reprinted from an e-mail....very messily I see

Sorry for the delay in my typing (not that you were waiting for thiswith baited breath), but here I am!I write to you from the inner halls of my school building. There isonly ONE building here. Nothing like Wisconsin I can assure you. Thecampus area is nice and is surrounded by several other schools. In away, we form this cluster of three major schools in this area(Birkbeck, SOAS (School of Asian and African Studies) and us). Butenough about that lets start with fun.Oktoberfest. For those who have not gone to Oktoberfest let me put itthis way. Remember the most fun you had in your life, in the craziestplace you've ever been? Times that by 100 and you have Oktoberfest.Mardi Gras? Pssshh.... New Years in New York.....psssshhhh (but whatdo I know, I passed out early). Nothing and I mean nothing preparesyou for this.EjemploWe fly into Munich and finally make out way to the hostel. Fatiguehas settled in from basically doing the travel thing all day and weget to our room. We're there for about 20 minutes before we gingerlyhead off to Oktoberfest.Oktoberfest is essentially 8 ENORMOUS tents that fit between 5-10thousand people a piece and in between all of them are smaller beertents, enough carnival rides to put a kid in shock and more sausagevendors than all the state of Wisconsin. I almost cried it was soglorious.Me, being a big German beer snob decided that we should probably hitthe Hofbrau tent...which is one of the louder, more crowded tents.This was at 7pm in Munich. This was a terrible idea. We walk in towhat could only be described as the party that will send off the worldin case of global Armageddon. Blue and white colors (the colors ofBavaria) are strewn about, german band playing their asses off.....anddrinking....lots and lots of drinking. These are glass LITERS mindyou, they don't half ass and go for plastic, that would just be wrong. So my friend and my brother are trying to comb through the throngs ofmasses when I see out of the corner of my eye...a large german withwhite hair and elderly age, who has had his fill.He stumbles, and stumbles....oh dear, it looks like he's heading myway....yep he's definitely heading my way. BOOM into my legs he goesand onto the wooden floor. Yep...yep he's out.I try to help him up, but that only proves to be fruitless since hehas about 150 lbs on me EASY. Two others try to help him up, but tono avail. I look to see if he's not dead, yep not dead, moving on!Couldn't find anyplace to sit inside so we find a place in the outsidebeer garden where we commence to drink.and drink..and drink...I wake up the next day with the worst hangover I've had in a longtime. Apparently when I asked my brother exactly how I go tback home,he said "I don't know, we all split up". This causes alarm. Thestory goes is that at one point in the night, after our 6th liter ofbeer we decided to go inside to be cheerful. I at one point, bought ahokey Oktoberfest hat that I displayed proudly, talked to some kidsfrom Jersey and Connecticut (proof right there that I was drunk! Iwould have to be to talk to people from Jersey!...take that Wendy!)and then disappeared. I showed up at the room holding a beer sanshat....questions will always remain of that night.The next nights were not so bad...we were fairly beaten up after thatday. However we did drink more than we should have, we made friendswith two old german couples, danced and sung on top of tables(greatest Oktoberfest night ever) and saw a lot of Munich. If you canever go to Oktoberfest, I urge you right now to do so...but expectabsolute insanity.Onto London. Things are fine, I live in a very tiny room but it is myown room. I live in a dorm of undergraduate students which means Ican't tolerate to hear them talk because it only hates myself forprobably being exactly like that when I was younger. My roommate (heonly shares the bathroom) seems to be nice, but I've only met him onceso I can't really count much for or against him.For those who have been to London I live right across the street fromthe Tate Modern art museum. Right along the River Thames in acommunity called Southwark (pronounced Sutherk - yeah I know). It'salright and serves its purpose, although I do get woken up from theconstruction across the street from us. The community is currentlyundergoing a renovation to a modern business district. Which meanshuge buildings that will hold lots of people, just not yet. I'llwrite more as I explore the neighborhood.So let me tell you more about London. It's a beautiful city, reallyit is....I love the culture and the diversity of people who inhabitit...but there are two things....definitely two things that I woulddestroy in a heartbeat if I had the chance.1st - Their 'red tape' system2nd - Their map, so we could all start anewThe streets of London and the layout can only be described as one thing: - a pile of pigshitFirst of all, you have streets that will just randomly end and they'llbe the same street right across the intersection. They like to loopthings around a lot as well. There are always five or six streetswith the name "Regent" and four with the name "Piccadilly".WHY?!!?!?!? I believe firmly that it has to do with the newcomershaving to purchase this guide called A to Z London which has all thestreets listed (which I have used and still got lost). Their publictransport isn't much to scream about either. No air conditioningwhich is going to make the summer just awesome and they really have norhyme or reason to their tube lines. I haven't even started o nthebuses much yet because that looks to be nearly impossible. Oh I longfor the days of beautiful, pristine, TIMELY New York transport.MTA....I miss you so.The red tape...everything here takes so long. If you're anInternational Student, it takes even longer. Registering for adoctor, getting an ID card, approving your tuition payments, applyingfor discounts. These take WEEKS. Sure they'll take your money rightaway but if you want something from them in return.....best to checkback by Christmas time. I said to my friend, and I stick to it....isthat if the UK and the US ever went to war with each other we'd win ina heartbeat...want to know why?Because there would be paperwork to process before they would go towar, and by the time it got to someone to approve, London would be afireball.Things have been mildly frustrating on both those accounts, but thepeople make up for it. They're very friendly, the staff here atschool have been extremely accommodating to us new students, and Ilike what I'm doing. This past week I've gone to all these inductionmeetings which involve free food and wine, and met many of the staffand lots of students which makes me feel a little bit better aboutbeing here.So yeah, i think that's about it for now....I do miss the US terribly,but I feel like this won't be that long of a time. I do enjoy Londonvery much (despite my rantings from above) so it'll be nice to spendsome time here, just as soon as I get used to the system of doingthings. Perhaps I should have done London first, then New York....For those I haven't called yet (Dad) I'm sorry, I'll get to callingyou this weekend, things have been incredibly hectic since I'vestarted and only now am I finally starting to see some resolutions toeverything. It'll be nice to catch up on stuff (and rant about thePackers, man do they suck!). So until then, hope all is well...missyou guys terribly and hope to hear from you soon.