More random pictures

	Neha and Nicole The first night everybody arrived we all went out to a few pubs. It was fun.
	Joseph, Neha and Tyler Another picture of us out and about.
	Don and his funny hat This is my night with the Australians, part II. This is Don with his silly German hat he picked up on their holiday.
	Will, Don and Paul This is when we took a timeout from the pub to go across the street and have a sandwich. Don and Paul continued drinking, Will and I just ate a sandwich.
	Spanish Soccer Fans This is the group of Spanish soccer fans outside the pub, they were awesome. A bunch of young kids who kept chanting and dancing and singing, really cute.
	Harvard Chapel After the Peruvian dinner, Dan and I went into a church by the river and it happens to be where John Harvard was baptized and this is the window in the Harvard Chapel.
	Piracy is illegal This is a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s pirate ship (I think). I took a picture of it because I thought it was cool.

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Change of plans

Well, I didn’t end up getting to see Phantom of the Opera tonight.  There was some miscommunication, but Charlie (a guy from Wayne State) and I are going to try to go tomorrow night, we think.

Instead, I took the train with my new friend Dan from San Diego down to the London Bridge area and we ate at a Peruvian restaurant called “Tito’s.”  It was really good!  I had a seafood/rice dish that was delicious.  Then we just walked around by the river and finally took the train back from Waterloo Station.

It’s kind of a quiet night around the dorm (people gone to musicals, no soccer on TV to watch), so I think I’m going to post some pictures on here and then get caught up on all my reading for class.  I’ve been doing a good chunk of it, but there are a few articles here and there I didn’t read that I should go back and look at.

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I’m in class right now!

So far classes have been okay.  I really like Public International Law and International Human Rights Law, but European Union Law is rough.  It seems to take forever and the professor is a little hard to undestand because he’s Belgian.  Human Rights Law is interesting, but it meets the last period of the day, so I’m ready to get out of here by the time we get here.  But the professor is good and the material is sort of interesting so far.

I’ve been watching lots of soccer of here so far, it’s been pretty fun.  I actually have some plans to get to a city in Germany just for one day to during a match, I hear the atmosphere is just crazy.  It should be really neat to see, even if I can’t find a way into the actual match.  Also, a few of us on Saturday are going to take the train and a picnic over to Wimbledon.  You can buy tickets just to walk around on the grounds, which should be pretty cool.

Tonight some of us are going to see Phantom of the Opera.  There are a bunch of different shows playing right now that I want to see, so this is a good start.  As soon as class is over, a few of us are going to try to get the cheap theatre tickets, so hopefully we won’t have to pay very much.  That’s all for now, I guess.  Now that classes have started, my updates aren’t nearly as exciting.  Once I travel and do some stuff it will get better.

I’ll upload a few more pictures from the last few days, that’ll give you something interesting to look at.

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Extra fun pictures

	Parliament and Big Ben This is another picture from the London Eye, this is of Parliament and Big Ben.
	Musee d’Orsay This is a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. I think it’s pretty, but I don’t remember what it’s called.  ***According to Cam, this painting is not by Van Gogh, it’s by Monet.  Whoops!
	Musee d’Orsay again This is a Degas (also according to Cam).

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1st Day of Classes

The first day of classes went really well.  My first class, International Law, was cancelled because the professor was sick.  So that’s great!  And then in European Union Law we just talked about the course and had a little lecture, but no homework!  In International Human Rights law we did introductions and talked about the class and then we got out early.

Then it was time for the Italy/Australia World Cup match.  So I headed down to the London Pub, which is just around the corner from our dorm.  I had told a bunch of ND people that we should go there to watch the match, but I didn’t know if they’d come because Human Rights is the late class of the day and they were already gone from school.  Well, I got a big booth all to myself when who should walk up, lugging all their bags and rushing to see the start of the match?  The Australian boys I met in the pub last Saturday night (see pictures from the 2nd day in London)!  It was so funny because they were like, “We walked in and we needed a place to sit and there you were, like a little beer-toting guardian angel!”  Anyway, so they sat with me and told me all about their trip, showed me their pictures, etc.  It was really fun (other than the fact that Australia lost on a last-second penalty and I had gotten so caught up in the game because I was watching with a bunch of Aussies, that I actually got really upset for them).  We hung out all night, watched the Switzerland/Ukraine game, which went to a shootout!, and then they walked me back to my dorm and said goodnight.  Such nice boys.  They’re leaving for Scotland today and coming back Friday right to the same hotel that’s just down the street, so if I don’t travel this weekend (some of us might stick around London and go to some shows) we’re going to hang out Friday night too!  

I have to run, it’s time to get in the shower and get my butt to the law school building.

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Everybody is arriving for school!

Well, on Saturday everybody from Notre Dame started arriving here at Connaught Hall.  I ran into some people in the morning and made plans to go out and watch the World Cup matches, then I went and bought my Oyster Card at the train station.  This will enable me to get around London on the Underground and the bus system without having to sell a vital organ each week to pay for the travel, so that’s a definite plus.  Next, I met up with Mo (the guy who works at the front desk in the hall) and we took a bus to the largely Arab section of town and ate at an Iranian restaurant.  It was really good, we had this special bread with hummus, lamb kebobs and rice.  All very flavorful, as opposed to the English food  which is distinctly lacking much flavor.

Afterwards, we walked back to Connaught.  By the way, Mom, it turns out that that night when it seemed like we walked forever and didn’t find Connaught Hall and took the bus to Kings Cross and then the Underground back to Russell Square, we were actually not that far from Connaught when we finally got the bus.  We could’ve walked maybe 4 more blocks and we would’ve been back to the hall.  Whoops!

At 5:00, I met up with Joe and Kyle.  They are ND law students, Joe is from Manitoba, Canada and Kyle is from California.  We went down to the London Pub and got food and drank beer and watched the soccer games.  It was pretty fun.  I had my first hamburger in the UK and yes, the beef tastes weird over here.  They just don’t know how to do beef outside the Midwest, do they?  

Today I am going to walk around for a bit, just get my bearings in the neighborhood.  It’s nice and cool outside today, so it’s a good day to walk around.  Then I imagine we’ll go somewhere for more World Cup because England plays Ecuador at 4:00 pm today, so that should be a good match to watch in a bar full of people, seeing as how we’re in England and all.  Tomorrow morning is orientation and then I believe classes start right after that (although I’m not sure, some people think we don’t start til Tuesday, which would be cool).

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The journey back

So, on the way back to England mom and I were held up by a snotty little customs agent (SLCA) who asked to see my student visa.  I don’t have a student visa, because I’m only here for 6 weeks.  So then he wanted to see proof that I’m a student.  The only thing we have is a letter with Notre Dame letterhead on it that says we’re studying here for the summer that we had to present to customs at the airport when we landed.  They did not inform us that we had to keep this crappy little letter (seriously, I could have faked this letter with Photoshop and Microsoft Word) with us whenever we leave the country in order to get back into the country.  Also, the SLCA decided to jabber at me about how when you’re studying for a year, you get a student visa because you’re expected to travel a lot, whereas when you’re here for the summer you’re really just supposed to study and not travel around Europe.  He said the whole point was to be studying, not traveling.  Which is exactly the opposite of the entire point.  Why on earth would students from the U.S., whose system of universities/colleges/law schools/medical schools is unrivaled in all the world, choose to fly over here and stay in a country where everything is twice as expensive as it is in the states just to take a few classes and not see anything?  I can take classes in the U.S.  I am here to see England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, etc etc etc.  I was about to tell the SLCA just exactly all of these things, only probably in a snottier way of my own, but then he acted like by not demanding to see Mom’s airline ticket home that he was doing us a HUGE favor and being SO nice, when really he was being snotty and condescending (two things that I VERY MUCH HATE) and the only reason I didn’t reach under the glass and slap the snotty little smirk off his snotty little face is because a body-cavity search is not high on my list of Things to Do in Paris.

That is all I have to say about returning from Paris.

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Pictures from our 3rd day in Paris

	Notre Dame Cathedral This cathedral is the oldest example of gothic architecture in Paris. It was very pretty, high ceilings and gargoyles and a lot of stained glass. They were having a service inside, too, which was neat to listen to.
	Mom and Me, Eiffel Tower On our van tour, we were taken to the this big overlook that provides a stunning view of the city and the Eiffel Tower especially. I’d like to go back, because there were 3-4 museums all in this square that I wanted to visit that we didn’t have time for.
	Statue of Charlemagne This statue is outside Notre Dame Cathedral and it is Charlemagne on his horse. I thought it was cool.
	The Arc d’Triomph On the Arc there are 4 battle scenes, each depicting a different one of Napoleon’s battles. You can see two here and there are two on the other side of the arch.
	St. Martin Canal This is the day cruise mom and I took down the St. Martin’s canal. It drops over 80 ft and is regulated by a series of 9 locks. This is the first lock we came too. The water is flooded through the lock into a different compartment, lowering the boat so it can float through. If we were going the other way, the water would be flooded into our compartment to raise the boat. It was pretty cool.
	St. Martin Canal, II This is the second canal and the first small tunnel we sailed through. The second tunnel we went through, farther down, was almost 2 miles long. I didn’t take any pictures, though, it was too dark.
	A Roman Bath This is a picture at the Musee d’Orsay, which was in some ways better than the Louvre. The Louvre is certainly impressive because of its sheer size and there were some really neat things to see, but all the artists I really like and am familiar with were in the Musee d’Orsay. The Orsay also used to be a huge railway station, so architectually it is really cool. Also, look how big this picture is! That person in the shot is only a few inches shorter than I am.
	The Swing This is “The Swing” by Renoir. He was my favorite, along with Degas, Monet and Seurat.
	Little Girl with Cat I thought this was a cute painting. I can’t remember who the artist is, though, and I sent my guide book home with Mom (she left this morning).
	Big Gold Room This is just a big gold guilded room with mirrors and chandeliers and statues. Can you spot me? I could make my own “Where’s Andrea?” book with all the pictures either mom or I took where I am in there somewhere.
	Paris Opera House We didn’t have time to buy a ticket and walk around inside the Paris Opera House, but I would definitely go back to Paris just to see this.

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Pictures of our 2nd day in Paris

	The Louvre Our 2nd day in Paris (Wednesday), we spent the entire day at the Louvre. I figured we walked around for close to 8 hours, but it was neat. This is the big glass pyramid that was constructed outside the museum in 1989 by IM Pei (a famous architect from the U.S., but of Chinese descent).
	The Lecture This is the “The Lecture” by Renoir. I’m not sure why it isn’t in the Musee d’Orsay, which is where we went on Thursday and saw all the Renoirs, Monets, Van Goghs, etc. But here it is, in the Louvre. It was one of my favorites. (And lest you be worried about all the artwork I have pictures of, I never used a flash. If it looks bright, it is because with the Kodak software that came with my camera I can enhance dark pictures and also crop and zoom. It is pretty neat, it really makes some of my pictures a lot better).
	Mom is tired I included this picture because there’s mom, looking tired. She didn’t feel very well, but stuck with me all day in the museum. I also included this one because it gives you an idea of how HUGE some of these paintings are.
	Venus de Milo This is the Venus de Milo. She is kept in a pretty large room that is always very crowded because it’s kind of a main thoroughfare.
	Hannibal, me, and Julius Caesar From left to right, this is a statute of Hannibal, me, and a statute of Julius Caesar.
	Pyramids This is where the bottom of one of the smaller pyramids (There are four that surround the big pyramid on the surface) meets a tiny little pyramid. According to the Da Vinci Code, this is where Mary Magdalene is buried. Unfortunately, they would not let me grab a pickax to verify. The French have no sense of fun.
	Mona Lisa You aren’t supposed to take pictures of her, but oh well. I didn’t use a flash and I didn’t get very close, this is all the results of my amazing Kodak software. Also, I don’t think this is where she is usually kept. I kept looking for the “Great Hall” with the cool “Parquet Floor” that they mentioned in both the Da Vinci Code book and movie, but I couldn’t find them. I don’t think that part of the book is real. I’M SO DISILLUSIONED! Darn you, Dan Brown, darn you!!!! [shakes fist towards sky]

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Pictures from our 1st day in Paris

	County Hall On Tuesday morning before we left for Paris, we rode the London Eye. It was pretty neat and a little scary. We took a bunch of pictures from the jelly bean-shaped pods we were in, I liked this one the best. This is the County Hall building, which houses the London Aquarium and a temporary Salvador Dali exhibition.
	Our room This is our room, looking down from the bathroom. It was pretty small, but did us just fine for 3 nights. Everything in Paris is tiny, by the way. The cars, the rooms, the tables in restaurants. At one meal, we were so crammed in there I thought any minute I was going to go all “Bull in a China Shop” and just start knocking tables and chairs over, breaking plates and glasses, making children cry, etc.
	Our Room again This is our room from the other side.
	The Louvre On the first night, we took a cruise down the Seine River, where we got to see the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and a bunch of other landmarks while we ate dinner.
	Appetizers These were our appetizers. I had Duck Foie Gras and mom had a layered fish-thing and some asparagus (almost like a solid version of cream of asparagus soup). It was really, really good. It also turns out “foie gras” means the livers of artificially fattened fowl, like ducks or geese. I am now sort-of ashamed I ate that. It was really good though.
	Me and Mom Here we are on the cruise (this is before I fell down). The floor was slippery and my chair just went “whoosh!”
	Eiffel Tower This is at 11 pm when all these sparkly lights start flashing on the Eiffel Tower. It was really pretty.

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