Diana and the Debs.

I didn't realize that my blogs would be in such high demand, but apparently my fans are eagerly awaiting tales from across the Atlantic, so...

I've mostly been doing class for the week, so my stories are not so completely interesting. My International Correspondent class is kind of boring, except when my professor tells us stories of what he's done. He's traveled a lot and was the first journalist to get a voice-interview with Princess Diana (he was in radio, and prior to the announcement of her and Prince Charles' engagement, she had never spoken on TV/radio). He said she was really nervous and every time he would move the microphone between her and Charles, the cord would pull at her dress, so she spent most of the time "protecting her modesty," I think he put it.

My other class, British Journalism, Culture, and Politics is much more interesting. Today we watched The Daily Show episode from the day of the Inauguration, and next week we're having a field trip to the movies (or "cinema") to see Frost/Nixon. Yay!

The one touristy thing I did this week was go to Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived. It was pretty and they had a bunch of her dresses from different events, like international balls and movie premieres for Steel Magnolias and Apollo 13. What I really loved was this thing they had for Debutantes. It wasn't like what it is in America today, where a bunch of rich girls just parade in white dresses in some fancy hotel ballroom. Until the early '50s, well-off girls about 17 years old would come during a three-day period to Buckingham Palace, where they would curtsy in front of the Queen. Then, for the rest of the "season" (several months) there were tons of events to go to and the girls had to get all new gowns and accessories for it and it cost a fortune. And a lot of girls did it, not just rich ones, so some families went into debt. They had clothes and make-up on display which was sooo cute, but they also had a lot of info about what actually happened . The best part, for me, was this one particular sign. It said that girls would talk to their friends and mothers about the boys (or "Deb's Delight") with different codes and acronyms, including (I remember them well, because they were so funny): NSIT (Not Safe in Taxis), MTF (Must Touch Flesh), and VVSITMQ (Very Very Safe in Taxis, Maybe Queer).

Tomorrow I have my interview at FHM, after which I'm leaving for Edinburgh until Sunday night, so I'll post when I get back.

Things I've learned:

1. When they say it rains every day, they mean it.
2. Why isn't New York clean? Oh, because they don't wash the streets. Here, actual street-washing trucks come by with brushes and hoses in the front and scrub the streets to keep them pretty.
3. You can buy codeine over-the-counter here.
4. The Queen is really, really smart and has an awesome memory. When my professor met her, he told her he was from New Zealand. She asked from where, and where he went to school. He told her, and she asked what House he was in (the students are divided into "houses"). He answered, and she said, "Oh, so you were a day-boy." She had visited the school about 25 years earlier (and it's not like Oxford or University of Edinburgh, which everyone knows all about) and happened to remember this little detail about it. My professor said she also gets state papers every night and reads them all and is able to answer questions about them and discuss. Pretty impressive for someone who is just, essentially, a figurehead.