Are You Down?

so everything has been kinda mellow around here the past few days. we finally have a set schedule with the start of classes and all.

thursday consisted of class. and thats it. wooo exciting life. haha. for the most part class was easy this week because all the seminars have been put off until week two. the issue with that, i have alot of reading to do by next week. the seminars are two hours long and the students are expected to run the class. ever professor stressed completing the reading ahead of class. i dont have any issue with that, but i really really really dont want to buy text books! luckily i think most are available at the library or and "ebook"online, so hopefully it'll save me money. 

thursday i had Crime in International Context. Sounds interesting... until class.... now it sounds intense. this is my only level six class and thank god i dropped the other level sixes. this class is definitely going to be the hardest of the semester. the course work will be a challenge but figuring out what the heck the "tutor" or professor said the first day might have been harder than the class itself. talk about a thick accent... i haven't got a clue what that man said for and hour. 

After class the girls and i tried to plan our trips for our time here. next weekend chelsey and alexa are coming to visit us from scottland.. so excited! so obviously one of our stops is going to be scottland too! outside of london trips our bigs ones consist of...

Scottland

Ireland

Italy

France 

and Greece (hopefully!)

any other suggestions? 

speak now or forever hold your peace. 

After planning and dinner, we hung out in our dorms and then decided to head out to a local pub. before we went out, i saw a note on our kitchen counter about all the flat mates getting together for a drink. so i made erin and corrin stay after dinner to meet the mysterious individuals that live on my floor. well of course only three of us show up. the boy that lives next to me is named rob. rob and another guy tom are the only two from london. there are also two girls from denmark and another from the states. (aka dumb american from my previous blog) long story short. dumb american... is still dumb a american. haha she rambled on and on once again. her life is awesome because she lives in new hampshire, which is known for franklin pierce and she works at dunkin donuts. solid. needless to say there were numerous awkward silences after she stopped talking. 

after that, the girls and i...needed a drink. we decided to go out and see what pubs are around us. we've been told that our area is good for the younger generation, but it still creeps us out so we dont go out very far. we ended up at a place called trafik. not a bad pub. we ended up staying out until about 2 and then headed home because majority of us had class this morning. no good! 

the girls.

jade. me. erin. corrin.

the crew. 

mark. sebastian. brendan. 

p.s brendan reminds me of jed... he's got sick hair =)

so i stole his sick hat. 

and then corrin and i practiced our wall sits..

we didnt go for a run, so found it necessary. 

Today (friday) was kind of a blah day. I had lecture at 11 and them seminar at 12. it wasnt to bad until she said the librarian would be coming in half way through class to explain how to use the online data base. seriously? if i had a dollar for everytime a professor brought in a librarian. ok, i get it, you think your helping us with our research, but lets be real.. you just put everyone to sleep. my life would be wonderful if i never had to listen to that speech again. i guess somethings aren't so different from home! 

anyway, i went to my first seminar today and how do we start off... with a debate. awesome. if you know me at all, i will be the first to argue my way out of public speaking. i hate it. when i took speech last year i would turn bright red and develop a rash. so needless to say, im not a fan. luckily we split up into two groups and only three people had to speak... i was not one of them! 

one of the girls in my group realized that a girl in our opposing group was from america and started talking about her. so im sitting there minding my own business, trying not to speak so she didnt know i was american. sure enough they ask where we're all from and the guy next to me say, the states. well i was certainly relieved that i didnt have to say it first. well this girl felt pretty dumb once she realized she was sitting next to two americans. after we started talking, she asked me two  very important questions...

"oh my god, do you know Jay-Z?!" 

 ummm no? just because i live in new york and he wrote a song called empire state of mind, does not mean that i know him...seriously?

a girl from denmark laughed at her and told us that a girl asked her if she knew of a girl named "helen". her response.. yes, i know a girl names helen. and even though u think denmark is small... chances are there is more than one helen in the 5.5 million people who live there.

i dont get why people actually think other places are that small.

have you ever met the queen? or the prince?  nahhh i didnt think soo.

how bout bill clinton?

I DID! HA!

sorry. i had to. 

5 seconds of fame right here. 

continuing with my story.... towards the end of class this british girl keeps asking us questions. 

where are we living? 

how long are you here for?

what is your major?

are you home sick? 

 typical questions. she then follows it with...

are you down with obama?

once again. seriously? the guy from colorado next to me just looked at me and laughed. folks her have some interesting questions lately.

After class we walked around london, with attempts to find me new boots.... fail.

outside of my school building 

statue above a department store 

while in one of the stores, rachel had to wait in a long line for the fitting room. as a form of entertainment, we watched the most intense security office, in the world. this man stood between the two doors and had to deal with ever alarm that went off. now i dont know about you, but ive never been in a store where the alarm goes off at least one a minute. when it would go off, he would talk the persons bad. take the items out and test each on individually. then the bag. then the person. and then anything else he could... down to a baby carriage. and every time... it was something with the clothing. 

 

first check...

bag #1 

bag number two...

seriously... if you are paying a man to stand at the door to check every tag that wasn't deactivated at check out, don't you think you should maybe invest in a new machine.. or new cashiers that can handle this difficult task. we legit watched him for a solid 15 minutes and had about 6 people stopped by the alarm system (clearly we're all easily amused). heck in the states you can make it all the way home with a security tag still on your clothes, and nothing! .... go figure.

this weekends plan is a trip to York. What we are doing there exactly... i couldn't tell you. but im sure it will be a good trip, educational of course. i wont have a computer for the weekend so check back in on monday for the weekends blog and im sure alot of pictures!

now i have to go back and figure out what the heck to bring with me and charge all of my electronics! need to properly document my every move of course! 

p.s yesterday night was the first time i didnt blog... maybe thats a good thing?

<3 over tired.