More orientation...

I thought I would update again since I have been so busy the last couple days. Friday, my roommate Sarah and I slept in which was wonderful--except of course when the construction outside our window started working quite loudly. We had a scavenger hunt where we got put into groups of three and had to go about the city collecting, taking pictures, and doing other random things at many different places in 2 and a half hours, with whoever finished first with the most things done got a prize. The other girl in our group didn't feel well and ended up going back to Vandon House early on so I was left with one of the boys that I do not know very well and he would not talk to me. That, along with the heat, crowds, and getting lost made for a very tiring and frustrating afternoon. We did not get many things on the list accomplished.

After some rest, Sarah, Dan, and I went out to a pub and then took some buses out to find a club but the cover charge ended up being pretty high so we decided to wait till another time. We did however find ICCO's pizza--5 pounds for a medium size and quite amazing! We came back quite late which made getting up on Saturday for a walking tour somewhat difficult. It was a good tour though--walked along the River Thames, seeing St. Paul's Cathedral (gorgeous!) and walked across the Millennium Bridge, saw the Globe Theatre, and one of the many markets in London. It was a long tour, so a long afternoon nap back at Vandon House was quite needed. That night we saw Dr. Faustus at the Globe which was quite amazing. We had to stand the entire time (3 hours), which was kind of a pain but it was still a good experience. Afterwards, some of us went to a nearby pub for a bit and talked. We got back in late again and so I slept in on Sunday, our free day. Sunday afternoon, a group of about 10 of us went down to Camden Market for some shopping which was quite great. I got 2 dresses, an umbrella (which was needed since it was raining for the first time here), and a beautiful painting of Big Ben and a double-decker bus.

Today was the start of advising and internship interviews which go on throughout the week; I didn't have either, but we did have a 3 hour cultural awareness seminar in the afternoon. This was basically all information we should have all already known: "What is culture?" "We all have a culture and think and see things differently." I thought the information and activities were all pretty surface level and we never discussed really how to interact with people of different cultures, which would be pretty beneficial information. Don't get me wrong--I do think such a seminar is necessary, just a more in depth one with practical information. Anyways, afterwards Sarah, Dan, and I went to Primark--a department store with a large selection of cheap cute clothes. I got some shoes and hangers, but it was so crowded! It was like Black Friday times ten! Probably won't go there often.

The weather is starting too cool down, however I am still warm in Vandon House and on the tube all the time. We have also started cooking our own food which has been interesting since I do not particularly like to cook much. Most of my meals so far have been instant, out-of-the box meals that were cheap at Sainsbury's. I will learn to cook eventually; there are some pretty good cooks here. Tomorrow I have my advising appointment in the afternoon so I should find out more about my classes and internship. I will update you on that when I know more!

So things have been going well so far--just trying to get used to living in a city and trying to hang out with more people besides Sarah and Dan (although they are great!). I have met a few really nice people from other colleges that I hope to hang out with more as well as some from Central I already knew but never hang out with much. Otherwise, there is one large group of students that kind of keep to themselves. I am curious as to how everything will turn out as the semester goes on.

Hope everything is well back in the States! Miss you all!

Cheers!