out for a stroll
02/July/2005 07:14 PM

I went in search of a calling card and food this afternoon. I didn't really look that hard for the calling card, because I was a little more concerned with simply finding my way around town. After circling the block two or three times I was getting pretty hungry, so I finally stopped at a little cafe and ordered a sandwich. The menu had some bizarre stuff on there, so I went with what sounded like a safe bet: chicken, bacon, and cheese. It wasn't really that BAD, but it wasn't what I was expecting either. I guess that's the only way I'm going to survive here for the next six weeks though: trial and error.

While I was out and about I stumbled upon a small internet kiosk, so I popped in and asked how much it cost to get online. It was about £1 for 20 min, so I sat down in front of a Dull and checked my email. Dad and Stefy had already emailed asking if I made it over here okay, so I typed out a quick response to both of them. I got everything done that I wanted to do in those 20 min, but obviously I was rushing. I mean, it's really not that bad for a quick fix, but I'm going to have to figure out this internet thing ASAP. I mean, I read this huge article before I left about how many open wireless networks there are in London now, and so far it's a no-go. What a bummer.

Anyway, after dinner and my time online I walked around the block a few more times. There was an extra copy of the London Times sitting in the cafe when I ate dinner, so I took it to Russell Square (which is this big, open, park-like place) and sat down in the grass and plowed through the paper. I have to say, I really enjoyed the time to read. Not only was I out of the loop on the news from the last two days, but I guess I forgot what it was like to read a real newspaper. Amazing.

Okay, well it's 7:30 now, so I'm going to try and stay up for at least another hour and a half or two. The lack of sleep is definitely catching up with me. Pretty much every muscle in my body is tired. I even took a nap in the park for a while. The only reason I got us was because it looked like it might rain. Hopefully I'll feel more human again tomorrow.

and here we are
02/July/2005 03:11 PM

Well, our brief wait in Detroit got swapped with the long layover that we were supposed to have in Chicago. The plane that was coming to take us to O'Hare was delayed out of Denver, so my afternoon was pretty long. We didn't leave the ground until about 6:15 Michigan time, meaning that we had all of ten minutes to board our flight to London once we landed at O'Hare.

The bad part about the seating arrangements for both flights was that I was at the complete ass-end of the plane each time, but the good news was that I had an aisle seat both times. Even better was that on our way to Heathrow I didn't have anyone in the seat next to me during the entire flight. We made it onboard with time to spare, and I was thoroughly impressed with how spacious the seats were back in coach. I got a kick out of the fact that one of the movies offered as inflight entertainment was none other than "National Treasure". So yes, after making fun of that movie for the past year, I finally caved in and watched it. And yes, it was as terrible as I was expecting.

I ate my better-than-expected dinner through the tail end of the movie, and finally decided to cash in and call it a night afterwards (at around 10:30 p.m. EDT). Now, no matter how much leg room they give you to work with, it's still not really a good night's rest unless you can stretch out on a real bed. Still, I slept reasonably well, and managed to saw logs for a good three or four hours overnight.

I started waking up at around 7:00 a.m. London time (2:00 a.m. EDT) when the flight attendants began their breakfast service. This meal was crap compared to last night's dinner, but I managed to choke down about half of my dry, tasteless pastry.

It was right around 8:00 a.m. London time when we pulled into the airport, and while the next couple of hours were pretty uneventful while we waited for our shuttle busses to show up, I still felt like I could've fallen over and passed out right there on the sidewalk at any given moment. Talk about dawn of the dead.
Well, we eventually made it onto our bus, or "coach" as our driver politely correctted us, and made the hour long drive to the various halls scattered around University College London. We were all nodding off along the way to our dorms, but the driver tried to keep us awake and entertained by sharing little factoids about London and British history. I guess it worked well enough if he managed to keep someone like me awak through all of that.

Anyway, we finally made it to our hostel, Campbell Hall. Of the five places that MSU kids are staying it's undeniably the biggest dump of them all, and the hall that's farthest from everything. I guess what we lack in amenities we make up for in frugality, since we have other frills included in our trip, like free tube tickets.

I eventually checked into my room and met my roommate Eric. He's a nice enough guy, and I think we'll get along well. Then again, I've made that mistake before.

So now it's about 3:30 here. My internal clock is so discombobulated. It feels more like 9:30 at night rather than 10:30 in the morning. We took a walking tour of Bloomsbury (the district we're staying in), but I think my brain has turned to pudding at this point. I couldn't find my way back to half of the places we went to this afternoon if you handed me a map.

Anyway, I'm tired, hungry, and filthy, so I think I'm going to take a nap, clean up real quick, and maybe go wander the neighborhood again looking for a cheap meal. They clearly weren't kidding about everything being expensive here. I can already see all that hard earned money going straight to my stomach over the next six weeks. Anyway, that's it for now. All I need to do is find a way to post this.

On your marks. Get set...
29/June/2005 12:39 PM

It's been a while since I updated the blog over here, but things are about to change. I'm taking off for London on Friday at 3:50 p.m. from Detroit, and this will be the temporary site while I'm out of town.

Since I'm not exactly sure how easy it'll be to get online in Europe I can't promise how often I'll be able to make updates, but I think once a week is a pretty conservative estimate. Hopefully I'll have enough bandwidth to post pictures, but if I don't you can expect a major update once I'm back.

In the meantime, check out the donations page for a list of list of all the wonderful people who so generously contributed to my trip.

Hopefully you'll hear from me soon.
Cheers!