Orientation, Produce, etc.

Well let's see. Two days ago I went to the Tate Modern (we were going to see the Klimt exhibit but oh wait, that's in the Tate Liverpool) after walking a long way along the Thames and ordering a £4 smoothie for lunch (not worth it). What's nice about the Tate and all the other free museums in Britain is that they're used for so much more than just the galleries; tons of people were just hanging out and eating lunch in the absolutely massive entrance hall (the building used to be a power station and is featured in both Children of Men and on a Pink Floyd album cover). I hope that I can somehow utilize this space when the homework starts getting piled on.

The next day we had our big lengthy orientation meeting, in which a few people talked to us with absolutely incomprehensible accents and our program director explained, among other things, the program's field trips. We're going to Bruges and Dublin, but perhaps just as cool is the trip to Stratford-upon-Avon to see a production of Hamlet featuring Patrick Stewart and Doctor Who. This is pretty much the coolest thing.

Today we went to Camden, which is filled with open-air markets and food stalls and a surprisingly huge variety of things. I found some t-shirts that had little transparent compartments on front that had Star Wars Lego figures inside. I'd imagine it'd be painful to be punched in the chest if there were a tiny plastic figurine lodged inside your shirt. There were also a lot of punks walking around, but a lot of them seemed to be employed by leather stores and the Doc Martens shop in order to hold signs advertising their stores. There was also a guy who described himself as the most pierced man alive, which I guess becomes more of a profession than an aesthetic choice after a certain point.

The best parts of Camden were food-related though. For one, I'm really excited that this city is as obsessed with international cuisines as I am, and the stalls and stalls of ethnic food in the market just made me all the more excited. I got an empanada for £1 at an Argentine stall. We also found a bunch of produce stands which had cilantro and limes and a lot of other really cheap pretty good produce that's a lot cheaper than it would be in a grocer. Upon returning home I made turmeric potatoes and really garlicky dal and both turned out fantastic.

Given the price of food here, it's a shame that I spend so much time thinking about it. But I do pretty much spend most of my time here thinking about food.

Speaking of which, tomorrow begins the Notting Hill Carnival, the biggest carnival outside the Caribbean. There is going to be so much good food (and music and costumes and everything else) and I'm tremendously excited.

Alissa is cutting Thomas's hair, despite absolutely no haircutting ability. I just googled 'man bangs' and got mostly porn.