London.

Here are a few of the pictures from my trip. I have taken a ton more, but these are all of the main ones that demonstrate my journey thus far. I believe you can click on them to make them larger. :) Enjoy!

ASA Briggs building; where my classes are.

Top Shop, for my mom.

My first pint at the Prince of Wales pub.

One of the MANY nice cars in London.

A picture of the British flag on High Street.

A picture of a Whippet, for my dad.

A poor picture of The Atlantic House. My room is the second window on the right.

Everyone drives REALLY nice cars, and these little guys.

A black cat the size of a panther that I saw when I was headed to the market.

I found Spiderman in London! (on the top left balcony.)

A memorial to 28,000 Americans who died in World War II next to St. Paul's Cathedral.

A cute Brit caught by accident. I was trying to get the "London School" sign behind him.

The Thames River

St. Paul's Cathedral

A piece of instillation art in Tate Modern

Shakespeare's Globe Theater (Sigh, I get to see ROMEO AND JULIET HERE!!)

The London Eye

Parliament

The Westminster Clock and Big Ben (the bell inside)

Westminster Abbey (Everyone who is anyone is buried in there.)

The London Cabs

Buckingham Palace

The view out of my window.

Hi loyal blog readers (if there are any of you left)-

My apologies on the tardiness of this entry, I assure you that my blogs (I have yet to grasp the meaning of this word, and the fact that I am actually "blogging") will be more timely over the duration of my stint in London...I have wireless for my laptop now! And as a disclaimer: this entry is going to be lengthy, I have a lot to catch you all up on!

I made it here safe and sound; as you may have concluded by now. I am writing from my single dorm room at the Atlantic House to the mellow tunes of Iron and Wine. My window looks out on a small London street called St. Albans. I witness nannies taking these very well-dressed small children to and from school here as well as the many dramatic changes in the weather. My neighbors include Dustin Hoffman (it's true) and the red-headed host from the show "The Weakest Link". The area in which I live is called Kensington. It's the "posh" part of London. It's gorgeous, and very expensive. I actually have found my around these streets that are laid out like noodles in a bowl. My London experience thus far:

My first stop; New York:

1.) It was wonderful to see Murph. We had a blast.

2.) We ate lunch at a restaurant run, owned, and handled by super models. You had to have a portfolio and legitimately be a super model to work there. Everyone was gorgeous.

3.) We rolled and hand made pretzels that night. I also tried sushi, Indian food, and Thai food for the first time. It was all delicious.

4.) Murph and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and I got to see her apartment.

5.) Overall it was amazing to see the city from a New Yorker's perspective. It made me view the hectic city a lot differently. There are a lot of stories and interesting things to witness there.

London, England:

I've been to/seen:

Buckingham Palace, The Westminster Clock and "Big Ben" (the bell INSIDE the clock...and I got to hear it chime), St. Paul's Cathedral, The Thames River, Hyde Park, The Natural History Museum, a ton of hackney-back cabs, Westminster Abbey, a street lamp where a piece of "The DaVinci Code" was filmed, the buildings of Parliament, the park beside Parliament where there are currently protests going on, the London Eye (I haven't been on it yet, but will before my trip is over), Tate Modern (amazingly HUGE art museum), Shakespeare's Globe Theater, a lot of nice cars and double-decker buses, and had my first beer ("London Pride") accompanied with the traditional fish and chips at a pub called "Prince of Wales". It's been a fairytale.

Up next on the agenda:

Kensington historical walk (self explanatory), Phantom of the Opera- Prince of Wales Theater, Daytrip to Oxford (where Harry Potter is filmed), Football (soccer) match: Fulham vs. Everton, Cheese Rolling daytrip ("twenty young men chase a cheese off a cliff and tumble 200 yards to the bottom, where they are scraped up by paramedics and packed off to the hospital"...don't worry, I can't take part.), Spring Awakening at the Novello Theatere, headed to the local pub ("The Builder's Arm") to watch the Football Champions League Final- Manchester United (my favorite!) vs. Barcelona, Stonehenge and Salisbury daytrip, River Thames walk, Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare's Globe Theater (I can not explain the excitement I have for this one), all of this among the usual daily walks we do on our off days.

All of that being said, it hasn't all been a walk in the park...here are a couple of funny stories of events that could only happen to yours truly. Feel free to laugh at my expense.

Mishaps:

1.) When I got off the plane at Heathrow airport at 6:47 in the morning and collected my luggage, I found a very bald, important-looking man in a black suit with a purple and gold tie waiting at the exit for me. He had a sign with my name on it and I thought "Wow! This is official." I get close enough to the sign and it says: "AIFS: Mr. Matlin Smith". He had to ask me a few times if I was sure that I was Matlin Smith (since I was obviously not a Mr.) I assured him and followed him to the parking lot where I then proceeded to try and get in the driver seat of his Mercedes mini-van; thinking it was the passenger seat like in the States. Oops!

2.) I bought a very cheap straightened while I was in New York before flying over here. I plug it in and start to do my hair before first day orientation. It turns out that this straightener only has two temperatures; off and very, very, very, very hot. Long story short, my hair is pretty fried and frizzled and smelled like it was on fire for the first two days up here. Gross.

Whew, I beleive that covers it, apart from the small stuff, of which is not important. Thank you all for bearing with me on this one. My blogs will start to come on a daily basis, and not be quite so lengthy I hope. I love and miss you all. Xxox.

Mattie