The Queue That Wouldn't End

The main portico of my school. The library and all the administrative services are underneath. My actual classes are a few streets over.
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September 21, 2006

We must be pressing our luck or something. Three days in London thus far and not a drop of rain. Well today was another beautiful and- as the cliché goes- another exciting day in the city.

I walked over 40 minutes before I found Taviton Street, though I started only a block or so away.

After staying up far too late last night, Isaac slept in while I ran off to my International Students’ Orientation. The meetings and lectures and lines involved in the orientation took up most of the day, and I managed to get lost trying to get back to my hall of residence from Bloomsbury Theatre. I walked over 40 minutes before I found Taviton Street, though I started only a block or so away. At least I discovered a few parts I hadn’t seen before.

Here's me standing and taking pictures at my own orientation. What a dork.
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In the later afternoon, Isaac and I went back to Argos (the catalog store I told you about yesterday) and then hopped a bus to go to yet another Argos, to get the exact shelf we were looking for. On the way there, we happened upon Hyde Park- I believe- and managed to snap a few pictures out of the windows of the double decker bus we were riding.

Unfortunately, the shelf we bought was too heavy to drag back to Hyde Park (I later saw a sign that said the area was Notting Hill Gate, so I’m not sure what it was), so we caught another bus back to Tottenham Court. There, we were unable to find a single street going north so that we could catch a bus line back to Euston Square, so we simply walked the very long distance back to my house, passing the British Museum and the main quad of the University of London along the way.

The front gate to University College London.
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After a long day of walking, we decided to top it off with more, well, walking. We passed up restaurant after restaurant, because Isaac just had to have a steak, which we finally found at the Something-Something Arms (I cannot remember the name of it for the life of me- it’s the Fiorenzine or something like it). After a drink at the pub and a little meal, we headed back home.

Well, I’d love to write more, but my alarm clock is set for 7 and I have to line up to enroll in the morning. Talk to you all again soon.

After leaving the Bloomsbury Theatre and my orientation, I got lost and found this church- the Holy something or other. I can't remember the name of it.
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Jessica

P.S. I decided I would try and keep a little Brit speak dictionary as I hear new terms being used, so here’s mine for the trip thus far (some of them are obvious and words I knew before coming to London, but I’ve heard them being used so they’re worth listing).

‘The Tube’: The underground subway.

‘Pigeon Hole’: A mail box.

Another shot of the church...
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‘Bursary’: A financial scholarship.

‘P’: Short for pents, or pennies.

‘Rubbish’: Trash. Seriously, they never say trash.

‘Way Out’: The only term used for ‘exit’ around here.

Here's a random park I found on the end corner of my street. I never would have known it was there if I hadn't gotten lost.
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‘ID': Said ID- not I-D. Like Kid but ID. Okay, so that one doesn’t work very well on paper but it sure sounds funny when someone doesn’t say I.D. but says ID.

'Queue': A line. To line up, for instance, is to queue up. (Obvious, huh?)

That’s all for now!

Cheers…