london calling

Day #1
25 March 2014
Bright (well dark) and early at 4AM, my friends Kacey, Cassie and Amanda and I grabbed our luggage, hopped on the bus to Centralstation and then another bus to Stockholm Arlanda to hop on a plane to our vacation in London for a week.

The view for Sweden from the plane.

Once we landed, in the London Gatwick airport, we took a train from the airport and then from the train station the London tube to our stop and then walking 2 miles to our apartment.

It takes a lot of transportation to travel to a country.

This is my friend Kacey looking out into the distance.

Secretly she's thinking about breakfast, which I was thinking about too.

London Train Station

Victoria Train Station Tube

The route to our stop.

Highbury & Islington.

Note to future posts, the London tube is very confusing and it took me 6 days to figure it out. Even then, I was still hesistant.

The moment we stepped off the London Tube we saw this pub.

WELCOME TO LONDON!

That white door was the door to our apartment, the restaurant was a Mediterranean bistro that we never ended up going to.

Oops

Pizza Hut was right next to our apartment,  which was to our excitement as the thought of thick crust pizza had our mouths drooling.

Note: Sweden does not have thick crust pizza, it's thin and healthy which for an American is unacceptable. 

I am sorry Swedes, but nothing compares to greasy, unhealthy, thick crust pizza.

Our apartment was still getting cleaned, we dropped off our luggage and explored the neighborhood, Islington, where we would stay for the next week.

 Fun Fact: Mother's Day in London is actually the last Sunday in March, not the second Sunday in May like in the States. Hence the spring-like colors and Mother's day theme objects.

Also, London has a Dog Squad in the park.

English Dog Squad. Don't bloody hell mess with them.

Obligatory red phone booth picture.

Another fun fact: These phone booths are not rare to find in London. 

They are everywhere.

Another Obligatory red phone booth picture, pretending to call someone.

And yes, this picture was planned and I purposely wore my red dress to match the phone booth.

Yes, I think about my outfits in advance, but let's not get into that.

After an hour of exploring, our apartment was ready and clean and we could finally take pictures of the place before trashing it.*

*Trashing it, meaning that clothes, purses and suitcases all over the place #girlissues

This was our living room and Kacey.

My friend Cassie was attempting to take a panorama of the living room, which is why Kacey is posing.

The master bedroom.

There was only one bed in the tiny apartment, where we took turns sleeping in for the week.

The tiny kitchen that only held up to 3 people at the most. 

And yes we had a washing machine in the kitchen, which didn't surprise me.

Our apartment had a balcony with little Japanese lanterns if we want to sit out at night.

We didn't. This balcony was never used the whole week we were there.

Oops.

After taking pictures of the apartment, we unpacked, semi-trashed the place and met up with our friend Sofie, who had taken a later flight, and ventured off to sight see the tourist parts of London.

Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and London Eye

Worst news ever

During our time at the palace we noticed that we blended in well. Taking pictures of every angle of the place. Noticing that we weren't the only ones, here is a segment that I like I too call:
PICTURECEPTION (me taking pictures of people taking pictures)

Segment done.

Big Ben!

And I quote

"BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG!"

 The London Eye: a giant ferries wheel built in the late 90s and opened in 2000. Each bubble in the ferris wheel hold about 15 plus people and moves slowly seeing the view of London.

Around 25 pounds, and waiting in line for over an hour to then go on for 2 plus hours, we decided to NOT to go on the London Eye and just admire it from afar.  

After being tourists on the first day, we returned back to our apartment, made dinner and had some wine and then settled into bed to start our tour bright and early at 8AM.

i just got schooled

Before I go on many posts about my vacation in London there is one thing I want to talk about that I haven't mentioned before.
School Abroad
I know, the term "study abroad" actually means to study abroad. I'm here for two semesters to go to school, not to travel, go out at night and make a fool of myself in public. Like actual school, where I get up around 9AM-ish, figure out what I'm going to wear and walk to class to sit for 2 hours in lectures and seminars later to have to do a presentation and a then a paper.
It's shocking I know.
So here are facts about my "studying abroad"
-Classes here are very different than classes in the states. Very different. In the states you have one class at one time on certain dates in one room.
For example, Biology 101 at 8AM-10AM, Room 101, Mon. Wed. Fri.
Here in Sweden (and what I learned in other parts of Europe), you do have one class but at different times, on different days in different classrooms.
For example:
Image, Identity and New Media: Wed.10:15AM-12PM, RM A156
Image, Identity and New Media: Fri. 8:15AM- 10AM, RM H325
Image, Identity and New Media: Fri. 10:15AM-12PM, RM 416
Image, Identity and New Media: Mon. 13:15-PM-15PM, RM F332

Trying to figure out these rooms and times is still a struggle for me. 7 months later, I still get lost in the building trying to find one of these rooms.

But that's not the only difference.
The structure of the class and the content is what stands out from the American school system to the European school system (focusing mainly on Swedish Media courses).
In American classrooms, classrooms are filled with discussions and lectures containing modern examples and homework and midterms in between before the big final.
In Swedish Media courses, classes are filled with lectures and seminars containing theories and philosophy and thinking abstract with one reflection paper in the beginning and one final paper at the end.
It doesn't seem too bad when you look at it, but my Swedish Media Courses are once a month so when you start a class, 3 weeks later, the class ends. It's non-stop cycle.

We begin with lectures twice a week, then have a reflection paper, where we write a 2 page paper on our own and then a group presentation a week after that and then a final paper at the end of the week.

Another example that is differentiates Sweden courses from American courses is the way directions are explained. From my previous experience, when given a paper in my American courses, directions are direct and I know what the teacher is expecting and what they want me to get out of the paper.
In Sweden courses, directions are vague and unclear and you have no idea what the professor wants out of the paper and end up not knowing what you are writing about.
This previous class, I had an all day exam the day before I left for London, the test opened at 8AM and was supposed to be turned in at 11:59PM that same day.
I walked over to Norrlands Nation at 12PM to meet up with my friends who were also there, struggle and ended up leaving Norrlands at 6:30PM.
I spent 6 and a half hours working on this paper with little procrastination (ok there was a few procrastination moments).
4 and half of those hours were spent on the second question pictured below:

The hell does proliferation mean?

In basic English terms, describe the current dominating paradigm and then discuss whether this paradigm is increasing or decreasing by modern communication and global communication. 

Even my English translation, still doesn't help. 

This is what I struggle through every 3 weeks, and this is why my procrastination skills are so excellent now. 

How I have survived these courses for the past 7 months, still surprises me and wondering how I will survive having 2 more months of these classes is still a wonderment. 

Oh, and proliferation means: the growth or production of cells by multiplication of parts.

So there you go. 

whether or not the weather has changed or withered away

This past week March 2014
As I said before, I named Swedish Mother Nature Carol because she needed to get her shit together.
Why?
This week's weather has been completely crazy you have no idea.
It had been in the high 50s for a week and a half which in Sweden terms is warm. (I know, as a Californian, 50 degrees is nothing, but when you have lived in 5 to -2 degree weather 50 is the warmest time ever).
I was in my room with the window open in a tank top watching the sun set, as I sipped on my Vitamin C drink and smiling because my mood has increased to a million.
Fast forward to two days later and this happens:

Like seriously? What is this?

This was that same day at 10PM on my way to the grocery store.

This is from the day after the big snow day. Note the lack of snow on the ground and the melting snow on the Cathedral. 

Fast forward to the next day:

I mean..you cereal right now Sweden?

Let's just say, thank sweet little baby Jesus that I was going to London to get away from the ups and downs of the Swedish weather. At least in London, I know that the weather is consistent: gloomy skies and rain.