Induction Week

Hello!!!

Well this week has been quite crazy indeed! I think I left off on Monday when Alex had just gotten in... Hopefully I wont repeat myself!

So after Alex got in, she took a long nap. When she woke up, we all decided to go and check out Covent Garden for a bit. It was really nice and I would like to spend some more time down there, especially for shopping hehe. While we were down there we went to an internet cafe where we were able to get in contact with one of Randi's friends from school (who is actually also in the Art Business program with us) who lives in Covent Garden. Alex also got the phone number of a hotel her friend was staying at for one night in London, and she went to go call her to see if she could get together for dinner or something before leaving the next day. So after hanging out with Randi's friend for about 45 minutes, we met up with Natasha, Alex's friend. We walked around a bit and ended up in Picadilly Circus. Then we tried to find a place to eat and decided to split up so that Alex and Natasha could have some time together while Randi and I went to a pub. We then went home and went to sleep because Induction was supposed to begin the next morning.

We all woke up thinking that Tuesday was going to be this long day of filling out papers and doing administrative school stuff that you always have to do during orientation, but once we got to school we realized that the first day of induction was really just 10 minutes long where we picked up our ID cards, picked up some papers, and decided whether or not we would want a locker for the year. It turns out that I needed to be back at school in 4 hours for a Program Coordinator meeting, so Randi and I decided to hang around Central London until I had to go back. We ran a few errands, grabbed some lunch at a pub (Randi got fish and chips and it was the biggest fish and chips I have ever seen in my life! It was an entire fish!), got Randi her cell phone, and picked up a few things for the flat. I was still early for my Program coordinator meeting but I decided to hang outside in Bedford Square (where my school is) and enjoy the sunshine while I could. At the meeting we got a schedule for Thursday and Friday (the actual induction days), our syllabi, the school handbook, and some papers to fill out. It was kind of an overload of information which was pretty intense, but I was excited at the same time. I then went home and Randi and I went on a walk around our neighborhood while we waited for Alex to get back from her program coordinator meeting (she's in the Photography program, not the Art Business program). We ended up finding a pretty big supermarket nearby which was definitely good to know since we had been buying all of our stuff from the little convenience grocers down the street. By the way, some of the chip (or crisps I guess, since chips are french fries) flavors here are really crazy. The weirdest ones are Prawn Cocktail and the Chicken and Beef flavors... I don't think I'll be tasting any of those!

I didn't have to do anything all day on Wednesday, so I got up and went for a run around the Paddington Rec which is literally a block away from my flat. It has a running track and tennis courts and all of that stuff. It was very fine! Then I came back to the flat to find Randi and Alex making a breakfast of champions with potatoes, eggs and crumpets! We then went down to campus so that Randi could go to her program coordinator meeting and so Alex and I could use the internet to research which broadband company we should go with in our flat. We then all met up again and I went to go get my phone. I decided to temporarily go with a pay as you go phone until I got my bank card (which I actually just got this morning) to start a monthly plan. At O2 they let you keep the same phone number and everything, they just change the plan on the phone itself. So that's good. I did that and got 100 free international minutes which was great! Though I've already used most of them hehehe. Then we went back to the flat, made dinner and stayed up really late talking and just hanging out. I'm really happy that we all get along so well. We've been having a lot of fun together!

So thursday was our crazy long and intense day. We met at school at 9 am to be escorted to the buildings that lectures would be held in because the Sotheby's building is too small to have lecture rooms. They provided coffee and tea where we were all to mingle with everybody in all the other programs. Then we had a full day of meeting the faculty, IT and Library information sessions, more coffee and tea breaks, lunch outside in the wind, and more introductory stuff. Then at the end of the day, the chairman of Sotheby's UK came and talked to us on how we can value art. It was really great! He was really interesting and funny and his job just sounds so insane! Then we were all bussed from the lecture hall to Sotheby's on Bond Street where there was a reception with champagne, little appetizers and schmoozing with fellow students and faculty. What was really cool was that we were in the rooms displaying the pieces that would be on sale in the upcoming contemporary art sale! We were schmoozing among seriously expensive Warhol, Lichtenstein, and (of course) Damien Hirst pieces (obviously among more)! It was really cool! We then left Sotheby's at 8 pm to head home. We then made dinner and went to sleep.

Yesterday we had a Q&A session that was a total waste of time, and another guest speaker who was the editor at large of an art newspaper. It was really interesting but we were all pretty tired. Then we had a little time to grab some lunch and meet up in groups we had been split up into based on our last names. My group met at the Victoria and Albert Museum where one of the professors of Contemporary Art and Design showed us around this really interesting contemporary design exhibit. The curator set up pieces of contemporary furniture in a sort of narrative of a fantasy story. It was really interesting, especially because I had never even heard of anything like that before. It was really cool! Then Alex Randi and I all met up at the flat and went grocery shopping. We then came back, made dinner (taco night!), had a bottle of wine, and watched a DVD on Alex's computer! We were all so exhausted that we just wanted to stay in and have a low key night where we could sleep in the next morning. (I of course woke up at 9 am. Yay me!)

Anyway, that's what I've been up to the past few days. I really want to go and explore more of London before classes get too crazy! Maybe tomorrow I'll do something touristy! I'm getting used to crossing the street which is a good thing, though I had a slip up this morning while walking to Roma Cafe. Woops! I still don't have internet which is a total bust, but hopefully we will be up and running by next week. We've set it up, it just needs to be installed, and of course they can't get anyone over here earlier. Whatever, I don't mind coming to Roma! I like their Spinach Ricotta puff pastry! ALright, I gotta go figure out my book situation and getting exempted from council tax or something. I'll go post some pics of my flat right now!!! xoxoxo miss you all!!!!