Interesting new shiny feature!

I've decided to implement a new feature to the blog. GASPSURPRISEGASP!

I've added a lot of pretty pictures to this site, but that's teaching you nothing besides the fact that England is pretty. You probably already knew this.

Anyway, I'm about to do something a little more handy, just in case you want to visit London some day. I'm going to be compiling my very own travel guide, of sorts, about my neighborhood and the local tube stations in central London. There are so many interesting places that aren't covered in Fodors or Lonely Planet or Time Out--- you find them by wandering around the city.

Soooo... look for some posts in coming days, weeks, months. I can't do it now because I'm writing a paper.

Get excited people!

What is this madness?!?!?

I straddled the hemispheres this weekend. True story.

The coppperish line-thing is the Greenwich meridian, where east and west meet!

Blenheim Palace makes me feel like Elizabeth Bennett...

The house (I use that term loosely) from the back. Lovely view of rolling lawns and the town beyond.

Me in the rose garden.
View of the fountains and the river/canal that winds through the estate.
The sun finally came out!
View of the house from the front drive. Storm clouds rolling in...

Halloween Madness!

Before I came to England, I wondered about the state of Halloween in this fair country. For a while, I wasn't sure whether they even celebrated this awesome, awesome holiday, but then I was like, DUH! THEY HAVE IT IN HARRY POTTER! Therefore they MUST have it in the UK.

It's true, they do have it. There are costume shops (if you want to be really awesome, use the term 'fancy dress' to fit in with the locals), decorations of witches and skeletons, candy (pitiful candy, but it does exist), and pumpkins. Nothing on par with the extravaganza that goes on in the States, but at least it's celebrated (unlike Thanksgiving, which I'll discuss later).

As the leaves started to change and the air started to bite, my friends and I started reminiscing about all the fall-ish stuff we miss. A lot of us are from the northeast, so fall is a BIG DEAL. Apples, cider, cider donuts, PUMPKIN CARVING!

Pumpkin carving was a reasonable goal since it's pretty hard to do a hay ride in a city, so we had a little American pumpkin carving party tonight.

BEST IDEA EVER!

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera so I don't have any pictures yet, but I will steal them from other people and put them on the blog. They turned out to be really epic.

The whole thing was rather interesting... we got pumpkins from Tescos for 80p each, and someone got carded in order to buy a standard pumpkin carving knife (ie a little plastic thing with a blade made out of aluminum). We only had one knife and one scoop, so we had to get pretty creative with our implements. I ended up using a plastic spoon to carve out most of my pumpkin.

The end results were pretty great, considering how little we had to work with. Even though it's an American tradition, my pumpkin was entirely British. On one side I carved the symbol of the Tube with the initials M T G (for Mind The Gap). On the other side I carved a really lopsided Union Jack. Some friends carved traditional pumpkin faces, while another did stars and a moon on one side with the LSE logo on the other. Each pumpkin had a name--- my was George, and the others were Rupert, Hubert, and Boris.

It was great to do something familiar from home. Americans would pass by and wish they could join us, while Brits and other exchange kids would marvel at our awesome skills. It was really fun to sit outside for an hour and get my hands really dirty with pumpkin goop.

As for the rest of Halloween, I'm currently MAKING my own costume. No store bought costume for me! For those of you who are insanely curious, I'm going as Max from "Where the Wild Things Are". It's a very practical costume for mid-fall, as it's essentially a sweatshirt with ears and a tail. Quite proud of myself, though! I'll definitely put up pictures of when it's finished though--- I'll add them the pictures of George the Pumpkin.

Anyhoo, it's getting late and I have reading. G'night!

Pictures!

Pictures from my adventures over the last week!The lawn of King's College in Cambridge, England.

A view of the canal...
Me at the Roman Bath in... you guessed it, Bath, England.
A henge made of stone!
AND the most important picture of them all! This was taken right before the drunk guys in the background started obsessing over Kristi's boots.

5 things that are most different in the UK

I realize I haven't posted in a while (been really busy, I promise!), but I thought I'd start off the blog spamming with a little list of things I find really weird and different in the UK.

1. the paper here is bigger than paper in the US--- notebook paper, printer paper, etc. etc.

2. light switches turn on the opposite way--- you have to push a light switch down to turn something on, rather than up

-also, plugs have switches to turn the electricity on

3. they don't refrigerate eggs in the grocery store--- I hope that this means they're farm fresh and arrived at the grocery store that day, but it still bothers me

4. even escalators are on the left--- not sure if I've mentioned this before, but EVERYTHING is on the left... cars, trains, escalators, walkways, etc. etc.

-interestingly enough, people don't escaleft--- they still stand on the right

AND THE NUMBER ONE THING!!! DRUM ROLL!!!

5. THEY HAVE SHRIMP-FLAVORING CHIPS! WTF?!?!?!?

-I really don't want to eat a bag of 'Prawn Cocktail Chips'. No thank you.

-they also have flavors like Mexican Chili and Cheddar & Onion. YUM?

Even more pictures!

Trafalgar Square! The exposure on this is a little wonky...
The bullet, the gherkin, call it what you will.
Leadenhall Market... supposedly the inspiration for Diagon Alley.
The Tower of London, seen from across the river.