New Pictures

Pictures of the city and such. i think more will come this week, we might be going on the London Eye. but here are some on the right --> 

just click on it and it will show my library of pictures

Being a Tourist n such

i think i may be turning into a tourist. it takes dedication, such as trying to see everything in one day, like i did just a few days ago. i saw the london eye, london bridge, big ben, and st. paul's cathedral all in one day. i don't like spending much time at any of these places because they are full of more tourists....more dumb and annoying tourists. i guess i like to see myself as a first time resident instead of a tourist, because when i think tourist, i think "stupid." 

so this week after barcelona has been spent trying to figure out where and when i want to travel in europe. and who(!) to go with. trying to organize has been a task. getting multiple together to go on an adventure i feel like is going to be really hard. but i know it will be worth it in the end.

also this week was the first time i went to the gym since july (sad i know). and the first time i've played tennis in about a month. the gym is at city university, its super nice with plasma screens everywhere, and techno music and base bumpin' the whole time. all with the same equipment we have at whitman's BFFC. its basicallly great. as for the tennis, its been an adventure trying to connect with the guy i was supposed to get into contact with over 3 weeks ago. but i finally made it out to this academy that they had running. this club is "Chiswick Riverside Health and Racquet Club." basically, its the nicest, fanciest club i've ever stepped into. no joke. grass, clay, hard, bubble. they had everything. a sweet gym. big pool, indoor courts too. this place was no joke. so i played at this academy twice last week. it was pretty good i might say. its nothing like practicing with the team, but it reminded me of my hs days at VTC and the UP academy. the kids ranged from smaller 13 year olds to seniors in hs. all of them were pretty good. some stood out more than others obviously, but they were all good for getting my rust out. surprisingly, there wasn't much rust, and i was hitting with pretty good timing on my second day. overall, i think i will hit there once a week, and i'm in the process of finding locals my age. apparently most are at university in the states, so hs kids is pretty much what i'm going to get, with the exception of a few older guys. i'm also going to be hitting with deem's bro, nejeed, who is also (studying?) in london, so that should be fun. basically i'm happy to be hitting again (also, might be playing a tourney next month!). 

so that was my week. and the food discoveries for the week include: Pret a Manger (its french i believe, so i think jasp could pronounce it correctly), My Old Aunt, which is great for breakfast, and we just discovered a great Thai food place called Thai Smile. 

ps. more pictures tomorrow. its bedtime.

  

pictures

hey i have pictures up now. just to letting you know. you can click the smaller set to go directly to the library of all my pictures. the bigger ones are just a small selection of what i have. 

also i forgot to tell about how i had dinner with Lindsey's host family! it wasn't too awkward like she thought it might be. the family spoke no english at all, and i have fairly limited spanish, so i just listened a lot. i can understand a lot more than i can say, so it was interesting. it was an experience that i won't forget. also, i think it takes guts to live with a family who doesn't speak your language. i'm proud of linds, i think that would stress me out more than anything. but she is doing great! 

i also forgot to mention the fact that i have to use a british accent in my everyday life now. whenever i go to the grocery store or restaurant in a part of town that isn't full of tourists, i'm always being told that i can't be understood. but as soon as i try out my pathetic accent, i'm all of the sudden understood. odd. also, the checker doesn't say "next" they call out "yes please!" which i find odd. all clerks at stores say this. then they say "alright" but not in a questioning tone, they just say "alright" which is meant to mean "how are you?" and you are to promptly respond "fine," not good, not great, not terrible, but "fine." just some quirky little things. 

David el Explorador

so yes its been a while, but i've been meaning to get this post going for a long time now. I will also write it the traditional british way...with a cup of tea and cookie.

So starting with the second week of being in London. My roommate and the group we hang out with are awesome. we all have pretty similar interests and intensions of what we want to do while abroad in europe. i learned that one of my friends here is  a phi, and another is a dg it was really exciting to find out lol. but so far, we have managed to go on a sortof crappy bus tour by ies, the top floor of the bus had a roof and kind of tinted windows. it was fairly bad, so we have decided to go on our own bus tour sometime this upcoming week so i can get some decent pictures of the city. but so far, i've seen the big clock, which is NOT called big ben. the bell inside the tower is called big ben. i have forgotten what the actual clock tower is called, its not important. i've seen from a distance, buckingham palace, the london eye (ferris wheel thing), tower of london, and the london bridge. so basically it has been the week of tourism. at night we have explored only 2 clubs of the 100's that i'm sure there are. 

The main area we have explored has been our own area of Chelsea, Sloane square, a bit of Holburn, and a bit of Piccadilly Circus. Piccadilly is something i would imagine New York City to be. there are huge screens on buildings, and some decent restaurants here and there. its decked full of tourists. Sloane square has a Zara, and a ton of upper end fashion clothing stores of which none of us would even think of buying from. Chelsea, of course is expensive and boutique-y. 

Classes have been alright. they are really long (2.5 hours), and some of the profs. just preach your ear off for the entirety of the lecture, in which case i have dozed off once or twice. but my british youth culture, british films, and history of london class are all very interesting, and the teachers make sure to make sure it is that way. 

Last thursday, i went on a trip to Barcelona (yeahhh, barthelonaaaa), Spain. upon i endured many travel obstacles. my flight went into a town about 100km outside of Barcelona, upon which i had to verbally find my way to a bus that would take me to the city. this had to be done in spanish. luckily for me, i know a bit. then my phone decided to die after i got into the city and never to return until i got back to london, apparently it doesn't like being away from home. this caused much suffering because i had no way of calling lindsey after being picked up from the bus station.  the first night was very sketchy. there were people on the streets trying to sell us beer and many offered mary j. it was sketch. we went down allies that lindsey claimed were safe to find a place to eat or grab a drink, yet, most were closed because i arrived on a national holiday. upon reaching my hostel, i realized that it would be better to travel in groups thus being able to have a better feeling of security. luckily i had a locker to store my things in. But all of this was made up for when we went out the next day with a full schedule of events that were totally made up off hand! we had breakfast that were what the english would call "pasties" , which were croissants that had meat or cheese in them. really really delicious. during the weekend we then went to many touristy, but fun, places around town such as the market, Las Ramblas, and some other crowded street, many allies that led into giant Squares with PALM trees, and we went to the tallest church in the world. this church along with many parks (such as parc de guell) were designed by 20th century (?) artist Gaudi. multiple buildings in the heart of barcelona were designed by Gaudi, all very beautiful and all of which incorporate some sort of nature. it was really really awesome. We also walked along a beach! which was gorgeous. the water i was told is very warm and salty so that it is easy to float. there are no sharks or jellyfish, so its perfectly safe. the clarity and color of the ocean reminded me something of Hawaii, it was beautiful. while we were on the beach, there were tons of cafes where you could have lunch. thus we had lunch on the beach, it felt like paradise. right on the beach i was eating some great food, and in some of the best company i could ask for. Lindsey had me try San Gria, which i believe is a red wine with fruit juice and fruit in it. it is probably the closest i will come to liking wine in a while. the food in Spain was glorious. Tapas cafes/restaurants/whatever you call it are now my favorite food. Tapas is a kind of small dish, like an appetizer i guess, but they have great variety and are basically midday snacks. how awesome is that? you get to go out for snacks! i think it's awesome, thus we went out for tapas a lot. overall, Barcelona was great! i had an awesome adventure. 

As for this week, i've been 1. trying to not spend money 2. get my butt into shape 3. calling simon, my LTA contact to get into the academy 4. figuring out a gym and finally 5. i'm going to Harrods for tea and everything tomorrow! and will definitely be exploring around the Knightsbridge area that it is in. if i remember correctly, knightsbridge was also a nice shopping area that was full of places i wanted to visit. 

hopefully i will figure out how to put up pictures on here soon.

until next time,

Cheers!

First Week in London

Hey! so its been four days since i got here in chelsea, london. its amazing. i'm super jet lagged. but never the less, my flatmates and i have had a blast. going to the pubs at night and exploring Kings Road and surroundings during the day.

So the first night, a group of us went to a restaurant called "Stockpot," it was fairly ok, not that great. i had fish and chips. they were fairly not good. but i guess that is the stigma of England. The second night we ate dinner at home and then went to a pub on Kings Road, which is right outside our building. Kings Road is a pretty trendy place, with tons of designers of clothing and home furnishings alike. there is also the famous restaurant called "made in italy", which i hope to go to sometime soon. anyway, we went to this pub called "the pigs ear", which is supposed to be the cheapest pints. they were 3 pounds. for all of you who don't know about the conversion rate, its roughly 6 dollars... luckily it was a fun night and i didn't have the urge to buy more than one.  from there, we went down to the river thames (pronounced Tims) where we walked across the beautifully lit bridges. it was a great night to get to know the group of people i would assosciate myself with.

upon buying food at the supermarket, you realize that food is a bit costly, i think... i don't go grocery shopping at home so i don't really know, but of the things i do know, its basically the same price, but in pounds. so basically if a candy bar was a dollar in the US, then it will probably be a pound (or quid as you are supposed to say) in the UK. 

so far, we have gone out to the pub for a drink almost every night, which i'm sure will not be the case once classes start. i'm still trying to orient myself around this vast city, its really amazing how big it is and how each area is very unique. today as a part of our orientation we went on a bus tour of London, which gave us a better sense of direction as to where some shops were, and where all the famous buildings and museums were. it was very captivating and propelled us to get out of our little neighborhood of chelsea and start exploring.

so far, places that seem very fun are: piccadilly circus (not an actual circus), knightsbridge, mayfair, Holburn (pronounced 'oburn), London bridge, the london eye, i want to go back to buckingham palace, and some other areas that i don't remember what they are called.

oh classes start tomorrow. yay. also thursday is Barcelona!!! i'm sooooo excited to see lindser!

On My Way

So i think i will keep up with this blog thing. just a thought. i'm in the PDX right now. and last night and this morning i was the most nervous/excited (probably more nervous) i have ever been in my life. no joke. i'm really excited to get going on the semester at hand, and i can't wait to meet new people and enjoy new places. i promise to take TONS of pictures. as anyone could tell you, not taking enough pictures is never a problem with me. i'm excited for so many things right now, that this whole post is going to be i'm excited i'm excited i'm excited....blah blah blah. so i will spare the misery. i will be in London in about 12 hours. here we go!

last minute

testing 1, 2, 3.... leaving to england in the morning. still packing! we'll see if i keep up with this.