Let the "Studying" Abroad begin...

Well... it's been a busy few days to say the least.  Sorry it's taken me a while to get time for blogging - let's be honest, it's kind of the least of my worries at the moment ;)  Let's see... it's been almost a week, and it has been packed full of activities!  Tuesday night we went out as a group to go bowling at a local place where a lot of students our age hang out.  Bowling?  Seriously?  I thought we were trying to adapt to ENGLISH culture, not American.  Oh well, we ended up having a great time.  We ordered like 10 pizzas that were about 2 feet wide, and we finished all of them.. it was the first time we had the opportunity to eat a lot since we'd gotten there, so we took advantage of it!

After that we went to the Dukes of York, the pub that our friend Joanna said we had to try.  We met a homeless guy, bought rounds, and socialized with the whole program group - it was a great time :)  Wednesday, I had my interview for my internship at DeMarquette Chocolates (www.demarquette.com) and found out that I will be planning an event for Easter - the shop's busiest time of the year.  I absolutely can't wait to start.  I'm so excited to be doing something that I can call my own there, and have an impact on the company.  Busy work is the worst, so it's nice that I'll have some actual responsibility!  They have a blogger's event tomorrow night which will be my first day.  They'll have taste-testing, demonstrations, and some food bloggers attending.  It's a great way to get the word out about their company.  Though, before I head to the shop, I'll be doing some competitive research... I have to go into four other shops and compare their corporate gift offerings to ours, without letting them know I work for DeMarquette.  I'm supposed to pretend to be an intern for a law firm or something and say that I was sent out to buy gifts for my department... SCARY!!  What a way to start...

We went to a comedy club Wednesday night.. sat front and center.  Were we asking to get picked on or what?  We ended up getting crap from every act that performed.  Ryan made the mistake of telling the comedian he was a "cop" from Texas (keep in mind people here aren't the biggest fans of President Bush) and a literal hush went over the crowd. Soooo awkward.  So from then on, we had giant American stamps on our foreheads, but it made for some good laughs out of everyone!

We've been shopping, gone to see most of the sights around the city, and done our fair share of exploring.  We went on our first run this morning around St. James Park - it's absolutely gorgeous.  I can't believe that it's just a few minutes away from where we're living, and I have it at my disposal whenever I want!  It's a great place to get away and think, read, or exercise.  A nice change from the business of everything.  

No one there knew what "Captain" was... besides us!

We toured the University of London where we'll be having one of our classes.  We went to the student union there later that night, which is equipped with a bar open all day... still adapting to the thought that their universities have alcohol at everyone's disposal.  They have 1.50 pound drinks there every Friday night, so we went there and discovered just how "different" British dancing is... that's going to take some getting used to!  But it was a great night with the group, and a good way to meet other students our age.  It'll be interesting to see how we view all of this by the end of the semester..... :)