around town

Hello again! Thank you for all the comments (boys!) I've finally had my first full week of class... and it's way more relaxed than anything at UCLA. That may be due to the fact that I have class for a maximum of 3 hrs a day (and that's only for two days out of the week), and that most of the material is G.E. stuff and not 500 pages about hormones and formulas about physics. X_x

Some fun highlights:
On Friday, Danielle and I took a walk since we end class before lunch. We wandered up to King's Cross, where platform 9 and 3/4 is, and being the tourists we are, took pictures! Unfortunately, everyone around us was busy catching their trains so we had to take pictures all by our lonesomes.



Today, we went to HARRODS!!! I know I was raving about Topshop, but this is THE shopper's heaven! Our tour guide said you can get anything you want from Harrods- some rich person ordered an elephant there once! Back then, they had lion cubs for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, they have a year-round room FULL of Christmas trees, ornaments, and decorations! *_* All of their rooms have themes (twas like a museum!): the Egyptian room, the Room of Luxury (I and II), the Gothic Room, Bridal Room... and lots more! The toy FLOOR is amazing too- little hummers, mercedes, and pirate ships! The stuffed animal room was so cute too! :) On the bottom floor are the FOOD HALLS! I seriously felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. All the chocolates were so pretty and delicate, the desserts looked SO YUMMY!!! (and were afforable too O_O). I'm definately coming back for Christmas... hopefully I won't get squashed in the crowds!

Shelley and the pirate ship ($12,000!) That's a lotta booty.
Paddington Bear :) my fave
the fridge I want someday

Other tidbits:

• I got tickets to WICKED!!! :) It was so easy... we just walked up to the box office and go them. No rushing or frantically typing on Ticketmaster. I'm so excited about all the musicals here... Phantom and Mamma Mia are the ones I also really want to see.
  
• We got to see Medea at this teeny theater on Wednesday. Apparently I was one of the few that stayed awake. It was soooo strange and had a Japanese twist to it. O_o We get to go to the Globe and stand in the pit for two more plays!
• Traffic: I've almost gotten run over ten times. They drive on the right side of the car AND the opposite side of the road. It's really helpful that they have LOOK LEFT/RIGHT signs on the ground. What's weird is that the cars here actually go faster when they see you run across the street instead of slowing down...
• Grocery shopping: Since we don't get fed :( we have go buy our own food from the market. The concept of Costco is foreign here- everything's in small packages! There's no preservatives in any of the food, so you have to eat it in a couple days. I find myself going to the market every 3 days. What I'm living on right now: pesto topped hommous, digestive cookies, NUTELLA and muffins (because apparently it's common knowledge they're English), spaghetti.
  
• Chinatown: It smells like the one at home!!! haha... I found that really funny and comforting almost. I trekked down there for a bottle of soy sauce. Bok choy = Pak choy here and is ridiculously expensive. I'm feeling like a homeless person! :(
  
• Marks and Spencers: This really ritzy grocery store (reminds me of Bristol Farms at home). Outside it said they sold women's lingere... but it's a food store?! So I explored inside and went to the pasta aisle. When I did a 180, I found myself staring at a hot pink bra! I guess the English really do fancy a wide variety of products in one location. But I'm definately going back there for the chocolates
• TV: So we do have more channels than BBC1 and BBC2, but still only 5 channels total. I LOVE the commericals here, they're just as (or even more) entertaining than the real program. Some favorites as of now incude the X Factor (like American Idol- Simon's a judge), How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? (singing competition to find out who will be the new Maria in the Sound of music, they do the "So Long, Farewell" bit after someone's eliminated!). They really love American shows here, the OC and Friends are really popular and reality TV. I've discovered how to download my Project Runway episodes and hopefully will be able to do the same for Grey's! woohoo!
• Deals: Pheobe, Danielle, Shelley, and I literally RAN down to Sports Cafe and got 50 wings for 5 pounds! AMAZING! We were like carnivores after looking at all our bones! And you know how many napkins I use... but this time only ONE napkin! :)

That's it for now... I know it's really sad that I'm sitting here on Saturday night typing here. I've had a cold for the past week. Sad that two nights of going out has put me out of comission so far? Hopefully all the tea and medicine I'm taking will work soon!