevant questions, the brushing of hair, and the talk of boys (sounds like any middle school girl’s dream class doesn’t it?) I am working the special needs children. Here the special needs children are included in regular class time so I sit with them taking notes and helping them to pay attention and to understand. The kids that I have met so far are very sweet and are very excited to have a chat with a true American. There shall be lots of further updates here, but that’s all I’m sharing for now.
Well, there is more to report, but I’ve already written twice. So that’s it for now. E-mail me some love rosegirl64@hotmail.com

St. Jame's Palace

It may be difficult to say how evil this washing machine really is. It is so evil that two pictures have placed themselves up instead of just one. It is so evil that it laughs at those who think they know how to do laundry. It is so evil it wasted half a night of wonderful sleep. This washing machine does not wish to be understood. It wishes to remain mysterious. And, oh, by the way, it also has a dryer option which I am unable even to speak of in any length.

more to follow soon on not only my multi-colored laundry, but on details such as tube riding, internshipping, and grocery shopping.

this is half of our room. the other half just has another set of bunkbeds and there is also a kitchen to the right. i have the bottom bunk bed you can see.

So I feel like this has been one long day instead of the two that it really has been. Tuesday began just like any other day. I woke up without feeling to much excitment. I still had to remind myself what was going on and that i should feel excitment. I ate my last meal in the United States at IHOP. It was good. On to the airport. I know this is not so exciting, but you have to understand that I am running on no sleep at this point.
My first plane ride. I lived. The plane ride was not as scary as many individuals that I know made it out to sound. I had an interesting chap sit semi-beside me. He talked to me quite often, but between the noise of the airplane and his accent I was unable to form a meaningful relationship with him. The food was amazing. My only complaint with it was that there was to much! I really enjoyed just watching people on the flight making elaborate stories about where they were headed and what their lives were about. So yeah, no time was spent sleeping. Oh and i didnt have a window seat so that sorta bummed me out.
speed ahead to arrival. I made it safely through customs, claimed my baggage, got on a charter bus. This process was all made easier thanks to the girl i had met who had previously been a part of the Pitt in London program. Made my way to my flat. It is in a lovely part of London. Of course it was raining upon arrival and I was exhausted so it's all been somewhat of a blur. The flat is nice though...quite tiny..everything is one big room except the bathroom. I shall try to put up pictures soon. We also were herded like cattle for a walking tour of the area. I'm sure the British were cursing us under their breath as we we're constantly in the way of others. I did feel a bit bad about it all, but decided to make the best of it by just enjoying everything there was to see. And is there ever so much to see. I can't imagine how i will have time for classes with everything i have to see. We are but a five minute walk from Harrods, Hyde Park, and 2 major museums! My one roommate and I braved a supermarket where i purchased some digestives and other essentials for only 7 pounds. Who said it isen't possible to be thrifty in London? Then we did the thing i have been dreading for months...we took the Tube back. We knew it would be easiest to just take a bus, but i decided there was no time like the present to conquer my fear. And i lived. Their tube is much nicer than any other underground transportation i have been on. People don't seem so scary.
As for now i am just trying to stay awake as best i can to beat jet lag. I am the kind of tired though where your body just doesn't listen. Could also be from hunger. Soon i think we are going out to find some food. Possibly to a pub because they are supposed to be cheap. Right now there are little kids playing outside our window...yes, it turned out to be so nice today that we have the window open for some fresh air. I think I'm going to like London.