A Fortnight: The Past Two Weeks

Confession: I'm awful at titling things (current blog post included) ....

I've been a busy busy bee since I've come back across the pond. Today marks the start of my third week of classes (Already?!). I have so much to do, but unfortunately I'm not feeling pressured enough by the 2ish weeks away deadlines, so I've been watching Pretty Little Liars (not my proudest Netflix decision, but for now I'm fine with it) and traipsing around London! You saw my post two weeks ago which means you know how crazy busy that first week back was, but I've done much since then, so it's time for another update!

Tara and I went to the Leighton House Museum. It was amazing. We went on a Monday, when we don't have class, it's our new thing this term. We are trying to take London for all its worth while we still can!

Downstairs Foyer (I actually don't know what to call this room)

Artist Studio

This house was so beautiful. You're not allowed to take pictures, but I snapped these two while I was there. The house belonged to the artist Frederic Leighton and right now there is an exhibition on there called "The Victorian Obsession." I didn't know anything about the house before we arrived, but it is only about a 15 minute walk from where I live. I was very pleased to find not only a beautiful home (that we were admitted into FOR FREE thanks to our magical passes) but two art exhibits! Talk about a win win! It also houses "The Roses of Heliogabalus" by Lawrence Alma-Tadema in a little gallery area right off the artist studio. Who knew we would be stumbling onto that masterpiece?!

The house was amazing and contained rooms such as the Arab Hall (the back most room in the Foyer picture I took), which was built specifically for the Islamic tiles Leighton brought back from his travels in the Middle East. There is a stuffed peacock in one room and some type of animal rug in another, unfortunately I can't remember now what animal. The lesson I learned from this adventure was, if you have been to London multiple times and are looking for something off the beaten path, there are multiple house museums in London, and I hope to check out some more while I am here and recommend you do the same!

After the Leighton House, we walked to Kensington Palace where we had a reservation for high tea!

Kensington Palace in the winter, I'll have one in every season soon!

High Tea, the Royal way!

the Orangery

Well, as you well know, I am no stranger to high tea! And I must say, the Orangery at Kensington Palace did not disappoint. Their scones were small (but you get two of them, so that wasn't a big deal) and they make up for it through their clotted cream, which is the best I've had in London thus far! Plus its at Kensington Palace, you just really can't beat that.

It was my mom's birthday last week.

I left her a mug from London in my closet for her to find on her birthday, and I also sent her a postcard tea (that's why I was shopping on oxford street in my last post), which she got in the mail only yesterday. Postcard Tea is a cute little shop off Oxford street that lets you mail loose leaf tea around the world as a post card! It's really awesome! I hope to have a reason to send some again while I'm here!

Tara and I went gallivanting all over London on Tuesday.

We had class at the Tate Britain in the morning, then we went to two different contemporary art galleries in totally different areas of the city, and then we hustled back to the Tate for our timed entrance tickets for the Turner exhibition (we got in for free. Because magic cards!)

We rode bus 88 (I think, maybe it was 80?) to get to one of the galleries and it was the perfect bus if you want a quick site see of London. We passed Big Ben and Trafalgar Square! It was really awesome! I've only seen those places from the street level, so being up in a double decker bus made for a fun time.

Tara walking through Richard Serra's "Backdoor Pipeline" at the Gagosian Gallery

 The Turner exhibit was SO CROWDED!!! Neither of us enjoyed it, which is sad because it was such a huge collection of works, and I absolutely love his stuff! It was actually an exhibit of his older works, which I love even more! Oh well, that's London on the last week of a big name art exhibit.

Thursday we had class at the Tate Modern, which means I got to see this fella on my way to class!

I just love St. Paul's

On Friday we had our first ever Drink and Draw. Us Grad students have to make it through this stressful time somehow. So, how do we that? We pick an artist, bring art supplies, food, and wine, and sit and make copies of famous art works. It was quite the time! And we plan to keep this new tradition going this term! The artist that was picked last week was Kandinsky, and since he is an abstract artist it was easy to sit there with paper and markers and just draw shapes while having great conversation!

My copy of Kandinsky's "Lake Starnberg"

On Saturday I finally got to see my friend Adrienne again! She let me use her suitcase when I had to totally pack out of my room and I brought her back some stuff from America!! So, we went to Portobello Market, cause I've never been and it's really close to where I live, which made it easy for her to swing by and grab her stuff.

I nofficially have to watch the movie Notting Hill, I've only seen the first 10 min. So, Adrienne and I wandered around the market and ate some really good Thai food (my fave!) and then we went to whole foods and I showed her where I go to school! Side note: I now officially have to watch the movie Notting Hill (I've only seen the first 10 min, which doesn't count).

I got back to my room and received a key to my new room. Over the break I had been thinking about moving rooms to a single, it's better for my studies as I put in really late hours and London likes to go to sleep at 6pm. So, I stay up late in my room, which isn't fair to my roommate who has to get up early to teach and practice the cello. I heard about a room change possibility on saturday morning, and saturday afternoon I had the key, and saturday evening I was moved in. Talk about last minute!

My new single room. Looks the same as my old room, except there is only one of everything, including one tiny window.

But, my one tiny window gives me an awesome view over the rooftops of London (I'm on the 5th floor!)

My retriever self is a little flustered about changing rooms, but I think once I get settled in and am here a few more days it'll be my new London home.

So, once again, Monday rolled around and Tara and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral. She wanted to see a contemporary installation there, which was actually really amazing, and I wanted to climb the dome. Did I mention we got in for free?! My friend hooked me up with some awesome St. Paul guest passes!

The dome! We climbed up to the part right above the domed roof, its right underneath the pillars above the dome.

I'm pretty good at taking illegal photos. This is the gorgeous monochromatic painted dome interior seen on our climb up.

Made it to the top of the Dome! I absolutely LOVE heights. I actually get really depressed when I come down from tall places back to the ground level.

Isn't this such an amazing view of London?!

St. Paul's reminds me of everything Italy. The view coming up from the Thames reminds me of walking round the Duomo in Florence everyday when I studied there, and the building itself reminds me of St. Peter's in Rome. It makes my heart ache for the Italian sun and architecture. Someday soon I'll go back! There's no way to keep me away, my heart belongs to Italy whether I want it to or not!

So, every last Monday of the month a pub in Camden holds an Art History Talk. Some of us decided to go this week, and it was actually really awesome! Hopefully we will go again!

Listening to the Art History talk! This was seriously the coolest experience!

Cool graffiti wall in Camden!

I also just booked the tickets for Caitlin and I to go to Paris when she is here for her spring break (in 38 days!) So, I stayed up late last night planning itineraries for her trip here. I'm super pumped to see her, even though I'm pretty sure she will hate me by the time she leaves as I plan to drag her ALL OVER London and Paris mercilessly trying to show her everything I can.

I seriously love this girl and can't wait to get her over here! (p.s. are these throw back pictures making anyone else wish I would just cut off all my hair, or is it just me?)

Like I said, It's been a crazy busy two weeks. I'm writing this blog because I don't want to work on my cover letter for internship and volunteer applications, and also because I'm putting off other things like reading for tomorrow's class and my first paper that's due in two weeks. And, even with all those things, I still have a lot of fun plans this weekend! Gotta make the most of London while I can!

Back in the City

Well, I made it back to London in one piece. I don't know how I managed getting everything back over here, but I'm moved back into my room and already had my first week of classes.

My first week back has been an insane blur.


Sunday January 11

My flight landed in London in the wee hours of the morning and I didn't get any sleep on the plane so I was beyond exhausted (both physically and emotionally, I lost it saying bye to my parents in the airport and then decided it would be a good idea to watch TFIOS on the plane... all the feels!). I made it on the tube with all my luggage and got back into my room. I managed to stay awake watching Netflix until 2pm, when I couldn't fight it anymore I finally fell asleep and slept till 7:30pm. Then, I stayed up till midnight and slept until 10am the next morning. (I think I'm finally back on London time! Yay!)

London! I landed BEFORE the sun came up... so early

Monday January 12

I had a meeting Monday afternoon about my Thesis (talk about a wakeup call after not doing anything academic for an entire month), picked up ALL my books from a friend who kindly let me store them under her bed during the break, then we (my friend and I) went to the Natural History Museum and ate REALLY good Thai food after our museum tour!

Finally checked this place off my list!

I got back from all that to find my floor damp/wet in the corner of my room by my bed. My radiator was leaking. So, a guy came up to fix it and while he was tightening the 30+ year old rusty pipe, IT EXPLODED!!! There was water spouting straight up to the ceiling. Did I mention the water was STEAMING HOT and the guy was using his hands to try and stop it. I was screaming and he was yelling at me to move all my stuff (which was everywhere because I was in the middle of unpacking my storage bags). I ran all the way down three flights of stairs to reception to tell them he needed ALL the maintenance guys upstairs immediately.

When I ran back upstairs I found this:

(don't worry, my computer still works!) A river of water flowing through my room thanks to the geyser of water he somehow contained, can you hear the water?! It had so much pressure behind it and was spraying out of the tiny rusted pipe incredibly fast. The guy ran downstairs to get a piece to replace the broken pipe part and random guys kept running up and down through my hall with arm loads of towels. They called a plumber who was there within 30 minutes and they moved my roommate and I out of the room for two nights. Talk about an insane welcome back!


Tuesday January 13

I had my first class on Tuesday morning, Professional Practices, its safe to say that it will by far be my favorite class this term! It was in this class that I got the wake up call about our internships and how the summer (and internship application deadlines) are fast approaching. So, after class, I spent the entire afternoon/evening working on my resume and cover letter for internship applications (here's to hoping!).


Wednesday January 14

My class on Wednesday was at 3pm, so I didn't set an alarm thinking I'd wake up early due to the jet lag (plus I haven't been sleeping good all week). But, when I was moved out of my room-turned-sauna I was put in a single room, and I slept like a brick the second night in that room. It was absolutely glorious! However, I woke up at 1:30pm (oops!) and had to leave for class within an hour PLUS I hadn't done my reading yet (oops again!) because I thought I'd have time to do it that morning. So, I showed up for my first class unprepared, I hope this isn't a reflection of the rest of the term.

After class I moved back into my room, which smells (present tense) like gross moldy old damp things.


Thursday January 15

Thursday morning I woke up early to run errands.

Oxford Street on a weekday morning is seriously the best! I took a mental note to run all my errands in the morning from now on!

That afternoon I went to my last class of the week (no class on Monday or Friday WUT UP!!) and after class a group of us spontaneously decided to go to the Cereal Killer Cafe. It was so awesome! One of my top food groups is cereal so basically I was in heaven.

Street side view

How can this NOT make you jump for joy?!

IM EATING CEREAL! AT A RESTAURANT! THAT ONLY SERVES CEREAL!

So, I caved and got a second bowl after my Lucky Charms, I decided to try one of their "cocktails" which are different mixes of cereals... it was a good decision. 

Lucky Charms!!!

However, its not the best place to go to get a full meal to fill you up. So, after cereal we went to the Indian restaurants on Brick Lane, and after much haggling we finally chose one. Basically we had an appetizer of cereal and a main meal of Indian food, it was quite the evening.


Friday January 16

NO CLASSES!!!! Tara and I (you remember Tara, we went to the library EVERY DAY for two weeks to finish our final term papers back in December) went to the Tower of London because it was on our "London To-Do" list (as was the Cereal Killer Cafe) and we decided that this semester we are actually going to go do things in London. So, we spent the better part of the day at the Tower of London.

Thankfully we got in for free, but in my personal opinion the Tower of London is NOT worth the steep 22 pound entry fee. If you have limited time in London I would recommend other tourist attractions way before recommending you actually tour the Tower of London.

Walking on top of the walls! 

View from the south wall

The Tower!!! (with a creeper Shard in the background)

View from the North Wall.

This is where they keep the Crown Jewels... They are so outrageously over-the-top that the diamonds and jewels actually look fake. It was cool to see them, but I definitely would've lived if I hadn't.

Tara had somehow never walked across Tower Bridge, so we walked across to the south bank after our tour and ate a late lunch/early supper at a pub on the Thames. It was a pretty great day.

We found public art!!

Saturday January 17

I woke up early to catch a train to Birmingham (apparently the place where ALL the Muslims live and no non-Muslims can go - thanks Fox News... ) to meet up with Austin and Blake. Blake scored some free tickets for an orchestra he works for and Austin and I decided to take him up on his offer when he said he had extras.

It SNOWED on my way to Birmingham. My first time in London, back in January of 2013, my dad and I drove through the beautiful snow covered English countryside to Stonehenge. Training through the freshly dusted white fields on Saturday morning was the BEST way to start my weekend. (To read about my first visit to London click here)

Austin and I met Blake and he took us on a tour of the University of Birmingham where we went exploring!

The University of Birmingham campus

The tallest free-standing bell tower in Europe!! 

This is the top of the tiny spiral staircase we stumbled upon at the University

And the little Hobbit door that led to the top of the domed ceiling building

Selfie under the hobbit door!

Pretty sure we weren't supposed to be up here... but it was funn!

We were way up there!!

After discovering all the campus had to offer, Blake took us around the town!

The Cathedral Blake took us to in Birmingham 

One of the best street names everrr 

Bullring shopping center

Then we went to the concert (where Jess met up with us) and we sat BEHIND the musicians, it was crazy to see it from the perspective that the choir usually has (cue flashbacks to sophomore year of high school). All those people looking at you... no thanks.

The view from our seats... I could've reached out and touched the heads of the percussionists. It was so cool!!

After the concert we went to a top floor bar and got to look over the city of Birmingham by night!

View from "The Cube" (as the square shaped building in which the bar was located is so eloquently called by Brummies--that's people who live in Birmingham).

Sunday January 18

We had breakfast at some place called Selly Sausage... or something (sketch much?). I got PANCAKES!! which made this American girl pretty dang happy. And they were actually really good, and cheap!

Blake and Jess had a choir practice which Austin and I sat in on for a half hour before taking back to the streets of Birmingham. We went to an awesome coffee house called Faculty and then went our separate ways back to London and Cambridge.

Bye clock tower! 

The multiple teas I have bought this week have been extremely sub par. I was super happy to drink some nicely brewed loose-leaf Earl Grey this morning (Yes, yes, I am OFFICIALLY a tea snob!)

Its always so nice seeing old friends over here. I wasn't able to see Austin or Blake over the break in America and I really missed those guys. Tomorrow, Tara and I are planning to hit London again and see what else we can mark off our list! It's been a whirlwind of a crazy week, and there's always more adventure to be had!