A Year Ago

A year ago I was anticipating my time in London, barely arrived and spending time with my mom in the most amazing city in the world. I had yet to see the campus, go through orientation, begin classes or make friends. The city was vaguely familiar and opening up before me, anxious for me to explore and its cobbled streets and learn its public transportation. I drank in the view from the London Eye and the city from the Thames, wandered through little neighborhoods, ridden the tube, and tasted the best fish and chips of my life. This was the touristy London. The one I had experienced three years ago on VESPA and was just reacquainting myself with again.

And then I stayed for ten months. It's hard to believe that I was there for so long but I dream of it still and recall my days there with a fond sadness because I wish I was still there among the ancient and modern, with my friends, and enjoying my life in the most amazing city in the world. But it's all behind me now. My life is so different than it was a year ago and, with the exception of graduate school, I would love to have it back. I miss my friends desperately and include the city itself on that list as I constantly think of my favorite places, my favorite view of the Thames, and the way walking through city streets so intimately connects you to a place.

My journal from my 10 months in London is full of all the range of emotions I felt through my trip. I wandered through loneliness, emptiness, sadness and through to joy, enrichment, happiness and everything in between. The city was my constant companion, my special friend, my love of that city will never change. I dream of going back and finding myself again in those streets and in the places I so dream of being again. I miss the friendships I made there, the museums I spent hours in, the Thames with its dirty water and strange allure, the cold weather and views of the city skyline from campus. I miss the international population, the tiny dorm room, the crowded tube and buses, the bridges and the West End. I miss Tottenham Court Road and Great Dover Street, the Tower of London, and the Globe Theatre. My usual walk to school crossed a bridge, through buildings hundreds of years old, and past so many shops and people. I miss those things terribly and wish for them to be back again in my life. I dream of a time where I can live in London again and be with my friends in the amazing city that I spent 10 months and can't wait to see again.

I am overwhelmed with the fact that today is my last full day in London. Tomorrow I will be boarding a plane to Los Angeles and I don't know when I will be back in this lovely city. I'm torn between my excitement of seeing friends and family and the thought of leaving London and the wonderful friends I have made here. I know it will get easier but right now I don't really want to leave. I'm loving my life here and spending time exploring this city and hanging out with friends. I wish London and Los Angeles were much closer.

Just for fun...

Things I will miss:
-my friends from LSE
-having my own room
-public transportation
-Nando's
-free museums
-the history and architecture
-spending the afternoon in the park and an evening at the pub


Things I will NOT miss:
-crowded public transportation (although it's better than nothing)
-tourists
-LSE
-the cold rainy winter


Things I am looking forward to:
-friends and family
-sunshine
-the beach
-trader joe's
-driving

Right now the list is a bit unbalanced as I am really only thinking about things I will miss here. But I'm sure it will even out when I get back to Orange County. I am excited to see what my life will be like when I get back but I am sad to leave London and my friends here. I hope to come back some day soon and visit again. It's amazing how quickly this year passed!

Good-bye London, Hello L.A.!

Thursday!!!

Today has been such a great day. I slept in and woke up to get some packing and other stuff done (other stuff being watch SVU in the computer room...). Then around 5 Sarah and Paige came over and we walked to M&S to buy dinner stuff and headed back to my dorm to cook and eat dinner together.

Then at 6:30ish we walked to Tower Millenium Pier (with about 100 other LSE students) to go on a boat cruise on the Thames! I cannot think of a better way for the dorm to throw an annual party. It was such a great trip. I just got back which is why I am talking about it so excitedly but I really had a great time. The boat was just for us, had 2 floors. The bottom floor was more quiet and had seats to hang out and relax, the top floor was a pub/dance floor with an outdoor deck. We spent most of the time on the deck enjoying the fantastic views of London. We took a bunch of pictures that will eventually be on facebook but I found a couple online:

Tower Bridge at night:



Big Ben and Parliament:




We took the boat from Tower Bridge down to Westminster then turned around and headed past Canary Wharf to Greenwich. Then we headed back to the Tower Millenium Pier. The whole trip was about 3 1/2 hours. It was a perfect amount of time to have a enjoy the sunset and the city lighting up at night, have a few drinks, and have good conversation. Paige and Sarah are always such good company and I'm so glad they came with me. We talked about the usual stuff, but what I think is funny is that our conversation always drifts toward Sociology. We talked about gender roles and feminism and had a really good discussion about it (starting with an analysis of the Sex and the City 2 movie). I think it shows that we are good Sociology students and deserve our Master's when we talk about Sociology outside of school :)

The weather has been nice and warm so the evening was still warm but with a nice breeze. The city is so gorgeous from the Thames and I definitely got a bit sad thinking that I won't be able to see this much of the city again-until some time in the future when I come back. I'm really going to miss it here, I've gotten to know my borough and I have favorite places, parks, and museums. I know my way around the tube and the city on foot and it's been very influential on my independence here, knowing my way around and deciding when and what I want to do. I'm really going to miss it.

Of course we had a moment of sadness about this night being one of the last few we will all spend together (for awhile anyway) and it was fun to reminice about this year and the fun times we have had (and awful times aka LSE). It's gone so quickly and I'm glad for the chance to be here and to live in London and to make the friends that I have. The boat cruise on the Thames was a perfect way to begin to say goodbye to London.

My last few days are flying by!

Tuesday I had a day to myself to pack and clean. It wasn't the most exciting but it was definitely productive. I cleaned out my drawers and cabinets and sorted what I was to bring home, throw away, or give away. I also updated my resume and did a bit of a job search and then I worked on the dreaded dissertation outline. I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with the work I had to do but I am glad that although my computer is broken I have the computer room in the dorm to get stuff done. It ended up being a quiet but productive day.

Wednesday I left early (relatively early... 10am) to meet with my advisor at LSE about my dissertation. In sum, she really likes my topic and encouraged me to pursue it but also said my outline could be a whole book! The 10,000 word maximum may seem daunting but with such a broad topic I am going to have to be quite specific with what I talk about. It was productive though I feel pretty good about the direction of my paper and the work I have to do. Although I need to be further than I am right now, which will be difficult with all of the moving and excitement of being home again.

After a few hours on campus getting necessary things done I took the 15 bus to Sarah's (longest bus ride of my life!). It's been really nice out lately but that makes buses and tubes so crowded and hot. yuck. Anyway, I got to Sarah's around 3pm and we basically just hung out and talked. Then at around 6 people started coming over for me... GOING AWAY PARTY. My friends are so sweet to throw me a going away party and I only have one condition-that people could not be sad! Sarah, Alissa, Paige, her sister Shannon, and Laura made the night so special and fun. We had really yummy Jamaican inspired cuisine and spent several hours drinking and talking about life, sociology, LSE, and summer plans. It was so great to have everyone together and spend time hanging out. It's also the last time I will probably see Laura which is very sad to think about. I'm going to miss her (and everyone else of course!) so much!!!

I can't believe I leave so soon. I'm going to miss my life here so much!

Sunday/Monday

Sunday and Monday have both been fun. Yesterday (Sunday) I met up with Sarah on South Bank and we went here:



To the Clink Prison Museum. It was really great. It's small and wasn't crowded at all. It is also the location of the original Clink prison which was really cool. They had a lot of information on the medieval history of the city and different prison and torture devices throughout history. It was pretty disturbing but I found it also very interesting.

We also stopped and had Caffe Nero soy chai and watched tourists. Then we went to Sarah's house and made dinner and I got to Skype a bit and we watched SVU.

In other news, my computer is broken! :( so sad. It basically won't boot up all the way and just blinks a file with a question mark. I need to take it in to Apple Care in order to see if it's fixable. I really really hope so. And I hope that it's covered under Apple Care. It's really frustrating but I'm glad that it happened after exams (although I still have the dissertation!) and I'm also glad that I backed up my computer just a few weeks ago with all of my LSE information.

Monday-

I met up with Sarah on campus and we ate at Slug and Lettuce. It's a strange name for a restaurant but the food is really good and on Monday's they have 50% off the entire order which is a pretty sweet deal:



We then went shopping on Oxford Street and in Covent Garden.

Next and New Look are two great stores here and it was fun to walk around and shop. I'm glad that I've gotten to spend time with friends the last couple of days here in London. It's going to be sad to leave.

Tomorrow is a boring day. I have to do laundry and some packing and cleaning. I'm going to be working on my dissertation outline because I have a meeting with my advisor on Wednesday. I also want to work on my resume so I can start applying for jobs. It will be a productive day-just not very exciting. But the rest of the week should be pretty great. Wednesday is my going away party and Thursday a boat cruise on the Thames with my dorm. Plus the weekend spent in the park and doing last minute touristy things, walks, and spending time with friends.

I can't believe I only have one week left!

Today was a GREAT day!

I had such a good day today! First of all the weather was absolutely fantastic! It was so sunny and beautiful outside which definitely puts me in a good mood. It's good to know that my last few days in London have been filled with friends and fun. Today I met up at Sarah's to go see Sex and the City 2!





I really really liked it. I actually liked it more than the first. I feel like it flowed better and although some parts seemed forced and over the top it had a better story line and didn't have so many extremes that the first one did. Plus it had Aidan-and I loved Aidan! I thought it was good and I would love to see it again. AND it was only £3 because I have Orange cell phone plan and on Wednesdays cinema tickets are 2 for 1. Sweet!!!


Then we headed to North London for a department party! There was about 10 of us at my friend Nicole's adorable little flat near Finsbury Park. We made homemade guacamole and had yummy margaritas and delicious enchiladas. We vented about exams, talked about our dissertations and summer plans, and just spent time together in a relaxed and fun atmosphere. I'm so glad I went-I had a fantastic time! There will probably be one more meet up before I leave and I am really starting to realize that I am leaving these amazing people and this incredible city and I am feeling very sad! This year as been so amazing in a lot of ways and most of it has to do with London itself and the friends I have made (not surprisingly not much to do with LSE lol). I will miss my life and my friends here so much. It was good to have a night to spend time together hanging out, laughing and talking, and enjoying each others company. It was a great night!

Tomorrow will be rather boring. I need to run some errands and probably go for a walk. I need to start cleaning my room and beginning the dreadful packing process. I also need to do some reading for my dissertation and work on my outline for my meeting next week. If it's nice I will be headed to the lovely Tabard Gardens for some much needed sunshine. I love London this time of year!

Today was a good day although I am pretty tired. I had a lot of fun.

First, I walked over to through Borough Market and over the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's:



I met Sarah at the steps of the cathedral and we ate a picnic lunch from M&S while trying to avoid tourists and pigeons-both are extremely annoying and difficult to stay away from.

Pretty shot of the cathedral:



We stopped in at Caffe Nero for some AMAZING soy chai with cinnamon which on this partly sunny party windy and cloudy day was so yummy-although any day with Nero chai is a good day. It's amazing.

Then we walked north a bit and went to the Museum of London. It's definitely one of London's smaller and less well known museums but I really enjoyed it. It was basically London throughout history. It started with "London before London" with the Normans and into the Roman era. Then it moved on through the Middle Ages which is the time period that I find so interesting. They had scale models and some interactive stuff which made it fun. There was a big exhibit on War, the Black Plague, and Fire which showed all of the damage that was done in a short period of time and how many people died during the plague (about half of London's population!). Then it moved on to the Royal Family and the history of the development of Parliament and modernization. The section on Women's Suffrage and WWII was especially interesting.

I had never been there before but I'm glad I went. Some things seemed a bit skimmed over and they could have included more detail but I really liked most of the exhibits and they had some really neat stuff. There was a Victorian gown that was really ornate and a lot of touch screen simulation about life in London and changes in the city.

This is the front of the museum:


This is one of my favorite parts. It's at the end and we almost missed it. It's a carriage that's been around for over 250 years and it's still used every year during the Lord Mayor parade (I have no idea what that is but I thought it was cool that the carriage is still in use). It's so detailed and ornate, there are tons of gold animal heads and cloth detailing. I really really really really wanted to go inside of it but of course that wasn't aloud. If it wasn't for a group of French women sitting nearby and the fact that I'm sure there were CCTV cameras watching I definitely would have tried.



It was a fun day in the city as a tourist with Sarah. We always have a good time when we hang out and today was no exception. Tomorrow is a department party at Nicole's and should be really fun to see everyone and hang out.

I also need to get to work on reading and making an outline for my dissertation. It's going to come up really quickly and I need to make sure my adviser approves of what I am doing and have a good outline to keep me on track during the summer.

Walking around London and seeing so many touristy sights that are very familiar and home-like to me now I got really sad about leaving. It's so fun to walk around and explore this city especially since the weather has been nicer. I want to get outside and do the rest of the things on my to-do list as much as possible in the next 2 weeks. I can't believe my time here is almost over. I am going to miss this city very much but am excited about what is to come.

13 days!!!

I had fun today. I didn't take any pictures but I found some great ones online.

I walked over the London Bridge (twice).



To meet Sarah and Paige for a picnic near Tower of London.


Then we went to Petticoat Lane Market and I bought a suitcase for £10 to get my stuff home and we walked around and looked at all the stalls of stuff for sale.


Then on to nearby Spitalfields Market. We walked around a bit but it was really crowded.


We found a little cafe with outdoor seating and talked for almost 2 hours, just sitting in the sunshine (and the clouds) people watching, talking, and laughing. It was a really fun afternoon. I am grateful for the great friends I have made here and will miss them so much.

I had a bit of a panic attack this morning thinking that in 2 weeks time my room will be all cleaned up and cleaned out, all of my stuff packed in suitcases, and my life in London coming to an end. It is completely bittersweet. I will be glad to be back in California with friends and family but I will miss my life in London, the sight seeing and museums, the friends I have made and everything about this great city (minus the rain, expensive conversion rate, and most parts of LSE). 2 more weeks!

EXAMS ARE OVER!

I am very relieved to be done with exams! I took Contemporary Social Thought yesterday (3 hours) and feel pretty good about it. Not as good as Methods BUT I feel like I tried to summarize well, attempted different arguments or critiques and did my best to structure the essay well and say what I needed to say. I JUST HOPE I PASSED!

One thing I REALLY don't like about LSE is that we don't find out if we get our degree, or our marks for any papers or exams until NOVEMBER. ugh that is so far away.

Now I just have the dissertation. I am 3/4 of the way finished! I'm planning on spending the next 2 weeks reading dissertation books and submitting an outline to my adviser so she can critique it and make sure I am on the right track before I head home. Also, she won't be available during the summer so this is really my last chance to have her opinion.

In the mean time I will be enjoying a lazy restful day today, spending time seeing a few London sights I haven't gotten around to (which means more pictures for the blog hopefully), doing dissertation work and spending time with my friends because the closer it gets to leaving the more I realize I am going to miss them so much!

16 days!

Just wanted to post a quick updates since I haven't for awhile. Hopefully I will post a bit more in my last few weeks here in London but I have been super busy with my final exam which is tomorrow!!!! I am feeling very unprepared, unlike Methods, and worried about it. It's a 3 hour, 3 question exam and the topics have been so broad all year that I feel overwhelmed with the amount of material. Plus there are no past exam questions to look at because this is a new course and I felt ridiculously stupid after more than a few lectures so yes, I am quite worried about tomorrow. I spoke with my TA for the course and she told me to summarize, make good and clear arguments, and utilize theorists and the formative questions. I can summarize 4 of the 12 topics fairly well, I can attempt arguments although they are not very strong, and I guess I will just have to draw on what I have read and branch into the realm of rambling to cover the other 2-3 pages each essay requires. The exam is also at 10am which is not my typical hour of great productive work so I'm hoping my system is just shocked and I remember everything and write well enough to pass. That's all I want. I can't wait for it to be over with!

I'm posting a picture of the reading I have had to do this year. Yes, ALL of the reading I have done this year. Theoretically I have read this entire stack. And it is a massive stack of papers (hence the chapstick for comparison). It's from all of the courses I have taken. I will be bringing a few key articles home but am looking forward to not having to see this stack every day starting very soon! Here it is:




Ok well I'd better get back to studying. 16 hours and counting until the exam starts. Also, 18 days until I am in Los Angeles.

One exam down one to go!

Today I took my Social Research Methods exam. It was 3 hours. I think it went pretty well. There were topics that I was familiar with and I feel like I wrote 3 good essays. Hopefully I covered everything I should and it is clear and legible. I don't feel like I missed anything or would change anything if I took it again. Mostly it's weird to be finished with Methods. I can't believe it!

Tonight is just relaxing and enjoying a little break. This next week is committed to studying and prepping for my last exam-Contemporary Social Thought which is next Friday. I can't wait to be finished with exams! I'm glad I put in so much effort on essays because I only have 2 (unlike some people who have upwards of 5).

It's been really nice out lately and so tomorrow I plan to go for a walk and enjoy some time outside. Maybe study at Tabard Gardens next door.

24 days!

I went on a walk...

Today is beautiful outside. It's around 75 and clear and sunny. I went for a walk. South on Great Dover Street, Left on Tower Bridge Road, Left on The Queen's Walk, Left on Borough High Street, and back to Great Dover Street for about a 2.5 mile walk. It was really nice, sunny, not too crowded, and fun. I took some pictures:

Tower Bridge. I've posted pics of it before but it's so pretty!



From the Queen's Walk:


You can see the low level of the Thames. I like this picture.


Elephant Parade! All throughout London are painted elephants for sale as a charity. The Queen's walk is full of them and there are some in Trafalgar Square in other places in London. I love how brightly and creatively decorated they are.


Southwark Cathedral.


Borough Market sign


Borough Market entrance.


London Bridge Underground. If you couldn't tell I was experimenting with camera angles-mostly so I did not appear like an annoying tourist but also because I think some of them turned out really cool.


St. George the Martyr church


Road Sign


Borough Tube stop and black London cab


Trees along Great Dover Street


pretty flowers in bloom


my street: Great Dover Street. lovely.


Entrance to my building. I am home.



The weather is supposed to be nice throughout the weekend. I'm hoping to get a chance to get out and see some sites. I can't believe I only have 25 days left here in London. It's pretty surreal and on top of exams I have much I want to do before I leave, touristy things, sites, and hanging out with my friends. It will be sad to leave.

My Methods exam is tomorrow!!!! I'm actually looking forward to it only because it will FINALLY be over. I have spent hours and hours prepping, reading, writing practice essays, and studying and I just want to get it over with. I think I will do fine-based on the practice exams I have taken and the feedback from our study groups (which have been an awesome combination of friends, studying, and fun). I'm a little nervous because we don't know the exact questions that will be asked but I think I have studied so broadly that I can pretty much answer anything. I am looking forward to 5:30pm tomorrow!!! (If you couldn't tell I'm not thinking about studying for my Soc Thought Exam again until Saturday-I need a break!)

25 days.

Monday 24 May 2010

Today was a really fun day. First, the weather. This is according to my borough on bbc.co.uk:



yes, 30. for the record that is 86 degrees!!! It was absolutely gorgeous although bordering on too hot. But the sun felt so nice and there was a cool breeze. lovely.

I met Paige at Piccadilly Circus to eat at Maoz Vegetarian.



We had yummy falafel with hummus. So good. I've had Maoz before when I was in Barcelona and I was excited to find a location in London. The food was really good.

Paige and I walked around Soho and talked about school, life in London, and just hung out. We decided to get something sweet and remembered a frozen yogurt place not far. Called Snog. Awesome right?




This is what I got. Chocolate frozen yogurt with strawberries. It was so good. We ate our frozen yogurt while walking toward campus.

We popped into NAB on campus to head up to the balcony on the 8th floor for a lovely view of London and a cool breeze. This isn't the exact picture from the balcony (I didn't bring my camera) but this is a pretty good idea of the view we had. The balcony went almost all the way around the building and so we got a great view of London (for free!).




It was fun to hang out in the sunshine and eat yummy food with good company. It's been so fun living in London and I'm beginning to feel sad about leaving this city and the friends I have made here.

Tonight is studying and prepping for a study group Wednesday and my dissertation meeting with my advisor. I've been procrastinating a bit too much lately and have since made a schedule of what I need to accomplish to feel prepared for the exams. I feel like if I stick to the schedule I will do well and so that is my goal. Although it is hard with this lovely weather!

5 weeks

5 weeks from today I will be leaving for Heathrow. I will have taken 2 3-hour exams, cleaned out my room, packed up my stuff, said my good byes to London and to my friends here and will be on my way to LA. It is so crazy to think about how fast time has gone while I have been in London. I am both sad about my few weeks left and excited to be back in California with friends and family. I will miss this city and the friends I have made here-I will not miss being in graduate school (although there is still the matter of the dissertation which I am not thinking about right now). The next 5 weeks are going to go by so quickly. 35 days!

Regent's Park

Today I met Paige and Sarah at Regent's Park for a nice afternoon in the sunshine. It was 76 degrees today and sunny! We found a lovely spot in the grass and had a picnic and laid in the sun, talking and people watching. It was so nice. I didn't take any pictures but I found some on google so you can see how lovely the park is:




The fountain. We moved to the shade after a few hours and were near the fountain. We had a good time talking and enjoying the beautiful weather. I love London when the weather is nice!


Another part of the park has a boating lake with pretty trees and bridges.


The weather is supposed to be around 78 degrees ALL WEEKEND. I can't believe how nice it is going to be. Unfortunately I have to do some studying-my first exam is 2 weeks from today which is stressful and scary but I also plan to get out in the sunshine and enjoy the lovely London weather.

A moment of silence please for my beloved mug...




Cleaning my room today I accidentally knocked it off my desk. And it broke into 4 pieces. My lovely IKEA mug that I've had for about 3 years. I love it. It has been a good mug but I had a feeling it was on its way out-there have been a few close calls lately. And I will miss it. Especially because I don't have a good replacement. I am very sad it is broken. I will have to go buy another mug for tea but it just won't be the same.

Wednesday

Why yes I am revising for my exams and no they are not causing me to panic and stress. And neither is the thought of figuring out/outlining and researching/writing my dissertation.

Today I met up with my friend Paige. We always have fun when we hang out. We grabbed sandwiches at a small shop on Neal Street in Covent Garden and then went to...



THE CINEMA!!! It was so fun to see a film! I haven't seen a film here yet in the UK and the last time I saw a film at home was Where the Wild Things are at the dollar theater in Irvine in January. And before that... probably this last summer before I left for London. That's only 2 movies this year. I have been wanting to go to the cinema FOREVER and found the perfect chance-my mobile phone provider Orange has 2 for 1 tickets on Wednesdays. AWESOME. So Paige and I both saw the film for £6.50 total. sweeeet.

We saw Four Lions. It is impossible to convey how freaking awesome this movie was. It is seriously one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Case in point this picture:




It is completely taken out of context and will not make any sense but just looking at this picture again makes me laugh so hard. It might seen incredibly strange but the movie is about a terrorist cell in Sheffield, England. And basically their interactions with the town, each other, Pakistan, and their desire to be suicide bombers. I know some people might not be entertained by this humour BUT it is billed as a comedy and trust me, it is sooo funny. The director did a fantastic job and it's getting amazing reviews here. I don't think there are plans to release it in the US yet (I honestly don't know if it would be as popular at home) but I think they should. It was a great pick after months of not seeing a film at the cinema. I loved it!

Vote! (If only I could)

Just a quick update. Nothing too exciting going on here. After turning in essays I've been in revision sessions for the exams this week. I only have 52 days left which is totally surreal to me!

Today is the General Election. It's pretty cool to be here during an election season. I sat with a group of UK friends at lunch on Tuesday and got to learn all about the intricacies of the election process and who they were going to vote for. It was very fun to talk about politics and differences between the UK and the US. The campaign itself was so short! Our campaigns go on for almost a year (in which a ridiculous amount of money is spent) and it seems so long and drawn out-but here it's just been over a month, with it really only a big issue the last 3 weeks. It was exciting for the debates to happen too, I guess that's a new thing here. Politics isn't as polarized here as it is at home. At home, people are very passionate about one side or the other and it's basically a fight to the death but here there are more parties represented and they have only slightly different takes on various issues. Of course there are the crazies (ie BNP) and the ones I want to win (Go Labour!) but it's nothing like the issues or drama Democrats/Republicans have. It's been really fun to watch and listen and it's cool to see how another country handles changes in leadership.

After 3 hours of Methods revision I got lunch with Paige and we sat in Lincoln's Inn Fields and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather. It felt like a spring day in California. The trees are blooming and there was a cool breeze. The sun was shining with blue sky. We sat for almost 2 hours and ate, and people watched, and talked... about everything. It was just a nice relaxing afternoon.

Pretty low key evening, no stress about revisions yet-I do have nearly a month before my first exam!. I have another class tomorrow and then hopefully a nice relaxing weekend with some sight seeing and lovely London weather. And hopefully pictures soon too!

I'm still here! I know the posts have been sporadic lately but this last week was hard core focusing time on the essays that were due! But they are finished and all turned in!!! I had 3, due Wednesday, Thursday, and today. It feels soooo good to be done with them and I was glad to be less stressed about them then the last term. I feel pretty good about them and I'm glad to have another bit of a break. Celebrated at the George IV pub on campus with friends tonight.
Although... it's revision season here at LSE and that means I have study groups for exams in June. Luckily I only have 2 exams, some people have up to 5! It's going to be a busy few weeks with prep for exams and getting a good start to the research for my dissertation.
Hopefully in the next few days I will get out to enjoy London's great weather. It's starting to look like spring with flowers blooming and sunshine-and I want to take pictures!

Bath

Bath is such a fun city. It's small but there is a lot to do and it is quaint and charming.

This is the view from our hotel of the Abbey:



And one of the squares:


Exploring the Abbey: Which is not actually an Abbey because no monks or nuns have lived on the premises. But they call it an Abbey anyway.


The Abbey and the Roman Baths


The architecture:


The Abbey and the Roman Baths


The Baths were so interesting. I didn't realize how massive they were and the guide did a good job of explaining how it used to look and function. I liked these little lead scrolls that were found-they were curses that were thrown into the water for the goddess to punish people. Most of them were about people stealing and deserving their punishment. But it's amazing that tiny pieces of lead folded up can survive for so long-and still be legible.


One of the man-made waterways for the hot springs. The iron in the water turned the rocks orange and you could feel the heat from where I stood.


More of the main pool


We took a Skyline Bus Tour to see some of the countryside and the view of Bath from the hills. Of course, I found a cemetery to take pictures!


Walking along the bank of the River Avon.


The River Avon and St. John's Church


More of the river and church. The weather was so gorgeous, about 60 degrees and it is beginning to look like spring after a long cold winter-it wasn't hard to take lovely pictures.


The River Avon and the Pulteney Bridge. It's one of the view bridges in the world with shops along it-we had afternoon tea at at tiny shop near the west side of the bridge.


More bridges.


The Abbey


Ok I think I'm posting too much about bridges and churches. But I really like these pictures.


Bath is a very photogenic city. Everything is close by and when the sun is shining it was just nice to walk around.


A flower shop stall


Inside the Abbey




The front entrance to the Abbey


Sarah and I went to the Jane Austen Centre and I learned so much-it was a great exhibit. Jane had relatives in Bath and liked to visit but then later when her father died and she and her family had to move to Bath she began to resent it because she preferred the countryside.

The exhibit showed a film about what life would be like in her time, with balls and outings, and showed costumes from the time period as well as a lot about Jane Austen's life. She didn't write much while in Bath because she didn't like it (Northanger Abbey was written with a positive view of Bath, before she moved there. And after, she wrote Persuasion which has a negative view of Bath since she had to live there). After her death, her brother made sure to publish all of Jane Austen's work and to give her the credit-when she had published she listed the author as 'anonymous'.


The Abbey Hotel, where we stayed.


It was such a fun trip. I am so glad to have been invited by Sarah and her parents to join them. The countryside was so beautiful, Stonehenge and Bath were a lot of fun, and it was great to meet them and to spend time outside of London.