desert scarves and £3 skirts.

Desert scarves are all the rage here. And for only £3, you can have one in any color of the rainbow! I purchased this taffeta skirt from a brilliant place called PriMark yesterday. There isn't exactly a way to compare it to a store in the States except that the prices are about like WalMart's but the clothes are very trendy. It's unbelievable. I wore this with a yellow beret.




So, welcome to the Warwick Avenue Tube stop!



It's the exact place Duffy told me about! Except I'm not actually in a broken relationship with Duffy, so the song wasn't exactly directed towards me...but, close.

The entrance to the Tube is about 2 blocks away from our student flats, which makes travel very convenient. We use the Tube to travel almost everywhere, specifically to visit our communities that we've been assigned to. Mile End is about 35 minute Tube ride. But a newspaper will tide you over for quite a bit.

I don't have as many quality images as I'd like up to this point. So below is just a small sampling of what, hopefully, is many more to come!

When we arrived on Saturday, we were told to do whatever it took to prevent ourselves from falling asleep before 9pm that evening. Sounds easy in theory. But when you can barely get yourself to stabilize on your own two feet, strolling around the city isn't the ideal remedy. We covered a lot of ground, though: two of my flatmates and I visited the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square, and Leicester Square, plus a few streets near our flat- all in one afternoon!

National Gallery (full of hall after hall after hall after...hall of artwork)


Frozen fountain in Trafalgar Square, facing the National Gallery (it's been absolutely brutally cold here!)


When we visited Trafalgar Square the first day, there was a protest against the violence going on between Gaza and Israel. There were thousands of people there; it was an incredible spectacle. There was a man there who frequently draws at the square. I thought this was beautifully appropriate:



Carnival in the center of Leicester Square (similar to Times Square)


Speaking of Leicester Square, there was a movie premiere there tonight for Daniel Craig's new movie, Defiance. We waited for nearly 45 minutes for him to appear on the red carpet. It figures that once our toes had become numb and we were forced to retreat indoors, that he would arrive. Oh well. The appeal of being at a movie premiere was half the fun anyway.



Generally, we've been working in our neighborhoods for most of the morning, coming to class in the afternoons, and have had the evenings free. I've gotten to know a good number of people on the trip and am really enjoying their company. We still have a long list of things to see and do here, but today marks day 4. 20 days left!

More pictures to come; I apologize there aren't more.

Love,
Alexa