tubularrrr, braaaa!

so much has happened in the past few days that i haven't had much time to blog to your hearts' desires. sorry, chaps! udpates galore:

on tuesday night, we had the usc orientation dinner at wagamama's, a trendy asian fusion place in central london. i had ginger chicken noodles, which were quite tasty, as well as my first legal drink here--tiger beer! as i gorged, i chatted with other trojans and commiserated about the beastly weather and expense of london. thankfully, usc paid for our dinner! and theater tickets!

after dinner, we walked a little bit around piccadilly circus, and saw an unseemly amount of sex/adult/xxx shops, which was quite amusing and unexpected. we were freezing our bums off, though, so we hustled into the criterion theatre (opened in 1874, no less!) to watch a parody of alfred hitchcock's film "the 39 steps". it was quite a laugh, indeed!

then, of course, we had to hit a pub. oh cripes, i've forgotten the name of it. it was my first pub drink, too! i clearly wasn't in the blogging mindset. anyways, i got a half pint of hoegaarden (belgian beer, not that great actually) and downed it because i was insensibly thirsty.

i was chatting with my friend beryl, when a very ugly 40-something man from vancouver approached us. he introduced himself (forgot the name), and then to his two fat forty-something friends from manchester. they started hitting on us hardcore, which was REALLY creepy since they were twice our age, and telling beryl she should model (she's gorgeous). it was very unpleasant, and as we tried to ooch away i heard them drunkenly murmuring "garrrrr, scared them off!". yes, they were piratey. luckily this is not just a cultural difference that we're not used to. the bartender (who had HUGE spacers, btw) kept shooting me sympathetic glances and shaking his head. at least we know not all brits are creeper mcgillicuddies.

anywho, that night had been my first time on the tube this trip! it's quite convenient, actually, though expensive. i put twenty pounds on my oyster card, and today i'm down to about 10. but, that includes yesterday's excusions! read on.

as you may have read, chris (my british flatmate) offered to take me into camden town yesterday. i was very excited to go, since that's where davius spent his semester last year, and happily followed chris to the tube station. first we went to oxford street (shopping like whoa) and went into primark. he wanted to buy a lot of stuff, but didn't find anything. i wanted to go crazy in there, but didn't want to have to drag him around, so i practiced extreme self control and only got three necessary things (sweaters, raincoat, etc). primark is awesomely cheap, but doesn't have dressing rooms, so i blindly bought the goods (upon coming home, i tried the things on and they were very weird, so i'm going back this weekend to return them and spend hours in the store sans chris).

then, he very kindly agreed to help me find a british phone. i got one for a tenner at t-mobile, pay-as-you-go. hooray. (boring)

we took the tube again to camden, which was very cool indeed. there were multiple outdoor markets, selling band shirts, shoes, hemp, punk gear, sex crap, vintage clothes, smoking paraphernalia, everything! we walked around for about an hour, looking at all the hardcore punks and making "your mum" jokes. he then insisted that i try kaBAB (not kabob, apparently), which was tasty as hell and very satisfying. we then tubed and bused it back to campus! i was really glad he was taking me, since i'm still very much a transportation n00b.

upon getting home, i had to quickly get ready for our boat tour of the thames! i met up with beryl, walter and mike (flatmates), and our friend nick, and our hapless group of course took the wrong tube. we were starting to panic that we'd miss the boat, but made it just in the nick of time! we also met another study abroader, erica, on the tube and quickly befriended her.

the boat ride itself was really funny. there was no tour, it just went up and down the river multiple times. the promised dinner ended up being an ice-cold buffet (chilly samosas? frosty chicken? thanks, england), but the dj and dance floor definitely made up for it. we danced for hours, and made friends with this jamaican guy who kept coming over to dance with us. jolly good fun, indeed! ah, and here are some craplicious blurry photos to show you--sorry for the quality. they were taken from the inside of a moving boat, have mercy.

beryl + me recovering after dancing

PRIME MERIDIAN, YO!

london bridge!

cool hospital

london architecture > la architecture

the eye of london!

unidentified sweet building

snap its the palace!

hai big ben!

another big ben/palace photo

well, i suppose i could tell you about my classes, too, since i've had two more since my last post. but, not today! i have to scarf lunch and head off to modern irish writing. tonight apparently we're all getting toasted, going to get some curry at brick lane, then doing karaoke.

uh ohhhhhh,
lilly