Fash-on

So I went into London today. Took the 8 am train. Now they are doing 'engineering' work, which seems to be what they call construction, so instead of getting into London at 9:20 as it normally would, the train got in at 10:10. Yeah, so on the way back I took the 4 pm train that with the engineering work was scheduled to get in at 6 pm, but there was some sort of accident and then the train broke and we had to get off and wait for another, so it didn't get in until almost 7 pm. I'm beginning to understand why the English complain about the train service now.

Anyways, I mainly just kind of walked around and ducked into a few museums around town. I put up a selection of pictures on picasa (the sneak preview of me in Trafalagar Square is above there). In just a few hours I managed to see Van Gogh's Sunflowers, the Rosetta Stone, and the Elgin Marbles, and a gazillion other things that I spent nearly a second looking at before moving on. Anyways, most of you have been to London, so I will not dwell.

So the nitty gritty. I've been here nearly a week now and I consider this long enough to observe the local fashions. The skinny leg look is much more widespread here than in Seattle. Skinny jeans with ugly 80s looking boots are in, as are the leggings that go down to either the knee or the ankle, and it seems like all tops must extend at least 3 inches past the hip. Now, a good number of people are not actually able to pull off this look, but they dress this way anyways. I don't think it really flatters anyone quite frankly. Oh, and there are lots of high belts that don't seem to have any actual function. And all of these people are carrying Topshop bags. I don't think I saw anyone with an H&M bag, but everyone had Topshop. There also is not much of a 'name brand' purse scene. This leads me to think that there is much more emphasis on having a certain look and style about yourself in lieu of having a look and style that everyone knows you spent a lot of money on. This is both good and bad. It's good because you don't have to spend a lot of money on your clothes to be cool, but bad because all I have going for me fashion-wise at this point is a fancy purse. Oh, but good because I have only counted one pair of Sevens since arriving, and that was in the tube today and for all I know the girl was American.

There is a bar in town called 'The Giddy Bridge'.

English Sandwiches

If you're anything like me, that title just gets your taste buds watering. And if that is indeed the case, boy are you about to be jealous, because today I was given free access to tray after tray of several varieties of these fine European delicacies. They are all cut up into triangle-shaped quarters, giving tiny little previews of what they held in store for you. Being the low-brow American that I am, I had not a clue what any of them were. To begin, I got two quarter sandwiches. One was egg, the other was egg-and-something-undetermined. The egg-and-mystery really wasn't too bad. Kind of wonder what else it contained. Emboldened by my not dying from the first two, I went back for a third quarter. This one appearred to be chicken with red stuff and lettuce on funky bread. It would have been better had it been on non-funky bread, but you win some, you lose some. All in all, it was not entirely impressive. But in the same situation in the US, it would have been the same bread with a slice of ham and a slice of cheddar, which isn't that great either.

For a brief "history lesson" about the local area (I went to a virtual tour of the city this afternoon, only it didn't tell you where much was), the Roman's starting living nearby around 83 BC, and then the Saxon's came to where the city is now sometime after that, and then the Norman's came and lived with them around 1100 and they are the ones that built that lovely wall with the Bargate. Oh, and there is a place called 'leisureworld' which has some nightclubs and a movie theater. Plus you get to tell people you're going to 'leisureworld', which alone makes it worth going.

Two random things I learned today:
1. The English pronounce Renassiance, renA-sense.
2. They use the phrase 'suck it up' in Trinidad and Tobago.

I'm heading in to London tomorrow for the first of many day trips! Woo-hoo!

The Wall

Have you ever gone to the store and realized you were deep inside English Walmart? Yeah, I have. And it's called Asda. They have rollback prices; that's what clued me in. But by this time I already had hangers in my cart and due to their unnaturally complex store layout, I didn't think I could leave without buying something. You gotta hand it to that walmart. They are very, very good at what they do.

Aside from selling a little bit of my soul, getting a cell phone and a hairdryer (yessss), and checking out Topshop, I also learned a little bit about the local history while I was at the city center, as illustrated in the above. What you have clip of there is technically called Bargate North, which is a fancy way of saying it's the North Gate. Ha, northgate. So back in 'the day' (which according to their placard, is like, 1295), this was the main gate to enter the city from the north. It is coincidentally the farthest south I have gotten. There are some remains of the wall around town and you can apparently walk along them. If you are indeed into that sort of thing. At this point I am looking into alternative photo posting possibilities.

Weird English saying of the day, heard during induction program: 'Don't forget so to do' instead of 'Don't forget to do so'.

Marks and Spencer

I made a venture into town today. On the way there I was called dear by an old man and helped an old lady cross the street. I'm sorry, but I am way popular with the old folks around town (and just to make things clear, by old people I would ballpark the general age to be around 70). Yesterday a random bus driver even gave me a friendly wave.

So I made the 3-mile trek to the mall, West Quay, which, to use a local phrase is 'quite lovely'. It's got an H&M and some other interesting shopping stores as well that I fulled intend to peruse. There is also a peds only street out front and some parks nearby. So I was starving after the walk so I got a panini that was what we would call $7 that had approximately 1 piece of ham on it, but it was not bad so I won't dwindle on that. Now, being the bright postgraduate student that I am, I made the bright decision to go to Marks and Spencer for a duvet and pillows right after eating so I could be lugging about heavy bags in both hands from there on out. This duvet business is slightly more complex than I thought, but I did manage to get one involving some sort involving duck feathers (and the box was orange, apparently they are not familiar with the state schools in Oregon), and some pillows that were unnaturally condensed, and a duvet cover (red, I wanted some color in here). On my way to find the bus stop I saw a Topshop (slash 'Topman') that I fully intend to go tomorrow afternoon.

Oh!! And I saw two things that I never thought I would see in England today, within about five minutes of each other, at above mentioned mall. The first was a mullet, a long red one pulled back in a pony. The second thing was a femullet. Apparently the English do not know better than us. That is all the proof I need.

And finally, you will all be relieved to know that I have finally purchased some TP. After my trip downtown I had to run back to campus and found the student union store, which remarkably carried some. I also got a yogurt there and then quickly realized I didn't have a spoon. I had to use a granola bar.

Arrival

I have officially arrived. Not in that fancy 'look at me, I'm on the Billboard Top 10' sort of way, but in the actual, literal sense of the word. So to sum things up, I'm in Southampton.

Quite frankly, I had anticipated to dislike it more here. At this point I'm excited despite not knowing a single person. The parts of town which I've actually seen, which tantamounts to a couple of residential streets and a small snippit of campus, are all cute and English. The bus ride from Heathrow involved some typical rolling English countryside. And everyone who is English (there is a fair number of foreigners I've noted so far, mainly of the Asian persuasion) has an English accent. It makes me giggle a little when I hear it. Chances are that won't last long. And keep in mind this general sense of optimism is in spite of making the bus driver mad by accidently having him put my luggage in the wrong area and making the front desk lady mad for not having money for this week's early housing despite not knowing about it (who doesn't take visa, really?).

I'm not sure how I feel about the digs at this point. I can't say I'm totally impressed, but I suppose it's got it's one Euro-ness to it. There's no TP, which for some reason surprised me, but I guess it would also be weird if there was TP. And on my little walk I didn't see any stores, so I am still without TP. Here is a picture of the outside of the building. I am in the sunbathed area, on what they claim is the 'first' floor but it is indeed the second floor, on the right (above sidewalk, not cars). I'll make some effort to unpack before including any interior shots.

Overhead declarations involving the word 'brilliant': at least 20

Hasselhoff?

Perhaps it's normal to wonder when entering into a new situation how one will be received. At this point in time (one week prior to departure for stated situation) I am having an internal discussion about what clicked when David Hasselhoff decided to export his singing self across the pond. Because quite frankly, it worked well for him. Those Germans see a light shining inside that sort-of-freaky guy that his compatriots just don't quite understand. But then again, does anyone aspire to be David Hasselhoff? Really?