Lost In London: Days 6 & 7 / Jet Lag and Class Begins

Day 6 - 5/28/12
Hey All,

Sorry its been a few days since I updated this blog. On Sunday I woke up feeling horrible. I think the combination of not really sleeping properly and the jet lag finally caught up to me. I'm a little ashamed to say I stayed around the apartment almost the entire day but I figured it was worth it with classes beginning the next day. At least as I was feeling better around 8pm I took a nice walk around the neighborhood to make sure I have the area down and route to class memorized (its about a 20 minute walk).

Day 7 - 5/29/12

Monday was the first day of class over the summer. I'm taking two classes this summer both economics classes. The first of the two classes is Monday and Tuesday from 9am to 1pm and is European Capital Markets. I figured when I signed up for this class that it would overlap with my FE 442 class I completed last semester (Money, Financial Markets, and the World Economy) but I elected to take it since none of the other electives seemed too enticing for me. I found that my assumption was correct when we got the syllabus on the first day and realized that I already know much of the material, however the prof who teaches it might make the class worth taking anyway. The professor is a little angry British guy who used to be a Forex trader at RBS (Foreign exchange i.e. trading British Pounds for US Dollars at the Royal Bank of Scotland for those unaware). He spent the first half hour or so ranting about the stupidity of everything from the Queen (he's very anti-royalist) to the bankers that brought on the economic crisis. I think he's a little extreme but he is a smart guy. Afterward our lesson was on basic Forex stuff which I found pretty slow though he did have a few insider stories which were quite interesting.

A side note I've already acquired a taste for tea since being over here. My throat was still a little sore when I woke up Monday morning and rather than going for my usual coffee I decided to try some tea that they provide in the classroom building. Since I first tried it I haven't gone back and find that it gives me the caffeine kick that I need but doesn't seem to make me feel as dehydrated as coffee does at times.

After class I was really amped to go do something as I hadn't done much the day before. I rounded up a few of the girls I'm friends with on my floor and we decided to pick and random tube stop and walk around the area. We ended up picking a stop just southeast of Westminster on the other side of the river. Where we got off was a cool little area with few museums (including the Imperial War museum that my history nerd self is DYING to go to). All of us were starving so we stopped at a pub to grab some food. We picked a pub called Prince William Henry (pic) because it had a ridiculous outdoor patio and it was beautiful outside. I tried English fish and chips for the first time. The food was decent and I found myself surprised how much I enjoyed the fried white fish. After we ate we continued onward to the river. We walked along and found ourselves at the Shakespeare globe. From there we crossed the silver pedestrian bridge to the other side of the river. I forget what the bridge is called we just call it the Harry Potter bridge because its the one they destroy in the beginning of the 6th movie. From there we walked toward St. Paul's Cathedral which is a pretty iconic sight in London. Afterwards we wandered a bit finding an Italian style square called the London Guild Hall before taking the tube home. All in all it was a pretty successful exploration and I plan to repeat this exploration idea.

Here are all the pictures I snapped.

Harry Potter Bridge

Globe up close

They're doing all of Shakespeare's plays during a 6 week period. Unfortunately, its almost over but its pretty cool. Theaters from around the world including the Chicago Shakespeare Theater come to put on 1 production each.