Finally Right?

Sorry that it has been so long since my last post. It's been great spending time here just getting to feel out the city and adjust to being so disconnected. I appreciate everyones support and will hopefully be updating this more often now. Wow... So much has happened so far. Lets see... We went to the Globe Theatre on Monday to watch Shakespeare's, "As You Like It". I went in with no real expectations and came out very pleased! I was one of the lucky, or unlucky if you get tired easily, people in our group who got to stand in front of the stage for the entirety of the performance. This used to be a standard thing for commoners who payed, I believe, 2 pence for it. I liked it a lot though as it really gets you up close and personal with the show! The acting was awesome and made it a lot easier to stand for the duration. It was such a strange feeling to know that i was in London in the Globe watching British performers... I was also glad that we went to a play that was a comedy as it was fun to laugh with the audience and the performers obviously really enjoyed it. The play apparently was the sparking of the famous line, "The whole worlds a stage" and the origin of the term, "too much of a good thing". Very cool. I think that I am going to come back in incredible shape at no effort as much as I walk here. Sure the tube helps you get around, but you'd be amazed at how much you really walk outside of this. I enjoy it though because it allows me to take time to soak in the little things and nuances of the vast array of culture that London offers. I really can't believe how many different kinds of people there are in the area! London is definitely a multicultural existence. It's really cool to see everyone interact and get along with that culture gap being so prevalent. As a side note, I feel incredibly safe here and have no worries honestly. As long as you take a few safety precautions such as: wallet in front pocket, don't wonder around in shady areas at night, don't go too far South of the Thames at night and you're good. London is an expensive city, but luckily we live close to central London, but not right in it. This is ideal because food and drink is so much cheaper outside the touristy areas. Their soda here is great and doesn't contain all of the unnecessary high fructose corn syrup that our drinks offer. They use sugar and it makes for such a better drink that isn't so thick... blegh Fruit is incredibly cheap here and actually makes it easy to buy. haha I stopped by a vendor and got a bowl of apples and a bowl of oranges for a pound each. This gave me about 7 of each product. A pound is sitting at about $1.60 right now so it's still a great deal even at this rate. Also, we generally shop at a store close to the townhouses called Iceland. I would compare it to Aldi I guess. They have awesome prices and when not eating our I have gotten great deals on food there. Anyway, to get back on task, we went to Canterbury Cathedral and Dover Castle on Wednesday! There is no comparison to in a book or movie to seeing these sights... Just ask some of the girls on the trip that are considering skipping our flight home and finding work in the small cosy town of Canterbury now. haha It really was amazing seeing the Cathedral. We had a tour guide, but we had a limited time there before heading to Dover so I kind of lagged behind and took pictures and video instead! I hated to miss some of the details, but I can read all about those in books and the internet. I can't just be there again right? One standout detail to me though was that there was so much history in the architecture of the Cathedral. Our guide said that they constantly updated the architecture through the years so we were seeing the design work of at least a couple centuries! Awesome... We even went down to the crypt there! I really wanted to take pictures in there because it was straight out of a horror movie, but they wouldn't allow it. :( We then left and ate in the town. I had a really good lunch of a baguette sandwich that had ham and tuna on it. We also tried some ice cream from a small shop there and I actually got vanilla. The only reason being was because it was kind of yellow and looked like it was different than ours. It was quite different actually. I'm not really sure that it was better or worse. I also made a purchase of "Cough Candy". It's basically a thicker jolly rancher shaped hard candy that tastes a little like licorice, but sweeter and not so strong. They are really good actually! Back to order though.  I was so excited once we left for Dover Castle though! We saw some of the typical England landscape of large fields and sheep. It was cool to actually see that to me. Approaching in the Coach bus we had was so awesome. A legit castle that sat up on a ledge overlooking water to France and the town of Dover below. It was incredibly windy up there and I just sat for a while outside the walls of the castle on the grass overlooking the water and just felt the wind for a while wishing Anna was there to sit with me. (You would have loved it!) Going inside the castle was indescribable. The setup inside was too cool. You could take a winding stone staircase up to the top of the castle to see off below. On the way up there were side rooms to stop off in with banners and crests and beds and even a few actors to fit the bill of commoners in the castle. Also, there were windows that were just a narrow vertical slit on the staircases. On top of the castle there were four corners with the typical square towers and you could take a small staircase up to them and see off the castle by look between the stone squares cut in the sides. There was nothing like it... To imagine that people once lived and battled there is one of the coolest things in the world to me. So awesome. The money for the trip is already out of my mind. It's one thing to imagine being here, but to actually BE here is incredibly worth every penny. I already have so many memories and I'm just out of the gates in scope. People here are so friendly. Yes, you do have the fast city life people, but someone who is a native or just takes the time to live outside the fast lane is so nice. I've already talked to two policeman here and both were actually nice and informative and had no sense of a powertrip about them. It's almost impossible to get lost as people are so helpful in helping you find your way and a tube stop is usually relatively close so I can just get on there and figure it out on the way. There are so many signs in stations that you always know where your are at on or off the tram. It's so cool to even just hear the accents in everyday life. Some are much thicker than others and people from Liverpool are almost speaking another language! haha Some people pronounce "th" as an f. So instead of saying "three" or "through" it becomes "free" or "frew". We went to a pub called Powers the other night and watched a few live acts play. (One of which is a friend of ours from here that one of the girls has a thing for) An interesting observation is that they sing, generally, in an American accent... I don't get it. Another thing, the United States is truly infecting the world... They listen to all of our crappy music here. I was so sad to see this and hear songs like Fergilicious playing. Ouch America. I will do another update soon and upload a ton of pictures tomorrow probably of my latest ventures. I want to thank all of you so much for your support as this is shaping up to be one of the best experiences I'll ever have and I wouldn't be here without influence from most of you at some point in my life. Till next time...

Joel