The Halfway House

I'm awfully undisciplined when it comes to this blogging thing, half the term has already come and gone and while I've got massive facebook uploads, I've barely written about the things I've done. So, in the spirit of midterms, here is the sparknotes version since the last time I posted, in picture form. That being said - I've kept up with my tumblr, my little photo project to document something beautiful from every day through the new year which you can still check daily. So until I find the time to write paragraphs, we will stick to photos as substitutes for my 1000 words, yes?

One Day at A Time. A Photo a Day for 365 Days. First Entry on September 2, 2009.

Thames River Festival and Some Words On Being American

September 12, 2009

Even though our feet were still aching after the trip to Greenwich, I had read about the Lord Mayor's annual Thames River Festival to be held 12-13 September. Because I can't resist street fairs and because I read about it in the silly airline newsletter on the flight over, it was worth

taking a look. When we got to the festival, it was buzzing with energy and filled with Londoners and tourists, all eating and drinking and partaking in general merriment.

The theme of the festival was for the entire city to gather around the long communal tables (pictured) in a celebration of the city's relationship with the river and (more importantly) in my opinion, to sample all sorts of food. From Southwark bridge, we walked our way down past the food stalls, stopping to buy things to eat and to marvel at the wine making station, where it really was just children

and adults

making

mashed grape cocktail. One thing that I noticed was that while street fairs are undoubtedly not foreign to the U.S., and especially New York, the Thames Festival was so unique from all the other ones I've been to.

In NY, good weather and slow traffic are the only two criteria for a street fair to pop up, and

then you can buy all the bad art and cinged kebabs you want. However, all the food at the Thames festival was prepared on site, using organic ingredients, and all incredibly unique. We saw Moroccan chicken dishes, curries, falafel, traditional British pies, whole Portuguese roast pig. And I am not kidding when I say that even the ice cream here is better. Happy cows are because of socialism. Kidding.

We walked along the river, stopping to take photos or to watch street performers. Eventually walking about 3 miles from our original spot on London Bridge to Waterloo, where we decided to head over to Oxford St. to do some shopping since we were in the area. Well, another thing I've noticed about this city - the maps are NOT to scale. In Manhattan, even if things look far away, because the city is so dense and small, you're much closer than you think. However, if something looks close on a map in London, you can bet 20 quid that it is 5 times further away than you're willing to walk.

At the end of the day, we Google mapped the route we had taken over the day and it came out to be 5+ miles we had walked across Central London. My feet were unbelievably sore. As we left the festival, I started thinking about plausible something like this would be in the city. Pretty damn near impossible, since closing down FDR would cause traffic issues of enormous proportions. Yet, New York and London are both booming metropolises, with heavily congested transport systems and many people to move around. Perhaps with the new High Line something like the Thames festival would be more possible, especially since it always seems like New Yorkers need the day off.

One of my most intense fascinations with the city of London is the vast amount of history that is contained within the city walls. It is as if the new and the old co-exist in some strange kind of medieval-post modern harmony, lending contrast and depth to such a varied and unique city. I've always been obsessed with knowing the history of where I visit, and there is so much significance to everything I see and visit that I realise how small any person is in comparison to the ground we stand on. While it is overwhelming, I can safely say that London is one of these best cities I have ever been to, so much so that I've given some thought to moving here in the future. But more on that later.

On our way to Oxford St., we got quite lost in Spitalfields, and specifically, on Aldwich St. I mention this because the next Monday in class, my history teacher pointed out ancient roads that have survived since the days of Roman London, Aldwich St. being one of them.

After browsing the racks at River Island, Primark, and others, we headed over the Selfridges' food hall for coffee and to rest our feet. Selfridges is remarkably similar to

Nordstrom, and it was actually founded by an America, Harry Gordon Selfridge, who coined the motto, "the customer is always right." It was in the food halls that we saw something that made us stop in our tracks and fall to our knees.

A whole wall dedicated to American staples - namely, Oreos, Skippy peanut butter, Aunt Jemima, Smuckers jelly, disgusting Kraft boxed mac n' cheese, and other Yankee classics. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we were overcome with emotion just looking at this wall - for it hadn't really sunk in that the cultural differences between home and here we all that real, until we realised that neither one of us had eaten any of these things in weeks. I'll write more on this later, but a couple days ago I was taking a shower and it really hit me: I am in another freaking country. To be honest, I've hardly considered myself to be an American, although I hold an American passport and attend a U.S. university and live in the United States. I've mentioned it before, but I've always associated being American with being patriotic, or with having a relative who was part of the revolution, or some other silly idea like that. However, it is the first identity I've reached for since being here, and suddenly all these questions about nationality, citizenship, and race came flooding back to me.

Katie bought a jar of marshmallow fluff just to commemorate the occasion. On the jar is says, "The delicious American marshmallow spread." Quite hilarious how the foods we regard as everyday are put in the "specialty items" section of a British market. At the food hall I also spotted the one thing I had been waiting to try since I arrived: PIE. And since my blog is aptly titled Grey Skies & Pork Pies, I had to take a bunch of pictures before digging in. Now having tried it, I can understand why it is one of the hallmarks of British cuisine - as fundamental as a good pint and as ubiquitous as Amy Winehouse.

More photos here.

Trip to Greenwich

I apologise for neglecting my blogging responsibilities, and now that I realise my last entry was from over a week ago, I feel compelled to give a full run through of my London experience so far, starting from where I left off last.

September 11, 2009

Just some news surrounding the UK on this particular day - 3 men charged with conspiracy to blow up 7 airliners heaving from London to various American cities, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and even Canada. After successive retrials since the original 2006 incident (and the ensuing

changes in security policy at airports around the world), the men were convicted that week and were later sentenced to 100+ years in prison. While the threat of international terrorism has been garnering more media attention since 9/11, this was the first I had heard of homegrown terrorism in the UK. Of course, the thought crosses my mind every time I board a plane from New York heading home or vice versa, but I was particularly shocked to hear that Canada, who hadn't really done anything to anyone, had become caught in the crossfire that is international conflict.

Today was also the NYUL excursion to Greenwich. We left Kings Cross and took the tube down to Westminster Pier to catch the boat that would take us to Greenwich. The weather was fantastic all day, albeit chilly on the boat, but nice nevertheless. Technically the trip was required for my History of London class, but I would have gone anyway. On the boat ride over, the guide pointed out attractions along the river, including Tower bridge, the Tower of London, the gerkin, St. Paul's cathedral, and etc.

When we arrived, the boat left us right in front of the Royal Naval College, which used to be a hospital and before that a home for the queen. After a 90 minute guided tour around the area

(which I have to be honest that I was only paying half attention to the guide because I was scoping out places I could take

pictures) we were given free time to explore and visit the other attractions. Since we were starving (and at this point hardly any of us had eaten a proper meal since the last time NYUL fed us during orientation week), we stopped off at a typical British pub for lunch before setting out.

We then climbed up the hill to get to the Royal Observatory, where the first clock was invented, and where time zones were first conceived. There we saw the Prime Meridian and I got to do the whole "being in 2 places at once" deal. After that we left and went to the planetarium, which was quite underwhelming actually. Then we went to the famed Greenwich market, which had food and knickacks from local artisans. I bought a name train for Joey and eyed a gorgeous vintage purse before deciding I do not need anymore handbags. Also, since everything basically shuts down around 5pm, we just decided to leave. Turns out that was a big mistake, as it was a weekday and rush hour was upon us. Now if you think the subway is bad at rush hour in Manhattan, think again. The compartments were so jam packed with people you're being bumped from all angles and luck if you even have space to grab onto the bar. Regardless of if the train is full or not, commuters continue to pile into the train, reminding me of this one video I saw on youtube of Japanese commuters and officials that actually shove people into the train until everyone fits and then at which point the doors close. So, I was quite happy when we got back to Nido and I was able to regain my sense of personal space again.

Overall, a nice trip to a place I wouldn't have found myself - kudos to NYUL for taking us. As always, check facebook for more photos. Or for those of you who don't do facebook, here's the link to my album.

First Impressions

Upon arriving in the UK, I found myself navigating a series of twists and tunnels in the underbelly of Heathrow Airport. It seemed as if my parents has just dropped me off at SFO, waving to me enthusiastically and blowing me kisses goodbye while I tried not to cry and reminded myself that I would be back in December. [Note, forgive me Jenny and Kim for not calling you two back before I left, though I did receive the voicemails and was so happy to hear from you guys!] Bless the British government for providing luggage push carts, as I was not too keen on pulling twice my body weight in shoes, ramen, and textbooks across several hundred yards of airport. Once I met up with the NYU group, I had Katie snap a photo. I am well aware that I look fully deranged and perhaps overenthusiastic after an 11 hour red-eye flight. However, NYU has this whole pick-up deal well arranged and this nice burly Scottish gentleman picked us up in a coach and drove us to Nido in Kings Cross.

Now, as lovely as the study abroad website makes Nido look, let me be quite honest in telling you that it is a shithole. Perhaps that is a bit crude, yet I am at a loss for an adequate adjective to describe a semi functional post-modern giant gleaming eyesore of a building, with generally very good aesthetic qualities yet severely lacking on overall functionality, space, and cleanliness. The beds are so close together I could reach over at night and smack Giuliana on the nose should I desire so. And should you ever have the chance to Skype or video chat me, you will see that my desk is only steps from the bathroom, so close in fact, that I have become accustomed to pushing off from the desk while seated in my desk chair and rolling the 2 feet to stop at the bathroom door. Not only is the bathroom small, but it is also most well lit location in the entire room, suggesting that I might as well do all my studying on the toilet.

View of my desk, bed, and microwave/kettle/shared desk drawers/ utility shelf.

However, the academic center at Bedford Square is absolutely gorgeous. Of course, the neighborhood used to be populated by Lord Whatever and Lady DooDah, so the rent would be much too high to put students up there, but wow am I jealous. The only thing in Kings Cross is the rail station, St. Pancras/Eurostar, and the Tesco down the road.

A gorgeous classroom in 6 Bedford Square. Too bad I don't have any classes here.

So, what have I done since arriving? Well, you'll just have to wait until after I make lunch - the cleaning staff has been working on that kitchen all morning, and being a communal one, I haven't been able to make food all day. And currently it is 16:07. 4 hours due. I am famished.