Walking and more walking

Okay, so again, I slept like a rock (except for just an hour in the middle of the night) and might still be asleep had it not been for my roommate's alarm at 8:00! But it is good. Ate breakfast in, relieved that the yogurt was good! I still haven't tried the peanut butter; just afraid of a bad experience, I guess!

At 11:00 this morning we did a walking tour around Bloomsbury which is the area that the FSU Study Center is located. We walked and heard about all the amazing people from this area . . . Virginia Wolf, John Maynard Keynes. I learned that most of the land around here is still owned by the Bedford estate who controls all the construction. There is even a building that has an apology on the side of it that it was designed without consultation with the Bedfords.

With all this great history, the only picture that I took was of a little green shack. Our guide, David, explained that these were tea rooms for the cab drivers. Apparently this was the solution to the problem of drunk cabbies. They simply provided an alternative to the pubs!

After an 90-minute historical tour, I had lunch with Tony, who is a social work student doing an internship over here. He has been accepted into the Fall 2011 doctoral program at FSU, College of Social Work. It was fun knowing more about this insane process than somebody else did!

Tony and I then were joined three new friends as we participated in a scavenger hunt which led to yet another 90 minutes of walking around London! The best thing that came out of this (since we didn't win) was that I ventured out a bit by myself to a place that we had passed on yesterdays practical tour! It wasn't so exciting that I found it, but that I went and made it back! Nothing looked familiar on the way there or on the way back, but I made it! I was quite proud of myself and it was quite the confidence booster!

Dinner tonight was at Wagamamas. I didn't know what most of the items on the menu were, but I found one that was pretty good! Enjoyed time with my teammates! I had to laugh, one of them asked me what I had planned for the rest of the day. What rest of the day, it was almost 7 o'clock! Kids!

I'm happy to report that tomorrow is a coach tour! I do plan to walk to Hyde park in the afternoon, weather permitting! Can let my legs think that they get the day off. Then we have a flat meeting to make sure that we all know how to play nice together. I'll try to be nice.

More first-day-type stuff

I was astounded to wake this morning to my roommates alarm. It was 8:35! I haven't had a need to set an alarm in, I don't know how long. It was funny; I woke up and thought that I had a great night's sleep and then I looked at the clock - it was 11:11 pm. I hadn't even been asleep for two hours! I probably slept 9 hours after you take out the 2 or so hours that I was awake from beginning at about 2:00.


We had a mandatory orientation meeting at 10:00, which was not very exciting, although those speaking were quite amused with themselves! It was all good and necessary; I just wasn't in the mood. I left that meeting determined to do something worth journaling every day. I headed towards the British Museum (pictured) and was overwhelmed! I spent an hour and a half and think that I need to do that each and every day if I have a hope of seeing it all!

Today's visit was cut short by the fact that I had to attend a mandatory "alcohol awareness" meeting at 2:00. This makes sense since the drinking age here is 18 and many of the students are not yet 21. Add to that that beer, for example, has a much higher alcohol content than in the state. I had hoped that as someone who had been legal to drink for over 30 years that I might could have been excused, but age was not a good enough reason, so I went. The woman who presented must have wondered why I was there since she made a point that no staff would be in attendance, but she didn't ask so I didn't tell. She actually did a really good job, not preachy and very matter of fact about all the stupid things that people who have "had too much" tend to do.

After a brief rest, I took for the streets, being lead around on a "practical walking tour." An hour and 15 minutes later, I flopped down on my bed wondering if I would ever walk again, let alone, learn my way around this place! My mom thinks that Tallahassee is confusing? She should see this! I can't ever count how many intersections we went through that had five, six, or even seven streets! Tallahassee had to re-rounte five points and the Meridian/Thomasville road thing. I don't know how they do it here. I can say that they do it fast. In spite of the narrow roads, cars, busses, firetrucks, all go flying down these streets! This is compounded by motorcycles becoming popular as well as cycling. it is crazy!

There are a lot of familiar places. Tonight I had dinner at a place comparable to Panera (and we know I like Panera). Walking back from the Museum, I noticed a Baskin Robbins! The prices are high (which is a good thing), but they did have an interesting flavor of the month! I wonder what wedding might have inspired this!

All this walking was made possible by beautiful weather! I guess we were about 72 and sunny. The director of the Study Center keeps telling us that the stereotype that the British always talk about the weather is true and it is because it changes so often. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings!

Judy's in London!

Can you believe it? Me neither. The total travel time was just about 12 hours, which was short compared to my trip to South Africa which was over 24 hours. The trip was made much more pleasant than it otherwise might have been since I was seated next to a psychologist from Birmingham. She was delightful, although she did share some stories than made me feel ashamed at how easy it is to forget those who are suffering as a result of last week's tornados. The who day was tough, leaving Tallahassee at 2 p.m. and arriving in London at 7:30 local time (which is 2:30 a.m. according to my body!) I did manage to stay awake all day and am so looking forward to a full night's sleep!

The picture above is the front of the study center. If you look closely, you'll see a 99, which is the street address. I am actually staying at 102 Great Russell. My flat has two floors with the two bedrooms upstairs. I am sharing a room with Katie, an actress who is getting her Master of Fine Arts! That is my twin bed tucked back into a corner,
which I love! We agree that we will most likely be on totally different schedules, providing both of us some alone time, which I think will work out very good. Having the living space downstairs (pictured below) will make it much easier than it might have been otherwise! An MSW intern, Cozy, has the other room. I think that it is all going to work out very well!

The buildings that FSU owns (I think there are 7, in all) are all on Great Russell Street. What is cool is the buildings are connected underground. This was the only option since, because these are historic buildings, FSU was not permitted to make any structural changes above ground level! So after hours, there is only one exterior door that is available and we go through the building to get to our flat.

Today was an adventure on many levels! I got a cell phone to use while I'm here. It was really cheap and is pay as you go. It is just good to know that I could reach somebody if I needed to. I also purchased an Oyster card. This is the card that is used to access public transport ion. I got mine with a picture of Will and Kate as a forever reminder that my visit coincided with their wedding! I've heard a couple of reasons that they call this the Oyster card, but neither made much sense to me! Tonight, I went to a grocery store. Oh my! I don't shop much in familiar territory, so I really didn't get much. I finally decided that peanut butter and jelly would be a safe thing, but then a guy who is also here from FSU told me that he brought his cousin Jiff from the state, because the peanut butter here was so bad. I bought it anyways, so I'll let you know!

Although I am certain to be up much earlier, the first thing on the agenda is an orientation breakfast at 10 a.m. I may have mentioned to you that there is a required alcohol awareness meeting. It is my understanding that I'll be excused from it since I have been over the legal drinking age for some 30 years! Later, I'll be taking a "practical walking tour." I may stop in a museum for a few hours since there are several just down the street!