London Part 1

Sorry I have not posted in so long!  The past few weeks have been routine- go to class, spend time with my host family, hang out with friends and I didn't travel anywhere until September 30, so I didn't post.  My post about the food has been postponed as well.  In any case, classes are going well and I really enjoy most of them.  French civilization and grammar are both repetitive and not as useful, but my two french literature courses are excellent.  I'm reading medieval and 19th century literature ranging from the Songs of Roland to Victor Hugo classics.  My european history course taught in french is also very good- the professor screams "A LA PAUSE" (at the break) to any student who even attempts to sneak in late and he gives very high energy lectures.  Other than classes, until I went to London this past weekend, I've spent a lot of time with my family and we gained a new host student as well.  Jonas, from Zurich, Switzerland is staying with us for two weeks.  He speaks German and English and a little bit of French and he is here as part of a mandatory stay abroad for his high school degree.  We have trouble communicating because neither of us are allowed to speak english in front of our host family and his french is poor, but he is fun to have around for a couple weeks.

My plane from Nimes to London Luton

I'd been planning a trip to London to visit Mary for awhile, but last weekend ended up being the first time we were both available to do the trip.  So friday morning (Sept. 30), I got up at 5:30am and went to the train station where I met up with my friend Rowena- who goes to Northwestern and is also on the program.  We took a train to Nîmes (about 25 minutes) and then a shuttle bus to the airport there which was very small.  It was my first time flying Ryanair and it was quite the experience.  The ticket might have been cheap but you get what you pay for!  Boarding was cattle-call style and the plane was dirty.  Luckily I got an exit row seat so I could stretch out my legs- otherwise I would have been crammed in like everyone else.  It's an Irish airline and known for being very pushy, rude, and low-cost.  The last one was all I cared about and I made it to London's Luton airport safely without any problems.  The next struggle was getting through customs and getting to Brunel University, about 45 miles away.  Two buses, four hours, and $15 later, I made it Uxbridge, a suburb of London where Mary is staying.  Along the way, the bus drove through St. Alban's (famous private schools) and other little towns that distinctly reminded me of Hogsmeade from Harry Potter.

Me in front of Big Ben at night

A very imposing looking Westminister Abbey at night

His Majesty's Theatre in London's West End

Soon after getting to Mary's, we went into the city just to walk around because all the major attractions were closed after 5pm.  London at night is beautiful however and I'm glad we did.  The "tube" ride into the city takes almost 90 minutes because of construction and upgrades for the 2012 Olympics.  The tube train is very confined- short ceilings and rounded walls, so it gets very warm very crowded very quickly.  This was not the highlight of the trip!

That evening, we went to the West End to try to get last minute tickets to a show with no luck so we walked around Picadilly Circus (like Time Square), Oxford Circus, Trafalgar Square and walked down to Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Parliament as well.  We finished off the evening by witnessing a very strange nighttime bike race which began at Trafalgar Square with the cyclists circling around the Trafalgar fountain.  They all wore crazy colored neon clothes and had eccentric lights on their bikes and the bikes were rented from the London bike share program.  It was odd, but also oddly interesting...

Next post I will talk about all the places I visited in London including the Tower of London, the War Rooms, Kensington Palace, Westminister Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral.  My overall impression of London is that there is altogether too much to do in one weekend, but it was an excellent weekend nonetheless, and I got to see all the highlights of the city and experience some British culture too.  More to come in the next few days.