Best Day Ever

Ok, seriously, it has been like the best 24 hours ever. So as I mentioned before, we threw a party in our flat to get to know some other people on our floor, and we met these cool guys from the flat down the hall. We wanted to hang out with them again, so we hatched this plan- we'd return a glass they left at our place and be like "sooo, whatcha guys doin tonight" and then they'd be like "we're goin to this place, it's gonna be cool, you should totally come" and basically, that's exactly what happened.

So me and my two flatmates, Jessica and Olga, went out with the 3 guys in that flat and met up with a couple of their friends at this bar where their friend was DJing. Basically it was awesome- we hung out with our friends from the party and we met some really cool new people and we have plans to hang out with them again already, plus we had a really fun night to boot.

Then we got one of the funnier memos I've ever seen under our flat door when we got home, but I won't get into that here, ask me about it.

So then today I went to my class and in this class there's like this clique of 10 guys and they all know each other and I sort of just chill by myself, cause you know, I'm a computer science major, I'm socially awkward. Plus, it's just really hard to approach a group like that, I mean they've all been taking classes together for 3 years, and I'm some random newcomer. So after class, I left and as I was walking out of the building, one of the guys was waiting there, and he was like "hey, I know how hard it can be to be in a class where you don't know anyone, so I wanted to introduce myself." And then we walked together. It was just SO nice, I seriously still can't even believe it.

Then, I went straight to ultimate practice after class, which was fun cause I haven't played in a while and met some more new people there and I'm gonna go to practice again tomorrow morning. Basically, overall, it was just rockin. I'm just really happy with the way things are going. I'm really tight with a couple of my flatmates, but now we have more friends too, and British friends at that.

Fire Alarms

I feel like I live in McBain. So far, in my short week and a half here, I have experienced no less than 3 fire alarms in my building, and I know of AT LEAST one more that occurred when I was not here. And for reals, these alarms are LOUD and they have one in every single room. (Except, as I discovered during the one that woke me up this morning, in the bathrooms. Hmm...) This is so annoying- living in Hartley softened me up too much, I can't handle something like this. At least they're over pretty quickly, we're usually back in our rooms within I'd say 15-20 minutes. But still.

A Rainy Day in London

You know what? I'm just gonna do it, I'm just gonna get the ball rolling on this whole abroad thing, since I'm the newest arrival to my school away from school. Ok, so, I did the requisite thing: calling my blog post/e-mail/photo album/etc. a song name/movie title/expression/etc. involving the word London. But anyone can do "London, baby!" or "London Calling," so I wikipediaed songs about London, and this one seems about right... Yes, I'm really that much of a dork.

So here I am in London, I arrived almost 2 weeks ago to the middle of international student orientation. My first London experience was taking the tube in to my dorm, cause that's just how I roll. I like the tube, the cars are rounded, which is how I feel an underground system should be, and the seats are squishy, which is maybe a little gross, but certainly more comfy.

Since that time, the adventures have included Oxford Street (shopping), a bus tour in the pouring rain, a boat tour, Harrods & the Harrods food court, the Tate Modern & other various sights on the South Bank (incl. the Clink prison museum, you know as in 'in the clink'), Camden Lock (a giantous clothing/jewelry/shoes/everything market), lots of walking around the city and the inside of a pub here and there.

Possibly the best move we made, and by we I mean me and my flatmates- 3 other Americans and 1 Canadian, was deciding to throw a party to meet the other people on our floor. At first it seemed like kind of a bust when it was our flat (minus one of us), 2 other Columbians and 3 other Cornellians (one of my flatmates is from Cornell), but after a while a few Brits showed up and it ended up being quite fun. Since that time we have done our best to cultivate these relationships and we seem to be obtaining some British friends, so bully for us.

Classes, not so great, and I have them on Monday AND Friday (and Tue/Thu), but oh well, only 3 more weeks of class until Reading Week (aka spring break) and then 5 more weeks after that until classes are OVER, on March 23rd. So, oh well. Ok, that is all for now.