Lots of pictures!

I decided to walk my bus route home for a different view of London and some really pretty pictures.

This is the front of my school: It says London School of Economics above the columns:

This is St. Clement Dane's Church right next to my school. I just found out we use it for concerts and such, including an upcoming Christmas concert that I plan to go to, just to see the inside!

This is another church on the way home. I can't find the name of it but it is so pretty, and right in the middle of a weird roundabout at Aldwych:

Ice skating anyone? This is Somerset house and this Christmas tree and ice skating rink appeared earlier this week. It's so beautiful especially at night with it all lit up! There are apparently lots of ice skating rinks around London and I hope to visit more for some fun winter pictures.

Sometimes I take photos with my camera at my side just to see what I get. This is inside the courtyard of Somerset house and I thought it was a cool angle on the archway and cobblestone street.

Walking across Waterloo Bridge. This is looking east, with a pretty view of the Thames as well as Blackfriars Bridge which I usually take to walk home.

Looking west at Parliament and the London Eye.

Between the buildings just on the south side of Waterloo Bridge is a great shot of Parliament through the London Eye.

Waterloo Station. I love the architecture here, and the rest of the station is really modern. It's so pretty.

Another gorgeous church here in London. I can't recall the name but it has a great garden and the trees around it are lit up at night.

The Old Vic. A theatre in London just south of Waterloo.

A park across from The Old Vic with benches and a view of the Eye. It's a nice little park.

St. George's Circus. I don't know much about it but it's another crazy roundabout with a statue in the middle. I should read the statue at some point but I haven't yet.

A subway (underground walkway, not the tube) near Elephant & Castle. It's quite colourful!

Elephant & Castle is a popular shopping area near my dorm. There are lots of restaurants, a bowling alley, and a market. I haven't been around there yet but starting 1 December there will be a Christmas Market and I will definitely be visiting!

So that's an alternative way to walk home. I liked walking home this way, there isn't much of a time difference in the regular way I walk home and it was nice to see the familiar sites a little more closely rather than going by quickly on a bus. I hope to post some more pictures soon, including a trip to Borough Market and Tower Bridge this weekend.

While everyone at home is enjoying Thanksgiving I have class tomorrow! (and Friday for that matter.) It's a bit strange to have class but it shouldn't be too bad. There are a surprising number of places that celebrate Thanksgiving here, mostly for ex-pats I guess. One of the cafes on campus is doing a dinner tomorrow night too. My friend and I are planning to celebrate with a dinner Friday night at her flat. Should be fun!

Sick

It's hard to find motivation to do anything when you are sick. I have a cold and have spent most of the weekend sleeping or watching movies. I am hoping to get some new pictures up this week. I am also working on an essay that is due Thursday. I have had practically nothing due for the first 7 weeks of the term...and now with 3 weeks to go I have piles of work. I don't like this system very much! Hopefully the sickness will end soon and I will be able to get my work done with very little procrastination. Also, the essay I have due on Thursday isn't assessed which makes it even harder to write and to write well.

I am excited for Contemporary Social Thought tomorrow. Judy Wacjman (head of department and main professor for this course) is speaking about Technofeminism. Should be really interesting, and I'm hoping to use her work as a base for my paper in the class (due in 2 weeks).

Not too much rain lately but it has been cold. It will continue to be cold for several months so I will try not to complain too much :)

2 Years

2 years ago VESPA was just ending. I was so sad to see the end of such an amazing trip. I visited so many great places and had the opportunity to study and get to know amazing people. It is one of the things in my life I am most glad I had the chance to do. I can't believe it's been 2 years!

Of course, I went on to Egypt with Drake and we had a blast (including Thanksgiving dinner at the rooftop restaurant overlooking the pyramids at sunset!!!), but I never imagined that I would be back to one of the places that I truly fell in love with. I love London. It's a great city, full of excitement, charm, history and a sort of vibrancy that only big cities can bring. I have such a great opportunity to live in London and study in this city and do not want to have any regrets when it comes time to leave.

I will be posting some pictures this weekend of my bus route home. The bus route is different from the walking route and it passes some great sites worth taking photos of.

The Elusive Black Beans

I can honestly say that since I have arrived in London I have not had black beans. This is directly opposite to living in Southern California. With or without Chipotle, black beans are usually in the cabinet for taco salads or whatever.

But not here. I could find black beans anywhere.

There are 2 big grocery stores by me: Tesco's and LiDL's. There are also 3 smaller grocery stores: Tesco Express, Sainsbury's Local, and Costcutter's. That's 5 grocery stores in total.

none of them carry black beans!

Not only are black beans impossible to find but beans in general. I have had to ask at a couple places and have been directed to a small shelf holding a few cans of baked beans. not the same thing! The closest I have found is a can of refried beans. Along this search I have also found some garbanzo beans and kidney beans. Also near this section at LiDL's is a can of "American hot dogs" 8 hot dogs in a can. It looked gross on the outside, I can't imagine what that looks like inside. gross.

So I decided to branch out and try a place I knew was guaranteed to find black beans. WHOLE FOODS. This required taking the tube to find black beans.

BUT I was successful. I finally have a can of black beans in my cabinet (organic no less... and actually 2 cans because I have no idea when I will be back to Whole Foods)

Today wasn't just a trip to Whole Foods but to Oxford Street in general to see the Christmas decorations up. It's pretty. It was cold today too, definitely feels like the holidays are coming. I also happened to pass a Mac store and went in to ask about the battery on my computer. Apparently the batteries are compatible but I'd rather wait until I get to the states so I don't have to pay in GBP. If the computer will last long enough.

Oh, another thing worth mentioning-today marks Month 2 in London. I feel like this month has gone by so fast-especially November. I can't believe the month is halfway over. I have been so busy with classes and reading and doing social stuff with new friends, museums, etc. I have been enjoying it here.

26 days until I come home! that's crazy. I have a lot to do before then.

My poor neglected blog

At least this week I have a legitimate reason for not blogging. I had a big presentation due today that ended up taking about 10 hours to prepare with my partner and also the hours I spent researching and reading on my own. It was quite time consuming. For those who were wondering it was on the the breakdown of the traditional family, and considering what a family looks like today and whether a nuclear family ever existed and what the changes in society mean for the evolution of a family.

One good thing about the presentation was getting to know Laura, she is in my program and we now officially know the downstairs lounge of the Garrick (campus cafe) quite well. It's really the only place to get work done around campus that's quiet and has comfy seating. Laura has grown up in London and we had some really interesting discussions about the differences between the US and the UK. Namely student loans, international travel, and the biggest one- healthcare. It was so interesting to talk to someone who cannot comprehend the idea of not getting medical care when it is needed. This applies to me while I am in the UK and I can see how it would be so much of a relief to know that if you got sick or hurt there is care for you. That you don't have to wake up every day wondering how to pay for prescriptions or avoiding a doctor because of the bills. We agreed that capitalism has gone to far in many ways but especially when it takes away a basic human right like healthcare. People make money while other people suffer. This is not right. The US needs good comprehensive universal healthcare.

Besides the presentation this week was full of the regular reading and other school activities. I was a part of another group doing a questionnaire for Methods which will turn into a 2,500 word essay in about 2 weeks. I am definitely getting busier with homework. I went to a Feminist Society Social on Wednesday which was fun. I got to meet a lot of people in the Society and we had a good time. No plans this weekend yet but maybe a market or something fun to relax and get to see a different part of London. I want to keep doing touristy things while I am here so I have a good knowledge of the city and have experienced everything I wanted to before I leave.

My room

Finally my room is clean enough to take some decent pictures of where I live.

I'm pretty much standing in the doorway. This is my bed. With clean sheets :) Also, I did not choose the curtains. They are awful.

This is the other side of my room from the same spot. I can pretty much lean back and touch my bed when I am sitting in my chair. It is usually crowded with books and papers but I finally cleaned it off enough for a picture. It isn't just my desk, but my kitchen, storage, toiletries, bookshelf, and entertainment area.

A more direct view. As you can see I keep pretty much everything on the shelves or in the cabinets. The drawers to the left are mostly office supplies, camera cords and converters, and papers. The cabinet on the right is where I keep towels, dish soap, laundry soap, and on the top shelf of the cabinet has some food stuff.

This is my mini kitchen. There is a kitchen with an oven, 2 stove tops (called hobs), freezer, sink, and table and chairs down the hall but I have a few things in my room. Every room has a mini fridge and I have mostly stuff for tea as you can see. I bought an electric kettle the week I moved in because I drink tea all the time, tea cup, boxes of tea, and some fruit. By the kettle is my cute silverware, they are tan with different colored polka dots.

This is my closet. Right next to the door. It's actually pretty spacious, I have enough room for all of my stuff. In the front is my trench coat because it has been so cold here I have been wearing it every day. That and a scarf, also in the front.

Ok. On to the bathroom. It is possibly the worst bathroom ever. Except for the Caledonian Hostel in Edinburgh, Scotland. But I didn't have to use that one every day. The shower is above and slightly to the left of the toilet in a small corner of the bathroom. The floor doesn't really slant, so the water kind of pools and doesn't drain well. I know I am being too detailed but it is gross. This is the point I am trying to make.

Standard toilet, mirror, sink-except there is a cold faucet and a hot faucet. Pretty standard here. Also I don't think the picture allows the viewer to fully appreciate the bright blue ugliness that is on the walls. It is awful. And it is floor to ceiling.

Ok well that's my room. It's small but I like that I have my own bathroom and it's only my space. I haven't had that in a long time, having had roommates all of college. It's good enough or me. I will hopefully be living here during the summer too but I can't do applications for summer housing until January.

Today did not start out well. I was late getting up because I didn't fall asleep until very late last night (this morning) and had to be up at 8 for class. Then I got on the bus to go to school except I didn't have any money on my Oyster Card (travel card) and had to get off and walk to the closest tube stop (like 1/2 mile) to top up and get on at another stop. Barely made it to class. The class itself is ok, but it's a lot of stuff I've already learned from Intro and Methods. It's strange because some people in the Msc Sociology don't have a Sociology background so I think the professor is trying to get everyone on the same level. But it's kind of boring. Today was the halfway point through the term and we talked about open ended and double barreled questions... something I covered at the very beginning of studying Sociology. But hopefully it will get better.

After class I went to lunch with a friend at this place called All Bar One. It was really good. Then we walked around London and explored Covent Garden and Soho and found Patisserie Valerie. This adorable little French bakery/cafe. I loved it.

Tonight has been lots of reading for class tomorrow. And some prep/research for a presentation I have next Friday in Gender and Societies.

My walk to school

I wanted to take some pictures of my walk to/from school. I didn't take any on the way to school which ended up being a mistake because when I got out of class at 4:30 it was already starting to get dark. So I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to but more will be up soon.

This is St. Clement Danes right next to my school. It is a really pretty church and the bells are beautiful on Sunday.

This is the gate to enter the Royal Courts of Justice which is located right next to LSE. The trees are so beautiful with all of the leaves changing and falling. It's nice to have a real season!

Part of Fleet Street with a cool pub and old buildings.

Looking back on the Royal Courts of Justice as it's getting dark.

I'm not sure the name of this church but it peaks between two modern new buildings on the walk home.

Almost to the bridge to cross into South London. You can see the London Eye and the OXO Tower.

Along the Thames the architecture is so interesting.

This is the Blackfriar's Bridge that I usually cross on my walk to school. It has a red and white pattern and is really pretty.

More view of the Thames.

This is only about halfway through my walk. It got too dark and I had to stop taking pictures. The walk is 3km (about 2 miles) and takes about 45 minutes. It was cold and windy today, especially on the bridge, but there are lots of people around and cool buildings to look at. I will post pictures around campus soon too so people can get a feel of LSE.

Don't worry. I am alive. I've been busy with school and reading and not doing very many interesting things to post about. But I am planning on avoiding some reading tomorrow to go on a walk down on South Bank and will post pictures. I am also planning on doing a post of my walk to school with a few pictures of campus. I will hopefully get those up Tuesday.

I also went to church today which is always fun. I love the pastor, Gary, who does a really great job and the worship is always fantastic. I bought the Hillsong almost Fath+Hope+Love which is most of the songs that we sing every week. It's amazing.

This is the view from my window. This is the courtyard of my dorm. With pretty fall trees. However, it was not the view today. I heard somewhere that it rains every day in November and so far that is true. The first day of November and the first day of rain in weeks.

I would also like to pay tribute to my new purse that I bought before I left. I love this purse but apparently this last month in London has caused just too much wear and tear for it. This is the effects:

broken zipper.

torn handle.

big rip in back of purse.

I am very sad about this because I like this purse. Fortunately I have another purse that I can use.

Ok pictures of London soon I promise!