I <3 LSE

I know that as a student at King’s College I am supposed to not like the London School of Economics. Not in a detestful way, but in a UNC-DUKE rivalry way. (Oh wait, that includes detestation, right?) All jokes aside, I can’t help but smile whenever I see the LSE logo, which is often, considering the schools are LITERALLY across the street from each other. Why does my face brighten at the insignia of the “enemy” school, the “dark place” if you will…because its acronym is my monogram!

In my little mind, everytime a wayward LSE student wears a shirt, carries a tote, or uses a notebook with their school logo on it, they are secretly dedicating their life to me. My personal favorite is the “I <3>

Well thanks London, I <3>

In other news – classes have started and are fascinating (though the system is still confusing and the campus is still a maze). I eat way too many pre-packaged sandwiches. I drink way too much coffee (this is not new). I travel by tube almost every day and still can’t help but giggle when I pass my “city-girl” reflection. My cough (all of Cobb knows the one) has started its first rampage of the season. But other than that, things are looking fine.

With Love and Peace,

Lauren

Oh, I'm supposed to write here?

Saturday marked my first visit to a real working palace, because (as you might know) the United Kingdom has a real working royal family AND (as you may not know) when said royal family takes its royal vacation said palace is open to the public! In plain speak, on Saturday I paid money to take an audio-guided tour of Buckingham Palace because the Queen is away on official state business/vacation time. I’m just gonna say it because it’s true…but her house is COOL. Not only is the building full of history but 70,000 people pass through the palace in any given year and not just tourists but also heads of state and other important people. It was really cool to take a Biltmore-Estate-Like tour of a place that is still of such importance. Yes, I recognize that touring the White House is similar, but it is also extremely different. This is mainly because, while cool, the White House is not a palace.

After a delightful tour of the royal house and some of its gardens (speaking of – in which some kids pitched a tent in the 1980s thinking it was Hyde park, oopsies) an afternoon was spent in St. James’ Park, Green Park and Hyde Park in or around a variety of forms of water. Meaning of course that I climbed upon fountains in Green Park and that we rented a pedal boat in Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park and ingested a variety of forms of water products (read: coffee and water and food stuffs). The evening of Saturday was spent gallivanting around Hampstead High Street, a mere walk from my lovely residence in London and adorable and fantastic and much like Georgetown or something like that.

Sunday sent me back to Elizabethan times when I saw “Love’s Labour’s Lost” performed at the rebuilt “Shakespeare’s Globe Theater” in London! The interior of the theater reminded me a little too much of the theater presented in “Shakespeare in Love” but that was equally romantic. The five pound tickets were standing room only, which made the “Shakespeare experience” that much more realistic. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Monday marked the first day of classes (WAHOOOO!!!!) and an incident with a squirrel that makes the UNC squirrels look tame. Let’s just say that the squirrel story ends with said squirrel climbing up a 10 year old boys leg, after which the boy does not scream or squirm (not my style), but feeds the squirrel sausage, oh that he had found in his pocket. Could someone explain that one to me? The beginning of classes was a welcome change to the monotony of my summer (ha!) but was actually really refreshing to be able to LEARN something again! My first class of Fall 2009 began very harshly and the professor had hardly said his name before diving into an analysis of Theodore Drieser’s Sister Carrie. Let it be known that myself (and the 20+ study abroad students in the class) had no idea that the book was on a syllabus, let alone that it had to be read! The second class was slightly calmer and even included (gasp) a course outline and a powerpoint, oh the comforts of home.

As you can see with all this as evidence, life in London is a peach. There are many more misadventures ahead and I certainly cannot wait for the next one (which may or may not include figuring out how to take Bus 13 in the morning commute OR ). Please, stay tuned.

 

With love and in peace,

Lauren Shor

 

PS – You (internet-land/anonymous reader) will have to excuse my abuse of Lauren speak in the above post, I blame it on the late hour, long day, and cough.

PPS - I WILL get better at being funny/regular/interesting in these posting things. Its a goal of mine.

Guess whose back?

Hello Friends and Family!

 

I am back on my world travels again! This week began my three-month spell as a student of King’s College London, in – you guessed it – London, England!

 

The trip could not have started off better if I had planned it! I arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Saturday morning with Kesley and we met up (magically) with Katherine in Victoria Station! Katherine and I proceeded to move me into my residence hall, grab food, take a nap and head up to Wembely Stadium! We had planned to see Coldplay in concert and I could not have imagined a better concert than what we saw! White Lies, Girls Aloud (a new spice girls from what I can tell) and JAY-Z (!!!) opened for Coldplay. Each band was wonderful in its own way. I think I would pay to see only Jay-Z perform again, as he was fantastic. Right as Coldplay was meant to go on stage it started raining. Since Katherine and I had splurged on floor tickets, we were right in the hotspot for the downpour that ensued. BUT it didn’t matter at all and we danced and sang along to the songs just as hard (if not harder). The rain truly made the concert magical, and it wouldn’t have been London without it! It was an EPIC show.

 

Sunday Katherine, Kesley and I spent wandering all of central London. I do not exaggerate when I say all. We started in South London, walked along the Thames, across the Millenium Bridge, into and around St. Pauls, down to Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the Strand (our campus!), and Covent Garden. My feet were (and still are) very sore! Monday I had registration, which went smoothly. I also had my first adventure in Sainsbury’s – the local grocery store. Tuesday I had orientation as an exchange student and Kesley, and two other girls and myself took a double-decker-open-top-bus tour where I ran into a friend from Carolina! What a small world!

 

Wednesday I met up with old friends for coffee and discovered some great bookshops! I have been trying to get my bearings the past few days and will continue to do so until (and after) my classes start next week! So far, interactions with the university have been tedious because there is a lot of confusion on what happens when and with whom. I decided, however, that this is just part of the “English experience” and I am going to adjust and pretend like it doesn’t bother me that I don’t know my course schedule.

 

I hope you are all doing well. I love hearing from you so please email me whenever you would like to!

 

With peace and in love,

Lauren