I Have Risen!!!!

Good grief, I haven't gotten a chance to blog in quite a while!! As regrettable as this is, it is not without reason. Reading 2 novels a week for school, as well as trying desperately to learn how to draw so as not to fail my sketching class, on top of finally getting a chance to join a soccer league here and practicing.... you get the idea. But I'll try to recap my time since the last entry as accurately as possible!

First and foremost, Tuesday night I got to see the Italy versus Brazil soccer match at Emirates stadium! It was an absolute dream come true. It was a full house (70,000 fans) and even though our seats were really high up, you still got such a great view and the atmosphere inside the stadium was unbeatable. I sat with my friends Katie Gaston, Emily, Anthony and Samir, all of whom play soccer for NYU. Brazil won 2-0 on two gorgeous goals... I can only hope that one day I'll have the foot skills of those Brazilian forwards. They literally dance with the ball, it's beautiful! We took the tube back home and got in around 11 or so, and I had my first British kebab as a late night snack.

The school week went as expected, with class from Monday night through to Thursday afternoon. The play I saw this past week was called "A Woman in Mind," and it was the most bizarre and senseless thing I ever saw. I really didn't enjoy it very much. It was about this woman who gets a concussion and starts hallucinating, and invents a new family in her head and is convinced they're real. Then, her real family and her fantasy family start to interact, and at that point she has no clue as to which life is real. It was supposed to be artsy and introspective, but I think it really missed the mark. The acting was okay, but the dialogue was dull and besides a few funny parts, I really wasn't engaged. This week, though, we're seeing a play that is entirely in Japanese!! They have subtitles up on a big screen, and I've heard that despite the language barrier it's an amazing play. We'll have to see.

In my sketching class, we went to Westminster Abbey and drew the bishop's house. I think it's the best of my sketches thus far, but that's not saying much. I have a lot more respect for people with the patience to sit there and make sure every line is straight, every shadow is shaded, etc. I don't think I have the peace of mind to sit there and exhaust every detail. But I'm learning to do so, just in very small increments.

Last Thursday was the great roomie's birthday! Katie turned 20, so to celebrate we went to a restaurant called Sugarcane. It was a tikki themed restaurant with Hawaiian decorations and fun music. We had a nice meal there and enjoyed ourselves a lot. Then, we came back to Nido and baked a huge cake, sang happy birthday, and went to town on the cake until it was completely devoured in 10 minutes. It was a very scrumptious evening, to say the least. The next day, we all slept pretty late because of the big festivities of last night. But in the evening, we went to this dance club called On Anon, which was actually a really festive place. It had 4 floors, and each floor was set up differently and played different types of music. It's been really fun to see so many different clubs and lounges around here.. the social scene is brimming with different kinds of places and entertainment. But people here really like to dance, that's for sure. And American music is almost all they ever play! We obviously share a lot of bands and artists, but their dance playlists are almost strictly fresh out of the states.

On Saturday (Valentine's Day, of course!) the girls all exchanged some chocolate and candy and then went out to dinner at this new restaurant near the Tower Bridge. I made plans to hang out with one of my British friends Tom, who ended up taking me on a tour of the London Dungeon, which was SO fun!! It's a haunted house walk, where actors pop up and scare the pants off you, and they tell all these ghost stories and old English legends, like Jack the Ripper. The house was decorated with so many disturbing gross things, and I screamed more than I'd like to admit. At the end of the tour, they put you in these gallows and pretended like they were about to chop your head off, but then at the last minute, the floor left from under you and you did a 5 second free fall to the bottom!! I'm pretty sure my stomach flew up out of my ears. They took a picture of you while you were falling, and they were available to buy at the end of the tour. I kind of wish I bought one, just to show people... my hair was literally straight up on end, and the face I'm making is one of complete and pure horror. It was the funniest thing in the world. Afterwards we got food at Pizza Express (London's answer to the Olive Garden) which was pretty decent.

Sunday, I had my first practice with my female footy league!! We booked the field for a 45 minute practice on the turf, and it felt so good to be able to kick a ball again. Needless to say, after an almost 3 month hiatus from the sport, it took a few minutes to remind myself how to even play. But the girls looked pretty good, and we all got a good sweat in. I think our first game isn't until the end of the month, so hopefully we can play a little more and brush up. Also, we've been challenged by our British friends to an international scrimmage! They, of course, think they can whip the shorts off us Yanks in soccer, and we'd like to make it our goal to prove them completely wrong. We'll probably get Samir, Anthony and our other soccer buddies involved, and challenege them to a contest of champions.

So that has been the past week or two, give or take. This weekend I have a bit of schoolwork to do and papers to start, but hopefully there will be time for some fun and exploring. In the meantime, class starts in an hour and I need to get some food in my belly. Until next time, this has been Laura from London, and you stay classy, America!


British word of the day:
Poxy: something gross, dumb, lame or otherwise undesirable. "Would you look at that poxy outfit she's sporting? Did she really need to tuck her fur coat up into her knickers?"

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!!

I write being able to bear many pictures, many stories, and many bouts of shivering. As some may have heard, London has just had the biggest snow storm in 20 YEARS! Of course, it's barely a dusting compared to what us New Yorkers are used to at home. But the Brits were simply baffled when they actually accumulated over 3 inches of snow - gasp!! They even canceled classes on Monday, the tube shut down, and no buses were running. If only they could come back home and see how us Yanks stop at nothing, let alone 3 inches of snow. However, the snow looks so completely gorgeous here. But, I'm getting a bit ahead, because I didn't get the chance to upload any photos from my trip to the Eye last Tuesday, and my Cambridge day trip on Friday!



SO, Tuesday night around 7:45, my friends and I took the tube to the London Eye and prepared for our wonderful half hour ride on the world's third largest ferris wheel! The Eye is pretty new, built in the 90s, and it's one of London's biggest tourist attractions. Here are a few pictures of the spectacular view (we went at night, which is supposedly the most beautiful time to go):

Katie and me, in front of the Eye.

The first few meters upon our ascent, we got a great view of Big Ben.

Katie K, Katie G, me and Cait.

The view going up!
So lovely.
Another Big Ben shot.

It seemed to go much faster than the allotted 30 minutes, but the view was worth it! Plus, being so high up is just such a crazy feeling. You start to see things as a disjointed observer rather than a busy pedestrian who is only focusing on the one street she's walking on. Seeing it all at once makes it that more real.

That Friday, I took a day trip to Cambridge. We got on a 10 AM bus and took the hour and a half ride, where we were met with a tour guide. She showed us around all the different college campuses and the beautiful King's College chapel. Cambridge is such an adorable village... they have so many little streets and alleyways with shops, eateries and clothing stores. It's a little reminiscient of parts of East Hampton, actually. Here's a huge load of pictures (some with captions, some without, because I probably forgot what i took the picture of!):

The Tower of London (This was before the day trip to Cambridge.. my bad.)

The flag outside of Cambridge University.

The lake with a shot of the boats you could purchase for 45 minute tours on the water. We wanted to do it, but once the tour ended, we didn't have much time and would rather explore on foot.



King's College.

More King's College

This crazy clock with a locust on the top. Apparently the locust was there to symbolize "eating up time."

Outside of King's College chapel.

The stained glass windows inside the chapel were amazing.

The ceiling was even more amazing! So much detail.

After the chapel visit, we went to a bakery with the cutest little treats!

Cait bought this big cookie for her boyfriend!

Cait and me outside in front of the many boats.




That pretty much sums up the visit. We got back around 7 at night, then went out to Piccadilly and went to a few fun places with our British friends from town. I think it's official that we have a real group of natives here as friends! I think the deal was sealed when, by the end of the night, they were saying "word up, dog!"



On Sunday, the snow started. By Monday, the entire town was white, and everything basically shut down. We used our day off to frolick throughout the streets and take pictures of the freshly frosted outdoors.

The view from my window that morning.

Walking down Pentonville Road.

Gordon Square looked gorgeous!

A great shot of the park.

And thus concludes my adventures so far!!! It was a great weekend, but unfortunately classes have resumed and I have ample work to do. This weekend I don't have any major trips planned, but my friend just bought us tickets to see Snow Patrol in the beginning of March, so I'm really excited about that. In the meantime, we'll have to plan some fun excursions for the weekend. Farewell for now, my yanks!

British term of the day:

Wellies: the term for 'rainboots.' I just bought a pair due to the snow, and when I asked how much the rainboots were, the woman hesitated for a second and said, "Ah, no, the wellies you mean to say." Whelp, I guess that's what I mean to say from now on.