Time Flys

Sorry that I have not written in a while, but I am a busy girl! I have been in London for 3 weeks now and I feel like I am getting a pretty good handle on everything. I have mastered the 24 hour clock (army time). I can't believe how many people complain about it when all you have to do is subtract 12 from the afternoon double digits. I drink tea almost everyday here. I do this partly because it is free at Vandon House and my internship and because I actually like it (with plenty of sugar, of course). The British take tea time very seriously! I have learned that tea time was all started by the late Queen as a social snack time to hold ladies appetites over until dinner. At a typical British tea time there are lots of little snacks, such as biscuits (what they call cookies), cakes, desserts, and other sweet finger foods. The grocery stores have entire isles just for tea and tea time treats. Tea time reminds me a lot of my Great Grandmas. Grandma Ann was always drinking tea and had tea parties with us. I remember Sam used to eat the sugar cubes whole like candy. On Sunday night we used to go to Omie's and have what she called lunch. It was exactly like tea time here only with coffee, hot chocolate, pie and sweets. Also at all the tea times here there is a little vase of flowers, which Granny always had on her table, not to mention her collection of tea cups and spoons! You can book a table for tea at the Ritz in London for 34 pounds. I have heard that this is fabulous, but a lot of money for tea and snacks! Speaking of money, the exchange rate is dropping. It cost me 155 dollars to get 100 pounds out of the ATM this week. A picture of tea time at The Ritz I got off the website (above)

I did a lot of exploring this week. On Monday I went to Bond Street, which is where all the fanciest stores in London are located. I saw Tiffany's, Burberry, Prada, Gucci, Armani, and many more designer shops. I only did window shopping on this street! At the end of the street was The Ritz, the very impressive hotel that was in the London based movie, Notting Hill with Julia Roberts. I also went to London's largest shopping mall, Westfield Shopping Center. It was absolutely huge, comparable only to the Mall of America. Many of the stores were 3 stories high. Everything in the mall was large, white and incredibly clean. I was surprised that I didn't see any food courts in the mall. However, I did find some more American stores like Hollister and Abercrombie. I read a lot of travel books on London before I left and I had read a lot about Portobello Road. So continuing my shopping frenzy, I also checked this place out. It is really hard to explain this road, but imagine Valley Junction in Des Moines only times 5! It was awesome. There were a lot of antique stores full of interesting things. They had everything from old golf clubs and suitcases to tea pots and cups. I saw so many unique things. I went in one store that was just full of knobs. There were huge, glass door knobs and then hundreds of small cabinet knobs in all sorts of designs. I am thinking that I will take my Mom here when she comes to visit and get some knobs for the bathroom in the basement. These were very reasonably priced too. Since I absolutely love unique things, this was just the place for me to spend an afternoon. I browsed so many stores! I also found the best cupcake store ever. It is called the Hummingbird Bakery and they have tons of different kinds of cupcakes, all frosted to perfection. I was surprised to find that a cupcake cost 50 pence more just to eat it in the store. Since I was alone anyway I just got one to go with a coke. The coke came in a glass bottle with a straw in it. What a perfect treat! I will definitely have to go back there.

Pictures of Hummingbird Bakery with amazing cupcakes!

This was my second week of classes and they are actually getting quite interesting. In my advertising class we discuss a lot about the differences in cross-cultural advertising. We watched Superbowl commercials and my professor thought they were a riot. He is Russian, but speaks French and English as well. His accent is harder to understand than the regular British accent, but I am getting used to it now. In my British Experience Seminar we mainly talk about our adventures and how we feel about them. This week we discussed British newspapers. There are over 12 well-known newspapers that circulate in London, 2 are free and you can't miss them because they get shoved into your hands as you get off the tube. There are tabloid, economic, national and local newspapers. Many of us students agreed that we were shocked at the nudity in the papers. In the most popular newspaper there is a naked girl everyday on page 3. She is called the page 3 girl and it is not considered a huge deal to have a naked girl in you paper everyday here! This is apparently a tradition that has been going on for 40 years. Our director told us that no one really thinks anything of it, as nudity is not that big of an issue to the British. He also told us that he remembers being in grade school and seeing the page 3 girl in art class when the teacher laid out newspaper to paint on. I was also surprised at how much US news the newspapers over here cover. Everyday I could find something about the US. My professor said that this is because the UK looks up to the US so much. In my Contemporary Britain class we are mainly learning about history and facts right now. For instance, I have learned that Great Britain includes Scotland, England and Wales. Where as the United Kingdom includes Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. So the United Kingdom is the country, England is like the state (they don't call them states though) and then London the capital city. I also have learned that when the current Queen dies or is ready to hand over the throne, it may go straight to Prince William because the people are not very fond of his father, Prince Charles, who is actually the next in line. I find this very interesting and have been reading up on it a lot.

This week I did something exciting, I scheduled 2 trips. I am going with Carissa and Allison to Switzerland in March and Greece in May. I can't wait; I have heard great things about both places. Flights around Europe are quite cheap, which is nice. I got a round trip to Switzerland for 70 pounds and we booked a hostel for 2 nights for about 40 dollars. I hope to go skiing in Switzerland.

Thursday night was the big Valentine's Day movie premiere. Some of the students went to the premiere at 1:00 in the afternoon when the show didn't start until 7:30 at night! I couldn't bear standing in the cold that long so I waited until about 6 to go. It has been bitter cold here lately with temperatures well below freezing. Yeah, I know there is not 12 feet of snow on the ground like in Iowa, but you also don't go walking around outside for hours in Iowa. Here you walk everywhere, so you have to experience the cold weather a lot! Anyways, I got to see Jessica Alba and Ashton Kutcher at the premiere. It was pretty cool and I was very impressed.

Pictures of Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Alba