London, or England, or Britain, or United Kingdom?

Kind of lazy but I'm going to try to write a decent post. Today, we had our first day of our Politics class. Surprisingly, it was pretty interesting. Despite having slept for only 3 hours, and this class being 3 hours long (which I normally can't handle), I stayed awake the whole time! We spent the first hour or so talking about British culture. And I learned several interesting things:

- The ideas of what the difference is between London, Britain, England, the United Kingdom
- That London is one of the most multicultural cities in the world
- That Britain is also now one of the most irreligious places, which surprised me because all the history I ever learned about Britain has been about its wars over religion
- One of the most tolerant towards gays / lesbians
- The definition of being "Asian" here is completely opposite the U.S. - "Asians" are referred to as people from the subcontinent of India, and Chinese, Japanese, Koreans are just referred to as Chinese or Japanese or Koreans. In the U.S., Asians always almost is associated majorly with the Orient

Then, we watched this crazy murder mystery show which made no sense and didn't link together until the very end. It was like Law & Order on crack haha and even more vague and obscure.

After class, came back to the flat to make some quick lunch and relax for a bit. And then it was off to adventure! We went to go to Westminster since it was an area of interest and we took quite a few pictures :)

BIG BEN! :D

Saw the guards at the palace haha...next time I go, I'm gonna take a picture with them! :D

With some of my flat mates :)

Hehe taking photos in the telephone booth ;D

And then we went to get FISH AND CHIPS! :D

It was quite yummy haha. The pub we went to was really decorated for the World Cup, thus my Project 365 photo of the day. We're going to go back for the U.S. vs. U.K. game on Saturday :D And then...went to a pub! There was one right under where the guys in our program live, and it was pretty good. Found my new favorite drink - Pims :)

Okay super tired going to bed.

One last note: Today, we spotted hot waiter Stefano two more times by accident! First, we walked by the restaurant to get to our class and the owner sees us, comes out just to wave to us, and calls the waiter up who proceeds to come outside and wave hello to us. Second time, we walked by a corner where he happened to be standing and he recognized us and waved hello and smiled hahaha. How embarrassing.

[Project 365] Day 3: Coming together for the World Cup

[Project 365] Day 3: Coming together for the World Cup, originally uploaded by widescreenvision.

Picture of flags hanging on the ceiling of this pub I went to :)

quick goal & observation post!

It's around 8:30 PM right now, and we all just got back from eating at a pub. Taking a quick break before going out again, so I'll post more later.

For now, I'm happy because I completed a few of my goals! :D

- To go to a pub
- To take the tube
- To eat fish and chips!
- To visit the palace


Also, two more additional observations:

9. Pounds as in weight is referred to as "stones"
10. Money is referred to as "notes"
11. Exit is referred to as "Way Out"

[Project 375] Day 2: Violin at the British Museum

[Project 375] Day 2: Violin at the British Museum, originally uploaded by widescreenvision.

Picture of this cool violin I found at the British Museum :)

starting to explore

Today was Day 2 of my adventures in London! :) First full day of actually doing stuff...it was super fun! First, we had orientation which was from about 10 AM until 1:30 AM. It was pretty chill, we just learned more information about the program, what we should be doing, etc. It was interesting to find out what everyone's interning for. Luckily, there's 5 of us doing the same sort of internship, and I'm with two other people working for the same person, so looking forward to having adventures traveling with them and meeting other interns. And I was super happy because I found out food and drinks are subsidized~ :D

Afterwards, we went to Boots to buy some groceries and then we went off to the British Museum. It was sooo cool, we saw a bunch of Roman and Greek statutes, Egyptian mummies, the Rossetta Stone...I just took mad pictures of everything haha. And it was nice because we actually started talking to other people besides just the ones in our flat haha. We had some issue of people getting lost, and then more people getting lost going to find the lost ones...but eventually, we all left safe and sound.

Our group (majority of the EPA students) outside the British Museum

Afterwards, we went to a nearby Italian restaurant to go eat where we not only enjoyed some good food, but some good eye candy as well. And it was fun because another Rochester girl and her roommate who are part of a different program came to join us :) One of the waiters was so good looking that all the girls kept cracking up and giggling whenever he came by. We were so obvious. And in the end, one of the guys with us actually asked the owner if we could take a picture with the waiter! It was soooo embarrassing. I think he  was pretty confused, because he tried to take the picture at first for us but then the owner told him to get into the picture with us LOL. And when we were leaving, the owner and the female waitress called him out to say goodbye to us haha. How awkward. But it was a hilarious start to the night :)

Us and our cute waiter standing behind me hehehe.

Afterwards, we went to our first pub where we just ordered some drinks and chilled. It was a pretty nice place!

The girls with our drinks :)

Tomorrow is the start of our class, which meets once a week for 3 hours and is about British and Scottish politics. I'm looking forward to it but...3 HOURS?!?!? I can barely stay focused for 50 minutes. I hope I will make it through.

Additional observations of the day:
8. The British don't say standing in line, they say "in queue." Apparently, this is the same in India too, which I guess makes sense because of the British influence there.

[Project 365] Day 1: Settling In

[Project 365] Day 1: Settling In, originally uploaded by widescreenvision.

The start of my adventures in London!
In my room, chilling on the bed. There's this cool mirror in the room so I figured I'd take a picture with it :)

Today is going to be the start of my Project 365. Hopefully I will be able to keep it up consistently...wish me luck! :D

first observations in london

1. British people refer to "Restrooms" as "Toilets" on their signs
2. Signs for elevators say "Lifts"
3. The bathrooms on buses look as if they're giant fridges. I don't understand how they work.
4. Seat belts must be worn on buses, or else the non-wearer is charged a fine!
5. London license plates are the same ugly yellow as the new New York State ones
6. British people use a lot of interesting words that seem to have bad meanings. Our guide kept using a word which he said meant "wh*te tr*ash" and he would just say it in sentence over and over again. I was like o.o;;
7. Crossing the street in London is both a dangerous and confusing task.