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.)
1st 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 1st 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 2nd 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.
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.
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