Classes and Whatnot.

The last few days have been busy and relaxing, both. Sunday, we met up with a friend from school and went to Harrods. Harrods is interesting. We thought it was like a mall, that would have a central aisle thing. Its really not though. Its like a 6-7 floor department store that is so huge and so packed that you can find anything and anyone there. It is also really expensive, but I haven't gotten around to uploading those pictures yet so I'll so you some stuff (like the giant £400 teddy bear ($600 ish) and the Swarovski crystal suitcase) later.

Monday, was rather interesting. We had a sign up in the morning for our excursions. Now, we were going to go early and get there before 9 because there are only a limited number of spots for each trip, but we were under the impression that no one else would be early. This was due to the fact that we asked the staff members what time students typically got in to sign up for the trips and they said they usually sign up within the first week, not the first day, and that no one ever got there early and queued up outside the door. So, we figured, even getting there a half hour early we would be the first ones there and therefore be guaranteed a place. So, its 8:20 and we are walking towards our building and there is a giant crowd of people, and we think it is for the bus stop...but it isn't. There is a massive line of people outside the building that have been there for hours as though they were waiting for concert tickets or something. Well, we did a quick head count and were numbers 23 and 24 in line and some trips only had 25 places, so we were really relieved. By the time 9:00 rolled around the line was nearly down the block and people kept getting in front of us to talk to there friends, but they would eventually go back to their rightful places and we would be relieved. The paperwork was a nightmare, but we ended up getting into every trip that we wanted and shelling out a massive £568.00. But hey, we're now going to Paris, Scotland, Wales, Oxford, Blenheim Palace, and on a Jack the Ripper tour of London. So, for weekend trips all over Great Britain and Europe, that isn't so much money.

After that we had a couple hours to kill, so we walked over to our sister institution The Imperial College of London to explore their student union. We found it sadly deserted, but that was probably due to the fact that it was 10:30 in the morning. We sat there for about half an hour after exploring and then walked back to our school. We went to the computer lab and then up to the CAPA "Library." I put it in quotes, because it is a very very very VERY tiny room full of books. Some girls came in to look for text books that they "needed" for their classes because they were on the recommended reading list with no intention of returning them for the entire semester, which we thought was really rude because other people may have needed those books too and we typically only have to read like one chapter from them, and judging by the look of them they would probably never open them anyway.

That is something that we have noticed about most of the other students. They are all party animals and don't really take any kind of academics seriously. They drink a lot, and they are loud and rude and we can't really stand most of them.

Anyways, after they left we started reading for our Shakespeare class that was an hour later and that was more than anyone else could say. The good news about that was I knew what my topic was for my presentation next week because we got to pick and I picked a good one because I had already read some. But the professor was great. He talked about 300 words a second, but is really interesting and I really like him.

After class and dinner, we went to a British theater production that was absolutely hysterical. I loved it. The theater was strange, unique, and tiny. But the production was great.

Today we had two more classes, Art History and Understanding Britain. Both are good classes, but the art history prof is a little dry. Her lectures are terribly boring but the good news is that every other class we will be spending in museums, which will be tons of fun. The second class is great. I love our prof. He is sarcastic and dry and hysterical. He let us out early to watch the inauguration on tv, which we did. Since then, I have been reading for my presentation, and soon I will be going to bed because I have to get up early tomorrow for a police talk presentation thingy. So, I hope you are all having a good time back in America.

<3