Teatime with Sarah and Mr. Tumnus

Hello All!

Yesterday I started classes and everything is going well them. I was taking 4 English classes, but now I have decided that I can't handle all that reading and writing, while trying to explore London and Europe. Now I am taking 3 English classes and a photography class. All my professors are nice, and the classes are very different from Tallahassee. They are more intimate here and less about taking notes and more about letting everything around us soak in.

Today I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and was off to Hampstead Heath with my fellow English Lit students. I got to take my first doubledecker! We all went up to the top of the bus and sat up there. The city has so many sights to see that 3 1/2 months seems inadequate. I can't imagine only coming here for a few days and leaving so much of the city unexplored. I feel so fortunate that I have this opportunity. Anyways Hampstead Heath is absolutely beautiful . On top of Parliment Hill you can see the entire landscape of the city. Don't worry I took pictures, so now all I have to do is post them. I will hopefully post my pictures by Saturday. We walked a nice amount, but it was really enjoyable. One moment was more enjoyable than the rest. On the way down the hill there was a wet spot and me being the natural klutz managed to find it while everyone else managed to avoid it. I lost my footing and fell on my knee, leaving a nice grass stain on my jeans lol. It made me feel like I was ten years old all over again.

After Parliment Hill we walked towards Kenwood House, which is the giant house Notting Hill used to make the movie that featured Julia Roberts' character. The house contains a numerous amount of artwork. Dr. Crooks (professor of both Readings in Dramatic Literature and Modern Literature) handed out some copies of a few paintings kept within the manor, and each of us had to find the ones given to us. I got 4 paintings: one of a little girl holding out her skirt full of flowers, a little girl holding a kitty, a picture of a royal monarch, and a picture of what looked like a brother and a sister sitting down for their portrait with their dog at their feet. By the way I didn't pick out those pictures for myself, so I got pretty lucky that they matched my taste. My favorite had to be the painting of Miss Murray. It was the first painting I described. I loved how she looked directly at the artist painting her with these enormous bright eyes. She reminds me of Scarlett O'Hara and what she must have been like as a little girl. You could just tell that she loved being a little girl. I absolutely love that!

After that we went to Spaniard's Inn where we all ate some lunch. I got a ginger beer, honey roast ham sandwich with dijon sauce, and a mixed salad. The ginger beer tastes good, but it leaves a tingly feeling in the middle of your throat that can catch you by surprise. The sandwich filled me up nicely.

Then we all went for another walk in quest of John Keat's House, where a few of us read a passage from one of his works. Then we hopped on the bus homewards. I had a security meeting to attend, where basically they repeated information to me that luckily I know. Hopefully everyone follows the advice given, and avoids trouble.

So far I am loving London and loving the people in my program. Everyone is really nice and down to earth. My flatmates are absolutely amazing! I feel like I hit the lottery with them. Most of them are Lit majors and one is a freshman and another is theatre. We all bring something to the table and I am so glad that we all ended up together in one flat. I will put up some pictures of us sometime soon. I know I need to get better at posting pictures. For now I put up two pictures of us all on the first day. One is outside the British Museum and another is all of us at Grape Street wine bar. Be on the look out for I will write soon! Ta ta for now!