Road Trip and Anniversary

Monday was our 2 year wedding anniversary so we went out to dinner in Kingston. It was really nice but our main plan to celebrate was the road trip yesterday....

We started by getting up at 6 am and after a two hour bus ride to the rental car place we were off! Luckily the car rental had a map book that saved us! Travis was the driver and I attempted to navigate. Other than a couple curb checks (the streets are too skinny) he did great! Navigating however.... was difficult. We had printed off directions from Kingston to Gloucester then from there to Stratford upon Avon then back to Kingston. The problem was that a lot of roads are either not labeled or the street sign is hidden. Typically the street signs are white with black lettering and low to the ground. The hardest part though is that they are usually 5 to 10 yards into the street they are labeling... kind of pointless if you're approaching or even at the intersection. Most of the day ended up being spent in the car or bus but it was still really fun seeing some great sights!

Gloucester is north east of London near Wales. Its a smaller town with lots of red brick homes and buildings. We went to the Gloucester Cathedral which was amazing! It was huge and beautiful. Some of the hallways... I think called cloisters were used for some scenes in the first Harry Potter movie. Good choice by them because the hallways were really great. King Edward II is buried there as well. We walked a little in the town then headed to Stratford upon Avon. We took the scenic roads to see some Cotswolds towns. I'm not entirely sure what Cotswolds is but my understand is its the name of an area and type of town. Kind of makes me think of saying Austin hillcountry... Travis probably understands better. Anyway they are some very small and cute villages. Outside of Broadway was the Broadway Tower. This small stone tower built on a big hill. There were really beautiful views of the hills and fields from up there. The tower was built by an Earl for his wife and was also used as a look out between a couple other places. We also saw lots of animals: horses, cows, deer, and of course sheep! Next we headed to Stratford upon Avon which is where Shakespeare was born and died. Unfortunately the church he is buried at (Holy Trinity Church) was closed because of urgent renovating just this week of course. We walked around the outside and saw the other old headstones. We then headed to his birth place. Once we were finally able to make it (street sign problems) it was too late and the tours had stopped so we were unable to get a tour of the inside of the house. We saw it from the outside... its in the middle of a square. It was weird to see this old famous house only a few shops away from a Toni and Guy hair salon. Stratford upon Avon is a very nice little town that we walked around till dark than got some dinner. Of course we got lost a little heading back to Kingston but finally made it and took the bus back home.

There may be something Travis wants to add about yesterday and hopefully we can add pictures later.

just need to throw this out there

Yes I realize that we did not really cross the Prime Meridian. We're pretty close though and the title is more for effect than anything else so...

Grocery Store and boredom

Renee: Yesterday I went to the grocery store alone. My first outing alone and after four full days of not leaving the walking vacinity of the apartment. We had already figured out the bus route needed so that part was easy. Once I got there I realized I forgot my giant Ikea bag... that won't happen again. Not having a car has made many things more complicated. I was debating about getting a shopping cart because they charge £1 to use one.... crazy I know! This store is making hundreds a day on people using shopping carts! Well I can't do that because I don't even have a pound with me. So I carry a basket (these are free) and load up as much as I can. Surprisingly the food here is even more different than I expected. They do have most things but I expected there to be more of the brands I recognize. Now for future reference for those you ever come to England.... sign the back of your credit/debit cards! Aannd if you do make sure that the signature is the same as the one you put on the receipt. I did not have a signature on my debit card because it always rubs off anyway so the checkout girl had to call over a manager to see if they would allow comparing with the signature on my Texas ID.... he looked and was perplexed so scuttled off to talk to his manager.... Now he's running around the store with my receipt, ID, and debit card. Awesome. He comes back and tells me that the signatures are not alike... disregarding that the name on the ID and the card are the same along with MY photo. So now all I can do (luckily there was something) is go outside and get cash and pay at the customer service counter. All in all at least I got to go somewhere for a while!

Travis has gotten a Travelcard for unlimited travel for a week but we are holding off on me getting anything until I have a job because its not really worth the expense. Every bus ride is £2 and most train rides are between £3 and £6. Day Travelcards to get between home and Kingston are about £5 so definitely worth getting considering we take a bus to the train station and then back. Anyway so basically I don't get out much.... There is a library around the corner that I can spend on hour on a computer so that is nice for staying connected to home. Then I found a park within walking distance that is pretty. So far I have also drawn, read a couple books, played cards, listened to music, rented a couple movies, cleaned, and stared at the wall. Any suggestions on what else can be done at home? I fun, easy, cheap hobby? I'm pretty open to suggestions...

Hopefully I will get a job soon :)

Denial of the American Complex

There are many unispiring truths about college, but one that I find personally gratifying and then repoacful again because of what it says about secondary education, is that college students are arseh*les in any country not just America.
I hated college kids when I was one and now I hate them again, but in a progressive way, a multi-cultured, all-inclusive kind of way. They're still noisy, ignorant and self-righteous all at the same time. They multitask they're hangups and annoying tendancies with the same vigor of walking, talking, ipoding, iphoning, and linking up side by side by 3's and 4's on the narrow sidewalks considering in tandem unsuitable.
And I'm sorry to say that English, really Humanites in general, students are the worst when in comes to belabouring the point and general pontification. This I always thought was a WASP-Americana tendacy but there are kids here too that have read a Freud essay or two and have got you all figured out. There are kids here too that listen to Rage Against the Machine and think we're better off tearing it all down and piling on top of the rubble...something, non descript but perpetually sunny.
There's not one person I've talked to so far that has the slightest problem with America. In fact, without America, they wouldn't have anything to go on their Ipods or favorite movies. So that American complex, however quiet but there still, that tells you the rest of the world hates you, but it to bed. Although I'm in England, I'm also in London. What that means is there's over 7 million people here from ALL OVER. You can get a fairly composite report of world opinion I'm pretty convinced.

So, to make and end, you can find self entitled bourgeois attitudes wherever you go, not just in America.


Before I continue to open up and further remove all doubt...

our flat

Finally uploaded some pictures of our flat and it looks stupid, I don't see how I can wrap the words around a picture. It gives me the option but then doesn't do it. I don't know, somehow I feel I'm being outsmarted. When I upload pictures from the memory stick I don't get to see what they are and some might seem to come out of nowhere. Like for instance somewhere up there is a picture of all the coinage you have to carry around here. There are coins for fives, twos and singles. They make notes for fives but when making change shopkeepers don't like to hand them out for some reason...no doubt because carrying around and counting out all this change on you is for the birds. You can see the gorgeous carpark that is the view coming out the front door as well as the daunting stairway we go up and down to get to our unit

Also you can see by the window in one of the picstures of the kitchen/dining room/living room/area for practicing the moonwalk in your socks, that we bought a drying rack for the obvious purpose of making unwet that which, for now, must be washed in the kitchen sink.

I don't know why I took a picture of the overhead light, seemed like it needed to be done.

Clothes have to go on the floor because the bullspit leasing agent promised us a dresser and didn't deliver. It's not like we paid for it or anything so it wasn't a real ripoff just a disapointment. I've never rented unfurnished so I don't know if haggling for furniture is a thing you can do in the States but here it's commonplace.

Moving In

Renee: Hi everyone! We finally moved into our apartment in Mitcham on Wednesday. Now we're trying to get the services switched to our name and our things set up. We were told by the letting agency that we would be getting a fridge, bed, bedside table, wardrobe, and dresser, however apparently we are not getting a wardrobe and dresser. Its been a little frustrating dealing with these Time 2 Move people as our parents probably know as well. (Again tons of Thanks Yous to them for helping!) Hopefully we won't have to deal with them much longer. We have gotten a table and curtains from wonderfully cheap Ikea! The table and chairs are put together so our living room isn't completely empty... next is the curtians. We are starting to get to know the Mitcham area but its taking a little while. Luckily there are some small stores just downstairs to help get basic things. Now we officially have membership to the library around the corner where we can get 1 hour a day of internet (7 minutes left...). In the next few weeks we will be trying to get internet at home as well so more pictures of the apartment can be shared! My mom has the address to this place so contact her or email one of us to get it if you'd like :)
First things first, we need to get a post box!! On the list for this weekend!

Outside the Cavalry Museum by St. James Park














Texas Embassy Cantina

View from Trafalgar Square down White Hall Road







View from walkway over the Thames

Street performers by Jubilee Gardens (sure you can tell who he's supposed to be...)

Good advice from the bus

Outside the main entrance to the Penrhyn Road campus

John Galsworthy Building - where Travis' classes are located

Kingston upon Thames- outside our first Travelodge hotel.. we are now around the corner

Here are some pictures from our arrival finally! There are so many more but only 5 can be added at a time. We'll share more later.

Renee: So today the Time 2 Move people have told us the references still aren't completed. Hopefully they will be done tomorrow so we can move out of the hotel. I'm looking for jobs and have received a call and email from a couple of job locaters for social work. The problem is you have to be registered and to do that being from the US you need a degree in Social Work. One agency still sounded like they would be able to find a job with Social Work support. Some of the other jobs I'm interested in you need to have an address for the application so I have to wait. We also have to wait for an address to open up a bank account here.

Yesterday in Central London was really great! We road the SW trains into Waterloo Station. Walked over and saw the London Eye ferris wheel (largest in the world) and ate lunch in the Jubilee Gardens. We watched some street performers then went across the Thames. We then walked to the Trafalgar Square where there was a concert happening. The statues of lions were kind of blocked by fencing but it was still an impressive square. Travis remembers going there with lots of pigeons. The National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery are in the square and free so we will see that later. From the square you can see Big Ben. We walked up Cockspur and before going up Haymarket we found the Texas Embassy Cantina!! :) Next stop was the Piccadilly Circus. This is a square that marks the start of the entertainment district to the south (we walked through and saw several theatres). They also have the big Times Square like signs on a few buildings. We then made our way to The Mall (road to Buckingham Palace) and walked through St. James Park. My mom would love all the flower beds in the park! The picture of Travis on a barrier block is at the other end of St. James park from Buckingham Palace. The lake in St. James Park has over 40 breeds of waterfowl and it was fun to watch all of them get fed and swim. There were also lots of squirels being hand fed. The walkway through the park is called The Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Walk. We made it to Buckingham Palace next! It was really amazing with great statues and black and gold fencing. Apparently there aren't always the guards with funny hats out there... they have changing of the guard ceremonies either everyday or every other day depending on the season. Travis said he had seen this before and it was very long and drawn out. I still want to see the funny hats! We then went down Birdcage Walk towards Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminister Abby. All appeared to be in the middle of restoration on the outsides but were still great! It was getting dark so went and ate at the Texas Embassy and then back home to the hotel!! Oh and we road on a double decker bus and it was crazy!