Christmas is in the Air

Hi,

I will be flying out of London on Monday evening to the United States of America, and consequently will be taking some time off from my blogging for about a month while I am at home for Christmas and New Year's.  I may post an occasional comment or share a fun link with you, but don't expect much else.

If you are a friend from home reading this, and it is after the night of Monday the 15th of December, what are you waiting for?  Call me so we can hang out.  I will try to make it to Boston to say hi to my Tufts peeps ASAP after I land in NYC and get back to Connecticut to unpack, but I know you will be knee-deep in final exams--I would still like to see you before you leave yourselves to go home.

As for news on my first term, it can be described best as a blast.  I feel I did well on the 3 exams I took this week, and hopefully they will be a good preview for the big scary finals I must take in May and June.  There were lots of fun events put on at by the University and other places that I went to, I visited Ireland and Cambridge, and I have only just begun to dig into all London has to offer.  I have made many good friends from all over the world.  I think we have learned a lot from each other and I look forward to seeing you all again in mid-January.

Thanks to everyone who has read this blog and commented so far; I will do my best to stick with it next term and into June before I ultimately come home for Summer.

Cheers all, and Merry Christmas!

Ice Skating

I went ice skating at Somerset House last evening in London. My skates were slightly too big and I was consequently off-balance for the duration of the session. It was fun anyway and very picturesque as you can see.

Skatin' around the Christmas Tree

Terminology

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked the following question by my friends and family at home: "Oh, you're in London, eh? Do you have a British accent yet?"

Short answer: NO, I don't. Sorry, I won't come back speaking the Queen's English. Though, I am slightly less awful at imitating it, and I'm even starting to be able to tell the differences between people's accents from different parts of the UK.

One thing I have picked up on though, is the different expressions used in every day speech. I've found that using British English with natives here facilitates conversations and prevents people from looking at me funny. For example, I once had a conversation that went sort of like this:

Me: "Excuse me, could you tell me where the movie theater is?"

Stranger: "What?"

Me: "The movie theater?"

Stranger: "The what?"

Me: "The cinemas?"

Stranger: "Oh, it's right over there."

Therefore, here I will attempt to give you a side by side comparison of American English expressions and their most common British counterparts, in categories. Differences in pronunciations are included as well.

FOOD and KITCHEN

cilantro = coriander

ground beef = mince

cookies = biscuits (only the oven baked ones-choc chip, sugar, etc. are "cookies")

biscuits (like the KFC ones) = scones (pronounced scONs)

yogurt (in a small container) = pot of yogurt

oREgano = "oreGAno"

basil = basil (rhymes with "dazzle")

saran wrap/cling wrap = cling film

scotch tape = cello tape

OUT AND ABOUT

sidewalk = pavement (even if it is made of tiles)

highway = motorway

handicapped = disabled

truck (a big one) = lorry

movie theater = cinemas

store = shop

shopping carriage/cart = trolley

car (on a subway or train) = carriage

line (of people) = queue

show/concert = gig

elevator = lift

exit = way out

mail = post
gas/gasoline = petrol

SCHOOL
private school = public school
public school = state school

high school/secondary school = college

college = university

professor = tutor

a senior/head of department = professor

office hours = surgery session

study = revise

MISCELLANEOUS

tired = knackered

really good = quite nice

friend = mate

cool = cool/wicked

expiration date = expiry date

has expired = has gone off

wasted (drunk) = pissed

too lazy/don't feel like it = can't be bothered

cell phone = mobile phone ("mo-BYEL")

crazy = mental
10 pounds (£) = 10 quid, or a "tenner"
50 pence = 50p ("fifty pee")

half past two = half two

aluminum = aluminium ("a-loo-MIN-ee-um")

THINGS THAT AREN'T WORDS BUT ARE INTERESTING NONETHELESS
-The most often quoted unit for weight of a person is stone (1 stone = 14 pounds); metric kg are also used, but less often. Pounds (lbs) are almost never used for people.
-Speed limit signs are all quoted in mph, not km/h; distances are quoted in miles on signs.
-There is no Wal-Mart here, but ASDA is owned by them.
-American chocolate sucks.
-They use real cane sugar in everything (not high fructose corn syrup).
-Tea goes best with digestive biscuits.

-"Oriental" is not offensive

-certain words spelled with double consonants in America are spelled with one in the UK, and vice versa; for example--enrollment = enrolment; traveling = travelling

So, if I do say one or more of these things when I do come home, please don't hold it against me. It will take some time to get back into the swing of things.

Cheers!

New Camera

Thanks to the swift efforts of the insurance company, I have received my replacement camera for the Nikon D40 I lost a full 2 months ago in December. As it turns out, they don't make the D40 anymore, so I received the newer and more superior D60 instead. It sure is nice to have a camera that can take half decent pictures. Hopefully you will see some of those soon.

Here is a sample:

Balance has been restored.

Cheers.

Wakeup Calls

Who needs an alarm clock when your building is adjacent to a large pub?

I am mostly unaffected by this as I live on the street side of John Dodgson House, but I do get the loud garbage trucks and noisy construction.

Day Trippin'

Adam and I took a trip to Cambridge yesterday (no, not in Mass.). Cambridge is the home of one of the oldest universities in the world, the University of Cambridge. Cambridge is about 45 minutes by First Capital Connect express to the north and a bit east of London. It was a nice little town, which many old buildings, shops, and other pretty things. There wasn't much else however (no night clubs, things that London has), which explains how Cambridge students are so able to concentrate on their studies and be freakishly smart. Here is a picture, but you can view the rest of my pictures at this public facebook link.

Enjoy!

Hello London: Less Than Jake comes to the City

Tonight, a friend and I went to see a concert at the London Astoria featuring the ska punk powerhouse Less Than Jake. It was my fourth time seeing the band, but it was the first time I had seen them in a couple of years. They were one of my favorites in my younger years in the ska scene in CT, and I still revisit their music quite often. I was lucky to find someone to go with me who was just as excited to see them again.

The Astoria seems like a cool venue, and many very big names have played their at some point on their rise to super-stardom; but sadly, after the beginning of next year, this venue will probably cease to exist to make way for the Crossrail project (another subway line in London). The city as pledged to build a replacement. At least I had the chance to visit it once before its destruction, a chance I wish I had for CBGB before it moved from its history Bowery Street location in Manhattan to Las Vegas.

After playing an amazing set full of old favorites and fresh new sounds, and also the obligatory confetti cannons, Less Than Jake payed tribute to the venue they would play in for the last time, and took a group bow to the audience and then to the stage.

Guy Fawkes Day

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,: The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,: I can think of no reason: Why the Gunpowder Treason: Should ever be forgot.

Election

I am writing this at 5:30 AM GMT, and have not slept all night having been watching the election coverage on the BBC.  I think I speak for everyone when I say the pressure in my head that has been there for the past 2 years due to the horse race of election news coverage has finally dissipated, and I feel like I can breathe again.  No more inane commentary about what could happen, and no more F$#*ing attack ads.

To all the McCain supporters reading this: the sun will still come up tomorrow, and it could have been a lot worse for you (read: Dennis Kucinich), so please don't feel too badly about it.

To the rest of the world: sorry for the past 8 years, this was a long time coming.

To all those who doubted that which was accomplished this evening would ever be accomplished in their lifetimes: believe it.  Regardless of your color, gender, creed, or even political leanings, this is a great day for the entire world after years of slavery, oppression, inequality, and civil rights struggle, that a black man could be elected to the highest office in the free world.

I just wanted to take some time to reflect on that.

...I'm going to bed now.  Good night!

Trip to Ireland

Hello friends,

I have only slept for 5 hours, but that is because I got back to John Dodgson House at about 1:30 AM after a wonderful long weekend in Ireland. There is much to say about what the trip was like but I will try to boil it down as much as possible.

We flew with the budget-friendly RyanAir from London Stansted Airport to Dublin Airport on Friday evening, arriving a bit before midnight. We spent Saturday exploring Dublin, including going to the James Joyce Museum and to the Guinness Storehouse, known by many as the "Guinness Factory". In truth, while there were a lot of cool exhibits at the Storehouse, it still felt like the tourist trap that it was; but it needed to be done, and there was a complimentary pint at the end. The top floor offered great panoramic views of the City of Dublin. I was surprised at how everything seemed so old, as the ~10 story Guinness Storehouse is probably the tallest building in the city.

O'Connell Street, Dublin

Jesus!

We then hopped on board Bus Eireann, an intercity bus service, to Galway, a smaller city on the Western Coast. Galway had a much different feel than Dublin. There was a lot of that old feel, but also more posh, contemporary shops and attractions aimed toward younger people. The pubs in Ireland are amazing. The inside tends to be very ornate and beautiful and everyone seems to be having an awesome time. Galway also had a very nice landscape and scenic seaside areas. We meant to rent bikes and travel out to cliffs north of the city, but things didn't end up going the way we planned, as we woke up late that sunday morning. Galway also had a cool street market with a very medieval feel.

Boats in Galway

Galway Lighthouse

On monday, we departed for Cork, once again on Bus Eireann. This was yesterday, the day I was to split with the group and go home from the Cork Airport. Though I did have to leave, I was still able to spend several hours in the city, which was entirely the opposite of Galway. Cork is sort of inland, on a river, in very hilly terrain. It is a large city with evidence of a manufacturing history, with some large smokestacks and buildings. Now, it is much more commercialized, and the main shopping area is a lot like Oxford Street in London.

Cork

The rest of the people I was traveling with (Nina, Leo, and John) are staying in Cork for another 2 days and at this moment, are probably visiting Blarney Castle, kissing the Blarney stone for good luck. Meanwhile, I must get back to my lectures. Curse this life as an engineering major that I chose. Check out my photos on facebook to see more!

Cheers everyone!

Bizarre Blizzard

Today, on the 28th of October 2008, there was a small burst of moderate snowfall in London. Yes you heard it here first folks (or on Kahran's Blog, one or the other). It accumulated for a while, and some people in the hall were playing outside in it, but now it has since melted and turned back into rain. Damn you London.

Yep, It's snow alright.

More Sights

Hi Everyone,
There is not much to say other than life has gotten mostly back to normal, and the work is beginning to pile up. I am officially a member of the Running Club and also Wing Chun Kung Fu. Everyone here seems to be utterly fascinated by the US elections; remember to go out and vote everyone--it will make you feel big and strong.

The weather really has been nice lately, so I decided to take some more pictures of the area around where I live. I apologize that they are taken with my cell phone camera, but most of them came out pretty well. I will have many more once I get my new camera and after I go to Ireland.

St. Pancras and Euston Road

Between Gordon Square and Tavistock Court

The Woburn Walk

The Rocket; a favorite pub of ours

The British Library

That's all for now. Cheers!

RACE! (?)

I felt good today (not sick anymore), so I thought it would be a good idea to go for a run with the XC team at the usual 1PM time on wednesdays.  Not being on the e-mail list for some reason or another, even after putting my name down, I was happy to still find everyone at the usual meeting place in front of the student union.

Then, I hear from one of the captains "Everyone has money on their Oyster Cards, right?"  Yes, I heard correctly, "Oyster Card".  Mine was way back in my room at John Dodgson House.  It turned out that today was not a usual run at all.  We were to get on a bus to travel all the way out (several miles) to a place called Hampstead Heath on the outskirts of the city for our run.  When we arrive, I hear that we are to run a race at 3:15 PM against rookies from other colleges of the University of London to compete for spots on the team.  Wait.  RACE?  I have not run a cross country race in over 2 years!  Also, what chance on earth would I have of making a team of 6 for a consortium of colleges with over 150,000 students?  Furthermore, I had been spoiled of the relative stability and non-severe slope of paved roads.  In other words, I was in no shape to race.

Boy, was I not in shape.

We were to do two 2.5-mile laps around a hilly course of grass, gravel, mud, and roots.  Brilliant.  Also, it turned freezing cold, windy, and rainy just before we began.  Needless to say, I realized how out of shape I was to run this sort of terrain and speed right away, as I immediately slowed my pace after cresting the first hill.  I made it through one lap and a bit before my previously injured foot from marathon season began to flare up, and I stopped; I was not about to take another 5 weeks off to heal like I had to back in February before the marathon.  I got on the bus and came home.

I had planned on going to Kung Fu again this week with Aaron, but that started at 4:30, and I made it back slightly bruised at 4:45, too late.  Oh well.

I do want to keep up with running, and the people are nice, but I suppose I should choose my battles carefully; I guess I should try to get on that email list and know what I'm getting myself into before the point of no return.

OMG NEW COMPUTER!!!

I am in ecstasy.

24 days.  24 miserable days of being cut off from the rest of the tech world.  Well my friends, those 24 days are finally over.

I am currently typing this blog post on my shiny, new, US-keyboard-equipped MacBook Pro.  I just finished restoring my backup from my external drive, so I am able to pick up my computing (almost) where I left off when the previous one got stolen, with all my previous music, photos, videos, and documents left intact.  Lucky me :D

I want to thank everyone for their sympathy about the theft, and the people here at John Dodgson House for letting me use their various PC's when it was just too unbearable to go down to the forsaken cluster room.

I am currently reloading my iTunes library back onto my iPod, talking to my brother on AIM, and listening to AC/DC's "Back in Black."  Life is good.

I also want to shout out to my New Haven commuter friends and thank Shelly (at least) for continuing to read this blog.  I will be back soon enough to visit you all!  I will be sure to post lots of pictures of my first trip on the Eurostar to Paris to make you all jealous.

That's all for now.  Please excuse me while I get my life back in order.

Cheers!

Shipped!

My new computer has shipped finally.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Future days of connected-ness are ahead of me after about a month of disconnected-ness :)

Seriously, how much longer?

I met with the insurance agent, and I should be able to get everything completely covered that was stolen from me (about £1,968 worth of stuff). The meeting was rather bizarre, taking place in a KFC-esque restaurant known as 'Chicken Cottage' in a small area of south London known as Tooting Bec. It was loud and full of screaming children, and a £7 round trip ride on the Tube, but hey, in the end it will probably be a good deal for me.

It seems to be taking forever for my new computer to get here, which forces me to use this boiling hot 'computer cluster room' in the basement of my hall; I guess it's not such a bad thing since it makes me want to spend as little time as possible using the computer, as they are also very slow and crappy, and without sound capabilities. Therefore, I am more likely to meet and interact with (gasp) actual people.

Just to give you a hint --> I can't even watch youtube since the movies are reduced to pixelated slide shows on these awful machines.

The way my class schedule has worked out is rather interesting: Since all classes last the whole year (1st and 2nd semester), I am taking both first and second year design and first and second year materials. This has allowed me to becoming fantastically bored in the first year classes and somewhat lost in the second year classes, but hopefully it will reach an equilibrium by the end of the second term, since I won't actually be assessed on anything until May or June.

I ran the intro practice with the XC team, and I think I may do the running club. I feel fat and lazy.

You'll also be happy to know that I voted in the 2008 election, having sent my absentee ballot back to the US just this week. Not to start any flamewars or anything, but the only republican I voted for was Ray Kalinowski of the 100th Assembly District of Connecticut, since he's such a darned nice guy.

Cheers,

Gearing Up for Classes

Hi everyone,

It just felt like it was time to post an update about what is going on here across the pond. I know you all have probably found out by now about my little incident last Saturday, but you'll be happy to know that I am finally scheduled to meet with the insurance agent, and my prospects of getting everything covered are good. I have already ordered a new MacBook Pro and iPod Touch, but they probably won't arrive for some time considering they only sell Macs here with the wonky UK keyboard layout. Sure, it may have been a novelty to own one of these, but it makes me angry when the quotation marks and @ symbols are in the opposite places (it's especially bad when trying to type email addresses). In any case, I should be expecting it sometime in the next week, maybe 2.

It has seemed in the past week that even though I haven't really had classes, I have not sat still for one minute. The weather here has been wonderful, which is quite unusual, and I have gone running at Regent's Park a couple of times to take advantage of the nice weather. I have also gone to buy all my school supplies, more dorm supplies, more kitchen supplies, and other loose ends I haven't been able to think of all at once. My debit card from the National Westminster Bank STILL doesn't work because it has taken forever for them to send me my PIN in the mail, and having nearly drained my US bank account on a new computer, it's becoming increasingly possible for me to accidentally overdraw something. I am in huge anticipation for that insurance check.

Also, I have been making some great friends with the UK students that arrived here a little over a week ago. I have even found someone who likes ska enough to want to go to a concert sometime. We all cook and eat together in the kitchens on our floor, and share in a lot of what we are making. There was also a "Fresher's Fayre" (Activities Fair; for clubs and sports on campus); I put my email address down for a few different groups from cross country to kung fu, just to try some things out, both familiar and different. It's sort of like being a Freshman all over again.

A couple of Tufts people and I stayed up late on Friday night to watch the presidential debate, streaming live on MySpace. No one here really has a TV in their room because the government has the elaborate scheme to require private TV licenses to force the continued funding of the BBC. If you are caught watching a TV that you own without having a license for it, you can be fined for up to £1,000. Bastards. Anyway, watching the spirited exchange between the two candidates between the wee hours of 2 and 3:30 AM was probably not such a great idea, as it was difficult getting up the next day, but we just loved our country enough to do it regardless.

On a more interesting note, the student union here is something to behold. A multiple story complex with flat screen TVs, comfortable seating areas, and bars (yes real bars) on every level. It is a popular place to go on weekends as the drinks are much cheaper than other local pubs. My only complaint is that they (strictly) close the doors at midnight. Last night, couple of friends and I got there just 30 seconds too late, as they were putting the sign up outside that the doors were closed. In light of this, we were able to find a few of our other friends at a sports bar in Piccadilly Circus, where there happened to be a private party going on upstairs for people competing in the World Series of Poker; most of them were American, so somehow I was invited inside for a few minutes. It was rather surreal. Anyway, all I can say is that it has been nothing short of interesting so far here, and I hope for that to continue.

This whole not having a computer thing is hard, but not as hard as I first thought. I'm sure I can stick it out a little while longer.

Misfortunes

Hello everyone,

I am typing this from my friend's computer, because (if you haven't heard already), I had my laptop, camera, and iPod stolen from my room last night as I was eating dinner in the kitchen down the hall. I was gone for less than an hour, and in that time someone stole a huge amount of personal information, music, and untransferred digital photos I had taken earlier that day.

For those of you that have posted in response to my Mom's comment on the previous post, thanks for the sympathy. BUT the good news is that I am covered by insurance: up to £1500 for computer and £3500 for personal items. Just to give you an idea, the market value of my MacBook Pro in the UK is £1,299, the iPod is £219, and the camera, a Nikon D40 that belonged to my late Uncle (which I am especially burned up about), is about £420. They also got my targus laptop case, but I have no idea how much that cost. I am just grateful that nothing happened to me, and they didn't get ahold of my cell, wallet, passport, or money. I immediately went and changed all my online passwords, so my data in "the cloud" is safe, including credit card #'s, bank account #'s, etc. I was also incredibly lucky to retain an entire backup of my system on my external hard drive, which they oddly enough didn't steal. These crooks must not have been very good, because they also failed to take about £80 that was sitting on my desktop in an envelope.

I filed a report with the police and submitted the serial numbers of my laptop and iPod (which I will also send to Apple, in case someone else tries to register my computer and ipod under their name). Hopefully, at least, it will be harder for the theif to resell them. They are going to look at CCTV evidence from the building, and they have unsuccessfully dusted for fingerprints. I am all set to call the insurance company tomorrow, and hopefully get my claim honored in time for me to buy new equipment before the beginning of the term; classes begin friday, but real work won't start for a couple of weeks. This is more an annoyance than a fiasco, and I am trying to take it in stride and serve as an example for all you other students out there. LOCK YOUR DOORS!!! Even if you are just out for a few minutes, just do it. It's better to be safe than to end up like me. You can be sure I'll be much more careful from now on.

I suppose I've been without internet for a week already and survived, what's a few more days?

Don't worry too much about me, I'll be alright :)

One Week Down, Many to Go

Wow,

That's all I can say after being here for a week. I can't believe it's only been that long, because we have already done so much. Many things have happened since my last post, most notably moving into my permanent residence at John Dodgson House, but I shall get to that shortly. There has been a lot of moving going on these past few days, mostly by foot, and boy are my feet tired...

The international student orientation is over, and now I am a full-time student enrolled (or "enroled" as they spell it here) at UCL. I even have a fancy ID card that lets me into doors and things! All I have left to do is register for classes (that I have already picked out) and get my books (most of which I can borrow from Jaki, our program director), and I'll be set to go for school. I have met my department, and the faculty seem very nice.

Apart from that, we have done a few other fun things in the past few days. Our group went to see a play at a small theater in Piccadilly Circus called "The 39 Steps." It was a comedy/murder mystery played entirely by a cast of only 4. We also were able to venture into other places around north London, including Regent's park, which is a fine place to go for a run. It reminds me a lot of the public gardens in Boston, but much larger.

There seems to be at least one of the following on every street: Sainsbury's, Tesco, or Marks and Spencer (grocery stores and supermarkets), Carphone Warehouse (cell phone retailer), and of course, the golden arches of McDonalds. I have to say though, the fast food here is far more impressive than it is in the USA; it actually resembles something of quality, though it is also far more expensive (about 5 pounds for a typical value meal).

I have done a lot of shopping for things for my room and kitchen cabinet at the supermarkets, and also this place called Argos, which is very unique. At Argos, they don't display any actual merchandise, but rather you look up what you want in a catalogue, write the call number down on a form with how much you want, you go up to the cashier and pay, and they bring out your order for you (usually) in a few minutes' time. I have already bought my sheets, pillow, duvet, duvet cover and pillowcase, knives, plates, silverware, bath mat, and extra plug adapters from there for very low prices. I had to visit at least 4 times to be able to carry back all the stuff I've just listed off to you, as it is a bit of a hike to get to the store. Here is what my kitchen cabinet currently looks like:


As for my new accommodations, they are quite nice. The setup of the dorm reminds me of a hotel, with a front desk, lobby, and elevator resembling that of a Days Inn or something like that. The rooms are a decent size, which LOTS of desk space and shelf space, but lacking in clothing storage space. There is also a private bathroom with shower, which is small, but at least it is mine :)

I have also had the time to visit King's Cross where I did manage to find Platform 9 3/4, though I think I missed any witches or wizards going through.


While we were out shopping today in Camden, I did notice something strange about the delivery vehicles for Domino's Pizza...

Delivery Dirtbikes?

I'll leave you with that for now. Tomorrow, my previously empty floor will be filled with incoming British students; I want to try and make some friends. Next week I will be going to a football match between Arsenal and Sheffield United; this should be an interesting first experience. After you are done reading this, leave me a comment! It feels like I'm doing all the work in this (online) relationship, and you need to start pulling your weight! I would love to hear back from you.

Cheers,

Tourism

Everyone has to be a tourist once in a while! I guess it will pay to get this stuff out of the way early, so here is an introduction to the sites and attractions in London.

Today, I will be writing my entry in notepad before transferring it to Blogspot. With the scarce internet access around here, it is impractical to visit the internet cafe every day to get along with checking my email and posting stuff here. I also have some wonderful pictures from a midday bus tour of central London we took yesterday. Some things to note about the pictures you see:

The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace:



Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament:


St. Paul's Cathedral:


London City Hall:


The downtown financial district:


The Millennium Bridge:


St. Pancras International Rail Station:


And my favorite, of course, the Eurostar:


Sorry for the short entry, but sometimes pictures can speak louder than words. Tonight we are supposed to go see a show at a theater downtown, I will open my bank account tomorrow and register for classes later this week, More to come later!

Boston to London: "The Jumbos have Landed"

Greetings everyone!

This is my first blog post of many from the British Isles. For those of you that have been waiting in anticipation, I apologize for the delay in the update of my status. I do not yet have Internet access, or my permanent address for that matter. I am currently sleeping on someone else's bed in someone else's flat until the doors are unlocked to the the dorm that will become my permanent address, and I am using a terminal in an Internet cafe.

As for a summary of my journey, our flight departed JFK on time, around 6:30 PM on Thursday, Sept 11, and we landed around 6:15 AM on Friday at London Heathrow Airport. The Boston flight got in shortly after ours. We were met by our program assistant director, who led us all to buses which then took us to our temporary accommodations at Schafer House at UCL. The rooms are small, but comfortable, with lots of storage, and a sink and mirror right in the room; I will eventually get a private full bathroom in my permanent room next week.

We were all sufficiently jet-lagged to say the least, and many of us took naps shortly after bringing our stuff up the painfully slow elevator. I wasn't able to set up a cell phone number with O2 as I had planned on doing, because I will need my British bank account, which I will not be able to open until early next week.

My first impressions of the city are very positive. It is clean, the roads are in fine shape, though there is a lot of construction and improvement going on in many areas, and the roads are quite busy. Much as we were free to do at Tufts, it is NOT wise to cross the road without having a walk signal, because Londoners tend to drive very fast, and seem to not have much regard for pedestrians. The tube shuts down about the same time the T does in Boston (1AM), but the buses run all night, which is useful. All the people I have run into so far have been very nice and helpful, and I think I will get along just fine with the locals while being here.

One big gripe I have is about the bedding. They do not commonly use sheets (that cover the body) in this country, but rather just a fitted sheet over the bed with a duvet to cover your body. Aside from the standard twin-sized bed and duvet not being long enough for my body in the position I most like to sleep (face down), it is a bit difficult to adjust for a comfortable sleeping temperature. I finally settled on having the window open, which made it pretty cold when I woke up, but at least I could fall asleep.

We also visited the campus of UCL today, which has some very impressive Victorian architecture. I will take pictures and post them once I have the means to transfer them from my computer to the Internet (I can't do this at the Internet cafe). I also witnessed a Scientology protest. Members of the so called "Anonymous" group, which were basically a smattering of nerds wearing Guy Fawkes masks, set up in the street across from the local Church of Scientology affiliate branch and paraded around with signs as the police monitored them. It was pretty amusing and they were handing out cupcakes and flyers. I wish I could show you all pictures of these things, but I promise I will have them up ASAP. Until then, digest the news I have just given you, and I look forward to posting again when I have the time and more to say.

EDIT (9-15-08 4:20PM)

Here is a picture from that protest:

Cheers!

One more week!

Hi everyone,

Things are winding down here in the great state of Connecticut for me, as I begin preparing for my departure next week. I ordered a most vital piece of hardware several days ago; one of those "duck-head" replacements for my MacBook Pro's power adapter so I will in fact be able to use my computer next year with a UK electrical socket. It was about $2.68 with shipping from some knockoff Chinese company, compared to Apple's $45 "Travel Adapter Kit" (scoff). Another tech thing I have procured is an unlocked Sony Ericsson w760i cell phone, that I can load up with a UK-based service provider's SIM card; once I know my number, I will post it here for everyone, though it would be more wise to use Skype to call me, and avoid international long distance charges.

I have only a few more days of work here at MNI in New Haven, and will have my final day on Tuesday, Sept 9. I certainly hope I can survive on the money I have made these past 7 weeks here. Everyone at MNI has been so friendly, and I will miss working for them--though they seem willing to have me back for winter break, if my money situation becomes dire enough.

As for other preparations, I have not yet begun packing, or even thinking about it (yikes!); perhaps this weekend, though I had been thinking about visiting Tufts one last time. Because of the impending Tropical Storm Hanna, this may or may not happen. I have sent my absentee ballot request form, so I will get to vote in the 2008 election. All passport and visa issues have been squared away as well. Basically, all I have left to do is finish out my time at work, and count down the days...

Have a great year at Tufts, fellow Jumbos!

First Post -- Intro, This is only a Test

Hi friends,

If you are reading this, that means I successfully set up my own blog.  Rejoice!  I am planning on using this webpage to post pictures and stories about my coming year abroad in London, UK, where I will be studying at University College London.  I will be leaving in a little less than 2 weeks on Sept 11.  Aside from the unfortunate day I have to travel, I am seriously stoked for next year.  I was originally just going to post a bunch of pictures on my facebook profile, but since many of you reading this are probably not part of that community, this page is for you.  Enjoy!

For those of you spending the year at Tufts, who I will not see for quite some time, I will be missing all of you terribly.  Remember my Skype name and AIM screen name are both PressureDrop16; once I am in the UK, give me a ring or send me a message!

All the best,