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,