Slight Detour

At the suggestion of one of my flatmates, I went to the Science Museum Late on last night. Science Museum Lates happen once a month and are when the museum is open to adults from 7-10. Steven came too. Unfortunately, no one else was able to make it. :( However, we did a pub quiz which was super fun! We got put on a team with two other students and an older woman. The students? Turns out they're from UCL. Also, the girl lives by one of the Pomona students. And the guy? Steven's next door neighbor. Literally next door neighbor. Anyways, the Science Museum is totally awesome and I'm going to need to go there during the day to check out the History of Medicine exhibit, because that looks FREAKING AWESOME. Anyways, I was walking back from the museum and I accidentally missed the street I was supposed to turn down. And ran into Harrod's. All lit up. I will have to swing by there when I go to the Science Museum. I can look through a bunch of stuff that I will never be able to afford! Woo!

It may be full of ridiculously overpriced things, but it's beautiful at night!

Today while walking back from lunch (toasted sandwich with ham, brie and tomato...mmmmmm) I decided to take an extremely slight detour and walk through St. James Park. It's gorgeous. And it made me feel like spring. I love spring. And the park. And this city. And detours.

Much love and cheers!

Archaeology

Today I bring you all a few pictures from my archaeology class and, more importantly, some wonderful quotes from my archaeology professor. His name is Gustav Milne and he is AWESOME. For one, he was very involved with a lot of really cool excavations in London and wrote some pretty sweet booksabout archaeology in London. He also says the best things during lecture. I have finally begun endeavoring to write them down and will now be sharing them. :) To get the full effect of these quotes, imagine them being said with and English accent and soft voice. Also, imagine them being stated in the most deadpan way possible. Then imagine it AT LEAST TEN TIMES MORE DEADPAN.

First, a police car with its sirens going passed us and he turned and waved at it. Turning back he quietly informed us "Watch ou

t, there's another viking invasion due."

"That's a ghastly modern street down there. This is a nice old one."

At a statue of Captain John Smith of Jamesto

wn, Virginia and Pocahantas: "The Disney movie is obviously better" *Gestures at statue* "The city of London's feeble attempt at Disney..."

*Gestures to street we are about to walk down*

"Watch out for the sheep!"

The following picture is of a medieval church's ruins. During the Second World War the church was bombed and destroyed. Apparently, the remains of the destroyed church were giving to America and it has been recreated in...well, I don't remember where, but it's almost definitely somewhere on the East Coast.

The accompanying quote: "Without the help of the Americans we wouldn't have won the war...apparently. So for thanks we gave you a pile of rubble."

About the War of Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York for the English Throne (brownie points and maybe a cheap souvenir to the first person to say who won this one :D): "I don't know why they call them civil wars...they're relatively uncivil."

This next picture is one of the city wall. Built in medieval times on top of the remains of the Roman wall, it was rebuilt a few times when London was in possible danger. The red brick part is from the 15th century (if I remember correctly). Interestingly, different guilds were responsible for upkeep of certain sections for the wall (kind of like the "Adopt-a-highway" program back home, I think), and the red brick part was maintained by the draping guild.

About the wall: "You can see it would have been a good defense, you'd have to be quite tall to get over the top of it!"

Also: "Imagine you were 43 feet tall in the middle ages..."

At the Museum of London: "There are a lot of children around so if you wish to trample them underfoot, feel free to do so."

At the door of a recreation of a medieval house filled with people: "I'll count to 3 and on 3 invade, 1, 2, 3..."

That's all from this week, I'll be sure to keep track of them next week.

Much love and cheers!

My Walk to School

Hola!

So, I am finally doing a post about my walk to school. I finally got around to talking pictures on my way to school. Yay! The unyay thing is that this week was reading week and I was hoping to go on adventures but that did not happen. On Tuesday we had an essay writing information session that was...helpfulish but less helpful than I think any of us were hoping. Apparently the guy who talked to us about essays had been told that we had never had to write essays before, so he talked us through the basics for a while before someone spoke up. But the guy was really nice and trying hard so it's all good.

There had been plans with some other Pomona people to go to Edinburgh, Scotland from Thursday to Sunday, but we all had quite a bit of work to do so I've stayed in London. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed, but I think the archaeology paper due Friday is probably better for the extra time I got and at least I won't be stressed writing the short developmental neurobiology paper due Monday. I'm anxious to start adventuring though. The next couple of weekends I'm hoping to get out of London and see things like Stonehenge, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath and more. London is amazing but it's time to get out and explore and figure out transportation and maybe lodgings. So hopefully posts in the near future will be EXTRA exciting.

However, without further ado, I present the 3 miles of AWESOME walk to school. It all starts when upon leaving the gates of Goldsmid House. Across the street is a Sainsbury's Market. For some reason I thought that this market was a corporate center for Sainsbury's so I didn't bother with it for the first few weeks of living here. Turns out, it's the largest grocery store I've encountered here thus far. I'm reaaaaaaaaally smart.

The next thing of note that I walk past is the London Victoria Station. It's huge and filled with shops and trains and buses and an underground station and PEOPLE. So many people. On mornings when I oversleep and have to use the Tube it is CRAZY. It turns out that between 8:00 and 10:00 is a terrible time to need to use the tube but also really the only time I'd need it. Go figure.

This next part is the wall along Buckingham Palace. Every once in a wall there are horses coming in and out of the Mews and I get really happy. More frequently though there is just...evidence of horses and then I worry a little about my shoes and tread veeeeeery carefully.

I considered touring the Buckingham Mews but it was £7.50 or something like that and there were no guarantees that I would get to see ponies. And really, what's the point of anything without ponies? It'd just be a bunch of royal cars. Which are not ponies and therefore not interesting to me.

At the end of the wall there is this open space. Were it between 10:30ish and 12 on a day when the Changing of the Guard was going down, there would be people ALL AROUND here with cameras and giddy anticipation. Then there would be people with cool hats playing instruments and walking towards the palace.

OH M GEE, IT IS BUCKINGHAM PALACE. Now, palaces are pretty cool in general, but this palace is especially cool because, 1) it's Buckingham Freaking Palace and 2) it has the seal of Britain all over it which has a lion AND a unicorn and is therefore awesomeness in seal form. This next picture of a statue that is beautiful and all that except it's also scary. I mean, the logical part of me does not think that it's terrible scary, unless it feel over on people...but it looks to stable to do that. However, there is an illogical part of me that desperately wishes The Doctor and the TARDIS are real and therefore has to believe that the angels on this statue are Weeping Angels. That would be problematic.

During the daytime this irrational fear is not a problem as there are a bunch of people so the statues are always being looked at. At night though...it's the scariest part of my journey home.

Green Park! Green park is one of the bajillion lovely parks in this city. I ran through here one day and it was all green and beautiful. Not quite as awesome as St. James Park or Hyde Park but still lovely.

Because a palace can never have too much gold plating. This is across the street from Buckingham Palace. Sometimes all the fanciness can be a bit overwhelming. This next picture is of The Mall.

My mapquest directions on the first day of getting to UCL said that I had to take The Mall. It was not clearly marked. I still haven't seen a sign advertising that this was The Mall. This was the first time that I had to rely on my completely nonexistent map skillz to figure it out, and I was pleasantly surprised when it worked. Boo-yah.

More of The Mall! Now, I love a good leaf as much as the next person but there is something so wonderful about trees in the winter. I love the sharp, twisting outlines of each branch, overlapping across the sky. Beautiful. I can't wait for spring when the branches are peppered with spots of new green.

IT IS A FUZZY HAT! I get to pass two wearers of fuzzy hats everyday. Please don't read it as sarcasm when I say I'm living the dream life. It is not meant as such. Does anybody else want to just hug the hat? Is that allowed? I'm thinking no, but I can dream.

More twisty branches and BIG BEN. That is Big Ben right there!

The Mall is also the Princess Diana Memorial Walk.

Hey! Look! It's statues of people played by Helena Bonham Carter and Collin Firth. Can you guess who they are? That's right! Mr. Darcy and Bellatrix Lestrange!

[Edit: Oops, turns out it is actually King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. If you haven't seen "The King's Speech" STOP READING THIS AND GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW.]

Oh! It is a statue on top of a large column! Who could it be? Umm...actually, I'm not super sure. I can't really see it...on account of it's on top of a tall column... Actually, I think it's The Duke of York Column.

Next up we have arches! Glorious arches! The Admiralty Arches!

Passing them makes me feel so important. There is a little side street that I could go up instead but I like going through the fancy arch. It's just so much more special.

Man, it's almost like you're going somewhere IMPORTANT...like...class...

Trafalgar Square!

It is a lion! RAWR. Every time I pass these lions I think of the Chronicles of Narnia. Then I wonder if I'm ever going to open up my closet door and enter a world of magic. Then I wonder if I could trade entry into Narnia for a ride on the TARDIS.

The National Portrait Gallery! It's fancy and has fancy fountains and the occasional crazy person yelling nonsense at people passing by. They aren't terribly aggressive crazies, just loud.

St. Martin in the Fields Church! I think it's pretty.

Ok, Patisserie Valeria is not a super important or impressive landmark, but I pass quite a few of these on a daily basis and the windows are sooooo enticing. There are cakes and gelato and other desserts that I just want to NOM. This has been a major test of will power.

I hadn't realized that Westminster extended this far. I live in Westminster. School is in Camden. All are in London.

It is a crane! There is construction work going down. I really like the combination of red and yellow and blue sky. It makes it almost worth the noise and signs and everything.

Apparently, "We Will Rock You" is more than a name, it's a promise. You can tell they are serious about it because of the giant golden man sticking an enviable pose. This is on Tottenham Court Road. Which is apparently where Hermione brings Harry and Ron in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in order to escape the deatheaters that attack Bill and Fleur's wedding.

More Tottenham!

I'm sufficiently comfortable with this blog's lack of popularity to say that this hurts my soul every time I pass it. Ugh. Scientology? Really. I read the article about Paul Haggis and his departure from the Church of Scientology and it was legitimately terrifying.

Proof that this is, in fact, Tottenham Court Road! Because maybe I had lied about that...now you know I didn't.

It's Torrington Place! Soooo close to my destination. Turn down here and...

It's UCL! The corner of it at least. And here is the proper, classy entrance...

And there we are! Goldsmid House to University College London. I was worried that the novelty of the walk would wear off and get tiresome after a while but that still hasn't happened. I still feel luck and awed and wonderful going there and back. :)

Much love and cheers!

Oops! I almost forgot, this is just off of Charing Cross Road. :D The dude passing me while I took this picture looked very amused, but I had to do it.

Happy Valentine's Day

I feel like this speaks for itself. :) Maybe not. But it definitely does. Anyways, enjoy your chocolates and cards and flowers and fancy dinners and all that.

Much love and cheers!

Paintbrush

Ok, so, Madeline is AMAZING. Super amazing. Like, the most amazing. She introduced me to this wonderful little application called Paintbrush. Now, Paintbrush would be pretty sweet just because it is the Mac version of Paint which I had loved so much on the old family PC, but it is EXTRA SWEET because it is free! Sometimes the internet makes me grumpy. Ok, the internet makes me grumpy rather awesome. Wait. Ok, I just realized how nonsensical that last sentence was and I was going to delete it but...it's just too quintessentially me. A touch silly and distracted but trying to go somewhere and say something. I don't know if that last sentence made any sense either. Whatever. The point is that the internet can make me grumpy, but it has it's awesome moments. Also, I'm addicted to it. So I downloaded Paintbrush and now I'm addicted to that too. Crap. In the spirit of Hyperbole and a Half I have decided to post some of my drawings. But they don't tell an awesome story like Hyperbole and a Half. They're just here.

My first attempt at using Paintbrush is dedicated to Madz. She uses Paintbrush way better than I do but that's cool. It gives me something to aspire to! No matter how unrealistic that aspiration is. Anyways, without further ado, this is Acton the Danish Unicorn.

Acton was named after I drew him and I realized that he simply wasn't Danish enough. I mean, yeah, he's a unicorn and that's probably Danishy or something, but that isn't enough at all.

So this is Acton the Danish Unicorn proudly wearing a Danish flag while heating up an almost unrecognizable danish (the pastry) with FIRE. It is also dedicated to Madeline. Ignore the crazy look in his eyes, you'd look crazy too if you were freaking snort fire out of your nostrils to warm up your delicious snack. This next one is dedicated to Sameera. Whose text instructing me not to blink one night freaked me out so badly that I still have difficulty walking past the angel statue near Buckingham Palace. Um, that sounds super lame and wimpy but watch the Weeping Angels episode of Doctor Who. Because that stuff was FREAKY.

Don't blink or else gimpy arms will get you!!! Seriously.

David isn't updating his blog despite the fact that he is currently located in Australia and probably doing really cool things. So this is what I imagine his life is like right now. God, I can't believe that I'm having to pick up David's slack. For shame. :P

I decided that I should also make an abstract piece. This one is dedicated to my blue buddy, ELDRIDGE.

So, there it is. Paintbrush is the best. It has been a lovely de-stressor. If anyone has requests I'd be happy to try oblige. :D

Much love and cheers!

George Hrab and Adventuring!

Hello hello!

So, last night I went to another Skeptic's in the Pub event. A few days ago, the site for London Skeptic's in the Pub said that George Hrab was going to performing on Friday, February 11th at the NPL Sports Club in Teddington. First, I freaked out. I don't understand how but pretty much all the amazing people in the skeptical movement are coming to London and I get to see them. Apparently it takes crossing an ocean to get to see my American skeptical heroes. George Hrab is a musician (drummer by day, skeptic/singer/songwriter/all-around-awesome-dude by all the time) and creator of the Geologic Podcast. I haven't listened to the Geologic Podcast in FOREVER, but it's hilarious and I need to start doing that again. Second, I went to Google Maps (it's the best, double true) because it gives me pedestrian routes and times. George would be performing around 7:30 and my Cellular Neurophysiology practical would get done at 5:00. Plenty of time for a lovely stroll over to a pub, right? To my surprise, Google Maps told me that it would take four and a half hours to get to the NPL Sports Club from UCL. This presented a problem. However, after a bit of searching and internet stupidity, I finally figured out that I could get to Teddington by train. So, I decided it was time for an adventure.

After hours of poking an earthworm with Kun-Wei, lab practical was over and I was ready to go. I took the Victoria line on the Tube to Vauxhall Station and then purchased a ticket for the for realsies train going to Teddington. It...uh...it took me a while to...um...figure out how the trains...uh...worked. I'm a little slow. But, after asking a train dude for train advice I figured it out (ok, fine, had it carefully explained to me) and hopped on the next one. It was a 30 minute ride and I saw some interesting people and flashes of towns. Teddington reminded me a lot of Claremont. It had a little bit of a small town feel, but not exactly. The NPL Sports Club was bloody hard to find, but I had plenty of time so it was all good. This gathering was a bit smaller than previous Skeptic's in the Pub events, but there were still a decent number of people there. For a while I just stood around, chilling. Thankfully, George arrived shortly after I did and his performance started not long after that. I got a pint of cider, which hit me a little harder than usually because I hadn't managed to grab dinner and the pub wasn't serving food. Everyone took a seat in a small room on one side of the pub and then MAGIC happened.

Oh my god, the show was SO COOL. George Hrab is one of those incredible musicians who actually sounds better in person than on his CDs and he sounds pretty good on his CDs to begin with. It was so cool. So so so cool. His lyrics make me so happy. They are smart and skeptical and funny and wonderful and just, man, the best. And I was sitting, like, 10 feet away from him. He was rocking an acoustic guitar attached to an amp, which made me miss Stu (my guitar) but sounded brilliant. Have I mentioned how cool it was? It was seriously cool. Dude is talented. I'd love to be able to manage those chord changes and strumming patterns. Goals set.

Towards the end of his performance, George told a story about losing his dog, Oscar. Apparently, Oscar was the first and only pet he's ever had, and got cancer a while back. Eventually, George had to make the very difficult choice to euthanize Oscar. He talked about how hard it was to find comfort, and how tested his world views were. However, he said something that really struck me and, to an extent I wasn't expecting, made me feel a lot better too. He said that he realized, while looking into Oscar's eyes as the boxer drifted to sleep, that Oscar would be expecting to wake up in a little bit and go for a walk or snuggle or do something awesome. And as much as it was going to suck to miss Oscar, Oscar would never have to miss him. I was choking up a bit at this point. He sang his song about it-Small Comfort (Oscar's Song)-and I definitely cried a little. It was ok though, because a woman across from where I was sitting had tears streaming down her face. I certainly don't mean to harp on Zoe, but this was by far the most moving part of the evening for me. It helped. I've been thinking about her a lot lately, which I think is a combination of seeing more schnauzers here than in Claremont and how much time I have with my own thoughts. I miss her a lot at night. But it's ok because "thinking [she'll] wake up and see us is [her] eternity." I love that.

It could have been the hard cider or the small venue, but I got up the courage to go say hi to him after the show. It was AMAZING. I mean, it was a very brief "thank you so much for your incredible performance, I'm from America too" conversation but it was SO COOL. I was geeking out SO HARD. Oh my god, I got to talk to him. I also talked briefly with some other skeptics there, which was neat. I'm starting to recognize people at these events! My number one reason in attending Skeptic's in the Pub events is obviously for the fantastic speakers, but my secondary objective is to get better at interacting with people that I don't know. It's especially difficult when I don't have someone else there as a safety net, but I think I'm getting less awkward. Maybe? I hope so.

In other news, I passed this sign in Teddington and was very confused. I suspect that Teddington maybe a little confused as well.

And if you needed proof that I actually took the train, here it is. The train was almost completely empty when I took it back. I guess I should admit that it took me one train passing through without getting on it to realize that you actually have to press a button to open the train door when it stops. So much CONFUSION. That is my reflection in the window. You can tell because of how silly the hair is. I mean, not really because you can't see the hair, but it was a little silly.

I'm just so happy about my night. It was fantastic in so many ways. :) On another awesome note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHARLES DARWIN!!! Today is the birthday of one of the greatest scientific thinkers of all time. Not only was his theory of evolution by natural selection brilliant, but his dedication to the scientific method and careful accumulation of a wealth of knowledge make him an excellent role model for scientists everywhere.

Much love and cheers!