Weekend festivities

Time to report on another weekend...

This weekend was not as action packed or interesting mainly because I have had a terrible cold and spend 2 days this weekend in bed trying to recover.

On Friday morning, we took the tube into Liester Square and went to the half-off ticket booth to get theatre tickets. We got tickets to We Will Rock You for that night. Rebecca and I stopped to do some shopping on the way home. We also walked through Harrods to look around and picked up a snack at the bakery for the rest of our walk home :)

The show that night was really good. It was all queen music and was set in the future (that was a little different). I can't believe this is my first musical since I've been here. What has taken me so long? Anyways I loved it and of course want to go to another one ASAP!
Saturday night a group of us headed to Covent Gardens to the Walkabout bar. We had been to one on our trip to Newquey and had really liked it. It's a fun Aussi bar. Who said we can't enjoy Australia from London. A few snake bites, live music,a terrible shot with tobasco sauce made it a memorable night...

Sunday, we went to the Regent Street festival. I love this city because there is always something going on. Market, festival, something. Like usual we bought a lot of really good food. They also had street performers, a random fashion show, and free cupcakes that were amazing and we were pretty excited about.
waiting for our free cupcake from the cupcake tower.

gotta love the street performers...

Now this week I actually have to act like I go to school here and finish 2 projects and a paper before my parents get here on Thursday!!!

Manic Monday

So I realized that I have only been posting about my weekend so I thought I share the run down of my Monday since it was pretty eventful and I actually have a few pics.

So I didn't really do anything all morning except do some laundry and homework. Boring, moving on.

At noon, I went for a run in Hyde Park. I LOVE this park. 2 lakes, horses, crazy gold Albert memorial, Kensington Palace, and so much green you forget your in the city.













At 1:45, I met a classmate to work on a project and then together we made our to the Tate Modern museum of modern art. We took the tube in toward the city since the Tate is right on the Thames river. This place is really popular and a tourist destination so their were a lot of people (I thought) for a Monday there. Professor gave us run down and then we were free to roam. I wasn't allowed to take any pics and the outside of the building is kinda ugly.

At 5pm, we left the Tate and headed for the tube to take us to the play we were seeing that night. We walked across Millennium bridge and it gave a great view of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Taking the tube at rush hour is always interesting. It's the game of how many bodies can we squeeze on one car without someone getting caught in the door.After going clear across town, we stopped for dinner before our play at Yo Sushi. This place was sweet because it had a conveyor belt that sent various dishes past your booth and you just picked up what you wanted. First sushi i've had in 3 weeks and it was very good.
Next, we made our way to our theater. We saw a play called Judgment Day that was in a small theater but was really pretty good. The best part was that it was under 2 hours. (the show we went to see last week was 3, yikes) We will talk about what we thought in class today.
Afterward, we headed for the tube station. Two of the girls suddenly stopped and announced that they just made eye contact with Emma Watson. I was somehow oblivious to what is going on and had to have them explain again. Meanwhile, two more girls ran back and creeped on the restaurant we just pasted and to get a look. Sure enough it was her. Yeah for celebrity sightings!

And then I went home. The End.

Roads to Ruins

I stayed closer to "home" this weekend. Friday night we had tickets to a night club called Fabric. It was really hyped up with talk of 7 floors and multiple dance floors. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to our expectations. I gave a it a good shot but fog filled dance floors with music so loud my brain rattled was not doing it for me. I didn't take my camera out that night so I don't have any pics. Just imagine your stereotypical rave. Thankfully, no one else could stand it either and we peaced out early. The "highlight" of Friday night would have to be the walk back. The club was far from South Kensington and to my annoyance the tube stops running at 12:30. SO we pretty much walked home, for 2 hours until we finally broke down and split a cab. The night buses here confuse the heck out of me because their routes don't go to all parts of the city. I gotta work on figuring those out.

The rest of weekend was better except for the cough I picked up on my 2 hours walk. On Saturday, we walked to Notting Hill to the famous Portobello Road for the Portobello Market. Tons of stalls, tons of people, it was amazing. I added some of the pics I took. The food was amazing (crepes, fresh greek, smoothies, it was never ending) and I spent way too much money on it. I will probably going back every Saturday I have a chance and buying stuff for myself and for Christmas presents.

On Sunday, we took a impromptu trip to Stonehedge and Winchester (it was a packaged deal). Yes, I rode 2 hours to visit a pile of rocks. It seriously is in the middle of nowhere, i'm talking fields and sheep surround it. So i guess it's kinda cool to wonder how they got there. Now I can say that I've seen another of the 7 wonders of the world (though I'm fuzzy on the list, we googled it and found different ones).

After that, we headed to the town of Winchester. It was of course historic and beautiful (i'm learning that every town here has more charm than at home). We walked around the shops, along the river, and through Winchester cathedral. We also stopped to take a picture of the house where Jane Austin lived. I thought that was kind of cool. However, apparently i'm the only Pride and Prejudice fan because not everyone knew who she was. Where is Preetal when you need her? I know she would be enthusiastic about this.

Overall, it was a nice day trip and I was able to see the countryside and take lots of pic. I discovered a new feature on my camera and became obsessed with it. However, I noticed when going through my pictures that i'm not really in any of them. I will have to work on that this week. Thankfully, there are 3 or 4 Facebook albums online that the rest of the Albion girls put up in case you need to see more. With 8 Albion brits in London, this semester is getting VERY well documented.

The Adventures of Newquey

Our fun little weekend began on Friday night at 11pm when we boarded our night bus for a 7 hour journey to the English Coast. The bus had two drivers, a women who I think was actually crazy and a man who drove like it. By our 4am pit stop we had grudgingly dubbed our bus to be the night bus from Harry Potter. This is because our driver drove just a nuts. He whipped our large travel coach around corners and bends on the small streets and would slam on the breaks sending us falling from our seats. Let just say very little sleep happened and we were off to a great start.
We eventually arrived 2 hours ahead of schedule and they dropped us off at 6 am to a dessert and closed down town. SO we set off down the main street, littered with cans and garbage you could tell that people had just headed home from the bars a few hours ago. We walked to coast and up a hill where we watched the sunrise for the hour until the Costa Coffee shop we spotted opened. The views over the water were amazing and were completely worth the lack of sleep and cold temperature.

When the coffee shop open up we set up camp for a couple of hours until everything started to open. We warmed up with some coffee, brushed our teeth and in Josh's case washed our hair in the bathroom sink. We then walked up to a local cafe for some much needed breakfast and then headed for our hostel to check in. We spend the late morning laying on the beach. We power napped, people watched, and enjoyed the water (it was freezing so more enjoyed from a far). Then after crabbing a pasty for lunch (they were everywhere) we changed and headed out exploring. We probably spent a good 3 hours exploring the beaches at low tide, walking the coast and peninsula, and chilling by the harbor.















































We ended up going to dinner and spending the night at an Australian pub named Walkabout that was right on the water. It was filled with people dressed up for various bar crawls and ended up having a sweet live band.
Day two of trip was mainly spent on the beach trying to soak up some sun before heading back to the city. However, I hit a major snag when we went to catch our bus home. In a rush the week before, I had bought a return ticket for the day before and not on Sunday. The driver told me that I didn't have a ticket for the bus and that the bus was full. He then informed me that the bus later that night was also full and that the station office was closed and that I would have to order a ticket for a Monday morning ticket online. Well, standing there I'm thinking how I don't want to stay the night in Newquey by myself and that if I took a bus the next day I would be late to my mandatory classes. So I was pretty much freaking out at this point. Thankfully, and I mean thankfully, like I was being looked down on, there ended up being not only a spare seat on the bus but a paid for seat so I was allowed on free of cost. Let just say, even though the bus ride home was just as jerky and full of whiplash turns, I didn't mind in the slightest. Overall a great weekend on coast. Hopefully there will be many more to come!

My Bad Luck

So the honeymoon period has started to wear off already. This might be due to the 4 hour blocks of class I have to sit through everyday. I swear one of my classes is the most boring class I have ever been stuck in...ok maybe its a tie with Jen Li.
Also, I have suddenly become prone to breaking everything! It started with the night I broke the heel on the only pair of dress heels I brought with me. I still have to buy a new pair. Then, like an idiot I am, I broke my watch by forgetting to take it off when I did laundry in my sink and got it wet. (Yep I'm doing laundry old school in my sink. I refuse to pay 6 pounds or almost $10 on a load of laundry at the laundry mat). And then today, my water bottle leaked all over my bag and got my camera all wet. Thank goodness that one didn't end up breaking because I can't afford anymore replacements.
At least I have this weekend to look forward to. A bunch of us are going to Newquay which is a town on the coast of Wales. I don't know much about it but there is going to be beaches, waves, and apparently good weather.
So as the Brits say I'm off on a holiday...

Market

The other day we went to the Brick Street Market. It was booth after booth of amazing ethnic food, vintage clothes, and some just random stuff. Some were selling out of booths while others were selling goods on the street. The food was the best part and we may have to go back for just that. It is in a part of London that is much more diverse than where we are living in more straight laced Kensington. I had lunch at a Greek stand and split an amazing fresh crape with Katie for dessert. It was not exactly a place you went to buy a lot but just looking around at the stuff and especially the diverse people was worth the trip. Now we have a full week of classes complete with homework. Not a big fan of this since in my mind this trip is just one big vacation and classes just get in the way of that. We've planned a trip Newquay, a beach town on the coast of Wales, for this weekend so I guess it's back to the grind until then.

The Moments Missed Back at Home.

This weekend it hit me just how far away from home I really am. I am too far to go home in a hurry and when I'm needed. My Grandma passed away this weekend and I am not able to go home. I can't be there to support my family, I can't go to the funeral service, I can't say goodbye. While I love it here, I wish I wasn't going to miss that.

One Week Come and Gone

Lets see...in the last four days I started classes, which is the boring the part. But mainly we spent the end of the week enjoying pubs and clubs around the city at night and sightseeing during the day. On Friday, we went to the Natural History Museum and Science Museum mainly because they are right across the street from our flat and free so we couldn't not go. I went for my first run in Hyde Park which is about a ten minute walk from the flat. The park is huge but I only explored a small part. It was crazy to be running and have a the huge gold gilded stature of Prince Albert on your right and the extravagant Royal Albert Hall on your left. My goal is to explore a different part of the park on each run. I want to go down by the water of the Serpentine and see Kensington Palace and gardens. The park is refreshing and there are people picnicking, playing football, biking, and lounging. Today, we went over to Westminster and took a tour of the Palace of Westminster aka Parliament and took pictures in front of Big Ben and Westminster Abby. I am a bit burned out now and it's time to catch up on sleep, but it was a great week. :)
And the whole crew minus Dave who took the pic...
More to come...

But I'm 21 Today

I'm 21! Thank you everyone for the Birthday wishes! I unfortunately had to spend most of the day in orientation lectures for my program here in the UK. Bummer. But we did manage to celebrate in the evening. The Albion crew was nice enough to surprise me with cake and wine which kicked off our night. We ended up going to a pub that was a stickler and had a 21 year age policy!! I was so excited because I actually got carded!! It doesn't really matter and no one really cares if your 21 or not here so it was nice for it to matter just this once. :) I plan on continuing the celebration into this weekend when we aren't forced to be up in the morning.

Our classes start tomorrow and I am starting to get settled into my flat and the Kensington burrow. I am comfortable to run to the tube station or ATM and I have already found a shortcut to the nearest Starbucks. We have become regulars at the Orange cell phone store and have done a little shopping at Urban and TK Maxx (yep TK Maxx rather than TJ).

Stay tuned....