I'm here!

Well, I am finally here. 5 days ago I arrived in London and it has been one of the most hectic weeks of my life. In those five days I have had class everyday, seen 4 plays (each night but the first), gone out to the local pubs twice and been to the Tate Modern art museum. It has been a week to remember.
We live in an area of London known as Earl's Court. It is very close to the city and quite posh so thanks to the fact that the program provides us with unlimited train and bus travel passes we are all looking forward to seeing much of London before our eight weeks are up.
Yesterday, I had my first London as a Visual Text class. It is a class designed to explore the different visual aspects of London. We discuss how what we see around us affects the way we feel about a particular place. Yesterday we took a brisk walk along the Thames to a boat. We took the boat down the Thames to the Tower Bridge and took pictures and learned about different landmarks along the way. It seems like it is going to be a great class that will surely test all of our walking skills (the prof. is a local Londonite that is quite accustomed to navigating the bustling streets).
The other class I am taking while I am here is London as a Theatrical Text. We have all gotten to know both the profs. for this class quite well by this point as they seem to be serving as our human guidebooks for the city and are our only access to people from the states (they are married and team teach at Beloit). We have had class three times with them and have seen 4 very different but very similarly confusing plays. It is interesting and very challenging to be switching back into these types of classes after being in nothing but Business and Econ. classes for the past year.
Ben Yust, Maggie Mahoney and I went to the Tate Modern art Museum yesterday which was quite the experience. We had to walk about 3 miles (felt like 20) from the Tower Bridge to the museum but once we finally got there is was really great. It was amazing to see Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollack paintings in person for the first time and it is something that anybody who comes to London should check out, even if art isn't your thing.
It is raining out today so I think tonight, because we don't have any structured activities, we will probably go to another museum (they are free, unlike anything else in London). To all of you reading this in the Midwest I just need to laugh because it has been 50+ and sunny the entire time I have been here (until today) and it has been great! Enjoy your snow frigid windchills! Miss you all!