Christmas in England 2010

Here are some photos from Christmas 2010.  I spent the holiday with my lovely friend Roxanne (that's her in the second photo with me) and her family in a village called Woodhouse Eaves (how cute it that!!) which is in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire, England.  They were fabulous hosts!  We went for the traditional British walk in the woods on Christmas morning and then went to the pub on Boxing Day.  It was lovely, and as you will see, very snowy!!

Christmas at Westminster

Here are a couple of photos of the Christmas tree at Westminster, with Westminster Tower (aka Big Ben) in the background.  It is a very simple tree, but I think that is why I like it so much.  These pictures will also give you a sense of how dark it is in London in the winter.  I took these at around 3:30 this afternoon.

London's First Snow of the Season

It has been horribly cold in London for the past few weeks, and this week, before December had even arrived, we got our first snow.  Here are some pictures that I took in my neighborhood and while I was out and about.  However cold it may look, please know that it is so much colder than that!

Thanksgiving in London

While I did have to work on Thanksgiving, I also managed to get some of my new British friends to come out and enjoy their first Thanksgiving meal.  We went to the Texas Embassy Cantina in Trafalgar Square, where we had one of the worst Thanksgiving meals I have every had.  They loved it!!  Here are some pictures of our Turkeyday celebration.  While the food was bad, the drinks were strong and the company was excellent!  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Remembrance Sunday

Last Sunday was Remembrance Sunday in the UK, which honors those killed in combat since World War I.  As many of the know the Brits wear poppies to honor the holiday.  I was a proud poppy wearing American for several weeks!  Here are some photos I took at Westminister Cathedral (incidentally this location is the odds on favorite for the royal wedding).

Lord Mayor's Show

Sorry, I was having some technical difficulties (in addition to being a slacker) so there will be several posts today.

Last weekend I went to the Lord Mayor's Show.  This is where the ceremonial mayor of London arrives at the Courts of Justice to swear allegiance to the Queen.  This is an 800 year old trandition and basically results in a big parade that goes right past LSE.  It was fun!

Can You Fix This Lamppost?

This is perhaps my favorite sign I have seen in London thus far.  Apparently someone was so concerned about this lamppost not working that they called the Westminster Council.  The Westminster Council was so concerned that they had someone go out and put this lovely sign on the post.  Thus far nobody has been  concerned enough to fix the lamppost, however, becuase it still doesn't work.

Department for Education in London

This posting is for all of my friends who work in education policy.  I have started walking a new route to school and it takes me right by the offices of the Department for Education.  You will see from the pictures below that it looks a little bit different than than big, gray monstrosity that many of us worked at in DC.  And even though they are located in the heart of London, I would bet they still have a bigger parking garage than we did at the US Department of Education.

Amanda's version of hell!

So most of you know that Christmas is not my favorite holiday, but generally I try to be a good sport about it once December arrives.  Well, turns out when you live in a country without a major holiday between Halloween and Christmas (like, say, Thanksgiving) they start celebrating REALLY early!!!!  Last week some towns switched on their Christmas lights (on November 3!!!!) and most department stores are fully decked out for Christmas.  I thought I had moved to London, but turns out I now reside in Santaland.

Oh TV, How I Have Missed You!

It has been almost two months since I have had access to television, so I am happy to report that we finally got the TV installed yesterday.  I am confused to report, however, that the phone will take another few weeks and then, by law, we will need to wait at least an additional five days for Internet access.  I am not sure about the specific perils associatied with timely access to myriad forms of telecommunications but apparently the British have some concerns.  Hopefully the full package of services offered by Sky will be availible before I graduate.   You will also want to marvel at the size of my tiny, tiny new TV.

And Here Is My Street...

Pictures of the London Flat

By popular demand, here are some photos of my flat in London.

The Flat Has Furniture!

We finally had our furniture delivered this week!  Most of it is cheesy corporate stuff, but I am very happy to have a bed.  We are still getting everything settled so more pictures will be forthcoming.   In the meantime here is a picture of my tiny bedroom.  You know you are jealous of the 70's style mirrored closet doors!!

European Security Alert

I have been slack in my postings lately so I have lots to report today.  As some of you may have heard there is an increased security alert in Europe right now because of the threat of terrorist attacks.  My route to school takes me right by Downing Street and Westminister and let me tell you I can definitely tell that there is more security around.  I literally pass a police officer about every three feet.  Last night the "unarmed" British police had their machine guns on full display in front of Downing Street.  It may just have been a shift change, but it was an unexpected sight in the UK.  I didn't dare take a picture of the cops, so a picture of the Downing Street sign was the best I could do.

First Week of Classes and a Lecture With Ingrid Betancourt

Classes have started this week and it is all a little overwhelming.  I think I have a good handle on my required Political Sociology course, but I am also taking a Political Communications course and hoping to get into Comparative Politics in Europe.  The classes don't have the same sort of Mon, Wed, Fri or Tues, Thurs structure as we do in the States so it is sometimes hard to keep straight when you are supposed to be where.  The courses typically have both a seminar and a lecture, and then sometimes a supplementary lecture that is not required but recommended.  Or the professor recommends that students attend a 200 level course that is optional but will help you prepare for the following week's lecture.  It is all rather confusing at this point. 

LSE also offers an amazing lecture program that is totally optional and not connected with any class.  Most of the time it is free, but ocassionally you have to pay for tickets.  Last night I went to a lecture by Ingrid Betancourt  She is the woman who was running for President in Colombia in 2002 when she was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas.  She was held for six and a half years before she was rescued by the Colombian government.   She has now written a book about the experience.  It was an amazing talk, and let me tell you it made me feel pretty stupid for complaining about have to sleep on the floor for a few weeks.  Tonight I am going to another lecture about Gordon Brown's time at 10 Downing Street.  Clearly we still have no TV so I have lots of time to kill!

The Southbank

Yesterday was another big walking day.  I walked across the Thames on Vauxhall Bridge (which is near my flat) and then walked along the Thames River path all the way to London Bridge.  This route takes you past Westminster and Big Ben, the London Eye, the Globe Theater, Burrough Market and the Tower of London.  I then walked past St. Paul's Cathedral.  It took about 5 hours, but I got to see lots of London.  Here are some pictures of the journey.

Classes start tomorrow and furniture gets delivered on Tuesday.  Yeah!  It occured to me this morning that it has been more than a month since I have slept on a real mattress.  Remind me again why I thought this was a good idea ;)

Orientation and the day I met my first Lord

It has been an eventful week!  We had our overall LSE orientation on Monday and then the orientation for my particular degree program on Wednesday.  At the overall LSE orientation I found out the answers the several questions people have been asking me over the past few months so I will just list some of them out (this is mostly for Krisann, who likes numbers, so if you find this sort of thing boring please feel free to skip to the next paragraph):

LSE has about 8,600 full time students and 800 part timers.
55% of all students are graduate students. 
There are 125 different grad programs at LSE 
70% of all students are from outside the UK (I swear I hear an American accent more than any other)
LSE has the largest academic social science library in the world
The LSE' student union campaign this year is the anti-Tory "Freeze the Fees" campaign to stifle the free market and allow all students (even those who can afford to pay) a virtually free education.  Not surprisingly, I have declined to join despite being diretly asked by the head of the union to do so).

While the Sociology Department has hundreds of students (we had a nice little wine and cheese reception following our orientation), my program is only about 20 people.  We have one mandatory course and then we can choose what amounts to an additional two full time courses (or 4 part time units).  This sounded pretty easy to me until I was given a 60 page reading list for the required course.  Yes, people, I do mean the list of the titles of the books, papers and articles (excluding their actual content) amounts to 60 pages.  I think I am going to need new eyes, and potentially a new brain to pull this off.  Our first lecture is on Monday.  We were also asked to identify potential topics for our thesis.  Um, yeah, I'll get back to you on that.

Today was also the day I met my first Member of the House of Lords.  I just got back from a lecture by Lord Roy Hattersley on a book he has written about the former British Prime Minister Lloyd George.  I am a totally political dork, but I must admit I found it very enjoyable!  I now know more about British politics in the early 1900s than any good American should.

Oh, and I also managed to set up a British bank account today.  If only that Direct Loan check with all those dollars from the Treasury would come through all would be right with the world!

Violence in London

Oh, and I also need to report on witnessing my first incidence of violence in London.  Does it involve two young, drunken Brit youths on a Saturday evening outside of the pub, you may be asking yourself?  Well, actually, no.  It involved two women in their 20s outside a convenience store on a Saturday morning.  I was minding my own business while walking down the street when I hear these two women start yelling at each other.  I can't really understand what they are saying and wasn't really paying to much attention.  They are walking in front of me and appear to be going into a convenience store, where I assume the argument will end.  Oh was I wrong.  Suddenly one of the girls grabs the other by the hair and throws her to the ground, where she continues to pull her hair.  She is screaming something about, "don't ever talk to me about my kids."  Some woman in a car starts screaming that the girls should stop fighting and then looks at me like I should be doing something.  The hair pulling girl didn't hang around for long after that, but I did feel badly for not doing more to help (although I am sure the intervention of the American grad student would not have done much to help).  It was surreal to say the least!  The following photo has no real connection to this story except that it is the view of the Thames that you get if you walk about 7 minutes from the flat.  It just so happens I was going to take this picture when the Saturday morning violence broke out.

Monday, September 27

So it has been a rough couple of days.  I had to move out of my temporary housing and relocate to new temporary housing since the new flat was not ready.  I went from a single room by myself with a shared bathroom to a cell like room with 9 other girls and a shared bathroom on another floor.  This is a lesson in being grateful what you have because always remember you may need to relocate to what amounts to a minimum security prison in the heart of London.

At any rate, my flat should be ready to move into tomorrow and I am THRILLED!!!!!

I was able to do a bit of siteseeing over the weekend.  I explored Regent's Park, which may have just knocked Hyde Park back to my second favorite green space in London.  It was beautiful!!

I was also able to go on the tour of Buckingham Palace (this tour is only available in August and September when the Queen is away).  It was amazing.  Buckingham Palace puts the White House and Versailles to shame.  It is fabulous!  Everything is immaculate and incredibly well maintained.  There is not a frayed carpet or mismatched piece of wallpaper in the entire place.  Here is the view of Buckingham Palace from the back entrance (something you don't see every day).

LSE Registration Day

So today was registration day (despite the fact that the bag says orientation that doesn't happen until next week).  Registration is a bit different in the UK as it has nothing to do with selecting classes.  They just made a copy of my visa and gave me a student ID (which is handy as I can use it for student discounts, get into the library and pre-load it with cash for campus expenses).  You have to sit down with your advisor before you can register for classes so hopefully that will happen in the next few weeks.

Sadly everything is not going smoothly with the new flat.  Despite being willing to pay six months of rent in advance (because you can't pass the UK background check without a UK credit history) we have been delayed in moving in.  I am now going to have to move from my current temporary housing to new temporary housing.  Hopefully we will get everthing settled over the weekend.  Ughhhh!!!

Tomorrow I plan to go on the tour of Buckingham Palace.  Stay tuned for pictures and details!

Some Non School Related Reading I Purchased Yesterday

If you don't know who Jeremy Clarkson is, you must find out immediately!  Go out and buy one of his books or DVDs now!!!!

Wed, Sept. 22

So today was a big walking day for me!  I walked from the place where I am staying (near the Angel tube stop on the Northern line) to school (the Holborn stop on the Central line).  Then I walked down Oxford Street (a big shopping zone that caters to normal people rather than Regent Street, which is like 5th Avenue in NYC).  I, of course, bought a few things on the way (including jeggings, which are a cross between jeans and leggings.  Let's see if I am brave enough to wear them).  I then had lunch in Hyde Park (a lovely pre-made sandwich from the grocery store and some British blackberries I bought from the local vendor near school).  It was a beautiful day in London today.  The temperature was in the lower 70s and sunny.  After lunch I continued to stalk Tony Blair (if M15 is reading this, I am just kidding!) and walked by his house.  As an aside, this is one of the times that security can really work against you.  I would have had no idea which house was his (I just knew the street name), except that there were two armed guards posted outside.  A bit of a chatch-22 there!  I then walked from the Marble Arch tube station back to Angel.  Check out a tube map.  This is a long way!

I realized I forgot to tell y'all a few things in my last post.  I have had several interesting encounters that involve the British and their drinking culture.  On my first day in the UK I ran into a man walking down the street drinking from a nearly empty bottle of vodka.  While this guy did not look like a businessman, he was also clearly not homeless. He seemed content with his bottle and just walked on by. That same day I also saw a man (who may have been homeless, or "sleeping rough" as the British say) nearly get hit by a car as he meandered down the street).  He yelled a little, but then basically continued on his way.  My most recent experience occured on Sunday night when I was sitting at a pub.  I was alone at a table for four (my room is not a good place to hang out and a pub only requires you to buy one drink to get a table) when a Russian man with a pint of vodka and some kind of mixer in a bottle asked if he could sit down.  It was clear he was a little worse for wear, but I said sure (it is not uncommon for people to ask to join your table).  Almost immediately he asked me if I would like to move to Russia and  bear his children.  I kid you not, he asked me about 50 times.  Finally, there were two guys sitting at a table next to us so I just moved to their table.  I told them to just ignore me, but I needed to move.  One of the guys said he had been about ready to ask if he could join my table in order to save me from the Russian.  These guys were really nice and even bought me a drink.

Essentially I guess I am saying there are both good and bad sides to the UK drinking culture, but overall it is good to be in London!

Buckingham Palace

Busy London Street

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Ok, so I am new to this blogging thing, but I thought I should chronicle my adventures in London for all my friends and family. I have now been in London for a week and I am ready to be done with my temporary housing in North London. It's in a great neighborhood (Islington) but the walls are thin and a large group of boisterous Germans arrived late last night. It's a good thing I found a flat yesterday. It is in a lovely part of town (Pimlico) which is fairly quiet but still has a ton of restuarants and shops. It is also near Victoria station, which makes cheap flights to Europe highly accessible. I will send pictures once we get settled.

I have a couple of funny stories from the last week that I wanted to share:

Tuesday, Sept. 14 -- this was the first day I arrived in London and it was basically a blur. My only advice is never try to travel by yourself with six suitcases...espeically through Heathrow airport.

Thurs, Sept. 16 -- I got my UK cell phone. I have never thought of myself as a phone person, but it was positively giddy.

Fri, Sept. 17 -- I explored Hyde Park in advance of the Pope's visit. It was much more enjoyable without the 100,000 people who showed up on Saturday.

Sat, Sept. 18 -- I saw Harriet Harman outside the Pimlico tube station. For those of you who are not UK political junkies, she is the acting Leader of the Opposition. It was very random! I had my second celebrity citing of the day in Chelsea when the Duchess of Cornwall's motorcade came by. The DoC is also know as Camilla, Price Charles' wife.

Sun, Sept. 19 -- I decided to make my way to the Fulham Broadway neighborhood to check it out. When I got on the train I noticed a ton of people were wearing bright blue. It turns out their was a soccer game between Chelsea (blue) and Blackpool (orange) and that the stadium was located at Fulham Broadway. Midway through the journey on the tube the Blackpool fans started chanting and jumping up and down so much it actually rocked the cars. The was my first time experiencing the British love of football in person. It was frenetic to say the least.

OK, that is all for now. I will try to make these shorter and more frequent in the future!