someone said time flies

it's already been a week since oxford--weird.

LONDON WALKS
did i ever mention? we were given some very well-done books written by someone specifically for BYU study abroad in london. it is a series of walks for us to go on which is good to get us familiar with the many different areas of the city. for the london walk class, we're rrequired to go on 6 and write paragraphs about each one. this past week has been full of them because i want to get them out of the way before our berlin & prague trip, to leave team for want-to's. it has also been good to be able to see everything. i really enjoyed the westminster walk. there's just so much to see, of course: big ben, westminster abbey, city hall & the shops along the river thames. people-watching is always a main idea as well. one of my favorite things about it has been going with different people & getting to know so many. there are certainly people here that i know best & get along with best, but i want to be friends with everyone... one time a friend described provo high as a place with cliques--but so flexible that there was much overlapping. the spring term kids supposedly had exclusive cliques & i have hoped that doesn't happen as much this term.

THE VEGGIE BURGER I DIDN'T WANT
i mentioned that i took a walk with anna last saturday. i left out a memorable story about an unwanted veggie burger. you see, every weekday we are fed breakfast & dinner. on saturday we get breakfast & on sunday we only get dinner. usually leftovers are abundant for the missing meals, but saturday they're pretty much gone by saturday dinner. so on our way home around 5 or 6, we stopped at a place with an advertised veggie burger. (anna is vegetarian). i had food at home & didn't want to spend money until i saw that they had hot pitas for just 20 pence. i ordered first after we waited a while for a man wearing a turban to emerge from the back of the run-down place. "i'd just like one large pita." the man surprised me when he quickly said "no!" and then kept shaking his head. i was so confused & almost accepted his answer to avoid confrontation, but in an effort to make my padres proud, i asked "then why is it on your menu?" even though i expected him to be extra-friendly because of the extreme islam events that past week, he was just mean & explained to me with a rude, choppy accent "no! only if buy kebab or burger or someting." so i ordered a veggie burger--for anna. the tention was down but then he anna ordered without realizing my reasoning (who knew? she can't read my mind). after she ordered her own veggie burger, i tried to explain. after a few awkward moments i asked the man to cancel our 2nd veggie burger. as less of a surprise, he said "no! too late! i already take out!" so we just waited. he asked if i wanted the burger on the pita. but i assured him i just wanted it plain. he acted more frustrated & annoyed before putting the lone veggie burger in the take-away box & asked if we wanted lettuce, etc. on top. we really wanted buns with our burger but didn't want to cause any more trouble. he finally handed it all to us, but i still didn't have that pita. it was the one thing i wanted & i just had to ask. "i thought you want it plain." "yes, i wanted the pita plain." i got one final disgusted look & noise before he gave it to me. i walked out quite frustrated. despite all that, anna & i took it home & put our plain veggie burgers on good toast, & enjoyed my dinner. i used the pita with my lunch meat and avocado for lunch the next day. mmm.

ENGLAND: HOME OF HARRY POTTER
julie magleby is my art history professor's wife. she and her family are full-on harry potter fans. they've been talking about it since i got here. she researched all the parties & let us know of one that was to have entertainment & special visits by dumbledore & hagrid. a group of us all dressed up nice & creepy-like for the festivities. it was quite an adventure to walk down the streets of london late friday night & ride the tube as several drunk londoners had a good chuckle. the best part is we were laughing harder than they were. just after midnight, julie began reading to all who wanted to hear. i listened to the first chapter with julie's animated voice, and then had to go to bed. apparently they read until 3am, & they've been reading all day today & are just recently done & discussing the ending. i hear it's really good & i just need to get my hands on book 4 & 5. my sister josie had a good time with harry potter back in provo by playing their own versioin of quidditch. i think i want to organize a quidditch game for our program.

CAMDEN DOWN, AKA PUNK CENTRAL
one of the first places i heard about after getting here was the crazy camden town market. this place is towards the outskirts of london, which can get pretty wild. picture street markets full of extreme everything. pink mohawks, strappy black 'clothing', striped socks, ultimate body piercings, radical boots, smoking of every kind, and our personal favorite--"fresh magic mushrooms" signs at every other shop. what a contrast to life in provo. the market had the best selection of skirts that i've ever seen. but i just couldn't put £15 ($30) on any single item. i think i'll wait to see what purchasing i can do after berlin & prague. the best part was our dinner! up & over the bridge was a strip of exotic & international food stands. at 5:30, everything was priced at £4, but when we went back at 6, they were selling it off for £2. i got a hefty helping of indian rice, spinach & potato curry & chicken curry. wow! i was stuffed. i want to go there every saturday for dinner because there was such a variety to choose from: chinese, japanese, moroccan, indian, thai & even mexican (rare here)! i loved the people i was with, too.

ONE OF THE BEST VIEWS
two girls from last term reccommended that we take a walk up primrose hill--without looking behind us until we were at the top. we did as we were told & found an incredible, indescribable view of the entire london horizon from the top of this hill near regents park (one of the walks). there were four of us that just got to sit on a bench at the top--relaxing after hours of walking, just before sunset. we shared the bench with a nice old british man who talked to us all about what-was-what on the horizon. he told us about good food places near-by & helped us with the best route back to our home at notting hill. he had ridden his bike in from the coast to read harry potter at his favorite spot in london. we took his advice & caught the 31 bus, sitting on the top deck for a good view of the drive home (not possible on the underground). the primrose experience is now ranked among my favorites.

GERMANY & CZECH REPUBLIC
at 3am on monday morning, our entire program leaves for berlin. we'll be there for 3 days before we go to prague. we're scheduled to come home on saturday afternoon. i'm not sure what to expect--just more overwhelming feelings, which tends to by typical. it might be a challenge to be around the foreign languages, but i don't think it can be a bad experience. i'm looking forward to it.