The Best Building in London

Today I had a field trip with my English Architecture class. Our destination: Saint Paul's Cathedral. My friend and classmate Julia (we have 3 classes together) walked there this morning under a perfectly clear blue sky. It took us a little over an hour, but thankfully we were early- our professor tends to leave very promptly, so we were relieved to get there before him! St Paul's is pretty impressive, both inside and out. Our class got to go see a huge model of the church by the architect which was built in the 1600s! We had to go via a back staircase. But this was no ordinary staircase- it was unsupported! This just means that it looks very scary to walk up! (I snuck this picture). The tour guide who let us up to see the model was about 90 years old and his name was Morris. He was a really nice and funny old guy; we all wished he had given us a tour! After our class walked around the in and outside of the cathedral, we were given an hour lunch break. We spent most of it in the 3 galleries of the church. Now, this is what made St Paul's my favorite building in London- no only was it a beautiful building to look at, it also had great views of the city! The first gallery let you look down into the church itself. You climb 259 stairs to get to basically an observation balcony, which stretched all around the inside of the base of the dome, at about ceiling height. The next gallery was another 378 steps up, and this one was outside. But the next gallery was the best because it was even higher up and the views were that much more amazing! To get there, we had to march up these narrow spiral staircases (to each level) and they got more narrow and daunting with each level! The payoff, however, was definitely worth it. I think I took pictures from every angle!

Here you can see the London Eye...

as well as here. I call this photo "Contemplating London"

We had to book it back down the ~1000 stairs to meet our class at the next part of the field trip, and we were about 10 minutes late. Good thing our professor was also late... he was so late, in fact that after waiting around for him for a half hour, we all just said our goodbyes, and Julia and I were off to the Tate Modern! We crossed the river over the Millennium Bridge, this funky pedestrian bridge, which was handily enough, from St Paul's right to the Tate Modern (which is a museum of modern art). The museum has 7 floors, but essentially the art is only on 3. We decided to start at the top and work our way down. Julia kept getting yelled at, first for touching some "art" (I asked her if she thought it was chalk on the wall so she touched it (it was chalk)) and then for taking pictures (I took a picture and my camera flashed; Julia wanted to take my picture with the same painting so she took my camera, but some staff guy came over and told her "no photos, no photos!"). This is also the museum with the giant slides- which I actually had a dream about last night! The slides are another piece of "art" (some lady is actually suing the museum because a slide hurt her wrist!) Modern art is not for me- example 1) there was a framed, blank canvas with a slash thru it. Yep, that's it 2) there was a film of a 10yr old girl reading aloud a book about color. Yep, that's it for that one too! 3) There was a room with scribbled on paper on the walls and a little bit on the floor and ceiling. Only 5 people at a time were allowed into this one. How is that art?!

After a few hours in the Tate, we decided to call it quits. Here is Julia and I in a mirrored room- it was made by automatic sliding doors. We spent about 5 minutes in this room, waiting for people to stop walking thru so we could take some pictures.

A stellar shot from our impromptu photo shoot in this garden of a church on our way to the Tate

Welcome to March!

I've been doing lots of work this week, my most interesting homework assignment being "stalking." For acting class, my friend Julia and I followed a few people around and then imitated them for class! First we followed a woman we named Phyllis (mid 50s, widowed, enjoys romance novels) who walked very fast and then got on the bus. We followed her to Camden market where she bought some candy. I laughed a lot, especially when we sat on the bus (top level of a double decker, woo hoo!) and watched her stare out the window. Then in Camden, we followed some teenage girls who were both carrying red balloons, which turned out to be pretty handy since it was pretty crowded! After we were done stalking, Julia and I shopped around for a few hours in some crazy vintage clothing stores, and Julia even tried on this hideous, pouffy, 80s bridesmaid dress! It was awesome.

On Monday, my architecture class had another field trip, this time to Covet Garden. I don't have any Monday morning classes, so I got up early and went shopping on Oxford Street before class! I spent some cash on sweaters and other shirts (yaay!) but I still didn't find any boots (boo)! After shopping, I went down Regent St, thru Piccadilly Circus and over to Leicester Sq, where I ate my lunch, then thru Chinatown (which is still decorated for the Chinese New Year) and met my class. From there, we walked to the Embankment (the edge of the River Thames) and to the Somerset House. This was the MOST interesting part of my day, because there is a open courtyard at Somerset House that has a cool fountain (see pic). But even more interestingly... there was a woman with a thick, black, furry MUSTACHE! Not even joking! I thought it was fake because it was so bushy (and the fact that it was a woman...). I should have taken a picture, but unfortunately I did not. I don't know what the moustache lady would have done to me if I had!

The weather has been normal English weather: unpredictable and ever-changing - it starts out sunny, then rains, then clears up... today however, was just plain sunny and beautiful all day, so after classes, I walked around the park, fed the birds and snapped some pictures.

The fountain in Inner Circle

Bristol and Oxford

Last Friday, I took a trip to Bristol, a city on the west coast of England, with my friend Corey. We had some drama with getting there- the tube was having delays which meant that by the time we got to the coach station, our bus was already gone! We bought tickets for the next bus going to Bristol then napped the whole way there (it took 2.5 hours). Once in Bristol, we spent the day walking around the city, which has a harbor and a few BIG hills. We stopped by the City Museum (it had a lot of random stuff- like gemstones, a few paintings -and my favorite- a gypsy wagon), then climbed 2 tight spiral staircases to the top of a tower that had 360* view of the area. After that little adventure, we trekked over to the harbor, found a big covered market and stopped by the cathedral.

The next day we visited Oxford and went by train, which now is my favorite mode of transportation. After about an hour, we arrived in Oxford and had lunch by the canal, which had a whole bunch of houseboats. We window shopped, took a tour of the city and got to see a little bit of the campuses. We found [another] covered market (these things are all over the place) and dropped by the History of Science Museum. The special exhibit was "Clocks of England" and it was a hall full of old, ticking clocks. It was... interesting. I thought Oxford was very nice; the streets were cobblestone and there were thousands of bikes all over the place (since cars aren't allowed in parts of the city).

Overall, I had a good time just wandering around both cities and window shopping. Oxford was more interesting probably because we got a tour but also because they filmed parts of Harry Potter there. (We didn't get to see the actual spots they filmed in, unfortunately, but I still thought it was cool! yeah Harry Potter!!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

The theme this week has been planning my trips! Tonight, I am planning this weekend's trip to somewhere in England. My friend and I are going to take a bus or train to a location to be decided later and just go! I'm also slated to go to Paris with my roommate and Italy for spring break.

The weather has started getting a little bit rainy-er. However, it keeps clearing up after a while and then raining again- that's English weather for you! On one of the nicer days I took a stroll thru Regent's Park and found this man I named Flute Man playing (you guessed it) a flute under a tree! I had a lot of fun stealthily taking his picture from every angle. On Monday, I walked to Buckingham Palace and had a photo shoot in front of it. It started raining right as I had to leave to meet my class for a look at Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We walked around from the Abbey up to Trafalgar Square in the wind and rain where class ended. I was very glad I decided to throw my umbrella in my backpack! My professor actually almost got blown away at one point! It was pretty funny.

Flute Man :)

I hope your Valentine's Day is awesome! I miss my Valentine and mom's fudge: flavor, delicious.

Still in England

Hello! I am in the beginning stages of figuring out my first weekend trip. For some reason it's taking longer than I thought to go somewhere. Hopefully I'll be going to France or Germany next weekend. Since we have 4 day weeks [yeah, it's very tough :)] I'll probably leave on Friday and get back Sunday.

Well, what I have been doing since being in the city is visiting everything I can. This week I visited the Victoria and Albert museum. Like all the museums here, it was enormous! I spent 3 hours there and only got through 2 floors of a single wing! There was an exhibit on Kylie Minogue's clothes- supposedly she was there the day I was! Unfortunately, I didn't see her or her clothes- you had to pay for that part! It was about an hour's walk both ways to the V&A, and I walked back a different way than on the way there. I have been getting used to walking so much and don't feel wicked tired and dizzy when I get back to my room anymore! I walked through Hyde Park on the way to the museum and saw some type of royal horse practice thing (I describe it so well, don't I?). There was a big crowd around watching them, and I joined them for a few minutes. There were about 20 horses and riders wearing red, silver and shiny hats or dark blue.

Apparently England shuts down when there is more than a dusting of snow! There was about 2-4" (5-10 cm, as the English say) two days ago and schools were shut down and flights were delayed or cancelled! They don't have the gear to move the snow, so instead what happens is sand is sprinkled over everything and you just hope not to fall into the slush!

Still enjoying myself in this city

Last weekend, I went on the school day trip to Leeds castle and Canterbury. The castle is pretty cool, I wouldn't mind living there! Our trip coordinator is kind of a disaster, so we only had enough time in Canterbury to eat lunch and take a few pictures of the cathedral. It was a nice little town with LOTS of shops. I had my first fish and chips experience- yummy! The theme of this week has been walking (not surprising since I refuse to take the tube unless it's very far away or at night) and getting to know the city better. An exciting trip was the hour+ long walk to a tube station to meet my class. Turns out it wasn't such a great idea since we had to power walk around for class once we got there! Needless to say, I got a pair of blisters.

My roommate Christina and I spent this weekend doing all the touristy things we didn't get to do last week- our favorite was Trafalgar Square. We wanted to climb on the lions like everyone else but we also didn't want to fall off and die, so we posed next to them instead! It was a fun time, especially with all the ridiculous pictures we took!

The weather is getting better each day- before I got here, I thought it was going to be raining every day; when I got here I thought it was always going to be windy; but now that I've been here for a few weeks, it looks like it's going to keep getting warmer and more beautiful! The flowers in the park are already blooming (roses, daffodils, crocuses and more) and everyone brings their dogs to the park (that makes me miss my little Petey! kinda). As for the food.... well that myth about English food, sadly, is TRUE! At the dining hall, it tastes good for the first few bites- then like nothing after that! Outside the dining hall it's much better- last night we went out to a Japanese restaurant and it was pretty amazing!

In London!

Hello, everyone! Welcome to my super awesome blog! I am aiming to update this about every week... we'll see how that goes!!

I have now been living in London for a week- what an exciting (and expensive) city! Things have basically been non-stop since we got here. Today I took the tube to Notting Hill and went to this huge market (Portobello) and then walked to Hyde Park, up Oxford Street and back to Regent's. The whole trip took about 5 hours- that is a lot of walking!! Other interesting things I've done/seen so far include the London Eye, Big Ben & the parliament buildings, a Jack the Ripper tour, the British museum (twice), another outdoor market (Camden) as well as getting lost on the tube.

The campus is really nice (did I mention that I'm also going to school? the classes are pretty easy). I live inside Regent's Park! Everything is really green too and there are millions and millions of birds all over the place. I have been pretty shocked at how pricy things are, but tomorrow I plan on spending some cash and getting some boots (super trendy) and some cashmere scarves (oh, la la).