Week 2

Since classes have officially started, that means that I spend 4 hours Monday - Thursday in a classroom. On Monday and Tuesday, I didn't have class until 3pm, so I spent the mornings exploring. Monday I walked through Kensington Gardens, which were really pretty. There were lots of people taking walks through the park with their kids/dogs. And I saw the Diana Memorial at Kensington Palace.

Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace -- and you can see all the papers and flowers for the Diana memorial

Statue of Queen Victoria. From what I gather, she was very popular. Also, her husband Albert basically designed the streets of Kensington (in a grid pattern... Albert is the man!) and everything around here is dedicated to him.

Pond in Kensington Gardens

Flowers by Kensington Palace

On Tuesday, I spent a couple of hours in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was gorgeous and huge. I didn't finish going through it because I've had a sore throat and been kind of tired, so I went home and napped before my class. But I saw all the Asian exhibits (which are my favorite kinds of art) and part of the European ones.

Front of the V&A Museum
Cool Chinese Exhibit

Middle Eastern exhibit... This was on a tome. I want a tomb of turquoise when I die, too!

Yesterday was my birthday and it was very fun. My friends decorated my door with Happy Birthday balloons and I got 2 cards and a very elegant Big Ben paperweight. I slept late and went to class from 1:15 to 5:15. I had pasta for dinner and I had part of the cake my relatives sent me.

The cake came in this box and was very pretty.

My roommate made me a card and gave me a cupcake, so I ate that, too. It was very pretty.

yum! Thanks, Kate!

And then after dinner, I went out with Katie and Diana to the Queen's Arms and then we met up with Katie, Meg, Becca, Liz, Nate, and Jason at Cheers. It was a fun night and I was sad when it was over. But then I had a dream that my friends and I went to dinner with Queen Elizabeth and the cast of Harry Potter showed up. LOL! It was a great dream.

I went to class today from 1:15 - 5:15, and tonight I'm working on a homework assignment to watch 3 British newscasts. The last one is in 45 minutes, and then I have to write a paper comparing them. It's due Tuesday.

My classes are OK. Four hours really is a long time, but we get a half hour break (thank God). I really like my elective class, "The Foreign Correspondent." It's very interesting. I'm still unsure as to whether I'll like my core class; the class seems to be confused as to whether it's a British journalism or British culture class. It's supposed to be both, but it's kind of muddled right now.

I don't have any big plans for the weekend, so I'll probably go shopping and maybe to a market and/or museums or tours. Or something. But next weekend, I'm going to Ireland! I booked a trip with 4 friends, and I'm so excited! We'll have 3 full days in Ireland, so it will be great. For our weeklong break, we're thinking of Spain and Italy. I'm not sure if we can actually do both in just 9 days, but we'll see what happens!