location location location

the infamous "mind the gap" is actually said each time the doors open on the underground transit system here - aka, the TUBE. its amusing. they also say, "mind the doors" and "stand clear the closing doors". But you can get stuck in them, i saw one guy almost lose his shoulder bag as he was jumping in the train at the last moment, and his bag remained stuck outside the closed door. yikes.

so i thought i would insert the image of the system, to point out where exactly i am being. I think this will be easier to understand than a regular streetmap, as London is so large it is hard to pinpoint things that way. Though please keep in mind, the tube map is distorted and does not properly represent distances or directions. I realize it looks tiny to you, so i will just be general - but if you google the map yourself or go to http://www.tfl.gov.uk/ you can zoom in yourself and understand more clearly what i am saying!

WHERE MY SCHOOL IS:

36 Bedford Square in "Bloomsbury" just off of the legendary Oxford Street (shopping, people, shopping hell).

The Architectural Association : http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/

Closest Tube: Tottenham Court Road station, literally one block away. The red (central) and the black (northern) lines come into that station. It is dead center in the middle of the Tube map, in the dead center of London, near Soho, Hoborn (pronounced: Hoebern), Leicester Square (pronounced: Lester), Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, etc.

Bloomsbury is most known for its Literary history, and is home to University College London and of course the giant British Museum (about two steps away from my school). So if you have a map of London Centre, find the British Museum on it, and thats basically me. Norman Foster did a glassy roof over the interior courtyard. I have yet to go inside an see it. Ooops.

Here is a picture of my school's front entry. Its about 5 levels overall, and also has some back studio spaces beyond a courtyard through the building, etc. Don't get me wrong though, it is SMALL. Interestingly, it was apparently part of London's first planned "suburbia", though now it is included in one of the two most central postcodes in London, WC1 (west central) Yep, the style is Georgian, and the mansion blocks were built to house fairly rich merchants who worked in "the City" (the technical name of the "downtown" neighborhood of London that houses the great banking and financial industries) and wanted to go home to a more pleasant destination in the evenings. In the center of Bedford Square, is a very nice greengreen park, which is private and only Keyholders can enter the gates and use the garden. My school does of course, hold a key. :) [We were to hold our big school picnic there on friday - but it rained so we picnic-ed inside the small lecture hall instead. A bit bizarre.] These other two images are also of Bedford Square, and you can see what it is like in the private garden in the center (just off the road in the nighttime shot)

WHERE MY FLAT (yes, flat!) IS:

135 Isledon Road in "Finsbury Park" which is a Northern neighborhood technically in the borough of Islington. It is directly north of my school, but definately not in walking distance. Its very near Camden Town and also very near Highbury+Islington, and Angel, if you are familiar with some of the more trendy neighborhoods for young people to live and go out in. Finsbury Park is actually a large Park, just north of my house. I haven't been there yet.

Closest Tube: Finsbury Park station, just a few blocks away, about 5 minutes walking (which is very good). The blue line (Piccadilly) and the cyan line (Victoria) lines both go into my tube station, so i can take either line down near to my school, though i then have to either transfer one stop or walk in a bit farther. So far, i'd say it takes me about 30 minutes door to door from my flat to my school. That is quite good for London as well!

The neighborhood at first seems a bit gritty, but actually i have discovered a number of nice places closeby. Also, the next station down, Holloway, also within walking distance, is where there are the larger grocery and other stores.

These pictures are of the front of my building. My flat, which is a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom occupies the upper two floors, the very top windows with the arches are both my room. The two windows below are one of my roommates, and the bay window below that belongs to the people underneath us.

The picture on the left is the approach to Finsbury Park station from my street. The pictures on the right is the neighborhood the giant grocery stores are in nearby. Not exactly glamorous, but you can see the condition of the grey sky which makes everything just oh so bright. (ha)

So this is where i am! I have already gotten quite good at interpreting the bus and nightbus system also, so i believe i can find my way around pretty easily now - yay.