We went to this not-so-happening party yesterday..hm..no ,the day before yesterday (coz its abt 6 am here on 24th oct) around here. It was mainly full of undergrads,so we, the 'older' and wiser postgraduates were still deliberating whether or not to go in till 1050 pm (the entry closes at 11).Then we were like wtf,we came to have fun,lets just bloody have it. It was sort of fun. We danced like mad all night,they played even punjabi song. Some not-so-sober people tried to spoil it for us,but anyway we sorta stuck together and had our share. The strange thing was that the guys who were drunk were acting stone sober and the one guy who was sober was acting like a saala sharabi lol. He was singing pyar mein pagal type old hindi songs all the way back (at 2 am and in London lol).

Today's party plan turned out to be a fiasco..Three of us had gone,two of us (including me) didnt have an age proof,so we weren't allowed in. Unfortunately our college ID doesn't show our DOB. Sad,na..we just came back after strolling through Central London. I had gone with my hair done and all that,that's a highly unusual occurrence lol.

Then...my best friend is coming to visit me tomorrow...I will be seeing her after 2 years...am soooo excited that I can't sleep....:D

Belated Happy Diwali...!!!

We went to this Swaminarayan temple at Neasden yesterday. The temple is pretty and all that,people who actually know about it said that it is like the one in Akshardham . Then I was like..Oh..I know that one,some terrorist attck happened there,right??? Everyone was looking at me like I am the ultimate Gawar lol. That is how pious I am..and seriously, I don't get the concept of the ultimate God and all other deities being his incarnations and all that. I mean,it is okay for the people who actually believe in all that,but just don't try to convince me!!! Well,there were fireworks too,they were pretty much ok-ok type,nothing to write home about. the whole thing was fun just because we went in a big group and all of us are like regular,fun-loving people.

This friday night, I got really really drunk for the first time ever..It was sort of a Friday night party. The guys had bought wine and gin and beer.( I don't like the taste of beer so I don't look that way twice). I had wine....and lots of it,like 7 glasses (:D) and 3 glasses of Gin. Well,the bottomline is, I have decided not to mix and drink ever again. I didn't puke or anything,but was in such a bad condition that my friends had to take me to my room,I couldn't walk at all. Actually everyone was pretty drunk so it was more like the case of the blind leading the deaf lol.

Well,I didn't get much of a hangover either. I got up at like 10 and I was fine,only I wasn't able to eat anything for a longgg time even though I was starving!!!

Doodling....Doodling....Doodling........
Attention drifts...(not having stayed in the lecture even for 5 mins)..Mind goes back and forth...back and forth...And also..in all directions (lol)

This is what happens to me in Research methods lecture. The Professor is quite good. He is funny,friendly,and would've been pretty great in any other topic.He's totally wasted on this though.It is such a horrible,super-dry topic.

We had to hand in some research report today (which is the only reason I went there,since he had made clear in the first lecture itself that attendance was strictly voluntary ),on some journal we'd supposedly read during the week. I finished it yesterday. I really can't work without a deadline to my head,I'm so bloody lazy.

This weekend is dedicated to Diwali. I guess we are going to some temple someplace,like 3 hours or so journey from here. I might wear a saree (which is highly unlikely,but I might give in to peer pressure. Honestly I can't travel in that,definitely not in this cold). Fireworks at night and all that. Should be fun,with such a lot of people.

My weekend starts tonight. Thursday is my favorite day of the week now,lol.

I have 1 more hour of this lecture to endure...sigh....deep breathing...snore... :D

P.S: I wrote this in the lecture and am publishing it at 330 am lol..

Another week begins...sigh!!!!

My week begins on Tuesday because that is the day when my classes start. Btw I have classes only 2 days,Tue and Thurs,that too in the evening :). Too good,na?? Ideal mahoul to get lazy lol,not that I need any reason for that.

So my weekend is extra long,it starts on Thursday night and lasts till Monday evening. I reserve Tue morning for looking through my notes and stuff so I don't look totally lost during my lecture ;). Wednesday evening I sorta give private tuition for a GCSE kid,yes me,the teacher lol ;).

I did some shopping this weekend. Bought a camel coloured leather jacket which is amaaaaazing-looking ( I can't say anything about the quality since I bought it from Primark,sort of a British Big Bazaar,but it looks truly awesome). My friend saw it first and had set her heart on it,but I took it ;)..I sort of had a black one already and it looked sooo smart that I had to take it...kinda broke her heart..(well,I was open to us walking about,looking like twins wearing the same jacket,only she wasn't too keen about it. She prob gave in coz I am lak really young to her). And I bought another great pair of boots with a tiny teeny heel...Black this time..am gonna start breaking it in today..That means sore foot and salt water dip in the evening lol.

On an average I see 2 movies per day nowadays. Am sort of becoming useless owing to the weird timings of classes,and insomniac too. I can't sleep till 4 or so in the morning and I get up at something like 9. The air of London is sure tampering with my biological clock!!!!

PS: Did I mention,we have a really cool group in the student housing...:D

Note: This is born out of my boredom. You don't have to read this.

1) My parents left this saturday..That feels good and bad at once...I feel a li'l alone,but its okayy,not too bad..

2) There was this Diwali party at Trafalgar square gone sunday. I went with friends from the student housing.Lots of Indians here. It was funnn.. We did Garba n all..:D.N I rode the bus in London for the first time. Well,I hate buses as a rule,so hopefully won't need to use them from now on..lol

3)I miss Paulettan quite a bit...I remember how excited he was when I told that I'd gotten through here. I hate not being able to fill him in of all that has beeen going on around here. I miss his silly jokes, his booming laugh and more than everything else,the warmth of his presence...I believe he is watching over me from wherever he is...

4)I'm mostly suffering from a constant lethargy over here. Don't feel like doing anything besides sleeping n watching movies. Maybe it is the weather...maybe I'm just getting lazyy..(so what else is new..)..hope it doesn't last too long..

Its one of the rare moments when the net connection in my room is working..sigh!! I was sooo happy yesterday that it was working in the evening and then...wham!! its off again.. So there's no saying whether I'll get to post this or not,but still....

Statutory warning: This post's bound to be pretty long. so you may start yawning already..lol

About the boat trip....The boat trip: Our uni had organised this boat trip through the Thames for the International students as part of the Welcome programme. It was soooooo amazing..It was very very very cold..the type that chills through to your bones...but it was amaaazing...We boarded the boat from Tower Pier,you know the place where the Tower of London is (which houses the crown jewels,including our own Kohinoor). There were like, I dunw some 100-120 ppl,Indians,Pakistanis,Bangladeshis,Chinese....It was really really really greatt!!It was very very cold,with the normal chilly weather here and the draft from the Thames...But I got to meet looaads of ppl,see looots of places...We saw the London bridge,Tower bridge,Westminster Abbey,British Moveum,London Eye,Big Ben,The monument..........It was kinda guuuddd funnn....

The bus trip was nothing grt,nuthing to write home about. We were expecting an open top hop-n-jump bus,but what we got was a regular boarded up coach,and a guide who kept talking n talking n talking..n what was worse was that we were just shown all the great places just from the outside,you know..See, over there is the King's Cross station,That is the baker Street ..that sorta thing...quite boring.The only place where we were let out was the Buckingham palace. We saw the queen's guards with their weird hats standing like statues and their elaborate salutes and all. We couldn't see the change of guard as it happens in the morning and we went in the afternoon. There are supposedly 5 types of Queens' guards- the brigadier guards,scottish guards,welsh guards,irish guards n one other kind whose name sorta escaped( could be english though lol). They have to stand still on end for like 2 hours and then they are given 4 hours break,nice,eh??

Well I did explore some of the London city,by myself,with my parents and with friends. My parents went to the Madame Tussaud's Museum and the Baker Street,the lair of Sherlock Holmes. I missed out on those two which were the ones I badly wanted to see coz of some enrolment stuff in my college. Well I have 1 year over here,I'll find time someday :). Well those places sound and seem pretty terrific,I'll just have to go and see.

The Hyde Park is toooooo long for my taste. All things inside that were miles apart. There is the Princess Diana memorial fountain,the Kensington palace gardens,Serpentine bridge,Queen's temple,Flower walk,Peter Pan and some boating inside in the lake. The Diana memorial Fountain was a bit of a disappointment. Since we had walked in from the side of the park near the Duke of Wellington Arch, we had to practically walk till the far end of it to reach the fountain,n when we finally reached it...It was just some body with water running around a lawn,it is supposed to reflect her life or something like that..hhmm!!!

Now comes my favourite,the visit to the London Eye. It is a giant ferris wheel with each enclosure holding upto 20 ppl and they take you around just once,very slowly so you can enjoy the city view from the skyline;),n the tickets are sort of expensive too 17.50 pounds per adult andthere's no concession for students;(. It was wonderfulll...especially because we went in the evening. To see the Westminster abbey and the Big ben and the Tower Bridge and the St.paul's Church lit up from above was a greatt experience. You can't possibly distinguish between the different buildings and all in the dark all that well,but the view is pretty terrific all the same.I probably am not doing much justice to it ,describing it this way,you have too see it to know it,or atleast see a picture.:)

My mom's favourite was probably our visit to Stratford Upon Avon,the birthplace of The Bard,William Shakespeare. It is about 3 hours drive from the main city of London. Seeing the English Countryside of which we've read a lot through Famous Five and Five Findouters and all was thoroughly invigorating. Stratford upon Avon is a small town,whose only claim to fame is the fact that Will Shakespeare was born there some 400 years ago. We went during the weekend,so the roads were all blocked and some sort of farm fair was going on,the kind where you get to buy goat's milk cheese and cured ham and bacon n stuff. There is a combo pass you can buy which covers Shakespeare's houses and gardes,ie,the house where he was born,his wife Anne Hathaway's house,The New Place and Nash's house(the new house Shakespeare bought which was demolished and his granddaughter's place next door),Hall's Croft(Shakespeare's daughter and son-in-laws' house),and Mary Arden's(Shakespeare's mother) house. Anne Hathaway's cottage and Mary Arden's house were slightly out of town,and we had to be back the same day so we visited the Shakespeare found Exhibition and Shakespeare's grave instead(Btw the tickets are valid for a whole year so I can go back any time during the year and see them again).

Maintenance of all these places is pretty amazing. The furniture and the walls and the floor all have been maintained and some been fabricated to obtain authenticity as far as possible. It was an amazing feeling thinking that probably you are tracing the steps The Bard walked some 4 centuries ago.....His grave is in a Church nearby called the Holy Trinity Church,surrounded by the graves of his wife,daughter and son-in-law,and granddaughter's husband.

No adventures today,the tube's down,lots of repairing work going on..n am taking a break from all the travelling. My classes are gonna start on the day after...:)

Well,....so...Am in London. Reached a couple of days ago.. Been having welcome programmes and local tours and seminars about every other way of adjusting to a different culture etcetera etcetera.... Oh and there is some issue with the internet connection in my students housing. The connection is 'sporadic' it seems. So am relying on the student computer room at coll to type this :). Its not too bad btw.

About my college.. It is called Queen Mary,University of London. I've heard its quite gud. The infrastructure is sorta great..N my housing's nice too. Its called Stocks Court n is some 5 min walk from the campus. I had some prob initially to find my way around the campus,but now am getting better at it. :). There are some pretty cool hangouts inside.. I haven't seen the library yet. where,I've been told that I will have to actually spend loaaadss of time unlike in our place lol.Also I've not met a single person from my course of study..I've been meeting lots of Indians all over the place though. But I've been told (well,warned is more like it i ges) that I shudn't just stick with the Indians all the time by one of my best friends :).

The main thing these ppl keep telling us over and over again and again in the workshops is that u shud b careful with ur money n belongings ,u shud never take a route through aany secluded area after dark n sooo on..The way they had been carrying on about it,it sounds like the crime capital of the world. Well,I know it is better to be safe than sorry and all that..but still I can't help feeling thatthese ppl are tooooo cautious as a race.

I have this boat trip through the Thames scheduled later this evening and a London Bus Tour on Thursday..Am excitedd...:D.

PS: The weather s sorta nice,cool,ooty type lol. :)