New Renovations! (plus some other things)

I must say that it is fun to play around with this blog site and that it is actually quite fun to do once you sort of get the hang of it. Today was another great day, filled with fun activities, lots of walking, and even a bit of shopping thrown in the mix as well. I do believe that it will not be hard at all for me to get used to living in an environment such as this one. We began our day with a lecture from a man who works with the political system in Britain. He talked to us for a while about the UK government and some of the differences and similarities between it and the US government. He did inform us, like we were told yesterday, that Obama is very much in favor with the Brits right now, which sadly is more than can be said for many people back home. He led on to tell us different issues that are not even issues really in the UK but are big subjects of conflict in the US, such as abortion, socialized medicine, and the death penalty. It was interesting to hear that these issues were of no great importance as a topic of conversation in the UK government since they are such areas of great debate in America.

After this, we had lunch and were given a talk about Academic preparation. We were told a bit about what to expect as we prepare to go to our universities tomorrow and begin the process to start classes. There was a lot of information sort of thrown all at us at once, and I found it a bit challenging to keep up, but I think I will get the hang of it with time. The weirdest thing I found, though, is that in the UK, professors al have their own determined style of the format of the essays they will require. I found it quite interesting to see that there was no set standard, even within departments. That.. will definitely take some getting used to.

After sandwiches, crisps (the better and improved version of chips in America) and some fruit, we had a while to ourselves before we had to meet back for our individual group meetings, separated by the schools we will be attending. When we met with one of the group leaders, we were also greeted by one of the leaders of the Laban program, which was really quite exciting! It was so wonderful to be able to meet someone from this school and to ask her any questions we had at all. We found out the classes that were available to take and found out more about the school itself, which is nice because I no longer feel as though I am entering into the great unknown. I did, however, find out that our commute every morning (on a good morning, too) is going to be about an HOUR and TEN minutes. That right there.. hurts to think about. We will have to be at classes by 8:45am.. which means leaving somewhere around 7:15 every morning to ensure a few extra minutes to get settled before class begins. The nice advantage, though, is that there is a chance that our registration could make it so that we only have morning classes and we could end up only going to school some days for half the day. I would say, therefore, that it's an even trade-off. It will be hard to get used to at first but I think I won't have a problem once it becomes routine and I start o have homework and such that I can do while on the trains.

After our group meetings, I went with Emily and Sara to Argo's, which is a store where you look up the items you need in a catalog and punch in the numbers to a computer system to check i it's in stock.. and if it is and you want to buy it, the workers will send it up to the front of the store on a conveyor belt for you to pick up. What a brilliant idea! The storefront itself can be really quite small while the vast majority of all the sold wares are held in a huge store-room in the back of the building. I bought a hairdryer and a straightener here seeing as using ones from America (that I didn't even bother to bring) can easily blow a fuse when used in the UK outlets.

Tonight was the best part of the day, however, I must say. We went to The Playhouse Theatre to see La Cage Aux Folles, which was a very outspoken musical. It had many male dancers that played the roles of chorus dancers at a cross-dressing theatre production. It was very "out there" but was also quite entertaining, swarmed with tons and tons of humor everywhere. I couldn't keep from laughing nearly the entire time I was in my seat. All of the actors were superb and the male dancers were some of the best I have ever seen, with the absolute best legs I have ever seen on anyone, men and women alike. I thoroughly enjoyed this show and would highly recommend it to anyone mature enough to handle the content. :)

When I got back to my room and unpacked a bit and was thinking about going to bed, I got a very important facebook comment from miss Lea herself. She was distressed because every time I called her, she had been in class and was not able to answer and didn't know what could be done about it. I immediately picked up my cell phone and dialed her number at seeing this comment and when she answered the phone, I had a near panic attack of excitement! It was so great to be able to sit by my open window in my room and talk to my very best friend in the whole world. Hearing how wonderful school is going for her and being able to tell her how much I am loving every minute of my time here in London was very theraputic for me. I am so thankful for her friendship in my life, and I know now more than ever that God has placed her in my life for a very important reason. I don't know what I ever did to deserve a best friend like her.. but I am thankful for her every single day.

Now that it's 1:30 in the morning here.. I better get some sleep.

Cheers :)