I knew I'd forget something

Okay bad news. I forgot my usb cord for my camera so I can't upload photos until it is sent to me.

I can, however, charge my camera.

That's useful.

Yeah?


Well here's a little something that I wrote one of my friend's about the last two days.

And here's a picture of (I don't know yet -- let me rummage among my pictures) -- one minute -- hold on --



Okay. Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice, which I watched for the thousandsth time on my flight over.


Well, I am in London. Not much else to say really. These last two days have felt like a week.

I've had a few mishaps -- first flight to Chicago was 50 minutes late and I would have missed my second flight if that one had not also been delayed. Then when I landed BA didn't have my luggage, which was actually a good thing because it meant I didn't have to carry them through the tube. But then when they were delivered to my apartment building the security guard told them to take them back because my name and room number had not yet been printed on his sheet of residents. So I had to spent two hours last night trying to get in touch with BA so they would resend it. Received them today, along with someone else's baggage that they had delivered to me, so now I have to call BA again and have them pick it up.

The security guard who is from Africa is very difficult to understand and quite difficult in general. He is here all the time, from 7:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night. He probably hates his job and dealing with people who ask the same questions. The guy who runs the accomodation office is very happy go lucky (probably gay, but you can never tell with these English blokes) and has stopped me about four times in the last few days to ask if I have any questions and how I like my room and gave me, for free, the last computer cable he has to connect my computer to the Internet. I like people who are nice.

When I arrived I was informed that my room had been canceled because I hadn't shown up. Luckily, they had one more room left.

I have two classes, both two hours long, that meet on Wednesday. Rather boring both of them. They're seminars so that essentially we read the colossal amount of information assigned each week and then discuss it in class. Very little lecturing from the prof. I'm not a fan of discussion geared classes. That was one of the problems I had with that class I eventually took the "C" in. It is too jarring for me, to have the students rattling off their attempts to think up anything that sounds deep. I'm much more energetic about my classes when I have a prof who, if discussion is involved, as it usually is in English classes, it is combined with a more rigorous, detailed lecture from the prof. The material is a bit interesting. Some of it I've already read; most of it I'm at least familiar with. I have the same prof for both at the moment, - an eccentric kind of lady who, when any student is talking, say's "yeah, yeah" after every sentence as though she really understands what they're saying. You can tell by her furrowed brow that she doesn't. My second class rotates prof's every three weeks I'm going to try to make the most of it; after all, I have to write 4000 word papers for each class. I don't want to jinx myself but, as it looks like now, I think this semester at least should be tolerably easy.

My residence is great. I do have my own bathroom and shower. Mini-fridge. One of the rooms is a kitchen that my other flat-mates and I share. They're very nice. One is from India -- law student -- another from China and Taiwan. One Canadian. The American girl just left. (The residence is also for PhD students). And one British.

I live in Waterloo which is on the river. I never spent any time on this side of the river; the Southbank is a somewhat residential area, or about as residential as a London area can be. It's also quite artsy, The Globe Theatre and the Old Vic (currently run by Kevin Spacey) are a few blocks away from me on either side. The IMAX theatre is less than a block from me. Painters and artists of other sorts live here but mostly business men and women live in this area. It is near enough for them to walk to work: the City and Parliament, Whitehall and Westminster, can be reached simply by walking over the Thames on the Westminster or Waterloo Bridge.

Otherwise, I've just been running around, getting my classes set up, trying to find a supermarket, which is impossible to find in London. Stores here specialize in the goods they sale. It is difficult to find a store that has everything you want. So that if you want stationary you have to go to W.H. Smith, and for medicine over the counter and prescribed and makeup you go to the chemist shop called Boots -- something like an American Rite Aid, except you don't have to call in prescriptions and since they specialize in the medicines you can fill your prescrips within minutes -- there is a chain called Tesco's, run by Indians, that are on nearly every street, where you can buy fruit, some banked goods, and canned food items. So it gets a bit difficult to get all you need. I've been mainly going to Pret a Manger which, along with it having a French title, is nearly exactly like Au Bon Pain except it is one of the cheapest places to go for pre-made sandwiches, soups, and the like.

More later -- and hopefully photos. I haven't completely unpacked yet so it could be hiding somewhere but I don't remember packing it.