More London explorations and even some countryside

On Wednesday I went to a Wire concert with my friend Eric (Wire is a post-punk British band that formed in the 70’s). We went to a pub before the concert, where I ordered my usual cider (because I generally think beer tastes like rusty water). While pouring my drink from the tap, the bartender asked us where we were from (our accents probably gave it away). After telling him we were from the states, he nodded with approval and proceeded to ask me if I would like ice in my cider. I initially thought this was a stab at the “unsophisticated American” stereotype, and responded “hah…no thanks.” But he was serious and assured me that “ice is nice.” I took his word for it, mostly because I liked the way he used rhyme to sway my opinion, and asked for precisely two cubes to avoid a potentially watery cider. And indeed, the ice was nice. As we sat in the pub, I suggested that we initiate a game of “count the number of bald people” upon noticing an unusual abundance of bald men around us (I already had a head start with 6). This task soon became overwhelming however, when we entered the venue for the Wire concert. While there was a portion of people who were our age, the grand majority appeared to be Wire’s fan-base from 'back in the day' but were clearly pushing their mid-50’s in present day - and therefore, balding. Even half of the band was bald. So, we never reached a final count.

I visited Greenwich with a few friends on Friday. There, we walked around the royal naval academy.

....which looks remarkably similar to Skidmore’s campus.

Royal Naval Academy

Skidmore

We then walked around the town and market area, before getting lunch at a small seafood place in town. The restaurant was keen on playing R&B slow-jams for the entire duration of our stay, which made for a strange ambiance while I was gnawing on my fish and chips. Later that evening, we took a ride on the London Eye (a very large ferris wheel), which has an amazing view overlooking London. 

 The London Eye

One of the views from the London Eye - there's Big Ben.

I also FINALLY saw Big Ben (It’s really absurd and embarrassing that I have been here for a month without seeing this landmark). Afterwards, we checked out a comedy club in Leicester square. The “comedy club” was really just the basement of a hotel. There were a couple of good comedians, but most of the comedy was the type that receives pity-laughs from the audience in between long periods of silence. But actually, I found humor in how bad some of the jokes were - so it was a good time.
Oh and we also happened to run into a group of Teletubbies at one point in the night.

On Saturday, I went on a hike with the UCL hiking club in Arundel, a small town south of London. I’m glad I went, though I spent 15 minutes lying in bed that morning debating whether the trip would be worth getting up at 8 AM on a Saturday. The hike was a mere 11 miles (no big deal…) but my once-grey sneakers were in no way suitable for the rain, consequent mud, and liquefied horse poop that they encountered throughout the day. I also forgot to pack a rain jacket, so that was a pleasant experience (I am rarely coherent at 8 AM in the morning, so I didn't pack or dress appropriately). But I really did have a good time. We walked through the village and the wide-open fields, where chickens frolicked and herds of sheep roamed. We also saw a lot of swans in the fields, which was a little unexpected.

It was the very essence of what I imagined the English countryside to be like. 

There was a solitary phone booth along the barren road. I was inclined to take a picture of it.

Along the hike, we found a small church, where we stopped for a while to get warm, and a castle atop a hill. 

It was also nice to hang out with more non-American students (my mission since day 1). We all went out for tea and lunch at a cozy little restaurant in the town. We were all cold and drenched, so the hot tea was perfect. I also got butternut squash soup (it was the last one!) and it was delicious. I didn't want it to end.

On Sunday, I went to the Chinese New Year parade/celebration. It was so crowded that I could barely move (I just googled the estimated number of people who attended - 250,000). We all went for dim sum afterwards (sooo good...and it was my second dim sum that week).

The roads were lined with colorful lanterns.

What do Ultimate Frisbee, Morgan Freeman, and the Canterbury Cathedral all have in common?

Nothing. I'm just horrible at thinking of titles for these posts.

I recently joined the ultimate frisbee team here at UCL, in an effort to meet more British people and also to perfect the art of throwing a frisbee. I attended a couple of practices last week, and exhibited my tremendous lack of skill at the sport. Unbeknownst to me, I can’t even throw a frisbee (catching it with grace is whole other ordeal). Instead, I resort to chucking it as far as I can, without aim, and hope that someone will catch it. However, this method has failed me numerous times, since the frisbee usually ends up in an open field where nobody is standing within several meters. Luckily, the people on the team are very chill (as the stereotype of an ultimate frisbee player seems to demand) and are supportive of my effort, however pathetic the outcome of this effort may be.

Another perk of being on the team is that they have a pub social every Wednesday. Last week’s theme was “pirate night” - so everyone on the team came to the bar dressed as a pirate (for me, having limited resources, this meant tying a scarf around my head). As we made our entrance into the bar, the people inside stopped sipping their drinks and stared, probably questioning our motives and level of sobriety. At least there were several of us in pirate garb, so our dignity did not need to be questioned. The sound “Arrrr” resonated around the vicinity of our table throughout the night as we played several pirate-themed drinking games. Then, it was time for the Three Pint Challenge (*ahem* drinking an alcoholic beverage out of a Frisbee with a straw). Unfortunately, this is a “right of passage” that all Frisbee players must endure. I think that’s all I’ll say about that.

On Friday, I saw the likes of Morgan Freeman, President Obama, Isaac Newton, and Bob Marley…at the Madame Tussauds wax museum. Sadly, these personalities were unresponsive to my attempts to chat, but it was still pretty amazing to observe how realistic they looked. I am probably just a dunce, but it was surprisingly easy to mistake an actual person for a wax figure, or vice versa - especially since I didn't immediately recognize some of the figures. So, at one point I wondered why some creep in the corner of my eye was staring at me for such a long period of time. I glanced back at him and realized that I had been getting annoyed with a wax figure of Steven Spielberg. In another embarrassing instance, I was walking with my friend and asked him who one of the figures was supposed to be (in reference to a rather ordinary looking man with shades on). This “figure” then looked at me, laughed, and started walking. He was apparently having a picture taken of him.

           

                       Here we are crashing the oval office.

                Here I am thinking about complex theorems alongside my buddy Albert.

            On Saturday, I went on a trip to visit the town of Canterbury, which is East of London and home of the Canterbury Cathedral and the Canterbury Tales. We went to lunch in the town, and I got this very nutritious meal consisting of pancakes, whipped cream, bananas, and sprinkles.

                                                    

         The Cathedral was beautiful and I loved looking at the stained glass inside. Meanwhile, we could hear singing from the choir practice taking place in the center of the church. It was also enjoyable to peruse the gift shop afterwards to see the various things you could buy to commemorate your visit to the Cathedral. Among these items were rosaries, crosses, postcards, neckties with crosses on them, milky pens, and large erasers. I don't know who looks at these latter two items and thinks "great times at Canterbury Cathedral." But I guess I would have purchased a milky pen had I felt that my inventory of milky pens leftover from fifth grade was inadequate.

This is a picture of the entire Skidmore group that went.

                                          
I was actually laughing hysterically when this picture was taken because a giant subway sandwich was waddling by us while we were standing there. 

Some more pictures of the cathedral:

 
So that's about it. Look out for my next post!