Day 1 in BERLIN!

Danke!

As you can see, I haven't been updating my blog as often as I'd hoped I would. Tomorrow will mark the end of my first week in Europe and I have to say each day has been an adventure full of sightseeing, discovering, and MAJOR walking. It's funny...my friends and I have been asked by several people if we've experienced culture shock, and to be honest I feel like I've been living a life of culture shock. Ask me more about that when I get back, but seriously, I have nothing but good things to say about life outside of being American.

So, this post will be a recap of all things in London and hopefully I'll touch base on some of the things we've been doing in Germany, but I'm hoping to do a full Berlin post tomorrow. I'm working on my German and I've been told my accent is very good, so we'll see if this Korean girl can work it on the streets in Berlin when we visit again as a class later in October.

Since my last...and first post, my European scope has expanded beaucoup.

Of course it starts with making my musician's pilgrimage to the Abbey Studios, where the Beatles recorded their infamous music. The wall just outside the studios are covered with signatures and stupid Americans, of course, have to make their mark by signing in big letters "Americans! F*** Yeah!" I think instead of teaching us US History in school, they should teach us how to be civilized...LOL.


This is the actual recording studio. Can you hear the music? "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far awaaaaaay...."


One thing about London, they love their monuments (I guess that could apply to the rest of Europe) and the coolest thing is, they incorporate them into street nodes so that pedestrians and motorists alike can appreciate the history of where they're driving. I suppose you can't really do that in America...since we don't have centuries of history...plus we have people driving in Hummers, which could potential destroy the monuments anyways.


But aside from monuments, you can also enjoy driving on the wrong side of the road. Gabi told us that they put these warning signs on big intersections so that tourist pedestrians look the right way before crossing the street. Yeah, it takes a while to get used to...don't look left, LOOK RIGHT.


Double decker buses and mail drops are pretty common and easy to find...they're red!


We also walked along Regent's Canal.


There's an area along it called Little Venice...you can imagine why...


And there are rich areas along Regents Canal, as well as a zoo and an aviary.


At the end of the Canal, is Camden Town, a shopping area with fringe culture shops and vintage stores. Think Melrose, but London cool.


It's just sidewalk shop after sidewalk shop of clothes, accessories, and FOOD! There's a lot of "oriental" stuff from Cambodia, Japan, Morocco, and India.


Food is not native to England (because besides beer and fish & chips...). So, there's a lot of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Mexican, Italian, French foods (not authentic, mind you). This is a food court, all nicely tucked away under a cozy roof.


More shops...


And then we went on the tube to the center of town.


TO SEE BRIDGES!!!...and stuff. We walked along the Thames River. If you're in London, this is a must. Especially because the English make it a point to keep the path continuous for MILES. My archy friends and I think that building codes require a setback from the River so that people are able to walk freely. That's the Tower Bridge behind me...the English love their bridges.


The pathway's even big enough for ice cream trucks! "Mind that CHILD!" Translation..."Caution, children"


And there's even exhibits along the path so that annoying tourists can take obnoxious pictures. I almost knocked the guitar down as I tried to lean on it with my excessive American power. They're all signed by the artist and a musician...we saw one with Rod Stewart's autography.


There were people also playing Bachi ball in the covered courtyard of a building next to the Thames River.


Across the Tower Bridge is the London Tower, where people were tortured in the medieval times. Guys tend to like this one...but we didn't go in because of the fact that the conversion from pounds to dollars is 2:1. Needless to say, we enjoyed it from outside.


We walked for miles and saw the replacement London Bridge...and Fergie, it ain't that nice. The REAL one is actually in Arizona, but that's not nearly as exciting as it being in London among its sister bridges.


Here's the Millenium Bridge. It's a pedestrian bridge that was designed by Norman Foster and structured by Arup (the Walmart of construction). It leads to cool destinations on the other side...the tall tower is part of the Tate Modern, a museum.


And the Shakespeare Globe! HEAR YE, HEAR YE!


I thought it was cool that we got to chill and have a Cadbury 99 Flake next to the Shakespeare Globe. So, for those of you who want to learn some slang, a 99 is just a soft-serve ice cream. Soft-serve ice cream is actually called a "softie" and the Cadbury softie used to be 99pence. So, for short, it's called a 99. The flake is just the chocolate stick...it's just flakey.


Here's the inside of the Tate Modern Museum. We went in because Gabi said the entry sequence was cool...we were just being architects.


Then we made our way to get a tour of the firm, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), London. KPF is a huge architecture firm with buildings all over the world and they only do large-scale commercial stuff. They have firms in New York, London, and Shanghai. We got a tour from Tim Oh, who is a good friend of Courtney's USC Architecture Guild mentor. I have to say, I didn't see many Asians until we started walking around the KPF office.


Tim showed us the crazy models they do...but with laser cutters (cheaters...).


After the tour, Tim invited us to go to the local pub for a drink with his coworkers. This is a nightly ritual, apparently.


So, at the pub, no one sits...they all stand and enjoy their drink on the crowded street (because it's legal to occupy the sidewalk with an open drink). Sorry mom and dad, but the English are famous for their beer (I didn't finish it anyways, but just for reference, it was a London Pride...a warm one at that).


There are the guys from KPF we were talking to the most. Left with the curly hair is Will, the guy in the black shirt is Eric, and there's Tim.


After the pub we were all hungry...so FISH & CHIPS! But I had a chicken pot pie...fried foods are not my cup of tea.


That's it! My friends are yelling at me to get off the computer so we can explore more of Berlin. Unfortunately, I have more pictures from London, so I might do another later!

Miss you all! *Muah*