Today was sooo amazing! We had orientation this morning at Imperial College, which is a sister college to Richmond. A local policeman (people here call them the fuzz) gave us a little chat on etiquette in the area and the fact that we shouldn't advertise that we are American when we go out in public. I'm living in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...there's a school right down the street from us for little children, but we were told never to take pictures of it because many of the diplomats and celebrities in the area send there children there. Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, Madonna, and the lady on the Weakest Link all live on our block. Apparently Orlando Bloom loves to go to this cafe down the road, but I haven't seen him yet. Also, the poet T.S. Eliot lived in house right around the corner, but now it's used for expensive rental flats.

I had lunch at the Whole Foods Market which just opened on Wednesday. It's an all-organic market and the top level has a food place that's set up kind of like Market Place on campus. I had this really good salad and some sushi. You can even watch the guys make the sushi and everything! I got some jasmine tea too. They actually put a jasmine bud in the bottom of the glass and as they pour hot water over it, the jasmine blooms and sprouts into a flower in the bottom of the glass! I almost didn't want to drink it because it was so beautiful.

This afternoon we went on a bus tour to see some of the major sites of central London. I have a ton of pictures, but I'll post them later. We went to a huge golden statue of Prince Albert and saw the Royal Albert Hall where the English National Ballet is doing a performance. I got to see Berkeley Square too! That's my favorite Nat King Cole song and the actual place is a tiny little garden and park...no nightingales though. Then we went to Buckingham Palace and the fountain. It's just huge. And I found out that Queen Elizabeth has 5 Rolls Royces! The next stop was Westminster Abbey. We couldn't go in because they have church services on Sundays, along with St. Paul's Cathedral. We also saw the London Eye; a huge ferris wheel that fits up to 25 people per hanging thingy. At St. Paul's Cathedral there is a really cool gift shop and cafe in the crypt underneath the church itself. On our way back to Atlantic House, we went past the Theatre District. There are so many musicals going on now! They've got over 40 musical productions including Wicked, Dirty Dancing, The Lion King, Mary Poppins, Spamalot, and Lord of the Rings. There are some pretty high scale cigar shops and I got a picture of a hat shop where Frank Sinatra always had hats made. There were some pretty cool top hats and fedoras.

This is already such a long post and I have to go to a welcome party at Imperial College. Their student union has a bar! Only in Europe. But my wireless should be working tomorrow so I'll try and get those pictures up. Classes start tomorrow too, but mine isn't until 1. Adios for now!