Classes have started off well. University (as they call it) is very different here. I only have four classes. A student goes to class once a week. Classes usually consist of a lecture followed by a seminar. The lecture is just the tutor (professor) talking for an hour - hour and a half. The seminar is an hour and a half - two hours of conversation about the reading and the lecture. So basically the student listens for the first half while taking notes and pa...

I went to church today. I received an orientation handbook from the International Student House and in the back there were places of worship. The first one on the list was American Church in London so that's where I went. I had a hell of a time getting there. You see the church is located off of the Northern Line (on the tube) which follows this figure eight pattern over and over and it's extremely difficult to get where you want to be. I had to switch trai...

Today GSE took us to St. Paul's Cathedral. My first let down was that we weren't allowed to take pictures (though at one point our tour guide said she wouldn't notice if we took a picture or two while in the stair tower). Nevertheless, we had a really detailed tour and it was actually quite amazing. It was just so big. Standing at the west entrance and looking east it was just breath-taking. There were all these archways and domes and columns. Everything ...

Nothing exciting today...it rained and I put off going out. Finally my friend Jennifer and I went out to see a movie in Covent Garden. Michael Clayton was the movie and it was pretty good. Movies are so expensive here. It cost me 9.75 pounds with my student discount...think $19. Won't be doing that again anytime soon. On the way back from the movie Jennifer and I ran into a group of English people who invited us out drinking. We followed them and had a cou...

Today I went on the worst tour bus ride ever (probably). Thank God I didn't have to pay for it. London Metropolitan University took us on a tour of London on a bus....and then a river boat. First, the bus was about an hour late. Second, it never stopped for us to take pictures except at Covent Garden where we stopped for lunch. Third, it was full of all these really annoying American students from the midwest who could not stop talking. Fourth, we where late for ...