Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.

A day behind.

Today’s my last day with internet since I’m a cheapskate and refuse to pay for a full extra week when there are only one and a half days left of my trip.

Yesterday was just a regular day of lectures.  In the morning we had Camelia Csora from Elsevier and Ruth Jones from Ingram Digital.  Both presentations were very good, but Ms. Jones’ had to be the best of the course.  She didn’t just pimp her company but talked about e-publishing in general, trends, and her opinions about what was happening now.  She was really smart and funny.

The afternoon visit to Nature Publishing bored me.  Not sure why.  I think because the room was so warm, it was after lunch, and the presentations were sort of general.  I find that when marketing people speak, it’s not as dynamic since the marketing people don’t work directly on the projects (at least in my own marketing experience).

But when the people who are directly involved in the projects speak, like the guy at ProQuest talking about the Paley Center database, then it’s interesting because they’re excited and know all the cool stuff about the project.

I’ve also found the Scottish speakers to be much livelier.  Though a few of the Brits were good, a few were basically talking comas.

We were near King’s Cross train station so I went in to find the Harry Potter replica.  There were some girls there also taking pictures, and one insisted on taking mine:

I think you can see me blushing from here.

From King’s Cross I walked to Russell Square.  I had heard there were a lot of shops around there, but there weren’t, at least not that I could find.  It was no loss because there was a pretty park with a lovely arbor:

From there I walked to Somerset House, which one of my friends had recommended.  I walked on King’s Way, which totally got me lost the last time I walked it, or rather  I got myself lost.  But this time I knew where I was on the map and made it to my destination.

It was a beautiful day.

It’s only as I’m nearing my stay that I’ve finally figured out my immediate area.  In the beginning I’d keep walking all the way down Tottenham Court Road, past my turn off so that I ended up looping around to get to Charlotte Street.  Finally yesterday I realized where to get onto Goodge Street, where all the restaurants are.

For dinner I picked up a curry chicken katsu for 4.90 with a side of Japanese pickles for 1.90.  In the morning I had an OJ for 1.50, lunch was Pret for 3.94, and then a snack of Pret yogurt and water for 3.49.  Grand total: 15.73, still under budget.

I spent the evening doing laundry, Skyping with MB, and playing with my pictures.  This morning I ironed my outfits for the rest of my stay.  Today and tomorrow we have an e-publishing conference, and I’m wearing business casual, though I’m not sure what the dress code is.  We don’t have to be there till about 10.

This morning I also Skyped with MB one last time.  He was still up at 3 in the morning.  I heard the weather is awful in New York, rainy and chilly one minute, then rainy and hot the next.  Bummer, but I’ll be so glad to be home.

All London Day 11 pictures.

It’s only 8:30 but I’m in for the night. It’s rather cloudy and chilly right now so I don’t feel lame.

This morning, after the strange dreams, I got to breakfast a little later and ran into a few people. It was nice to chit chat before the lectures.

The first talk was excellent. Alastair Dunning from JISC talked about digitizing “cultural heritage,” which is complicated by the problems of proper metadata (adding the proper info to, say, thousands of digital photos), data modeling (eg, putting pictures with metadata in Excel – not feasible!), dissemination (eg, trying to play a video from PowerPoint), and accessible files.

He illustrated each with concrete examples – a digital file of his great-grandmother’s postcards, a video link from his presentation that wouldn’t work, etc. It was one of the best talks so far.

The second talk was all right. It was interesting to hear how the university system is set up in Greece, but the whole thing went on too long, especially for a session before lunch.

In the afternoon we went to Thompson Reuters. Some of the info was interesting, but it was essentially a sales pitch. Another proud of myself moment: that division does a lot of work with my company and others like it, so I went up and introduced myself at the end of presentation. Score one for the shy girl!

Afterwards a group of us walked over the Trafalgar Square. One woman wanted to take the train from there, one wanted to walk around that area, and two of us went to the National Gallery, though once we got in, we each went on our own.

I sort of breezed through the museum. I was tired and wanted to get back into time to Skype with MB. (We had an 8 PM Skype date.) I spent about an hour there, then a shorter time at the National Portrait Gallery.

View of Trafalgar Square from the National Gallery

On my way back I stopped for Korean (yes, again!) and ordered the shin ramen, which turned out to be very similar to those spicy instant Korean noodles. That plus dumplings and a soda was 16 pounds, the priciest meal I’ve had so far. I figured what the hell since I spent less than 9 pounds earlier in the day for lunch and snacks.

Skyping with MB was fun, though, like I said, I felt all self-conscious. It almost felt like it wasn’t him, like it was a date with someone very much like him. A virtual date, I suppose.

Tomorrow: the Tate Modern, the Dali Museum, and the South Bank.

All Day 6 pictures.

I finally bit the bullet and bought a voucher for internet in my room. It was too much trouble running around with my laptop looking for free wireless. At this point I only need a week, which is 8 pounds. For two weeks it’s 12 pounds – well, actually for a month it’s 12, but you can only get either a week or a month.

If you want, you can read about Days 1 and 2, Day 3, and Day 4. Ah the powers of blog backdating!

This morning’s lectures were fairly interesting. Andy talked about the problem of publishing monographs (i.e, very expensive) and how publishing electronically would be an improvement. Also someone from John Wiley & Sons talked about online learning systems, causing some heated debate with our dean who doesn’t like the idea of online universities, despite the fact that this is the only way some people get to earn a degree.

After lunch we to the British Library for a tour.

It’s a beautiful space, but it’s definitely not a public library. You have to bascially apply to be able to use the books, and you can’t just use the space, you have to be using the materials. It’s more like special collections (rare books and manuscripts, art monographs, etc.).

The guide was smart but had somewhat of a superiority complex. He said everything in a joking way, but who knows. He made fun of American English spelling – like dropping “u” from “color” so that a British person wouldn’t be able to find “The Color Purple” in their system – yeah cuz “programme” makes a lot more sense than “program.” He also seemed to have no idea about the Kindle. And he wasn’t old. Maybe in his late 40s.

After the tour, we all stayed to check out the rare books on display, including the Magna Carta. Very cool.

I was going to go to the National Gallery but it was already 5 by the time I left the British Library and I thought it closed at 6 (actually 9 on Thursdays). I just started walking in that general direction, then stopped for a yogurt. Looking through my London book I saw that the British Museum was open till 8:30.

It was very close walking distance, and I spent almost 2 hours there. It reminded me of both the American Museum of Natural History and the Met, but on a smaller scale. I especially liked the exhibit on different clocks through the ages, contemporary Korean ceramics, the mummies, and the Parthenon.

Aphrodite crouching at her bath

I got back to my area around 8. I felt like hearty Asian food again – the weather has become quite chilly – and stopped at what looked like fast food Japanese, Sushi and Bento. I was planning on getting udon noodle soup but opted for curry chicken with rice. It was good! Exactly what I wanted, and at 4.50 pounds, not too pricey.

So tonight I’ve been on internetting for hours! I caught up on emails and as you can see, have been updating my blog. I was going to download my pictures, but I am suddenly really tired.

Tomorrow: lectures, then a visit to Thomas Reuters.

All Day 5 pictures.

Well, I basically got no sleep. At 11 I was in bed but didn’t feel tired, and lay there, tossing and turning, till about 3. Then from 3 to 5, I kept waking up every 20 minutes. The instant coffee and Beard Papa made me feel only slightly better.

A bunch of us met in the lobby and walked to the bus stop, which took a good half hour. It was cool though to see Oxford Street, normally teeming with people, completely empty. It took us a little bit to find our bus, but soon we spotted some other classmates and the Dean, and the bus came rolling in.

The ride was so peaceful. Everyone was quiet, listening to music or reading the paper. I enjoyed the time to myself and being able to take in the scenery, from the different streets in London, to the little towns and suburbs, to the rolling green lawns with cows, horses, and sheep.

Oxford is a really interesting city. You feel like you’re walking through medieval times. There’s nothing in the U.S. like it. Yale is designed in a medieval way, but it’s just a design.

First stop, coffee of course! I got a mocha and despite the custard cream puff, was starving and I got an almond croissant, which was absolutely delicious by the way.

Next we walked to Oxford University Press (OUP). Part of the outside retains that old look, but the rest is very modern. I couldn’t get over how big it is, especially compared to the 2 or 3 floors of the New York office. There were a couple of cafes, and good-sized dining area.

The lectures were pretty good. The most interesting one to me was the revamp of the online OED and ODNB since I studied at least the OED fairly in-depth for one of my classes, and I’m always interested in how online tools are marketed. I have to say the last presentation was a snooze. The content was interesting, but the woman’s delivery was a total monotone. Plus I was so tired, hungry, and bummed that we wouldn’t be doing the OUP Museum tour because the guide was a no show. Lame.

At least lunch was free. I made a bad choice though: ham and chicken pie. I thought there’d be vegetables in the pie, like peas, carrots, and onions, but there were not. So the side of fries didn’t help. Later one of my classmates got sick from the quiche she had, though another woman had it too and was fine.

Afterwards we walked through town and stopped at this pub, The Eagle and the Child. Apparently C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein used to hang out there and dubbed it The Bird and the Baby. I kept asking people what the significance of the eagle and the child was. I had seen a statue of it at Queen Mary’s Park. No one knew. Finally, one of my classmates pointed out an explanation on the menu: the eagle and child are on the Queen’s crest.

I didn’t drink anything since I was so sleepy, and just sat there while everyone else drank. Afterwards we walked more, and stopped at yet another pub, The White Horse Tavern, I think. The sick-off-the-quiche girl and I weren’t interested so we ran across the street and checked out this free museum on THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE. Tall order. It was basically a random conglomeration of compasses, calculators, globes, bones, and early electric stuff. But hey it was free.

Our next stop was the Bodleian Library, where a the head of collection development talked about the complex Oxford University library system, further complicated by licensing of e-resources. She was a very good speaker – smart, amusing, and self-deprecating.

Next was a tour of the library at the New College.

The campus itself is very pretty. We didn’t actually see a lot of the library. Mainly the librarian showed us these extremely old books. One was an enormous Bible, and the other a book in medieval French with gold gild. It was cool to see those books up close and to actually be able to touch them.

Finally, Anthony, the guy who runs the program, showed us more around campus. There was a very nice garden, which we strolled through in the rain, and the dining hall, which looked like something out of Harry Potter: long wooden tables with place settings, surrounded by giant portraits of stern-looking old men.

Most of my classmates stayed in Oxford to check out the Blackwell’s bookstore and maybe try out another pub. The Dean and three of us lightweights headed back. I had thought about staying but was so exhausted. Sure enough, I promptly fell asleep on the bus for a good hour. By the time we got back to London, I felt more energized and decided to walk back to the dorm from Marble Arch, rather than take the subway.

I’ve been looking for dark-colored Keds all summer. For some reason, New York just doesn’t seem to have them. Where do I find them? In a store called Schuh on Oxford Street. I don’t even know how to pronounce the store name. I got black Keds for 26 pounds, which is a bit pricey, but I think that’s how Keds are.

I ate sooo badly today. Let’s recap:

• Breakfast: instant coffee and Beard Papa custard cream puff
• Breakfast 2: mocha and almond croissant
• Lunch: chicken and ham pie, french fries, diet Coke (NO vegetables)
• Pre-bus snack: 2/3 of sausage roll
• Dinner: yogurt and nacho chips

I kind of want some tea but also feel too lazy to go back out.

Tomorrow is a mellow day of lectures in the morning and a tour of the British Library in the afternoon. I think we end early, around 3:30. I may check out the National Gallery.

All Day 4 pictures.

Writing this in Word since, get this, my room doesn’t have internet. Well, it does, but only via a “voucher” which they ran out of the first day. There were supposed get more today, but haven’t. I don’t even know if I’ll bother. It’s 12 pounds for 2 weeks. I can get free WiFi at Pret and McDonald’s, and I don’t need to be on the internet every day. It’s even a nice little break from being wired all the time.

Sunday, Day 1
The longest day in creation. My flight wasn’t till 9:30 PM so MB and I had the whole day to hang out. I packed in the morning, then for lunch we went to this nice place on Avenue A. I had a yummy omelet with goat cheese, spinach, and tomato.

The weather was so nice (ie, not raining for a change) we decided to take a walk out to the Apple store in Chelsea for a cover for my laptop. The weather held up till we got to the water, then unfortunately it started to rain, so we hopped the M23 back to the east side.

I was dreading having to leave. I mean, I was excited about my trip but hated saying goodbye to MB. This will be the longest we’ve been apart. When he goes to his conferences, the longest he’ll go is a week. The longest trips I’ve taken since we’ve met have been just a few days. But after we finally did say goodbye and I got in a cab, I felt okay. I could focus on my trip more, though these past couple of days, of course, I’ve missed him.

I got to the airport by 7:15 PM. The wait actually didn’t feel too long. I ate some junk and read Eclipse (yes, I’m totally sucked in), and wandered around the airport. We were supposed to board at 8:30 but didn’t get on till almost 9:30. Then we sat on the runway till 11. I was so relieved when we finally took off.

I had no one next to me, but across the aisle was this odd couple. A British woman maybe my age, and a man – maybe from Trinidad? – in what looked to be his 50s. The whole time he kept sucking his teeth, and I think he told the woman to shut up multiple times. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but I didn’t think so. It was very weird, though he was perfectly pleasant to the crew.

Weirdness #2: the woman behind me kept sneezing, and each time afterwards she’d say, “Bless me!” If she sneezed twice in a row, she said bless me twice.

Turns out one of my classmates was on the plane. We were waiting on line for the bathroom, and I thought, This guy looks familiar. I thought, Did we go on a date? Thank God no. He was in one of my classes fall semester.

I didn’t really sleep the whole flight. I dozed off in the middle of Bolt, but didn’t have a proper sleep. I didn’t figure out how to adjust my seat till we were almost there, so I was sort of uncomfortable for most of the flight.

Heathrow finally! We were supposed to get in at 9:30 AM but were about 45 minutes late. My classmate and I connected, and took the Tube together to the dorm. Sounds easier than it was. Both sleep deprived, we had a hard time figuring out a) where a cash machine was, and b) how to buy an Oyster card. We did figure it out finally, and got on the train.

The subways are pretty nice in London, but it still took a year. Then we had to transfer, which involved dragging our suitcases up and down lots of stairs. I was soooo tired, and more than anything wanted to take a shower.

We’re staying in a dorm, and lemme tell ya, it’s crummy. I’ve stayed in some old dorm rooms in my time, but this takes the cake. My feet will go nowhere near the floor, let alone the shower.

I used the men’s bathroom by mistake, thinking it was unisex. It wasn’t till last night, in my daze from returning from a half-asleep pee, that I found the women’s room when I walked past my door. The men’s bathroom was really bad. One shower didn’t work, and the other didn’t drain properly. The women’s bathroom is slightly better, though one shower had only cold water.

Oh my God, I couldn’t live here for more than two weeks. But I guess that’s what you get for 35 pounds a night.

After my shower, I ran out and got groceries from a nearby Tesco’s. I was all set to go out immediatley afterwards, but was suddenly utterly exhausted. I napped for about 90 minutes, and woke up feeling pretty refreshed.

I took the subway to Leicester Square, then realized I could have walked there. I hadn’t eaten much the whole day – a muffin on the plane, and a yogurt – so first stop: Pret for a sandwich. I like Pret back home, and I remember my brother saying it was one of the few places in London that was reasonably priced. An excuse to stick with the familiar.

After I ate, I saw Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, and walked all the way down Picadilly to Buckhingham Palace.

Picadilly Circus

It wasn’t that far of a walk but just felt that way since I was so tired. I also used a restroom in a fancy hotel, trying to be inconspicuous, but then ended up pulling the emergency cord (thought it was for the toilet), and even after I assured the guy who knocked that I was okay, opened the door to find him standing there.

There was nothing going on at Buckingham Palace. I saw one of the guards walk back and forth, that’s it. Afterwards I walked all the way back to school. All in all, a three hour tour.

I had also picked up an ethernet cable, but was told there were no more vouchers. By this time, I hadn’t contacted anyone to say I had landed and was okay, and started to feel panicky. The guy at the front desk was nice and said that all McDonald’s had free wireless. I remembered seeing one nearby and so, laptop in town, went to find it.

I couldn’t. I wandered around aimlessly, my panic growing, till finally I found a Pret that was still open. Apparently they all have free WiFi too, and there is one practically on every corner.

Sent emails to MB, my parents, and bro. Checked other email, Twitter, Facebook, and people’s blogs. Ate another sandwich and chips, for dinner.

It stays light out here till about 10. I was back in my room and ready for sleep by 9:45, and didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, but it was no problem. I woke up a few times, but had no trouble falling back asleep.

Monday, Day 2
Awake at 5 because of the light of my room. Quickly passed out again till 7.

Had a more pleasant women’s shower stall experience, then went to breakfast, which is included in the 35 pounds. It had been promised as a traditional English spread, but it wasn’t that great. The eggs were fine, but the sausage was strange and the ham fatty. Tomorrow I’ll probably just go for a boiled egg, toast, and lots of coffee.

The morning was lots of administrative stuff, plus a tour of the campus. Before lunch we had a couple of lectures. The first was from David Nichols from the CIBER Research book, who talked about consumers in cyberspace, for instance how shopping in cyberspace changes shopping habits. One thing I didn’t agree with is his opinion that people who use the internet a lot don’t gain any skills.  He’s with the school of thought that searching and reading on the internet dumbs people down, while I think it gives people different skills, like being able to scan quickly for important info and to read with an extra critical eye since the internet is so prone to errors.

For lunch a couple of classmates and I grabbed sandwiches from a café on campus, and ate on benches in the sun. The sun is surprisingly strong here. It’ll be supremely sunny, then suddenly overcast and drizzly. Earlier tonight there was even thunder, but now it’s clear.

Note to self: take pictures of London at night in the rain.

The talk in the afternoon was just a detailed overview of the program. We were done at 3.

I wanted to go see this free exhibit on medical history at the Wellcome Center, but it was closed. So I headed out to Regent Park. Really nice! It’s no Central Park, but Queen Mary’s garden is gorgeous. Roses roses roses, and a nice pond with lots of cool ducks and two black swans.

By the time I finished walking through it and returned to campus, it was time for the 5:30 reception.

At first it was a little uncomfortable, but by the end a bunch of us were just sitting around talking and laughing, which was fun.

Afterwards a small group of us went out to eat. Most of us wanted Indian. Most of us. But somehow minority ruled over manjority. Hmm. We ended up eating Italian, which was pretty good. Cheap definitely. I got a half portion of spaghetti bolagnese for 4.50 pounds, about $7 or $8. (I’m trying to do $40 a day, a la Rachel Ray, which I guess right now is about 25 pounds. Breakfast came with the room, while my lunch was 3.55. Total: 8.05 pounds. Waaay under.) Afterwards a few of us went out for a drink. (Oh yeah, my wine. I think it was 5 pounds. So 13.05 pounds for the whole day, still under.)

I hope I’m not too hungover tomorrow. We start at 9:30, a little later, so I can sleep till 7:30 or 8 if I want, though on Wednesday, we’re going to Oxford, and need to be there by 9, which means leaving at 7, which means getting up at possibly 5:30, which also means leaving before the dining hall opens for breakfast. Tomorrow I will have to get some instant coffee, a kettle or pot, and a cup. There’s a Muji store nearby – an excuse to spend too much money.

Of course I miss MB like crazy, especially when I’m walking around on my own looking at stuff. I know we’d have so much fun doing that kind of thing together. It’s only during the lectures that I’m pretty occupied with what’s going in the moment.

All Day 1 and Day 2 pictures.