After lunch, we had academic orientation with Ellen, where she explained the program more in depth, which made me more excited than ever to start on Monday. She also gave each room a large schedule to hang on their bulletin board, which Noah and I decided to color coordinate based on which classes we have when. It's a very intimidating schedule, but at the same time exciting! The boys then got a break while the girls were fitted for their corsets and skirts (can't say I'm jealous about that part), and then we were all fed pizza for dinner before having the night to ourselves.
A group of us decided to redeem our previous failed night by finding a good place to go out to. To that end, we took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus, which is essentially the Times Square of London. We then walked to a bar called O'Neill's, which was apparently a hot spot for American, Italian, and Irish visitors. That turned out to be true, because two separate people from our program saw friends they knew studying abroad in other programs there, so it was nice seeing some other study abroaders. Once our night ended, the Tube wasn't running, so we had to take a cab home - coming from New York, I'm gonna have to get used to the concept that the subway doesn't run 24/7 here.
Friday we got to sleep in, which we all needed after our night. At 1pm, Fordham London Centre had an orientation for both the LDA students and GSB students, which was the first time we were all together. It was a strange experience for me - all of the GSB students were from Fordham Rose Hill, which was more than I could say for any of the LDA students, and yet I felt like these people who have been going to school with me for 2 1/2 years were total strangers compared to this group of 20 students I'd spent the last few days with. Funny how quickly a group of strangers can become like a second family. We ended the day Friday with a meet and greet with some of the instructors we would have for the next 14 weeks. Some couldn't make it, but I liked all of the ones I did meet - they all seem very knowledgeable and approachable, and I can't wait to learn from them.
Fun as it was, Thursday night had burned a serious hole in my wallet, so I was resolved to have a more laidback Friday night. A group of us wound up walking maybe 10 minutes to a nearby pub. It was somewhat crowded, but we were eventually able to get a table. We each ordered a drink or two and got a few orders of chips to split, which made for a very relaxing a enjoyable night. On the whole, it seems like British drinking tends more towards having a few social drinks than going hard all the time. I personally prefer the British way, but hey, to each his own.
On Saturday, we were given tickets to Dark Earth, Light Sky, one of 14 shows LDA is paying for us to see. Noah, our friend Mia, and I decided to wake up early to see if we could explore the area a bit before the show. We wound up finding a small little cafe called Candid Cafe. It was almost impossible to spot - hidden in an alley, the cafe was only on the 2nd floor of the building. Once inside, we realized we'd found one of those unique little places you stumble upon by accident - definitely not a tourist attraction. We ordered drinks and croissants, and also stumbled across a bunch of flyers for different events going on in the area. One in particular struck us - a 50 hour improvathon which had started Friday at 7pm and would end Sunday at 9pm.
For lunch, we found another unique place called Bombay Burrito. The restaurant was a combination of Indian and Mexican food, neither of which I normally eat a lot of, but I have to say, I enjoyed my burrito! While there, we found out that the place had opened just before Christmas, and that it was not a chain...yet. Who knows, this could be the next big chain! Following lunch, we headed to the theater for the show, which was about the poet Edward Thomas and his relationships with his wife and Robert Frost. I don't want to go into plot details, but it was really good! It was really neat to hear the actor who played Robert Frost try an American accent and mannerism. Having lived in America for 20 years, we were able to notice subtle irregularities where he either slipped into his native accent or exaggerated certain words - I felt like Henry Higgins!
After the show, Noah, Mia, and I decided to go to the improvathon, and we were joined by classmates Scott, Laura, and Kyra. Basically, improvathon was a series of 25 episodes - each episode was an hour and 45 minutes, and tickets to one episode were 7 pounds for students, 5 if you decided to stay for another episode. According to the program, there was a group of guest performers who came in for parts of it, but the core group of actors were doing it for the full 50 hours! The "show" was set in Cairo in the 1920's, and plotlines were developed and continued throughout episodes. When we came in, King Tut had possessed a man named Howard Carter, Indiana Jones was entering the scene, and Salvador Dali's heartbroken maid was running into the arms of Ernest Hemingway, who was opening a lemonade stand. By the time we left, King Tut's army of the undead was taking over Cairo, Indiana Jones was communicating with a sock puppet to discover how to defeat Tut, and Ernest Hemingway had been elected President of the Feminist Society. And these were just a few of the ridiculous and hilarious plotlines that ensued throughout the show, and we were only able to see 4 out of the 50 hours these actors were going! Needless to say, it was an amazing experience, and I would love to be in on the process of how that works some day.
Now, as I told you before, I haven't brought my camera anywhere yet, so I'm going to show you some pictures Noah took, since he's better at this than I am.
Crossing the Thames, our view of the city.
The view of London from the top of Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath - worth the muddy walk!
The essential phone booth picture (taken by Torian).
Our insane schedule - Noah is orange, I'm yellow, and we're both pink (I did take this one!).
Me, Erik, Noah, and Meg in the pub on Friday (taken by Dan).
Me, Noah, and Mia in Candid Cafe.
Bombay Burrito!
The poster for the 50 hour improvathon!
Noah and my leftovers crammed into our shoebox-sized fridge.
One final note - I looked up Highclere Castle, aka the home of Downton Abbey, and you can't get tickets until the summer, so I guess I'm not going there :( But, given the last few days, I think I'll be able to find more than enough to keep me occupied!
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