Checking In.

I've been in London for almost a week. Here's the highlights:

Program Orientation - Interesting and helpful enough. On our guided tour of London, the tour guide decided he would pick on me for the duration of the ride. Being funny, of course, but at my expense. I can't remember the last time I was as thoroughly embarrassed as I was then, but life goes on. It was fun to see the sights and, if I can, I'd love to get back over to some of the tourist attractions to take more pictures and do it on my time. The rest of orientation was just getting settled in and having chances to gel with the group.

Living - The flat is going to be a hotspot. The guys and I are doing a good job of keeping everything well stocked. We're working to make sure this a spot people can enjoy - I've hosted people only once so far, but so far so good. Oh, and that reminds me...

Roommates - My roommates, honestly, aren't going to be my best friends. But they're decent enough guys. They're pretty smart and they're down-to-earth, so we can have a good time together. Individually, each of them is very different (I will describe them in code names from pop culture to create a better sense of imagery).

Chief (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). Tall, strong, and quiet, Chief is really grounded and a good all-around guy. For you Terps, he used to be a bouncer at Turtle, so he's more business than talk. But is he fun to be around, and we get along.

Asher Roth (I Love College, no other pop relevance). The quintessential frat boy, Asher likes to party and likes to have fun and likes to get wild and bro out. He's a good guy and for the moment his head is on straight. We get along well and he cracks a lot of jokes. Nice guy but he's still a frat boy and has though frat boy tendencies, though he does seem like he's more than that. Not getting my hopes up for the rest of the fraternity brothers out there, but it's good to see him genuine at moments. Which makes it more of a shame when he bros out...

Evan Baxter (Think Bruce, not Evan, Almighty). My actual roommate Evan is annoying. He's quietly snarky and I feel like he's talking down to me a lot of the time. I'm doing my best to act properly towards him. He seems like he could be a good guy, but for whatever reason we're just not connecting all that well. I'm hoping this changes.

Nightlife - In this area I have been doing really, really well. I've been having a lot of fun and making the most of my time whenever I go out. For the most part I've been with the MiL (Maryland-in-London) kids and I'm hoping this will change as I get into classes and exploring more. Aside from different pubs, we've gone out to a few different clubs; ISHBar, Market Place and, most notably, the Ministry of Sound.

ISHBar is a local spot that's student-friendly. We went as a pretty large group of Americans and, oddly enough, found a lot more Americans than Brits. Fortunately for us, we went on karaoke night. I ended up being persuaded to get on stage, so my friend Prince (again, pop reference) got up and put together a solid rendition of Blink 182's "What's My Age Again." We came off the stage and the guys bought us drinks which was nice. It was also funny enough that we got to talking to a few girls as a result. One was from Iowa, and one was from L.A. Go figure.

Market Place was a two-level bar that had an older feel to it. The crowd seemed pretty hip and young, but the building itself just felt older. In any case, there was no cover (schwing) and we walked on to find two levels of people dancing and talking. What made this especially fun was the music; the DJs were taking old music and spinning it with new-age beats and speeding it up and I got really into it. We went as a smaller group of UMD students and everyone seemed to have a great

You can google the Ministry of Sound and that will tell you everything you need to know. On our way over there, our group joined up with a group of Spaniards which made the trip a bit more fun. The club itself was one of the greatest nightlife experiences I will ever have. Two levels, four rooms of blast-your-ears-out techno, electronic, and house music. Tons and tons of people but it wasn't overcrowded. I couldn't stop smiling out of sheer amazement, never mind the music and the hours upon hours of dancing. Though Ministry stays open till 7:00 A.M. we only stayed till about 2:00, a.k.a. there's another story to be crafted here. Looking forward to that outing.

Sports - I've found myself watching more soccer than I normally would because it's fun to do in groups here in England. It's easy to get swept up in the energy of the crowd.

However, the big thing to post here is that I watched American football outside the U.S. today. When it was sunny and 60-something in the Meadowlands, it was 9:00 P.M. and dark here in Jolly Ole'. Also of note was the fact that there is a sportsbook literally two minutes from the flat. The guys and I found bets we liked and put a few pounds down. Fortunately for me, my three bets turned out to all be winners, so tomorrow I'll have a few extra pounds (Literally just a few, the most I bet was 3 pounds) to use. It was weird to watch the game in a bar where nobody else knew or cared what was going on. But the Jets beat the Patriots in a good game, the food was alright, and I had a good time. That reminds me...

Food - The food here really isn't that bad. We've been eating at a lot of different spots, having all different kinds of pub food and, for the most part, I've been pleasantly surprised. Yorkshire Pudding turned out to remind me of a Belgian Waffle without the inside, but outside of that the food has been pretty good. I guess it's appropriate to say that I've had a pint with lunch and dinner and it's just casual here, no big problems or questions asked or worries, except which kind of beer/cider/ale to order. Every time I see a brand I haven't had yet I order that, so I'm working up a pretty good catalogue.

Classes start tomorrow and for my London Stage course I read Shakespeare's "As You Like It." Some things never change. However, one slight change from UMD is that Tuesday I will see this play in production at the Globe. The actual, reproduced Globe. That should be fun. Other than that, I'm keeping busy exploring and getting to know the city. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes!