“Nothing is certain in London but expense.”- William Shenstone

It’s been quite a week! But I have at last settled into my flat and have been asked for directions several times by tourists which I take to mean that I am starting to seem like a local (granted I was not of much help to any of them).

On my last day in Wales they took us up to Gower Peninsula. It is considered one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and it absolutely is. I took pictures but it hardly does justice to how breathtaking it was. What impressed me most was how natural it was; it is one of very few places left that seems to be completely untouched by man. Up at the top of Worms Head it was almost silent (except the barking from another tourist’s dog), and you could just see out forever.




It was sad to say goodbye to my host family. They were so kind and I had a great time with them. But it was so nice to finally move into my own place and have my own room (and away from snoring roommates!) and be able to unpack! I was so excited…and then we got there.

After much confusion and frustration we were assigned randomly to flats. My flat is on the 5th floor (which is actually the 6th floor, because in Europe you enter on the ground floor), and the lifts were broken, and would stay broken for the rest of the day. So I had to carry my very heavy bags up 5 flights of stairs, one at a time. I was sweating buckets and absolutely exhausted by the time I had gotten one very heavy backpack, one duffel, and one medium sized suitcase up to my lovely flat. I came back for my giant suitcase that probably weighed as much as I do, and was carrying it upstairs, when this incredibly sweet guy saw me, took pity on me and offered to carry it up to the 3rd floor. When he realized I was on the 5th floor, he just laughed and said “I can’t let you do that” and took it the rest of the way. I could not believe how kind he was. Sadly, I haven’t seen him since, but as soon as I have a chance to make cookies, I’m going to track him down.

Anyway, my flat is lovely. I have a very nice sized room that gets lots of sunlight during the day, and we have a huge kitchen with two of everything. And now, one week later, the flat is almost totally set up!!! I’m so proud of myself. Why am I so proud, you ask? In the past when I have set up my dorm room I have either had a car, my parents’ have had a car, or a friend has had a car, or there has been a bus, and we have gone to Target to get everything needed for my room. But here I have no car, no Target, and very little money (stupid dollar-pound exchange rate!). I also did not have the internet for 4 days. So I have made about a million trips to Oxford Circus, each time trying to get all that I need for my room and for the kitchen. I started with nothing beyond clothes, so I have made quite a bit of progress. And I have learned that if you buy a giant laundry basket, fill it with a baking sheet, a set of mixing bowls, a million hangers, measuring cups, and sheets, then take this onto the Tube and then the fifteen minute walk back home, you will get lots of funny looks, but you will have such a strong sense of accomplishment that you won’t even care.

I can only buy what I can carry home each time, and it’s a bit of a walk to my flat from the tube stop, so I think that by the time I finally get the last few things I need, I will have biceps of steel. And I no longer feel any guilt over the Welsh Cake addiction I developed in Wales. But now my room is (almost) all set up! And it looks great! Once classes begin it will probably never be this clean again, but for now, I’m quite proud of myself.


This is my room (well, half of it). In the mirror you can see my bulletin board from the other side of the room. At first I thought it was weird to have a sink in the bedroom, but now I LOVE it. I don't know how I ever survived without a sink in my bedroom. It makes life so much easier! And above my bed are cards and things from friends, family, and kids I've worked with/babysat. I hung them up because I was tired of the sad, blank wall, but now I think it's just making me homesick.


This past Saturday two of my friends and I became complete tourists for the day. We started at Portobello Market where we got fruit and crepes, then headed to Covent Garden market, where we enjoyed the street performers and walked around the marketplace, and watched the opera singers at this Italian restaurant. We passed by the theater for The Woman in Black, which one of my friends really wanted to see, and by some miracle we were able to get tickets. We each had an international student ID card, which if you show at the theater an hour before curtain the theater is obligated to give you the best seats they have in the house for 20 pounds. We sat dead center in the last row in the Orchestra section, which was especially cool for this show because the actors moved throughout the theater so they were frequently running right behind us. The show was fantastic; it’s a suspenseful play, similar to Hitchcock’s style, and at certain parts you would hear the entire audience gasp simultaneously. It was different from anything I’ve ever seen, but I really enjoyed it.

Then we went and saw The Monument, walked around Westminster, and took lots of touristy pictures! We went to a pub for a dinner of meat pies and fish and chips. We felt like proper tourists, and are quite excited for A Love’s Labor’s Lost next weekend at the Globe.

The Monument

Westminster by night. We walked next to it on our way back to the tube and this drunk girl walked past us, as she was talking on her mobile. I guess she was lost and trying to explain where she was, so she said "I'm by the...you know, the f***ing big clock!" then when her friend still could not help, she handed her mobile to a policeman and said "Here, he's going to tell you where I need to be, so can you then tell me how to get there?" It was very funny

Classes have not begun yet, and registration is a very confusing process, and I’m bored stiff with all the orientation programs, but I am really liking UCL. The resources here are incomparable, and it is one of the best universities in the world (#7 to be exact. They like to remind us of this), so I feel very lucky to be here. The psych department seems great, and I am excited for my classes. I’m praying I get my art history class-I’m showing up 2 hours early for registration just to be safe! I am a bit taken aback by how much alcohol the school buys for the students. I can honestly only think of one meeting I’ve been to in the past week where they have not provided drinks, and the other night a student actually died of alcohol poisoning at a UCL-sponsored event. They don’t provide us with toilet paper, but the booze flows freely. Am I the only one who thinks this shows strange priorities?