Where Did the Spring Term Go?

Where Did the Spring Term Go? Truth be told, I haven't a clue. Rationally speaking it was the same 10 weeks as Autumn term, but I swear physics bent its rules, the Fourth Dimension inverted itself, because term absolutely flew by. To help recap, here are some photos of Spring Term. Enjoy!


It snowed in London this winter, and I do mean it SNOWED. To the extent that school was canceled, all public transport (including the underground!) was shut down, as were all airports with nary a cab in sight. It was the first true snow fall in London in 20 years. Least to say, snowballs wizzed through the air as everyone indulged their inner child and let loose for a day. And yes, that is an igloo in central London.


After dragging my flatmates to see the Superbowl at the student bar, we were privledged to walk home at three in the morning through a city with fresh fallen snow. One of the prettiest - and coldest! - walks I've had over here. Here is me with Francesca in front of their house for next year. Ok, maybe in their dreams.


Borough High Street, covered in Snow!

Another shot from our post-Superbowl walk home. Mathew, Laura and I stood on the Millenium bridge staring at St. Paul's in wonder. I feel like we're in an oil painting in this picture, or in Francesca's words, "Something out of Narnia".

Kensington Palace - Gorgeous!!



Here are some of the Gardens attached to Hollond park, which I visited when fellow HC-er Sarah Langan came up to London for a visit.


I snuck this picture from the Tate Britain (and was told off by the guard who caught me doing so) of a giant, floor-to-ceiling art instillation. It's built out of highly polished silver plates, platters, bowls, mugs, etc. Or, as I like to think of it, a huge shiny pimp glass.


Here is a shot of the Steps in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. That tiny blob of a person there? Yep, that's me. I love night walks.


The sand art at Gabriel's Wharf never fails to amaze me, but this particular artist cracked me up with this slightly sadistic sand sculpture. It is, without fail, one of my favorites. I suggest clicking on the picture to study all the details.


On a very rare, beautifully sunny day, we made a trip to visit Buckingham Palace.


That same day we journey through St. James's Park. Admittedly, the river was drained for spring cleaning (like you don't all do that at home), but the sun was out and the trees were in bloom.


And finally, me sitting in a tree in St. James's Park.


More pictures to be posted as they come in!

Chinatown

This past weekend we paid a visit to Chinatown to have Dim Sum at a little place called Gerrard's Corner. The visit was in honor of my flat mate Laura, who turned 20 on the Saturday. What better way to leave behind the teen years than to eat random friend dumplings filled with "I'm not quite sure but I'll give it a go"? My thoughts exactly. It was the first time I've visited London's Chinatown properly. The hanging red lanterns were very pretty, and managed to give nineteenth century western architecture an oriental twinge. Below is the Birthday Girl - all grown up, isn't she?



We rounded out the day by visiting Piccadilly Circus and exploiting the massive Going Out Of Buisness sale currently plaguing entertainment mega-chain Zavvis. How I cursed that British DVDs are a different regional code than the US's... All in all, a very nice day out and about in the city. Note the blue skies! Below is a very pretty fountain right in the middle of Piccadilly Circus.

Start of the New Term

Hello Again!

Well, it's been a while, no denying that. I'm afraid the end of term rush in December got the better of me. However, I've just gotten back from a very restful and enjoyable Christmas vacation and I'm ready to blog again. The start of term was officially the 12th of January, but Week 1 tends to be a dead week while classes get started up again, new supervisions begin and the like. I have finished the supervision for my Early Modern Britain class and am taking Empire & Commonwealth this term. We've begun with our first topic, Britain in the 18th century. Oh I know your jealous.

London this winter has turned out to be fun in the sun compared to the poor United States. Those freezing temperatures are the price you pay for having Canada as a neighbor. It's generally in the High 30's, mid 40s here (F), a bit colder when the wind picks up. Definitely NOT Columbia Jacket weather, which is fine by me!

Besides settling into the new academic term, not much has happened over here. Twilight is beginning to make its splash in the UK, as I have two flatmates starting on the series, one who is finished with all four books already, and all three major fans of the movie. I attempted to explain that the Twilight phenomenon has reached Harry Potter-esque mania in the States, but they just don't believe me. What can I say? You just don't mess with the Boy Who Lived...

As a send off note, I will say that the UK followed President Obama's inauguration as diligently as any American. Every pub I passed on Tuesday had it on the television, and the BBC did a whole series of programs on the new president. Looks to be a promising year so far!

Norwich for the Weekend

Last weekend my flatmate Francesca invited me to visit her house in Norwich. Norwich is located in the northeastern part of England, in East Anglia. The trip was a great weekend away from the hustle & bustle of London, and her family is absolutely lovely. I think I ended up spending more time with her parents and younger brother than Ces did! We spent Saturday touring Nowich Cathedral, Norwich Castle, the market downtown, and of course doing a little bit of shopping. I don't think I've spent a Saturday with Francesca and not done a bit of shopping come to think about it...
Added Bonus: Someone else cooked our meals for four days. Score. Francesca's mom introduced me to the concept of a "cheesy egg", to which I will be forever grateful as I've already re-created twice. Yum.

A view of Norwich from a window in the Castle's Keep.

This past week has been somewhat productive. I turned in my first paper for Early Modern Cultural History, and I've no idea whether its complete rubbish or not. It has a thesis. And points. As to whether those points actually argue the thesis is still, in my mind, debatable. I suppose I'll find out in two weeks time when my professor returns it! My Early Modern Britain seminar was quite enjoyable this week. Supposedly the topic was Witchcraft, but that could be contested, seeing as we covered the US Election, tidiness & organization methods, and our professor's medical problems (his doctor said that with the new medicine he was going to begin taking, our prof would have to severely limit his alcohol intake; the good professor is now researching alternative medicines).

Wednesday was Light Up Night on Oxford Street, where they officially turn on all the Christmas decorations. The whole street looked bright and cheerful and just down-right Christmas-y. Francesca squealed and began to hum Christmas tunes whilst Laura pondered how utterly un-green it must be for all the extra lights to be running. Oh our little socialist; what would life be like without her?

Bonfire Night!!

Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, is one of the British holidays that I've been looking forward to the most. With Fireworks, Bonfires, and Burning Effigies (and lots and lots of pints - this is Britain after all), how can you go wrong?? The best bit of this evening though, was the journey to the fireworks. We decided to go to the Clapham Common firework display, just a few stops further south on the Northern Line. Easy & Simple, right? Ha. We got two stops down the tube line and the train halted for ten minutes, which when one is jammed cheek to jowl in true rush hour fashion, is FOREVER. Then, the Station Manager told everyone to exit the train, exit the station, everything was shutting down due to an emergency. (My thoughts at this point were "Well Crap, if some idiot threw himself infront of a train and I miss the fireworks, I'm going to be so pissed.) So we all got off the train, but were stuck on the platform because the crowds were blocking the emergency exit. Mind you, the British Reserve was still in place, and no one had really said anything or broken the common silence yet. 5 minutes goes by, anther 5, and we're still stuck. Then the Station Manager got on the overhead system again:

"I will tell you one more time, Ladies & Gentlemen the Station is shutting down, I've requested more Southbound trains and they aren't giving me any. Please move along the platform to the emergency exit staircases."
"Platform FOUR, I can see you, you still aren't moving!! PLEASE exit the station, the station is shutting down!"
"PLATFORM FOUR, I Can SEE YOU, You need to move along the platform NOW--"
Random Bloke: "You FUCK-WIT!!!! ARE YOU BLIND, WE CAN'T GO ANYWHERE!!!!"
Now, the British Reserve had broken and all hell broke loose. The next five minutes were a screaming match of insults between the fairly pissed-off crowd and the dis-embodied voice of the Station Manager.
It was GREAT.
Finally the Station Manager got the go-ahead to let our train continue on its journey. I've never seen people move that quickly to get back on a train. I think even the air molecules felt squished. The best part was that we got to Clapham Common only a few minutes into the firework display! The pyrotechnics were quite spectacular, and the theater show Transport for London put on for us beforehand just made the evening all the better. Below is a video of the Firework Finale. Enjoy!

Mai Visits London!

One of the girls from the internship program I was in this summer, Mai, was recently in London. She is currently spending this semester in Madrid, and trekked back up north for her fall break. It was very nice to get together and catch-up, trade stories about being American students in European universities. This all took place on big walking tour of the city so Mai could view some of London's attractions one last time. Below are some pictures I took - London at night is so pretty!

The Victoria Tower in Westminster

The London Eye, lit up bright green, alongside the Museum of London

This is a view of the waterfront from Bankside. Behind these buildings runs Fleet Street, with Blackfriars Bridge at the far right. St. Paul's Cathedral is off to the right, though a bit in the dark.

Of Halloween and Power-Outs

As today commences reading week here at the King's History Department, I have officially survived half a term of study at UK university. Impressive, right? And how will I celebrate a week of no lectures or seminars?? That's right, you guessed it - by spending time at the library!! I know, I know, it's a radical and crazy wacky plan, but you can expect nothing less from this kid. Honestly though, I have two major essays due next week - one on Cromwell, one on female autobiography in the early modern period - and this chica has no time to spare.
Though I may sound deceptively devoted to my academics, rest assured that I have been enjoying myself as well. This past Tuesday was the Hell-O-Ween ball at Ministry of Sound. Yours truly went as Medusa, while flatmates Matthew and Tessa went as a vampire and witch respectively. Below is a picture of Matt, Me, and Francesca . Francesca lacked a costume because the costume shop was closed on Saturday. This may not sound devastating, but when you trek across town, fighting weekend crowds and uncooperative rainy weather, only to have the store be unexpectedly closed, well, it sucks. She managed to look stunning anyways. Having partied ourselves out on Tuesday, Halloween itself was a much quieter affair, consisting of a movie-night in watching Van Helsing. The outside activities that night may have been more tempting if it wasn't pouring down sleet outside. The weather has gotten so cold over here!! I am even wearing winter gloves.
Not much else has happened. My classes were all canceled last Tuesday due to a power failure at the Strand Campus (the campus which houses all of my classes, incidentally). No one really knew what to do for the hour we were suppose to hang around waiting to see if they could fix the electricity, so the massive crowd of uni students headed over to the library en masse. The poor building probably doesn't see that many students inside its walls outside of spring exams. The cafe in the basement even ran out of food. (Come now, you don't think everyone headed to the library to read, now do you??)