Crouching Tiger, Hidden Timon

The name will make sense in due time, I promise.

So, where did I last leave off?  Oh, yeah.

Friday: Meet up with Katie (she's doing a study abroad in London too) for dinner.  Feet still THROBBING from King Lear.  Meet up in Notting Hill (cute part of London, nice change from the industrial side of town where I am currently living).  Meet up at a pub, eat a burger (but a weird British fake burger) and then head back home to collapse.

Saturday: the Epic Day of Musicals.  In honor of my still hurting feet (it's unfortunate, but I'm a wimp) and the fact that Colby's feet were covered in blisters, we decided to devote a day to seeing plays.  We did Les Miserables as a matinee and Spamalot for the evening (I'm not gonna name names, but someone whose name rhymes with Molby Cay was unaware of the fact that Spamalot was a musical version of Holy Grail).  Les Mis was good; the individual performers weren't really standouts, but the ensemble was amazing.  We had a tall, skinny Jean Valjean (blasphemy!) and a pretty good Javert.  We were way closer than I usually am, so I got to notice way more of the nuances than I'm used to (like the dead students all being at the wedding).  Also, the erection of the barricade still gives me chills.

Between our plays, we walked around and found a pub to eat in.  We ate at the Cambridge (I liked the name for the symmetry), foregoing the WAY more interestingly named Crooked Surgeon (if I have a pub in NO, it will be named the Crooked Lawyer).  We also went football jersey shopping and generally just played tourist.  

Spamalot was fantastic.  We had an Indian Arthur, which was pretty good.  There's something to be said for Monty Python with legitimate British accents.  Unfortunate note: it is currently hot here and no places have air conditioning.  It's not Southern-Louisiana-in-Summer hot, but it is generally in the mid-80s.  AND NO PLACES HAVE ANY AIR CONDITIONING.  Including theatres.  So, we're 6 rows back, watching these guys give it all and we're hot, so they must be dying.  You know it's bad when the actors start making jokes about the heat.  End of tirade: Spamalot = awesome.

Sunday: slept in some.  The whole lack of air conditioning thing makes it hard to fall asleep and even harder to stay asleep.  Colby and I went to find breakfast and after lamenting that nothing in our area is open on Sundays, found a TGIF style pub nearby with AIR CONDITIONING and reasonably priced food.  We were about ready to move in.  Also, they have Pimms (our new obsession). 

Went to Camden town to meet up with Katie and see the markets (only half of my objective was accomplished, could not find Katie).  The markets are a lot of fun and I'm planning to go back.  Unfortunately, the evil, evil Tube system shut down the Camden stop, so I got to go on a quest of sorts to find the closest one.  Finally, after much struggling, found it and headed back to my side of town.  Went for a pint (or two) with one of my classmates and tried cooking in our kitchen (with little success)

Monday:  Finally Saw the Rosetta Stone!!!!!!  Sorry, this particular moment took 6 years, but I've finally seen it!  Our classes ended up all disorganized today (stupid InEffecto), so in between classes, Colby and I went over to the British Museum.  It's pretty amazing (and free!), but we spent most of our time either in the Egyptian section (because one of us has an unhealthy obsession) or in the rare air-conditioned sections (Go Korea!).  At any rate, was awesome.  Definitely wish I'd made it on the first try.

This evening was Timon of Athens at the Globe.  This time I was prepared to be a Groundling.  I queued up early so that I had leaning room (totally worth it) and spent as much time as possible taking it easy on my feet.  Timon of Athens was pretty good (Lear was better), but I can not even compare the amount of pain I was in by the end.  Leaning is the way to go, for all of y'all who're on your way to the Globe.  The director decided to use this bizarre bungee cord/webbing system to convey the ravens, which was cool until the actors almost kicked you in the head.  Then it was less so.  The production was good (though some of the directors choices were rather ridiculous), but the enjoyability was vastly increased by the fact that it was 1) less than 3 hours and 2) not inducing excruciating pain.

Interesting tidbit: there's the bizarre cultural tendency among Americans.  My interactions with actual Brits have been pretty limited, primarily of the money changing hands variety.  If, however, I end up within 20 feet of another American, I must talk to them.  For hours.  It's ridiculous.  I need to feel less self-conscious of being that American and actually talk to a Brit.  Good to have a new goal for the week.

Okay, I'm off to bed.  Cheers!

An Update on What's been keeping me too busy to blog

Tuesday:

Colby and I got some cheap tickets (20 pounds, with an obstructed view, which was tots fine since we'd both seen the play before and really did not need to see EVERYTHING that happened EVERY SECOND).  It was amazing.  Christine was a warbler, so I kept hoping somehow the actress would succumb to some debilitating cold and we'd get an understudy, but the Phantom more than made up for it.  HIP (Hottie Iranian Phantom) was like seriously the best Phantom ever.  He was an awesome singer and was terrifying during the end when he freaks out.  Just amazing.  Raoul was nice too (for a Hobbit), but OMG.  So, if we don't find Gerry (Butler), Colby and I now have a new guy to fight over.  Also, y'know how in the States when you see the Phantom's face, it's kinda a little bit disfigured.  Like, his lip's a bit weird and he doesn't have an eyebrow.  Not so here.  The Brits require WAY more in their Phantom.  HIP was way too intense for this lame, half-hearted disfigurement.  

For those of you who do not believe me when I say the Brits are more gruesome (inappropriate for the weak of heart and small children), it's to the right side of the blog.

See?!?!?!  It was hardcore!

Wednesday: Classes.  Took a nap (London is way more tiring than Cambridge, who'd have thought?).  Went for a walk around London in the evening (the sun sets here at basically midnight, so it's nice for sightseeing).  Saw most of the big tourist spots, it's nice to know that I can get to the main touristy stuff when I'm too cheap to use the Tube.

Thursday:  King Lear.  At Globe.  Nuff said.

Fine, I'll say more.  Classes (heavy sigh).  Walking tour of Legal London (heavy sigh X 2).  In a misguided attempt to compare to the awesomeness of the Parliament Field Trip we went on during the Cambridge program, our sponsor (let's call him Ineffecto) schedules a walking tour of Legal London.  Like, from a company that does Jack the Ripper Walking Tours (sidenote: that would have been SO much better).  We got to see some cool stuff (two of the Inns of Temple, the nearby courthouse, barristers in silly wigs), but she also used cultural references like DaVinci Code and Bridget Jones's Diary 2.  We got the exact same tour as would have been given to middle schoolers.  So, basically, a waste of time.  I should've realized how ridiculous the tour would be when Ineffecto balked on it.

My friend and I then went to the Globe, but the groundling seats were sold out.  We hung around, grabbed some pub food, and then got in the queue for returns and managed to get in right before the show started.  It was amazing.  The guy who played Lear is literally one of the best actors I've ever seen.  They did the classic Elizabethan staging and it was just wonderful.  Seriously, words fail.  The simplest way to put it is this: despite the fact that I'd been on my feet since 3:00 (or 15:00, if you're British), I stood through that performance until 10:45.  And then I walked home.  So, yeah, amazing.  

Despite the residual pain I'm experiencing, I'm planning on going to see Timon of Athens on Monday (groundling again).  So yeah, Lear was good enough for me to order tickets to another play while my feet are still throbbing and my blisters have blisters.

So, here I am.  I'm probably gonna get some sleep and then go meet up with Katie for dinner tonight.  

Brief, brief Interruption

So I've discovered that living in London is not conducive to blogging about living in London.  Seriously, there's way too much to do and not enough time to do it in.  Will write a proper entry after class, as I actually have done interesting things (as opposed to Cambridge, where I'd wax poetic about going up and down a river in a tiny boat).  

At any rate, am fine and will write soon!

Not Dead Yet

Apologies on being a super lame blogger.  And human being.  Changing locations means finding new and interesting hoops to have to jump through in order to contact the outside world.

Okay, so here's my life since last I posted (Wednesday):

Thursday - classes/beginning to study/realizing that WE ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE EXAMS

Friday - studying for exams/watching people freak out in a really big and gross way.  

Saturday - EXAMS.  Four straight hours of exams are awful!!!  Was done by 1 though, which was nice.  Packed up my stuff (amazing how much your stuff can expand in two weeks), said goodbye to Luz and Caitlin, and headed off with the five boys to London.  I basically had an army of bodyguards, which was cool because they'd lift my bag for me and they were actually capable of reading the craptastic map they'd given us. (Okay, fine, I'm being negative, who really needs to read a map of a town they don't really know to get to a place they've never been to).

So, after a very arduous journey, getting lost several times and more than a few moments of seriously considering just leaving all my stuff on a street corner and getting new stuff, we arrived.  Our dorm is about as far from the ones at Cambridge as they could possibly be.  The building looks like a big, ugly asylum and it's impossible to get to dorms not on your cellblock.  Which is fine, unless EVERY PERSON YOU TRAVELLED WITH is on a different one.  Then you feel tragically alone.  Despite the weird isolation from your classmates, the flat situation is nice.  We get a kickass kitchen.  It almost makes up for the scary, camp style showers we have (seriously, worst thing ever, I took off my showerhead, it was safer).

The following is a transcript of what happened once I got in my dorm.

Anna looks up and down her hall confused.  Yells: Colby?!?!

Door is flung open.  Enter Zombie-Jetlag Colby.  Incoherent mumbles, perhaps something about brains.

Anna: Colby, get dressed.  We're in London.  Let's do something.

Colby: mumble, mumble, brains.

So, anyway, I found Colby.  We then went walking around and had a couple of pints and fish and chips at a pub called Mabel's Tavern.  The beer was disgusting, but we got to watch Brits watching a football match, which is high comedy.  Oh, we've picked a football organization to support (yes, it was completely random decision).  We're now picking favourite players and finding out who our new rivals are.  We're assimilating.

We also found two guys from our program and went walking around.  We got moderately accosted by two drunken teenagers who warned us that if we rode around in a luggage cage, the doorman of a hotel would yell at us (shocker).  Then, we passed out.

Sunday - Wake up.  Wake Colby up.  Go to Oxford Circus with the two guys in our program, spend the day dodging tourists and spending for freaking ever in Harrods.  Have our law school orientation, we have a bigger group here, but they seem like cool kids.  I already am acting out the school rivalry with the kid from Ole Miss (he responds to my entering a room by yelling "Geaux Tigers") and everyone else seems like good people.  Having orientation in a pub is not conducive to paying attention, but this was not my decision.  The Cambridge people and newbies are getting along nicely, but we all know we're cooler.

Today - Classes!  Deja vu all over again.  Classes seem good; one of our professors gave us a book that makes the Bible look short.  I'm assuming we won't have to read all of that.  We have a lunch break, which sounds like a good idea until your stomach is full of goodness and you're trying to stay awake.  Then, less good.  We went exploring and found our hostel, unfortunately, in my excitement to point it out, I almost gave Colby a heart attack.  We found an AMAZING Indian place a block away.  We're in a neighborhood (burb? hamlet? shire?) called Bloombury, so it's rather nicely insulated from the whole hustle and bustle, tourists everywhere thing (I say like I'm not a tourist, but I do not have a fannypack and mow over locals.

So, to summarize: London = awesome, accommodations = less awesome, but good, tourists = obnoxious, classes = necessary, not having porters = sad.

Cheers!  (I'm bringing this back to the states, get ready, it'll be way obnoxious).

New Backup Plan

So I kinda rock at punting (let me clarify the term "rock": I did not fall in, I was pretty good at balancing, I was the best of the girls, I managed to do it for 1/2 hour without getting exhausted, and I didn't run into TOO many obstacles).

It was a lot of fun; a group of six of us (Caitlin, Wade, Luz, Matt/Coma Boy, John, and I) went out punting by ourselves today.  We bought champagne (but not enough), baguettes/brie, strawberries, and chocolate.  It was awesome.  We are now experienced punters (some more so than others) and we've stopped terrorizing other punters (or at least got really good at apologizing when we ran into them).  We had this great contrast of class and Americanism.  It was amazing.

Classes are good.  I'm fairly certain there's a federal judge who hates me (good news: he's criminal).  We're winding down in a big way, which is nice.  Don't particularly want to take exams, but I'm told they're not optional.  

Speaking of exams, off to studying!

Come on Baby, Light My Fire

We had three firealarms between 11:30 and 1:30.  I'm exhausted.  Air raid sirens are not conducive to sleep.  Must make it to class, then will nap.  Must make it to class, then will nap.  Must make....

Because I hadn't Written in so Long....

We just had the loudest, scariest fire alarm of my life (we're all safe, false alarm, just a big pain in the ass).

So, the smarter kids (read: not me) made a point of grabbing their passports on the way out.  I'm not that good at planning.  I had my key and a sweatshirt and THAT IS ALL.  If this building had actually gone up in flames, I'd be trapped here forever (technically, I can think of worse fates, but still).  I feel like this has been an important life lesson: ALWAYS GRAB YOUR PASSPORT!  Or, don't burn popcorn in a dorm (really, it's a twofer).

Okay, I'm gonna try to go back to sleep.  Yes, this is a futile gesture and I'm well aware of that, but it's either that or find a pub that's open.  And it's a Monday.

A Brief Update

We actually had fantastic weather all weekend, which was enjoyed by both locals and 50 million tourists who magically appeared alike.  Seriously, Cambridge was overrun.  There was a music festival in a nearby park, which was a lot of fun.  

A bunch of us went to dinner on Saturday and then went to a bunch of pubs.  Bars close here early, so you end up hopscotching through them looking for open hours rather than drink specials.

There's a universal feeling that we're all ready to get out of Cambridge, it's pretty and all, but we're running out of stuff to do (past going to pubs).  It'll be nice once exams are done and we're off to London!

Tonight we're all planning on eating at the Dining Hall at Trinity College (it's expensive, but looks like the Great Hall at Hogwarts).  Tomorrow we're going punting, which sounds exciting except for the possibility of capsizing. 

Classes are going well, my British professor has progressed from expressing mild disdain toward Americans to full on criticism of everything our government does.  This would be offensive if she were better informed, it's presently simply irritating. 

Parliament! London! Sleep Deprivation!

So here's how yesterday worked:

2 pm - get in taxi to go to train station.  We all are dressed up (quick note for the interest - high heels + cobblestones = excruciating pain).  We manage to get everyone in the cabs in time and navigate the very tricky machines.

2:15 - train heading to London.  Nice ride, a lot of the English countryside.  I find seeing livestock in foreign countries very comforting, for no apparent reason.

3:00 - get to King's Cross, get on tube to Parliament.  We end up being this big, obnoxious, American group completely overtaking a car of the Tube.  Locals hate us, children run in fear.  Basically, all we need is fannypacks, that's how obnoxious we are.

4:00 - meet a really cool MP (Member of Parliament) named either Edward Vaday or Vasay.  He talks to us for a while, answers our questions, THEN HE PERSONALLY TAKES US ON A TOUR OF PARLIAMENT.  Like, we get to go the the Floor of the House of Commons.  Which is basically unheard of, usually you see it from a partition miles away.  We were literally in there, right behind the party line's and we could see transcripts of the previous day's debates.  It was amazing.  Thank God I wore heels, can you imagine being in the House of Commons in flip-flops?!

6:00 - went to eat at a pub called the Eagle (it's a theme or something) near the Farringdon tube stop.  Cool place, I have a growing affection for pubs.  You can drink and actually see your drink.  They're fantastic for just being able to grab a beer (pint) without having to deal with any scene.  Also, you go to them in broad daylight without Society thinking you're an alcoholic.  They also have really good, greasy fries (chips).

8:30 - 11:15 - we go to an Aussie bar near Covent Garden (Tulane was nice enough to buy us day tube passes, so we took full advantage of them) called Walkabouts.  We met up with my friend from Fordham's friends who're studying in Paris and hung out with some locals.  The bar was fantastic, though I was confused by it shutting down at 11:15 (seems way too early).  Good for us though, because if we missed the midnight train to Cambridge, we'd be in trouble.

Midnight - get on train back to Cambridge.  Spend most of the ride with my friends arguing whether USC is a respectable football program (the two boys were sadly, sadly misinformed on this point).  Eventually, we are so loud, drunk and obnoxious (read: American) that the guy sitting next to us gets in the conversation, telling us that what we're saying doesn't matter, because rugby and any rugby team is infinitely superior to any American football team.  It's a lively debate, but eventually, we all agree to disagree (except for on the USC bit, round two will be tonight).

2 am - back at dorms, sleepytime.

9 am - classes.  Professors act confused at the fact that we went out in London.  They're either being facetious or naive.  Or both.  Depending on how much we drank (I didn't too much, largely due to the 3 hours of traveling with no access to a bathroom, as well as a sense of responsibility), we vary from looking exhausted to dead (I was closer to exhausted).  

We're now done with classes until Monday, so I've got a weekend of sleeping, recharging, outlining for my exams next weekend, and exploring Cambridge if the weather holds (fairly substantial if).

Cheers!

Interesting Cultural Observation: instead of men randomly referring to girls as "Cher," "Babe," "Darlin'," or "Dear" here, they call us "Luv."  It's funny and confusing at the same time.  It doesn't seem too bad when it's a guy you kinda know, but when it's a homeless guy selling papers, you're a little bit confused.

London Calling

Classes are good; for some reason, I find my trade law class fantastic.  No one else does.  Evidently, I'm weird.  One of the benefits of coming here not really knowing anyone is that I'm getting to meet a bunch of different kids from law school.  They're generally a good bunch, there's a group of boys that are definitely going to get arrested for doing something non-destructive and stupid.  I spend most of my time with a girl from Fordham and a girl from Puerto Rico.

It rains here all the time.  I've come to the conclusion that summers in Cambridge are essentially winter in Louisiana.  When it's sunny, it's beautiful; when it's rainy, you understand what was bothering Dickens and the Brontes.  I take turns missing my family, my friends, my dog, and my galoshes.

They're taking us to Parliament tomorrow; we're going on a tour of Parliament (evidently, this is quite a big deal) and generally just spending the afternoon in town.  Should be nice.

This afternoon, the Tulane/Cambridge group (all 14 of us) went to a pub called the Eagle to be social.  It was nice, though I'm not really okay with being in a bar at 4 in the afternoon.  On a Wednesday.  But still, it was my first pub experience on this trip.

I finally bought an umbrella, it's probably the best $8 I've ever spent (omg, these exchange rates are murdering me).  

Currently, I'm planning on hanging out around Cambridge this weekend.  Good weather has been promised (though I am skeptical) and I'll get some laundry done (in the launderettes, which resemble 14th century dungeons).  Given that next weekend will be the staggering combination of exams and getting myself and my 5 tons of luggage back to London to begin my next program, I'm rather inclined to take this weekend easy.  I must be getting soft in my old age.

Internet! Contact with the Outside World! Minor Victories!

Classes are good.  I'm in class from 9-1 and then have the rest of the day to do as I please.  My body is not quite used to the time zone I'm in, so I can't really go to sleep before 3 am.  I'm trying to hold off on going to too many pubs until I've started sleeping like a normal human.  Most of my classmates don't have that level of self control, so they look pretty rough at 9.

This evening I went to Evensong at the Chapel in King's College (it's kinda an abbreviated service with lots of singing by the Boy's Choir).  I spent most of the time in awe of the chapel/trying to figure out how to sneak pictures of the interior without getting caught.

Thursday we're being taken on a tour of Parliament!  Yay, London!  Everyone's making travel plans for the weekend, but I might be a lameass and explore Cambridge (it's pretty and I'm going to be doing all of the nearby traveling I want to in the next month).

I'm having bluetooth issues with my camera, so I'm currently unable to upload pictures.  As such, I am "borrowing" this picture of the gate of entry to Trinity College.

Still No Internet

I'm currently co-opting someone else's internet.   Trinity College Tech Support hates me, but we're still battling over my lack of ethernet.  

It rains here all the time; it's like New Orleans with proper drainage.  Trinity College is beautiful, England is fantastic, I'm well.

My classes are really cool, as are the students.  Pictures will be posted, more information will be given, the minute I beat down the computer guy.

Safely in Cambridge

After approximately 21 straight hours of travelling (the 3 hours asleep on the plane still count) and running over around 1000 people with my wheely suitcase of death, I am safely in Cambridge. It was a perilous and event-filled trek, which could rival the Odyssey in terms of suspense and drama, but I will record it when I'm not paying by the minute at a shady internet cafe (good area of town, but continues in the grand tradition of internet cafes in being a little bit dirty). I can't post pictures for the same reason, they will be included in my gripping telling of my journey to Cambridge.

First impressions: I have yet to meet a rude British person. They're fantastic. Some have basically taken me by the hand and shown me where to go (for reals). Cambridge is a really pretty cool little town (hamlet? village? I'm unclear). I really like it; it's kinda like Florence in that it's small and centrally located, but cleaner. The most obnoxious thing here (past the lack of internet!!!) is the tourists (particularly the German and Chinese, perhaps it's a cultural thing?).

I got mistaken for a local! The guy asked me directions and then he heard my accent and was disappointed.

I think I'm gonna have to cut this one short, I'm getting pretty tired (damn jetlag/time change/travelling for a solid day). I am safe, fed, capable of accessing the internet at least once a day, and glad to be here. I'll start communicating more regularly once I have the internet close to me.

Mission Statement

So, this is my method of keeping track of all of my stuff while I'm traveling.  Check back to see what I'm up to.