So I realize it has been a few days since I last blogged, but I would like to take this moment to point out that I never made any promises regarding the frequency of posts. But the real reason I haven’t written for a few days was that I was just waiting for fun stuff to happen so I could talk about it…which it did!

After a fairly stressful two days of figuring out class schedules and dealing with university bureaucracy (same college problems, different country), we decided to go out for dinner on Brick Lane, a street well-known to house the best Indian restaurants in London, via the Tube for the first time. What no one warned us about was the aggressive people outside the restaurants trying to get you in. Imagine the guy on the corner spinning a cardboard arrow advertising a new sandwich place in a shopping center comes over to your car banging on the windows and screaming about what a great deal the new place is. That’s what it was like. The good news is that when we finally picked a place, it wasn’t bad.

Oh hey, Tube. Or shall I say “Chube,” (Someone actually told us to pronounce it like that, which I promptly refused to ever do.)

Chicken Tikka Masala was gooood.

Possibly the greatest thing I’ve seen in London thus far.

Just some street art

Honestly though, the best part of the meal was getting these Cadbury candies at the end with our check. I swear, Cadbury chocolate/candy is way better than anything we have in America. All of you can expect to get Cadbury candy as your souvenir when I return home. Sorry for ruining the surprise.

After dinner we walked around Shoreditch, a very hipster area, but it was late and most of the stores were closed. I’ll be back, Shoreditch.

The next day (Friday) we took a group trip with ACCENT and some other USC programs to Borough Market. On the way, we passed St. Paul’s Cathedral, Millennium Bridge (which is the bridge that gets destroyed by Death Eaters in one of the later Harry Potter movies), the Tate Modern art museum and Shakespeare’s Globe Theater — but the market was truly the best part. Booth after booth of really fresh, homemade food/produce, all of which offer free samples. It was like a healthier, tastier Costco, but it was outside, and actually completely not like Costco. Forget that comparison.

I ate a meat pie and felt really British the whole time. Then I shared a chocolate chip cookie the size of my face with a friend. It was wonderful. The rest of the afternoon was spend wandering the area until we got tired and went home. For dinner I ate a hamburger, which reminded me of how much I miss the easiness of American food. It’s really hard being somewhere and not having any idea of where to eat or what foods you like there. I’m assuming this gets more manageable with time, but for now, me and all my roommates could really go for some Chipotle. Here are some pictures from the day:

That’s it for now, guys. I promise to have a weekend post up soon.

Also, new words to add to the different names for British things list:

America                   UK
Arugala                   Rocket
Eggplant                Aubergine
Pay as you go        Top off
Line                         Queue (Always. Never line. They are not interchangeable. It is also a verb: queuing. I hate it.)