out and about: September 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

She Doesn't Even Go Here

I visited RPI for a bit before leaving for England. Got to hang with some of the homies! I know it's kinda late but I forgot to post it...

Kevin with his kittens and Shannon lookin good haha

Nikki and Jason with his truck.

Aimee's new crib.

Coldplay quote off of a Mylo Xyloto song called "Us Against the World"

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Bus Tour!

I was a super tourist today and took a bus tour of London! It was fantastic. Here are some of the wonderful sights we passed.

West Minster Abbey

St. Stephen's Tower, Big Ben is the bell inside--who knew!

National Portrait Gallery

The London Eye

I learned, actually, that Fish & Chips is apparently not nearly as popular among Londoners as Curry is.

The first ever underground rail in the world.

The Tower of London where the Crown Jewels are kept.

Tower Bridge

City Skyline

Tower Bridge and the Thames

Top Half of St. Paul's

The Guardian of the City of London (the statue is at every entrance to the city)

Me and the place where Brendan was supposed to sit...

I'm staying in Goldsmid which has single en suite rooms. It's a rather nice building with a front desk guy, a kitchen for my hall of 8 people, and laundry for 2 pounds a load (1 pound to dry) in the basement. I just moved in last night at 11pm. I'm hoping to switch out since it's so far from campus and so expensive but for now this is my room.

Desk and Wardrobe--you can't see them but I do have books on my book shelf :)

Bed

Sink

Toilet is practically in the shower--as Jako said, I can shit, shower, and shave all in one place! :) Still haven't figured out how to flush it though...

Bus Ride to UCL

Since I'm housed way over by Buckingham Palace, I have to take a 20 minute bus ride (plus about 10 minutes walking) to get to UCL's academic buildings. I didn't know, however, that on my way to a bus tour today, I'd get a mini bus tour on my ride to campus haha. Here are a few things I pass on my way to campus (they got all out of order, oh well)...

Big Ben

Big Ben and Parliament

West Minster Abbey

So many theaters here!

Starbucks... no surprise there, they're everywhere here too.

The only other Chipotle in the UK (and possibly Europe) aside from the one I went to, haha.

Trafalgar Square was having a concert--so cool! (As you can see by the lamp post, I'm on the second floor of the double decker).

The other end of the square, the Portrait Gallery Museum

Walking past some telephone booths on campus. :)

On my way home.

Transportation

The following are in no particular order, just a bunch of pictures of the craziness that is London transportation. The hardest thing to get used to is looking right first and then left before crossing the road. Don't be surprised if I get hit by a car although they are very courteous towards pedestrians. Fortunately, at your feet they paint on the road "Look Left" and "Look Right" depending on which way the road goes. So considerate.

It may appear as though three lights are simply out but actually they have these at every cross walk, picture them all blinking out of order with no synchronization whatsoever. It's quite the sight. Also please note the squiggly lines that seem to appear near intersections. I believe they imply that you may not stop there.

Bus Stop

Driving on the left hand side of the road.

Loads of people and modes of transport. Buses, underground, walking, biking, tube, taxis, everything!

So many double deckers! And they have these painted boxes meaning you can't stop in them.

So many mopeds and motorcycles!

Black Taxi

Tube Car

Tube Rail

The lights follow the same sequences as in the states except here they turn both yellow and red just before turning green.

Currency

In case you were wondering... The UK does not use Euros but instead it uses pounds which are also known as quid (like dollars) and pence (like pennies). 1 pound is about $1.55. Their notes increase with size and their smallest note is 5 pounds so they have an absurd amount of coins. Have a look for yourself.