Uncommon Sense

Hey everyone.  I’m back in Boston right now, but to update you on my last week in London, here we go…

When I last left off we were starting Sunday off.  Sunday I studied in Starbucks and Hyde Park.  That night, after Markey had finished her paper – we went off to Nandos to celebrate.

Monday it was back to paper editing and studying in the morning.  In the afternoon we had our last class of the semester.  And then we chilled the rest of the night.  Tuesday and Wednesday all we did was study (and do laundry).  Let’s just say that my hand really hurt when it came around for me to take my exam on Thursday.  Markey was up all Wednesday night (she went to be at 6am) working on her paper for her Shakespeare class.  Thursday was finals day and at 2pm, I was officially done with my second year of college.

After exams on Thursday, we all went off to Hyde Park to celebrate.  Tulsi and I were charged with picking out the wine – who would have ever thought that the 19 year old would be teaching the 21 year old how to pick up wine.  We got some lovely rose for ourselves (it’s a favorite) and then two bottles of white wine  for Markey and Mal (and us).  Mal and Markey went to Waitrose to get snacks.  And we all sat down for our celebration by the circle fountain in Kensington Gardens.  After polishing off three bottles of wine and all of our food (we were joined by Mike, Andrew, Mark, and Bekka), it was off to play frisbee, take pictures, and talk.  Mike ended up hitting Mal in the face with the frisbee – and her nose got all swollen and black and blue.  And of course, Mike being Mike, he didn’t apologize.  So it was back to the Crofton to take an evening nap.  Tulsi and I ended up getting Nandos take away for dinner as Mark came over for Mal’s dinner and Markey went out with Katherine from her work.  The night ended by listening and singing along to The Lonely Island with Markey, Mal, and Mark, it was off to bed.

Friday was errands day.  We took an adventure to the Toy Soldier museum, stopped by H&M to get Mal some clothes, and Harrods to pick up souveniers.  Then it was off to High Street for some more shopping.  Friday night, we all packed and then it was time to make our famous chicken parm for the whole floor.  Mal, Markey, and I cooked chicken parm and everyone ate (and then didn’t help clean up).  Mal, Markey, and I exchanged music-  Mal’s DJ and London-type music certainly hit the spot in my iPod and took up another 800 spots on my iTunes.  Then we spent a couple hours cleaning down the kitchen.  And after, Mal, Markey, and I enjoyed fmylife.com, passiveagressivenotes.com, sorry-mom.com, and asleep on the subway before saying goodbye to Mal and heading off to bed at 3 am.

At 5am on Saturday, I woke up to get ready to go to the airport.  I saw Markey off on the dot2dot at 6 and then Marnie and I left for Heathrow at 7.  After checking bags and getting through security, Marnie and I had some breakfast at EAT (a place that I will certainly miss).  Tulsi met us at the airport – she and Marnie are off to Milan, Florence, Venice, and Rome.  I got on my flight at 11:25, aisle seat – LOVE – and sat on the plane for 7 hours heading back to Boston.  We had three hours of turbulance throughout the flight – fun times!  But I finally landed, got my bags, got through customs, and met Ciara at the airport.

Now I’m back in Boston through Thursday and then it’s back home for 4 months of summer vacation.

From Susan Boyle to Shaheen Jafargholi, your BU-London crew as seen it all – first.

T-minus 6 days before I’m home in Boston.  My next update may just be a wrap up from the lovely shores of Boston.

Monday night, it was off to work – schoolwork that is.  I ended up finishing my research on my Multiculturalism paper and completing a final edit of my Tutorial paper.

Tuesday it was back to work.  I mostly was wrapping up my loose ends – sending final emails, updating the church database, and prepping for our newsletter.  Tuesday night I worked on my paper – getting about halfway done.  Wednesday it was prepping for the mailing, all 400 letters and copies.  Wednesday night I finished my paper- a very rough version though.  Wednesday night I finally got a chance to talk for a while with my parents – very very good.  

Thursday was the final day of the mailout and my final day of internship.  I met up with Mal for lunch at Pret – in the rain.  And then finally posted all of the letters.  Thursdsay night,  I came home, changed quick, and headed out to Islington to go to G’s for dinner.  G made meatballs and pasta, along with salad and this cobbler-like dessert with custard.  We had wine (red and rose) and champagne.  It was a feast.  I had the opportunity to meet Chris (and his friend Robbert) who were both really nice.  It was interesting to view the middle class English family (this is the US-equivalent of upper class) in their home environment.  Pete and G gave me gifts and kisses as I left.  I got two books, a dishtowel of the Tube, and an Ethiopian cross necklace.

Friday I had off (because Pete was going on a trip).  So I headed off to Oxford to hit up Primark and the souvenir stores.  Then it was back home to get money out of the bank and stop at Tesco / Partridges to pick up food for what we thought was going to be a quesadilla dinner cooked by Mal.  Instead it turned into just cheese quesadillas with Corona and Vodka Tonics.  Then it was off to the Portobello Gold to initiate Tulsi and bring back some good memories of last quarter.  Our favorite dog was there and the bartender with crazy hair was there too.  Further – only the girl barmaid carded us – which is fine, we’re legal in England anyway – but still weird to be carded.  After endulging in Freedom and Thatcher’s Gold it was back home – and off to bed.

Saturday Mal and I were up early to head to Hampton Court – Henry VIII’s favorite palace.  We had lunch at Pizza Express – one food place that I will surely miss back in the US.  Hampton Court was amazing and so beautiful.  We saw William’s apartment, Mary II’s apartments, the King’s apartments, the Chapel, the kitchen, and the young Henry exhibit.  We came on the day when Henry and Katharyn Parr were getting married – so we saw all of the people dressed up.  We also came on the day of a real wedding – so we saw the bride and groom and their whole wedding party.  The gardens at Hampton Court were extremely beautiful.  My camera died taking all the pictures.  We went though the old maze – getting lost of course – and nearly poking our eyes out because of the annoying music.  When we got back, after unsuccessful attempts to go to High Street Ken and the laundromat, Mal made quesadilla.  Then the whole flat engaged in a major beer pong tournament – while I just relaxed after a busy day in my room.

This morning, Markey and I were awoken by Mal, “knocking on your door at 10am?” (said Mark) – um, no, not quite.  Today it’s off to Hyde Park to enjoy in the warm weather, then reading, and editing papers.  Fun times.

Tomorrow’s our last class, Thursday papers are due and we have exams, and Saturday I leave London for Boston.  See you soon!

A:  This (Southwark) is what I was talking about, see how it’s more diverse?

J:  Yeah, it’s a lot different than South Ken.  A lot more diverse.

—

J: I don’t think I could live here.  I feel inferior walking around.  All of these British girls walking around the Tower of London in their stilettos, it’s just not me.  I know how you feel.

Cheers and Happy Easter from London.

When we last left off it was Monday evening of last week.

Tuesday it was off to work.  G is on holiday so it was just me and Pete in the office all week.  Nothing much happened at work or at home until Wednesday.  Wednesday, after having a terrible (I mean terrible) internet connection, I went to work early to actually be able to check my email, twitter, facebook, and blogs before work.  Instead, I ended up being called into a meeting with Pete.  He commended me on my good work (yay – the boss is happy with the intern!), we then went over the additional things that need to be completed before I leave.  He then gave me new projects – continuing the London churches, researching American churches, developing an American pilot program, rewriting our mission statement to make it attractive to Americans (“grassroots”), emailing guilds, and filling out trust applications myself.  A lot to do starting this week.  He then gave me Thursday off – “to work on your school work.”  

Later during the day on Wednesday, Pete returned from lunch with an Easter egg for me.  Here in England, instead of Easter baskets, they do Easter eggs – big chocolate eggs.  Pete actually got mine for free by buying the Evening Standard (a London paper).  He and Jez then launched into a tirade on working class ignorance and conservative in Britain.  It made it seem like I was back in the US with the Democrats problems with Palin and Joe the Plumber.  I then introduced Pete to the American tradition of Easter baskets, egg hunts, and Peeps.  He was enthralled.  Now it’s up to me to develop a Peep fundraiser for next Easter (and to bring some in to work tomorrow).

Thursday I ran around doing errands.  Bank, library, Sainsburys, laundry.  But I did manage to make it down to Borough to have lunch with Mal at her favorite “chips and guac” place.  The tostadas were amazing.  The cheesecake was to die for.  The chips and guac were great.  And the price was just perfect.  Then it was off to re-edit my internship paper – see the rant further down for my views on BU-London grading.

Friday after working and working on my paper research, it was off to Gatwick to pick up Jackie.  Jackie came to London for the long Easter weekend (UK, Ireland, Australia, and Canada all have Good Friday and Easter Monday as Bank Holidays = no work!).  Jackie and I endured the rain and saw many sites in London during her days here.  Friday night we walked on the BU-London tour of London: Hyde Park –> Buckingham Palace –> St. James’s Park –> Wesminister Abbey –> Parliament –> Big Ben (we saw the Tamil protests) –> pub.  After the pub, we caught a night ride on the London Eye.  It was beautiful seeing London all lit up.  But the best part of the trip was watching the awkward people on their first date.  Really awkward.

Saturday it was off to Portobello Market and Sun in Splendor for lunch.  Portobello was a lively as ever.  Seriously, so crowded.  And the Fruli was a nice break at Sun in Splendor.  Then it was off to Covent Garden, a walk along the Strand (we saw the Zimbabwe protests), Picadilly Circus, Regent Street, and Oxford Street.  London on Saturdays in the tourist areas are crazy – now I remember why we only go out at night or on weekdays!  Saturday night, Jackie’s Mom got us tickets to see Spring Awakening at the Novello Theatre in Covent Garden.  It was astounding.  Please, try to see this musical.  You will not be disappointed.  Our basic mantra for rest of the trip was that we needed a giant poster of Melchior (aka Aneurin Barnard) for our apartment.  Amazing.  Completely amazing.  Then it was back to the Crofton for nachos and some soundtrack listening.

Sunday Markey, Jackie, and I woke up early for church.  We caught the tail end of the Latin Mass (the one that started at 7 – and our mass was at 10).  Then we sat through the coldest Catholic mass I have ever witnessed – and I go Fr. Moran’s church!  The priest mumbled, the choir, while good, was hard to understand, the the altar rail just confused the three of us.  At least they played a St. Thomas favorite Easter song “Christ the King” – that was the only part that made it seem like home.  Then it was off to Easter Brunch.  After we headed for snog and Ben’s cookies.  And then Jackie and I stopped at the V&A for a little museum-time.  Sunday night, we ordered pizza, “watched” the Sox game, and chatted about just about everything.

Today Jackie and I were up early to see Shakespeare’s Globe and the Tower of London – touristy and crowded, not helped by weekend rail work on the Tube, but still fun none-the-less.  Lunch at EAT was stellar.  And the babies at the Globe were adorable.  Our Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London was really funny too, so that was nice.  Plus, I got to show Jackie my work.  Then it was time to take Jackie back to Victoria to get on the Gatwick express.  It was certainly an exciting weekend, full of fun things, and lots of chats.  Next year our apartment will be rockin!

Tonight, it’s back to school work – this paper needs to be done – at least I have all the research done.

This week, I have work Tuesday – Friday . Thursday night Pete and I are going over to G’s for a family dinner.  It’ll be nice to meet G’s family – although I think she’s trying to hook me up with her son (he’s in his first year at Oxford), but really… umm, no, please!  This week also entails finishing this paper – preferably before the weekend or at least by Monday.  This upcoming weekend is our last one here – so I want to go to Hampton Court on Saturday (Henry VIII’s favorite palace) and I’m sure we will be going out quite a lot.  Plus I need to actually pick up some souveniers and make a stop a Primark.

When I last left you it was Sunday afternoon and everyone was looking forward to the new week – especially the arrival of major world leaders for the G-20 Summit.

Monday involved sleep and general laziness before class.  In class, we talked about the British Secret Services – pretty interesting, especially for a non-Briton.  They’re watching you all the time – CCTV and Speed Cameras.  I guess all of us BU London kids can accurately say that any staunch American (Evangelical) Conservative would basically flip if they were forced to move to Britain – I mean, if you think the government watching you 24/7 on CCTV cameras and sending you speeding tickets from speed cameras is bad – abortion is legal, capital punishment is illegal, the government provides healthcare for everyone, councils provide low-income housing, and to make matter worst, guns are completely banned.  Oh bring out the banners of socialism!

Tuesday was Markey’s birthday.  I was skyping with Mom and Dad Monday night – filling out the FAFSA and CSS Profile no less – so Mom actually got the chance to sing Markey Happy Birthday – when she was 21 in London and still only 20 in the States.  After the adventure that is work, it was home to get ready for Markey’s big birthday bash.  I stopped off during lunch at work to pick Markey up a really cute (and really good) cake from the great little London-based pastry chain that G had recommended on my 1st day of work.  For Markey’s birthday, we all (and by all I mean: Markey, me, Mal, Mark, Aurelia, Nicole, Marnie, Sophie, Tulsi, Mike, and Andrew) headed off to Cactus Blue for some margaritas and other drinks – it was happy hour, so everything was half price. After enjoying nachos, tapas, and of course endless rounds of drinks – it was off to the Crofton for cake.  Aurelia and I thought we were being slick, race-walking back home from South Ken, but Mal and Tulsi beat us – by taking the bus.  The cake was great- but Markey, well she just couldn’t quite enjoy it.  After about two hours, and a quick trip to pick up some British equivalent of Gatorade, along with cracker and a Revive for the morning by myself, Markey was tucked away in bed, sleeping soundly.

Wednesday was the day of the protests – the 4 Horsemen as they were calling themselves.  Because the anti-capitalist and anarchist march was going to start at London Bridge (see pictures below, it’s right where I work), I decided to get some extra sleep and then work from home.  Wednesday mostly involved me trying to finish my London Churches project for work – seriously, there are so many churches in London!  

Wednesday was also the day that the Obamas stormed London with “The Beast.”  British people simply love the Obamas -their daily activities were charted in all of the newspapers and news channels.  Barack and Michelle ate breakfast with Gordon and Sarah Brown at 10 Downing St.  Then it was off to charities for Sarah and Michelle, where Michelle actually drank tea, much to the shock of the BBC reporter.  At night, it was off to Buckingham Palace for a meeting with the Queen and the Prince (her husband the Prince, not her son / grandsons).  Later they were joined by the rest of the G20 delegation.  Then off to 10 Downing St for dinner (with the rest of the delegation) with the Browns.  Busy busy.

Thursday it was off to work.  Thursday night was our second SAPP E-Board meeting, this time held at BU’s SMG.  Because BU London still cannot have a good internet connection, I was forced to receive notice of the meeting through skype chat – confusing, but still interesting.  We’re working to decide what Mayoral candidate we will support before the 15 Sept. primaries and we figured out our advocacy area – getting the T to run later on Fridays and Saturdays.

Friday off work where life was stressful as Pete was doing the annual accounts for 2008.  He needed a xanax.  Friday, after a nice run in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park (past Kensington palace!) , it was off to Nando’s – only the best new food place ever!  Marnie’s “friend” Richard was visiting from Ireland (where he lives, yeah Irish, lives there, not American) and the two of them joined us.  After, Nicole, Alice, Aurelia and I went to Snog for some frozen yogurt.  Yummm.

Saturday it was up early for the Cambridge day trip with Tulsi, Alice, and Mark.  We enjoyed the morning exploring around Cambridge’s schools, even walking into Clare College.  Cambridge is made up of 31 separate colleges – think BU – we have CAS, SMG, SHA, CGS, COM, SED, SAR… – each with their own specialities but that also with a general liberal arts curriculum.  We had a traditional English meal (so I had fish and chips as usual – I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do without “fish and chips with the batter of the day made from London Pride” along with a pint) and some new pints of beer for lunch at the Eagle, a pub that was frequented by American troops stationed at a Cambridgeshire airbase during WWII.  Being Americans, these soldiers had to leave their mark – writing their names and platoon numbers on the ceiling.  Pretty impressive. The afternoon was spent exploring the market (the candy was so good, as were the smoothies) and eating some pretty nasty pastries.  Then it was off to punting – kind of like the gondolas in Venice.  During our punt down the River Cam, our punter – looking pretty spiffy himself in all of his Cambridge prep – regaled us in tales (I say tales because the punters always lie to the tourists) of Cambridge and the sights we were passing.  Punting was a great experience, especially when we continually rammed into the stupid tourists who wanted to try punting themselves instead of get a tour.  It also was pretty nice to lay out on a boat in the warm spring sun, while watching some pretty nice looking punters pass with their shirts off – although the extent to which we judged them could rival the America’s Next Top Model judges.

Sunday was a day for work.  In the morning – off to Tesco to get food for the week.  After, registering for classes – I got all of my classes – thanks to the help of Steph and her amazing 1st off senior registering status!  Then off to Starbucks to finally finish the books I had gotten from the library about British Multiculturalism.  After a lengthy discussion about the academic failings of the BU London program (they don’t go in depth enough, they don’t provide you with adequate background information, you have no basis to write an informed paper, not to mention the amount of work we have to do for our internship tutorials), it was off again to do some research for my internship paper.  Who would have thought that as a polisci student I would be doing computer programming at my internship and writing papers on company management structure?  

Sunday night ended with a chat with the parents via skype.  Aaron decided on UConn – yay Aaron!  Adam got onto his baseball team.  Tax season is *almost* over for Dad.  And Mom’s quite busy with work – working until 9:30 / 10 at night.  I can’t believe that I only have three more weeks left here in London.  It feels like I’ve been here forever, I’m ready to go home, but there is still so much more to be done here – I mean aside from school work – we still have to go to St. Paul’s, have a big Easter dinner, go to Greenwich (home of GMT and the Prime Meridian), head back to Boots and Primark to grab our favorite British things to bring home, go back to the Gold for old times sake, go to Brixton market for some good food, go to St. James’s park and take pictures, and stop at Covent Garden market for gifts for everyone.

Today, it has been a typical Monday.  Up early, out to Starbucks with Mal to write internship tutorial papers, off to class, back home to work on my Multiculturalism paper.  Endless work.  Tomorrow – Thursday it’s internship – hopefully, Pete will actually have something for me to do.  Friday (Good Friday) is a Bank Holiday – along with Easter Monday – so it’s a four-day weekend for all of us and Jackie’s coming to visit from Dublin.

Enjoy the warming weather and the real start of Red Sox season tomorrow - sorry rainy Boston!