As suggested by Caitlin, I stood on the red carpet of the BAFTAs today. They are basically the British Oscars and a great opportunity to see some stars. I woke up at 6 am this morning so I could go downtown in attempts to acquire a wristband which was needed to enter the gates and stand in the public pens. I waited in a queue for 2 hours to recieve one and this assigned me a number for later. We went home and came back at 2 as they told us then they began listing off numbers that were allowed to enter, they did them in groups of 10. Even though this numeriocal system was in order people still felt the need to push and shove, which was rather annoying. After in the pens, we waited 'til about 5. This is when celebrities started showing up but the ones I was interested in waited 'til 6 or later. I got to see some great people; Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Ron Howard, Goldie Hawn and many, many more. Some were very sociable and attempted to sign as many things as their publicists would let them, while other were not my favorites. Sharon Stone was bordeline rude, but I didn't expect much from her. It was crazy as these celebrities were arriving. People were shouting and pushy not the greatest atmosphere to get a smile from a celebrity. And this is where my Brad Pitt story comes in. I was able to get Brad's autograph and shared a moment with him. You may be wondering about the latter so here it goes...and the risk of sounding like a little school girl here's what happened...Brad and Angelina arrived and everyone went nuts. They tried to sign many, many things and stopped for pictures. While Angelina didn't really come by me, Brad stopped directly in front of me. Best day ever. After he signed a couple of things I gently held up my notepad, he signed it, and then looked up and saw me. He paused and smiled back and then continued on...it may sound pretty lame. But he sure is gorgeous when you look at him in the eyes. I do have witnesses to this amazing event; Dani mentioned it to me a little later and said she had saw it. So I am not crazy. Unfortunately, I kinda wish it was under circumstances, like when I wasn't drenched and looking sloppy. But, I guess the best way to get his attention to not shove and shout but rather stand and smile. But I couldn't have shouted if I wanted to, I was so awe struck all I could do was stand there staring/ smiling at him. I didn't really even get a picture because of it....It was a pretty great day I must say def. a highlight. Oh and I also got signatures from, Emma Watson (Harry Potter), Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), and Jonathon Ross (a british TV host that I love). Enjoy the pictures, I only posted the ones where you could see the people...

Went to the National Gallery today and it was amazing. It houses hundreads of paintings from the 13th to the 20th centuries. They have some really famous works there and it was great to finally see some of them in person. I saw pieces from all the ninja turtles, van gogh, sauret, turner and mantegna. It was great, really. Sorry there were no pictures allowed so I have none to share with you.

So, I don't have anything special to report, except that I have caught some sickeness in this city. I do not feel the best and am ODing on some drug to hope I get better. It is leaving me very unmotivated and pathetic....

Grandma would be happy

So today Dani and I didn't really have anything in particular planned out so it was great when Jack stopped by this morning to see if we wanted to go check out St. Paul's Cathedral. He definitely didn't have to ask me twice and off we went. We finally found it after some wandering and you really cannot miss it. It's huge! We walked around the exterior and took some great photos of it, even though it wasn't the best weather. It's been misting all day, very wet. We then ventured in to see how much it cost and it was a bit more expensive than we guessed but the cashier gave us a student discount that cut the cost a bit. As soon as we got through the barrier I was in awe, it looks even bigger once you are inside. The ceiling is gorgeous, I don't think I would be able to describe it properly. But imagine gold mosaics practically glowing in the light. We found a stairway which allowed us to venture up (257 stairs) to the Whispering Dome. It is pretty much as it sounds if you sit up there you can hear the conversations across the way. Really great acoustics. I could sit up there for hours if they let me. The paintings made my jaw drop, I have never seen anything like it really. We then went up (~170) stairs to the outdoor balcony which had an amazing view of the city. Spent time up there taking pictures and slowly made our way back down. Now these stairs, let's just say they wouldn't fit any regulations in modern society. It became a task to make sure you didn't take a tumble down them. After we left we headed to a restaurant/ pub, called All Bar One, down the way where I tried bangers and mash for the first time. It was delicious! I would definitely recommend it to others.

oh and you will see that we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so sorry I couldn't share my eyes with you...

Yesterday I had my first classes at London Met. I was pretty nervous and excited. My art class sounds like it will be my favorite for the next four months, the others, I could do without but I guess they will have to do. I made some friends in my film studies class which helped with some anxiety....I was afraid of being a dumb american so pretty much didn't open my mouth (surprised?) all day unless a question was directed only to me. But it should be a fun semester.
Then today I ventured out and went to the post office and waited in a rather long queue behind some not so intelligent people. After there, I wandered to Carphone Warehouse to buy my mobile phone for here. And what a doozie that turned into. I got lost again, and I still have no idea how it happen but I basically walked into the opposite direction for 10 min. I then wandered the streets in what I hoped was the correct direction and did eventually make it home, I was pretty proud of myself. But that's what I get for walking aroud London without a map or stopping to ask for directions. All in all, I walked around for an extra 30-40 minutes.
But to make up for it, Dani came back from her theatre class with an extra ticket for a play tonight. So now I am going to go see A Midsummer Night's Dream...which is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. Big smile on this kids face! What a day.

Snow Day

Today was supposed to be my first day of classes. I was excited, got ready and headed off. After topping up my tube pass I jumped on the Piccadilly line to North campus. To my surprise, when I arrived I was told that classes were cancelled today do to the adverse conditions. I was shocked. It is snowing in London today and apparently they haven't seen snow likes this in 7 years--a local man informed us. London is beside itself, they don't know what to do. Half of the cities transportation is shut down and the people don't know what to do. We a saw a man clearing his walkway with a broom. We were told that the snow doens't usually stick and stay in London. Right now I would say they have just a couple of inches really, maybe 2 or 3, but I have always been terrible at estimating it. Nevertheless it is nothing by Wisconsin standards. So I guess I have one more day to realx.

Oh and tacks here are not the same. Tack is actually sticking blue adhesive, we think they call tacks push pins....I confused the a store owner today when I didn't know really what else to call them.

The Weekend

Alrighty.

Well Saturday we decided not to do a typical touristy thing and went down to Camden Market. It was this great little neighborhood with tons of shops and vendors. We stepped out of the station and it was easily the most crowded station i have been to yet. The street was filled with people walking up and down looking at the little shops. This area is the trendy, punk-goth, vintage area. Which made for some interesting people. On the main drag you had all these goth kids with piercings and tattoos. So we walked down a ways to try and get off the beaten path and found a few side streets that were a real english market. It had brick walkways still and too many soips squeezed into one area. After a little bit we spotted this shop that all of these amazing leatherbound journals, sketchbooks and diaries. I bought a sketchbook that is amazing--it was hand made in India and the paper is hand made...there are still leaf particles in the pages. We moved along and saw that there is still this great little canal that runs through part of it and had a brick bridge over it. It was a gorgeous sight. I didn't really want to leave but it was cold. So we headed home and took a break and then decided to go out to Soho and find a bar. the one that we had originally planned on going to was packed and there was a line 'til the end of the block so we decided to go to this place called Thirst. Then we headed home and some other went to a local pub but I was way too tired for this and hit the hay.

Sunday we went down to Leicester Square to take part in the celebrations for Chinese New Year. This was amazing as well. They had live performances of singing, dancing, and drum playing (my favorite). They had some little shops set up where they were selling little souveniers....I ended up buying a paper dragon and an ornament with an ox on it...it was holding a fish that apprently is a symbol to bring money--quite appropriate for this trip, I thought. They had a fireworks display at 6 o' clock. These were gorgeous and I was almost certain that they would set the square on fire. I guess the British don't worry about setting fireworks off in the middle of some trees. After these, we headed home and spent the night bumming around Nido. At about 11ish here is when they were airing the Superbowl so a bunch of us squeezed into the cafe to watch. I stayed up until half time and then had to get some sleep.