Almost caught up!

     I am determined to get to today so I'm going to keep going here! Saturday I was absolutely exhausted and there was no way I was going to try and do anything besides eat and go to the gym. The gym here is pretty nice - not nearly as big as Penn's and more expensive, but compared to other gyms in the area it is a decent deal. Saturday night no one really goes out because that is when people go out (and they actually have money unlike us poor college students). We ended up going to a pub and it was probably the most fun night I have had yet! I went with Matt and Bari and ran into my friends from the psychology reception! Dont'ea, Romy, and I worked that dance floor like no one in London has ever seen. We even finally made a British friend, sort of (well she said she liked us but we'll probably never see her again - that's about as good as it gets).
     Sunday was another cold and rainy day (like pretty much every day here has been so far), but the rain managed to hold off so that I could go see a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre! The Penn Centre abroad got tickets and we got them at a discounted price. We also have a "cultural bonus" (aka a handout from Penn out of our "study abroad fee") and that went towards my ticket. We saw "Henry IV, Part 2." Having not seen Part 1 and not really being able to understand some of the heavier British accents, I had absolutely no idea what was going on the entire time. All I know is that someone died. I think it was a comedy though. Either way, the theatre was really cool! It's an authentic reconstruction of Shakespeare's theatre. We couldn't take pictures during the performance but I will go back and get some when it is not a performance.
    The tube went on strike Sunday night so we've been laying low since. I finally had my first class yesterday! It was called "Renaissance Art in London." Thankfully, almost all the students in it are study abroad students who know nothing about art history (like me) so we can all help each other. For our first class, we walked to the British Museum and our teacher told us about the background of the Renaissance based on Roman and Greek works there. Coolest. Class. Ever.  I'm going to bring my camera to class because they are all taught at the Victoria & Albert Museum or at the National Gallery! I've never been more excited for a class. I signed up to a project on Boticelli's The Adoration of the Kings. Hopefully I get it! I signed up for an earlier presentation because I'm doing a lot of traveling in November and want to have everything out of the way before then.
    Last night we went back to the nightclub Heaven and it was so much fun! Best dance music I've ever heard since I've been here. There have been a couple dance songs I have heard repeatedly since I have been here and I thought I would share. Definitely make a good addition to any running/workout playlist and are excellent to dance to!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1EOGzzLy8U&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD4BWXKSgSA

   I have heard these both a few times since I've been here and love them. The music here, although not always my favorite, has been better than my experience with America. No more rap! Yay! Not a big fan. Well today I don't have any class so I have basically written this blog and tried to catch up on sleep (the fire alarm was broken and hasn't stopped going off all day). I finally have all my courses together and I will be taking Renaissance Art in London, Language & Cognition, Perception, Attention, & Action, and Psychology of Health Risks. Lots of work coming up but hopefully there will still be time to do the fun stuff! Tomorrow is tennis tryouts followed by a tennis pub crawl. Club activities are so much different here! I signed up for basically everything, most importantly the Chocolate Appreciation Society.
    Other random things about UCL...the dining hall food is actually decent. The people who serve it definitely get up on the wrong side of the bed every single day though. Unlike America, you're not allowed to take seconds and they're very strict about how much you can take. I took fruit and a dessert one day and got scolded. And don't even think about trying to take another dessert - they get feisty. Well I need to start looking at my schoolwork so I better go! Exciting upcoming news - trip to Edinburgh to see my friend Hilary this weekend and just bought tickets to go to Ireland in November! Lots more ahead!