So obviously hell has freezen over because.....

ITS SNOWING. Here in london. I left for my class at 4pm and it was normal, hardly clouds in the sky and i emerge from class at 6pm, with snow falling hard and a dusting already on the ground. I would never have imagine this to happen. It makes me happy.

So appologies for lack of updates lately. Classes are going well, although i missed one tuesday morning due to a really bad migraine. Work isn't too hard, although i don't really know the dates my essays are due yet. Its wierd to think that all of my grades are really based on 1 piece of work.

A bunch of us have decided that for our "reading week" (aka LSE *lets see europe week*) we're going to go to Paris and Amsterdam. Should be nice. and Cheap. Which is whats important in life. Well that and its snowing. I know all you east coasters are sick of it, but tough love.

A bunch of us got all decked out last night and went to the "Fairies and Gangsters" evening at the union which was being done to benefit the film studies courses here. We were prolly the only people decked out, but we had a blast.

Thats all for now.

Well another friday is now upon us. I actually made it up and ontime to my class this morning. Let me say, my prof for my Shakespeare in London class is a real riot, i tihnk i'm definetly going to be enjoying this class, even if it is at 9:30am on a friday. I found out aside from not only having a month long break from Mar 26-Apr 26, i also get a WHOLE week off in february. I think thats more than IU gives me in a whole year! as my shakespeare prof put it, its the "LSE" week for americans ("Lets see Europe").

I did an audition today as well for an adaptation of tolkiens Simarillion. Didn't get cast, and as its going up in mid july thats prolly a good thing, although not like i wouldn't have stayed if i wasn't cast. Today is the penultimate day for laundry. I am offically out of clothes to wear (although i'm not sure if thats still a motivating factor). We've also become true cheap students by drinking out of our empty pasta sauce glasses.

Well thats it for now.

Well i achieved everything on my list yesterday. I can't wait to get my new bank card. Something about having lots of cards in your wallet is nice. However, i've decided that if the American $ actually reaches $2 = £1, i am going to withdraw all my money from my account and put it in my english one before the exchange rate gets even worse.

I really am enjoying my European Cinema class and i finally had my acting class today, which i really really enjoyed as well. Its smaller, which is nice and taught by a brit. I think we're gonna go clubbing tonight, either to the Ministry of Sound (the PRIMERE UK club) ok to the Club Sandwich, hosted at the Goldsmiths student union. Depends on how dressy either of them requires everyone to be.

Finally went out and bought 2 mugs today to so i don't have to keep drinking my tea out of my nalgene bottle. Its amazing how not cold here it is. I mean its wet, thats for sure, and if you get WET i suppose you're cold but on the whole i don't think its been below 40F here. I could be wrong though. The internet situation is looking more and more hopeless and thats really frusterating, but again, what can i do?

Finally going to buckle down and get some laundry done tomorrow....i hope. I still have some clean clothes, but i'm not sure that i could make it through the weekend. I pulled out one of my shirts worn previously in the past week that reeked so bad or bar and cigarette that it actually started smelling up the rest of the room forcing me to open a window and use more air freshner.

Love you guys-- Lindz

So class again this morning. I dont know if it is a good sign that more than half the class seems to have not shown up and therefore presumably dropped. I also don't know how much more communist propaganda i can take. Its nice to be learning about it, but its too idealistic. Call me a realist, but hey.

Today is being devoted to achieving to do tasks, including...

1. Open a bank account
2. Apply for a student photocard for a discount on the tube (and possibly hassle them if they wont give me one)
3. Watch Zazie Dans Le Metro for my european cinema class
4. Sleep

I don't know what it is but i don't feel as though i'm sleeping nearly as soundly here. I mean i know i'm getting rest because i know i'm dreaming as i remember my dreams, but i never seem to feel as though i got enough sleep. Its another rainy and cool day. I need to look into laundry today, even though it will cost me an arm and a leg. Oh well c'est la vie, c'est london. Which on a side note, i was shocked to discover last night at the pub i was at, The Hobgoblin, located right next to my flat, that there was a french flag on the ceiling....what ever happend to the animosity between the french and english anyways?

Sorry to bore you all with a pointless post.

Wales- Wow, what a great weekend. First let me back up.

Accidently missed my 1st Shakespeares London class on friday morning due to not having recieved an email about it. So much for my having thurs, friday sat, sun, monday, off. I guess a 3 day weekend isn't that bad though.

Right so the bus to Swansea was long and things seemed a bit chaotic when we arrived there as a few people didn't make the bus and students were now in pairs with thier families. I wound up with a family different than the one i was originally assigned and with a girl named Gillian. The family was quite nice. All of the students weren't actually in Swansea, which is the 2nd biggest city in Wales, but rather in The Mumbles or Langland (which was where i was). The Mumbles claim to fame, is that Catherine Zeta Jones is from there and recently just bought her parents a huge house there. Go figure. Anywho this was really right out on the beach. The next morning 2 of the parents of the whole group took us all out to see the castle there, known as Oystermouth castle, which was really nice. We were the only people there and they pretty much let us have free reign to wander around as we like. the view from the top was just amazing, you could see the whole shore line and the tide going out. After the castle we got a little info session on the lifeboats and the crew that runs them. Afterwards we went over to the pier where you can see the lighthouse and whatnot. Had lunch at the Mumbles Yacht Club and then most of us headed over to Swansea itself. Did a little shopping and tried some welsch food-- i had Lavabread which is basically seaweed. Kinda a shock to the tastebuds, but i suppose with the proper preperation it could be quite tasty. That evening Gillian and i had dinner back with the family. It was a mom named Jane, who was divorced and her 2 sons, Rupert (19) and Oliver (17). Afterwards, all the americans met at a pub in Mumbles called the White Rose. Had some drinks there and then went to another one called the Antelope where we met a lovely girl named Sarah who may come visit us in London, as well as the 2 blokes who had given us the tour of the lifeboats. Went home later on and then the next morning we got up and Gillian and i walked to the beach which was like a 2 minute walk from where we were staying. It was just really a bay but wow how amazing. There were tons of people out and even people in the water surfing. We had great weather over the weekend to the point where i was walking on the beach in short sleeves. We beach combed for awhile and i did a bunch of photograpy. It was so peaceful and amazing. Just what i needed after having been in the city for 2 weeks. I really just loved this town it was just beautiful.

Long bus ride back and today is being dedicated to doing homework.

Miss you all! Love from London,
Lindsay

Right then, back into life here. To answer some questions, i'm at Goldsmiths college, which is part of the University of London. Its a completely english school aside from Americans like me randomly studying here so most of my classmates and professors are english. I had my first class tuesday morning, 9am which is on European culture and Ideas. First off it took me forever to find the building because it wasn't on a map and the first 3 people i asked had never even heard of it. Finally i got there and its kinda like a little trailer type of place. All the buildings here (and even the bathrooms that are outside the main building) have door codes that are 7 digits long that you have to punch in. Thankfully someone else was already there so i was able to get in ok. There are 3 other americans in that class and maybe only 12 other students in general. The professor is a german man who i actually have teaching another class of mine. I think the gist of the class is studying the New Leftist (ie Marxist) philosphies of Europe in the later 1960s. I think. Unfortuantly i'm kinda jumping in the middle of the class as it started last semester.

My other class was today from 4-6 and is on European Cinema. Again same amount of students except i was the only new student. I think i'm really going to enjoy this class. Its taught by an American from New York and basically we are examing specific films (ie today we discussed Breathless by Godard), although he seemed a bit miffed at the idea that they'd allow someone to join the course midway through.

Haven't heard about my other classes yet. Its nice having classes that only meet once a week.

Theres definetly perks to living in a more colourful area (as a neighboor of mine put it "If this ghetto was salsa...it would be mild") like cheap shops to buy bits and bobs in. Finally got a pot for pasta, a frying pan, a notebook, a towel, a plate and a bowl and some silverware and hangers for £20 (which is like almost 40 american dollars, but compared to everywhere else in london that is VERY VERY cheap).

The pub next door to me, The Hobgoblin, wound up giving us loads of free stuff the other night (which was cool...i mean hell, who doesn't love free stuff like tshirts, mousepads, a cell phone holder, a giant Guiness hat, and keyrings?). Tho i've cut back on going out as this is a school week and i wanted to get settled in.

This weekend (on the offchance i don't get to update before then) i'm going to Swansea to stay with a family) for those of you unfamiliar with the UK thats in Wales, right on the coast. Which should be wonderful presuming i'm feeling a bit better.

Having a laptop and simpsons episodes is wonderful. You really don't realize how much we americans become addicted to the Internet or TV until it is taken away from you. To have a TV here you actually have to have a TV license which is something like £75 (btw, these days a £1 = 2$ more or less...grumble grumble). So very few ppl do. i'm working on getting internet hooked up hopefully although i guess we'll see. Ok i'm off for some din din.

Ciao everyone

Oh and as an FYI my address is...

(my name)
Loring Hall A1D
St. James
New Cross
London
se14 6ah

Well so finally i've been able to get get to a computer that i'm not paying for. As you may have all guessed, i don't have internet in my room here so pleaseeeeeee bare with me on my responses and updates as the computer lab shuts down at 6pm.

So on to Goldsmiths. The area around here is pretty colourful. But i'm not at all worried for safety or anything. I'm in Loring Hall which has about 6 towers full of 8 different flats, with each flat having between 4-8 single person rooms. My particular flat A1, has just 3 other people aside from myself, a guy from New Jersey, a girl from Hong Kong and someone who has yet to have introduced themselves. The rooms are nice. Theres a closet and our own bathrooms, which remind me of the bathrooms you would see at a YMCA or something as its just a curtain for the shower. Theres a big kitchen/common room area with all the bits and bobs you would find in a kitchen.

I live right across from the New Cross Gate tube station, which is definetly nice, and a HUGE sainsburys, not to mention right next to a pub.

I haven't started my classes yet, and actually still do not know the schedule for 2 of them, although regretfully i do have 1 9am seminar.

Thats all for now folks

Well heres to a blank page and new beginnings