All the colleges in the UK have finally started classes, (they call this week Fresher's Week) after all the US people have been in classes for a month. We're only in our second week of classes. For our Geographies of London class on Tuesday, we got to have a field trip (yes, an actual 3rd grade-style field trip!) to the famed British Museum only minutes down the street. I'm not a museum-type, but it was still cool as it's massively huge.
On Wednesday for our community service, we had to help paint Southwark Cathedral in the Southbank by the London Bridge. It was some huge memorial to Shakespeare or something I don't quite remember. One girl swore she saw Tim Gunn from Project Runway walk by which wouldn't be surprising since London Fashion Week was going on. Alot of tourists and people kept walking by us and taking our pictures! I don't know if we should have been flattered by the attention or feel like freaks on display.
On Friday afternoon, we went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (or at least its remake. The real one burned down centuries ago) to see A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was a lot smaller than I imagined, actually. I have never read the play and didn't think to Sparknotes it beforehand, so for the most part I was completely lost. It was a comedy though, so it was funny in a lot of parts and ended on a good note. The costumes were really colorful and decadent.
Saturday was our day-trip to Brighton. Brighton = England + California. Really, it does. I felt like I was in Laguna Beach, CA than the UK. It was amazing! The weather was warm and sunny and the beach with its pier and everything was just like the Santa Monica Pier or Coney Island the sand was all huge pebbles though, so that was a bit strange.
Skate culture is huge over here as it would be in the US like Orange County. There is this amazing skate park we passed by that our friend Nick skates at. It was featured in one of the Tony Hawk skateboarding video games. It looked so pretty with all of the colorful graffiti on the walls, unlike any graffiti I've ever seen before. There are a lot of skateboard shops in Covent Gardens as well.
Last week, I finally managed to get a gym membership finally. It was probably the cheapest one I could find as it was a Y, but it happened to be historical as it's the first YMCA ever created in the whole world at Tottenham Court Road in Central London. It's alot more decadent than ANY gym I have ever gone to. I lucked out big time.
I'm learning a lot here. A couple of the things I have learned so far: not only do people text to each other but British companies are OBSESSED with texting as well. "Text ___ to 23729 to get this! "Text ____ to 68003 to get that!" They use texting to request songs on the radio to hailing a cab.
Most importantly, I learned there is no huge street where shops are lined on called High Street. "high street" is a word the British use as we would, "the main street" it's just a term meaning the biggest/main road in town. All this time I was so excited to find bargains on High Street! I guess I"ll have to settle for Oxford Street or Regent Street instead.
I'm contemplating hitting the red carpet tomorrow night at Leichester Square for the "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People" movie premiere. Megan Fox and Kirsten Dunst are starring in it so maybe they"ll be there! Katy Petty is also in town tomorrow night doing a show. I wanna go to that, we"ll see.
Cheers!
Farida
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