Friday, February 23, 2007

The Old Curiosity Shop


Amongst the cool buildings that we walk by on our way to school everyday is the 'The Old Curiosity Shop'. In fact, it is basically located on the LSE campus. This shop inspired one of Charles Dickens' most famous novel entitled 'The Old Curiosity Shop' which was published back in 1841. The shop was built in 1567 and is a popular tourist attraction. On any given day there are groups of tourists taking pictures of the shop.... Today, I thought to myself: "Why not?". So, here is my picture.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Les animaux sauvages à Londres!

Certains d’entres vous pensent peut-être que je suis en train de perdre l’idée mais ce n’est pas le cas. Bon, il y a peine trente seconde, je suis assise a mon bureau tout prêt de la fenêtre en train de manger une bonne pizza tranquillement. Tout a coup… j’entends: "grrrou grrrou"… je me retourne et je prend presqu’un attaque de cœur lorsque je me retourne et il y a un "bip bip" de pigeon sur mon sofa dans mon appartement ! Bon, il va s’en dire qu’un beau crie s’en aie suivi et je ne suis pas certaine qui est-ce qui a eu plus peur moi ou le pigeon !

Sérieusement, ca serait une drôle d’histoire si c’était la première fois que quelque chose du genre m’étais arrivée mais voici une liste d’incidents à date qui est trop longue à mon goût:

Février 2007
Pour la Saint-Valentin, Alex, mon petit neveu, m’a donné une boite de chocolats Laura Secord. Par malheur, j’ai laissé la boîte de chocolat sur la table de cuisine et la fenêtre ouverte de quelques centimètres. A ma très grande déception, lorsque je suis retournée a l’appartement… Surprise! Mes chocolats, à moitié dévorés, étaient éparpillés à la grandeur de l’appartement. Un petit écureuil c’était faufilé par la fenêtre!!! Oui, Annick était extrêmement frustrée! Perdre une bonne boîte de chocolats… En plus, des chocolats Laura Secord ca n’existent pas en Angleterre !

Janvier 2007
Un samedi après midi j’étais assise toute seule a la bibliothèque du collège en train de faire mes devoirs. Tout allait bien et tout était tellement paisible. Je pouvais entendre de loin, la musique classique qui était joué dans la pièce a côté… Lorsque tout a coup je reçois un coup sur le bord de la figure. Ce n’est pas des blagues ! Bien entendu, je suis tombée en bas de ma chaise et je lâché un de ses cris ! Imaginez-vous donc qu’un petit oiseau s’est faufilé dans la bibliothèque par l’entremise d’une fente d’environ 5 centimètre de la fenêtre qui était entrouverte !

Décembre 2006
C’était la dernière journée de cours avant les vacances de Noel, je revenais au collège lorsque un renard s’est planté en plein devant moi au beau milieu de la rue. Ne savant pas trop quoi faire, j’ai cru bon marcher vers lui en espérant qu’il aurait peur… mais non, le renard était planté la a me regarder dans les yeux… bon, c’est moi qui a donc modifier mon chemin… vraiment des renards en plein centre-ville??? C’est quoi l’affaire? Apparemment qu’il y a environ 10 000 renards au centre ville de Londres !!! Bizarre!

Alors, ma nouvelle résolution: Je pense que je vais commencer à m’habituer a la chaleur… je n’ouvre plus les fenêtres… pauvre Greg ca risque d’être pénible étant donnée qu’il n’y a pas d’air climatisé! Pour ce qui est des renards je ne pense pas pouvoir y faire grand-chose ! C’est quand même drôle… il semble y avoir plus de vie sauvage a Londres qu’a Tremblay!!!

Sunday, February 18, 2007

An Evening at the Royal Albert Hall

Cool picture huh? I'm pretty proud of it! That's where we were on Friday evening. We are really fortunate; our college has box seats to the Royal Albert Hall. We were able to enjoy the performance at a very moderate price. So, what was the performance? We went and saw Her Majesty's Royal Marines Band as part of the Mountbatten Festival of Music. It was so much fun! It made for a very "English" evening with songs such as "God Save the Queen" and "Rule Britannia". Not only did they play patriotic traditional music but they also played popular songs. Overall, it was quite a fantastic night! Just being in the Royal Albert Hall is an experience in and of itself. No wonder it has been called one of the most famous event venues in the world. Below are some more pictures.

Friday, February 16, 2007

A Lavish Affair...

Last night was Greg's faculty dinner organized by our College. These dinners are organized throughout the year for different disciplines represented at the College. College members have to invite a guest from their school faculty to attend. Greg invited his Human Rights Law Professor whom proved to be a fantastic guest! The conversation was great!

This was one formal affair, Greg ended up sitting with quite the lively crowd, his Human Rights Law Professor, a well-renowned criminal law barrister and one funny guy from the BBC. On the other hand, I was sitting with Major General Richie, the director of our college, a constitutionnal law professor, the wife of a Law Lord and a few practitioners. Amongst the interesting facts of the night included a discussion about wigs! Yes, lawyers in England do wear these wigs like you see in old movies. I have to admit, if we had to wear those in Canada not sure I would have opted for the legal profession!!! So, turns out that the older the wig the better! One lawyer was really proud to claim that his wig was over 100 years old... Honestly, not sure if that's such a great thing! I also learned that most young lawyers don't own their own wig because they are so expensive! So, they share the wigs with older lawyers! I haven't decided how I feel about this whole thing just yet...

Going back to the dinner, I came to realize that the English can bring the meaning of 'formality' to an entire new level. So, after dinner, a gavel nocks on the table... everyone stands up to toast "Our Patron the Queen". Then, a few minutes later... once again a few gavel nocks on the table: "Ladies and Gentleman, a toast to the heads of State represented at the College". I have never experienced anything like this before... To put it in context, the dinner took place in the "Harry Potter Dinning Hall" that's how the students call it... The lights were dimmed and the tables were lit by candle light.... Most men in the room were wearing tuxedos... which made me giggle because Greg wished he had one... my reaction to all of this... he didn't wear one for our wedding... so no point of getting one now! ;o) Overall, a very interesting evening!

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Youpie de la visite! Andrea, Paul and Alex in London!

Les derniers jours ont été des plus amusants! Alex, Andrea et Paul sont venus nous visiter! Alors, les derniers jours ont été consacrés a jouer les touristes! Vraiment, il n'y a rien de plus amusant! Alex est absoluement fasciné par le vas-et-viens de Londres! Il y a tellement d'autobus et de taxi qu'il ne peut s'empêcher de rigoler a chaque fois qu'il vois soit un autobus ou encore un taxi... alors, c'est un petit bonhomme de bonne humeur a chaque fois qu'on se promène!

On Tuesday, we went for a beautiful walk through Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Buckingham Palace. On Wednesday we visited the Tower of London. Greg and Paul also managed to visit the British Museum. We had a fantastic time! But, the best so far, has been going to Harrod's. Alex had a fabulous time! We took the crowded tube to Kensington. At every stop Alex was yelling: More! He truly enjoyed the tube ride! Then, when we walked in the toy section at Harrods... I think he thought this was a dream... they had tones of teddy bears and toys for kids to play with! It was a real joy to see him running from one toy to another laughing and in such good spirits! We had a fantastic time! Tonight, we are off for some Italian Food at our favorite restaurant then tomorrow a big day awaits us... who knows where we will end up... the Natural History Museum, the London Zoo, Regent's Spark, St-Paul's Cathedral... So much to do... so little time!

Friday, February 02, 2007

The past couple of days... library, whisky and bagpipes...

Ah the life of a student! The past couple of days have been spent in the library... We found time though to keep up with the social life. On Wednesday our College organized a Scottish night in honor of Robby Burns Day. It was fantastic! As we were eating in the dining hall in good company of our Singaporean friends, a Scottish regalia walked in playing bagpipe. Then, off I was to a whisky tasting evening! What a fun evening! The guy in charge of the event was quite a character! Greg on the other hand managed to go out with friends from the College to an old english pub dating back to the 1600s'. Oh yes, life as a student is tough!
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