Kew Gardens

My life has yet to slow down. This week I had my first presentation and I have my first paper due next week (and another paper the week after that!). Hectic seems like a tame term to use when describing my past week. Today, my class went to the National Archives, which was the most interesting of the three different locations we have met at for this class (the National Art Library and the British Library).

The National Archives

It was actually a really pretty building and this morning was nice and cool. We "toured" the facility and then set up accounts so that we can use this as a resource for all of our researching needs. To be honest, waking up at 7am after 5 hours of sleep and then hopping the tube to visit the archives was snooze central, but the rest of the day made up for it.

Me and two girls decided to stay and discover Kew, and we found the cutest pub to each lunch in. It was located inside of a hotel, and had a bake sale going on. Two cookies for one pound?! Don't mind if I do.

I mean, this place was THE CUTEST. Note: not pictured are the multiple antler chandeliers hanging from the ceiling

Then we went to Kew Gardens (where Kew Palace is located). I was banking on my Museums Association Membership to get me for free again, but it failed me for the first time, and I was rather disappointed. So, I paid the 15 pounds and didn't look back. Also, it was the last of the birthday money my parents mailed me, thanks mom and dad.

Front of Kew Palace

Back of Kew Palace

This was the country home to King George III (from whom America declared her Independence). Isn't it stunning?! It was very small and quaint in regards to a palace, the exact opposite of the last palace  I saw, Hampton Court Palace. The artist in me also adored the red brick, it is the perfect complimentary color to the luscious green foliage surrounding it in Kew Gardens.

Now, at this point, I was committed, originally I wanted to come just to see Kew Palace and then head back to work on my exhibition review paper, but after paying the hefty entrance fee into the garden, I had to get my money's worth. 

After touring the palace, we set off to explore the rest of what Kew Gardens had to offer, and it did not disappoint. 

We all decided we wanted to move to Kew ASAP and become members at the gardens so we could spend every day reading books and studying in this beautiful place. Although we have Kensington Gardens, which is free, it is also ALWAYS packed with tourists, and businessmen and construction workers on their lunch break, and runners and cyclists, and screaming children and dogs, lots of dogs. Running into people at Kew Gardens ended up being few and far between, the whole area of suburb seemed to have no tourists at all, and even lacked ongoing construction work. Also, the park itself was much more dense with foliage and trees and had more of a forest vibe compared to Kensington, very cool right?

Water lily pond

We walked through the park with our hearts set on the tree top walkway, yes, it's real.

The walkway up in the trees! So breathtakingly beautiful

View of the Temperate House, which unfortunately was closed for restoration

Next we stumbled onto a Log Walkway, which was meant for children, but let's be honest, when has that ever stopped me?! I aspire to always and forever be a child at heart.

The other part of my birthday money went to the super cute vest I wore today, thanks mom and dad :)

I also had to get in some fisheye action, also curtesy of my mom and dad. Y'all are pretty rad. 

While hopping from log to log two little girls were playing with one another, and all of a sudden one of them burst into a fit of tears due to her friend "sticking her tongue out at her". Unfortunately, I had quite the struggle of stifling my laughter, and the crying child completely ruined our log walk, but I digress.

Next we headed to the Queen's Cottage, which was in an area of the park that felt like the great NorthWest, was very wildly overgrown, and felt much less like a park. Unfortunately, the Queen's Cottage is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, but it was marvelous to behold nonetheless.

Oh hello cutesy thatched roof

I mean, I wouldn't complain if I lived in a "cottage" similar to this. We also happened upon a Pagoda in the park, which was cool, but we also couldn't tour it, so we walked a half circle around it and went on our merry way.

Don't mind me, just a rando pagoda in an English garden

It was definitely not the day I had in mind, and I didn't make it back to London in time to go to the V&A and see my exhibit once again, so that is one more thing that awaits me in the morning, yippee. But, today was a nice and needed break from the crazy city and my new found habit of staring at a word document and trying not to cry. I have a lot on my "to-do" for this weekend, and today acted as a great pick-me-up as I look ahead to the seemingly impossible task of submitting my first grad school paper. 

Lastly, there were pumpkins growing in the garden behind Kew Palace, and I had to take a pic because, cliche american girl fall motif, am I right?!

A Whirlwind: My Past Two Weeks

Well, It has officially been too long since my last post. Last you heard from me I had spontaneously decided to go to Bath for the day. Spontaneous day trips are now a thing of the past as I am now in my third week of classes. Except, I did go to Hampton Court Palace at some point in the last two weeks, but I don't necessarily remember when, however, it was phenomenal.

Channeling my inner Harry Potter in the Maze! (yes, they had a maze!)

I keep letting the excuse of school and homework stand in the way of my blog, but if I'm being honest, I've been completely bogged down with school work from even before classes started. Yes, that's right, one of my professors assigned reading for our first class, but it wasn't too awful.

First day of school pic

I have been walking around the past two weeks in a daze it seems. Completely overwhelmed with all the stresses that come with uprooting yourself from a community you love and moving across the world, plus a full time graduate program class load, and trying to read the Harry Potter books for the first time make for a very busy, stressful, and, did I say overwhelming, couple of weeks.

Studying essentials

To catch you up, after Bath I had orientation, I met a few people and my professors, but mainly it was the usual orientation, they all tend to be the same. I started classes, I have class Monday through Wednesday, which gives me ample time to get through my readings on the long weekends, WRONG. Last week EVERY SINGLE CLASS met at a different location other than their assigned classrooms. Which, don't get me wrong, is great, but at the same time, it takes up a TON of time that I could spend doing other things, like reading for said classes. Last week I went to the National Art Library, the British Library, and Oxford, not to mention a walking tour around London to 10 different galleries and the British Museum to prep for class this week.

Oxford was wonderful. I went for class, we went to two different museums and then after our formal class was over I stayed and wandered the streets by myself for a couple of hours, got to make the most of it.

The Bridge of Sighs

Unfortunately, I really can't remember much I've done the past two weeks besides reading, and reading, and reading and reading and reading and reading. It's all just become one big blur in my mind. My University had a "Grad Night Out", we went to this luxury yacht hotel thing and had drinks on the river while watching the sun set. Talk about an experience. My roommate showed up finally. She is from South Korea and a complete sweetheart! I'm really excited to get to know her better.

View from the luxury yacht

Another thing that happened was my first English haircut. The girl that cut it just moved here on a whim with her best friend, they are from Australia. Don't worry, I may have gotten a trim, but I'm actually attempting to grow it out (who knows how long that'll last). I decided that I'm single with no prospects or hope of a relationship anytime in my near future, so I might as well grow out my hair while I have no one to impress. But, after making this decision I have seen so many cute pixie cuts here and it's so hard to not go get it all chopped off.

The Tour of Britain also came through London... I think last weekend? I seriously can't remember, but anyways, my favorite cyclist, Marcel Kittel, won the stage!!!! Bahh, I was seriously beside myself, still can't believe I got to witness a big tour like that in person!

Here he is during his time trial. He didn't do too hot on it, but he was saving it all for the circuit. 

The breakaway

And, this past Saturday was my birthday! Once again, if I can be honest, it was a really difficult birthday, and I went through literally all the feels in the course of 24 hours.

I started off my birthday (at midnight) in my room, alone, crying. Sad to be away from friends and family and feeling the most alone I've felt since coming here. It definitely did not feel like my birthday. That morning I got up and went to Harrod's to meet my Londoner friend Adrienne for high tea.

After eating this I was full for literally the rest of the day, also, now I am completely broke

I had also done some early birthday shopping earlier in the week and got to wear a cute newish outfit (the top was new, thank you H&M). After an AMAZING high tea we went to the Borough Market and smelled all the yummy foodie smells, but thankfully were too full from high tea to spend any more money.

Y'all, I'm 23. It's going to be a great year, I can feel it

The Borough Market was jam packed with people, but it was so awesome!

Then, we went to platform 9 3/4 where I got to take my cliche HP pic. If you had told me I would be doing that two weeks ago I would've laughed in your face. I think I have become the quickest Harry Potter fan ever, I even have a Hogwarts sweatshirt to prove it.

Am I doing this right?!

I'm actually a Hufflepuff, but the scarf clashed with my outfit, so Gryffindor it is. Sorry I'm not sorry.

I got home from spending the day with Adrienne and skyped my parents for a whole 5 minutes. They had to go and so did I. I met some of my grad school friends at a local pub for my birthday dinner where we ate Indian food over some fun conversation. It was nice to not really have a spare moment in the day to myself to feel lonely and I'm so thankful for the friends I have made this far.

So beyond thankful that this sweet friend took me all over London for my birthday!

After my birthday I had to step back into reality and get to cracking on the group presentation I COMPLETELY forgot I have to do later this week. And now, I have more reading to do, as I am sure you yourself have things to get back to.

In conclusion, I have been very very busy, and even though it is completely and utterly overwhelming, I have had a lot of fun experiences, and I'm living in London for goodness sake! When I'm too stressed to think I put on my running shoes and take a nice relaxing run around Kensington Gardens or use Harry Potter as a reward for getting my readings done by a certain time. I'm trying to take everything one day at time, but we will see how long that lasts as a way of keeping my mind sane.

Kensington Gardens

I got a birthday package from my parents today. Which came with fun attachment camera lenses for my phone. So much for homework, brb, checkin out the fisheye lens!

Bath: A Daytrip

Yesterday, when thinking about my orientation on Friday and school starting on Monday, I realized that today, Thursday, would be my last free day to do whatever I wanted free from academic burden. So, last night, I decided that first thing in the morning I would hop on a train to Bath for a short day trip, and that is precisely what I did.

Unfortunately, the tickets cost a little bit more than I was expecting, 55 pounds round trip, that's about $90 for all you Americans out there. It was definitely my splurge spending since I have been here (I have actually been doing quite well monetarily, not buying much food and all the museums are free, mainly it’s the bloody tube that costs a fortune). I only had to wait 15 minutes for my train to arrive and I was off to Bath.

I absolutely love trains. They are my favorite form of travel. I don’t have to drive, I can get stuff done while I am traveling, and I get to see the beautiful country side fly by. Today I was reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire during my journey. I felt as if I myself were barreling towards Hogwarts, and half expected to see it out the window at any moment. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from the train ride as the glare from the windows were too atrocious, but I promise they were breath taking. The rolling green pastures lined with trees made me want to settle down with a nice English farm boy and live in the countryside for the rest of my life tending sheep, but alas, I am stuck moving from big city to big city.

The train was just shy of two hours, I’d say the perfect length for a train ride, long enough to engage a good book and sneak in some adequate daydreaming while gazing out the window. When I arrived I followed the majority of the people out of the station until I happened upon a map, which was conveniently located for tourists like me.

Bath was my first solo trip. Sure, I have traveled on airplane, train, bus, car, and subway alone, but never have I gone to a new city and thoroughly explored its streets and sights single handedly. Honestly, I thought I would find it heartbreaking. After traveling the world with a boy who claimed his love for me, I figured it would be terribly lonely and depressing to roam the streets of a quaint English town on my own. But, to my pleasant surprise, it was both relaxing and empowering. I was able to go wherever I wanted, was on my own time schedule, and didn’t have to put up with any of the frustrations and miscommunications that can so easily happen while traveling. I didn’t have to worry about letting someone down if I got lost, nor did I have to worry about stopping to eat or go to the bathroom due to other’s needs. It was splendidly freeing and I was left to my own thoughts and desires all day.

It was the perfect weather to explore a new place, 70, overcast, and the sun even came out for an hour or two. I was warm (sometimes on the verge of sweating) when walking, and chilled when standing and sightseeing, which makes for a great segue, the sights that I saw.

Unfortunately, I did not discover all of tourist Bath, but happened upon quite a great deal of glamorous sights. I went straight for the Circus and Royal Crescent, which were both magnificent and extremely difficult to photograph.

The Circus

The Royal Crescent

I learned about these architectural buildings last semester in one of my undergrad classes, so to see them in person was awesome. They were very large in scale and the detail was beautiful. While viewing the Royal Crescent, I saw on the hill behind it some steeples, so I decided to climb through the neighborhoods and seek out the churches to which those spires belonged. Let it be known up front that I found myself lost on more than one occasion today, mainly because I was too busy taking in all the sights and not paying enough attention to my map, but like I said earlier, who cares if I got lost? I was only responsible for myself today!

I climbed, and I climbed, and I climbed, and I climbed, and I climbed. Seriously, those streets had insane inclines, which helped me stay warm all day, so for that I am grateful (I was also grateful I decided to not get up early and workout this morning, my legs could not have handled both running and traipsing up hills all day).

Serious incline

I found myself way out in the suburbs, far, far away from the ordinary Bath tourist experience.

I was the only one on the streets and people kept peering out at me suspiciously from behind their windows. Finally, I gave up climbing and started the downhill journey back to the tourist part of Bath. It was during this walk that I stumbled onto the church I had seen… but it wasn’t a church. It was the “Royal High School”… okay England, I see you.

Entrance to the super pretentious Royal High School

HOGWARTS!!!

Seriously, I walked around the side of it to try and get a better look and peering through the trees made it look like I had somehow been the first muggle to discover Hogwarts. As I kept on down the street I actually did come across a real church, which was proud owner to one of the spires I had eyed from the Royal Crescent.

When I arrived back in Bath I walked by the main cathedral of the city, which the Italians would so lovingly call the Duomo. 

I also walked along the river

and across in attempt to find Prior Park Landscape Garden. It was an uphill battle again, but steeper and longer this time around. I ended up wandering through more neighborhoods and somehow ended up back where I started. I had made a completely huge circle without realizing it, and all without a single sign of a park. I did, however, luckily happen across a café and had a spot a tea before heading back to the train station. But, as I was drinking my tea and looking at my maps I realized I hadn’t walked far enough up the painfully-steep-and-never-ceasing inclined street. So, after my afternoon tea, I set off once again determined to find the park. It wasn't the worst walk in the world, I was listening to cows moo and birds chirp in the nearby pastures, which was extremely calming while I panted my way up the mountain. And, finally, I found the park. After about a 30-minute uphill walk I came across the gated entrance, and it was closed. Seriously?! 

They didn't even say why they chose specifically today to close it.. makes me furious

So, back to the station I went, very disappointed, but I was able to narrowly catch the train at the station and get back to London sooner than I anticipated!

I fell in love with Bath today.

Stumbled upon this semi-hidden trail through the woods, however I did not follow it as it seemed to be on private property

So cute!! All the doors and entrances to houses were labeled!

Walking around trying to find the park and church steeples allowed me to get glimpses of extraordinary homes and villas from between the trees. Plus, it’s just one of those cities that is super romantic. Everyone, literally everyone, is strolling happily hand in hand (another city like this is Lucerne, Switzerland, one of my favorite cities that is just positively romantic. Set on a lake, everyone walking hand in hand at a leisurely pace, it really does do a soul good to get out of the big bustling city). Bath had some incredible architecture going for it too (it reminded me somewhat of Jerusalem and how all of the buildings in the entire city are made out of Jerusalem stone, a sandy gold colored stone local to that area of Israel). Bath was very unified in its style of architecture, which I loved. However, I may end up going back there one day, though next time it will be in the "off season" so I don’t have to pay a fortune for the tickets. There is still a lot I did not get to see and I really had my heart set on visiting Prior Park.

My next grand adventure starts tomorrow promptly at 9am, Post Graduate School Orientation. Wish me luck!