Life and Times in London: 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.