Sam in England

Sam Diamond London, England Summer 2012 University of South Carolina Direct Enroll - University of Westminster

[rosequartzandsage]

[sam-scstudyabroad]

One year ago today, I was exploring London for the first time (which is when I took this picture). I miss it and want to go back so badly.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

The Olympic Torch came by my campus on Regent Street, so we decided to go see it. The video is kind of all over the place because of the massive crowd and the fact that I was more focused on trying to see it than get a video of it. Here's the result of that experience regardless!

[sam-scstudyabroad]

Today we went for high tea at The Orangery at Kensington Palace.

It was beautiful, and the tea was delicious. This was the first classy thing I think we've all done together, and I'm glad we did it. I got the organic peppermint tea with my Orangery Tea Special. Afterwards, we strolled in Kensington gardens, which was lovely. Tea time is definitely one of my favorite aspects of London.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

I think London is trying to prepare me to go back to South Carolina.

It hasn't been this warm at all since I've been here, let alone sunny with 0% chance of rain. This weather is super rare here, guys!

[sam-scstudyabroad]

I went to the Harry Potter Studios Tour earlier this week and never posted some pictures!

I'm not going to lie- I cried throughout this entire experience, but it was so much fun. I definitely recommend all of the HP fans to stop by and check it out if you're going to be in England.

It's in Zone 9 though, so keep that in mind when you're booking the tickets because getting it may not be as quick or easy to get to as other things in London.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

Homesickness and a change of plans.

A wave of homesickness hit me this past week. I miss my girlfriend. I miss my friends. I miss my cat, and I miss my bed. I realized that pretty much everyone else was leaving on the 27th since our program officially ends on the 26th, which meant that I would more than likely be completely alone in a foreign country until the 31st, when my flight was supposed to leave.

My original plan was to go to either Paris or Dublin or both from the 27th until the 31st. However, if you know anything about me, I value friendships and relationships more than anything else in this world. The realization of being completely alone on top of being homesick made me lose interest in exploring. A huge aspect of going to new places is the people who you meet and travel with. I would be traveling completely alone without a tour or anything. The friends that I made here would already be home, so I would have to either make new friends in the span of 3 days or just deal. I felt lonely and overwhelmed.

On top of that, I received a message that my sister did not want to pick me up from the airport anymore. My flight from Heathrow was supposed to arrive in Boston Logan at 8 PM, and then I was supposed to have a flight from Boston Logan to Charlotte Douglas at 5 AM (landing at 7 AM). We live in Summerville, so it's not like I'm going to just get a taxi from the airport to my house. Since my sister was the only one available, to my knowledge, to pick me up at that time on that day, I felt stranded without even being in that position yet.

I talked it over with several people: both friends from Carolina and friends that I've met in the program. Everyone seemed to have their own opinion on what to do, but I have ultimately decided to change my flight to July 27th.

Now that's not to say I'm not loving London, I am. I just feel that the 27th works out better all around for me. I will be able to go home to my girlfriend and friends rather than staying alone in a foreign country. I will be able to fully recover from any jet lag before attempting to move into my new house in Columbia on August 1st (I was originally planning on trying to move in on the same day that I got back in Summerville). Plus, I get to avoid a weekend full of Olympic traffic, which I'm already feeling on the tube. Most importantly, I will have a ride home from the airport because my girlfriend is able to pick me up.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

We went to the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus last night to see 39 Steps. It was absolutely wonderful. The show ended closer to 10, so we decided to get some quick dinner before the Wembley tube stop closed for the evening. We stopped at a McDonald's and found that alot of things are different on the menu. They call a McFlurry a "Whispa", and they don't put alot of chocolate in their chocolate shakes. Honestly, the shake was still white and tasted like vanilla! So different. 

I think that's one thing that I'm really surprised about London. It's so much more American than I expected it to be. They have McDonald's, ASDA by Walmart (It's really just a Walmart with a different name. They use the "rollback" language and everything!), Forever 21, Hollister, Starbucks, Burger King, and even a Chipotle! It's not that it's a bad thing. It just makes it that much more difficult to remember I'm in a foreign country sometimes.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

Here are some photos from our trip to York/Northern England.

It was lovely, and I don't think it rained once while we were there.

We went on a ghost tour (that's what the first picture is from) and it was awesome! We heard alot of really interesting stories about York and its haunted history.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

The First Real Troubling Encounter in London

On Friday night, I had my first really troubling encounter since I've been here.

I ended up staying out past when my tube stop is open, so I stayed the night at a friend's dorm off of Old Street. We were leaving at 7:30 AM the next morning though, so I had to go back to my dorm at 5 AM in order to grab my suitcase.

As I was leaving her building at 5:15 AM, some guy walks out of a bar that was just starting to close and he began to follow me. I tried to pick up my pace, but he eventually caught up to me and offered me a cigarette. I ignored him at first, but he repeated it louder and shoved it in front of me. I turned him down several times before he asked me why I didn't smoke. I told him that "I never picked up the habit for health reasons" - thinking I was witty as ever.

He asked where I lived, and I told him "clearly not here - or at least, not permanently." Again, thinking I was being witty. He asked where I was going, and I said "the tube" which was in eye's distance by now. He asked if I wanted to go to his hotel, and I said "no, thanks" and tried to pick up my pace some more. He told me he could show me a good time, and I replied "I'm not interested. I have a boyfriend, and I'm very loyal to him. I don't think he would appreciate that, and I would NEVER do that to him." He said "oh, you don't have a boyfriend! Don't make up a pretend boyfriend. He's not real! Come with me!!" I told him "no, I'm busy, and I have no interest in going anywhere with you or doing anything with you." I started to walk into the Old Street tube entrance, and he grabbed my hand telling me to go with him. I pulled my hand away immediately (YAY! Self Defense for Women PEDU 101 came in handy!!), and I told him to leave me alone.

He walked away, and I went down the ramp to find that the Old Street tube stop wouldn't open for another 20 minutes. It would take that long, if not longer, to walk to the nearest open tube stop, so I decided to wait near the gate. So, of course the guy shows up again. He said "you're still here?" I didn't respond, so he responded with "looks like the tube isn't open. You should just come with me. It'll be fun." I turned to him and said "No. I'm seriously not interested. Leave me alone!"

He must have finally gotten the hint because he left. I took the tube back to my room once it opened, grabbed a shower and my bags, and took the next tube to Baker Street to get on the coach for a 4 hour ride to York.

It was a long morning.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

Yesterday we went to check out the Sherlock Museum, and today we went to King's Cross. Here are a couple of pictures from both of those events!

We also tried to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace today, but we didn't get to see much because the crowd was so large. My train in from Wembley stopped randomly on the tracks while I was on it, so I ended up meeting with my friends a little late, but apparently everyone was late except for Julia. We couldn't find them at the station, so we went down to Buckingham Palace and happened to run into them in the middle of the crowd! It was crazy! However, because we were running late, we didn't get to see much.

After that we went to the market that we were shown on our second day. I ended up getting some goat's milk ice cream that was absolutely delicious! Anna, Melanie, and I decided to go to King's Cross for Platform 9 3/4 while everyone else went back to their dorms. It was alot of fun, but now it's time to pack for our weekend trip.

I probably won't post anything until Monday since I'm going out tonight, and tomorrow I leave for York at 7:30 AM. We don't get back until late Sunday night, but you should expect pictures from the trip then!

[sam-scstudyabroad]

London is much colder than usual today.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

Here are some photos from Regent's Park and Soho!

[sam-scstudyabroad]

Today we went to the English Rose Garden in Regent's Park for an inspiration workshop for class. I absolutely love it there! I would venture to say it's my all time favorite part of London. This is a video I took right before I did some stream of consciousness writing. I'll post more photos from the garden soon.

After class, Anna and I roamed around Soho, which is pretty much the Gay/Italian/Chinese capital of London. Once again, it's another one of my favorites. We wandered into different shops that ranged from astrology shops to super girly and upscale boutiques. I loved all the rainbow flags everywhere.

We called it an early night tonight since everyone else has homework due tomorrow. My only homework is to work on a step outline for my short story, but it isn't due until Monday now apparently. So here I am, sitting in my flat in Wembley, listening to the rain falling and the trains coming into the station right outside my window at a decent hour.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

Today I got an Oyster Card!

BEAR WITH ME!

Sorry this is so dark - I've been getting home past sun down, so my light is gone from my room.

Also, I tried to shorten this, but clearly failed to still make it down to the proper time limit for tumblr, so it's on youtube.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

First day of class was today!

In order to get to my campus, I need to take the Metro line for 2 stops and change to Bakerloo for 2 stops. That's the fastest way. However, the Metro was down this morning for maintenance, so we had to take the Jubilee line, which takes 9 stops before we change to Bakerloo for 2 stops. Well, Bakerloo had a suspended car on the tracks, so we really had to get creative with the tube this morning. On the bright side, we planned ahead for this, so we arrived at Westminster right on time.

We had orientation in the Old Cinema, which is absolutely beautiful. I prefer the more historical aspects of London. Orientation was very similar to everything that USC did for their study abroad orientation. We had an awkward 30 minute break in between orientation and lunch, so they let us roam around the streets of London for a bit. We walked down to the BBC building and took pictures with it before we had to walk back.

We walked down to the Cavendish campus as a group since that's where almost everyone's classes are. The Cavendish campus is newer, but it's still nice. There are about 6 people in my Creative Writing class, and they all seem pretty interesting. We're doing alot of inspiration workshops around London for class, which I'm really excited about! I'm definitely a big fan of the more hippie, organic approach to learning. Fergus, our teacher, explained to us how creative writing can't be structured and anything can be inspirational. He's hoping that this experience abroad will inspire us to write things outside of the assignment to expand our portfolios. He wants us to hand in anything we write even though it won't all be graded. I'm debating handing in my handwritten journal that I jot things down in - mainly because a majority of it is stream of consciousness writing. Perhaps I'll type up and print out the things I actually feel comfortable sharing. 

ANYWAYS!

After class, Melanie, Julia, Deborah, Chloé, Rachel, Anna, and I went down to the National Gallery.

It's a free museum in London. It was fun, but by the end of it we were exhausted. We ended up going to a pub near the International House to celebrate the survival of our first day. 

In all, I think today was very successful. I think I'm getting the hang of this London thing.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

Here are some pictures from the South Bank of London!

We went on the Eye today and walked around the South Bank of London.

I met the one person in my building who is also in my program. Her name is Shana, and she's from Belgium. Apparently our building is the only one without free wifi, bedding, towels, and housekeeping. I think it has something to do with the fact that the other buildings are run by the university itself whereas our building is the equivalent to say University Oaks or Aspyre or something at USC. It's essentially off campus housing. We're also the only ones not in Central London, which is really disappointing because everyone is very close together with only a 2 minute tube ride whereas we have a 40 minute tube ride. However, we are really close to the Olympics, which should prove to be interesting.

I definitely feel alot better now that I've met other people in the group, regardless if they live in the same building or not. It's going to be a good summer now that I have a better understanding that I'm not completely on my own in some foreign country. We had a bonding moment and got in a conversation earlier about deep fried oreos, so apparently now I'm going to be making them for the group. I guess I have to thank LaTisha for showing me how to make them a couple weeks ago!

I really loved the South Bank though! It's very busy, but it's busy in a good way. There were alot of theatres and pubs along the Thames river. It was lovely.

[sam-scstudyabroad]

I decided not to edit this video and instead just put it on youtube. Sorry about that!

This was a video from my first day yesterday.

I met my flatmate Aleks. She's from Russia, and she's been here since January apparently. She was just out all day which is why I didn't see her at all. My other flatmates are from China and Pakistan, but they aren't in my program and don't seem interested in socializing at all. Aleks showed me around Wembley a bit before attempting to find a pub with me. I had my first meal: fish and chips with a pint of cider. It was wonderful!

I bought internet this morning. It ended up costing me about $60 USD plus I had to buy a cat5e cable because they don't have wifi in my building. I still don't have sheets or a pillow, but that's ok because at least now I can google places that I need to be for that day before getting lost in London.

I'll tell you more about today in a separate post with pictures since this is supposed to be more about yesterday when I didn't have internet.