Lindzi

BSULondon.com

Lindzi and Maeci

.Lindzi.

Kenilworth Castle

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Hiiiii all!

Hope everyone is doing well in 'the states' as everyone says over here. London is wonderful! I absolutely love it over here. It's more than I had ever imagined it would be. Everything is gorgeous, there's so much art and history everywhere you go. From the architecture of the buildings, to knowing who actually lived in them. We visited Ben Franklin's house last week. Built in the 1700s and still has the original ceilings, floor boards, and fireplaces... so cool. Walked through the estates of Kensington Palace, the very place where Princess Diana lived... It's like nothing I could even explain, because as much as I had heard, I never expected so much.

Yes, yes, its a little rainy... but nothing worth ruining your day over. It rains a little bit here and there. You just have to be ready for it, have an umbrella handy, and its no problem at all. Of course you can let it bother you, or you can just put up your hood and keep going, knowing it will stop before you know it. And its not nearly as cold as back home in Muncie, so I'll take the good with the bad. :)

We're living in Bayswater, about 2 blocks north of Hyde Park. The location is perfect! Our neighborhood is quite and low key, but walking distance to everything you need. Markets, restaurants, pubs, groceries, a mall, tube stations and Hyde Park to name a few... all within a 5-10 minutes walk. The area is gorgeous, just what you would imagine when you think of London.

Yesterday we did a river walk with our British Life and Culture professor. We started at Parliament and Big Ben... which Big Ben is actually not the clock itself, but rather just the bell that chimes. We passed by the London Eye (farris wheel), St. Paul's Cathedral, the London Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the London Tower, and sooo much more. We walked along the river for over 3 hours, so you can imagine how much we saw.

We had our first British Theatre experience Monday night. We had class from 9am-530p and saw Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre Monday night. The performance was wonderful, we had a great time. Popo (as we call our professor) has a lot of performances lined up for us, plays, ballets, musicals, all sorts of different things. I'm excited to really get into the culture through different things like that.

Tuesday we visited St. Paul's Cathedral. This was one of the most magnificent places I have ever seen. The building itself was huge. It stands above and stands out in the middle of the city. The architecture and artwork throughout the Cathedral was breathtaking... from statues and memorials honoring various individuals throughout British history, to the intricate paintings on the ceilings. At the back of the altar was actually a dedication to Americans who had fought and even given their lives for British support in the World War efforts. It was neat to see a dedication to Americans somewhere like that in another country. The basement was like a museum... tombs and memorials for more individuals than you could imagine. Then we took a deep breath and walked up nearly 500 steps to the top of the dome... you could see the city go on forever. It was the most unbelievable view. By then we had a little more than an hour before the Evensong, which is the daily prayer service, so we walked over to the Tate Modern Museum to look around there for a bit... We headed back to St. Paul's and stayed for the mass. To actually have gone to mass in St. Paul's Cathedral... amazing.

Life on the tube is sure something different... coming from Indiana. We either walk or take the tube everywhere we go. You have to pay for and have a pass to even bring your car into zone one or two of London... so you mostly see 'black cabs,' double decker busses, and extremely nice cars. Cabs are about 50% of what you see on the roads, they're everywhere. The tube system is just like in DC, really easy to get around on, as long as you know where you need to end up. I love the fact that we walk everywhere... you see so much more, and experience so much more than you ever could by car.

As you can tell.... I love it here and I've only been here about a week. I'm already having the time of my life. This city is magnificent, and I'm so glad I made the decision to get out and come! I'm working on figuring things out with the pictures... they're on facebook, but we're working on another cite... My computer isn't always cooperating... but we're trying. I love to hear from everyone and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can, things are just crazy busy, and the last thing I'm trying to do is sit at the computer.

Love you all!

Take care and I miss everyone tons!!!

____ more to come soon!

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Keep in touch & Up-to-Date!!

pictures: email: *email for address.
picasaweb.google.com/lnharshman lnharshman@bsu.edu