Wednesday, July 6, 2011

First Days in London

I thought I would actually update this, now that I'm all caught up on sleep and able to think coherently.  I arrived on Saturday, July 1st around noon; we were supposed to arrive about 9:00, but a storm was brewing and I was flying through O'Hare, so there were bound to be delays--luckily there were  movies and air-conditioning on the plane.

We caught the coach from Heathrow to our dorms that Southern Miss arranged for us and got checked in, and then went on a walking tour of our neighborhood. I am living in the King's College London dorms, which are just around the corner from Waterloo tube station in the South Bank area of London. I am two blocks from the Old Vic Theatre, where Kevin Spacey is now playing Richard III (sadly, its sold out) and a couple of blocks from the London Eye and the Queen's Walk on the South Bank of the Thames River. There are wonderful views of Big Ben and other London landmarks just blocks from my door.

On the first night, my class also got our Oyster Cards to ride the tube and went to Leicester and Trafalgar Squares, where my professor, Dr. Teresa Welsh, showed us around and gave us insider information about where to get the best discounted theatre tickets and good places to visit, like the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. We then went out to a nice dinner at the Texas Embassy, which apparently used to be the ticket booth for the White Star Lines in the early twentieth century, and was where people bought their tickets to ride on the Titanic in 1912. After the Titanic disaster, a list of names of those who were killed was hung in this building as well.  Although we were all jet-lagged and tired, it was good to walk around and get a feel for the city.

On Saturday, we had our orientation in the morning, and then went on a London ALIVE tour, something that the professors in the British Studies program set up to allow students to get used to riding around the city and to point out certain things that London has to offer. The first tour that I went on was a tour of Leicester Square and the West End area, where all of the theatres are. We went around to many of the theatres throughout the West End and also went through Chinatown and Covent Garden. There are many plays and shops that I wouldn't mind going back and seeing throughout the month I'm here.

The next morning, a couple of classmates and I decided to go to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and just walk around since it was supposed to be a nice day. We walked around the Serpentine, which is the body of water in the middle of Hyde Park and looked at the beautiful gardens and fountains throughout the park. We also saw some mallards (Marissa Dittmer!) and swans and got politely shooed out of a photo shoot taking place near the fountains in Hyde Park. We found Speaker's Corner, where people are literally given boxes to stand on and say whatever their hearts desire--there was some preaching going on while we were there as well as a very lively debate about gay marriage with lots of name-calling. It was definitely an interesting experience--there really isn't a place in the United States where people go to just say exactly what's on their minds and have an open, informal debate in a public space. It was refreshing to see people saying exactly what was on their minds without concern for politeness or political correctness, which is something that I think we get way too caught up in in the US.

On Sunday afternoon, I had another London ALIVE tour. This tour was called London Calling! and it was basically a punk rock tour of Camden Town, where the professor pointed out famous venues and bars where people like the Clash, Ramones, and Sex Pistols played. We saw the Roundhouse, where the Itunes festival is currently taking place and also went to the Camden Market, where there are a bunch of booths set up selling food, clothes, crafts, jewelry, records, and other goodies. I think that I'll probably go back and maybe try to convince some of my classmates to go to one of the venues at some point.

Sunday evening my friends and I went on an elusive quest to find a pub that served fish and chips--we were sadly unsuccessful. We went to a couple of historic pubs on Fleet Street where great writers like Samuel Johnson and Dickens went--Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and Punch Tavern, but they were closed for private functions. Then, we went to the Stamford Arms, the pub just around the corner from our dorms, but they quit serving food at 4 pm every night, so we had to settle for pizza on the Southbank.

Soon to come--my first three days of class, where we visited the St. Paul's Cathedral Library, the Barbican Library--the largest public library in London--and the archives at the British museum today.

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