Home is in Your Head

Once we arrived in Amsterdam, it was straight on over to a coffee shop, where we had access to space cakes and joints gallore.

It was here that my friend Lu and I made the very poor decision to eat an entire piece of cake each instead of sharing one. At first we didn't really feel anything so we didn't think anything of it and even helped our friend Em smoke her joint.

In a couple of hours, however, space cake started hitting us pretty hard and I ended up in the middle of the "ocean" unable to move my limbs in the middle of our hostel room. My friend Max finally had to come "save me" from this "ocean," which basically consisted of him leading me to my bed. I felt enclosed in a little bubble where I couldn't communicate with the other people in the room unless they came inside this bubble. It was a classic rookie mistake, and one that I learned a lot from.

It was a really interesting out of body experience, and I'm not writing off pot forever, but I'm definitely not making the mistake of eating an entire space cake again. The kicker was that the next morning, on our walking tour of Amsterdam (during which I was still pretty high), the tour guide warned us against exactly what we did the night before, which we had a good laugh about.

Amsterdam is most known to young American travelers for its red light district and coffee shop culture, but it's significantly more than that. For one, it is a beautiful city, constructed from scratch by the Dutch.
Also, the entire "to each his own" attitude Amsterdamers share is really inspirational and comforting. They generally don't pass any judgment or try to place restrictions on people's personal lives. Our tour guide even said it's actually easier to be a homosexual in Amsterdam because it's so accepted there, and viewed by some as more the norm than being straight.

We did a lot in Amsterdam, but the one other thing that really stands out to me (aside from our crazy space cake adventure) was our visits to the Anne Frank Museum and the Dutch Resistance Museum. It was really interesting to learn about this period in world history that we've all learned about, but from a much more distant perspective.

It was extremely moving to feel that much closer to some of the experiences people went through during the period leading up to, during, and after WWII. I'll never be able to fully understand or comprehend the full extent of what happened, but just being in a country more directly affected than my own helped me at least begin put some of the pieces together. I really appreciate the fact that these types of history museums exist and that people are going to and learning from them. Maybe preserving the memory of and reflecting on the past will prevent us from making these same mistakes.

By the end of our 9 day excursion, I felt extremely exhausted from all the intense traveling and sightseeing, but so grateful and enriched by everything I saw and experienced. At the Flying Pig Hostel where we stayed, their slogan was "Home is in Your Head," and it really resonated with me. I've always had this romanticized idea of being a citizen of the world and living a nomadic existence. For those whose home is truly in their head and can live this kind of life, I fully support their sense of adventure and hunger for new experiences.

But as much as I'd like to count myself among these people, I also like having a place to come back to. Even though I have a tendency to get restless or mildly claustrophobic whenever I'm in one place for too long, I always enjoy the feeling I get when I return to family and friends. At the end of our trip, I was ready to come home to London. It really excited me that London has become a home to me. I don't think I can be a complete nomad, but I have managed to make myself very much at home in two other cities besides Los Angeles (Chicago, and now London) since coming to college.

Now that I'm back in London, I'm really excited to spend some quality time with this city I am now calling home.

Mussels in Brussels

On Monday we headed over to Belgium, the land of chocolate, waffles, and really delicious beer. When we got to Brussels, we quickly learned that lots of things are closed on Mondays...and Tuesdays...and Wednesdays...and sometimes Thursdays...

So for our first day in Brussels, since we couldn't really visit any museums, we wandered about, had greasy Greek food for lunch, browsed a comic book store (Belgians are crazy about comics, who knew?), gazed at the Manneken Pis (the little pissing boy statue), and had a delicious three course dinner during which I finally had Mussels in Brussels!
Some details that made this day especially great:

The Chocolate Crawl: Rick Steves recommended we go on a chocolate crawl in the main town center square in Brussels. Stop one was Godiva, where I shared a delicious chocolate covered strawberry and banana stick with Lu.
Stop two was Neuhaus, where I discovered speculoos for the first time. It is a type of cookie/biscuit that sort of resembles graham cracker but tastes infinitely better, and even more delicious when combined with chocolate. At Neuhaus they embedded the speculoos into a little chocolate, which was the most delicious piece of dessert I have ever tasted. Looks plain, but tastes insanely good.
Third and fourth stops were Galler and Leonidas where there was more delicious chocolate tasting.

Visiting the EU: As per usual, we were a pretty loud and obnoxious group when we were getting ready to listen to the tour guide's presentation at the EU. As we were getting off the elevator, we were all giggling about something or other and the lady directing us to our meeting spot shushed us and told us to calm down. I felt like I was in kindergarten...but then again that feeling was deserved because we were acting like we were five. Oops again.

Delirium: There is a bar in Brussels that is probably the coolest drinking establishment that I've been to. There are 2004 different varieties of beer here, all with their own unique glass to enhance their specific flavor and accompanying drinking experience. Here I discovered Floris, the sweetest, yummiest beer I've ever tasted. The first night I had chocolate flavored Floris, and during our last night I had honey flavored Floris, which was my favorite.
Belgians, like many Europeans, take a lot of pride in their beer. Each beer goes through an intricate process half resembling science and half resembling art to create a truly unique product. I definitely appreciate beer and the work and love that goes into creating it more since visiting Europe, but especially Belgium.

On our second day, we took a day trip to Bruges. Our first order of business was, as is always, food. We stopped by a place recommended by Rick Steves, Laurent, to eat the best waffles ever! I had a waffle with powdered sugar and chantilly.
After a canal tour, and visiting an old church (where we ran into a troupe of kung fu performers), we went on a tour of the only brewery left standing in Bruges, the Half Moon. We had the most darling tour guide who took us through the entire process of creating beer, and some of the history of brewing in Bruges. It's here that we learned about the different glasses and how they are designed to create different effects on the beer and make each tasting session special. Our favorite part, of course was the tasting portion. Here's a picture of their mini beer museum.
On our last day, we visited the awesome Comic Book Museum, the Belgium history museum and a strange place called Parking 58, which was on our tourist map of notable places to visit. We got to this destination and found that indeed, it was literally a parking lot. It looked like the kind of place where a lot of unsavory characters would congregate and make drug deals and shoot people (we, of course, fit right in). However, it did offer a really great 360 degree view of the city.
And that pretty much sums up Belgium. The food was really great, and it was here that I really started to appreciate beer. I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I liked visiting this country because I thought of it more of a brief stop over on our way to Amsterdam. But Belgium was charming, rich in history and most of all, delicious.

Paris, J'taime

This past week, my friends and I headed off on a four city European adventure. After nine days of intense sightseeing and travel, I feel exhausted but so fulfilled by the experience. This is going to be long, so I'll write about it in installments.

Paris Day One

3 a.m.: We woke up as people were stumbling home from their Thursday nights and were miraculously all aboard a cab by 3:45 a.m. For a bunch who all got between 0 and 2 hours of sleep the night before, we were surprisingly cheery and nothing but smiles. Our cab driver was nodding off during the drive to the airport and kept swerving into neighboring lanes (Eek!). I would have been more scared had my friend Lu not been petrified enough for the both of us. We got there all limbs attached, though, and headed off to our first city, Paris.

8:30 a.m.: We arrive in Paris! Sleepy and tired, we trek on over to Oops! Hostel in the Latin Quarter. It was the most darling hostel with Art Nouveau inspired wallpaper and an awesome breakfast. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in visiting Paris.

After having my first Croque Monsieur, which is a more epic version of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, we headed over to the Arc de Triomphe where we climbed all the way to the top and saw the first of many amazing views of Paris.
Mid-afternoon, we wandered along the Champs-Élysées on our way to Musée d'Orsay. I longingly stared at the glorious Louis Vuitton store with the beautiful window decorations and I could feel my heart breaking as we passed over a visit to this mecca of fashion to go to a fancy and overpriced Häagen-Dazs. It's the world's largest luxury store where there are enough employees for every customer. I vow to return one day (soon) and pay my respects.

After browsing the museum for a bit, we were ready for dinner. Our group gets quite grumpy when we're not fed, which is why most of our excursions and decisions revolve around food. After a wonderful and expensive steak dinner and some wine, we went up the Eiffel Tower. They were doing a special light show that night where the tower didn't just sparkle, it turned different colors and patterns. Here's two video clips of the sparkle show and the special light show side by side so you can see the difference. You'll have to turn your head sideways because I can't figure out how to rotate the video. Don't mind the oohs and ahhs on the second video. We were just super excited.



Here I was reunited with Alanna in the most romantic and cinematic of fashions. I ran up to the platform at the Trocadero and it was really dark and I couldn't see, so I started shouting out her name and running around across the platform. Then out of the darkness, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, Alanna ran up to meet me after probably the longest we've been apart since we've met. It was cheesy, but real cheese, not the fake kind. Here we are at the top of the Eiffel Tower (still can't believe it was your first time Alanna).

Paris Day Two
After stopping by for these AMAZING tarts (I told you our lives revolve around food)...
...we hit Notre Dame (which we climbed up and saw yet another spectacular view of Paris), the crypt outside Notre Dame (where we saw awesome ancient ruins) and Sainte-Chapele. At this beautiful church covered with the most intricate stained glass windows that typically awe people to silence, we found ourselves in the middle of the room chattering away and laughing at just about 100 decibels, enough to make the guard there shush us and kick us out of the church. I apologize for being an embarrassment to respectful museum goers everywhere and for perpetuating the stereotype of loud American tourists. In our defense, whatever we were talking about must have been really funny...
We finished the day at the Lourve just as the sun was setting behind the glass pyramid. Obviously, we couldn't see everything we wanted, but that gives me another excuse to return to Paris.

That night we saw Reggie Washington and DJ Grazzhoppa perform a jazz concert in Marais. We all went in thinking it would be a more traditional jazz performance but they incorporated a lot of hip-hop and spoken word into it, which was really interesting. Maybe French people are abnormally skinner than the rest of us because the chairs that we were sitting in were teeny weeny and squished close together. Practically stacked on top of each other in that warm room with the music playing, we all drifted off to sleep...except Brendan because he's the Energizer bunny.

Paris Day Three
After a failed attempt to go skydiving with Max (we stupidly thought they would take walk-ins), we visited the Pompidou museum where we saw Duchamp's Fountain, the Jewish Quarter (best Falafel ever!), a French history museum, and Victor Hugo's house while the others went off to Versailles.

After reuniting at Les Invalides, we headed into the army museum where they had an epic display of weaponry (I'm a little obsessed with swords).
We spent that evening in Monmartre and visited the Sacré-Cœur, where we fought each other with baguettes like the tourists we are. After seeing the Moulin Rouge and more of Pigalle, we had dinner at the cutest restaurant just below Sacré-Cœur (Thanks to Rick Steves for recommending it!) where I had this quiche.
Paris is the most beautiful city in the world, and after 3 days of eating Camembert, drinking wine, and looking at amazing art works I wasn't ready to leave. I still need to visit Père Lachaise cemetery and kiss Oscar Wilde's grave, go to Musée Rodin and finally see a comprehensive collection of my favorite artist's work, shop, and a million other things on top of visiting the Louis Vuitton mecca and revisiting the Lourve. But Belgium called, where more eating, drinking, and sightseeing was to come...

Beating Seasonal Depression

In the U.K., about 20% of residents suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. This is due to the dwindling daylight hours during the winter and our bodies' natural instinct to hibernate, which is basically code for eat lots of carbs and stay indoors.

This is what I've been waking up to the past few mornings:
Indeed, waking up to these grey skies and rain doesn't exactly put me in the cheeriest of moods, but I'm feeling as excited and privileged to be here as ever.

My meeting with the editor of the Le Monde English Edition didn't really go as I had planned. Everything that newspaper needs to function is outsourced. The print design is outsourced to a company just outside London, their online subscription services and Web design is outsourced to a company in Cambridge, they have a publisher that prints and distributes all of their papers, and their writers all work from home and don't even come in for brainstorming sessions. In fact, there wouldn't even be anywhere for them to come in to because there's no office! The English Edition's "office" consists of the editorial director, at her home, on a single iMac taking care of business.

It was definitely a novel experience for me, seeing this sort of structure in the journalism field. The editor kept describing how efficient this process is, and no one really can afford the "luxury of face-to-face contact" anymore. And, though I do believe her when she says this process is efficient and that they get a finished product out there every month, I couldn't help feel that some vital element was missing from this particular publication.

In the limited experience that I've had, there's nothing more exciting than the collaborative, creative processes that go into putting together a news product. Feeding off each others' ideas, popping your head into the design team's operating room to see what they're adding to enhance your article, and feeling your heart racing as you type up your last graph before making deadline is all part of an experience. Collaboration and support for one another to get a completed paper to press is what gives a publication life. It's what sparks innovation and creativity, and this vitality is not something I'd like to see the industry sacrifice in the name of efficiency.

Needless to say, I pretty much immediately lost interest in working there. Besides, she basically wanted me to sell IP subscription services to different organizations, which sounds like nothing I want to be involved in.

Flash forward a week, and I am now working in collaboration with the UCL Media Relations (PR) office on a body donation project. It's a public awareness, not activist, campaign that will hopefully educate the local community about body donation and shine light on options for those individuals who might be interested. I'll be helping to create a media press kit, do original research, and organize a big public event where a panel will be leading a dialogue on the topic. This, I really feel I can get excited about.

Since the last time I've blogged, Halloween passed, which was fun, but celebrations definitely weren't as big here as they usually are at home. I dressed up as Daisy Buchanan from the Great Gatsby, and my friend Brendan was Jay Gatsby. Here's a picture of my full outfit:
Not exactly as costume-y as it should have been, but it worked for my shoestring budget. To recap, Halloween was the usual drinking, smoking, hysterical laughing hoo-hah but with the volume turned down a couple notches from what I'm used to.

I've been focusing a lot more on my classes the past week or so, and everything about them suddenly seem so much more interesting. Maybe it's the booze leaving my system since toning the partying down, but these ideas that are being thrown at me about ethics, welfare, equality, globalization, the environment, and so on are really coming together to make me consider my potential impact on the world.

The university students in my classes are so much more interested in taking in what they're learning from a global perspective. They care so much more about (or at least are more vocal about) contributing to the improved welfare of countries they have no material connection to, but feel in touch with just by sharing this planet. Another cool thing is what a mixed bag this university really is. Just walking to class, I hear at least three other languages other than English. When I get to class, I have such a unique opportunity to hear the day's topic from a truly global perspective, with input from students from all over the world.

Also, I'm really getting into the swing of cooking for myself. My friend Alison and I made this delicious pasta meal a little while back courtesy of Emeril's recipe on the Food Network Web site.
So despite the S.A.D. going around, I'm feeling good.

It helps that in less than 48 hours, I will be embarking on my first European trip since I've been here. Six of us are headed to Paris (can't wait to see you Alanna!), Brussels, Bruges, and Amsterdam during our school's Reading Week, and I'm super stoked. I'm sure there will be plenty of fun stories to tell upon our return.

'Till then...

Drunk Men Make the World a Happy Place

This Sunday my friend Brendan and I went on a day trip to Brighton, a seaside town south of London. It was the most perfect day on the beach ever, especially after a few days of gloomy, rainy weather. After getting over the disappointment of not going orbing, everything went off without a hitch and it turned out to be one of the more pleasant days I've had since I've been here.

I will recount my day through a food diary.

Breakfast: At my flat I had an apple and some mixed veggies. Then, upon reaching the Victoria train station, we stopped at a French pastry stand, and I couldn't resist this beautiful chocolate chip twisted bread thing...so much so that I had two (calorie guilt!).

Snack 1: Wandering about the alleyways of "the Lanes," which is the old town where a lot of shops and restaurants are, we came across the most darling cupcake place. We couldn't help ourselves and I chose a devil's food cupcake with peanut butter frosting and a Reese's piece on top. Brendan chose a pumpkin flavored cupcake. We had half of each, but devoured them too quickly to have documented their beauty. I only have a picture of the aftermath...
Lunch: Being at a seaside town and all, we thought it appropriate to have some sort of fish. So we had the old favorite: fish and chips. But this time, it had the added flair of mushy peas. It is exactly what the name suggests. The texture was a lot like baby food, but surprisingly it actually tasted like peas.
Snack 2: At Brighton Pier, there were at least 5 Doughnut stands that smelled so irresistible that we ignored our arteries' screaming cries for mercy and purchased three to share between the two of us. They were so crisp and moist inside that it was definitely worth it. They were very reminiscent of funnel cake.
Snack 3: After roaming several really cool vintage and antique stores, and finding the most awesome looking samurai store that sold all this cool weaponry (so sad that it was closed on Sunday), we went to the Japanese beer festival at a restaurant called Moshi Moshi. We each had the special brew they had there and bought a pack of wasabi peas. Brendan couldn't handle the spiciness of it, but did admit they were really good beer munchies.
Snack 4: After pre-gaming our planned sunset on the beach at the beer festival, we headed over to the shore in a hurry because we thought we might miss it. We got a bottle of wine, contained in two paper coffee cups (I know, super classy), and rushed over to the beach. As the sun set on the water, we enjoyed probably the most expensive wine I've had since landing in the U.K. and some more wasabi peas.
Then the best part of the entire day happened. We met our very own drunk guy photographer. We wanted a picture of us on the beach against the setting sun, but the only person on our side of the beach was this random, disheveled looking guy in a suit staring at the sea. Brendan approached him, and from my vantage point sitting a little ways away, I could tell something was weird about this guy.

As I approached, I could hear the man slurring his words, and as we posed for the picture, he accidentally pointed the camera at his own face and took a picture of himself, which Brendan posted on Facebook for posterity. Even through his stumbling, mumbling, and slurring, he took a pretty decent picture of the two of us. He's probably some genius photographer who's received tons of awards and recognition. But to us, he's the really drunk old guy who took our picture on the beach. Here's a shot I got of him on his way to drink some more whiskey.
Dinner: After watching the sun set, it was only about 5:10 and completely dark outside (daylight savings is trippy). We went over to an awesome tapas place on one of the winding streets in the Lanes. I had never gone to dinner tipsy before this, and it definitely was a new experience. Everything tasted better and I felt warm and fuzzy all over throughout dinner. Everything we had was delicious and I'm sure it still would have been sans pre-game. We had seafood paella, mussels in a really yummy tomato sauce, and these garbanzo beans and spinach that burned the roof of my mouth, but still tasted really good. Unfortunately my camera started running out of battery and I did not capture the awesomeness of this dinner on film.

Snack 5: Our bellies stuffed with the day's food consumption, naturally we had to get a final snack. And what a perfect snack to end the day with. We had ice cream at a New York Times recommended shop called Scoop and Crumb. I had the Baked Plum Crumb ice cream, and it was possibly the best ice cream I have ever tasted. And the flavor was nothing I'd ever heard of before, which made it a unique and delicious experience. Thanks NYT! The picture below is courtesy of Brendan's Facebook album.
After beating Brendan at Air Hockey at the pier, we headed back to the train station and journeyed home.

All in all, a very good day. It was nice to get some sun to beat the seasonal depression that seems to be going around lately.

In other news...

I am meeting with the English editor at Le Monde tomorrow to discuss the project that I'll be working on with them. It's official! I'll be interning at Le Monde Diplomatique for at least this term. I am so excited to begin this phase of my study abroad experience. This internship is part of my anthropology class, which is so illuminating in so many ways. For the first time in my academic career, I am learning about productive steps that I can take to create the change I would like to see in this world. I'm getting more into visual anthropology, which is a field that uses media, mostly film and photography, to document and present research. It seems to be a lot like what journalists do, but in a more analytical, research-oriented way. Anyhow, it sounds like something I'd like to explore, the whole documentary film genre.

More on my progress on changing the world later.

The Tale of London Douchebags

Walking home from a night out in London is always an adventure. Creepy guys abound who just can't wait to try out their unoriginal and racist pick up lines on you as you're anxiously rushing homeward.

One night, I was walking home at 5:30 ish in the morning and a guy starting walking alongside me and chatting me up, pushing for personal details (name, school, place of residence, social security number, dog's name, you know, the usual). I kept trying to ignore him or be extremely short with him because for all I know he could have had a switchblade in his back pocket and I could have ended up bloody, dead and in a dumpster with no witnesses except CCTV. When he finally turned a corner, he called out to me, flicked me off, and said, "That's for not telling me your name!" Looking back, it wasn't too scary a situation because there weren't any knives or guns or piano wire involved, but at the time I was severely disturbed. Lesson learned: do not walk home in a mini skirt at 5:30 in the morning!

Other times random men jump out of restaurants lining the sidewalks and yell out "ching ching chong" or "konichiwa" as if pretending to speak a fictitious East Asian language or a real language you don't speak will prove alluring to young women.

I don't know when these creepsters will learn that girls don't like being objectified, eye raped, grabbed, or flicked off by strange men at odd times in the night!

My point? A douchebag is still a douchebag no matter what country, city or principality you are in. The accent, the clothes, and the messy hairdo that took an hour to perfect all fail to mask the douchebaggery that they ooze.

Maybe it's because I've been brainwashed by the American media for the past 20 years of my life that there is a serial killer or rapist stalking every dark corner of my neighborhood, but I literally get heart palpitations every time I pass a shadowy area on my trek home. All the beauty and charm of the cobbled streets and storefronts dissolve at sundown and make me wish I had my inhaler...or that pepper spray wasn't illegal in the United Kingdom.

Those sickos aside, I love London! The fact that skeeze balls exist just make it that much more authentic a metropolitan environment. I love the fashion, I love the tumor pictures on tobacco packaging, I love the markets, I love school...it's really great. I haven't done a dollop of work in the past few weeks, which I really intend to attend to this weekend, but I've had loads of fun in work's place. I couldn't ask for a more perfect environment to spend a year in at this time in my life.

So far, I'm in the full swing of classes and should start working at my internship in the next week or two. I believe I'll be working at Le Monde Diplomatique's English edition and I'm super excited to get involved in the journalism scene in London.

Things I have done since I've last blogged:

1. Visited Oxford! The Harry Potter geek in me loved that parts of some of the films were shot on random bits of this campus. The big tree in the picture below is where Draco Malfoy was turned into a ferret in the fourth movie by Mad Eye. I also loved the robes that the students wear for formal occasions. It was matriculation day when we went and everyone was donning these adorable cape-lets and skinny ties. We also watched The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (I really don't recommend it although the cast is epic). Also the Oxford Covered Market has the best milkshake place I've ever been to called Moo-moo's. I had a delicious raspberry white-chocolate cheesecake concoction that caused lots of calorie guilt, but was so worth it. Go if you're ever in the area.
2. Made shameless purchases on Portobello Road. I bought the most darling sparkly beaded flapper hat from the 70s. I know, not as authentic as from the 20s, but it's got a lot of spunk and makes me look like Cleopatra.

3. Went to the library for the first time! This was an adventure. Everyone in the library is studying so intensely that it makes for an awkward situation when you have to scoot between the intense studiers to look for a book that you need. It was comforting to find that I am indeed (barely) competent enough to find books.

4. Tried absinthe! Basically, it just tastes like black licorice and goes down really easy (unless you gag at the thought of black licorice, then I don't recommend it). Beware, though, it really, really does the trick so drink in moderation.

5. Had lots and lots of Subway sandwiches. It really is the perfect drunk food. And it's the only place open by the time we come back from our night out. All the people who work there recognize our faces when we go there.

6. Run into maybe a thousand club promoters. There are like 20 from the same bar standing on the same street corner harassing you to go to their night club that night. I feel like maybe 5 might be enough. 5 makes you think about it. 20 makes you want to stab them in the face.

Fun Fact: Indian food is so common here (equivalent in pervasiveness as Mexican food in America) that the McDonalds has Curry Sauce as one of their sauces. It's the one next to the ketchup in the picture.

Bed Rest=Blogging

After somehow being able to put it off for so long, I am finally sick. Despite the pouring rain, I would probably be outdoors doing something or other more exciting than sitting in my room if it weren't for the fact that I literally cannot move from my bed.

Maybe it was because we stood in the rain for 3 hours at the Globe Theatre to watch Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost on Wednesday. Or maybe my sickness was compounded by the fact that despite my knowing better, I went and partied at the Ministry of Sound that night for Fresher's Ball. Whatever it was, I am confined to bed rest but I had a wonderful time getting here.

There's so much that I've done since I've last updated this blog, but I couldn't possibly write down everything that's happened since then. We took a day trip to Cambridge last Sunday, that was absolutely brilliant. I loved the campus, it was stunning. The best part was punting, which is pushing along a flat boat really close to the water with a really large stick. All but one of us managed to miss falling into the water. Even after surviving three boats crashing into where she was standing, the angry swan that growled at us, and braving the danger zone where the current was really powerful, my friend Lu fell into the water at the last second just as she was retiring from her punt. Here's a picture of some other punters I took from the bridge.

I finally started classes this week, and I actually like them okay. I'm taking Environmental Economics and Ethics in Applied Economics, which are both taught by really British older professors. Psychology of Health is actually a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, but my favorite class is probably Applied Individual Studies in Anthropology, which includes an internship in your field of interest during which you work on a huge project for that organization. It seems really cool, and I can't wait to get started.

The reading lists are huge, and I'm a little bit nervous that all of the exams for even the first semester's classes are at the end of the year during "summer" term, which is a month or so during which all your exams for the entire year take place.

I'm kind of starting to feel like a local now. I've been asked for directions at least 5 times (which is always fun), and miraculously, I've known where to direct them every single time. I love every bit of London I've seen so far. From eating moon cakes to celebrate the mid-autumn festival in Chinatown, to shopping on Oxford and Regent Streets, to sitting on Fendi couches at Harrods, I've really loved my experience here so far. The weather is really gloomy, and it doesn't quite read cheery, but somehow, I feel that way despite the rain and the grey clouds.

I'll hopefully blog a little more often so that my life's adventures will be more fresh in my memory, but it's probably a good thing that I spend much more time living my life than blogging about it. As I bid you adieu, here is a photo of where I'm living this year.

Cheers!

The Smells and Sounds of London

In third grade, my teacher introduced me to the writer's notebook. It was just a journal where we describe experiences using all our senses. Ever since, I've noticed sounds, smells, tastes and colors in a much more meaningful and deep way. Here are some of my observations about the neighborhood of London I'm living in (Bloomsbury).

Sounds: This city feels like it's falling apart because there's so much heavy construction going on. I wake up to the sounds of men shouting, jackhammers hammering, cranes lifting and beeping as they back up, so on and so forth. In most situations, I think I would mind it, but the noise rids me of the need for an alarm clock because they start right around 9 or 10, which is when I've been waking up most mornings.

Smells: On my long walk to campus, I feel like I am constantly surrounded by a cloud of smoke either because the people walking nearby are blowing their cigarette smoke in my face or the cars on the street beside me are spouting our massive black clouds of pollution in my path. I know this is bad for my lungs, but my experience living in this big city feels more authentic this way. What's a city with no pollution, right?

Mixed in with that smoke is the constant scent of fried foods coming from the kitchens of restaurants lining the sidewalk. I feel like the Brits eat just as shitty as we do in America, except they're all so thin because they walk it off, especially Londoners.

Sights: American culture is everywhere! From finding Starbucks and McDonalds on every corner, to TV shows, to movies, to fashion, to nearly every aspect of life you can find something American here. It's a little sad to me that The Hills has found it's way abroad so successfully. All the teenagers are starting to stick "like" 16 times in every sentence because of us. For shame America. For shame. One thing I found weird is that British students think our American accent sounds really cool. So many people have commented on how nice or cool our accent is. Weird right? Because we think ours sucks and theirs is so cool! Mutual admiration ensues.

Another similarity (at least for me) between the States and England so far is that minimum wage workers always make fun of, insult, or spite me. I was at the supermarket yesterday and I accidentally dropped a pound coin and the cashier lady was like super annoyed or furious or something and (while I'm standing right there) looks over to her friend at the next register over, rolls her eyes, and mumbles something mean. As this is happening I look up and there's a sign that says "We care about our customers." Yeah, you guys care enough to insult them behind their back right in front of their face.

I like to call it Disgruntled Employee Syndrome. As sucky as it is to be insulted or put down by these people, at the end of the day, they're stuck in a dead end job that pays barely enough to put food on the table. This is why I choose not to be angry at the mean cash register lady. Her life sucks way harder than mine ever will and that's punishment enough.

I will post an update later with pictures of where I'm living this year!

Later dudes.

Freshers Fun

So it is almost October now, and I have yet to step into a classroom at UCL. They give students here a week or so to register for classes, get settled in and socialize before classes begin. It's a nice change from home where we have to start our full academic schedule pretty much as soon as we arrive. At the same time, I'm really ready for classes to begin and get a routine going.

This whole week, the student union is hosting a bunch of events at nightclubs and bars around the city, and last night was Freshers Fiesta. To sum it up, it was CRAZY. The club, KOKO, was super packed and I could hardly breathe. Whether it was some dude's B.O. attacking my poor scent sensors or some chick elbowing me in the lungs, it was consistently out of control.

We got pretty tired around 2 a.m. but most of the people there kept raging until past 3. I am now certain that I cannot keep up with these British freshman who apparently party this hard every night because their coursework doesn't count their first year (crazy, I know).

This morning I woke up with bruises in odd places, and I am definitely feeling pretty wrecked from two weeks of going out almost every night. As fun as this has been, I don't think I could keep this up for the entire year, nor do I want to lest my liver gives up on me and runs out of my body.
The next big event we're going to is Club Neon, which is a huge glow-in-the-dark rave that's happening on Thursday. In the meantime, I'll be getting my life in order and registering for the rest of my classes.

If all goes to plan, I'll be taking 2 economics courses, a psychology course, and a global citizenship anthropology course that will include an internship in London. I'm down to two choices: Le Monde Diplomatique (English Edition) and the UNHCR.

Earlier yesterday, we ventured to the Regent Street Festival, where all the stores had awesome promotions and the street was blocked off for food vendors. The best part was the free cupcakes and champagne at a bunch of stores. The pictures are of a cupcake tower and a pastry stand they had going.
I'm pretty settled in now in my flat about a 20 minute walk from campus, which has pros and cons. Pro: the facilities are a lot nicer than some of the dorms that are closer to campus. Con: My feet feel like they are covered in bruises from all the walking I've been doing. You would think I'm exaggerating, but during the course of a day, I walk about 3 miles just coming to and fro one time. Multiply that by three journeys on average and you are already at 9 miles. Pro: All that walking is preventing me from gaining weight and is bound to keep me in shape. Con: Walking the 40 minutes home from the night club last night SUCKED. There were creeps everywhere and I felt very unsafe without any pepper spray on me (which is considered a firearm in the UK and thus illegal to carry). As safe as they say this city is, it's still scary when you're wearing club gear on deserted sidewalks at 3 in the morning (I admit, not the smartest decision to walk home, but there were NO cabs!).

As much as I love London, there is one thing I miss about the States, and that's TV. Hulu and all the network sites don't work here when you try to watch episodes online (boo!). So I am now on the hunt for other options.

I'm sure there will be some good stories to tell at the close of Freshers Week, but for now, I am going to continue resting my sore feet and keep from moving more than 5 meters for at least tonight.

Why I'm a Pitiful Blogger

So I have officially been in the United Kingdom for about two weeks now and have yet to update this blog with any of the details. Basically, I suck.

I landed at Heathrow on September 14, and was one of the lucky ones who got through immigration lightning fast. Here is a brief overview of my first week.

Kensington...
...was beautiful. We were set up at a really nice hotel for a few days to learn a little more about how things work across the pond and the university system here. My roommate Jess and my beds were literally less than 1 inch apart.

The first night, we went bar hopping to about 7 bars total. We were completely obnoxious and the loudest ones at every bar we went to, but it was a lot of fun. The pub culture is a really fun thing to be a part of. And, I had the chance to learn about some of the different beers they have here. I think either Stella or Blackthorn (the girly cider) is my favorite so far. It's very community oriented and a extremely laid back. Supposedly, the local pub is the living room for all in the neighborhood.

The second day we had some Indian food and saw the spectacular views from St. Paul's Cathedral. Even though London is cloudy, grey, and gloomy most of the time, it's still so beautiful. By this time, we had discovered our favorite pub in Kensington, Prince Alfred's, because they have an awesome sofa bar upstairs where we celebrated Mexican independence day with some locals over beers.

The next night we went to the New London Theatre to see the War Horse with people from the Arcadia program. It was basically your standard star-crossed lover story except instead of a boy and a girl, it was about a boy and a horse. As cheesy as I thought it was, the puppets they used for the horses and other animals were phenomenal. I guess the Brits love horses because everyone except us were crying at the end.

During the first couple days, I had a chance to really adjust to the lingo around here. "Lift" instead of "elevator." "Toilet" instead of "bathroom." "Cheers" instead of "thank you."

After some more bonding with fellow study abroad students over cheap wine, we were finally off to Swansea, Wales for our homestay. At first I was a little nervous about this because when I got my assignment, it only had one woman's name on it under "Mom" and "Cats" under "pets." So it was my natural suspicion that I was living with a cat lady. But it was absolutely not the case. I lived with a wonderful family of three who already had a 17 year old polish student living with them. I was a little wary of how many cats they had (4), but they were the most friendly cats I've ever met and totally turned around my opinion of them. The secret favorite was Frankie, whose picture is shown below. He slept with me and my host roomies one night and he's just adorable. I did hate one of them though, Mattie, the girl cat, who is apparently a two-timing whore who hooks up with both Oliver and Tommy, the other boy cats. She was the meanest one.

So much happened in Wales, from visiting Mumbles, to watching Dorian Gray, to clubbing and drinking on Wind Street with the crazy Welsh locals, to getting free (but weird) onion and cheese sandwiches from the owner of Maggie Dicks. We also got to try Welsh cakes (awesome), cockles, and lavabread (which is actually seaweed). But my favorite part has to be my host sister Rachel. She was the most darling thing about that place and she taught us some new Welsh slang as well. When you think a boy's cute, you call him "lusch." When someone is cool, you say they're "mondo." When someone is cuddly, you say they're good for a "cutcsh."

So that's a little about my first week in the United Kingdom (although apparently no local calls it that) and I promise to update more later with some details about my first week since I've moved into my flat in central London.

Cheers!

3 days and counting...

For the past few days since my last post, I've made a couple discoveries, the most important being that Hulu has all the seasons of Arrested Development (Alanna, I finally finished the series). After watching all three seasons and finishing traffic school for my mother, I feel extremely accomplished.

Three more days until the big departure date, and I still have not packed. I've been intending to pack for the past two weeks, but I realized that my clothes would get wrinkly and you actually don't need that much time to pack. Most of my banking woes have been resolved. I opened a Bank of America account, which will allow me to withdraw cash for free at banks overseas in their ATM alliance. I keep feeling as though I'm forgetting to do something before I leave, even though I know there isn't. I'm sure I'll feel this way up until the day that I arrive, which is a little annoying because I keep waking up in the middle of the night to write down stuff on my to-do list.

I will miss a lot of things about the States while I'm away. I was reminded of exactly what I'm leaving behind for a year today, when I had what will probably be my final bite of In-N-Out before my flight out. Oh, and I'm sure I'll miss my friends and family too. It really is bittersweet this time around because I'll be so far away for the longest time I've been away from home. At the same time, I can't wait to get on that plane and discover what adventures lie ahead. Hopefully those future adventures will be at least somewhat entertaining so as to make your reading experience more enjoyable.

Toodles 'till later!

Nothing Packed but Ready to Go!

This entire summer has been a slow and painful waiting period before my departure to London for the academic year. Mostly, I worked at my summer internship (which was surprisingly more amazing than I thought it would be) and caught up with friends in Los Angeles. But since I finished up that internship, I've had too much free time to know what to do with.

For instance, today my mission in life is to go to online traffic school for my mother because she got a speeding ticket last month while we were on vacation. So far, I've completed 2 of 8 quizzes I must pass before getting the certificate in the mail. During these two "lessons," I periodically filled up with angst for having to go through this punishingly painful process for an offense I did not commit. But, I quickly realized that I really do not have anything better to do so I really do not have an excuse not to nor deserve not to since I let my life fall to this level of nothingness.

Aside from this combination of head numbing boredom, light angst, and adoration for my dog (who I will possibly miss more than anyone) that I seem to be feeling right now, I am so incredibly excited for my year abroad!

The thought of writing a blog is a little weird for me. Publishing your thoughts for anyone to see implies that you think things worth writing down and important enough for others to read. I really don't think I fit this criterion, but I do like the idea of recording your experiences while you're abroad for you to look back on and take advantage of one way modern technology has made it easier for us to keep in touch. So to the three readers that I will probably have throughout the year, this is for you.

Pretty much everything is good to go. All the paperwork is filled out, my visa and passport is safely in my desk drawer, and I've said all of my goodbyes. The one task I have yet to take on is packing. I put a few of my clothes aside that I definitely want to take with me, but other than that, my room is a mess with things I need to sort through. I think I may wait until pretty close to the last minute so that I give myself less time to think of even more things that I just "need" to take with me or I'll "die."

The one worry that I have right now is banking. There is a 3% fee for every purchase that I make with my credit card or debit card and there's also an ATM fee for cash withdrawals not made at an affiliate bank. Fees annoy me to no end, so I am seriously contemplating opening a British bank account once I arrive in London. I really can't go through paying fees for every transaction for an entire year.

As bored as I think I am, there are still a million little things (like banking) that I need to think about before I leave. Do I need one of those touristy money belt things for travel? Which handbag do I pack to maximize utility? Will I have regular internet access? Do I leave my phone behind?

I'm sure it will all work out, and despite all this thinking and worrying, my most standout emotion is excitement and eagerness to start this amazing adventure.

Cheers for now!