"There they go, Horace, me lad, out for their evening constitutional. A lovely pair of turtledoves. Around the corner and off to the park..."

Went for a walk in Regent's Park today (the same spot where did meet Roger, Anita, Pongo, and Perdy, in 101 Dalmatians). It was a lovely walk, and I sat on bench and had a good read for about twenty minutes. It was quite cold though, and so I didn't linger much longer than that. It is a beautiful place to spend an afternoon, though. There are very few places in Vegas like this, but London is simply overflowing with them. On the way back, I chanced across 221 Baker street (which, like platform 9 3/4, doesn't actually exist). There is a little Sherlock Holmes museum there, but I didn't go in.

I'm quite settled in here. I've almost overcome the jet lag (we'll see; this is the first day during which I haven't fallen asleep at four in afternoon). My luggage arrived yesterday, quite the same as it had left the US, despite British Air's and Nido's repeated attempts to convince me that they were not responsible for any bad luck that had befallen it (said with a very audible wink wink over the phone, as if they had done something to it on purpose).

There is beer everywhere, and of every variety. There is a bar in the apartment complex, and a bar in both of the student union buildings. There are two pubs on every corner, and usually a few in between as well, and, according to the police, anyone is allowed to walk around on the street with an open keg, if they'd like.

Making friends here has been quite a bit easier than I'd originally feared. I spent a few days in relative loneliness, but soon struck up conversations with those within the body of bodies that is the students in the Study Abroad programme at London Met.

Yesterday, we all went on a tour of London, which seemed to be mainly concerned with who had died where, and when they had done it. In fact, the tour was so full of rapid-fire, historical morbidity, I only took in about a fifth of it. We did all the sights. I saw St. Paul's, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, Westminster clock, the houses of parliament, the Texas Embassy, London Bridge, the new London Bridge, the Eye (of London, not Sauron) Piccadilly circus, the West end, the Royal Observatory, the Tate Modern, and the like. It was a fun tour, and I made some more friends.

I start school on Tuesday, but I haven't yet made up my mind what to do with the few intervening days.

Cheers,
Brad

Day Two

Day Two was quite a lot better than day One.

For one, it was daytime, rather than pitch-black, oh-no-someone's-going-to-rape-me, night.

I figured out that I'd had the wrong idea about where the school was from the start. I did indeed find the campus the first time, I just found the wrong one. Today, I set the record straight, attended the first in a series of orientation meetings, found my classrooms, ate a real London meal (burger and chips) at, get this, "The Famous Cock" (yeah Chad, "Cock"), got my phone set up, and found the grocer's.

A good day in all, confirming once again, that (apparently unlike most Londoners) I heart the Tube, and that London is a much friendlier place than I first perceived it to be.

I also made a couple casual acquaintances today, one from Wisconsin, and one from Brazil. Good times all around.

I'll have pictures, just as soon as I can can get a computer to work with the SD Card Reader I got.

Cheers!

Well, this is the end of my first day in London.

WOW.

This place is really huge. I feel pretty out of sorts.

I guess one of the more interesting things about this trip is that I've known London in various vicarious ways for quite a long time. I've read about, watched films about, known people from the city, etc... but I've never actually been there.

So, it's interesting to me to compare what I think (or rather, thought) London was like, to what I'm actually experiencing in the here and now of things.

Some initial thoughts:

• I can't understand half of the advertising slogans, even though they're written in English.
• This place is really, really big. I'm not sure if explore even a quarter of it in the time I'm here.
• Everything seems like it was either built during WWII, or in 2045.
• I heart The Underground
• Everything is either named for what street it's on, or what they're serving up. If it's not, then it's a trendy clothing shop.
• KFC does NOT taste like KFC.

I'll have a few pictures as soon as I can get a SD reader.

Cheers!