What a whirlwind the last few days have been.... I think bullet points are in order:

> The first snow storm in 70 years hit London this past Tuesday, and I have offcially been bitten by the polo bug - it was just a memorable day all around.
1. First polo session - I played for 3 hours and even managed to make a goal!!! I am quite proud of myself for my first time (even if the first horse I was on was like clinically dead - I have never kicked anything so hard in my life and he was just walking...) It is the most brilliant game in the world, and I think I am going to become significantly poorer .... (it is SO worth it
2. Snow started just as we got on horses, by the time we got everything sorted and payed for the snow was a bit above my ankles. I was thrilled, but Will and my fellow polo compatriots were less than pleased as they had never driven in that much (that much = 6 inches) of snow before! To make a long story short, every road we went down was either blocked by a downed tree, or a 15 car pile up (they don't have snow tires here..) so poor will was forced to drive with one had and work his GPS with the other. After 2 hours we made it to the train station (an 8 mile journey) to find it suspiciously dark. The entire Potter Bar area had lost power. No trains running. No Cabs. No heat/electricity. Damn. So we walk to the nearest train stop and are met by a woman who tells us that the rain will not be coming because it has run off the road, but if we run we can make it to the train stop in the next town. In full polo gear we run/slip over to the train station and just make the last train back to London. What a night. I got in at 1AM (from a 6PM polo lesson) and I don't remember the last time I was that cold. I think it was a testament to the awesomeness of the polo that I was still in a good mood.

*** Quaint British Image #736: As we were skidding through Potters Bar I was just gazing out at the rolling British countryside - virgin snow, just a bright moon illuminating the fields for as far as the eye can see ..... with about 100-150 bunnies popping their heads up and standing at attention watching the snow fall over blackened Potters Bar ..... *sigh*

> Another polo-related note: I had my first initiation ... it was quite good fun, but unfortunately I misunderstood the dress theme. It said to wear something starting with a P L or O ... I thought they meant clothes starting with a P L or O, so I went in all pink and purple from head to toe. I got there to find Princesses, Lions, Ladybugs, police officers, pandas ... etc *sigh* I am always the oddball, so I don't know why I am surprised by this (note: Will wins the prize for coming as a Public schoolgirl... ) We had party games, a polo pony pinata, and curly straws to drink our boxed wine through - hehe. All would have been well if I did not have to literally carry one of my flat 10 friends home. How did I get elected den mother?

> OMG SHOES.



Camden High Street. 20$. I love this country.

> I came home the other day to find this in the hall connecting flats 9 and 10 :

Why do I have the feeling that I don't want to know what this is about?

> Final Note:

My dad on Skype. Why? If you have to ask, you don't know my dad....

I had a big moment today. It has happened ... I have been converted. For the first time in my life I have tried Marmite and ...... *drum roll* ..... I really liked it. I know that it has forever been made fun of in the states for being unthinkably gross, but I had some on a piece of well done toast (at the strong insisting of Ellie and Fionn), and it was wonderful. Tastes kind of starchy and amazing :)

I got another package from home on Tuesday - my mom sent me my Halloween costume (for my MOHOs it is the red renaissance gown that I wore the last couple of years), but it seems the jar of Fluff (a prized rarity here in the UK) my dad put in the box exploded mid flight and ended up all over my dress and lab coat ... .thank god it is just pure sugar and came off easily with hot water ... but it gave me a right good scare.

I have also started to fill out post cards for everyone back in the States, so keep an eye out for that. I just bought a ton of them and will be slowly sending them out; so if you are impatient, drop me a line and I will bump you up to the top of the pile :)


British Culture Moment #652: They are really into milk ads here (do we even have them in the US?) here are 2 of my new favorite ads of all time from Cravendale Milk company:

Shopping
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_NGabt5IHBg

Wake Up
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CXNdgjuMWqU

Everyone all together now *in Pirate voice* "MIIILLLKKKKK!!!"

After almost a week, I have finally starting coming out of my dreaded cold (or "Freshers Flu" as it is called here) which means that I can finally get a proper nights sleep.

I have some more pictures to add today, and I realized that I have not posted any pictures of the rather cute horses that live at the end of the courtyard here at college grove:









Although they are stuck in the middle of north-central London, they have a pretty sweet deal. They are the horses that we practice palpating and examining, but since they hang out in front of College Grove, they have the undivided attention of many pet-starved vet students (not to mention some treats too...)

In a continuing story from earlier, I managed to snag a picture from the great hall today



although it is a lovely painting, I, as an American, feel rather put off by good ole' King "Crazy Pants" George III lurking above me in lecture .....

This week's schedule is pretty benign (hopefully the girls and I will go out to the Ice Warf again on Thursday - that brownie sundae was to die for!) and I have an Int'l Sutdents get together tomorrow night, but next week is going to be madness. I am going to the polo club party on Monday, I have my rescheduled polo lesson on Tuesday, and there are 2 Halloween parties (one for sports teams, the other for the whole school) on Thursday and Friday [I sure hope I get my costume form home by then!] I will keep you posted on how my new-found social life is going (ha!)

I know I have a little count down thing over on the side, but I just bought my plane tickets home for the holidays and I will be back in MHD from

December 10th - January 3rd

I will be taking a weekend on either the 13th or the 20th to go down to NY/CT to see my MOHOs and I will do my best to fit all my MHD friends in ... I miss you guys!

Before I go .... British people do not know "zucchini". I was making stir fry the other night, and my flat mates asked what I had in it, and when I told them there was zucchini in it, they giggled and said they had never heard such a silly sounding word... they took another look at my dinner and said .... "oh, you mean courgettes?" WHAT?!?! English my ass....

~ALLi

OK, so it is official ... Shara and I are going to see EDDIE IZZARD on opening night *does happy dance around the room* what else can I say?

The rest of this week has been a bit of a stop and go - schedule changes, lecture time changes, general confusion, a pesky cough that has had me up most of the last 3 nights, and then to top it off, I found myself sick with a stomach bug on Tuesday and missed my first Polo practice. *sigh*. It is not a huge problem - I can just sign up for next week - but I was so looking forward to it.... grumble...grumble.

I adore my flatmates, and we are all set to go for our little outing to see Billy Elliot on Thursday (their amazing birthday gift to me!) and I can't wait. We are also set for something called Freight Fest tomorrow night. It is an amusement park that runs a Halloween thing where they have people dressed up as all kinds of zombies, monsters etc ... and scare the doo-doo out of you on rides .... how could that not be good?

Random side note: Do you know what I just noticed today? We have a HUGE picture of King George III hanging to the right of the main projection screen in the great hall ... a little anti-American I feel ..... hahahah I am so going to sneak my camera in and get a picture of it tomorrow ....

Ohhhh!!! this just in!
EDDIE IZZARD is going to be on the West End Nov 17th - Dec 12th



Ahhhhhhh!!!! I will keep you posted on WHEN I am going, because it is required by life...

It has finally happened .... I have had a bad day over here (it was bound to sooner of later right?). Well to make a long story short, I was walking out of the Russel Square tube station on Sunday to go to study group and I was mugged .... on my birthday of all days. Only someone with luck as spectacularly bad as mine could get mugged on her own birthday. I was not hurt - all he wanted was my wallet - and luckily I was thinking clearly and reached into my bag and gave him my change purse (which looks like a wallet) that just had my Oyster (metro) card and a few pounds in it. *wipes brow*

On a MUCH happier note, I am glad to report that I have made it back to the West End - Shara and I went to see Rain Man (starring the aforementioned Josh Hartnett) and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I love live theater as a general rule, and the fact that British theaters serve Haggendaz ice cream cups it the interval helps too :) No, on a serious note it was a good show (and Josh Hartnett did a very passable Tom Cruise impression for 2 hours). See exhibit A:



Tomorrow evening I have my first polo practice (eek!) so I will have to keep you all posted as to how that goes (and exactly what body parts are broken! :)) Here are a couple of pictures of me as I was headed out to the Polo Club Social the other night:






and here is one more of Big Ben/Parliment from South Bank, just for good measure:

London Pictures

Excellent news, I have got the charger for my camera, so I can now share some of my wonderful pics from London. I do not have many of Camden market yet, but I am headed up there over the weekend, so I will be sure and post lots of pictures. In the mean time, have a look at my new Slide Show!

In other news, I have my first polo lesson on Tuesday! I met a lovely 4th year named Will (rather cute too!) who talked me into trying out for the team. I have been dying to ride for the last couple of years, so I am about to burst with excitement. The RVC team will be going to the collegiate nationals this year as well, so that should be very exciting. Once i have my uniform I will have to take a few "action shots" and post them.

This week has been the first week of "real" classes - I know it sounds strange but it feels so good to be back in the groove - lectures all morning, color-coordinating my pens for anatomical structures, dissections in the afternoon, and proper homework at night. I am sure I will tire of it all again in about a week's time, but for now I feel more like my old self!

I have been making good headway in my self-promise to get out and explore - I have discovered the wonder that is the 24 bus - takes me right from Camden High Street straight down through Kings Cross and through Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, and Westminster embankment - beautiful. As you all know, I am a walker and I love that London is a walking city - so many intriguing side streets, footpaths and canals - you could be out there wandering for days.

I have my first big meeting with my PhD advisor on Friday afternoon to go over my timetable and general plans for things ... I generally don't get nervous about things like this, but I am a little worried only because we really don't know each other yet, so I am not sure how he will react. Hopefully all will go smoothly.

As a final note, it is such a nice treat seeing Shara once a week - brings back lots of MOHO memories! She somehow convinced me to pay nearly 60 US dollars to see Josh Hartnett in a West End production of "Rain Man" this Friday ... don't ask.

~ALLi

I know these entries have been pretty far apart, but I seem to have managed to leave my camera battery charger back home, so as soon as I have that I will be able to show you all the cool things I am doing here :)

I am happy to report that I have lived through freshers week here at the RVC. There was drunken debauchery, there was nakedness, and staggering groups of people all tied by the wrists careening around Camden, and I can happily report that I blissfully watched from a safe distance. I am quite impressed by the spread that RVC put out for freshers week – the 80s themed roller disco, the freshers fair at Hawkshead, the black tie ball, and oh yes, the pub crawl and “beer drinking” (or, as it should be called “skeezy euro-trash club night” – don’t ask….)

Sunday was just a gleaming afternoon, and after leaving a great day at the London Zoo (and I am SO signing up to work with the giraffes …. Aghh so cool) I had a proper stroll through Camden Market. For my MOHOs back home, it is a tad like Northampton on Meth – so many cool handmade goods (many real cheap) quirky t-shirts … oh, speaking of, I found a Brilliant guy over in the electric market with the most amazing graphic tees … I think I am in love. I am going to shameless plug this guy because he is the best:

www.myspace.com/younggiftedandslack

I bought a couple of his things, and I will be sure to post some pics of me wearing them once my camera is up and running again.

I am now in my second day of classes, and am really settling in well. It is quite easy to find a rhythm here – classes generally start at 10AM and I have Wednesday and Friday afternoons off to explore. Just the other day I decided to get on the first bus I came across and I ended up in Fulham (in south west London – clear across town) and it was lovely (and rather expensive looking). I met my PhD advisor for the first time, properly yesterday, and he is just lovely – so laid back, super dry sense of humor, and looks suspiciously like Gary Oldman.
He seemed very enthusiastic about my work, and even better, he really was making a push for me to get involved with his. He is doing some really neat work right now with elephant locomotion, and needs another hand to come out to the Sudan next summer to take some data ….. my God, why did I only get to this place now???

*NERD MOMENT* during the Biomechanics lecture, Alan (my advisor) was showing clips of different kinds of locomotion studies, and he showed a clip of a kangaroo on a treadmill at the Harvard University field station .. .AND I WAS THERE WHEN THEY FILMAED THAT EXACT CLIP. I nearly died. I went up after class to tell him and he was like “ya, I figured you were.” *sigh* I am thinking of brining in my Fluid Dynamics of Motion textbook ( the he wrote) and asking for an autograph … do you think that would be too dorky? *shrugs* I don’t care.

American moment #254: I ventured into Mc Donalds because I was dying for a diet coke, and figured they would have them as cheap as anywhere else, and I discovered the wonder that is British McDonalds. It is true that things are generally more expensive (about $8-$10 for a combo meal) but the quality is SO much better, the establishment itself is clean, and even stylish and they have REAL APPLE PIE not that ‘pie-flavored brickette’ I am used to in the states. The McFLurry? They totally have 6 - that’s right 6 – different McFLurries and they even have SEASONAL ones. Seriously, I love this country.

On that note, I should be on my way, but stay tuned for new pictures in a day or two!