'Murica!

Alright, so I've gotten a little behind, but school has started and there is a lot of reading that is involved and as my parents would say, "school comes first", so blame them. Many interesting things have happened so I will stop stalling and get to the point. 

So one of the weekends, a group of us went to the Borough Markets which is mainly a food market and oh my gosh, did it smell wonderful. Once you got close to the huge outdoor market, the smell of food and freshly baked bread had your mouth watering the whole time, so of course I gave into temptation and got a pastry and boy was it delicious! We saw everything from fancy cheese, herbs, homemade beer, to dead birds hanging by their necks outside the butcher shop. It was interesting.

Had a traditional German bratwurst!

After walking around there for an hour, we moved on to the Portobello Market, which is ginormous in size and has everything you could ever want. From old boxing gloves, to silverware, to old cigarette cards. It truly was a sight to see.

Portobello Market!

Had a Coke with you Mom!

So it was a day of walking and weaving between people and through it all I ended up buying rain boots (which I am super excited for and are a must in rainy London) and an oil painting of London (which I am also super excited for). Later on that night a few of us girls went out to a pub which was celebrating its 20th Birthday. It was therefore very crowded and very loud, but a lot of fun.

Me with Erin (middle) my roommate, and Logan (friend from API)

Live music!

One of the most exciting things for me was meeting Frank Abagnale. Now for those of you who do not know who this is, if you have seen the movie "Catch Me if You Can" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, that movie was based after him. Google him to find out more, but I met him and it was so amazing! I was super nervous to meet him and my hands started to get really clammy, but i finally bucked up the nerves to talk to him because i knew i would never get another chance. What i found out from talking with him is that he finds the biggest accomplishment in his life is not what he did in his early years, but what he did afterwards. After he got out of jail, he was able to make huge contributions to the FBI and still works with them today along with helping out banks with improving their security and talking at huge conventions (all in all, he's a very smart man). 

Me next to Frank!

So after our lovely meal (which was free) we departed and all of us girls walked along the River Thames and took some photos (we played the part of acting like huge tourists but we didn't care). It was one of those nights where the temperature was just right and everything seemed to be at a standstill which made it one of the most enjoyable nights I have spent here so far.

So school is going well. I have a lot of reading that is assigned to me in my classes and I have met some people. What is astonishing is that in most of my seminar classes, I am the only American and when people find out I am American, they are just fascinated! Everyone I meet is fascinated by America and they ask me questions about it and what I find weird about London (why don't you have tupperware!). Usually they ask if I am from California or New York, but then I tell them that I live in Minnesota and go to school in Wisconsin and they just give me a deer in the headlights look. They have no idea what I'm talking about so I usually end up pulling my planner out that has a picture of the US on the back. It has really come in handy! My roommate, Emily had a girl ask her if she had ever been to a Walmart and that she has seen pictures of what people wear there and asked if that's really true (no, that's just how Americans dress unfortunately). She then went on to tell her that if she could visit the US, she would want to visit South Dakota (of all places, really) because of all the Indians. Emily then asked her if she meant the Native Americans and she said yes. She was just so fascinated by them and how they lived and really wanted to meet them one day. It was at this moment that Emily told her that they don't live in teepees anymore and therefore killed the girls dream right then and there (squashed it like a bug I tell you). 

That's all for now, but keep your eyes open for the next blog post because it will be coming soon!

-Claire