Week One

Hello everyone! So I finally got one of these blogs up and running! Now you can follow me around in all my adventures here in London this fall. I’m going to try to update at least once a week. It may be more if have the time. =)

Okay, so after counting down the days from over 100, it was finally time to leave! I got to the airport and met up with Daria, Kelly, Kate, and Jose; the whole lot of us were headed across the pond! On Saturday, we arrived at London’s Heathrow Airport around 815- a little ahead of schedule, which was nice. After waiting in line at customs for well over an hour, we were finally able to get our luggage and look for the CEA people who were going to take us from the airport over to Goldsmiths. The two girls, Kerrie and Sharlene, got us some food while we waited for the last person to arrive at the airport. Then it was off to the college! Squished into two vans with all of our luggage, the group of us made the hour-long trek to Goldsmiths. Upon arrival, we checked in, unloaded, and went up to our flats. Jose and I are in a flat with 4 other girls and a boy: Two Americans- Tori and Jessica, one Irish-(I am going to call her B for now only because I can’t remember/don’t have the symbols to spell her name, but she says she has been called B before) one Welsh- Hanna, and a native- Apir (Spelling?)(sounds like Amir-forgive me for the names but sometimes it’s hard lol.)from Oxford. The rest of the day was spent shopping and meeting new people.

Sunday- We had a CEA orientation in Central London, so we left New Cross with what we thought was plenty of time, and as it turned out, we were 45 minutes late. After this little introduction with the other CEA students(there are 10 of us including the 5 others we didn’t know initially- Tori-flatmate, Kasey, Emily, Andrew, and Julian), we got a walking tour of some big sites in Central London.

Monday- There was a Goldsmiths orientation for all international students, which was essentially a re-hash of everything from keeping yourself safe to campus life. Not gonna lie, it was kinda boring. Anyhoo, spent the rest of the day getting some more stuff for my room and unpacking the rest of my suitcases. There is a Student Union(SU) in campus and they have their own bar/club on campus so we decided to head over there for bit that night. A few of us also went to the Hobgoblin, a pub just around the corner from our flats, and saw some of Daria’s friends and had good time.

Tuesday- A departmental meeting at 9am was cause for excitement since I was going to finalize my classes and get ready for all of the classes that I was going to have with other British students at Goldsmiths. And after a 15 minute meeting and being told that I am in classes with other study abroad students(mostly American), that excitement was quickly turned into anger/disappointment. Oh well. I spent the afternoon heading up to Greenwich and scoping out the area. On my way back I ran into Kate, Daria, and Kelly and I joined them in going to the Lewisham Shopping Centre which is a mall. That night we ventured to Picadilly Circus in Central London and wandered about to find an Irish pub in Chinatown…right, it was called O’Neills and it was pretty fun. After the pub we went to a club called On Anon, drank a little and danced a little and then came home. It was definitely a fun night!

Wednesday- At 2:30 there was Afternoon Tea for the CEA students. So up to Leicester Square and over to Brown’s Restaurant! We had tea, sandwiches(cucumber/cream cheese and smoked salmon/cream cheese) and scones with jam and clotted cream. It was delicious! We walked around a bit after tea and I went off with Kate, Kelly, and Daria to Trafalgar Square where they had a life-size chess set that had commentary and people moving the pieces! We played around the lion statues and then Kate and I went off to Oxford Street for some shopping at TopShop! I got two shirts for £8,50 thanks to an awesome 15% student discount. We ran into Joe, Andrew, and Tori there and grabbed a bus back to campus. Wednesdays at the SU is Club Sandwich- they open up the dance floor and it’s really just a crazy club/bar. In any event a few drinks, some dancing, and meeting a bunch of new people, made for a good night.

Thursday- Kate and I decided to go on a little adventure to Catford to go to a Salvation Army. We walked around the market and in and out of stores. She picked up some clothes and I got a bag. That night we all went back to Central London to O’Neills! There were live bands playing and it was so much fun! Lots of dancing and singing and seeing things that we shouldn’t have seen lol. Kate also broke three(3) Guinness glasses with her foot. One foot. Three glasses. BUT she did also get the set lists from both bands, so breaking the glasses just added to how awesome she is. =)

Friday- There was a Fresher’s Fayre on campus. It had all the clubs and societies and all kinds of offers for students to check out. I got a ton of free handouts and I signed up for the Drama Society (which might have a performance put up in December!). Then it was back to the Hobgoblin for the night, but first a little drinking at Daria’s flat- which by the way has a HUGE kitchen, much bigger than any other. I didn’t really drink at all but had fun watching the others(mostly Daria and Joe) be really drunk. =) I had a chat with a fellow New Yorker, Taryn! We left and went to a place called Square Pizza, which had OK pizza. It wasn’t that bad for £2 and the fact that it’s pizza in London lol.

Saturday- An unbelievable day. We (Daria, Kelly, Kate, Emily, Andrew, and myself) went to tour the staterooms at Buckingham Palace. They only open these 19 staterooms for a short time at the end of the summer. The palace is immense, with over 400 rooms and 78 bathrooms, the artwork, architecture, and history left me speechless. The tour was museum-like, so you could take as long as you wanted to look around. It also came with a free audio tour that guided you through each of the rooms. Just a few of the things that I saw: the embroidered chairs/thrones that were used for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, many of the gowns the Queen has worn from the beginning of her reign to present days fittings, gifts she has received during her visits to Commonwealths, the ballroom- this room is huge and covered in red velvet- I sat for a while in this room and just took it all in, and the west end of the gardens. The amazing thing about the palace is that it is used everyday. The rooms that we walked through are the same rooms and halls that visiting dignitaries and the Queen herself use on a daily basis. It’s truly unbelievable. After the tour we found a restaurant, Bumbles, for dinner. There was a deal for a 3-course dinner for £10 and I started off with Gnocchi, then we all had fish and chips, and I finished with a warm lemon tarte. Awesome day =)

Sunday- Again an amazing day with sights galore. CEA planned an excursion to Oxford. So it was early to rise to catch a bus to Paddington Train Station to meet our tour guide, then a 2 hour train to Oxford. This city is absolutely gorgeous. It has 38 colleges; 30 of which are undergraduate colleges, for a total of 20,000 students. We toured the city and walked about the wall of Medieval Oxford and saw a few of the colleges. One chapel, at Merton college, has stained-glass windows that are over 700 years old! We then went to Christ Church(Harry Potter!!!)- the basis for Hogwarts and where a bit of the filming took place. We saw the Great Hall and a window that has the characters from Alice in Wonderland painted on! Oxford was amazing and so beautiful! Another great day =)

Cheers!

Chris