This is the view from the London Eye.  This happened when I was still staying at the Hostel in London.  The 3 girls are the Canadian girls I met from the hostel.  They are called Michelle, Candeece, and Corrina.  They were really cool and we saw a lot of the sights together. 

Images from Buckingham

The House of Gaz

Image from a local headstone

Good looking cottage

Image of a typical street in Buckingham

An old gas pump that wasn't in service but measured in gallons

This door was so small, it was built for hobbits.  But full-size people actually live there.

School Disco

Right.
So this last Friday, the Students Union hosted a School Disco themed dance.

Now, in England, "disco" means a dance in general.   Because of this, the emphasis was to be placed on "school."  IE everyone was meant to dress up in their school uniforms or mock-ups of them. 
Most people dressed up similar to this...

Note everyone's formal attire.

Being American, I figured that Disco meant the classic 1970s, Saturday Night Fever type of attire.
So I ended up going like this...

Note the 1970s fashion

Needless to say, "I had a lot of 'splainin to do!"

cultural observations

1. In a supermarket, one cannot find frozen waffles or frozen pancakes anywhere.  The closest one would find would be potato pancakes.
1. They do however have them pre-made along with the breads, which to me was the last place I'd look for them.
2.  This fact meant that it was nearly impossible to find pancake syrup.
2. One also can observe that there is no grape-flavored foods over here.
1. No grape jelly
2. No grape pop
3. Not even a grape Skittle
4. The closest thing they have to grape is blackcurrant.  It is a bit similar, but not quite the same.
3. They have a version of TJ Maxx here.  It is called TK Maxx.
4. My school is very near to the location of the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.  It was essentially a document limiting the powers of the King.  This was the early predecessor to our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
5. Still haven't seen a pickup truck.

Did I mention I saw the Pope when I was in London?

Uni

I haven't been out to take pictures yet, but I assure you this place is gorgeous.  Especially Founder's building.  Which awes me every time I am in it or walk by it.  The town itself is small, and situate on a hill.  It is really quite a nice area of the country.

This whole week is what they call "Freshers Week." The new students come in and essentially have a week to get used to student life, meet new people, have "social outings," and sort out any logistical items.  I think this is a brilliant idea, because once school actually starts next week, people will be more or less settled, rather than just jumping into classes when no one knows their way around.
Because of this madness, I have been a bit bad at posting on the blog.  This is my formal apology. 

My dorm is very modern, and has its own bathroom and a double bed.  Then I share a kitchen with 8 other people.

On the plus side, I did manage to secure a free bike.  I was eating with some friends when I went to ask the bartender if he knew of any good places to get cheap bikes.  He said he didn't, but that they had a bike that had been sitting at the pub for a long time, and that I could have it after he double checked with the boss.  So I went back today after buying a lock and a bike pump, and after a few minor maintenance issues, I had it up and running.  So that feels great.

I have met a lot of people, but in a college campus of 8000, there are still plenty more to meet.

That is all for now

So, on the way to Royal Holloway, they put us on the train.  First wonderful thing that happened was that a woman ran into our guide and spilled her coffee all over the floor.  From there, it started to move up and down the carriage, so I had to move my bags.  Then, another great thing happened: The toilet locked itself and decided to start spewing water all over.  Water that was not potable.  Because it had puke or poop in it.  So then that was going all up and down the carriage and mixing with the coffee, so I had to move the bags again, and the water kept spewing out.

The couple next to us noticed our accents, and the lad said, "Not all trains here are like this, I promise."
To which the girl chipped in, "Just most of them."

epic

I really do love this place.

Orientation

So I am now staying at the St. Giles Hotel in London, which is pretty much in central London.  There are about 160 Americans here, and to be honest.  I felt embarressed for them.  They--well we, i guess--are especially bad in large groups.  It is not a wonder the rest of the world sees us as obnoxious, loud, and rude.  The boys were all talking about how American Football was better than soccer football, and then one started mocking the english accent.
 I tried not to walk close to them as we all walked to the mandatory dinner.
Hopefully they learn fast.

Ther internet is charged by the minute here.  Which, in short, sucks.  So now I need to go.

Today a middle aged Irish man from Dublin called John asked me what the American expression, "owned" meant.

Awesome.

Waterway in Oxford

Gaz's house!

observations

Also,
You know what I do miss? 
Free refills.
It is unheard of here.  Just a cultural observation, but no one gives free refills.  Even McDonalds.  You know how back home we have the soda fountains that you just walk up to in order to fill your soda?  Yep, don't have any of those at all.

Another observation:
I haven't seen a single pickup truck. I always knew that pickup trucks were kind of an American obsession, but it was never as obvious as it is here. Why is it that so many people back home feel the need to have a pickup when the beds of them hardly ever see use?

Coins:
In England, they have way more coins than us, which is super confusing for me. They have:
1 pence
2 pence
5 pence
10 pence
20 pence
50 pence
1 pound
2 pound

So that means that there are no bills smaller than 5 pounds.  Needless to say, I walk around with a ton of "shrapnel," or change.  The bills are actually different sizes based on how much they are worth.  For example, a 20 is bigger than a 10 which is bigger than a 5. they are also different colors. 

Life's little observations

What can I say?

Things here are crazy.  I am in London, north of Euston.  So I've been staying in a hostel since yesterday, when Gaz and Kyrsten dropped me off. Today there was a football game (soccer) and the stadium for the team that was playing, Arsenal, is nearby, so there were people all over the place for the match. It's been good fun exploring and such, and I went on the London Eye with a couple of Canadians I've met at the hostel.  The internet has been out for all this time until now, hence why I haven't updated for a while.

First legal pint!

This was taken at a local pub in Buckingham on the 6th.
The man on the left is Gaz, my good friend from camp who is being kind enough to host my American self for these first days.  The other two are Ed and Gary, two of Gaz's friends.  Krystn, Gaz's girlfriend, is taking the photo. 
Today, we went to Oxford, and got to see a lot of beautiful English Architecture. 

I went to a Tavern known as the Turf Tavern, where one of Mom's friends used to work.

We also got a mobile phone, and went to Christ's Church, which is an Oxford College where a lot of Harry Potter filming was done, as well as the place where Lewis Carrol, the Writer of Alice in Wonderland, was from.

Corridor from Harry Potter films

The Great Hall from Harry Potter

Obviously today was a great day, and the camera is doing a wonderful job.  I do have more photos, but they are a hassle to load onto here

First Entry

So here is the story thus far:
I got on my flight to Iceland, surprised to see that they had in flight movies in the headrests of every seat.  So that was a plus.  The sunset from up in the jet stream was stunning, but unfortunately I couldn't get to my camera as the two people next to me were sleeping. Anyway, I watched two films and slept for about an hour before arriving in Iceland.  It was interesting because they had a liquor store right in the airport.  I went through more security checks, and then I got on my second flight to London.  A girl stole my window seat, and since it was only a 3 hour journey, I decided to let her stay there.
When I got to London, I waited for an hour to get through the border patrol. Then, I finally stepped through the terminal into the receiving area.  (The same one that you see at the end of Love Actually)  There was Gaz.  He received me, and we realized that the people on Icelandiar had broken the wheel off of my suitcase.  Not only that, but a bottle broke open in the same case.
Anyway.  Gaz took me to see his town, Buckingham.
Driving on the other side of the road is a bit insane, and it takes a bit of getting used to when the passenger side is on the left.  We went to a town called Milton Keynes, which was actually modeled after American layouts of cities.  There was stoplights and sprawling shopping centers.  It is akin to Bloomington or Burnsville.
Also, roundabout are all around.  It makes sense, because then you don't have to stop as we do for our stop signs.

Today, we traveled to back to Milton Keynes, looking to get a few items.  I got a razor and shampoo.  I also got some film for my camera. We ate food at a small place back in Buckingham and had a Panini, but they use french baguettes for bread. It was very good.

Plan is to have genuine fish and chips and my first local legal drink tonight.

Later,

Test of Blog

This is only a test.
This is only a test.