i. love. english. update from london.

following a great send-off in bergen (bottom two photos above. i admit the one on the left isn't the best photo of all of us. however the chaoticness of it is quite representative of who we are together! top photo is our Tuberculosis Epidemiology class. great group of people...), i arrived in london about a week and a half ago.

*I LOVE IT* i understand the announcements on the tube. i know what the road signs say. i can tell what exactly i'm buying at the grocery store. i can just walk up to somebody and speak to them, without asking first if they speak english. *I LOVE IT*

my first course in london (at University College London - Center for Global Health and Development) is "children in difficult circumstances" and is by far the heaviest one i've had. it's a great course...learning a lot, and getting exposed to many things. it is however awful having to hear day after day about the struggles children in this world face. children on the street. children trafficked into sex work. conflict minerals and the awful forms of sexual violence in the Congo. the arms trade and child soldiers. well, you get the point. tough stuff. my next module here is nutrition and public health, so hopefully that will be a bit lighter.

am really enjoying london so far. haven't done the "tourist" thing yet - but have been able to walk around quite a bit and see the sights. met with some friends to run through the British Museum (had less than an hour until closing), and strolled along the river a bit a couple of different days. see pics. i'm living in a really great location - only a 30 minute walk to class, which is pretty close to the thames. great for saving money on transportation!

captions.

1. Tower Bridge
2. flying greek goddesses in the British Museum
   
3. excuse this stupid photo (in the british museum as well). but i must prove a point. see those 3 little stairs behind this lift? i'm wondering if it wouldn't have been MUCH cheaper just to build a ramp instead of install this lift to climb no higher than possibly a foot and a half?
4. my favorite thing so far. they paint on the pavement which way you need to look when crossing the street (for us stupid foreigners that drive on the "right" side of the road). well, just take note of this arrow.
5. nothing special 'bout this one. just a sign outside the co-op i go to. change. i like it.
6. met with some friends from our course in berlin one rainy afternoon at westminster for a coffee.