Imperishable Beauty

London update

I could just write an e-mail to my parents, who are probably the only ones actually reading this anyway, but I figured I'd do it more publically just in case somebody else wants to know.
Um so since the last post I've obviously done a lot more acclimating to London and getting used to things here. It still doesn't feel like I'm going to be here for an entire school semester...partly because classes are definitely fitting around my exploration of London rather than the other way around.
Last weekend I went to Stonehenge and Bath, which were pretty sweet. Stonehenge is still powerful and impressive...once you get past all the tourists taking photos. (Not that I didn't join in.)
This Saturday Sara and I went to Canterbury and Dover. It was so much fun! It started with the tube line closing down for maintainance, so we had to transfer twice and RUN through the stops in order to make it to the bus stop on time. We were both freaking out and laughing really hard at the situation. The bus took about 2 hours to Canterbury, and we poked around there for a little while before taking the train to Dover. Dover was awesome, don't believe the guidebooks. We were so nerdily excited to see the English channel, the white cliffs of Dover, and Dover Castle. The castle was on top of this huge hill...like seriously a 45 degree angle in parts. (That also led to fits of laughing at our hunched-over climbing technique.) The castle was really cool -- a Roman watchtower from the 100s AD, a really old church, and a very castle-y keep, with underground tunnels that we temporarily got lost in. Afterwards we climbed back down the hill and had a very late lunch of fish and chips while sitting on Dover beach, looking at the cliffs, the channel, and the castle. So cool!
Canterbury was less exciting, just cause we were tired, but still cool. We saw the ruins of St. Augustine of Kent's Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, and the spot in the Cathedral where St. Thomas' shrine used to be. I knelt and prayed there a few minutes...how cool to pray where so many others had! I also saw St. Anselm's tomb there -- I had no idea it was in England!
Anyway, those are the highlights thus far, I'm heading out to get some supplies for dinner tonight and do some reading before class. Miss you all!

posted by Jessica @ 8:11 AM |

London!

Hey,
I just wrote a massive e-mail so I'm a little communicated-out right now. But here's the e-mail I wrote just in case anyone missed it:
Where to begin...yes, I did get here safely (on Thursday morning) and yes I loveit so far. Things aren't too much different here, but I did discover thatLondoners count their floors starting at Ground (so the 1st floor is up aflight of stairs). Also, crossing streets is dangerous work. Everyone elseseems to have an instinctive knowledge of when it's safe...but unfortunatelyfor me there are signs that tell you to look left or look right at a particularstreet, and those of you who know me well know that the right/leftidentification is not my strong point! "Digestives" are my new favoritedessert...they're kind of like chocolate-covered graham crackers, and only cost39p for a roll.
So far I've seen Trafalgar Square (where our classroom building is), Big Ben,Parliament, the London eye...and random other stuff.
My flatmates are really nice, I've had a lot of fun with them. We're cooking forourselves and not doing too badly, and scrimping where we can in our newly "poor" state. The flat is pretty tiny...and there's very little storage space. (Girls, there's two bathrooms, no sink counters, and two mirrors smaller than sheets of paper...try getting ready at the same time as 6 other girls!) The hot/cold water mix is a little sketchy, and we're scared of the combination washer/dryer, but oh well. It's 2.5 miles from the flat, and we've been walking it so far...I think I've averaged about 7 miles a day walking!
I haven't done anything too crazy this weekend, but I did technically have my first pub experience. We managed to find places that were pretty un-American, in fact people were kind of staring at us in one of them...probably because we couldn't figure out whether to seat ourselves or not! :) I've only had cider so far, it's pretty yummy.
Classes are good, only had a day of those so far. I still can't believe I'm actually here for four months...it feels like camp (or maybe like Erasmus lol). Miss you all!

posted by Jessica @ 4:34 PM |