Metra

Friday night started out simply enough – go to Leicester Square to find a club.

Or at least we thought it would be that simple. We went to Bella Italia for dinner, where the food was about £7-10 and was okay, I got some pesto pasta that kinda messed with my stomach, but there was a delicious “Godfather” dessert that we all shared that was chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and a brownie. Yum.

Then we got ready at the hotel, and headed off on the tube. After a lot of frustrated arguing about prices of clubs (they’re all so expensive!!), we chose Metra. The drinks were disgustingly pricey – they promised us a free shot of tequila, Chris ordered one and it ended up costing a ridiculous £7. The cheapest thing was a glass of wine for £4.50 & a beer for £5.70, but who knows how bad the wine was, and personally I hate Beck’s beer which Chris ended up getting. We danced off all of dinner’s calories for an hour or so, and me & Sarah hit up the stripper pole for a few minutes. Kara & Brittany met British boys(!) who were cute but their friends were pretty meh so me & Sarah & Chris wandered off to see what else the club had to offer.

Then we met Trina & Mustafi. By accident we had stumbled into the champagne room, but we ended up sitting down after the extremely intoxicated Trina invited us. Over the course of the next hour, I had a lot of alcohol breathed in my face when she “sang” songs, she asked Chris, and I quote, “Would you like to fuck my man? He has quite a big dick.” Mustafi was kind of a creeper; he told me about his friend that got kicked out of the UK for dealing kilos of coke and is now in Long Island, and offered Chris some ecstasy. We were also molested a bit by Trina in her effort to compare chest sizes, she told us that she was classy but from a rough neighborhood (she’s a lush but somehow in Law School), and learned that Mustafi’s 25th is on Monday. The two most frustrating parts of the club were that Chris wasn’t allowed on the pole ‘cause he’s a guy, and the worst, MY NAME. I am OFFICIALLY changing my name for the next four months. I mean, I knew from Austin Powers/the English language what randy means, but I got SOOOO much flack from Mustafi for it and I’m afraid of what others will say. At least five times *as he stared at my cleavage* I got “your name is Randy? I won’t be forgetting you…” Apparently I’m also “shy.”

The rest of the night was a disaster. Long story short it took an hour and a half to find a bus, and along the way I ate the world’s worst hotdog and stepped in vomit. Not fun. My favorite was a homeless guy who was playing “When the saints go marching in” on his recorder (horribly), and I said “Aw, that’s probably his only possession.” Brittany, really pissed off “He should learn how to play it better.” I guess serious clarinet players take that stuff seriously.

We also went to Westminster to see the abbey, Big Ben, and the London Eye.




Here's photos from the last few days!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014744&l=1d796&id=1379550005

We're here!

It's been a ridiculous treacherous three days... but I'm alive and have a place to live. Tuesday we arrived after the flight was delayed four hours, and got to the wayyyyyyy overpriced hotel (UMI in Leicester Square - 110-180£/night for our ridiculously squeaky bunk beds (literally you breathe and they squeak). Luckily the school worked it out so we don't pay that much for them. After orientation/checking out the ICLC (a beautiful building, but then again all of the buildings in London are beautiful.. and so are the cars!!!), we went to the Orange store where we met 'K' who we almost sort of went out with but it didn't work out. We walked past protesters outside the Israeli embassy to Giraffe at 7 High Kensington St, the drinks were 4-7£ and the meals were 7-15£... I had a great duck/noodle Thai sort of dish, except they plopped strawberry jelly on it for some gross reason that I took off. I had a great beer, Brit had some delicious drink called a vanilla breeze, and Kara & Sarah got Mango-Lime Daiquiris that were good too.

On Wednesday we checked our first flat - at Baron's Court - which was a complete sketch-fest. The mattresses were torn, the ovens didn't work, all the cutlery looked stolen... so, yeah, that place was a definite no. We got to check out Hammersmith which has a great mall though, and all bought hair straighteners. We also checked out the Anglo-American place in Bayswater, but it was completely overpriced for the location/lack of things available (no washer/dryer or internet). I went to Gregg's out of starvation but I had the most disgusting sausage roll ever (tasted like crisco & pig feet), and I bought a delicious Yorkie candy bar (mostly cause it says 'It's NOT for girls' on it, but it's the thickest/richest chocolate ever... aka amazing). We ate at a real pub - Kings Head on 33 Moscow Road in Bayswater, and I ate fish and chips! It was delicious, except the vinegar doesn't work at all with it in my opinion. Chris & Sarah got some amazing pear alcoholic bottled drink thing, and we just hung out and talked for a while.

Today the flat hunt continued in Marble Arch, but it was even more sketchy. The neighborhood was totally Lebanese which was cool with me but the smell of curry made Brittany really really sick... the first 2 places were horrifying - one had shattered mirrors with three beds squished together in one room so we'd be sleeping on top of each other, the other had blood on the mirror. Not livable at all. Then we found one where the elevator opened at your room - which SOUNDS cool, except the elevator barely worked and we'd be living completely on top of each other. The fourth place was really pretty but again had a closet bedroom, which was insufferable. We had lunch at McDonald's (I feel like a traitor, but at least I know now that the burgers taste different - kinda sweet), and Brittany also got called an idiot by some ass with a perm on the tube for touching him by accident when the tube moved, and the tube to marble arch in the morning was stopped because somebody was 'under the train'. Evidently that happens a lot, but I thought it was really upsetting.

Lastly, FINALLY, we found our flat. Our flat is really gorgeous and includes a washer/dryer/plasma tv (not necessary but totally amazing), huge kitchen/living room, plenty of storage space for clothes (unfortunately it's all in me & Sarah's room but it works out) and all wood floors for 160£/week. More than we wanted to spend, but it's in a beautiful location (Flat 7, Arthur Court, Queensway) with CCTV security and super close to supermarkets, stores, buses & the tube. We move in Saturday and I'm really psyched. The guy also managed to get us really fast internet for £25 per month, but that's worked into the 160£/week. We also went on our first Bill walk today which was really fun/informative, and checked out the Imperial College of Science House(?) where me and Brittany might buy membership. We're also gonna try and check out Ave Q in a week or so, the Bath trip is at the end of the month, we learn about internships tomorrow, classes/internship starts next week... I feel like this will start passing a lot quicker.

I'm still pretty homesick for now so it works out that I won't have full internet for a week or so, 'cause I don't think I can hear people's voices/talk on AIM till then without getting really sad yet. I really adore London though, I'll try and start putting up photos soon.