My room!

This is my room. I took these pictures on Friday while I was here for about 5 minutes to drop my stuff off and leave. Of course I am unpacked now and settled in. Unfortunately this also means that in the 5 days I have actually lived here my room is a mess. Pretty typical of me :) So these are the plain boring pictures, and after I clean my room sometime this weekend I will post pictures.

This is my desk, storage, fridge, computer, stickie note, tea area.

This is where I sleep. I bought bedding from the dorm and it's nice. The shelf now holds my blankets and flashlight. The window overlooks the courtyard which is ok, but kinda loud sometimes.

This is the most interesting bathroom in the world. My mom referred to it as a space ship. It's a strange blue splotchy color and the shower kind of sprays everywhere-including onto the toilet even though there is a shower curtain. It's nice enough but interesting.

Alright there it is. Where I will be living until 3 July. After that, who knows. Hopefully I will find some place.

I had Orientation and Reception today for my program. It was so good! I got a chance to meet people in my department including students and professors and I feel so much better about it! Everyone was so nice and from all over the world. It was really fun. I think I am going to like it here!!!

Busy

So I haven't posted in a couple of days but I have a good reason! I cannot get the internet in my room to work. So i'm in the computer lab in the building and just wanted to write quickly that things are good. I spent Saturday unpacking my room and watching FRIENDS. It took forever to get organized because I was not very motivated.
Sunday I got up and went to church, which was so good! I love Hillsong London. Then I tried to go to a grocery store by my dorm so I got off a tube stop before I got very lost. Like I walked 2 miles out of the way and in a circle. Oh well, I found an internet cafe and ate at Nando's. Then I got to the grocery store just as it closed! FYI grocery stores closed at 5pm on Sundays. So I found an 24 hour Marks and Spencer and got a few things I would need.
Today, I have a huge to-do list. I have to print enrollment verifications. Send one to Wells Fargo for forbearance on my loan, one to become exempt from council tax here in the UK, one to get a student oyster card (and find my passport photo for that) and one to open a bank account. I've heard opening a bank account here is really difficult and annoying so I'm in for a long, boring process. Hopefully it goes smoothly.
I've got pretty much the whole week to get this stuff done but there's a lot. Including registering for the NHS and going to an appointment. ugh. And 2 different orientations, one tomorrow and one wednesday.
Ok well I have to go start all the errands. I have pictures of my room that I will try to put up as soon as possible. I will write soon!

25 Friday

Today was busy. I am tired. Last full day in London for mom. It was fun.

Hyde Park: SO GORGEOUS on this sunny day!

Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. So pretty. You could wade if you wanted but it was too cold.

Mom at the fountain.

The fountain from far away is supposed to look like a necklace. I get it. It's pretty.

The Serpentine.

St. Paul's Cathedral. I took the picture too close to the church but it's still really pretty. ALSO I climbed to the top of the dome! It's so beautiful up there!!!

The statue in front of the church. I don't remember which queen it is but it apparently she was not a church going lady and the statue was "accidently" placed away from the church. Not to symbolize her being ungodly or anything...

Buckingham Palace.

Queen Victoria Memorial!

The typical London picture. The guards in front of the Palace.

It was a fun day. On top of Hyde Park, St Paul's Cathedral, and Buckingham Palace we went to my dorm room and dumped a bunch of stuff and got to look around a bit. Took some pictures too which I will post next.

Thursday 24 September

Long but very fun day.

It started with a trip to LSE to register and pick up my ID card. I also got some info on the school and a cool canvas LSE bag. I met some people in the hour and a half line to register. They were very nice and one girl is in my department. It was fun to see the campus. I am excited for Orientation on Tuesday!

After LSE we went to the Tower of London. I was so excited to go because I have never been before. The Crown Jewels were GORGEOUS and I am constantly blown away by the amount of history that can exist in one city. The U.S. just does not have buildings that were around in the 13th century! I love it!

Tower Bridge as seen from Bloody Tower:

This is the building the Crown Jewels were in. I love the guards.

One of the ravens. Their wings are clipped so they cannot leave the Tower of London. It's part of myth that says if the ravens leave then the kingdom will fall.

This is the Queen's house. It is (I think) the only original building of that design and style because the rest burned in the Great Fire of London.

Walking along the inner wall. Such a beautiful day! I can't believe all of this sunshine!

White tower. There was a really interesting exhibit about Henry VIII and his life, activities, armour, and tons more information about him.

After the Tower of London we went back to the hotel to get ready to go see Les Miserables!!! I had seen it before but mom hadn't. I swear, the 2nd time was even better! I love the play so much and so did mom. I'm so glad she got to see it. It is so great.

When we left the theater we went to TGI Friday's for dinner. I must be already used to life in London because I actually complained that the music was too loud! It is so "American" in there with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mick Jagger, and Avril Lavigne blasting throughout our meal. It was actually nice to step back out on the surprisingly quieter street of Picadilly Circus.

It's almost 1am and tomorrow is a busy day of cramming everything in that mom wants to do before she leaves Saturday. This includes but is not limited to: St. Pauls' Cathedral (inside), Westminster Abbey (inside), Buckingham Palace (outside only), Kensington Palace (outside only), British Museum, lunch in the crypt of St. Martin's in the Field and of course, souvenir shopping!

This is Wagamama's! and GOOD NEWS!

Big bowl of soup with greens, miso, and yummy broth:

veggie gyoza:

Chocolate wasabi cake:

Mom, happy we went to Wagamama's!

In other news...

Went to look at 2 flats today but neither worked out.

HOWEVER

I GOT PLACED IN STUDENT HOUSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are a lot of exclamation points for a reason! I have been so stressed about trying to find a place to live with mom leaving on Saturday and us being in a hotel for a week now. So, we went to look at 2 flats today and when we go home I checked my email and there was an offer for housing in one of the student dorms. I am so relieved! It's totally a miracle because the waiting list was SUPER long and people are picked by lottery. Thank you everyone for your prayers!!!!!

I am moving in Saturday morning. The dorm is called Sidney Webb house and it is just south of the Globe Theater and Tate Modern in SW1. It's probably a 25 minute walk to school, there is a tube stop nearby, and buses that run right to school. It's basically an apartment type setting. I will have my own room/bathroom and then a common kitchen/living room area with a few other people. It's not what I was expecting but I am so grateful for a place to live and a chance to meet people that go to my school. It's for 40 weeks so I will have to move out in May but there are applications available in January for housing in the summer which I will need but have no doubt now that it will go just fine!

I will definitely post pictures of the new place soon so everyone can see. Thank you Lord for the answered prayer!!!!

Bells

Because the last post wasn't very exciting I thought I would post some video that I took on Sunday. This is St. Clemen Danes' Church which is right next to my school. When the video goes to the left and shows the big building that is the front entrance to my school- LSE. I think they only do these bells on Sunday for church. Aren't they so pretty? They lasted about 10 minutes while we were walking around. I love them!

Tuesday

Not much to write about. Yesterday my mom and I went to Interlet which is a letting agency to see what flats they had listed. They had a bunch and we viewed 5 or 6. I can't remember now. They were all awful. STILL LOOKING. And it's beginning to stress me out. I need to find a place and soon!

This is also what we did yesterday:

Discovered "phizzy pig tails" which is a type of candy. They are interesting. Not really phizzy or fizzy but taste pretty good. Yes, that is also our tv in our hotel room. It is quite small.

Last night we went and saw As You Like It at Shakespeare's Globe Theater. I love that place! It was so fun-even better than last time because we had seats! It was a great play and mom really liked it.

Today is more flat hunting and hopefully getting. Mom is feeling kind of sick so she's resting but we are viewing 2 (hopefully 3) flats today and going to Wagamama's!

Monday September 21st

Today we woke up, had tea and toast at the hotel and then went on a bus tour of London. It also included a free cruise on the Thames so we got to do that which was fun because I have never done that before. Of course, we also went to Harrods and did some shopping!

Harrods:

Marble Arch:

Parliament from the Thames:

The London Eye:

St. Paul's through the Millennium Bridge:

This is the statue to remember the Great Fire of London. It was designed by Christopher Wren and I thought it was interesting because if it fell over toward the North is would land at the spot where the fire started-in a bakery where a candle fell over.

This is me having lunch at Zizzi. I ordered the pizza... it had an egg on it. It was weird but not totally disgusting.

The Tower Bridge!

Today was fun. The bus tour took us all over London which gave us a good chance to see lots of different boroughs and really cover the city. It ended around 6 which was kind of a bummer because we wanted to see more but it ended up being really fun. Oh and it was on a double decker bus and we sat at the top!

tomorrow: flat hunting.... and hopefully getting.

Sunday September 20th

This is how we spent Sunday:

This is the church and a statue outside of LSE.

We went on the London Eye.

The murky clouds by Parliament.

Facebook picture!

Parliament

First Day in London!

After 20 hours of traveling it was nice to lay on a bed.

Even better was where we went to dinner!

Walking around and found Chinatown.

And Picadilly Circus.

Back to the hotel to have a snack of fruit, nutella, and digestive biscuits (cookies). Anyone from VESPA knows this is good food.

Iceland!

Iceland Airport! It was very modern with high ceilings and wood floors. There was even a kids play area.

The trip into the city was so beautiful! It was 6:45am and abou 40 degrees.

Apparently Iceland is a volcanic island with something like 40 volcanoes. The volcanic rock was really pretty.

Reykjavik! The city seemed very spread out but had beautiful architecture.

This is a famous church. The picture was blurry because we were on a bus. And of course, there was construction around it.

The bus terminal that we got dropped off at after taking the Flybus from the Keflavik International Airport.

On the Flybus to the city.

A little cafe we found with destination signs...

and yogurt, bread, and cheese. All in Icelandic so who knows what we ate!

Iceland was so gorgeous! I would really love to spend more time there. There are lots of nature tours like whale watching, going to the Faroe Islands, and seeing some of the volcanoes and waterfalls that would be so much fun. Reykjavik also had lots of museums and places that looked really fun. I will definitely have to come back some time. It's only a 3 hour flight from London!