Day 4

Wow. Four days already.

Today I was up at 7:30 AM after another relatively sleepless night. I'm getting tired of being tired.

Anyway. I got up and headed with beatrice to the subway and we wen to class. We got there a little early so we decided to go to Starbucks and try to wake up.

We met up with the group that we had formed yesterday again and had a good time prior to the orientation session. It was good. Orientation came and went in what appeared to be a really nice building. We then ate a welcoming lunch and got to know some of our other summer school students. We went through, but it seems I just got lucky with my group. I really like them.

We went to our first class. My class is actually not in the actual Westminster building. It's in one of their offshoot buildings about two blocks from the main, central building. It's not a bad walk, and it's really close to the underground tube.

In my class there are five people. Me and four other girls. Two political science majors, one Spanish major, and a psychology major. One is from the Middle East. It was actually awkward because unintentionalyl all four westerns sat on one side of the room and the Middle Eastern girl sat on the exact opposite side of the room. I just thought what a great impression that this is making. Hopefully I'll get to talk with her a little bit. I'm going to post my course syllabus later... probably sometime tomorrow.

The course instructor is very good. His name is Larbi Sadiki (last name is how it sounds and then in Larbi the "R" is silent). My paper topic and presentation is going to be on hizb ut-tahrir and the East London Mosque. 2,500 words and 25 minute presentation. Shouldnt' be too bad. I can get it done relatively quickly and without too much difficulty.

My class is going to be one of the hardest there, though. Most have like two 2-page papers and not all that much in regards to writing/researching. I mean, there's a photography class one of my friends are in and he's already said he's not going to be doing all that much. But I'm going to lvoe my class. I think that I can really get in and ask the professor some questions that an American just wouldn't have perspective on. But we're going to be talking about Political Islam the entire time. Should be fun and interesting.

After my class let out, the group that I was hanging out with went ahead and met up and hung out during the afternoon. We ended up spending the better part of 5 hours waiting on everyone to get done with their classes, get where they were going and then meet us, etc. But it was fun going in and out of small London shops. We ended up eating at a local Italian place off of Leichster Square Tube Station which is one of the main central tube stations in the center of the city... somewhat near parliament and Big Ben, but a little more touristy that either.

After we finally got everyone together (Beatrice was trying on shoes back where the classes were and working on her class in London Fashion while Johnny was back at the dorm and another person was on the tube so we couldn't get in touch with her either). And then we went to RIPLEY'S Believe It or NOT! It was freaking amazing. We went through all of these cool little exhibits. Ended up an awesome maze that I have some pictures of. I've posted a lot of photos of it on my facebook page... of the random exhibits that I saw and some of the early adventures that I undertook. I'm going to be posting some video too.

I'm getting rather good at working the tube (thanks Whitney!). My friends in the other house rarely use the tube because they are so close, but I have to use it everyday. Between Johnny using maps and me using the tube we can get us pretty much anywhere, so that's really neat. I need to get better at using maps and understanding where I am. If I had done that I wouldn't have gotten lost on the first day here.

Tomorrow should be day two of classes, which will be great. I'm looking forward to getting this class underway. I'm meeting my friends at 1 and then we're getting sometime to eat (by the way, I'm taking pictures of every place that I eat at). Then we are going to see Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing at one of the local theaters. The map that I have is really usable and friendly. I would be getting a lot more lost but having that handy map is good.

I've been very impressed with London's underground system. It really works and is clean, quick, efficient. I remember D.C.'s not being this good, although it was a long time ago and I was probably more overwhelmed than I am now with public transportation. Most of the people are really ready to help out and be of service, and it's a city that I feel very safe in. I'm still being on guard a lot of the times, especially when in the metro and when I'm helping people out in the metro... making sure everyone is watching their purse and stuff and watching my own stuff. But all in all I feel very safe in the city.

Rode my first bus today too. I dont' have an Oyster Card, but I can get on for free. I didn't know what to do and the guy didn't explain anything... he just looked at my card and someone behind had to help me and tell me that everything was cool. But yeah. So that's that. :-)

All in all, I'm really happy with London and the experiencing that I'm having. I can't believe it's already been four days and I know the remaining 19 are just going to fly by.

Anyway, I'm going to try to get som real sleep tonight.

Peace everyone. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'm enjoying this.

Ryan