Felix Fables Concert!

So back when I was in High School, my high school had an exchange with a British "College" (high school) same thing from Uckfield, England. Basically our choir went to England my freshman year and then Sophomore year we hosted their band...it was a little weird but anyway it was fun to meet British people our age at the time. So when they came to my high school, I remember one kid played guitar and sang 9 lies by Damien Rice and I remember somehow hearing that he was going back to England and wanted to keep singing and playing guitar. Well I stalkishly followed him on myspace music for quite sometime until he eventually created a band "Felix Fables." From then on I promised myself I would make an effort to see them live. So tonight David and I went on an adventure to Zone 3 on the Northern line to see them play at the Bedford Pub. It was amazing to see this kid and just see how much the band has grown and changed. Attached is two of my favorite songs by them. Hope you enjoy!

Wonderful World: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm0vM6slnL4

Winter's Bone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE8TCcPuW8g

SO MANY UPDATES...

So I have been meaning to blog for a VERY long time, cause a lot has happened.

Saturday January 21: 5 Hour Walk!


David and I took a 5 hour walk from Bloomsbury down through Piccadilly Circus and down towards Harrods. We took a walk through Harrods, so overwhelming, and I really wonder who can have the patience to shop there with the mix of hundreds upon hundreds of people walking through it at once taking pictures and wandering around (like we did). After making our way through Harrods we thought we'd try some Lebanese food, wasn't bad and the portions were so small a baby probably wouldn't have felt satisfied, oh well I guess thats £6.50 gets you. But I guess it reiterated the importance of cooking here, as you eat a lot more for a lot less £. After that experience we walked back through Hyde Park, so gorgeous, and up to Marble Arch. Then from there we continued to walk back down to Bloomsbury. A successful day I'd say.

Sunday January 22: Cambridge
We arose early to board a bus to Cambridge, where we saw several different sites, including a cemetery dedicated to the American Soldiers lost during the Battle for Britain in World War II as well as many other Americans who lost their lives over Europe. Walking through the cemetery was so beautiful, the American Flag soared high above us, and there was a beautiful reflecting pool as well. After the cemetery we hopped the bus back into Cambridge. Such a beautiful city, we walked around and got some crepes, and got the opportunity to go "punting." A form of boating similar to the gondolas in Venice. A man stands at the end of a boat on a platform and guides the boat along with a pole in the water. It was quite a beautiful afternoon, quite chilly with the wind whipping up, but otherwise it was fun.

Monday January 23: Going to Lambeth County Court!
Off to work for another day, I feel as though I have been given some more hands-on tasks rather than just photocopying case bundles. I got the opportunity to go down to Lambeth County Court to file for an urgent hearing for a person that was to be evicted by Thursday unless the hearing was moved to Wednesday.  Because of my effort of rushing down to the court before they shutdown for the day I was able to get the hearing for the solicitor and hopefully save that person's home.

Tuesday January 24: Royal Courts of Justice!
Today was even cooler than the last. One of the solicitors needed me to get a case "issued" for Judicial Review so she sent me to the Queen's Court, of the Royal Courts of Justice up on the Strand. It was quite the amazing building, almost as old as the American Civil War (off by like 12 years or so, whatever) but it looked like a church (that's State religion for you a guess). As I meandered my way through the court, I had to stand in a nice 1.5 hr-2hr queue and I hadn't eaten lunch. But hey I still got to see an amazing building and felt like a real English Solicitor. It was worth being as hungry as I was for that experience.

Wednesday January 25: Trafalgar and £5 tickets to Matilda!
David and I left the flat early if you consider 8:35AM early to head off the Box Office for Matilda! We got there and stood in line for about 2 hours for £5 seats for a show that night. It was the best student deal ever. After waiting and getting our tickets, we went off to Trafalgar Square and then took a nice walk back through Soho before returning to our flat. So let me fast forward to the show. Our seats may have been way in the back but definitely the best £5 I have EVER spent. The show was incredible, the acting, the choreography, the effects were all just top notch. I'd recommend the show to anyone!

Class tour,Hari Krishna!, ULU Market, , Princess Louise

Class Tour:
Today for my "London: The Growth of the Modern World City" class we met at Faringdon Station and began a walk through the area known as "Clerkenwell" pronounced by the English as "Clarkenwell" which was an exploration through several different monastery grounds and churches. One of which, St. Bartholomew's Parish Church which has been used in several different films like the 1st Sherlock Holmes movie (filmed in 2008), you know the sacrifice scene in the beginning...in that church. Also scenes from Shakespeare in love were also filmed in there. So that was cool and overall the tour saw a very "non-touristy" side of London. I liked it.

"Hari Krishna Hari Krishna!!:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_IlTI-dODU

Unlike the scene from Seinfeld this was actually very interesting. On the University of London's campus which is where I take classes is a branch of the Hari Krishna movement that serves a curry and rice dish for free every single day. I was a little skeptical about it, thinking this may not settle well with my stomach. However my Professor persuaded me otherwise claiming that the food is high in "good karma." And was all vegetables (HI B!). So after that bit of persuasion, I gave it a go. I have to say, not too bad probably the best free and only free meal I have had thus far in London. It almost tasted like rice and beans that Carola has made me. However Carola's is definitely WAY better.  And as I write right now I feel no side effects from it, so hey it can't be that bad.

ULU Market:


After eating my hearty Hari Krishna meal my friend Noam and I walked on to the farmers market where all these different vendors mainly from East Sussex had different cheeses, meats including venison (ew), along with paella and other different random foods. Anyway it was delicious I got this curry thing wrapped in an egg roll kind of shell. It was perfect.

Princess Louise: So I think we have found our hang out spot. Princess Louise on High Holborn, its a great pub and if you go right at 5pm during the week there is barely anyone is there so its a great place to hang out and for everyone to meet up after work or class until the regular British crowds pile in from 7pm onward.

But otherwise today was a pretty great day, got another day of work tomorrow before the weekend which is going to be awesome. Saturday we'll be hitting up some museums (its suppose to rain so that will be perfect) then Sunday we're going to Cambridge with our group to do some exploring and touring there. So pumped!

Classes, First Day of Work, Club life, and a walk along the Thames

So I've been up to a lot over the last few days, but I gotta take it all for its worth!

Classes:
Those have started off well, I am taking Twentieth Century British Literature which I was forced into because they couldn't accommodate the course I had originally picked. But I actually really enjoy it. Reading James Joyce "A Portrait of a Young Man" for next week and the Professor is really cool. She gave us a 15 minute break to go get coffee as the class runs for 3 hrs. But she and I were the only ones who actually wanted Starbucks, so we chatted about life together as we walked over. The other two courses I have on Thursday "London: The Growth of the Modern World City" and "Modern Britain Since 1945" both of which are pretty good. The "London: The Growth of the Modern World City"course takes us on little field trips every other week to see how London has developed which is far better than sitting in a classroom for 3 hours.

First Day of Work:
Started off pretty well, got my suit on and then headed off to the 168 Bus toward West Norwood which was so easy. I grab the bus from South Hampton Row and take it to Elephant and Castle, which is awesome every morning I get to see Big Ben, Parliament and the London Eye at sunrise from the top of a double decker bus. Lets just say that bus ride would make Hal say "I LOVE LIFE" continuously. Pictures to follow on this. So I got to work and my initial tasks were some photo copying of a MASSIVE case bundle that someone needed for an Adoption case that someone had just finished. I kid you not this was like 350 pages.

Next was more photo copying but this one had a TWIST, I had to go through evidence on different cases Jacqui WHERE ARE YOU!  Finally, I began organizing yet another MASSIVE case bundle.  But otherwise it was a good day, I then hopped my bus at about 5pm after the sun went down and got to see Big Ben, Parliament, and the eye all lit up again. I could again hear Hal in my ear telling me how much she loved life. So I slapped her. ;) 



Walking along the Thames at Dusk:
This evening we walked down to Mansion Hill Tube Station which was fun, it was about a 35 minute walk through the deserted streets of the Financial District, of course come Monday that place will be filled to the brim with at least 350,000 people in suits off to work. But we met our guide and the tour began, we walked down to the Millennium Bridge, saw the Tower Bridge, of course the eye and everything again. The guide then took us to a pub where he told us to get a pint of some good ale. David and I saw Bombardier and HAD to get it for Bomba, it was without question. Afterward we carried on down through the Tate Modern and into the Borough Market where we saw tons of people selling food from cheeses, to fruits to sausages. All kinds of stuff that people could buy. I guess some scenes from harry potter were filmed there too. Afterward we hopped the Tube and went back to our flat to make some delicious frozen pizza which cost me maybe £1.50. Sweet life. Off to wander the streets of  London tonight and relax in some pubs across the city. Ta for now!

Day 4: Interview, Suit Adventures, COPENHAGEN, and Pub Life

So yesterday was my interview at Philcox Law Soliciters which went really well. Its a law firm dealing in social welfare and representing children when they are challenged by the state. As my boss described it, "its a unique twist of Family law." But I'll get to go to court (Jacqui the iPad is all charged up to skype you in) and go through different case bundles. I'm pumped! 

After that I made my way back to Russell Square (my Tube stop) got off and bought myself a frozen pizza for £1.79 not bad, and I realized yesterday that I really do love this city. I felt so independent and free its the best.

Following Lunch I had a little issue to deal with, I received an amazing Chanukah gift a brand new suit from Brooks Brothers from my Aunt Judy. But the security tag was still on it from Boston...So Mike Deneault and I made our way across the city to Brooks Bros in London and they couldn't take it off. So they directed me to Gucci. So I walked into Gucci with this suit jacket and was like Hi...So brooks brothers sent me over can you take this off? The woman at the door was like...uh I guess, and went and took it off. Again another crisis averted and no one thought I stole it. Phew. 

Another accomplishment of yesterday I booked my FIRST trip. Copenhagen, Denmark from Feb 3-5 to visit Tara Cantwell! I cannot wait for her to show me this amazing city. I also got an amazing deal I only paid $90 round trip!!! 

After Mike Deneault cooked me dinner (im hopeless at doing this myself), he cooked me a chicken filet, broccoli and some little potatoes, so delicious, we each spent like £5 on it all, we really are living cheaply. Finally David, Mike and myself met our flatmates out at a pub called Princess Louis on High Holborn Street. It was great, the British culture at night was so fun, we made friends with the bar tenders who told us the best places to go for British nightlife. 

Well I'm off to my first class! Write soon.

3 Days In!

So here goes attempt #1 at trying to create a blog. Study abroad students often forget to update their blogs regularly but heres my attempt at trying to keep up with it!

Day One: Boston and that Long haul flight to London

Well let me set the scene for you, a clear 57 degree January evening (global warming is killing all of us) around 4:15pm my parents and I made our way to Logan Airport. I thought to myself I have everything together, there is no possible way I forgot something. 445pm, Revere MA (I see you John Driscoll) on Route 1A toward the airport, it hits me, I don't have my International Student ID card or my Insurance. As my friends and I got an awesome deal on a flight $310 one way on Virgin Atlantic, I thought we needed this special ID card to get our boarding pass for the flight. I launched into immediate anxiety, the worst, my dad made a U-Turn and we began the journey back toward Hamilton. I called my friend Brianna from home because I wasn't actually sure if we needed the card. We didn't, Crisis Averted, back to the airport. Phew. (I realized this story could have carried on for hours, so I wrapped it up real quick)

After checking in and saying bye to my parents, I walked into the security area, and they sent me through the new security system, you know the one where you put your hands on your head for 10 seconds while they scan your entire body. I mean I don't really get to personal with it, I would rather not have someone running their hands down my body instead. 

Next, the long flight, wasn't too bad, smooth I slept a little. The flight attendants on Virgin Atlantic known as "the ladies in Red" constantly turned all the lights on in the cabin for our 10pm dinner tea around 11:30 and then breakfast at 1:30 AM all on Eastern Standard Time. It felt so weird to eat like that but eh we had to eat something to adjust, and quite frankly I got maybe 35 minutes of sleep. 

Oh here comes my favorite part! Immigration. I loved it so much cause I went through the coolest thing in the world. Let me just say as much as I am proud to be an American, I am also quite proud to be an Irish citizen as well. With my passport I got to use the EU channel where I went through a line with maybe 5 people while all of my friends headed off to the "All other countries channel" which had maybe 50-100 people in it. But the coolest thing one was the new E-Passport system that they recently started. You walk into this booth and put your passport face down, the scanner reads your passport while you stare at a mirror for about 20 seconds and it scans your face, after about 45 seconds, the gates open and "welcome to the UK" you're in! So then I waited while everyone else nearly got deported because the immigration agents were so mean to them about Visa information. 

Day Two: 17 Bedford Place, Flat C

So our flat is in a pretty awesome area, we are maybe 5 mins from the British Museum, and are basically in the center of London. The flat is a little old and run down but I think its still nice. We have hot water, a tv, heat, a bed, pillows, sheets, a shower, I mean really what else do you need. So its fine, we went down to Whitrose (a supermarket) to do some food shopping and had a couple meetings for the program where we learned about living and navigating London. Then I caved into jetlag at 10:30pm. 

Day Three: "Woke up in London yesterday..." 

I mean that title explains it all, we're here, we're in LONDON. The best city ever. I mean I love it anyway. We had registration with Birkbeck college, they checked our passports basically and we had the rest of the day free until about 6:00 when we had the "Student Induction" where we learned about the college, its library, and our course modules. But between 10:30AM and 6:00 Danielle Rellas and I basically roamed around London, got our cell phones set up and walked down to Soho, British Museum area. Then we went to Sainsbury (another supermarket) for more shopping for necessities and other things. Pretty basic day to get organized. 

UP NEXT: Day Four The interview for Philcox Law Solicitors-MY NEW JOB!