HERE TO STAY

so i've finally settled in! somewhat. it took forever between heathrow and mile end, the two stops are pretty much on the opposite sides of london, west and east respectively. the neighborhood reminds me of queens, mostly residential and diverse. there's a large indian muslim population here, you can tell from the stores that sell halal meat and the people walking through the streets. their markets take over the sidewalk in front of the sainsbury, a supermarket megastore that i've been to three times already. my room is tiny but cozy. it is one of six singles in a suite/apartment with a kitchen we all share. i've only met two girls thus far. this is a view from my room window:


sometimes it is creepy to leave my curtains open because i can see people in their kitchens and they can see me. queen mary's about triple swarthmore's size! it's quite an adjustment as information is not as accessible or available. i had to go to individual departments today just to find the room numbers for the classes i'm taking!

first night i arrived, i slept 14 hours. dad arrived in the morning and we went to hyde park to meet with span b/c she had a long layover on her way to south africa. turns out we missed her by just 15 minutes! meeting in a foreign country is hard. we hung around for some time before going to this underground modern dimsum place that dad had been before. then we walked down oxford street which was like suicide because it was a saturday afternoon and maddd sales were going on. we hit the british museum and the tate modern. he may be a little over fifty years old but dad's such a beast when it comes to traveling.





next day we went to see the london symphony orhcestra at the barbican for film night, they played quite a few scores from star wars, indiana jones, titanic, out of africa, etc. it was cool to hear a orchestra of that caliber play such popular tunes. patrick doyle (lord of the rings) and david arnold (independence day, james bond) made surprise appearances, the pink panther too. dad got wayy too excited for the star wars.


so he left this morning for prague and will be returning friday night to check up on me again before leaving sunday morning for nyc. it's been nice having him around to help me buy things i need and keep me company, but the criticisms were getting to be a little too much (uh UM i should eat more red meat so i can be more aggressive? WHERE IS THE LOGIC?) i'm liking the independence now, but it's a bit lonely. people keep thinking i'm from china/hong kong because i suppose most of the chinese students here are from china/hong kong but even when i speak to chinese international students using their dialect to explain that i'm actually from the states they get confused or disappointed? anyways, i guess i'm just the exception. or exceptional. hahhh.

if my time table ends up being what i've planned, i won't have class on mondays and wednesdays, but my thursdays and fridays will be full. i think the most difficult adjustment i've had to make is cooking my meals. i am nowhere near creative enough to decide what i want to eat. this is why the food network is my default channel. also. cooking for one is no fun. no more dwelling/ruminating, time for sleep! just one class tomorrow, my goal/hope is to make one friend. so sad!