Getting into the Swing of Things

Hello, everybody. Another Monday, another blog post. Another Monday, another day of contentment after a Colts' victory. SUPER BOWL BOUND, BABY! (Sorry, Sam, but the Jets did have me scared there for a while. Amazing how that team's/Rex Ryan's reputation changed in the last month). The Saints scare me less than the Vikings, but we'll see! Enough football (except to say that Favre's INT was one of the worst plays I've ever seen).

It was a good week, all in all. Jillian and I did more cooking, and then for our weekly dinner out went to a (very) local Indian restaurant called Shah Tandoori. It is about a 1 minute walk from our dorm, and had gotten good reviews online. It lived up to our expectations - Jillian was particularly fond of her Chicken Makoni (she was skeptical as to whether or not it was the same as her favorite dish, Chicken Makhani, but it was). Good atmosphere, good food, good prices = good experience. People here do seem to eat dinner later, though, as we were the only ones in the restaurant when we arrived at 6:30, but it was pretty crowded by the time we finished up. 10% student discount too, which we obviously enjoyed.

We've decided to change up some of our meals at home this week, including a soon-to-be-tried attempt at tacos tonight with a taco kit we bought at Sainsbury's. We also have quiche and homemade chicken tikka masala on the menu for later in the week. We'll see how those turn out.

We've been hanging out more with our flatmates, who are very nice. We also have spent a bit of time with the people in the flat across the hall from us - I know one of the guys who lives there from Penn, as he lived in Hill with me freshman year. One of my good friends who also lived in Hill (down the hall) arrived in Manchester a day or two ago, so hopefully we can see her at some point. Jillian's friend from school, Lauren, arrives in London (staying pretty close to us, actually) tomorrow, and her boyfriend Michael arrives in a week or so as well. So we'll be hanging out with them in the days to come. It will be good to see some familiar faces, and Lauren, if you're reading this, good luck with the travels.

Classes were fine this past week. Art History is no good - my fears were confirmed. Our professor spent two hours talking to us about five paintings; she also seemed to pick the five by choosing the least interesting in each room. I frankly just do not care about the shift in the ability of painters to more accurately depict their subjects' knees under a cloak. Not to say I don't appreciate the art in general - I hope to return on my own time to the museums we visit so I can check it all out on my own. International Security is a really interesting class, and I think the seminar (which is essentially just student-led discussions) will be as well - except for one jittery know-it-all who insists on speaking every 5 minutes for 5 minutes. I guess I'm not showing much love in this paragraph, eh? Nothing bad to say about anyone in Developmental Psych; it's fine, I'm just anxious to move on to material about toddlers rather than infants. Scientific data based on how long a baby looks at something, or whether or not it "appeared" to try and move its neck just seems flimsy to me. Like a bad version of animal behavior studies. So hopefully, older children will be interesting (opinions that kind of reflect my views on kids in general, I suppose). We've only had one Psych and Education lecture so far, and that was pretty brutal, but every week is usually a new lecturer and new topic, and the upcoming subjects look more promising than the effect of "school ethos" on children. So we'll see. I'm trying to put to rest Dad's claim that it's only 50-50 in terms of whether or not I'm going to talk about class in each blog. So far, so good.

The weekend was eventful, with trips to Regent Street and Harrod's. We hadn't taken the tube yet until the trip to Harrod's, so I suppose that was noteworthy. Jillian seemed to enjoy the "Mind the Gap" announcement; one of my most distinct memories of my first trip here with Mom and Dad back in '98 is Dad repeatedly saying "Mind the Gap" in a British Accent. The "Food Halls" at Harrod's were incredible: we walked into a big room with candy, gelato, a pizzeria, and a bakery, and walked around for a bit. Marilyn had strongly recommended visiting Harrod's for its food, and everything looked good, but we had had higher expectations. Then we realized that that was simply one room of many. There was a fruit and veggie room, a meat room, a chocolate room, a seafood room, and much, much more. The food all looked great, as there were restaurant-style counters to order food and also groceries available to bring home. Jillian got some sort of blueberry cheese which scares me a little, and I got a toasted baguette with sesame seeds and cheese that was INCREDIBLE. We'll be going back for that baguette. But as a whole, the selection was pretty impressive, so kudos to Marilyn for that recommendation!

Other than that, as the title of this blog demonstrates, I'm pretty settled in here. I did my first load of laundry tonight, and after deciphering the symbols and figuring out which temperatures Celsius I wanted, disaster seems to have been averted. I have come down with my first exposure to British colds - but fittingly, it's a mild and polite fellow, with barely noticeable symptoms. Very well-manned. That about wraps it up - in the midst of writing this entry we stopped for dinner, and the tacos were a success. The Tupperware we were given for free at the local grocery store came in handy. Tomorrow is likely an exception to the weekly dinner out rule, as we will probably go back to Pizza Express for some half-off pizza with Lauren since it is near her apartment. I hope all is well back home, and everyone please say a Mishaberach for Jerraud Powers.

To change it up this week, here is a cultural similarity I have noticed:

The British, like Americans, also seem to hate Scientology. We saw several protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks outside of a nearby Scientology church/store/hideout. At another point we were stopped for a "quick survey" about our happiness and mental health, and after answering three questions were invited (emphatically) into a store to watch a "very short" film. Jillian turned to walk inside before I ended the shenanigans and said "No thanks" and grabbed her to walk away. We later realized the store was in fact, the same Scientology front we had seen protested before.