Seeing Eye Dogs, The Awkward Moment When, and Other Random Happenings of the Day

BA Word of the Day (with pictures again!):  Walker's/Lay's

In the UK, they are crisps and they are Walker's



In the US, they are chips, they are Lay's and they don't have gross pork flavors/flavours.

 Howdy y'all! I hope everyone has had a lovely week. Ok, let's talk about me now ;) This week has been.... interesting to say the least. Especially today. So Monday... I think that's when I did my most recent blog post. Ok moving on to Tuesday... I don't really remember much about Tuesday. I went to class, but that's all I remember. Oh and it was twin day for me and Matt (he's the student liaison aka RA for Greenview Court).Wednesday. I went to class (as usual) and then went to see “She Stoods to Conquer” which was excellently performed at the Olivier in the National Theatre. Unfortunately I 
didn't get any pictures because my camera was being fussy.

Thursday I went to my internship, came home, and hung out in the hallway. Oh yea, AND I got my ticket for Singing in the Rain! For Free! Thanks to London Met study abroad people! Other excitement for Thursday included the electricity going out in first floor B wing (not me thank goodness) and almost ordering pizza in a thick southern American accent, but then deciding not to because I would have laughed too much.

 So today I went to my internship, did a little work, and then mapped out how to get to Piccadilly Circus. Surprisingly enough, to get to Piccadilly from my internship, bus 38 takes me part of the way (which happens to be the route the new bus is running!). So I decided to head over to Piccadilly Circus for the heck of it. I didn't get the new 38 bus that time. But, once I did get to Piccadilly Circus, I saw a clown and had a lovely chat with a charity worker that was trying to get money or word of mouth advertising or whatever from people. He asked me about myself and I told him about the charity work I do back home. And then he told me about the charity he works for, which had something to do with helping blind people get seeing-eye dogs. Our conversation actually put me in a really good mood! Oh, and this picture is a fish made out of copper that I saw today. Took a picture of it for dad since it would be really cool to make

  And then I decided to venture over to Chinatown... And I got lost :) But not so lost that I couldn't find a bus home.

 But before going home, I had to stop in the National Portrait Gallery. Nothing too exciting. Just a bunch of people in paintings staring at me. It was pretty cool to see all of the art movements that I know about represented solely in portraits. You could see all of the changes that went on over time in art reflected in how the portraits of different time periods were done. 

 And then I thought it would be cool to just walk around a bit and try to find a stop with a bus that took me straight home. On the way I walked by the theatre that is showing Singing in the Rain and this one man band was playing in front of it.

 So I gave up on the whole walking around business and missed three buses that could have taken me to a stop that I could get home from. Oh, and I grabbed some gelato as well :D yum!

 Then, by some miracle, after having forgotten about my mission to ride the new bus... It happened to show up at my stop! I couldn't believe it! In fact, I was so excited that I could hardly even get any good pictures. How does someone happen to miss three buses that could have gotten her to where she needed to go, only to find the one bus in all of London that she actually wanted to ride? Seriously, it was fate.

 Oh, and the bus was so crowded. There was hardly a seat available. And it smelled because everyone was sweaty smelling from being on a crowded bus. It felt really cramped. The bus has two sets of stairs, three entrances where you can tap on, and a cool guy monitoring the hop on hop off back part of the bus.

 And then, like a dumb butt, I got off the bus after two stops because I didn't know where the bus was going. Even after I had made a master plan before leaving my internship to take the 38 home from Piccadilly. And now, I would like to present to you, The Awkward Moment When... series:
The awkward moment when you start taking pictures in a bus full of people. 
The awkward moment when you climb up the stares just to go back down the stairs after one stop. 
The awkward moment when you get off the bus that would have taken you to where you needed to go. 
The awkward moment when the combination of excitement from riding the new bus and realization of your dumb mistake cause you to be unable to sit down while waiting for another bus, thus you pace like an idiot because there is nowhere good to stand. The awkward moment when people look at you funny for boarding the same number bus that you got off of a few minutes ago. 
The awkward moment when you look out the window of the bus, eye level to someone's apartment, and see them standing right in the window in tight green briefs... and then you laugh out loud.
Yea... moral of the story, premature departure from the coolest bus around sucks. And is hilarious in hindsight.

 After all of that, I made it to Angel Station bus stop, only to find that I was going to have to wait 10 minutes for my bus. So, I decided that I wanted to go to the candy store just up some stairs and get something while I waited for the bus.
Hoping to find some Cadbury chocolates or something else British, I walk in to see a store half full of American candies, chocolates, and sodas and half full of sweets from other countries... yea. Just my luck. I go in looking for a cultural experience and I walk into an American candy store. Believe it or not, I walked in and heard the guy say "Sorry, I don't have any more Skittles. I'm sold out." I think that will be the only time I hear that in my life. Seriously though, I couldn't believe all of the things that we have in the US that they don't get over here.

 But, there were some pretty funny names of sodas from other countries (at least I think they are from other countries) such as Fukola Cola. Hehehehe!

Oh, and they had Duff (not beer) energy drink. I never even thought about the fact that they probably don't have grape soda over here.

And, my true love, which I believe I mentioned missing quite a bit in an earlier blog:  Barq's Root Beer. Ahhhhhh! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I paid the equivalent of $2 for a can of Barq's Root Beer. And I enjoyed every bit of it. 

Additionally, I had a conversation with a couple of guys in the store asking about some of the things they don't get that they can only get at this store. Unfortunately, one of them came in for Skittles. Then one of the guys said, "This is our opportunity to be tourists right in our own neighborhood. This store always has interesting stuff and I see something new every time."Oh, and some of the prices are outrageous. I was thinking, "How cool would it be to send giant Reese's cups to Zach from London?" and then I thought, "Nah, he could get at least 3 of those packets of giant Reese's for how much it would cost to buy one and pay for shipping." Oh, and if you want a Reese's little peanut butter egg this Easter, they cost the equivalent of $1.50 here. 

 AND! And, if you want some Lucky Charms for breakfast while in London, prepare to pay the equivalent of over $10 for one box. ONE BOX. $10. Yea. There were also Pop Tarts and other things I forgot I missed.


















That was pretty much it for the excitement of the day. Other than the smile on my face from seeing some lady get off the bus with a bag full of Barq's from the candy store. And the awkward moment when I moved seats on the bus to an open set of two seats so the lady I was sitting with could have some space, only to watch the next person that climbed to the upper deck sit next to that lady. Teeheehee!

 And the awkward moment when this is your bus stop and the bus can't get around the traffic for a solid five minutes but the driver won't let you prematurely depart. This wasn't my bus stop, but I feel bad for the people that did need this stop.

So I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! My weekend plans include St. Patty's Day events all weekend and maybe a pint of Guinness if I'm up for it (but I'll probably take one sip and give the rest to someone else :). Have a wonderful St. Patty's Day! Until next time, Cheers!

The Short American That Can't Climb onto the Lions at Trafalgar Square and Other Adventures

Mailbox (US)

Letterbox (British)

BA Image of the Day!  Where I put my mail.


I thought "Wow the mailboxes over here look funny!" And then I realized our little blue boxes probably look pretty funny to other people.

So, how's it going everyone? It's been over a week. I'm really lazy and just couldn't be asked to write a blog post, so I didn't. Until today. Because I felt bad for not giving the readers what they deserve. You deserve something to do while you procrastinate on work and school projects and such (with a little bit of culture built in ;) I gave you guys a little something to look for if you are ever in Camden Market. A little shameless self promotion never hurt either :)

I was serious when I said I will probably have a picture of
St. Paul's Cathedral at every angle by the end of this trip.

I didn't really do a whole whole lot this week. Well, I went to Tate Modern last Monday and looked at a bunch of art that I didn't really understand, but still enjoyed. My favorite is the red cloth staircase coming out of the ceiling. And I took Chester! And of course I had to take a picture with my little man at Millennium Bridge and all.

 And I have to say, I think I'm getting pretty good at taking pictures!

I had a pretty boring week. I find that since I can just lay around and do nothing since I'm taking fewer credit hours than I typically do, I take advantage of the opportunity to lay around and do nothing (even though I am in one of the greatest cities in the world). But I went to Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill Friday evening. And I got a little lost from my friends that I came with... 

Stop looking at me, Swan!

 No, seriously Swan... Stop looking at me!


But anyways, we walked around for a long time and kinda got lost for a bit. We ended up getting to Parliament Hill just in time to see the gorgeous view of London at sunset. Unfortunately, none of the pictures we took turned out that great.

 Oh, yea, and when I got lost, this is what these people were doing once I found them. Actually, come to think of it, I don't know these people :)

 Actually, it was these people. Yea, we wrote graffiti on the wall at Camden Market while sitting on the moped seats while enjoying our dinner! This is also where my shameless self promotion went on as well.

 Oh yea, and people before us decided to help the environment by trying to make a filter like the guys in the film Biodome. However, all it did was make me sing "Makin a filter. Makin a filter" over and over again like the stoner in the film

 And today I decided to run around with one of my mates at Greenview, Connor. We went to a bunch of different sites around London for the heck of it. But we had to be back by 8pm before the Arsenal match started! First stop on the list is what I presume to be a former Banksy... but somebody had to paint over it. One of the things I really want to do while I'm over here is hunt for a bunch of Banksy street art pieces. There are a ton of them in London. And if you don't know who Banksy and Robbo are, then here is a culture learning opportunity. Look it up.

But yea, Connor and I just kinda ran around and saw some sites. This is the pirate ship I bought the other day. It's how we got around today ;)

 And we tried to get the whole Shard of Glass into one picture. These buildings in front of it are people's apartments. Gladly no cat ladies or anything ran us off. Well... actually that would have been an interesting story come to think of it.

 And I took a whole bunch of pictures of/on Tower Bridge

 And we went by the Tower of London. This is where I shop for jewelry ;) (Where the Crown Jewels are kept. Although I thought Prince William was out of the country right now ;)

 And I went to Piccadilly Circus for the first time

 And I was too short to climb onto the lions at Trafalgar Square. I didn't feel like risking the fall. So I just took a picture next to the lion's butt.

 The funny thing about this picture is that some random guy ran up to me and shoved me into the fountain. Kidding! Life would be more interesting if crazy things happened to me.

Hey, there are only 170 more days until the Olympics! I keep telling people about this video blog post that I want to do, but it never seems like the right time. Maybe I'm just too lazy. Maybe some day I will do this video and not procrastinating on doing blog posts. Then again, maybe I won't. You'll just have to wait and see! Until then, cheers!

PS a few things to amend. I changed the settings and anyone can now comment on here. Yay! And if you are looking for another ISU student blog to view, a friend of mine, Nick Pennington, is also keeping a blog. He is at Edge Hill University in Omskirk, England and offers another perspective on life in England! Check him out! http://the-england-experience.blogspot.com/

Make My Travel Plans!

BA Word of the Day:  homework. Say "I'm gonna go get some homework done" at a student accommodation in London and be prepared to get giggled at. Here, work for uni courses is called coursework or just work.

Beautiful theatre, horrible play to sit through

Hello everyone! Get ready to be disappointed because... I really didn't do anything exciting this week. Yea. It's kinda sad. I've been avoiding doing this post in hopes that something exciting would come up... but no. It's been a bit of a lazy week. I did, however, take my first train ride ever to Richmond to see a show for my theatre class. We sat in the nosebleeds and watched probably one of the most agonizing performances I have ever sat through.

Driver's Licenses from three different countries. Left, Isle of Man; Center, Indiana, USA; Right, UK. Random photo, I know

Valentine's goodies are still tasty even after a month in the mail

Yea... I'm the pimp that lives in the penthouse suite with a view

View of a school from my balcony

 Oh, and I received a lovely package of delicious goodies!

 I also discovered that I have the coolest view ever from the penthouse balcony outside my window. We watched a few horror movies Friday night here at the castle on the hill.  

Looking down on the Harringey minions

The wonderful view where I enjoyed my ice cream Southwark Cathedral

Salted Caramel Chocolate Brownie... Best. Mashup. Ever.

Yesterday I went to Borough Market and scored a ton of free samples of cheese, mushrooms, and other delicious things. I did actually pay for a little bit of food consisting of a steak sandwich and WAY too much ice cream. 

Another photo of St. Paul's

I think by the end of this trip I will have pictures of St. Paul's at every angle

And today... it's cold and rainy. Although I am watching an exciting game of rugby on tv, nothing much is going on. It's hard to get motivated to go out on such an icky day. In fact, it has come to my attention that in the month I have been here I haven't done enough.

So here's what we are going to do today. I'm gonna throw down a list of things I want to do while I'm over here in a Google Doc. I'm gonna put the link to the Google Doc below. You can go on that Google Doc and view all of my travel ideas. If there is something specific either in London, in the UK, or in Europe that you think would be cool for me to do, put it on the "Blog Viewers' Ideas" list. All edits that anyone puts will be able to be viewed on that list. Please put your name next to it as I would love to know who comes up with these great ideas! If there is something specific that you would like to see me do at a certain location (For example, Sophia might put "Take a picture of Chester the Bear watching a play"), please feel free to put that on the list. As I complete items on the list, I will put a line through it. This will be a working document that you may edit at any time. Please do not erase anything as that would be really sad for the people that have contributed to the list. Remember that grandmas and grandpas will be viewing this document, so if you write anything vulgar, it will get erased and I might hunt you down ;). Also, if you think you are a funny guy and try to erase everything, I have it backed up and will be monitoring it like a hawk.

The Link:  Clarissa's Travel Plans

I'm so excited to see everyone's ideas! If you don't have an idea to start off with, look up something crazy to do and write it. Hopefully next blog I will get to do the video I've been really wanting to do. And most importantly, maybe more things will be crossed off the list. So get to adding some good ideas! Until next time, Cheers!