The past few days have been full of excitement. I've walked the grand halls of Buckingham Palace and seen my first London show. And there's more excitement to come. Early tomorrow morning I'll set foot in Paris for the first time.

I don't have much to say other than wow, the royalty of today must be thankful to Henry VIII for looting all those monasteries and churches way back in the 16th century. I wonder if he realized that his exploits would fund the lavish households of future kings and queens. Considering his predilection for good looks, perhaps he would have preferred his exploits to fund botox injections for the current royal family.

The Birthday Issue

There's not much new here in London except that I'm 21 now! And we're going to Paris on Thursday. Baguettes and cheese, here I come!

Following are some pictures from Brenda's and my joint birthday party:

Straddle that Prime Meridian!!

London Fall '09, by Katherine Albis

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Look how contemplative I am in Greenwich!

Just a note--click on the pictures if you want to see them full-size (like, for example, if you want a huge plate of fish and chips all up in your face).

Classes have begun, but not yet in earnest. I've found out that two of my classes which are at the School of Oriental and African Studies don't even start until October when all of the British students arrive back at the university. However, I like my classes so far. It seems that I will be doing a lot of thinking about race and identity this semester, which should be very helpful for my senior thesis topic and beneficial for life in general.
This past Friday was the NYUL trip to Greenwich. We traveled by boat along the Thames and got to take some great photos. At Greenwich, I was able to stand at the very spot where Henry VIII was injured in a jousting accident that led to his substantial weight gain. I also had the opportunity to straddle the Eastern and Western hemispheres at the prime meridian. And I ate fish and chips for the first time. Thus, I accomplished quite a lot on that trip.
At a nearby Indian restaurant I had my first taste of England's favorite dish, chicken tikka massala, and I loved it. Though my excessive cider consumption often leads to a trip to McDonald's at 2:00 in the morning, I have nevertheless been eating very well here.
This past Saturday night I attended more clubs/bars/pubs in one night than I probably should attend in a whole week. I charmed a Spanish man into paying my cover charge for a club and buying me a beer, so I was quite pleased with myself.
Tonight I think I will cook for myself in my darling little kitchen; I have not had a home-cooked meal in about a week. Scroll down to see some pictures of my room, just in case you were spending sleepless nights wondering in what sort of squalor I live. In fact, it is the opposite of squalor. For now anyway.

Over the past couple of days, I have taken many a picture and acquired many a blister. Sunday was our NYU organized bus tour of London. I learned quite a few facts about London. For example, "Big Ben" isn't really the name of the clock tower--it's only the name of the bell inside the tower. If only I could remember what the tower is actually called. Also, London Bridge is often confused with the more memorable-looking Tower Bridge. And a store called Primark is the shopping hotspot where all Londoners find cheap clothing. We drove down Fleet Street in the bus and I fortunately did not run into the demon barber Sweeney Todd.
I ate my first full English breakfast at a place in my road (that's British for "on my road") called the Euston Flyer, which serves breakfast all day. I chose 5:00PM as my ideal breakfast time. The meal consists of sausages, eggs, rashers of bacon (which look more like Canadian bacon than anything else), baked beans, grilled or sauteed tomatoes, and toast. Twas delicious.
Monday was my first day of classes. I had one class called Intro to Pan-Africanism. It's very small--only eight people--and I think it'll be a good way for me to transition from Classics into African Studies. Later that day I had Thai food in Britain for the first time. It was a great experience. I ate coconut soup (pictured at left) and pork pad thai. (By the way, expect this blog to turn into a gastronomical tour of Europe on occasion.) After that my friends Anuja, Brenda, Sam and I decided make our maiden voyage on the tube. It's a lot like the subway in New York but smaller and with luxurious padded seating. Well, luxurious compared to New York. We went to Piccadilly Circus (sort of the English equivalent of Times Square) and walked from there all the way down the shopping thoroughfare of Oxford Street. Hence the blisters and the new addendum to the Bible called "The Prodigal Kate."
On our way we grabbed coffee at an Italian cafe to energize ourselves and took advantage of some telephone booths that were standing nearby so innocently. To finish off our day of excitement we made a pot luck dinner in one of the kitchens in our dorm.
After exploring London a bit, I am only just now starting to realize how diverse a city this is. I see people of various backgrounds when walking down the street and hear different languages every day--even more so than in New York. And I must be blending in to a degree; I've been asked for directions by British people at least three times already.

These are some puppetresses near the Millenium Bridge.

Today was a dreary but surprisingly warm day in London. After sampling a good amount of British food, I am convinced that it is not, in fact, bad. Pictured here is a goat's cheese and rocket (arugula?) rigatoni, which I ordered at a restaurant where we were tricked into tipping, not according to the English custom. Well, at least tipping isn't according to the British custom. Tricking people into tipping may be completely customary.
Last night I was asked for directions by an English man--a drunken English man, that is, but nonetheless I was asked for directions and that's what counts. And I am delighted to say that I have memorized the route of the 30-minute walk to campus. On the way to campus is a building with some gorgeous caryatid columns, pictured at left. Tonight there was an NYU London social at a place called Smithy's wine bar. Impecunious students that we are, we bought two bottles of the cheapest white wine we could find and ate free finger foods. Then we returned to the NYU London hotspot the Rocket for some more drinks and dancing.
At four full days in London, I am surprised at how much we've been able to do. We've mingled with locals, explored adjacent areas of London, gone to restaurants, and initiated ourselves into the world of the grocery store Tesco. Nevertheless, we have much more to experience and accomplish. Tomorrow will be a free bus tour of London--my first foray into the symbolic London which everyone knows from postcards. It will also be the last day to explore London without the cares of classes weighing on our poor, unfortunate souls.

Well, I've made it to London and survived two full days of attempting to make a good first impression upon my peers. It's hard work; I haven't felt this exhausted in a long time.
Yesterday was our NYU London orientation--an annoyingly long review of academic expectations, safety tips, and travel opportunities. At least they fed us fried chicken for free. I met some very nice people who are quite unlike the typical cold NYU students. A group of us decided to attend the NYU London pub quiz, which was a selection of British trivia of varying degrees of obscurity. After that we were fed more free fried food. So much for getting healthy in London.
Then about every NYU student in London decided to go to a pub called The Rocket. The place was thronged with tipsy young coeds....and a few old British people who were substantially tipsier. I drank a strawberry beer called Fruli which tasted deceptively like candy.
Today, Friday, I bought some of my textbooks and ate some less-than-scrumptious free wraps for lunch. Later I made my first trip to the grocery store Tesco and bought some necessities: toilet paper, eggs, chocolate. Tonight I'll be meeting up with my art teacher from high school who is getting her masters in London. I'm excited to see an old friend in a new place.