URBS -- UCL style.

Not as cool, obviously. (for those of you not in the know, URBS is what the cool kids call Urban Studies at Penn...)

The Bartlett gave us a walking tour of London on the South bank of the Thames this afternoon, winding up at City Hall (a new and really interesting building).

City Hall

The London city planning group (Development Authority, or something like that) gave us a talk on London's city planning for the past 20 years and a lot of what they have in mind (and the mayor, Boris) for the "London Plan." It was interesting but a little hard to follow... British accents kind of make people sound boring sometimes. Afterwards, Brandon and I decided to walk all the way back to Leicester Square where we saw some cheap Chinese food restaurants (SO FAR from City Hall... probably a 2 mile walk), and we scarfed down some good MSG Chinese buffet (only 5 quid! yes, I am going to start to use British words, you'll catch on) before heading back to our dorm. Brandon is the other Bartlett student from Penn and he's doing a History minor like me.

On the Waterloo Bridge with some sweet London highrises inthe background. London has rules like DC, where skyscrapers are only permitted in certain areas, so as not to obstruct the historic views. It was raining so I am wrapped up like a babushka.

Brandon in front of the Tower Bridge. City Hall is to the right.

London Bridge -- not the most exciting bridge but I thought it deserved a photo... right Mom?

The Millennium Bridge - going from a really old and beautiful building on the north, to the Tate Modern Museum on the South. It's just for pedestrians and seems sort of like an eye sore to many, but I like the futuristic look bridging the old part of the city to the Modern Art museum.

The past few days we've been exploring London a little more -- Portobello Road (awesome market only open on Saturdays with vintage clothing, antiques, artwork, jewelry) and Oxford Street (the best clothing and department stores) shopping; Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and Piccadilly Circus; and trying out every sandwich at Tesco (the cheap grocery store very close to our dorm). I've been having breakfast in my room every morning and Sami and I are getting closer and closer to real cooking. We've met a lot of British kids on our hall, thank God - they've moved in by now. They are all really friendly and we just LOVE the accents (and try to imitate them while they judge whether we're doing a good job...) and they all think Bush is a wanker. Pronounced WANKAH. It's officially our new favorite word and can truly be used on any occasion.

Last night we went to one of the Student Union bars, called Bar Footsie. The drinks were priced like the stock market -- they would go up and down throughout the night depending on how many people bought each type of drink! It was a cool idea - especially when there was a "market crash" and the drinks all dropped to below a pound.

Sami, Mike, and me at Bar Footsie (Mike goes to AU but has been adopted by the Penn crowd - his gf is Dalila from Fword, btw)

Sami and me at The Court -- the Smoke's of UCL

Tomorrow I'm attempting to register for the London Architecture class here - I'm first on the waiting list so hopefully someone won't show up!

There has been a breakthrough and the photos now load much faster! No idea why, but who cares. YAY.

Cheers.