i don't what know is life,

x

the bit about americans,

14 Sept:

Woke up early. Hot water cut out during shower. Cleaning ladies pleasant. Tea + Toast breakfast.

Class. Boring. Theatrical theory or whatever is kind of boring. Well, it was kind of interesting, but I don’t know. Looking forward to Faustus a lot. Don’t have anything to add to class discussion.

Quick lunch. Vending machine food. Not that good. Acceptable regardless.

Went to the Globe. Faustus! Excellent.

Rory went from Dr Who to Dr Faustus. Can’t think of a joke, but there’s one there. The open air was interesting. The elements certainly added to the play. The wind blew when Helen appeared near the end of the play, made the scene much more powerful. Planes flew over when Faustus summoned Mephistopheles, and again the sound of the plane enhanced the play! Wasn’t expecting  modern interference to do that.

Would/want to go to the Globe again. Must plan that—season is over soon, no?

Beautiful blond boy in the balcony. Good eye candy for sure.

France fell through. (I think?) We’ll see. Confusing plans. Have to pay L for ticket to Sweden—RyanAir doesn’t like American debit cards. Ah well, hope she’s all right with that, she seemed it. Been a long day.

FRESH LINENS. SO NICE. Gonna marry these cleanings ladies.

Pigeons outside flat. Pigeons are much bolder here than in the US. NYC squab are hardcore but these birds are tough and demanding. Don’t how the actours weren’t distracted by the pigeons and the aeroplanes and helicopters. That’s why they’re actours and I’m not!

Gift shop at the Globe was expensive. Expected. Pocket-sized scripts adorable.

Time to cook dinner. No class tomorrow. Nice. Homework all day.  Reheated rice, minced meat steak? Not an amazing dinner. Taught card games to V and H and J. How can people not know things like poker and rummy? Ah well, bedtime.

15 Sept:

Woke up about noon. Nice long hot shower. So nice.

Tea + Toast breakfast again. Working on the US/UK log. Reading about Norman London. Need some more journals. History journals?

Mashed potatoes, zucchini, and gravy for dinner. Getting good at gravy, I guess. Alliteration. Working on homework—proposal next. B came over and gave us tickets for a music festival on Saturday. Should be great!

Staying in Brighton Friday night. Hostel, 18 people to a room? At least we’ll make up 1/3^rd of the room.

Figured out how to use the washing machine to dry clothes. H almost opened it while running. Thankfully, we avoided breaking the machine. That’d be a big bill and many days without laundry. The opposite of fun.

Don’t know what’s going on tonight. We’ll see.

16 Sept:

Missed my alarm. Packed quickly. Going to Brighton. No breakfast.

Commute memorable. People got split up. Rush hour. Got to London Bridge. Big station. Waited around for a while.

Train to Brighton arrived. Confusion ensued. Got on train. Not many others did. Terrified.

OK. People on train confirm this is going to Brighton. Nice people. May get kicked off? Will they check tickets? The thrill of it all. Other passengers greatly amused by our situation. Helpful at least. Nice people, the British.

Visited the Pavilion. Opulence never looked so good. Poor George IV—most caricaturized king in history! (I think, if I remember rightly.)

 Brighton shops are cute. Very hilly area—makes me think of San Francisco. Went to beach. Rocks—no sand. Lots of gnats. All shells smashed to bits. Kept one. Tide’s coming in. Only 2 people in the ocean. Pier looks like a carnival. Hungry. Brown seagulls—not white. Waves crashing in—soothing.

Discussing food situation. Seaweed everywhere. Gross.

Got fish and chips at a pub. Gnarly—waitress was really nice. Went on a wild choose hunt looking for hostel. Bad planning.

Couldn’t find the place. Livid. Moody. Walked for two hours. Feet are killing me. I want to murder the world.

Frozen yoghurt. Guess that counts for dinner? Ah well, c’est la vie. Calm down ! Don’t even like yogurt. 


Would like to come back to Brighton. Nice shops. Can be cheap. Can be expensive.

Took charge of the return home. On the train early. Looking forward to shower. Maybe a night-in? Nope, going out. Westbury. Oh well, left that early. Not in the mood.

 Brighton was wonderful but hate bad planning. Sour mood. Pretty sure my clothes have melded to my body.

Tons of gorgeous guys in Brighton. Very gay neighbourhood. Definitely have to go back. Sweden next weekend? Possible. We shall see.

17 Sept:

British Library V+C; Music Festival; James =(


Learned last night the cute Australian bartender was fired. Oh no.

Worked on presentation. British Library rocks. Took a while to sign up. Library cards or “Reading Passes” were a chore to apply for.

Had to formulate a list of books I wanted before they’d allow it. Reading rooms rocked. Annoying that you had to use the exact seat number. Security reasons, I guess.

Lots of stuff about Hastings and Norman kings. English monarchy so interesting. Only got to read for an hour, rooms closed at 5PM.

Went back to flats and got ready for music festival. Terrible idea. Brick Lane Music Festival packed. Approx 8PM. Queues over an hour long for every venue/bar. Got in one—packed. Couldn’t stay long; like sardines in a tin can. Haha Radiohead.

Went with them to buy chips. B got heckled about British men about her hair. All in good fun—at least she took it that way. Nice people, the British.

Went to OLD BELL pub by flats. Karaoke. I hate karaoke. Went out to smoke after the girls performed. All the old codgers hated “the Americans ruining their own music.” They were from Dublin. An Irish Statler + Waldorf.

Slept after. Subpar time at best.

18 Sept:

Open House:

Guild Hall

Fascinating; old; honoured(?)

[insert paper here]

Stocked up on food for the week. Sainsbury > Tesco. Worked on presentation after dinner with V+C—once at FSU and later at their flat. Not looking forward to presentation tomorrow. Slept.

19 Sept:

Overslept a little. Last to shower. No hot water and half-way through the whole thing nearly cut out. Big drops. Shampoo still in my hair. Fucking wonderful.

Rush hour at Tube. Delays. Insanity, really.

Research class. Presented after the break. We spent half an hour or more—whoops. 3x the allotted length. Oh dear.

Cheese sandwich for lunch. Muy lame. Kind of full, I guess. Nothing to drink. FRIENDS on—Hate this show. History class next—not looking forward to it. Maybe security?

No security. Class was OK. Hate history but the way the professor gets into the war is exciting.

20 Sept:

Dickens walk. Arrived early, figured we’d be late honestly.

Underdressed the entire way. Walked into fashion week then the legal quartier. How decidedly underdressed we were. Still though, interesting tour.

Professor got us in the lawyer’s dining hall. The English really love their martyr king. Big portrait of Charles I, so weird. Kill him, then honour him?

Old buildings fascinating. Hated the Da Vinci Code but glad its popularity let us tour Temple Church. I guess? Don’t know how true that bit was.

Fascinated by knights and things and all the plaques there commemorating the World Wars! Really shows how much they marked the UK. Even WWII monuments in the US are rare. The one in DC is less than 10 years old, yeah?

Disco Pigs show tonight. Striking play. Sat front row—not much of an accomplishment in that small theatre but still. Accents were hard to follow but I think it added to the whole thing that much more.  Use of mannequins was disturbing.

21 Sept:

Super long theatre class today. Not super excited. Wish I had purely literature classes sometimes. Additional lecture annoying—hope our class ends early like the other.

Shakespeare lecture interesting at least. Posh Billy Speares is much more interesting than the pauper William.

Think I’m the only one who enjoyed Faustus outside of Rory’s involvement. Maybe I have terribly plebeian sensibilities. Ah well. Class took all two hours. Was a pipe dream anyways. Carol Churchill—not again! Hope I like her this time round. (Not really.)

Stopped to buy a new digital camera for Sweden. Old one takes only blurry photos, but crisp video. Go to Argos. Can’t understand the procedure. Can’t understand the cashier. Get some stupid accessory kit added to it when I asked for a memory card. Couldn’t hear well. Thirty pounds I’ll never get back.

Got home and attempted to fry chicken just like my mother makes. Failed miserably. Debating on taking the tube/express train to Stansted instead of Night Buses.

Settled on the Tube. Got to Stansted about 11PM—no flights leaving anymore, people sleeping everywhere. First flight is 6AM. Nowhere for me to hunker down and sleep the night. Most of the lights off. Gonna be a rough night.

Managed to get a seat. Slept for an hour—sitting up. Uncomfortable. Some people left so I can lie down now, aces.

22 Sept:

Got about 3 hours sleep total. Whole place lit up about 4AM. More people coming in.

Extra hoops for non-EU. Annoying. Gate # appears 50min before departure, boarding stops 20min before departure. Small window.

Gate# appeared—other side of airport, great. Got there in time for a good place in the queue.

Boarded now, window seat. Hate heights. Read some Dickens, fell asleep though. Woke up when we landed; 30min early in Save/Gothenburg City Airport.

Coach driver very annoyed with me. He gave me directions in Swedish—obviously I did not follow them as I had no idea he was speaking to me. Supposed to only be 2 stops, just one for this bus. Asked him if it was the final stop at the terminal, thankfully it was. He was rude about it. Jerk.

Too early. L won’t be here for an hour or so. Can’t find the coffee house she told me about. Sitting at the end of the terminal—the terminal point one might say, hahaha.

Fell asleep. Missed 3 calls from L. Whoops. Woke up 10min before she found me. Off we go.

Don’t know a whole lot about Sweden. Being born and raised mostly in Czechoslovakia, neither does L.

Went to beautiful archipelago—the touristy thing to do, L says. Very picturesque. Whole country is, really.

Rain came in fast + hard. Hail too. Took shelter in a little cafe/inn. Lots of cafes on these islands. Got Swedish meatballs, well just meatballs made by the Swedish I guess. Anyways, they were good but still meatballs. 


Coffee is very strong.

Take another ferry back to the mainland, long ride. Talk about linguistics. Wish I could understand 7 languages and teach 4 or whatever she does. So crazy.

Everyone in Sweden speaks English—but not everyone does it well. Can be difficult. Hej. Hejdou. All I know. And skolpada. Hello/Goodbye/Turtle.

I’ll get real far!

Extensive use of trolleys and buses in Gothenburg. Trams are a big thing here. Went to fish market. All the Swedish eat is fish and potatoes and sometimes elk/deer I swear.

Get to L’s apartment. Ate some shrimp we bought. Really unnerving. Intact. Rip heads off. Rip tails off. Grab legs and rip the rest of the shell off. Really really gross. Little black eyes stare back at you. Delicious though, don’t taste quite the same. L makes some fish dish and we have some white wine. Reminisce.

Exhausted. Go to bed.

23 Sept:

Wake up. Yoghurt in a carton—weird. Bread has seeds and nuts in it. “Very Swedish.” Bus to the city. L gives me a brief tour of the city and goes to her hair appointment. I go and read Dickens in the lobby since I have no Swedish money anyway.

Two+ hours later, she finishes. I change money. She takes me to sushi bar. Lots of sushi in Sweden. Must be the whole fish aspect. Avocado is gross. Never really ate sushi before. Here and there, one or two, never a whole platter-thing.

L has to work for a few hours. I wander around the city. Imitation London Eye—still too expensive. Gothenburg Wheel, pah! Bunch of boat museums, but I opt to see a fashion show.

So unusual to see a fashion show in a mall. Makes sense, you can buy everything they wear in the shopping centre. Still weird.

Tried to go to the boat museums. All closed. Thinking an opera? The Royal Opera? Is nearby. Call C instead. Haven’t called him from Europe yet. What a terrible brother I am. Used all my minutes. Conversation cut sort. Shit.

Can’t receive calls. Can’t make calls. Can’t send text messages. Can receive texts. Between Orange and PogoLink I might jump off a building.

Wander to try to find an internet cafe—can’t. Library doesn’t let you go online. Well, they do but only .se websites. Annoying. All the websites are like Gothenburg City or Swedish newspaper. Why the hell can’t I use google or something? God. Free wi-fi all over the city, I guess, but very limited.

Went to shopping centre—maybe something is open. NOPE! All stores close at 6PM or 7PM latest. Very lame.

Walk up and down the river; visit statues; wait for L to get off.

The plan is to stay at R’s place tonight since L’s ex is using the ap’t and they don’t wanna see each other? I guess. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Downside is the obnoxious bag and lack of clothes, as we consolidated to one bag. She wants to go out. Underdressed again! Twice in one week.

Try to meet co-workers but they’re MIA. She wanted an excuse to see a new gay bar in town and I’m that excuse. Could be worse.

She finds an old classmate at the bar. We’re cross-introduced. Most prefer Swedish (obviously) but L tries to get them to speak English for me. End up talking to a Spanish-Swede who wanted to practice English and a woman from London. She had great fun making fun of my tragically American accent and sensibilities. She was kind of a bitch honestly, but she tried to buy me drinks too. Didn’t manage it because we left soon after.

L convinces me to dance. Ugh. I don’t dance. The music is terrible and old. We leave shortly after.

24 Sept:

Plan is to meet R and help her study for her tour guide exam. She needs to practice her English and route and I love free things. Win/win.

L works a long shift today. She’s saving for her trip to the US so I can’t be too condescending.

I see her off to work and visit the animal park instead of wandering around the city some more.

Wander around the park a while, climb a mountain there. It had some steps, so not like an intense mountain climbing 128 days experience thing. See a bunch of weird animals. Penguins, seals, deer, swans and mallard. Mallards made me laugh, how exotic they are?

L explained the tram and bust system to me, but I ignored her advice. Too shy to ask questions to random people. I walk to the statue of King Carl Gustav IV or whatever, the guy who founded the city. A good half-hour walk. Feel good.

All this walking has definitely slimmed me down. That and the food. I always lose weight at school though. Moving belt loops is very weird.

Eventually find R. I asked two Swedish women before she found me—whoops.

R’s English is lacking. That’s OK—it’s why I’m here. Free tour for English lessons and practice! History interesting—Gothenburg a fort on “bogsoil.” Statue of Poseidon undergoing renovation—sad. Scaffolding had an amusing message about Poseidon going to a spa. Taught R+L the word “scaffolding”- I am so knowledgeable, yeah?

Got tired and hungry. Me and R go to the restaurant where L works. Menu is Swedish. R isn’t much help. L eventually finds us. Oh god, the outfit ... Gives me an English menu—all I had to do was ask. Whoops.

Food is good. First steak I’ve had since flying overseas. Dessert and more strong coffee. Bitter enough to choke me, I swear.

L doesn’t get off for a few hours more and R has a prior engagement. Plan to see a film at cinema but me and R end up talking over the dessert for a while.

She’s trying to start a company with a friend to give tours of Scandinavia. Very interested in what an American tourist wants to see—I oblige and promise to ask more people back home.

Eventually leave and wander a while. Pointed in the direction of a cafe but get lost. Go back to restaurant near end of L’s shift. Tons of drunk people on the streets. You see Brits drinking all day but Swedes are plastered by 7PM.

Sit and talk with L’s co-workers. Some of them speak such fluent English I can’t hear any accent. In my defence, she had just been studying in Los Angeles for a year or two. They all decide to go back to the same bar. Meet a lot of old acquaintances of L’s. She knows half of Gothenburg, I swear.

Bus is delayed by a slow driver. SOCIALISM! And a very dull driver. We caught the last bus at 2.20AM, he didn’t leave until nearly 3AM, by the time I went to bed it was nearing 5AM.  I fly out in 5 hours, wonderful.

25 Sept:

Woke up. Rush to bus stop. Had a very quick shower. Catch the bus. Sleep on the bus.

Oddly refreshing bus ride. Coach to the airport is some ways away.

Go to a cafe. L orders my coffee in Swedish. She mentions my being American and unable to drink the standard strong Swedish coffee. Server laughs. Server says she’ll make me an Americano coffee. No idea what that is. L insists on it. OK. Scones are weird. The coffee was weaker—tasted like the bad coffee my dad brews in the morning before he’s fully awake. I ignored milk and sugar though. Say my goodbyes to L. Promise to see her in December in the States, and she promises to get me the cheesy souvenir I forgot to buy.

RyanAir flights terrify me. Sit next to some Germans, flight is packed. Sleep on plane. Wake up. Sea is frozen beneath us, scary. Germans staring like they never seen someone sleep on a plane before.

Customs line actually shorter for non-EU this time. Manage my way to the train. French woman puts her oversized bag and purse in the seat next to me and sits a ways from down the carriage. Ticket collector asks me to move my bag. She stares daggers when I rat her out. Later, she curses about me to someone on her mobile phone. She clearly didn’t think I could speak French. How rude, all she had to do was put her luggage on the luggage rack.

Make my way back to the flats. Pass C on the way—she ignores me. Or well, doesn’t see me I suppose.

Exhausted. Stumble through the rest of the day. Sleep like a baby that night.

26 Sept:

Wake up. Warm shower on a Monday for once! Brilliant.

Presentations in class. Still behind, whoops. My fault! Not really. Passes slowly.

End up at the Imperial War Museum. The chef at the sandwich shop is beginning to recognize me.

Museum startling. Fascinating lectures, and I hate history. Several people stopped and joined our tour—amusing.

Stopped for a pint with S and J after class. Thought more people would. Don’t understand cricket. Made a bunch of agreeable grunts instead of trying to contribute. C eventually finds us—did the same thing as yesterday; walked right past us (at first).

Got back to the flat late and finish Dickens. Blurry, tired.

27 Sept:

Class. London Lit. Love this class. Apparently I’m near alone in my opinions on Pip. More favourable opinions than I would have imagined!

Confusion about “seminar papers.” Good! More presentation than paper. Tres bien.

DECADE. Walked in expecting not to be bothered. I was 10, and so far away. No direct connection, not even homesick for Philadelphia or NYC, or any of the East Coast right now. Still, left me shaken. Some people cried. Opening was very jarring, the people running about in the towers...

Utilized the very unique space well. Wish we sat at tables and not along the back. I skipped customs because I went in with H. A shame.

Get back late. Tube delays. Don’t find them often.

Still exhausted and tired from all this travel. My fault. Pass out ASAP.

28 Sept:

Cleaning lady wakes me up. What a first world problem. I decided to wait for her to finish our room before I shower.

Maid asks my leave to go to the bank. Confused, I agree. Shower! Class.

Theatre class. Whoops. Didn’t send Questions in, didn’t think that’s what he meant. Should have read e-mail more carefully. Am I the only one who found a critique of colonialism in Disco Pigs? Possibly—fucking Anglophone Literature Survey and the themes and “BORDERS.”

Pig and Runt—Gaelic;English, etc. It could work. Ah well, it’s a very loose connection. Dumb idea.

Finished booking hostels for break at flat. Student bank card must be nearly done, I swear. Wish we got a statement more than biweekly.

Can sleep in tomorrow, so nice.

29 Sept:

Wake up at noon. Laundry day. Figured out how to make the washing machine dry. Cook lunch, dinner, etc. Boring day.

Used the British Library website to find sources for research proposal and history paper. Read a bunch of Dorian Gray. Enjoy Wilde. Kind of pretentious.

G says proposals don’t have to be ready until Monday. I like that. Time to focus more on research paper. Hate history. Need tea, some toast too.  

A fighter who's never made a fist,

For one of my courses here, the American research colloquium, I must keep a journal. I have been keeping a physical journal, but I cannot submit everything I write there to my professor.  I decided I would put an electronic copy up here, as to preserve it forever. Arrogant, I know. If all goes well I will update it the day after, every day. We all know that is unlikely.  The first week is scrunched into one entry, and then it goes day by day. Here are the first two weeks, roughly:

(Forgive the grammar, the style, and the school notes.)

1^st week:

Queues are everywhere

Not only queues but stairs

Stuff is very very old

Everything is smaller;

Sidewalks seem thinner

Lifts are definitely smaller

Cars are smaller

They drive on the right side

And the people are relatively unabashed about humour

Not many taboos there, I see

Looser about sex on TV

Topless women selling phone sex (I hope it’s only phone sex)

There’s a lot less personal space

The tube is often packed full of people

As a whole, Brits seem rather nice. They seem more laid-back than Americans, especially in my classes—but that is not a good judge of things. Cab driver was keen to help me with the Kilburn area and give me advice on where not to go. There are a lot of foreign nationals or immigrants in London. Each server at Little Bay had a different accent. Very multi-cultural.

After attempting to run up the Tube stairs (at Marlyebone) and being heckled (relentlessly, I might add) I think I might focus my research on British humour—by going to comedy clubs or something. Stand-up? Seinfeld. Observe the comedians and how the audiences fare.

The amount of historical artefacts here is absolutely breathtaking. The Lindisfarne Gospels, the Rosetta Stone, friezes from the Parthenon, just everything the British Empire won during its reign as top dog.

Disappointed Buckingham Palace guards don’t wear fuzzy hats. Lindsay Lohan lied.

There’s a pub on nearly every block. No homeless people in the Tube I’ve seen. The buskers in the Central Line stations seem almost sanctioned. They have amps and good equipment sometimes but ratty clothes and play for change. Confusing. [The food is very delicious]

Living in a flat is kind of weird; I didn’t really know any of these people before. They all are OK though. Theatre kids are annoying so fuck but honestly expected. The less I see of them the better. Shame there are some good eggs there. A bit harsh?

8 Sept:

Woke up

Went to Tesco

Cooked meat, burned it

Went to bar

Talked to bartender about the US

He was really cute. He was fascinated by the fact we’ve all been to NYC several times. Asked if we knew the Jersey Shore people. I asked him if knew the Queen.

Someone asked him what pence meant. Embarrassing.  Plural of penny, dumbass. He found this very amusing. Apparently he’s the new guy at [redacted]

Fun night.

9 Sept:

Museum of London

1016—Cnut, the Great? Danish king! àBeowulf?

800—1000 Anglo-Danish wars

DANELAW

                North+East England controlled by Danes under treaty w/ King Alfred

1016—Cnut, Danish King of England

àScandinavian immigrants

1042—Cnut’s line dies;

Edward the Confessor is crowned

WESTMINSTER

1066—Norman invasion (duh)

                Battle of Hastings !! yay

William the Conqueror

French trade + immigrants

Norman kings accepted Edward as legitimate predescor  predecessor.

He was sanctified and people made pilgrimages to his abbey. (Westminster??)

Norman kings depended on cavalry during wartime and nobles during peace.

1300s—1340 Edward III laid claim to throne of France and added fleur-de-lis to Royal court of arms.

French: language of trade and royal court

tonnes of French merchants and settlers

William1 (1066--??) Jews arrive

Jews in Norman England:

Rabbis, scholars, rich financiers, lived west of London

Jews discriminated against (surprise!) + taxed heavily

1189, 1264 Jew Riots

àJews murdered

1290 – Edward 1 expels all Jews from England

180 years of war

1276—1453

English vs Wales vs Scotland

Then fighting France b/c English king laid claim to throne of France (Eddie 3)

Londoners fought in Royal Army + paid Royal taxes to finance the war.

French immigrants introduced the idea of a city gov’t and chief magistrate (aka mayor)

Henry Fitz Ailwyn 1^st mayor 1189

King John sanctified (??) citizen rights in 1215

Woman eating on the Tube looked like a squirrel had some sort of condiment all over her face—mayonnaise? gross

Tube at rush hour is packed, very terrible times! Pretty certain every time I’m packed in the tube I manage 2^nd base with an older woman. Doubly gross

The tube is really tiring. Walking to the flats seems such a chore for those five minutes.

Museum of London-a tad disappointing. Angol-Norman research proved annoying. Hope bibliography isn’t due today.

Made pasta for lunch. Fresh herbs. Proved overzealous with the Basil. Fresh is much more potent than dry?

Listening to BBC1 Radio. Contest to request songs. Odd. Intern blows up his first balloon on air. H [initials only!] has a solo dance party. Next programme hosted by a very Scottish man. Tired of reading about the buildup to World War 1.

History isn’t my thing. Finished homework for that course in good time.

Realized at the Museum it’s likely I won’t see a Gold Jubilee in my lifetime. Monarchies and royalty may be old-fashioned but I find the pomp and tradition fascinating.

Red Hot Chili peppers play. First American band in approx. 2 hours of Radio. Interesting. I didn’t notice until I heard a lack of accent.

Radio played dubstep then transitioned to A Chorus Line briefly before going back. Very eclectic music. Station is not grouped by genre/era/etc like USA. Mostly recent sounding though.

10 Sept:

William the Bastard invades England in 1066.

William rebuilt CAEN after becoming Duke of NORMANDY. Loved CAEN stone.

(Seven Ages of Britain

àDavid Dimbleby

‘YESTERDAY’ channel?

->The Open University<-

William hears of Harold’s ascension to the English throne and begins to invade. Harold gets an arrow in the eye. William the Bastard gets a new name. Conqueror of England.

French, language of power + influence (duh)

Willy-billy-boy begins building projects to bolster his authority.
Tower of London meant to impose Norman rule.

“Here we are. Here we’ll stay. Resistance is futile.”

William building everything outside OUT OF CAEN STONE.

Norman rule attempted to erase Angol-Saxon rule and customs.

9 Sept (Night):

Bartender actually Aussie. Moved from NYC. Loves Sex and the City. Spoke with some more chaps but don’t remember. Embarrassing. Not going back so soon. Can’t believe she vomited at/on the bar and in her bra and in her glass. So bad. At least it wasn’t me—ha! Need to actually have dinner or some food next time. Also shouldn’t drink a bottle and a half of wine before going to bar. Saves money, but early nights.

10 Sept:

Laundry day. British washing machines very slow and boring. Attempt to clean up flat. No vacuum. Found 14GBP in my pockets. TV showing 90s movies. Lame. Watched programme on English history—wonder if it’ll work in my bibliography. Reading Dickens. Finished history readings and notes yesterday afternoon. I’ve written about that already. This journal is dumb. I’m only OK with Dickens. Definitely a ‘London authour’ though. I hope the semester bolsters my concentration in Anglo-Norman literature. Lais are wonderful pieces of work oft neglected. Unlikely—English(British) Lit instead??

It rained. Expected. Laundry still going. It said 1’56. No idea if that’s one hour fifty-six minutes or one hundred and fifty-six minutes. It’s obscene regardless. Need to do another load too. Delicates, at least should go faster. Listening to UK Top 40. Came in at 5. Been a mix of British and American music. Pop culture seems to be a month or two behind. Movies/songs released later.

“Singles are called ‘records’” ?

Stayed in. Cleaned. Laundry. Played cards and drank wine. Went to bed early.

11 Sept:

Took the Tube to Westminster. Went with them to Buckingham. No ticket. London Eye is expensive. Saw a queen impersonator. Kind of the Lady Liberty people.

Sat in St Jame’s. Charged 1.50GBP to sit in a lawn chair ridiculous. Mom’s birthday—gonna call later, time difference sucks for that.

Obnoxious poetry written in park. Marching band music, where? What am I going to do here? Read Dickens I guess. Saw a British flag on a residence today—first one. English flag w/ it.

Guy with a megaphone by Downing street. Obnoxious. That word comes up a lot. “Don’t give in to propaganda by the governments. Terrorism cares cannot bring down Western civilization. We’re the best.”

Right or left wing government views? Can’t tell. Britain is weird.

Marching Band played “God Bless America.” Cute.

CAN’T BELIEVE I PAID 1.50GBP TO SIT FOR AN HOUR.

Annoyingly windy. Walked around Buckingham Palace. Picturesque streets. Dropped them off. Men with fuzzy hats and velvet reds. They do exist.

Read in St Jame’s. Canada memorial boarded up. English girl asked me for a bottle opener.—is that something one carries? Tonnes of couples sunbathing. Jealous. Hate them.

Rained. Got lost on way to Victoria.

Called mom. Her birthday. Sounded sick, tired. Little bit worried. Oh well, J is close.

Cooked. Went to bed early. Westminster Palace tomorrow.

12 Sept:

Up early. Toured Parliament. Amazingly gorgeous place. Full body statues in gold. Life sized. Art in every nook and cranny. Couldn’t sit much. Weird rules. Tour guide on awkward setting between dull and excited.

Loved the palace. Monarchy is fascinating. Bet if you melted down all that gold and sold all those 3.5mil GBP clocks there’d be no debtors in all of the UK. (at least!)

Tour exhausting. Bought coffee. 1.50 GBP for 8oz. Bum deal. Got to University. 2GBP sandwich had mayo. At least I think it did. Smelled of it. He said they put mayo on all the Westminster sandwiches in the shop. Gross. Mayo makes me physically ill. Mrs. B forced a 2 GBP refund on me. I can’t complain to free money but it wasn’t her fault.

Bought crisps, a granola bar, and a 7-Up. Talked about British money and monarchy with students.

History class going to see Troll Hunter. Odd turn of events. Weds will be equally tiring. Class was dull. Professor is interesting man but history bores me. Also, he smells a bit. Doesn’t wear deodorant.

Seminar discussions were awkward. Divided up playing cards. I got the Queen of Spades. Glad I wasn’t playing Hearts. Stared out the window for most of the review. Protestors. Good looking security. Blond British boys. Just plain distracting.

Cancelled plans for Fish+Chips. Too tired. Back to flats. Cooked, ate. Basil died. Very windy. Did dishes since they were piling up. No one seems to want to buy detergent. Scrubbed my hand raw trying to get some caked-on gunk off a saucepan. Mostly gone. Brill-O pad or steel wool would’ve been nice.

Hope I can turn in these journals on Wednesday. Easier for me. Last day of class so I don’t have to fret during the weekend.

Might be going to France this weekend. I doubt anyone will put enough planning into it. Still have to book tickets for Sweden.

Exhausted. Going to finish the Dickens reading and go to bed. 7PM now, probably be in bed by 10PM, maybe even 9PM. Tomorrow should be better.  I can sleep in some and no fighting for the shower.

Finished Dickens. Had hot chocolate with flatmates. Gift of another. Went to bed late. Midnight. Can’t sleep. Worried about dad. Shouldn’t be. Wouldn’t be if I was at American University. C has my ticket if anything happens I’m sure. DOCTOR always said he’d be dead by 60. Only two years left. Not what we expected though.

An odd mixture of emotions. Can’t describe. Afraid to. Don’t want to. Human condition truly detestable.

First time chronicling my life. Weird to put pen to paper of my conscience.

13 Sept:

Got to sleep in. Mom wants to Skype@5PM EST. Lame.

France potentially cancelled. Didn’t take long. About ready to book for Sweden.

Tea and toast for breakfast.

Got to University. France back on. Going to Brighton this Friday. Class went well. Got caught in rain on the way there, sunny on the way back. Security boys outside again. Still blond, still beautiful. Sat further from window. Took copious notes.

Tomorrow is Faustus. Reread the script. Early and long day tomorrow. Mixed emotions about that.

Dinner was made when I got to the flat. Awesome. GJ H. Chatted about literature, childhood dreams, and the usual fare. Almost booked Sweden. 1 GBP = 10 SEK. Want to make sure of times and airport with L.

Went upstairs and lied down. Glad the maids come tomorrow. Room smells. Don’t know why. Flat meeting tomorrow evening. If the TROLL HUNTER film is tomorrow, I might explode of exhaustion. It’s all good exhaustion though.

Falling in love with my favourite bands all over again. Very nice. Found my visitor badge from Westminster. Forgot I ‘stole’ it. Awkward photo. Laughed. All photos of me are awkward.