On the River.amayz

This would definitely be what I would call the first official day in London. Yesterday doesn’t count because of the a)late arrival, b)lack of exploration, c)unfamiliarity even on a basic level, and d)actual time I spent here being equivalent to less than a day. So… Welcome, Jish!

Today we took a tour of the “campus” we will be studying at and the various libraries surrounding the area that are free for students of the IES program to utilize. Now you may be wondering, why on earth is ‘campus’ surrounded by quotations? Well, dear reader, that would be because the IES building—yes, singular—is the only building on our campus for the semester. Each one of the courses is 2.5 hours long, and you only have each class once a week. This allows the academic building to utilize just offices and 5 total classroom settings for every semester. Cool, right?

Anyhoozle, here are the classes I am taking this semester: Pre Raphaelites, Censored! What the British Could Not See, Playwriting, Creative Writing, and Theatre in London: An Introduction. Between the playwriting class and the intro to theatre course, I will be seeing 18 plays as a result of homework. Ugh, why do these things always happen to me?! *maniacal laughter*

Right, so, classes don’t start until Monday, but I think that it’s going to be quite fantastic. The centre is only a mere 10 minute walk to the tube and then a short ride over. The stop at Holborn is only a block away from classes. Easy peasy when you understand what you’re doing; and, it is actually much easier than it looks.

On to some more interesting notes/reflections/happenings/observations:

1. There are no Bumpits© in London. NONE. I haven’t seen a single mini, regular, or mega around. And believe me, I’ve been looking.

2. Pigeons, like many human beings, enjoy bathing. Unlike many human beings, pigeons thoroughly enjoy bathing in public. Today at Russell Square, roughly thirteen million pigeons swarmed the local fountain and began to cleanse their exteriors. I suppose even flying possums need to bathe every once in a while.

3. Today, four of us saw a celebrity. There were five (Iszy missed the famous person by staring off at the local residences) of us walking in a group up Sydney Street in South Kensington when, just steps ahead of us, who should come waltzing down the sidewalk but none other than thee HALLE BARRY. What?! Did that really just happen. In person, she is every bit as hot as she is on the big screen.

4. Attn: any fan of a certain novel phenomenon that will be releasing part one of two of its 7th and final cinema installment this November. Tonight, following a dinner with 9 other people, Drew (the roommate) and Iszy (proud member of the 8th floor) and I took a random bus to a random location. As we walked around the darkened streets, stumbling upon such sights as Big Ben, the London Eye, and Westminster Cathedral, (you know, the usual, everyday occurrences) we happened to cross a few bridges over the Thames. The final bridge, however, was the Millennium Bridge. This is the very bridge that Harry and Company fly over during the chase scene in the beginning of the sixth book/film. It was positively magical to be walking on the “Harry Potter Bridge” while surrounded by some of the most majestic monuments in all of Europe. Words could not help explain it. So I won’t attempt.

We saw a guy that carried a living python around his neck. I guess that was decent, too.