BES Journal 2

    Ahh, my second week of London. Now that I've been in London awhile, I feel that I'm growing more accustomed to the difference in culture and city life. I can definitely manage the tube and the bus better than I did my first few days here. I find that the tube is easier to take than the bus. I've mastered crossing the street as well, sort of. I still have my moments where I'm hesitant to cross and have to look at others around me to see if they're crossing too, ha.
    I went to the Museum of London this week. It was interesting and had cool artifacts, like an old female skull and an old Victorian dress encased behind glass. It was smaller than I imagined and Sherlock Holmes seemed to be very popular there. I enjoyed the new Sherlock Holmes movies, so it made me want to buy the books I saw there.

    My roommate Kiley and I tried to find Abbey Road through bus, and ended up incredibly lost. We somehow ended up in Bow church and didn't recognize anything. We ended up finding a train station that led us back to Russell Square. By then we had wasted most of the day getting lost and it was too late to go back to finding it, so we decided to save it for another day. I was disappointed, but I guess that's a lesson for next time. 

    This week was also the first week of classes through the Central program. I like that we have to learn about politics and the news in our Contemporary Britain class. Because I'm majoring in Journalism, these are things I had to be aware of and learn about in classes back home. So, this wasn't something really new. I actually have a CNN app on my cell because I had to be constantly updated and remembering what was going on in the news for my classes. I think it's important to know what is going on in the world around you and to be an informed citizen. 

    I also started my Religions class through Central this week. The first religion we are learning about is paganism, which I find very interesting. The professor played a movie for us, which I liked because I get very absorbed into movies, and said perhaps the following week we could go to a shop to meet an actual pagan witch. I'm looking forward to that. I've taken a Religions class back in the U.S., but it was only Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, so I'm excited to be learning about a different religion. 

   Because food expires quickly here in London, I've been food shopping a lot. I've been trying to save money and not eat out as much, so I've been buying things I can cook such as spaghetti or chicken. I keep thinking I'm done and then later on in the week I'll see something I decide I can cook, and I buy it. So managing money with food and with the constant refill of my oyster card has been crucial. Money seems to fly by here. 

    I returned to Camden Market this weekend because I liked it so much the first time. I toured the food vendors and the clothes shops. I couldn't resist and ended up buying two beanies as well as a sweater. I haggled the guy to lower the price though so I'm satisfied with that, ha. Overall, it was a good week and I'm learning more about London every day.