Would You Like Another Cuppa?

Time for another update on my life in London: classes, my internship and explorations.

Last week we started classes here at the London Center and I love them all: European Mass Media, European Cinema, Contemporary British Politics and Drama & the London Theatre. My professors are all really nice and seem very interested in the various subjects they're teaching. A lot of students here think I'm crazy for taking four classes (twelve credits) plus an internship (three credits), but actually, it's a pretty light semester by my standards (I've taken 17 or 18 a semester since I got to Ithaca).

My classes should be loads of fun too -- we're taking a trip to Parliament for my politics class, plus, the gist of my theatre class is going to see plays, writing reviews & talking about them. I'm really psyched for our first show tomorrow: SPRING AWAKENING!!! It's been on my shortlist of shows to see on Broadway for quite some time now, but I haven't been able to nab tickets. I'll probably blog about it Thursday. We're also seeing a show starring Dame Judi Dench. I think I've died and gone to theatrical heaven (at least in my book).

Anyways, I went out clubbing last Thursday with Chris and his friends John & Laura. The place we went, called Shunt, was actually in a tube station and had an underground cave-like atmosphere. There were archways into different rooms that had all sorts of odd art exhibits -- some photos, some sculptures, some modern art (too weird for my taste) and eventually, the actual club. We had a great time chatting and dancing before heading home (with a pit stop for some yummy Turkish take-out) in the pouring rain. It was a fun way to celebrate being abroad.

On Saturday, Bill led another walk, this time through St. Paul's, St. Bartholomew's and the surrounding area. The architecture was, as usual, absolutely stunning and the churches were gorgeous. At my mom's request, I've included a few photos from the walk (top photo: sunrise over St. Paul's, middle photo: outside of St. Paul's, bottom photo: statue inside St. Bartholomew's). Once again, the weather held out for us (we've been really lucky on that so far -- hardly any rain!) and we had a great time. There was another walk on Sunday through the markets of London that I missed because I was at my internship at Peace News.


Peace News is a small monthly newspaper that covers human rights issues, political conflict and local activist movements. My editor, Mil, and the rest of the staff are very friendly and I think I'll learn a lot from working there. I'll also be drinking lots of tea (my Grandmother would be so proud). It seems every time I turned around, Mil was asking me 'Would you like another cuppa?' I'm loving it though.

I should stop writing and get back to doing my homework. Blog posts will hopefully get more frequent this week -- I think we finally figured out the internet situation in our flat.