Busy Week!

By Monday morning my cold was pretty much gone so I was able to get back on my feet and see some more of London. On Tuesday I had a tour of parliament for one of my classes. It is a very remarkable building. I was also interesting to learn how parliament is run. There is a lot of tradition in how things are done. We have been enjoying some great weather 40s with a combination of rain and sunshine. Wednesday I went on a tour of a mosque. It was the London Central Mosque, near Regents Park. I went with my Islam class, it was interesting to experience this different type of worship. While we were there we were able to observe one of their daily prayers. Thursday did not have any field trips, however after class I went to London's largest mall. It is huge! There is every store you can think of there from top designers (Prada, Tiffany) to general stores (H&M, Zara, and Marks&Spencers) I was only able to cover a small portion of the mall and will have to return soon! Today I have class and laundry on my to do list. Tomorrow I am going on a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. Look out for pictures coming soon!!!

Lazy Saturday

After a very busy and exciting week I have come down with a cold and have lost my voice for three days. Though I am feeling better and after resting this weekend I should be over my cold completely. My classes continue to be good though we will have to see when the really work starts coming in! This past Thursday I went to Red Bee Media with my British Broadcasting class. What they do there is the coordination, post production, and direction of many UK TV channels including BBC and iTV. The class was given the tour by a former co-worker of our teacher. It was exciting to see all the behind the scenes of how broadcast TV comes together. I would love to have an internship there..still waiting on my internship assignment though. This past week we have had some typical London weather mid 40s and rain. though I am happy to have rain over snow and cold temps!

Update

It has been a while since I last updated, sorry about that. Between classes and the weekend I lost track of time. We are finally getting some good London weather here, currently it is raining and about 40 degrees F. this weekend we had good weather in the mid 40s and sunshine. On Sunday afternoon I went to the Camden Market. It is a large area comprised of many markets and shops and is very busy on the weekends. Pretty much anything you can imagine is for sale clothing, accessories, shoes, purses, and other trinkets. There are many ethnic food stalls from nearly every country. Above anything it is a wonderful place to people watch as it is an area where anything goes. From tourists like me to the pierced people advertising the many piercing and tattoo shops. Now I am off to class and some grocery shopping!

Classes and Exploring

This week classes started. On Monday I had Creative Writing and British Broadcasting. I am looking forward to these classes a lot! Both teachers are very enthusiastic about their subjects and I am actually looking forward to the course work. On Tuesday I had British Life and Cultures. In this class we will take the experiences we encounter in life in London and learn the background or the "why". Today I will have Understanding Civilizations; Islam and the West. I am interested to see what the class will be like. Yesterday I went out to explore South Kensington a bit more. I walked to High Street which is a major shopping district in the area. I stopped in a few stores to look around including Marks & Spencer (department store), Zara, Topshop (clothing stores), and TkMaxx (like Tj Maxx). After shopping I went out with one of my suite mates to walk around and take pictures of Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gardens, and Kensington Palace.

Pictures from London

Life in London

So far London has been amazing! On Saturday I had a couple tours of the city. First was a walking tour of the Kensington area. Sights there included Kensington gardens, Kensington palace, Royal Albert Hall, the memorial of Prince Albert, High Street (a shopping district), and various houses where famous people lived. Then in the afternoon I had a bus tour of the city, London and Westminster. In this tour we saw all the famous sights such as Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the West End, and Piccadilly Circus. It was amazing to finally see these sights in person! On Sunday I explored South Kensington a bit more with my roommates and saw the Museum of Natural History. It was very interesting and very big. No way to see the whole thing in one day, luckily it is free and very close! Today classes start I am looking forward to see what interesting things I will learn this semester.

In London

Hello! I have made it safely to London. It is pretty cold here and since I am living in an older building my room the heat has not started up yet. The area is very nice with many old buildings. So far I have been going through orientation. Tomorrow we have a tour of the area and the city. I do not have much time to write now but now that I have my computer and internet sorted out I will share more later!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

It is now 2010 and I am preparing for semester in London. I am leaving the US on January 6th. I will be studying at Foundation of International Education (FIE). The first seven weeks of the program I will be taking four courses: Creative Writing, Contemporary British Broadcasting, British Life and Cultures, and Understanding Civilizations; Islam and the West. After a week long break I will start an internship in London, I will know where and what closer to the internship section of the semester. Over my time in London I hope to travel and to experience life in another country.

In this blog I hope to keep you up do date to my adventures in Europe.