American Football and Covent Gardens

So, last night we went up to Imperial College where we got some cheap pints.  It is the only place in South Kensington where you can afford, in your weekly budget, to drink more than a couple if you want groceries for that week.  Anyways, it is a great place and fun college atmosphere.  We meet Usman who is from London but his family is from India.  He is a Freshman at Imperial and he just joined the American Football team that Imperial College has. It was a blast to hear about and I probably talked his ear off about it.  I gave him my number and got his and he is going to talk to their coach to see if a bunch of us guys from our flat can scrimmage them in some flag football or even teach them a thing or two about football.  Just by talking to him I could tell their team wasn't very good and that they didn't know much about football at all.  So, I am praying to get that call from Usman.

Today we woke up and went to work out.  My flat mates really like to work out and a lot of them got the same membership as me so it works out great.  We came home and made some lunch and than off to Covent Gardens we went.  It is a fun place to see on the weekends because there is always several live acts going on.  We saw some good ones which were fun.  In fact, I got chosen by a entertainer to be in his act.  I got to hold the 10 foot unicycle steady while this little petite man climbed on my back in order to get on the bike.  It was fun to see.  Libbie had to hand the knives he was juggling to him and the other 3 people we were with didn't have to, or should I say get to, do anything.
From here, we took the Piccadilly line back to Green Park where we transfered from the Piccadilly to the Victoria Line and headed South to the Brixton Stop to meet up with some people from our flat at you cheap and delicious pizza place.  After grabbing a bite to eat we decided to be adventurers and go to the north side of London, a place we hadn't seen yet.  So, we headed up to the Firnbury Road exit.  There is a reason we haven't seen this place.  It was Frogtown, Compton, Lower East Side, Chicago, LA, any ghetto you can think of, it was that.  So, we hoped right back on the train and headed on the Piccadilly line to Russel Square where we got off and found a local pub.  Grabbed a pint with some local guys and headed home for the night.  Tomorrow we are up early, 7 that is, to get on a coach and adventure out to the sea side.  Good pictures and a blog to come soon.

Shows draw a pretty big crowd.

Man singing a bunch of American songs.

Libbie handing the man, who just used my back to get on the unicycle, the knives that he juggled up there.

Overall, it was a great day.  Now its time for some rest before we go explore more of England.  

Cheers

Jimmy

First Theater Class/Thursday Jan 20th

Yesterday, we had class in the morning and had to turn in our first paper of the year.  Many more papers to come, which is a lot different from my science orientated career at SJU.  No labs or dissections or cells, just papers.  So, lets hope it went well, had to brush the dust off the whole paper writing ability.  Anyways, after class we went to work out and than came home and did a little grocery shopping.  After that we were off to our first Theater class ( we were suppose to have one last week but it got cancelled because of orientation for school).  Theater class is from 6-9 on Wed nights and we have 14 class periods.  Of the 14 periods, we go see 9 shows which usually start at 730 or 8.  It was pretty cool experience last night.  We met for class at 6 and our teacher is a highly qualified man with a degree from Oxford in theater and has written, directed, been in, and around theater since 1951.  Anyways, we left our class room and hoped on the tube at Glouster and headed east until we hit Embankment.  From here we took the Northern line one stop south to Waterloo.  This is a famous part of town and it is right along the river Thames which was a site to see at night.  We saw a show called  La Soiree which was more of a variety show than anything.  Let me tell you something about British Culture in general before I mention any details of the show.  They are a lot more liberal in there censorship than America.  Whether it be on TV when they can swear or show any nudity and graphic scenes or in a theater.  So, moving on, our show was great.  I loved it and everyone did.  It was funny, extreme, talented, graphic.  It reminded me more of a Circus than anything, but it had a lot of good sets.  It had the really strong guys that lift each other up and hold each other in odd stances.  They are incredible cool to see in person and I was in awe at some of the stuff they did.  For their last act, they ripped their clothes off and were in only Britain underwear.  All the girls loved it because they were about 2% body fat and 98% muscle.  Other acts included a lady that swallowed a rose stem that was about 2 feet long, a rubber man that fit himself into a 10 inch racketball racket.  There was an entertainer that sang in between scenes and he was about 350 drag queen.  He was all over the crowd given lap dances and touching people and un-censored to say the least.  Than there was a lady musician, who rag a little handkerchief and she kept hiding it in other places and each time in disappreared, in went closer and closer to her skin.  She kept taking items of clothes off to reveal the handkerchief until she eventually got completely naked.  Like I said, a little bit more liberal in their censorship rules.  Anyways there were a couple more really cool acts such as a swinging guy on ropes that twisted himself and pulled himself up while swinging over the audience.  Overall, it was a great show! No cameras were allowed(for obvious reasons....).
After the show we walked across the Millennium Bridge where I took a couple of really good pictures of the City of London.  Here are some good ones.

The advertisement for the show.

Before the show, we could take pictures and this is the stage.

Taken from the Millennium Bridge, over looking the River Thames and the City of London.  Somewhere in there is St. Paul's Cathedral.

Tonight, we are going to the Pub for a couple Pints, haven't been there for a while, truthfully we haven't!!

Cheers

Jimmy

Monday and Tuesday, Jan 17th and 18th

Monday morning we were up and off to Foundation house where our classes took place.  However, we did not go to classes right away.  Rather, we got in a queue to buy some discounted tickets to places and things to do around town that the organization FIE puts on for us.  I bought tickets to a rugby game and a day trip to Brighton, England which is a port city south of here. Than we had class all day, one from 10:30 to noon and the other from 1:00-4:00 with a quick lunch break in between.  After that we went to work out and than came home to eat dinner and work on our paper.  Boring night, but I did get to skype with my parents last night which was great.
Today we got up and went to Harrods.  It is a quick trip just being one stop north east of South Kensington on the Piccadilly line.  Anyways, we went there and looked around.  It is huge and has so much stuff in it words can't describe it.  It has clothes, pets, cars, dinnerware, gift shops...etc.  It is a REALLY EXPENSIVE Target, plus the exotic stuff not found in Target.

You can actually buy dogs.  I got in trouble taking these pictures, but I thought Amy would appreciate the fact you can buy dogs here.

The escalators in Harrods are Egyptian themed.  Crazy detail and fancy.

Pretty cool memorial of Princess Di and Dodi, the owner of Harrods son.

Close up of it.

One of the authentic Sushi places to eat.  That is a man cutting up a fish in front of his customers.  Soon after this he makes them there raw meal!

Anyways, tonight will be kind of boring as well.  Our first paper is due tomorrow and most people haven't done it yet, but I wrote it last night and just have to make corrections and than walk up about a half a mile to print it.  Boring I know, but this weekend we have an adventure outside of London and later in the week we will probably go out.  That means more fun stories for you guys.

Cheers

Jimmy

British Museum

Today was a day full of activity and unfortunately, a little bit of homework.  We woke up and hung out for a little bit with everyone in the flat, made some lunch and got ready to go to the British Museum.  We took the Piccadilly Line northeast to the Leicester Square stop.  Transferred to the Northern Line, and headed one stop to the north where we got off and walked a couple blocks until we found the British Museum.  The museum is enormous to say the least.  We heard it is one of the biggest in the world, but I can't say that is the truth.  I can say that it is the biggest museum I have been in.  There are huge sections of different parts of history.  We spent the most time in the Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome.  We could take pictures in this museum which was pretty cool and I took a good amount of them.  

This is the main entrance to the museum, and I could not take one picture that fit the whole museum.  

View to the right of the front door.

View to the left of the front door.

Cars next to the museum.  Shows how little they look next to the building.

In the museum, we first went to the Ancient Egypt first and say some really interesting artifacts.  

I thought this was really cool.  It is sculpture of how important animals are to the village.  It was there source of farming and tasks as well as food.

This is a man that was not put in any tomb or bandages and because of that was preserved very well.  He was buried in the sand, and because of that it took all the water out of him right away.  His skin is mostly still in tact, and the stuff in the grave with him are burial gifts which are common in these burials.  

This is a man who was buried in a tomb.  He didn't preserve as well as the other, obviously.  This display showed that the tombs that they are so famous for did not work as well as people believe they did.  

 The detail on this tomb was immaculate.  

We than went and walked through the Ancient Rome displays.  

This is Roman armor.  Very advanced for their time.

 After this, we went to the Rosetta Stone.  It was packed with people and was pretty interesting to see.  It tells people how to interpret the hieroglyphics.  If you look closely, you can see two distinct lines.  Above the first line is the actual hieroglyphics, below the first line is Egyptian, and below that it was Greek.  Fun stuff to see.

After this we went to the Picasso exhibit.  We couldn't take pictures and it is hard to appreciate some of the work because it looks like a water color school kids can do! (Dad, please take up art, you can become famous if this guy did) However, there are some very neat pieces of art  that he drew.

After a long 2 hours in this incredibly hot museum, we left and decided to take the bus to High Street Kensington, where we did some shopping (again I didn't get anything).  From here we came home where we made dinner and did some homework.  Now we are off to finish up some homework.  Hope all is well.

Cheers

Jimmy

Saturday, January 15

             Last night, it was my flat mates 21st birthday.  It is not a big deal in Europe because most kids have been drinking from age 13 or 14.  Anyways, we went to a pub around on the corner and with a bunch of people from our group, probably 20 of us went out.  At the bar, while waiting for a pint, I started talking with the man next to me.  About an hour later, I found myself walking away from a great conversation with RRRRoobbie and Tanya (roll the R and pronounce the second a in Tanya louder than the other).  They were from Livapoul (Liverpool) and they had the strongest accent I have heard since I have been here.  I talked for a long while with RRRRobbie and we discussed all sorts of things ranging from American sports to occupation and football.  He loooved his Livapul football team.  He had a tattoo of the team's logo on his forearm and he has had season tickets for a long time.  He was so friendly and he was telling me how much better Livapul was than London.  Cheaper pints, better places to see, friendly people. After a long while of talking and me being completely away from our group, we said our goodbyes and went or separate ways, but he was the most friendly man I have talked to at the pub!
          We woke up today and went to work out early and than went to the grocery store before we came home to make vegetable stir fry, which was our first source of vegetables that we have had since being here.  After that we cleaned up and than took the circle line west to High Street Kensington where we shopped for a little bit, but did not end up getting anything.  I have a very warm jacket but sometimes it can be to warm here.  The weather here is always wet, and muggy that varies from very muggy to not that much.  So, if it is very muggy, and I have a warm jacket on, it gets a little hot.  On top of that, I can sweat with the best of them, so the moral of the story is I was looking for a vest, enough to keep me warm, but breathable to keep me from sweating on those muggy days.  After that we came home and went to the Gourmet Kitchen Burger restaurant, which is about 50 yards from our flat.  It was pretty good, but the burgers in England don't compare to the burgers back home.  Tonight, we are going to Imperial College, they have student discounts and it will be our first time in the college.


Cheers

Jimmy

Stonehenge and Bath

Today we traveled to the famous Stonehenge and from there we went to the city of Bath.  Stonehenge was about 2 hours straight west of our flat.  I thought that it was going to be right in a big city, but in fact, Stonehenge is in the middle of no where.  It is a very scenic route to get there.  Go over the rolling hills of England 2 hours straight west and you will end up close, if not at Stonehenge.  It is very interesting and hard to grasp where the history behind it.  We had a guide that did there best to describe the history of it, but it was hard to comprehend until I bought a small history book on it for 3 pounds.  The stones came from far away and vary in sizes and composition.  Pretty interesting stuff.  The big stones came from around 20 miles to the north and weigh somewhere around 45 tonnes.  They had homemade rope and a lot of men to pull these rocks over 20 miles in a the rolling hills of England to the current location.  It must of been very important for the people to get these rocks here.   The smaller ones came from a lot farther location, estimated at 150 miles.  These rocks only way anywhere from 5-10 tonnes but some get bigger than that.  Here are some pictures, you can't walk up to them, but it is hard to get real detail, but this is my best for you.

I have so many pictures of this and if you want more, email me at jmstodolka@csbsju.edu and I can give you hundreds of them.  I did take some pictures of what is suppose to look like, it is a diagram.  

The last two pictures, are of the men power it took to drag these rocks across the land.  It is pretty impressive.  

From Stonehenge, we got back on the coach and drove an hour to the city of Bath.  This is a famous city that the Romans founded about 900.  It was founded because of the huge natural hot baths that come from the land, that it supposedly healed people from there wounds.  It turned into a village and then it went extinct and was buried under ground for 1200 years until it was excavated in 1700 or so.  This was a very cool place to visit, the museum was built over the old ruins of the bath, where you can walk through and see all the old artifacts.  Again, I took lots of pictures so let me know if you want some.  Here are some good ones:

Also, there are some pretty cool sites to see around the city of Bath.  There was a large abbey built in about 900 where the first king was coroneted.  It is some pretty cool architecture on the abbey.

Anyways, I am going out for one of our flat mates birthday.  

Hope you enjoy these, and seriously let me know if you want more pictures.

Cheers

Jimmy

First week of class complete

Today we had our British Culture/History class.  The class is with  Justin Lorentzen who seems to be very cool.  For the first hour of our 3 hour class we had a questions session, where we got to ask him anything and that was followed by him asking us some questions of Americans.  It was quite fun, actually.  After that, we came home and looked in this magazine called  "Time Out" where we found a great place to eat.  We got on the tube at South Kensington and took the Circle line straight east to Victoria.  From there we transfered to the Victoria line and headed south until the Brixton stop.  We got off looking for a small restaurant place that won "best pizza in London."  

The restaurant was in the middle of the market going on in Brixton. In fact, it was next to the local fish market.  

this is the view from our table.

This was quite possibly the best pizza I have ever had in my life.  It was 6 pounds for a full pizza, which is very cheap here.  I had a Tomato, mozzarella, chorizo (a spicy spanish sausage).  It was a very good place to eat.  The restaurant is in a little bit "Dodgy" part of town.  We would say sketchy.  I found the British version of the dollar store, 

Today, we also booked our flight to Dublin! I am super excited to see that.  A couple people from our group will be traveling to Dublin the second weekend of February.  It was about 40 pounds round trip on RyanAir.  That will be fun.  Anyways, tonight we have our first play.  It is called "39 steps" and is supposedly very funny.  I will let you know it goes tomorrow.  We are off to make some spaghetti and than head over to Piccadilly Square, where the play is.  Hope all is well.

Cheers

Jimmy