First Impressions, not the Austen novel

I resent the implication, Ms. Goodrich, that you are the principle writer of this fine blog. I am technologically challenged both my distance and my aversion to all things modern. Therefore there should be some kind of learning curve to this stuff.

Let me reflect...
I didn't finish packing until the day I left. I double and triple checked things. Yet, I still forgot a bunch of random things, which now will have to come in the package of cooking things my mom is sending me. Like most of my makeup. I feel I should have some. Oh well. My natural luminance shall have to carry me through.

Our plane left at 1:30 cle time and then we flew to chicago to connect to our london flight. Bad idea. Don't fly west when you want to go east. Next to me there was a british man who looked vaguely like my Gov prof from last year. Vaguely. My favorite part of the trip was when he said after we landed. "It'll be good to get back to some good old horrible weather." This is when I suddenly realized that I would need and umbrella. Luckily, I had apparently thought of that weeks ago and packed one and forgot about it. I also watched what is, in my opinion, the worst movie made in the last 2 years. It is called "lucky you" and it rivals the marvel that is "chasing liberty". I mean this in all seriousness, it was so bad and cliche that it was funny. I mean my dad and i spent 1.5 hours laughing at how bad it was at times.

Hum what else. Everything here is so expensive. I need to find a really cheap way to feed myself, and soon. Borough market is apperntly good and is near my housing, it is sort of like eastern market with food stalls and such i think, we have something like it at home, so i'm going to go explore that saturday. apperntly celebrities shope there. i will let you know if i see anyone.

The last few days my dad and I have just kicked around London. We went for a walk to my dorm which is 2.5 miles away from the school and takes like 40 minutes to get to. The area is slightly dodgey and I shan't be walking around here at night without at least one male. Or two females. This is not to be an indication that i find women in any way inferior to men. This is the second oldest settle area of London, but now it is mostly shabby housing and a few appartment complexes. There is decent night life according to some on the nearby thoroughfares.

London is insanely busy. I am going to die because of this traffic. I keep looking the wrong way when I cross the streets, in spite of the fact almost every intersection is marked with the direction of traffic coming. today, there a man on a bike that cursed for a full minute at a cab driver that went two far through an intersection. Also, there are so many people here, i don't know what to do with myself. I feel like i am constantly walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk or something, except no one seems to be walking with any order at all. I feel like the amount of foot traffic is even worse than New York, it is really jam packed during the week, people spill out of the islands that are in the center of the street for pedestrians to use.

It is really beautiful though. We walked throughout Southwark and then over Tower Bridge past the tower of london into the heart of the financial district during our tour of the city a pied. The mixture of architectural styles from the last 400 years is quite stunning really, expecially in comparison with american cities. Washington is beautiful, but this has even more styles that are all harmonized together my their proximity and the history of the area. Baroque next to modern glass. Remnants of the devastation of the second world war are also evident in places, though this city is almost perfect, esepcially since i've seen berlin, which hasn't really been rebuilt in sections. I did see a church here that is missing almost the entire nave, only the entrance remains. The certainly could have rebuilt it, but you get the feeling they left it that to remind the future generations of what happened and what this city survived.

Today I had orientation, which was pretty much like that meeting they made us go to at georgetown in the Gym that just told you everything you would already have know if you read their orientation materials. Apparently i am the only person that does that though. Stop laughing at me right there. One of the deans was rather humorous which made it more enjoyable that I had thought.

After that, I walked with my dad to the Museum of london, which has exhibits on the city's history. I of course loved it as I have always love archeology. For your information 4pounds 36 shillings was two years salary in 1348 of the average laborer. Someone found it hidden in a wall. I wonder if i've hidden any money anywhere i've forgotten. Probably there is a pair of jeans in cleveland with 5 dollars in them.

Hey. As to Paris-we have a subsidized trip there 9-11 Nov. But, I'm willing to go sooner if you like, say the third weekend in october? I'm kind of broke so i don't know if i'll be able to go to Strasbourg as well, but i'm going to try and swing it. I would love to see the city. I guess I could see you as well. Do you know a hostel i could stay at?

Also, I miss you a lot. Bisous and hugs, Eleanor