London and then some

Last weekend Rob and I took the train to London where we met up with my parents who were on a couple day lay-over on their way to Tuscany. It was so cool to researve our train tickets ahead of time, find our seats and enjoy the brief journey (2.5 hours) to London all while enjoying a comfy seat, beautiful countryside and no worries about getting lost. Once we arrived in London, we went to the nearest Tube station (their subway) and figured out how to get to the hotel where we were meeting my parents. After seveal visits to NYC and trying to navigate the subway system there, the Tube was easy. My parents arrived at the hotel shortly before we did and, after a brief rest, we headed out to explore our small part of London. We found a pub still serving lunch who had a very enthusiastic employee from Austrailia who was like our own private tour guide. We walked around, found another very unique pub (no really! look at the picture of the pub with all the pictures of the royals on the wall), and then walked to Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Arcade and dinner at yet another pub. The next day we took our Austrailian's advice and booked tickets on the double-decker bus tours that allows you to get on and off as you like all day - what a great way to see the city. We did one full loop and then got on and off during the second loop., with a yummy lunch at yet another pub. After walking around most of the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel for a light dinner of appetizers and wine. The next day my parents were off to the airport after breakfast and Rob and decided to walk to the train station so we could see more of the city. The British Library is near the train station and we were able to go in and look in their little museum. They have original copies of Shakespear, Jane Austen and many other novelists, scientists, musicians and politicans. Rob and I really enjoyed London. It is so much cleaner and more managable than NYC. Since London isn't as limited space-wise as NYC, there are hardly any skyscrapers.

Monday was the Biblical Studies postgraduate research student orientation. Afterwards, all the returning postgrads came and had lunch with us, which was a great way to talk to current students about the department, program, etc... I was happy to see other Americans there, too. Tuesday was another orientation for the postgrads university-wide and registration was on Thursday. Classes begin offically for postgrads on Monday. Mondays will be the Biblical Studies modules; Tuesday I have a reading group in Historiography with some Biblical Studies profs and new students, which will meet in a local pub; I will also have a second reading group in Hebrew and a German module, both which have not set a day or time as of yet. And, I am to begin research ASAP on my dissertation.

Well, that is what has been going on with us for the last week. If you have any questions about life here in Britian, please feel free to email and I'll either try to respdon or blog about it.