As you can see, it’s been a busy past couple of weeks. I’m exhausted but wouldn’t give them up for the world. After my trip to France, I had a day and a half turn-around and headed on Tuesday, October 30th to Reykjavik, Iceland, to meet up with Zoë and her mom, Claudia. The plane was not full and I got a full row to myself, which has never happened before. I’ve now tasted freedom. There’s no going back. We flew into Reykjavik right as the sun was beginning to set, which means the lighting was phenomenal. As always, pictures don’t do it justice, but they’re better than nothing.

 

 

Zoë and her mom picked me up at the airport and we headed east to where we would be spending the night, in a tiny little town called Laugarvatn. We found our hostel and went to sleep until 3:30, when we woke up and drove 20 km down the road in an effort to see the Northern Lights. Unfortunately, it was all for naught, as we did not see any lights and instead froze in the pitch black wilderness of Iceland. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to come back and try again!

The next day was a big one. We picked out four major sightseeing points around us and hit all of them. The first was Þingsvellir National Park. Iceland is known for its natural wonders and this place was chock full of them.

 

 

The state park stands on the divide between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. I stood on both sides, so I guess you could say that for about 20 minutes, I took a quick trip home. Also, the sun is at its zenith in these pictures. Weird, right?

The next stop was to…get ready…Bláskógabyggð geyser park. Don’t ask me how to pronounce that. The biggest geyser in Iceland is there and is very active. We saw it go off three times!

 

 

It definitely smelled like sulfur and the water was weirdly warm. Crazy how geology works.

Next on the list was the Golden Waterfall, called “Gullfoss” in Icelandic. It was unbelievably gorgeous but unfortunately also biting cold so we stayed for a couple pictures and then ran back to the shelter of our car.

 

 

It was spectacular. Finally, we headed to our final stop of the day, Grímses-og Grafningshreppur, where we spent the night. Much of the food in Iceland is imported, so all food is expensive and eating out is even more so. Therefore, we made a stop at the grocery store to get food. The highlight of that trip was finding literal liters of blood on sale. Iceland is hardcore.  I also wanted to put some pictures from driving everywhere. The landscape in ICeland is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. If anyone knows the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the portrayal of Iceland was not exaggerated, it really is that beautiful.

 

I missed two days of class for this trip, and while I did feel bad about that…look at those views.

Fun story from that night: there was a hot tub at the place we were staying. I wanted to go in but it’s Iceland and it’s cold so I didn’t want to go out in just my bathing suit. I put on socks, shoes, pants, and a sweatshirt to go outside. Zoë was in the hot tub already. I took off one sock and shoe and didn’t want to put my bare foot on the icy ground so I put it on the step above, bent down to take off my other shoe, and promptly fell in the hot tub fully clothed. I was fine except for a nasty bruise on my calf, soaking clothes (which then froze), and a bruised ego. Oh, and my phone was still in my pocket when I fell in. Luckily, that’s fine too. It was hilarious.

The next day was a bit more relaxed, although we probably spent the same amount of time in the car as the day before. We first went to a very very old church that used to be the bishop’s castle. Obviously it wasn’t as intricate and ornate as the cathedrals in the rest of Europe, but it was still beautiful.

 

I loved the colored light that came through the stained glass onto the walls.

Next was a trip to the Kerið volcanic crater. This was the only natural landmark that we had to pay to see. We hiked around the (icy) rim of the crater and not only got a great view inside, but also of the surrounding area. I miraculously did not fall but Zoë’s mom did. She was fine.

 

After the crater, we drove along the coast back to Reykjavik to catch our flight early the next morning. The drive was just so pretty and the landscape changed so quickly. It looked like we were on another planet.

 

It even snowed on the ride!

We spent our last night in Reykjavik watching coverage of the US midterm elections on the BBC in our hotel room. Very cross-national. I hope you all voted.

The next morning I flew out at 6:20 am and landed in London at 9:30. This time I only had about 5 hours at home to quickly shower, do laundry, and un- and  repack for my homestay that weekend near Bristol closer to the west coast of England.

In true Grace fashion, I missed my first train (by 5 minutes!!!!) and had to pay 57 pounds for a ticket for the next train. Love it!

I got safely to where I was trying to go. My host mom Katharine picked me up and took me to her Scottish dancing class, where Yuko, the other girl she was hosting (she’s studying at King’s College in London and is from Japan!) already was, as she was lucky and got on the first train. The Scottish dancing was really fun and while I wasn’t very good, I definitely got a workout!

The next day we first went on a walk in the forest near Katherine’s house. The weather was nice and the fall colors were beautiful.

 

We had a vegetable soup for lunch and then headed to Wells, the smallest city in England. In order for a town to be considered a city in the UK, it needs to have a cathedral, and oh boy did Wells have a cathedral. We met up with one of Katharine’s friends from Scottish dancing, Donna, and Donna took us first to the Saturday Market in the town square. I finally got to try a pasty (pronounced past-ie) and it was very much a comfort food and I will miss it when I go back.

 

We sat around the moat at the Bishop’s Palace and watched the many, many birds hanging around there. We managed to not get pooped on, too! Great!

Next, we went into the Bishop’s Gardens. The building itself was closed for a wedding, but the grounds were open to walk around in.

 

 

The chapel was also open. I may have mentioned before that this year is the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One and that is a huge deal over here. Poppies are everywhere commemorating those who served and died.

 

After visiting the chapel, we visited Vicar’s Close, the oldest inhabited street in Europe, built in 1363 and inhabited ever since.

 

It reminded me a lot of Mary Poppins, haha! Around 5, we went into the cathedral and decided to attend the “Evensong” service, which is a purely musical mass. The choir in Wells is world-renowned for their choir school and the music that comes out of it. They were phenomenal, but unfortunately we had to leave in the middle.

 

The cathedral was massive and fantastic. It just had such a nice ambiance inside and I really wish we could have spent more time there. After Evensong, we left Wells and went back home.

The next day was our last. In the morning we had porridge and tea for breakfast and then brought out maps of Japan and the US and Yuko and I showed each other and Katherine where we live and other important parts of our countries. Around lunch, we left to go to Bath. Bath is about an hour from where we were. If you’ll remember, I went to Bath a couple weeks ago with my school and the weather made it absolutely miserable. The weather wasn’t really any better this time but I enjoyed myself a lot more. After having lunch at a little cafe where we left our suitcases, Katharine left to go back home and Yuko and I walked around the city together. We hit all the main points besides the Jane Austen Museum (it’s far from the city center and expensive, apparently).

 

These pictures are from what’s called the “Royal Crescent,” a half-circle of homes exactly identical to one another. One of them has been turned into a museum which we went inside. It’s been made to look exactly as it did in the Georgian period, which Wikipedia defines as 1714-ca. 1830-37. It was very ornate and decorated and chock full of disgusting facts about Georgian wigs. I’m glad that trend is over.

 

Doesn’t the river look pretty?

 

The Bath cathedral is a must. I went in last time five minutes before they closed so I didn’t get to look around as much as I would have liked to, so I’m glad I got another chance. The most interesting thing about this church is that there is no graveyard, all the graves are in the church and covering the walls and floor. I’m not sure why my picture of it isn’t showing up, sorry.

Our bus to London left after that and we arrived 15 minutes early, yay!

The week was amazing and I definitely satiated my travel bug, at least for a little while. It’s nice to have some time to be at home and rest a little, even though the end of the semester is coming up soon, which means I’m already swimming in papers, presentations, and deadlines. Yikes! Who knew I would actually have to study while studying abroad? What is this?

As always, have an awesome pre-Thanksgiving week and thank you for reading!

It is hard to believe I am already halfway through my semester, but two weeks ago was our mid-semester break. Ten days with no school and minimal homework only means one thing for me: time for my passport to get a workout!

My high school has a partnership with two high schools in Toulouse and Bordeaux, France. They each sent an exchange student to North Penn last year and I became good friends with both of them. Since I’ve never been to either of those places and both of my friends had vacation the same week, I figured that Reading Week would be a great chance to visit them and their countries and improve my French along the way.

My first stop was Toulouse in the southwest of France near the border with Spain. I met my friend Lisa after school and it was like no time had passed at all. She took me the first night to the banks of the Garonne river which runs right through Toulouse and is where all the kool kidz hang out on Friday nights. We split a pizza for dinner and I got to meet a bunch of my friends (who she had apparently told I was fluent in French…they quickly found out that was not the case).

 

 

The next day was spent in and around the city of Toulouse. Toulouse has a very heavy Spanish influence (it is only an hour and a half from the border) and that is reflected in the architecture. Tile roofs, red bricks, it looked very much like the idea people have in their head of “the south of France.” Highlights of the day include:

 

 

A lunch featuring a baguette, beetroot salad, and foie gras

Lisa getting her head shaved (again)

Frozen yogurt (that I ordered by myself without a hitch in French!)

 

 

And a beautiful walk around the city of Toulouse!

The next day we went hiking in the French Pyrenees closer to the French-Spanish border. It was a pretty intense hike. Had I known we would be hiking, I would have brought my brand new hiking boots, but alas, it was a last minute decision. Luckily Lisa’s brother and I have the same size feet and he could lend me some.

 

 

As you can see, the hike was gorgeous. We were lucky and had dry, clear weather and the ground was not muddy. We hiked two hours up, had lunch on the very top of the mountain, and hiked two hours down. It was exhausting but good exercise and absolutely worth it. For dinner we had food made with ingredients we had bought at the market early that morning:

 

 

 

 

 

The next day was a more relaxed one. Lisa, her brother, her step-sister, and I went to a space museum right outside of Toulouse called “Cite de l’Espace,” or “city of space.” I have always been interested in space travel and astronomy so this was extremely interesting for me. Another good thing was that most of the scientific terminology used was very close to the English word so I could understand most of everything.

 

 

We watched a movie on the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and I understood 70% of it! Since there are not a lot of French astronauts, Thomas Pesquet is seen as a quasi-national hero who everyone knows. The movie was all about him and his time in the ISS and it was really interesting not only from a French perspective, but also from a scientific one.

The next day was spent in Toulouse again but this time with both Lisa and the exchange student from North Penn this year, Sarah. We met up for coffee and croissant and she showed me some pigs that were on the street! 

I love love love pigs so this was a real treat 🙂

Lisa took us to her favorite restaurant, a tiny little hole-in-the-wall Argentinian restaurant where we had salad, an empanada each, and dessert. After lunch, both of them showed me around their city. We got to see a movie too! It was called “Dilili á Paris” and it was about a little girl named Dilili who makes friends with a carriage driver in Paris right around 1900 when there was a lot going on and a lot of famous people in Paris. She gets to meet people like Marie Curie, Pablo Picasso, Louis Pasteur, and others. It had subtitles and they spoke really slowly so I got to understand 90% of it!! It was really exciting! After the movie, we took a walk across the bridge to a park.

 

It was overall a really nice day and it was awesome to be able to connect with Sarah. I know going on exchange absolutely changed my life and it’s so exciting to see people right at the beginning of the most formative year of their lives.

Unfortunately, the next day I had to leave Toulouse, but what made it a little better was that I was heading to Bordeaux instead of back to London (I say that like going to London is a bad thing…).  Lisa dropped me off at the train station and helped me figure stuff out when my train was cancelled. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her.

After an hour and a half long train ride to Bordeaux, I met up with my friend Eugénie. She also studied at North Penn last year and I was really excited to see her! She took me around the beautiful city of Bordeaux the first evening. There was a fair in town and a ferris wheel that gave an amazing view of the city.

 

We walked a lot up and down the streets of Bordeaux and got crepes (what else?) for dinner and dessert.

The next day, I met one of Eugénie’s sisters, Camille. She didn’t really speak English which was good news for me and I got to really practice my French. Eugénie took me to meet her friends in Bordeaux and we went shopping a little bit but because I’m on a college girl budget not too much. They were very nice and took me to a bakery to get a cookie that was bigger than my hand. It was fantastic, never mind the calorie count. We went to one of the friend’s houses and played Just Dance, which I haven’t played in years but it was really fun even if I do suck at dancing. That night, Camille and her boyfriend took Eugénie and me out for a drink. I had my first piña colada and really liked it, haha! That night we also got a great look at the reflection pool in front of the façade. It’s called the “Miroirdeaux,” which is a pun that works much better in French.

 

The next day was a big one! Alexa, the IFC exchange student to Bordeaux this year, had been having a lot of visa problems and was supposed to arrive in France two months ago. Luckily, the third time’s the charm and her visa was finally accepted and that Friday she finally arrived in Bordeaux! We went to pick her up at the airport.  It was a really fun and exciting day.  That’s me with their cat, Pluton. We had lunch and then went into Bordeaux. This time, we went into another church, the Notre Dame de Bordeaux.

 

After the church, we went into a tea parlor (how posh!) and had a cuppa with scones. SO fancy. Then Eugénie’s parents took Alexa to figure out her phone situation, which is hands down the least fun part about studying abroad. For dinner we went out to an Italian restaurant and I had pasta and sparkling red wine, which I didn’t even know existed. You learn something new every day, I guess.

The next day Eugénie and Alexa left early on a train to Paris. I was alone with her parents, who are both wonderful people with minimal English skills, which was interesting! That day, we went to a beautiful little medieval town called Saint-Émilion which is very famous for its wine and architecture.

Unfortunately, these are the only two pictures that survived the transfer. We first went into a wine cellar, which as you can probably imagine, was dark, dank, and cold, but still really cool. There was mold on the walls but Eugénie’s mom (Jacqueline) said it was safe and that it was the same kind of mold in cheese so it was safe to breathe. Afterwards, we visited a church from the 12th century with a cloister, frescoes, and beautiful art. I really do love the churches in Europe. Then her parents sent me on a tour of the main church of Saint-Émilion, called the “Monolith.” It has a giant frieze on the door and catacombs underneath. The tour was completely in French (surprise!) but because the guide spoke clearly and slowly, I could understand 50% of it. It lasted about an hour and a half and I learned a lot about the catacombs and the art in the church. After the tour, we went back home and had salad for dinner, which after a week of carbs was heartily welcomed.

The next day was very long. At 1:30 I flew from Bordeaux to Brussels, had a brutal six hour layover, ate a hamburger and drank some good Belgian beer, and flew back to London. I got home safely and slept very well.  It was really expensive but it was also really good. I learned that I don’t hate fries with mayo as much as I thought I would. I definitely still prefer ketchup though.

And that brings us to the end of this post, ladies and gentlemen. The moral of this story is, it’s a lot more fun (and cheaper) to travel around Europe when you’ve got friends in cool places, so make friends with people from different countries, you can’t go wrong. The friendships I’ve made through the IFC have been some of the best and most rewarding in my life and I am so lucky to have met such amazing people. Au revoir!

London is fantastic, but sometimes it is a little hectic as there is so much going on all the time. Last weekend I traveled across the island to the countryside and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Bath and the surrounding area definitely have a rural charm and I am sad that I only got to spend one day there, but I will be back in the same area for my homestay weekend in Bristol in a couple of weeks.

So, like I said, last weekend I went on a school-sponsored day trip to see Stonehenge and the city of Bath, famous for the Roman baths built there centuries ago and for being home to Jane Austen. We had to be at school to catch the bus at 6:45 am and it was a cold and rainy day, which we (surprisingly) haven’t had a lot of. I would have been more fine with it had I been on a trip that was mainly indoor-oriented. However, as you can imagine, Stonehenge is outside. We were pelted with freezing rain and hit with very strong wind, but not I can say that I’ve seen Stonehenge!

 

We were very cold. After Stonehenge, it was another hour and a half until we got to Bath. The A/C was on in the bus, so that should tell you how much I enjoyed that ride. Once we got to Bath, we took a little walk to the Roman Baths so we would know where to meet everyone later and then we went looking for food. All we really needed at this point was somewhere warm and dry. We went into a small little pub and ordered some hot food.  This was called a “Yorkshire.” It was like an egg pastry crust filled with bangers and mash and it was unbelievably delicious. Granted, I was hungry and cold and hunger is the best sauce, but this was really fantastic apart from my physical and mental state at the time of consumption. British food gets a bad rap. Sure, it doesn’t use as many spices as Indian or Mexican or a lot of other kinds of food, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad or flavorless. All the traditional British food I’ve eaten while here has been wonderful and I know I will miss it when I go back to the US.

We hung out in the pub for a while, defrosting, and then we walked around the town of Bath for a bit. It is absolutely beautiful and the architecture was astounding.

 

Inside the church, a bunch of community groups were having a bake sale for charity and lucky us, we came right at the end when they were heavily reducing prices to try to clear the tables. I took advantage of that and bought quite a lot. We then toured the Roman Baths with the group. The architecture in the baths was beautiful, even if the water was so dirty it was dangerous to touch or go in.

 

Look who else was there!  I love Queen Liz. She is immortal. The baths and the museum about them were both really cool and I think it is just so amazing that the Roman empire stretched up as far north as it did. It was truly colossal.

After the Baths, we started on the long journey back home. The radio was playing so I got to hear the newsflash that Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court! It really makes me excited about my and my country’s future that we now have two alleged sexual offenders on the highest court in the country making decisions about me and my body. November 6th is coming soon and I am psyched that this pivotal election is the first one I am able to vote in.

That’s it for this edition of Grace Goes Abroad, join me next week as I travel to France on my fall break!

 

Side note: I played tourist in London and got these great pictures!

 

We all knew I couldn’t come to Europe without returning to Germany, so it’s no surprise that the first bigger trip I took during this semester was back to my home during the 2016-2017 school year, Aalen, Germany. This past weekend was one of the best of my entire life. Not only did I get to return to what became over the course of eleven months my home, but I also got to practice my German, reunite with my friends and host family, and was able to drink some of the best beer in the world at Oktoberfest.

Last Friday morning was an early one. I woke up at 4 am for a 7:30 flight to Frankfurt and took my first ever Uber (I was always too scared to before) to Heathrow. From Frankfurt I took a train to Stuttgart and then another to Aalen. My host family picked me up at the train station in Mögglingen, my old village, and it was like no time had passed at all- I was just going home. My host sister is currently doing a gap year volunteering in South Africa and my host brothers have all gotten taller, but other than that everything was like I had left it over a year ago. Where did the time go? My host family remembered all the German food I loved so much, so for lunch we had Weißwurst, pretzels, and potato salad with some special British lemonade that they found at the grocery store and bought especially for me 🙂 They also gave me some delicious German chocolate (the reason for my massive weight gain during my year, haha!!) and an entire Bierstein and enough beer to fill it!! They were so generous and all the gifts were vveerryy much appreciated. We had a lovely lunch and then decided to go on a walk around the village. Every year, there is a big flower show in a different part of Germany and the Remstal region of Germany was chosen for next year. The Rems (“Tal” means valley) is a river that flows through southern Germany and wouldn’t you know it, right through Mögglingen.  Preparations for the show have already begun which means that flowerbeds and little gardens have popped up all around the village.

The vines on the building in the third and fourth pictures are actually hops vines on the city hall, which I thought was incredibly German and loved. The last picture is the Protestant church in the village. The kids getting confirmed this year, my middle host brother Lorenz included, built this labyrinth as a part of their service project. It’s not part of the flower show but it is a beautification project. In the darker part there are herbs planted that haven’t fully grown yet but you can see them beginning to. At the church we saw the priest and she remembered me even though she only met me a couple times. We talked about college and how it feels to be back in Germany (spoiler alert: amazing!). She was so nice and I’m so glad we got to see each other again. We walked further through the village, talking and catching up, and at one point, a group of kids rode by on bikes and one of them yelled out “hallo, Grace!” I’m so sad I didn’t get to see who it was because it was so sweet and my host parents thought so too. It made me so happy 🙂  We walked to the grocery store where I was able to load up on the good German chocolate that I had missed so much. We also bought pieces of cake and then we went back home and had coffee and cake. We just sat around and talked for a while and it was really nice to reconnect. At 6 I said goodbye to my host brothers until December when I will be able to go back to Germany and then my host parents and I drove to Aalen. They don’t go to Aalen much so I kind of showed them around all the places I used to have lunch and liked to go, making sure to point out all the best ice cream shops! At 7 they dropped me off at Zoë’s house. Look at the adorable sign she made me:  It is now hanging on my wall in London 🙂

After I said goodbye to my host parents, one of my old friends Vivien came and we three went out for drinks and a snack. We ended up at a bar/restaurant in Aalen that I really liked when I was there. Zoë and I split a Flammkuchen (thin crust pizza) with onion, leek, and bacon on it. It was delicious. Again, it was so much fun to reconnect with my old friends and it was really nice to realize that my German was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and then headed home.

The next day was a big one!! Zoë, her brother Noah, her mom Claudia, our friend Leonie, and I all had a big Bavarian breakfast not unlike the lunch from the day before and then drove off to Ulm. Her dad met us there where we picked up Noah’s cat at his apartment and then we drove off to Munich. The drive was unbelievably gorgeous and made me miss Germany even though I was there. Once in Munich, Zoë, Leo, and I took the subway to the main train station, where we then walked to Theresienwiese, where Oktoberfest is held.

 

We got there around 1 pm and some tents were already closed because they were full. We walked around a little and explored.

 

We got in line to get into the Hofbräu tent, which some might describe as the most notorious of all tents at Oktoberfest. Sorry, Grandma! One man came up to us and offered us wristbands that would get us into the tent without having to wait in line so we bought them off of him and then, because we now didn’t have to wait in line, we got lunch, met up with Noah and Tiryn, Zoë’s dad for a picture, and rode the ferris wheel.   

 

I always knew there were a ton of people at Oktoberfest, but being able to see them all at once made me realize what a huge event this actually is. Keep in mind that in most of the major tents, all the tables are full plus a large balcony. Every time when I see a huge crowd of people like this, I think about how nice my life would be if they all gave me a dollar (or in this case, a euro). After riding the ferris wheel, we decided to go to the tent and get a beer. As can be imagined, the vast majority of them were already drunk and the security team was very busy.

Here we all are with our one beer. We did not stay super super long because of the sheer amount of drunk men trying to talk to us. After a little bit, we left to make the long journey back home to Aalen. The three-hour train ride was beautiful and it was a really nice opportunity to just talk. I got to catch up on all the gossip from school! For dinner we got döner, which if you remember are basically Turkish gyros, and I drank my beer that the Epps gave me.  Zoë built a very comfy new chair from Ikea, I said goodbye to Leo, and I slept very well that night.

The next day was also my last. I knew that the weekend would be over quick but I was still shocked by how quickly it went by.  Zoë woke me up in the morning and she, her mom, and I got ready and drove to Stuttgart. Stuttgart has its own Oktoberfest every year called Wasen. I went to Frühlingsfest while I was in Germany, which is like Oktoberfest but in the spring, but this was my first time at Wasen. We were a bit early so not a lot was open. We walked around looking for a tent to eat in but many places were not serving food yet.

 

In one tent, there was a mass going on before any food (or beer) could be served. This made me laugh simply because it was so typical of southern Germany. We finally found food in the Klauss & Klauss tent. 

I ordered Maultaschen, which would best be described as German dumplings. It’s very Schwäbisch and they were so delicious. It made it so much harder to leave 😦

After lunch, we walked around the festival grounds a bit and got more food. We were all stuffed but we can’t say no to ice cream.  This is Waldmeister flavored, which doesn’t exist in the US but Germans love. It’s supposed to taste like a plant that’s found in the woods, I would best describe it as a kind of sour-sweet. It tastes green, if you could understand that. Anyway we also got chocolate covered fruit skewers (they also sold chocolate covered chilis which I found strange considering how much Germans generally like spicy food, aka not at all) and we also got a special German treat that I am now kicking myself for not taking a picture of. They are called Mohrenköpfe and it is whipped egg white with flavoring covered in chocolate. If you google “dickmann’s” it will come up. Zoë loves loves loves them and was so sad we didn’t have them in the US. While we ate we sat and watched people go by.

These horses are bringing beer barrels to the tent!

While we were sitting down, I got an email saying that my flight was delayed by a little bit, but luckily it was just enough time so that Zoë and Claudia could drive me to the airport, which they previously weren’t going to be able to do. We were all so happy to have more time together! The drive to the airport took us on a road overlooking all of Stuttgart. Unfortunately it looked much better in real life than any picture I took. This gives you an idea.  My flights all went very smoothly and I got back to London without a hitch.

I added a couple new stamps into my passport, something that I’m planning on doing a lot of this semester.

The weekend was amazing. I cannot stress enough how much it felt as though I was just going home and visiting my family and friends for a weekend. I knew I missed Germany, but I did not realize how much I needed to go back and am really hoping to spend another year there in the future. As for right now, I am just so happy to have the opportunity to be able to go back (for a reasonable price, too). I am planning on heading back before the semester is over and I absolutely cannot wait.

Prost to all of you and I hope you have a great week.

Here we are, already more than halfway through September, and as I am every year, I’m blown away by how fast time has passed, not only since I’ve been here, but also since January. It’s almost 2019. Let that sink in a bit.

This week, I’m going to try a new writing style. I’ve realized that the way I have been writing is a bit trite and boring, so I’m going to make an attempt to be more concise than I have been in the past. Bear with me as I work towards being a better writer!

In the past week, I’ve been more concentrated on schoolwork, as I have quickly realized that reading is not a quick homework assignment and to be able to really understand the text and be able to make actual contributions in class, I need to sit down, take a lot of notes, and reread what I’m supposed to. So far I’ve had to buy four books for class. Luckily the store that I buy them from has a student discount, plus I really like the store so that’s an added bonus. It’s like Barnes and Noble but much bigger and a lot better. It’s called Waterstones and I highly recommend it to everyone. One of their branches is the biggest bookstore in London and one of its cafes has become my favorite place to study.

In my free time, I’ve been trying to check off things I wrote down on a “to do list” at the beginning of the month that includes places to go and visit and food to eat. So far this week I’ve been to the Tower of London and eaten Bengali food, two things that are intrinsically important to Britain’s past and present. Both were absolutely fantastic. One of my classes took a field trip down to East London, Canary Wharf area, and walked along the docks that used to be the hub of the British slave trade and are now home to the financial district on one side and poverty on the other. We got curry at a Bengali restaurant and it was delicious.

 

And the Tower of London~

My British media class took a walking tour on Wednesday of all the buildings, past and present, that the BBC has operated out of.

 

The last two pictures are on the current BBC broadcasting house at the end of Regent Street in central London. The two figures on the left represent Prospero and Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which we are coincidentally reading right now in my Shakespeare class.

I’ve also been realizing that I need to take better care of myself health-wise. I’m not unhealthy, but I’m not fit in any way, shape, or form and I can already tell that I am putting on weight and I don’t want to repeat what happened in Germany, which is that I gained roughly 15 lbs over the course of the year. This led me to run my first 5K on Saturday. Every Saturday morning in hundreds of parks across the UK, there are volunteer-run 5Ks with participants of all ages and abilities. There was a five year old girl in front of me for the whole race, so that tells you a bit about my ability. I ran most of it but some of the hills really took it out of me and I walked those. Contrary to my belief, I finished and I did NOT have a heart attack! Yay! I’ve also converted my windowsill into a standing desk so I don’t spend so much time sitting when doing schoolwork, writing these blog posts, or doing whatever. Along with this attempt to start exercising more, I’ve been cooking healthy meals for myself. There is a co-op grocery store down the street that has fruit and veggies for cheap, along with a fruit stand across the street from that where I got two butternut squash and two avocados for two pounds! Yay again!

That’s pretty much all that’s been new with me this week. Tonight is taco night with my friends and me. We found a Mexican grocery in London on Saturday and went to get groceries and comfort food. I found enchilada sauce, mole, chipotle peppers, and generally just enjoyed the atmosphere. There was a lot there and while it was imported and on the pricier side because of that, I thought it was worth it because it tastes like home!! The rest of the week is looking like it will be fairly normal, but early Friday morning I take off for Germany! I will be going to Oktoberfest with my friends, rehabilitating my German, and stuffing myself with pretzels straight from God`s kitchen. Until then, enjoy the first couple days of fall!

It is such an incredible opportunity to be able to spend my first semester of college abroad. I am so happy to be here and I am falling more and more in love with this city and country every day.

A lot of people told me before I left that I was “very brave” to be spending my first semester abroad. I just knew that if I didn’t do it, I would literally regret it for the rest of my life. On top of that, four months really isn’t that long. If anything, it’s too short! I already know that I won’t be able to do all the things I wanted to do while in Europe but I am cramming as much as I possibly can!

My first week of classes are done! I am taking four classes. They are Introduction to British Media, Introduction to Shakespeare, Migration and Identity: The Creation of the Global City, and Showcasing the Nation, which is a required course about British culture and history. My schedule is pretty good except for two classes I have that go until 9:30 pm. Other than that I can’t complain.

On Monday I first had Intro to British Media, where we just went over the syllabus and then I had Showcasing the Nation, where we had a lecture mostly about Brexit and the makeup of the UK, particularly focusing on the regional identities of all the countries that make up the UK. Both of my professors are really nice and interesting, plus I really like their classes (so far)! After class my friend Amaya and I were both done for the day so we went home and went grocery shopping. We had lunch together and watched Say Yes to the Dress for a while before I realized I had to do adult things, like the laundry. Yikes. For dinner I made a couscous salad and then went over to my friends’ kitchen in the other flat and had a family dinner. We had chicken, my salad, and potatoes and then apple pie and banana bread pudding for dessert. It was a really nice night and I am excited to do it in the weeks to come.

On Tuesday we had a field trip for my media class to the Science Museum. They had an exhibition called “The Information Age” and it was all about human communication from the talking drums of Africa up till now. It was really interesting and while I still don’t fully grasp the inner technology of the telegraph, I still enjoyed it. After that, I was done for the day. I went grocery shopping to pick up some things I couldn’t find the day before, such as fish sauce and coconut milk, and found my new favorite cookie, just a simple oat digestive, but when you put a blob of apricot jam on top, oh yes. Weight gain, here I come! For the rest of the afternoon, I planned for my upcoming travels. I had to change my flight to Iceland and then I bought a train ticket to get from Stuttgart to Aalen. I also watched Gavin and Stacey, a British TV show with James Corden that is really funny, if not crude. British humor. Around 4, I decided that I should get up and do something, so I went on a nice walk through the park close to our house and then discovered Highgate Village, the town center at the very top of the hill where I live. It was so, so cute and I can’t wait to go there during peak hours when it is busy.

 

You can’t see it super well, but in the last picture there is a nice view over London from the top of the hill. I found a really cute charity bookshop that I didn’t buy anything from but definitely enjoyed. I had already spent enough money that day so I cut myself off and didn’t take out my wallet once. Yay. For dinner I made myself cauliflower curry and rice. It turned out pretty well and I had enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

On Wednesday I had another 9 am class, this time a seminar course of Showcasing the Nation, which I also had on Monday. We basically just went over what the lecture was about but then we wrote a response to two poems about the ethnic diversity of London and England. I was free after that until the evening and I didn’t want to go home quite yet, so I walked over to the British Museum just a 5 minute walk from the center and spent about an hour in there before I got really hungry and went home. Admission is free, so I know I can go back and keep exploring whenever I want. Today I looked at ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek sculptures.

 

One of the British people who work at the center, Emma, told me that while she very much enjoys all of the artifacts and art that is in the museum, she also feels weird about it being here and thinks it should go back to their home countries. While I very much agree with her, I will definitely take advantage of it all being in one (free) place while it is still here.

 

There was just so much there and it’s all so important to human history. While I didn’t take a picture because I only would have gotten the crowd in it, the Rosetta Stone is housed in the museum and seeing that was just so amazing, knowing that this stone right in front of me unlocked millennia of mysteries surrounding these ancient civilizations. Super cool. The rest of my day kinda paled in comparison to the Rosetta Stone, but later that night I got on the Tube and went to my Shakespeare class, which was supposed to go from 6-9:30 but my professor was super tired and she cut the class short and sent us home an hour early. I like her already. We are reading five plays in that class and we are hitting the ground running because we only meet once a week and the semester is a lot shorter than you might think.

Thursday was a pretty chill day because I didn’t have class until 6 pm. I got up, made some bread, did reading,went grocery shopping, and all that boring stuff. My bread turned out terribly, by the way. The dough didn’t rise at all and it didn’t taste good on account of me putting in an entire onion, which I recognize was my fault but still.

 The class I had later that night was called Migration and Identity: The Creation of the Global City, and the title is pretty self explanatory but we talked about the diversity of London and went over the syllabus. There are a lot of field visits to various parts of London and next week we will be going to the West India Quays and then having dinner in a Bengali restaurant, which I am SO excited for. It will be a good time.

I have no classes on Fridays (YAY) so I slept in and spent the morning reading for my Shakespeare class. There is a LOT of reading for that one, to no one’s surprise. At 2 my friends and I went to explore Chinatown, which is right by Piccadilly Circus. Piccadilly Circus is a really cool area all by itself. It’s basically London’s Times Square. There are West End shows, street performers, lights, a lot of traffic, and TOURISTS. I’ve only been here two weeks but I already feel like a local and get annoyed when tourists stop in the middle of the sidewalk to look at a map. Come on, people.

We ate lunch at a Lebanese restaurant and I had a Brazilian Black Bean bowl.  We thought we had seen all of Chinatown (we only saw the gate and one street, it turns out that it was actually much bigger and we just didn’t turn down the right street)

Af

After Chinatown, we decided to visit Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter at King’s Cross station. It ended up being a gift shop and a 45 minute long line for pictures.

I bought stuff because I’m a sucker for Harry Potter. I got a travelcard holder for my Oyster Card (the card that allows me to get on the Tube), a reusable bag that was on sale, and a special Ravenclaw version of the Chamber of Secrets. I love love love Harry Potter and being in London and seeing all these places that they talk about is just SO cool. Across the street from King’s Cross station is St. Pancras (NOT pancreas) International train station, where I could get a train to France if I so wished. We stayed in there for a while because there were a lot of cool shops and art. There was a huge bronze statue at one end of the station and it was really intricate.

There was a super fancy tea shop where I didn’t buy anything because I’m Financially Responsible, even though they had Halloween chocolates: After St. Pancras, we headed to the movie theater to meet our other friend and see Crazy Rich Asians. I got Baskin Robbins ice cream for the first time in many many years and it was still as delicious as I remember it being in 2005. The movie was FANTASTIC. I wish I could see it again. It was just so colorful and beautiful and the plot was really interesting and I would highly recommend it. There was some delicious looking food too, which made me really want to go to Singapore and try it!!

On Saturday, I decided to go into London again in search of my required books for my migration course and also of the biggest bookstore in London. It was right by Piccadilly Circus and it was called Waterstones, which is basically Barnes and Noble except much, much better. This place had six floors, two cafes, and something like eight miles of shelving inside. I found the books and did homework for 3.5 hours in the basement cafe. I bought a raisin scone and honestly it was the best scone I’ve ever had in my life. I’m never leaving.   Around 4 I couldn’t take it anymore and had to get up and do something else. I tried to find another bookstore dating from the early 18th century (it was even mentioned in the Hound of the Baskervilles!) but I couldn’t find it and ended up just wandering around Piccadilly Circus, down to Trafalgar Square, and then back up again to Chinatown.

I was getting hungry so I stopped in a Chinese restaurant and got dinner. I had fried rice, Shanghai pork buns, and peanut and pork dumplings. It was delicious and really filling. The staff at the restaurant were really nice too and talked to me. One man said usually he can tell when Americans come in his restaurant but he said he couldn’t tell for me until I told him, which I took as a complement?

Once I got home I skyped with my family, which led to such quality time as this:  I found out that my grandparents will be joining my family when they come visit me at Christmas time and I couldn’t be more excited!! I am really looking forward to showing my family around my new home and the wonderful, beautiful city of London.

September is already half over. How is that possible? How is my time here running out so quickly already? I just started classes! Either time needs to slow down or I need to speed up (probably a little bit of both). I hope you all have a very nice start to school and fall, and as always, thanks for reading!

Every day I get to explore a new part of London and I am loving it. In the past three days, I’ve done so much new stuff, met a lot of people, and eaten a LOT of good food.

On Friday after the presentation we did on Borough Market, we had a student fair at the center, where I got my library card, student center card so I can get discounts and the like, and information on doing a homestay program for a weekend in either October or November. Then we went to the Student central building, which was a beautiful walk.

 

Across from the center there was a gorgeous bookshop just calling my name and I couldn’t say no. I am a huge, huge Barnes and Noble fan so when I say this was a hundred times better than B&N, I mean it. I bought a book called Prisoners of Geography, which talks about geopolitics particularly in Ukraine, China, and the Arctic. I am super excited to read it. We went home, I had lunch, and then went on a tour of the Highgate Cemetery led by my British Media professor. Karl Marx is buried in the Highgate Cemetery and the professor is a true Communist so he knows a lot about Marx and his writings. The Cemetery was unbelievably cool. Every image that pops in your head when you think about an old, gothic, creepy cemetery looked like this one.

 

 

 

The first picture is Marx’s current grave. I think it’s really interesting that the Communist Party of Great Britain raised so much money and put so much effort towards building this big memorial to Marx, because I feel that that is not what he would have wanted at all. The second picture was his original grave. My professor said that usually, the grave is very poorly taken care of, has weeds growing all over it, is dirty, etc. You can see the many cracks that were in it before it was fixed. Marx, while he was a German philosopher, actually spent much of his working life in Soho in London and is therefore buried here in the city rather than in a German cemetery.

After learning about Marx, we were given some free time to go explore the cemetery. During this time, I realized that it was actually much bigger than I had realized and that I couldn’t really explore it in the 20 minutes that we were given. If anyone comes to visit me during my stay, I’ll definitely take them here.

It was very spooky and put me in the fall mood.

After the graveyard I went grocery shopping and made dinner. Being an adult is weird. I made sweet potato fries, fried carrots and onions, and potato chips, a nutritious dinner. I watched Ella Enchanted with my friends. I was super tired but I got a second wind and booked a flight to Germany for Oktoberfest, as one does. I’M GOING BACK TO GERMANY!!!!! I am SO SO SO excited to go back (and rehabilitate my German)!!! Woohoo!!!!

On Saturday we went to Camden Town Markets. Camden Town is known for its semi-grunge feel and being a place with a lot of indie designers. I think I got secondhand smoke from all the pot that was there. It was really, really cool and unique, though. Not only was there a TON of ethnic and street food from all over the world, there were also loads of different types of art, clothing, jewelry, and everything you could imagine for sale. We wandered around for about two hours, just looking at all the stalls. The Markets were huge and there was so much, I was kind of overwhelmed and didn’t buy anything besides lunch.

Amy Winehouse worked at the Camden Markets before she was famous and they are very proud of that fact. 

For lunch I had a chicken katsu burger from a Japanese stall. It was delicious and had some sort of curry sauce on top. After lunch we went home and had the first time to ourselves basically since we started orientation back in PA. I cleaned my room, organized, did laundry, and made a pizza that I shared with my friends while we watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on TV. It was a really nice, relaxing night.

Today we took a boat tour to Greenwich. It took about 70 minutes to cross the Thames and get over there. The views were very pretty, but since I could only sit on the bottom of the boat as all the seats on the top weer taken, my pictures leave a little to be desired.

We got to Greenwich around noon and first headed up to the Prime Meridian, the main attraction of Greenwich. The hill that it and the Royal Observatory are on looks out over Greenwich Park, the Thames, and London. It was absolutely gorgeous!!

That’s the main Prime Meridian in the fourth picture. The picture was taken through a fence because it cost money to get in. Luckily, we found another piece of the line that was free to straddle.   After hanging out on the hill and enjoying the view for a bit, we headed down to get lunch. One of the places that was recommended to us was the Trafalgar Tavern, which was “frequently visited by Charles Dickens.” How could we not?

It had a beautiful look out over the Thames and luckily did not serve such delicacies as this: . What I got, however, wasn’t much better or more delicious sounding. After seeing it in Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, I decided to order beef bone marrow, because when else in my life am I going to have the opportunity to eat bone marrow?  Honestly though, it wasn’t that good. It was basically just straight fat that I put on the bread. 2/10. Luckily I ordered some pea soup and bread as well. We sat there enjoying life and the cool breeze for a long ish time before getting up and heading to the Royal Naval College and then the National Maritime Museum.

Lastly, we saw the “Cutty Sark,” an old tea supplier ship on display at Greenwich Pier.

We then went home on the Overground. In every movie set in the future, there is a monorail that runs through the skyscrapers of a big city, and this felt exactly like that. It felt like I was flying on a really cool, realistic rollercoaster at Disneyland. It was awesome and I really hope my travel card that I’ll be using for the rest of my semester covers Overground travel too.

The rest of the night has been spent just relaxing as classes start tomorrow bright and early. I really hope my professors are good and nice!! My first class is Introduction to British Media which should be really interesting. Then I have Showcasing the Nation, which is a required course about British culture and history. I’m excited, nervous, all those things. I’ve got to plan something to do this weekend because otherwise I’ll feel like I’m wasting my time here! I have only 14 weeks left and I have to cram in as much as possible while I still can! Ahh!! Wish me luck!!

This past week has simultaneously flown by and seemed like an eternity. While on my daily Tube commute this morning, it occurred to me just how comfortable I feel not only on the Tube, but walking the streets of London. I feel like I’ve been here a month or more and can see myself staying long past the end of the semester. The past couple of days have been more focused around the start of classes on Monday, but we have also had trips out to do cool things around London.

On Tuesday we had a couple of meetings at the Arcadia Center so my friends and I went down to London early so we could get SIM cards and things sorted out and just have some time to enjoy the city. We sat at Starbucks and people watched and I had my daily caffeine fix. At the center, we had an hour and a half long presentation that we had basically already had about the main differences between British and American cultures, what to do in an emergency, etc. Then we went to lunch at a cafe called Pret a Manger and I had a hot tomato soup and some bread. It was great, especially because fall weather has definitely come to London and I was a bit chilly! Yay! After lunch we went home, went grocery shopping, and I made myself some pasta for dinner. I ended up making way too much so I was set for dinner the next day.  I realized I hadn’t bought Tupperware yet so I quick ate all the yogurt out of a yogurt container and dumped it in there. At 7 we had a small get together in the park across the street with the kids who just came from the other schools and we played human bingo as an icebreaker but then had to go back because the park was closing. I went out with my friends to McDonalds, had a Belgian Chocolate Honeycomb Iced Frappe (because I really don’t think that’s served in the US?), regretted the decision to drink that soon after, and went to sleep.

 

On Wednesday we finally got our class schedules!! Best part-I have NO CLASSES FRIDAYS! I can finally start booking flights to visit my friends in Europe! Woohoo!! My schedule is alright, on Mondays and Tuesdays I have the afternoon and evening free, On Wednesdays I have a 9-10:30 lecture and then a 6-9:30 class and on Thursdays I only have the 6-9:30 class. I also have a lot of my classes with my friends which is awesome!! For lunch I found a pretty cheap meal deal at a pharmacy nearby. I got a salad, a juice, and chips for only 3.99. We had a 2-hour lunch break so during the second hour I went on a small walk with one of my friends and explored the area behind the center. There are a ton of cute shops and the British Museum is just a block away and it’s free, so now I really have something to explore on those free afternoons.

At 3 we had a tour of the Senate House Library, which will be our main library while we are studying. It has so much and I am so excited to study there.

Later that evening, we took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus to see a West End show, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. It’s about a 16-year old boy who wants to be a drag queen and it’s his story about how he gets there. It was AMAZING. The music, the dancing, and the fact that the main character could even walk in the 9-inch heels he was wearing was extremely impressive and I absolutely loved it.

Yesterday, Thursday, we had a meeting about FYSAE (the program I’m on) and then we had a lecture about British history and identity. It was really interesting and has a lot to do with Brexit. After the lecture, we were sent in groups to different parts of London to do an “ethnographic study.” We chose to go to Borough Market, a big open air market that has been in operation for about 1000 years. I love, love, love big markets so this was both awesome and damning for me, mostly because I now know about this place and will not cease until I spend my entire bank account there. I got a Laugenstange (bascially a pretzel but in stick form) for lunch and it tasted just like they do in Germany. I nearly cried. We walked around the market exploring and enjoying the wide spread of free samples.

I got an earl grey goat’s milk ice cream in a charcoal ice cream cone, which sounds fancy as heck and was equally as delicious.  Here are some more pictures just of the market:

Because this was part of a school project, we walked down the South Bank to a seating area inside the National Theatre to work on the presentation before out next event.

There was an amazing little bookshop in there with hundreds of books that I couldn’t afford and therefore admired from afar. At 5:30 we started our next event, which was an afternoon tea on a double decker bus. It was even cuter than it sounds.

The program is run by a bakery in London who made all the sandwiches and cakes. They were all outstanding and I got quite full. I had Earl Grey tea and English Breakfast tea and miraculously did not have to use the bathroom while on board. The views from the bus were awesome and it rained for the first time since we’ve been here while we were driving around, which was just perfect!!

After the tour we were all exhausted and made our way back to the house, finished our presentations, and fell asleep.

It’s weird to think we’ve only been here a week. It seems like an absolute eternity. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I feel completely at home here in London and like I’ve been here for a long time. I can’t wait to see what this next week, month, and the rest of the semester has in store, I’m sure it will be fantastic and unforgettable. Have a great night.

Hello!!

London has been treating me very, very well. I feel right at home here and I already feel as though I’ve been here for years. I’m comfortable on the Tube, I know which way to look when crossing the street, I’m familiar with the currency (too familiar, I need to slow down!) and when I’m thinking to myself it’s often in a British accent. I already know that four months will not be enough to explore this beautiful city and its surroundings and that I will need to come back very, very soon. The past two days have been just splendid. By my pedometer, which is not quite accurate because I usually hold it in my hand or tightly in a pocket when walking down busy streets, I’ve walked 14.4 miles in the past two days and 28.5 miles while here in the city. Our feet all hurt, but I’ve been eating so much that it’s probably good that I have that exercise. The food here is not as bad as everyone warned, the worst thing I’ve had is the dinner that I just made myself, so that is my fault and not the UK’s. The people are friendly, I’ve become good friends with my flatmates, and life is good. Now onto some pictures!!

 

On Saturday, we took the Tube to Green Park, which is right smack in the middle of all the major London highlights. Our tour guide met us there and for the next two hours, we took a tour of all the London sights that we hadn’t seen before.

 

Most importantly, the first picture is of a man and his pug in Green Park. We all miss our pets dearly and we all point out dogs to each other when walking around London. This man took it above and beyond and let us all pet his dog, then informed us of a “pug fest” that was taking place there later that afternoon, but we couldn’t go because we had tickets to see Othello at the Globe like a bunch of losers. The last three are of Buckingham Palace, which was insanely grandiose and golden. It had something like 775 rooms, but the Queen only lives in 12 of them. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be that rich. Then we walked up the street past some other royal residencies, then across the street to Hyde Park. While there, we saw a large group of fancy soldiers on horses.  Our guide told us that they were on their way to work, work being being on guard at Horseman’s Palace. We walked through Hyde Park to said palace.

 

 

 Basically the two groups just stood facing each other for a long time and then we had to move on. Nest, we went to some government buildings, mainly the Foreign Ministry and the Treasury.  Underneath the buildings to the right are Churchill’s War Rooms, which I definitely plan on visiting while here. Then we walked up to Westminster Abbey, which was incredible and I did not have enough time to stare at.

 

In the second picture, you can see 10 carvings of “20th century martyrs,” people who died in the 20th century for their beliefs. Martin Luther King, Jr. is in the middle. The next area was Parliament Square, filled with statues of people who contributed to democracy. It started off as just tributes to British democracy, then a statue of Abraham Lincoln was added, then Mandela and Gandhi, and as the first woman, Millicent Fawcett, the leader of the British female suffrage movement.

 

We then walked across the bridge to the South Bank and the London Eye.

 

We then had lunch at a pretty good Mexican restaurant and I had enchiladas. After lunch, we headed down to the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe a little farther down the South Bank. On the way, there was a sand sculpture competition with some pretty cool stuff!

 

I was supposed to give them money for taking pictures but I didn’t realize that until we were on the way back. Sorry.

 

Finally, we were there!

 

They were handing out those funny hats that really didn’t protect you from the “eye of heaven” at all but were funny anyway. The production of Othello was absolutely fantastic. All the actors were spot-on, the costumes were beautiful, and the scenery couldn’t be better. I am 99% sure I have to see it again for a Shakespeare class I am taking and I am so excited for it! Also fun fact-the entire show, I was racking my brain trying to find out where I had seen the man playing Othello before. I knew him, I knew him, I knew him. No one else thought he looked familiar but I knew I wasn’t crazy. Turns out, he was in 42, Selma, and Wrinkle in Time among other movies and TV shows. His name is Andre Holland and he was incredible as Othello.

After the show, we walked further along the South Bank until we got to the pub restaurant where we were having dinner. I had ordered calamari, steak and ale pie, and a lemon tart. Unfortunately, I was still full from my lunch. I still wanted to taste everything and I always feel bad wasting food so I ate almost everything.

Everything was delicious!! I only ate the filling of the steak and ale pie because I physically couldn’t eat all of it, but everything that I did eat I would absolutely eat again. I sat with some of the Arcadia faculty during dinner. They are both Americans living in London and I just think that is so cool. They’re livin the life, man.

After dinner, my friends and I walked over the London Bridge to do some minor grocery shopping and then to go home. The lighting was gorgeous so here are some pictures.

 

The next day was begun with a trip to the Columbia Road Flower Market. We walked for about a mile through a heavily Muslim immigrant area of town and all the food looked so delicious!! I will definitely be buying produce from them as it seems very good and very cheap!! The flower market was in a fairly hipster area of town and it was beautiful. I spent more money there than I had originally planned and that was only the first stop of the day.

We stayed at that market for about an hour and a half and saw a LOT of dogs. It was fantastic.  The next stop was about a mile away and was called the Old Spitalfields Market. I had a delicious Turkish wrap for lunch.  We were specifically told to sit down for as long as possible during our lunch break but after I finished eating I walked around the market because it was just so interesting. I bought some really cute vintage red gingham shorts from a vintage clothing store for 75% off- only 8 pounds! There was so much cute stuff but I have a budget, unfortunately. After lunch we started a street art tour led by one of the Arcadia London center professors. He was really cool and knew a lot about graffiti artists and street art. I’ve never much been into street art but the stuff he showed us was really pretty.

After the tour, I went grocery shopping with my friends and took a double decker bus home as to avoid climbing up the big hill home with heavy groceries. At home, I made a Bengali stew with lentils and onions for dinner. I ended up adding too much turmeric and it was really bitter but I ate it anyway. Then I sat and talked with my friends in the kitchen for two and a half hours. It was really nice.

Today was a pretty chill day. We had a cooking class at a place called St Luke’s Community Centre. We made huevos rancheros, chickpea flatbreads, guacamole, and smoothies. Their cooking school was really cute. They had a whole garden out back and even had 5 chickens to supply eggs. They were also big on community outreach and I might look into volunteer opportunities through them once school starts. After the class and the ensuing humongous lunch due to us accidentally making too much of everything, we took the Tube home and went shopping for things like face wash and stamps. Once we got home, we met the other 100 kids who will be living in our house with us during the semester. They are from Brandeis and Hamilton Universities in Massachusetts and upstate New York. There are a LOT of them here. To get out of their way while they were moving in, my friends and I went to Tesco up the street, which is kind of like a convenience store with more food. I needed laundry detergent. You might be noticing a pattern of me spending a lot of money here. Let me tell you, it is not sustainable. On the way back, we thought we could find a back way into the house but ended up taking a major detour through our neighborhood. We found our way back eventually but found some really cool areas along the way, namely a road of some delicious looking ethnic restaurants and a huge temple.  Once we got back, we all got ready for a reception for all the students living in our house. We had to rent out an event venue across the street because there is no room in the house where we can all fit. All the Arcadia kids were so happy that we were finally getting over the hump of the awkward stage where no one knew each other and weren’t friends…that didn’t last long. There were so many people and no one knew how to start a conversation with one another. I did end up meeting two people though, so its a start. They served hamburgers and fish and chips at the reception, so at least I didn’t have to spend money on dinner. That was pretty much the extent of my evening, I also hung up a big British flag on my wall with dental floss and signed up to go to Wales for a weekend in November. Then I hung out with a bunch of Arcadia kids in the kitchen and now I’m in bed. It’s kind of nice to have some down time after basically two weeks of go go go. To end, I’ll leave you with a couple other nice pictures I took of London today.

Thank you for reading, good night!!

London. Is. Fantastic. As soon as I stepped off the plane in Heathrow and saw the Ben and Jerry’s vending machine in the airport, I was in love and this city has only impressed me more from there.

We landed on Thursday the 30th around 12 local time. We had all barely slept and were fairly hungry. I got something to eat at the airport and then we headed off in a double decker to our home for the next four months, Princess Elizabeth House in Highgate, London. We got there, began to unpack, and then took a walk around Highgate. The house is beautiful and I get my own room!!! I am loving life- a single room in a very fancy part of London and someone else is paying for it…I could get used to this. Highgate is fairly hilly and so we got some good exercise touring around. It is such a cute area and very British.

 

After the walk we took the Tube into London and visited the Arcadia London center and had a small presentation on basic things we need to know about London, such as emergency numbers and warnings about pickpockets. Then we got dinner at a noodle place called Wagamama. I was way hungrier than I thought I was and ate all of this:

I talked a lot at dinner to one of the women who works at the Arcadia center and therefore knows a lot about the city and found out some good places to eat, very important. After dinner, we walked through London to the London Eye, the big ferris wheel that looks out over London and the Thames.

 

As you can see, we had a gorgeous sunset and perfect weather for the Eye, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. Also pictured is the Somerset House, a skate park with some people doing really cool tricks, me of course, and my friends Amaya, Yasmeen, and Jordan. In the picture of the skyline, you might notice that Big Ben is under construction. It is a restoration project on the bell and is projected to be finished in…2021. Yay! Enjoy the scaffolding for now. After the beautiful views, we walked back to the house, I finished unpacking, and I slept like a rock.

Friday, August 31

I woke up at 6:30 bright eyed and bushy tailed, which I was surprised by but jet lag does wonders. I woke up to a beautiful, slightly foggy London morning, and felt like I was in Mary Poppins.  Can you see the chimney  tops? Like a good Brit, I poured myself a piping hot cup of tea and promptly burned myself so badly that I developed blisters on the roof of my mouth which then burst and bled throughout the day. Also I think I burned a couple of taste buds off. Ouch. Anywhosit for breakfast I ate a ramen bowl from Trader Joe’s that I packed in my suitcase (great idea, past Grace!) and then our group headed to Windsor for the day. We took four different trains. Archway to King’s Cross, King’s Cross to Paddington, Paddington to Slough, and Slough to Windsor. It’s only been two days, but I already feel more comfortable on the Tube than yesterday, probably because today I was awake and yesterday was spent in a haze of delirium.  We had a half hour layover at Paddington which we spent in the Paddington Bear gift shop, where everything was absolutely adorable. I bought a tote bag which is currently being used as my interim hamper.

 

Windsor looks exactly like it did at the Royal Wedding. It was one of the cutest towns I have ever visited and it just looked so British. We had a (German!!) tour guide meet us at the station and she took us up to Windsor Castle.

 

You might notice that there are some fairly low-flying planes in these pictures. The flight path into Heathrow goes right above Windsor, so there were big planes and loud noises all day. I thought it was cool but if I lived there it might get annoying after a while.

 

The second picture is of St. George’s Gate. If you zoom in to the top if the gate, you can see a carving of St George slaying the dragon! The bottom row is of St. George’s Chapel, where Harry and Meghan were recently married. No pictures were allowed of the inside, but the wedding was broadcast all over the world so it’s not hard to see it elsewhere.

 

After the castle, we went to a long-awaited lunch, where I had my first real British fish and chips!  Yes, that is an entire half of a fish. Delicious. Everything was even more delicious with malt vinegar on top, but my newly opened mouth wounds did not like that. I ate it anyway. The mushy peas tasted like baby food, but I learned from Anthony Bourdain that it is also much better with vinegar and I wholeheartedly agree. It was so, so good. Unhealthy? Yes. But I was walking a lot, so none of the calories count, right? After lunch we had free time to walk around Windsor. I spent way more money than I was expecting to.

 

The last picture is a picture of Harry and Meghan made entirely out of legos. Cool, right? I did not buy those glasses and there were a lot of dogs around Windsor. That first house reminded me of Harry Potter the way it slanted. I love ye olde Europe. We came back to the house, had a pizza and movie night. Then I went grocery shopping by myself for the first time! I got coffee, tea, milk, and Jaffa cakes, which are very British. They are basically a sponge cake with a little disc of orange jam on top and covered in chocolate. I got 10 of them for a pound and they were okay. They have a lot of potential. Then I took a shower and now I’m in bed and scrolling through British netflix, becoming very excited by the new shows. Blackadder got taken off American Netflix in 2012 but it is (not surprisingly) on British Netflix!! Yay!!

That’s it for now. Tomorrow we are going to see Othello at a replica (obviously) of Shakespeare’s Globe. I am very very excited for that because I am a nerd. See you then!