Thanksgiving.

Well well, this was a Thanksgiving to remember. 

Instead of family there were flatmates;

instead of turkey there was pizza;

instead of pumpkin and pecan pies there were brownies and ice cream and cheap cheesecake.

Instead of wine there was - just kidding, there was still wine.

But surprisingly I didn't find myself weepy-eyed about missing our traditional Thanksgiving. My fellow American in the flat (Jess) and I had been talking up the holiday for weeks and our roommates were pretty excited about experiencing their very first Thanksgiving with us.

I headed home after work giddy about our mini-feast. There were seven of us celebrating: Spanish Veronica, Chilean Loly, Californian Jess, and Canadian Jen from the flat, plus Polish Dom and a Floridian friend of Jess's named Marley. And get this – we found a pizza place offering a pie topped with turkey and cranberry. How perfect. 

Now that I've given you a jolly enough description that you'll know I wasn't too upset on this great American holiday, I'll let you in on a few little things that I did miss...

The Maxwells. This is the one standing obligation for my father’s side of the family to get together every year. Whether it's at Canebrake or in Tulsa or Little Rock or Hot Springs, I always look forward to seeing my aunts, uncles, cousins… random foreign exchange students…  I missed our rowdy gift exchange and game of Pass-the-Trash. Ahh, there’s nothing quite like gambling with the family.

Black Friday. Allie and I, without fail, every year, wake up around 6 am and go shopping together. It’s never worth the crowds, long lines, prices, and tantrums but we still do it annually as an undying sisterly tradition.

The Football. Some of my fondest Thanksgiving memories are of everyone laid out liked beached whales all over the house, bursting from turkey and sweet potatoes, just barely managing to keep one eye open on the football. And this isn’t just any old football game. If you know anything about the Maxwells, you know that both sides of my family hail from Louisiana. Somehow the Hogs have managed to turn my father, and I’m a Razorback fan as well, but that leaves the two of us struggling against up to 30 kindred LSU fans in The Battle of the Boot.

Fall Foliage. Mmmm the weather in the south is always so crisp around Thanksgiving. And those leaves.

Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows. This is so my favorite.

Thanksgiving Leftovers. Good cold or warmed up.

But here is one redeeming aspect about being in London for an exclusively American holiday: It was my own to share.  The rest of the world already knows so much about American culture through TV, popular music, and movies, which can leave me feeling that I don’t have very much to share about “life back home” that my new friends don’t already know.  But for once, Thanksgiving is something that I felt was my own to share. Of course they've seen the Thanksgiving episodes of  Friends in Chile and Poland and everywhere else, but Jess and Marley and I had authentic stories to tell about family traditions and favorite dishes, and they were unique from each of our experiences in California, Arkansas, and Florida. So even though the pizza was tasty and I devoured a month's worth of brownie and ice cream, I’d say that was the sweet potato casserole of my English Thanksgiving.

New Camera!

'Ello! I got a camera, finally ~ yee haw! Here are some pictures.

This is a pic of Regents College when you walk in the gate.

London at night!

Marley & Jess on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dessert... yummmy.

Me & Loly! It was her first Thanksgiving.

More tid bits.

Funny things that I'm picking up here:

Listening to the iPod while walking or on the tube. I felt sort of like a tool at first when doing this but you know what, sometimes it's just nicer to have background music while you're walking to work or waiting for a ride. So sue me.

Signing texts and messages with "x." Isn't that funny? It's like xoxo, hugs and kisses, but people just do one or two x's and their name. Even boys do it, it's so cute! [See below for example.]

Leggings as pants? As much as I've made fun of it in the past - I did it yesterday! Haha. I see some girls trying to pull this off very inappropriately with shirts that don't cover their bums, but I wouldn't dare.

TEA!! It's so yummy! I still like coffee but... tea is nice because I like it plain OR with sweetener OR with sweetener and milk... where as with coffee, if it's not just right then it's just not the same. But tea can fit my mood anytime and it's so scrumptious.

So last night I went to see the band Gov't Mule up in Kentish Town. It was 20 quid to get in so I didn't try to get any of my friends to come with me because I would have felt bad if they paid for the ticket and didn't enjoy it. But then I got a cheaper ticket outside the doors for only 13.50, holla! At first I kind of hovered in the back and was entertained by the people I was surrounded by - ALL British grey-haired old hippies in tie dyed Tshirts. Kind of hilarious. But I made my way up to the front and found a younger crowd. I could tell who was American because they actually knew the songs they were playing, ha. Except at one point they went into an instrumental of St Stephen and the 2 blonde guys next to me started going mad and I couldn't figure out what on earth was up - then they pulled up their sleeves to reveal gianttt Grateful Dead tats and I was like Oh, makes so much sense now - Swedish Dead Heads. Cause that seems normal.

Anyways, it was a fun night! A bunch of people with their heads bobbin around to legit American jam band made me feel quite at home :)

x Stephanie

A quick catch-up. Ketchup?

Sorry I haven't updated much this week, I've been feeling a little under the weather. It started on Tuesday which was my first day of work at Graham& green. So I'll write more about that later.

Then Wednesday was class, with more embarrassing airhead remarks from half of the American girls and a couple of redeeming ones from the other half. I contributed a little (pointed out that Scar& the hyenas in the Disney Lion King are a representation of Hitler and the Nazis in Triumph of the Will, duh) but the sore throat was a tad constricting.

I'm really enjoying my classes. Monday we talked about "Gatekeeping" and the "News Factor Theory" - ooh la la, new vocab words - the latter of which will be the topic of our main paper. There are 12 factors that affect whether or not an event will be considered "news" and published in the paper or covered by the news... kind of interesting to think that out of alllllll the things that happen in the world, someone has to shuffle through stacks and stacks of reports and decide what the public needs to read/ hear about THE MOST.

Wednesday was all about documentary film... so we discussed the German lass who directed Triumph of the Will (can't spell her crazy name) and Michael Moore and some others. It made me want to watch a lot more documentaries, that's for sure. Next week in Media& Culture is violence in the media... should be interesting! I'm still working on a topic for the main paper for that class, it's a lot more open to our interests.

Yesterday was a free day - woo! So I chilled and tried to make my throat feel better but to no avail. It's like all this tea is having the opposite effect than it's supposed to.

I have a couple new pals... Jen used to live in this flat and just moved back from Australia. She stayed very close with Dom during the months she was gone so she's been coming over to see us some. Also, she was working at G&g my first day there. But now she's quit for a nanny job :(. She's 24 which is kind of nice because sometimes I feel so young in my little group of pals... they are all 25, 26, 27... usually I feel like we're all the same age though, but there are times when I realize they've had like FIVE more years of experience in the world than I have.

So I like Jen and we're going to start hanging out. Also worked with 2 new girls today, Tasha and Laura. I think Tasha is possible pal... she cracked me up because she wanted to hear all about the differences between the US and the Uk and especially about Thanksgiving -

"So is it strange to have one gigantic meal in November, and then another in December at Christmas?"

"Well, I guess so, yes, but the meal's not really as big at Christmas..."

"So in the US Thanksgiving is, like, bigger than Christmas?!" (she seemed to get particular joy out of this)

"No no, not really at all... it's more like once Halloween passes and November starts, you can call the next 3 months "the holidays" - because it's Tgiving then Christmas then New Years all at once!"

So that's how I tried to explain it. I think I'll invite her to our makeshift Thanksgiving take-out and wine dinner next week :)

More about the job... well, my manager is this lovely lady named Barbara. She's a short, shaved-headed black woman and she's really business-minded but also very nice. The 2nd-in-command also used to live in my flat and that's Pieta - Dom got me, Pieta, and Jen all jobs there. Shank you, Dom.

So far both mornings that I've worked have been delivery times. There's been a lot of unboxing, pricing, storing in the basement, setting out displays... if you haven't been to the website yet then go, here is the link. [Shout out to Joey Q for the linkage idea. Shout again to Joey Q for specifically asking for a shout out.]

Almost half of the store is showroom though so there is a lot of taking people's "details" (aka information) and making orders for furniture and mirrors and the like.

Speaking of "details" - here are some other funny language barriers:

Bauble = Christmas ornament

Rubbish = trash

Hoover = vacuum cleaner

Cash machine = ATM

Till = cashier stand

Nib = I think this is any kind of tip to something? still working on that one...

Alright I'm tired, I just can't be asked to write anymore. Everyone cross your fingers/ pray (depending on your religious beliefs) for my sore throat to go awaaaayyyy! I want to buy a camera tomorrow.

If I feel better tomorrow night then after work I'm going to see a band called Gov't Mule, a side project of the Allman Bros. I'm kind of stoked. Anywho I wanted a camera to take with me.

Peace out, much love from the motherland,

Steph

Tid-bits about life now.

I do grown up things.

Well, not many, but I do have to buy my own groceries and prepare my meals, which is new to me. Don't laugh. My agenda walking into the grocery store used to be What snacks will last longest in my dorm room? and now I'm buying things like olive oil and butter which stick around and remind you that you better start planning what you're eating for every meal this week.

I also have to hand-wash dishes and dry my clothes on a line. It's kind of fun, though, in a retro kind of way.

I'm sure there are more grown up things... But I can't think of them right now...

Friends. Oh, did you think I meant like "pals," or "chums"? No, the show - you know, Rachel, Ross, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Monica. Ok I know this seems stupid since it's an American show that's been on as long as I can remember, but I don't think I have ever seen so much of this silly sitcom until I moved here. We get maybe 25 channels on the TV at our flat and Friends is always on, like, 4 of them. Everyone who is home for dinner ends up eating in the den and watching Friends together. It's become a little bonding ritual. I guess whether you're from Chile, Poland, California, Spain, Canada, Australia, or Arkansas, you can appreciate how ridiculous the situations are that those hooligans get themselves into. That leads me to my next tid bit:

Loly. This chick is one of my flatmates. Although she's Chilean she has an incredible command of the English language and she's also got infinite knowledge about popular world culture. She loves Friends and is often explaining to me jokes that have gone right over my head. She's also a fan of day glo Nike high tops, photography, Bollywood, good music, and Pride and Prejudice. We actually watched Bride and Prejudice the other night together and that was hilarious. She has the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice and we've been watching a couple of episodes at a time since Jess has never seen it (criminal, I know).

Dom's English. Dom's from Poland and just moved out of our flat. She set me up with my job at Graham & Green. She also is really good at English, but I don't know if it's the combination of English with her accent or it's just the words she chooses but I LOVE to hear her speak because it always cracks me up. For example - her favorite English words are "although," "however," and "consequentially." You can tell she's learned her English from the English because she uses words like "dodgy," "posh," and "cheeky" in all seriousness. We've also caught her using this phrase a lot: "I can't be asked to __________." It's like, I clearly can't be bothered by such a task, and I won't stand to be asked to do it. Haha. I'm loving that one.

Reading time. Ahhhh it's so nice to have so much time to read! It takes about 45 minutes to get to school and almost an hour to get to either job and as long as I have a book in my bag I'm as cool as a cucumber. I felt a little self-conscious last week when I was re-reading the first Harry Potter on the tube, but it was worth it :). Don't get me wrong, public transportation can be a bi-ya even if you think you've planned it all out just right, but for the most part I love having the travel time to just sit and read.

Super tired now from my first day at work, i'll write more lata. Class in the AM.

I just can't be asked to write more right now.

Jobless no more??

After having two jobs this summer/ early fall it's been kind of weird not working at all. It's also a bummer not having any income of course.

Before I headed over here I started emailing with someone at one of the paint-your-own-pottery studios in London (stick with what you're good at, right?). It seems that most of these are pretty suburban and far outside the city, but this one's only a few stops north of Regents. It's also affiliated with CCSA, as is The Painted Pig, so that's how I found out about it. The manager has been in and out town recently so I only was able to call him this week, and he sounded really excited about the prospect of hiring someone who had worked with pottery before and might not require much training.

So when I walked in yesterday I was a little surprised to find a dashing young man introduce himself as the manager. He was very friendly and super enthusiastic about paint-your-own-pottery... odd. I know it's very sexist of us but Allie and I always crack up when any males walk into The Pig - they always seem so lost and confused! So it was funny to me that this 20-something, normal-seeming guy is managing this place. He was upfront with me about not necessarily being able to offer me many hours and also not having the best hourly wage either, but I assured him that is alright by me! I'll just be happy to be earning anything at this point.

Warning: I'm aware that the next few paragraphs will only be of interest to my sister.

Anywho, there are of course many similarities between Art4Fun (cool name) and Allie's studio: the glazing and firing process, the numbered colors, etc. But I can tell it'll be interesting to work there and have to conform to some of the ways that they go about things. For example, I noticed that they don't "scratch" when items come out of the kiln. Besides being dangerous, that makes the piece just seem unfinished to me! And since weekends get pretty busy they take appointments on Saturdays and Sundays. They also have all these techniques like adding sand to the paint for texture or soap to create a bubbled appearance.

It's neat to see some of the same items that we have at The Pig also for sale over here: the monkey and guitar pencil holders, the 3-in-1 tea set, heart-shaped picture frame... What's funnier is that they have a lot of the items we've seen in catalogs but never ordered. They have the smiling flower with feet (haha!) and the little tiny Christmas tree that Mary Kate said would be perfect for someone's desk; they have so many Disney princesses and Christmas Tiggers and even a Wallace and Grommet figurine. What a funny place.

So I go in tomorrow afternoon for a trial run. There are several birthday parties and an afternoon full of appointments... update to follow!

As for the 2nd job ~ my friend Dom works at a rather POSH store called Graham & Green. She mentioned that not only have they opened a new location, but they are also looking for temporary holiday help, so she took her boss my CV this week. A woman named Barbara called me yesterday and I go in Saturday morning for an interview. Yippee! I hope I am fashionable enough to work there. Like I said, posh. :)

I'll let you know after Saturday how my chances of being employed are looking.

Clueless on campus.

This will be a reference that only the Chi Omegas get but it's worth it:
You know that part of the skit that's like,
"I'm still getting the hang of everything -I'm always late and I can't seem to find my way around. The other day I sat down in class and it was - PHYSICS 2. My name wasn't even on the roll. How embarassing..."
That's how I feel walking around Regents, and then a little voice inside my head is like "Stephanie, isn't that, like, the 3rd time you've done that... THIS WEEK?"

Even though this was my second week of class I've only been on campus 4 or 5 times because class is only twice a week. I figure out where I'm going one day and can't remember it the next time I'm on campus. And I guess no one else really starts class during the Fall 2 session like I did. So I feel like I'm the onnnly person who doesn't know where she's going.

This morning I came to campus to meet Prof Olaf at his office to talk about some possible paper topics. His office is is Herringham and my classes have been either in Darwin or Tuke so I didn't really know where to find the building. I followed all the signs and arrows... they seemed to lead me in circles. Finally I asked a guy in the reception area, "Where can I find Herringham building?" The reply was, "Um, you're IN Herringham building." Oh...

After meeting with Olaf I wanted to find the main computer lab so that I could check email and such. In the first one that I walked into I started looking for a seat when a woman came up to me and said, "Excuse me, I'm having a class right now." Eek! How was I supposed to know? The door was wide open. Oof.

No worries, I don't have to spend much time on campus anyways so I don't mind being That Clueless Girl for now. I'm happy as a clam doing my reading on a park bench and hanging out with my flatmates. But if I find myself really desperate for some comrades on campus then all I have to do is take up smoking by the cafe in between classes and I think I'm in.

London fashion.

One thing I like about London is you can wear WHATEVER you want. No kidding. Either everyone's a fashionista or they're all terribly unconcerned with whether or not their clothing coordinates. I don't think anyone has decided. But either way, however you want to adorn your body or color your hair or accessorise is totally acceptable, as long as you look like you didn't try too hard.

So needless to say I've been having a little fun with that :)

Squaw boots with floral peasant dress and baby blue tights? Yes, please.

November 11.

I made half of this entry a hyperlink and I can't figure out how to fix it - ahhh possessed blog.

This is the sweet little garden across from out flat!

Can't wait for springtime to spend time here.

I've gotten pretty settled into my room at the flat now and had time to acclimate myself to the area - found the closest atm, post office, Tesco (grocery store), tube stations, bus stops, la dee dah. There's also a little bitty library around the corner - presh.

Last Saturday I met my flatmate Jessica at a pub in Covent Garden to watch the end of the England/ Australia rugby match - intense. I don't know the first thing about rugby, I just know "we" lost. But I did get to meet her friend Terri - yay, new friend!

Later on the three of us journeyed over to this bar under the London Bridge called SHUNT. I'm not too fond of the name, but it was a realllllly cool time because the space is so unique. It was like wandering around in Mary King's Close under Edinburgh / going to a Girl Talk concert in a cave / being at a modern art showcase underground... because I'm not kidding, there were elements of all of those there. There are also sometimes trapeze artists like a circus or something. Conrad, I don't think I'm in Arkansas anymore (too corny? or just right?).

Jessica and me at Shunt.

Yesterday I met up with a girl from Millsaps named Claire. She's currently studying in Scotland so she and a friend had a few days off to come visit London. It was nice to see a familiar face. We went to some places that I've already been but didn't mind going back to - Shakespeare's Globe, Tate Modern, and St. Paul's. Then we went to Soho for this funky little Christmas celebration they were having on Carnaby Street. London is in full-Christmas-preparation mode so they keep having Christmas light parties around town - odd, but fun.

Carnaby Street was apparently a hot spot during the 60s so they are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the area. They decorated appropriately with huge balloons saying Peace and Love and all that, along with pink reindeer, of course. There was a DJ playing 60s music and go go dancers and people dancing in the street... I felt like they were trying to recreate a scene from Austin Powers. It was kind of hilarious.

All the way down the street you see a little blue square - that's where the stage was for all of the music and dancing. What a hoot. I also discovered that this is a prime spot for vintage shopping.

Flat photos.

Flat from the outside! Mine's on the left, #29.

My room this morning. We have a nice big window.

My side after a little "decorating," haha.

Three of my wonderful flatmates in the main room!

Veronica, Jessica, and Jenn.

A pretty phat flat.

I finally began to seriously look into some permanent living options on Monday after my first day of classes. Some reading assignments had been given and I could not imagine doing them while sharing a room with 11 backpackers and listening to a pub quiz take place on the other side of my wall. I diligently searched gumtree.com and made a list of 6 or 7 that I would call that looked alright - good location, decent price, mostly girls...

I called the last one on my list and the girl who answered wanted to know if I could come over that night when all of her flatmates would be home. Perfect.

So I headed over there and after a minor mishap in finding the place (apparently #29 is three blocks down from #28 and #30.... hmmm...) I found it and Loly, who answered the phone, brought me in to show me around and meet everyone. Jess, from California, was in the TV room with Loly's friend Benjamin (who I was assured is not a permanent fixture in the flat) and Jenn, from Canada, was cooking in the itty bitty kitchen. Loly is from Chile. She showed me what would be my room and bathroom - looked good! Lived in, but still pretty nice. Especially for the price. We sat around and chatted for awhile and the 4th flatmate, Dom from Poland, came home. They were all very sweet and seemed like fun girls to be around, and they said they had to decide that night who they were going to pick. Eeee! That made me nervous. Loly said I would get a call in the morning informing me.

Weeellll... I got a call about an hour later asking when I could move in! Yippee! They also went ahead and picked a replacement for Dom because she's been wanting to move out anyways. So I came back over the next day with rent and deposit money in hand, and moved in yesterday after class!

Getting all my stupid luggage from the hostel to the flat was a bloody hassle (ha) but at least I won't have to do that again for awhile. Then I went to TKMaxx (yes, here it is a K instead of a J - hilarious) and got some bedding so that I could have more to sleep on than a bare mattress that night.

I woke up this morning just delighted to be living here! It is so lucky that I found this place so quickly! I'm really loving my flatmates so far. I haven't seen Jenn much, but Jess and Loly both spend a lot of time in the main room and they couldn't be easier to get along with. They are talkative and both have a funny sense of humor. Veronica is my roommate who took Dom's spot and she is very sweet. She's Spanish and just interviewed for a job today. We're having a lot of fun together - she doesn't speak as good of English as Loly but she's really keen on improving so we talk all the time.

Oh and the area I'm in is great. It's called West Kensington. Right around the corner there's a tube stop, an atm, an internet cafe (good if you need to print something), and a couple of different convenience stores. There is a Tesco (Walgreens/grocery store) only a few more blocks away, and within a couple of tube stops there are several malls and plenty of shops for anything you could possibly need. There is a lovely little garden right across the street, too! I will take some pictures as soon as I can... just needed the ole Kodak to get a little charge in it. So that is all for now, and I will be back on for pictures later! Ciao.

Halloween in London

I woke up Saturday morning and completely forgot that it was Halloween. They do celebrate it here, but it's definitely on a smaller level and in a different way. I'm sure children get just as into it; I saw two or three kids in costumes days before the actual holiday. But you don't see near as many decorations in shops or front yards all throughout October like they are at home. And when people dress up - they go ScArY. I went to Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, and Oxford Circus to run a couple errands/ window shop :) and saw several people walking around in the most horrifying get-ups. Fake blood, heavy makeup, the whole shebang. The scariest was in front of Ripley's Believe it or Not where, if you weren't careful, the dressed up ghouls would squirt you with fake blood. What??

I didn't see my new friend (random-theatre-boy) all day so I didn't have plans when I went to dinner at the hostel that night. Another guy sat down to eat alone and I recognized him from around the hostel - I think we checked in about the same time. He introduced himself to me as KP from New Jersey/ New York, also travelling alone. What is it with all the Americans travelling alone? We went to the hostel pub after dinner and found plenty of other groups looking to celebrate Halloween. There was a group of five or six American girls from Purdue studying in Venice but on a weekend holiday - you'll see them in my pictures all wearing gigantic feather masks. Throughout the night if you forgot the name of one of these (wasted) girls you could simply refer to her as a "Feather." There was a guy who was Sam Hedges's lookalike (you can't tell as much from the picture - his hair is parted in a weird way). There was a girl from California dressed as a belly dancer- she got the outfit in Egypt last month while she's been on her 6month journey around the world. There were also several Australians that just put on masks, they were pretty funny. The Germans were a hoot but didn't come out with us because they went to a crazier part of town, and the French were waaay too cool to recognize Halloween (though I did grow a little fond of this group.)

I felt a little adventurous before leaving the hostel and put my "costume" on. A couple people called me Hermione and although I was actually Ginny Weasley it still tickled me that they noticed my tie. Here are some pics below:

Me and one of the Feathers, Stephanie (yeah, same name!)

I told you they were scary! These were our bartenders.

Me, Chris from New Hampshire, and KP.

We hung out the next day too before they both left London.

Piccadilly Circus at night!

My first friend!

On Friday, my first full day in London, I woke up with an odd feeling - I don't have anything to do. This is such a foreign sensation to me. Because of course I had pllllleenty of choices of things to do, but nothing that I had to do. Ah! How lovely!

So I took the tube to Westminster and wandered from Big Ben to Westminster Abbey and across the river to Jubilee Gardens and the crazy street performers. It felt so surreal to be back again. And I'm sure this seems weird to some but there is something I love about travelling alone. It's like this little speck of the world is my own and even though it's covered with thousands of other people, it's mine. So I pranced around central London gloating in the beauty of everything that is mine here.

This was all very wonderful, but mid afternoon I started to realize that I hadn't had a real conversation with another person in like 36 hours. I'd been narrating all of my experiences in a British accent to myself in my head and that was starting to get old... and weird. So when I got back to the hostel that afternoon I took my computer to the TV lounge and decided to do some email/facebooking and connect with you folks back home. I saw that my computer was still on US time so I turned to the guy next to me and asked about the time here. He answered and I detected an American accent. Then about five minutes later he looked up at me and said "I'm sorry but would you want to see a play with me tonight?"

Me: Um... me? Tonight??

Guy: Yeah, in like 20 minutes.

Me: Uh, yeah! Okay sure!

So that was pretty random but I was excited that I had plans to get me out of the hostel. It's getting dark here around 5pm and even though I feel generally safe in London I was glad that my first venture out at night would be with another person (and male, at that. Although he wasn't the most intimidating looking chap.)

The play was called Speaking in Tongues and at the Duke of York theatre. After we picked up our tickets we had time to grab dinner so we went to an Indian restaurant where I had my first experience with Indian food. This is where I learned a little about this fellow: he's from San Fransisco, went to Santa Barbara, geography major, here in London for 3 weeks just for fun, and his name is Graham. He probably tried to tell me more but I was so excited to have someone to listen to me that I'm sure I talked his head right off. At intermission we got a drink and drank it looking over the balcony - so neat! What a random night. All I could think about was the fact that a week ago from that point I would have never been able to guess what I'd be doing the following Friday.

Cheerio.

Welcome to Regents.

It's awkward enough being a new student, but add in the fact that I was a week late for classes AND in a foreign country AND grimy from an overnight flight (AND still carrying my backpack!)... it wasn't a pretty picture. But Thursday when I went to meet with Ruby she was so nice and really helpful. She even told me I looked surprisingly "fresh" for having just flown in from the States - ha. Thanks Ruby.

By the way, Regents College in nestled in a corner of Regents Park, one of the city's beautiful little public sanctuaries. This one actually houses the London Zoo and an outdoor Shakespeare theatre. Nice, right? You walk through the gates of the park and there's a lake with swans other pretty birds bathing, a rose garden, people strolling along without a care in the world... It's a lovely atmosphere for a school I'd say.

Ruby took me up to Lily in the registration office who explained my classes to me:

Masters in Media Communications

Monday 9:30-1:00 Professional Seminar

Monday 10:00-1:15 Media Communications

Wednesday 9:00-1:15 Media & Culture

So those classes seem a little long to me but oh well, when in Britain.

Notice anything puzzling about the schedule? Like that I have 2 classes Monday at the same time? Lily acted like this wasn't a problem...? So I'm like Maybe I am at Hogwarts and I need that nifty little contraption Hermione had around her neck that allowed her to take classes that overlapped.... Whatever. Anyways, it turns out I only missed 1 class on Wednesday because Monday classes wouldn't start until the 2nd week. Hoorah!

Today was my first day of class, and we all know what that means... it wouldn't be the first day of class for Stephanie "Better Late Than Never" Maxwell if I weren't in a mad dash to get there on time. Class started at 10 so this is what I planned out :

7:45 Wake up and get ready, eat breakfast

8:45 Get to the tube station - planned about 20min for travel

9:05 Make it to campus in time to buy a notebook at the bookstore and find my classroom in plenty of time.

WELL. I woke up and my phone/alarm clock said 9:23 so needless to say I freaked the Eff out. I went into supersonic speed mode and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror before I left - Is that a giant read handprint on my cheek?!! Yeah instead of something normal like sheet lines I'd somehow left a full handprint on my cheek in my sleep. This will be an exciting first impression at school - get it?? First "impression??"

I was uber lucky catching the tube and finding my class and made it in RIGHT at 10:00. Stupid stupid Stephanie. All's well that end's well I guess.

My prof is super funny though. His name is Olaf :) and balding but with really wispy hair on the sides that's pulled into a ponytail. Oh and there is only one other person in this class because everyone else doing an MA in Med Comm took this intro class in the Fall 1 session. Haha! The other girl in it is really sweet. She's Turkish and beautiful and stylish and her name is Elvin. Jealous! Class went well and I'm very excited about this Masters now. We talked about journalism and publishing, psychology, effective writing, media research methods, communication theories... it's going to be very interesting.

And we - Elvin and I - figured out the "Professional Seminar" dilemma. It's a non-credit course that we are encouraged to take to prepare ourselves for grad school level work. We met with the professor after class and she is going to work out a way for us to get the necessary information without us having to come every Monday.

I think it's almost 5pm in Arkansas so it's time for me to go now and call home for the first time! Cheers.