Well, today got off to a rocky start. I left the dorms later than I wanted, but with what I thought was still enough time to get to the 10am orientation at the law school. After yesterday's meanderings, I had plotted out a more direct route to walk to school. Unfortunately, I got turned around and quickly lost. I had to ride the Tube to get there and still ended up being late. Fortunately I didn't miss too much.
My first class started immediately after orientation. It's Public International Law, and looks to be an interesting course. Our professor is from Scotland and seems very excited about international law, which is a big plus. It also sounds like we'll be discussing very contemporary subjects. It's a relatively small class (roughly 20 students) comprised of American students (many from ND, but several from other U.S. law schools) and a large contingent of Aussies from ND's Australian campus.
Right after Public International Law I have European Union Law. This course is taught by Professor Moens (hailing from Belgium, but he teaches at the Australian campus), who came highly recommended from a now rising 3L who did the London Programme last summer. He seems quite entertaining, which is good since I also have him for International Business Law. The course is a little intimidating, as I don't know too much about the formation of the EU (such as, which countries joined when - something Prof. Moens seems to think is general knowledge). The course got off to a less than exciting start as we went through a number of treaties as background material (including a lot of accession treaties detailing which countries joined when). After we get through some of the background material though, I think this class will be pretty interesting.
This wrapped up my classes for the day, and it was time to buy some books. I actually got to the book store without incident (save a wrong turn that landed me in Knockturn Alley rather than Diagon Alley, and - um, nevermind). I purchased two large books for my PIL class and trekked home.
Yesterday I took a meandering tour of the city. By meandering, I really mean that I wandered the streets of London with a digital camera and no map. Of course I looked at one before I left, but that was hardly enough to keep me on track.
A few words on the streets of London are in order. First off, very few streets travel in a straight line. The streets are oftentimes poorly marked. There are no street signs on posts like in the U.S.; instead, there are (sometimes) signs posted on the buildings at the intersection. The maps I looked at were not terribly detailed, and there are lots - and lots, and then some more - of little side streets and alleys. There are also lots of squares (many of which are circular in shape) and gardens that the streets jog around. The streets around these squares or gardens usually bear the name of said square/garden, but I haven't yet figured out an indication of direction. For example, my dorm is on Tavistock Square. There are four streets around Tavistock Square called Tavistock Square. And to add to the confusion, there's frequently another road that leads into the square that bears a similar name (near my dorm, it's Tavistock Place).
The main purpose of my outing was to scout out the location of ND's campus (just off of Trafalgar Square), which is about a mile and a half from the dorm in which I'm residing. I did eventually find it, but not after traipsing through Picadilly Circus, strolling though Chinatown, and passing Westminster Abbey. I also saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and the big Ferris Wheel (ok, the British Airways London Eye to be more specific).
After finding the innocuous building that houses ND's London facilities and finding out that it was locked up, I decided to catch a quick bite to eat and head back. Now since I didn't take a very direct route from the dorms, retracing my steps would be terribly inefficient and hard to remember. I headed off in the direction which I thought was about right, but I was a little off and ended up well east and a bit south of Tavistock Square. Since I'd been walking around for about four hours at this point and had a ways to go before I'd be back in the dorms, I acceded to the complaints of my feet and took the Tube back to within a few blocks of Tavistock Square.
You can find photographic highlights of my trek (in addition to some pictures of my living quarters) here. Be sure to read the captions for details.
Well, I'm currently sitting in Port Columbus awaiting the first leg of my journey across the pond. After a quick flight to Chicago (yes, I'm flying west to go east), I'll be on my way to London. Despite the ungodly hour, I'm pretty excited. I wasn't expecting free internet access here at the airport, but it looks like I've lucked out. If O'Hare offers the same wireless amenities I'll post a quick update during my layover.
I'm not exactly sure what it is, but there's something exciting about flying. While I'm not exactly a frequent flier, I've been on enough planes that one would expect the novelty to have worn off. But I still get a thrill out of walking through the airport, boarding the plane, and taking off.
And there's also the adventure of traveling to new and exotic locales. This will be my first trip to London, and I've been looking forward to visiting since discovering that Notre Dame has a study abroad program there. Of course I'll miss my friends and family, but I hope to keep in touch via email, postcards, and regular blog updates. If anyone has questions, suggestions, etc, feel free to email me or leave a comment. And if any of you would like a post card, email me your current address and I'll do my best to fulfill your requests.
