Blog Move

So, I have caved in and switched over to wordpress. Not really sure why, but I hear its better plus its what we use for Daily Colonial so I thought I would give it a try. I think I kind of already like it better because I can add more fun little gadgets, format pictures differently, and people can email subscribe to my blog if they so desire.

And yes even though I am back from London, I am continuing my blog because I like it. Blogging is fun.

Here is a link to the new blog:

http://thisistobemysymphony.wordpress.com/

The Countdown Begins!

I will officially be home in 10 days and thus the countdown begins!!!

I have a presentation due at 8 AM and an exam next week but then I am outta here. Its time to start packing I suppose. In the spirit of returning to the states in 10 days, here are 10 reasons why I am excited to go home (in no particular order).

(1) No more UCL classes. GW is superior.

(2) I will stop spending my life's savings at a rapid rate

(3) I get to see all of my friends and family again... ah, how much I miss all of you.

(4) Back to my real bed! This cardboard box they call a mattress is not so great for my scoliosis.

(5) Healthy food. I realize if I tried I could do this is London, but its more expensive and I just don't.

(6) A pedicure. My feet look like a barefooted nomad's. Miles and miles of walking and Primarck flats have killed them. They are super embarrassingly ugly.

(7) Driving. This is something I always miss whenever I am at school. I really just want to drive around with my windows down blasting embarrassing music.

(8) Being Busy. I have too much free time here. I don't know what to do with myself. This is not a joke- I like to be busy and no matter what at home I can find ways to keep myself busy.

(9) Sports. Aka summertime tennis and bike riding and trail running and other things that are so much better in a city thats not as huge and crowded as London.

(10) Never dealing with abroad related issues with Bank of America. This is the major one. I am over it.

And here are 10 things I will miss about London...

(1) Euston Tower Starbucks- they know me, they know my order, its like my home away from home

(2) Indian Food- Brick Lane will be greatly missed.

(3) West End shows- I have recently become obsessed with them.

(4) Being able to travel cheaply and go random places.

(5) The Roadhouse- passion fruit cocktails- explanation enough

(6) Camden Town- cyber dog and chin chins

(7) The friends I have made here... its safe to say I doubt people at GW will have a Kawaii party with me :(

(8) Royal Wedding Souvenirs- they are endlessly entertaining

(9) Museums- i guess i just need to take better advantage of all of the ones in DC

(10) Quirky British TV shows

OK, I really need to stop procrastinating. This presentation is due in 6 hours and I still have a lot of work to do.

Brighton is a Time Warp

Ah, I am so anxious to get home! I am 2 weeks and 1 day away, but it is moving so slowly! And these next two weeks I actually need to study (something I have entirely forgotten how to do this semester). I have no more international trips planed (shocking, I know), so my goal for the remainder of my time besides studying is to check everything off of my "things to do around London" list.

The morning I got back from Amman, my friend and I hopped on a train to Brighton. We have been wanting to go forever but have been waiting till it was warm since its a famous beach town and all. Wait we forgot was, the UK is hardly ever warm. So alas, it was cold and windy and gray but what can you expect?

Despite the grayness, Brighton is pretty adorable. It felt like it was stuck in a time warp with a mix of 1956 and 1984. The pier had all of the typical pier-ish roller coasters and games and I played a slot machine for the first time ever (spending a total of 1 pound- high roller). There was also this weird but cool Indian-style Royal Palace that was built by some king that I can't remember. We took the tour and the audio guide was ridiculous as always but the only bad thing was it smelled like a poorly kept nursing home.

The Pier... standing under it made me think of Sandy and Danny from Grease

The Somewhat Ridiculous Royal Palace

The beach was really cute too. There were different colored striped beach chairs along the whole stretch and random carousels and food stands everywhere. And the beach was made of rocks! Not like the big rocks you see in some Northern or California beaches, but little smooth pebbles. This made walking in flats very difficult because every 2 minutes they would flood with pebbles.

The Strange Rock Beach

I wish we could come back at its peak in July or August because I would love to see it in its full glory, when there are people everywhere and the pier is bustling and the shops and restaurants are actually all opened.

The Last Stop: Amman, Jordan

My final travel destination... bittersweet. On the one hand, I never want to get on a plane or take a bus or train ever again or at least for a few months (well except coming home and back to GW). I also never want to call the bank again and inform them that I am indeed in whatever country I already told them I would be in and to stop freezing my account. I also don't want to ever move money from my savings account ever again. On the other hand, I will so much miss being able to find cheap flights and eating weird food and trying to speak languages I don't know and taking pictures in front of every tourist attraction ever. These are things I will not be able to do from Marietta, GA :(

I think that Amman was the perfect final destination though! First of all, it was my only non-european adventure. Secondly, I didn't have to sell my organs to afford to eat. Third, its like the greatest place ever. And lastly yet most importantly, I got to visit one of my favorite people ever.

I went to Amman to visit my friend Dani who was so kind to let me crash in her apartment for a few nights. I have been missing all my wonderful friends, many of whom I won't see until the end of August, so seeing someone who made my first two years of college amazing was definitely what I needed.

She also showed me around Amman, partly as a tourist but also as a resident. I am obsessed with the city. I even threatened to move in for 3 months over the summer and do nothing but learn arabic since I still haven't heard back about a summer internship/job. Visiting Amman helped me realize why I would never (well most likely never) live in London. It's just too big. Don't get me wrong, I love the city and I definitely want to visit again in the future but its like you can't make London home. I have always felt the same way about New York. Atlanta and DC are different. You can make them your own. That's what I love so much about them. You have all of the perks of a big city but they are small enough to feel like home. Amman is the same way. Even though it is huge, it still has an "intimate" feel to be cliche. I think that is what I also love about Nairobi.

Anyway, although I was only there for 3.5 days, I really did get to see a lot. I went to the balad and bought scarves and pirated DVDs, I ate falafel at some well known place, went to a couple expat-y bars, got to see the inside of the American Embassy (to pick up a jacket from the marine house), go to a few markets, see the citadel and amphitheater, ride a camel, go to the dead sea, and a lot of other stuff that I am probably forgetting right now.

Al-balad

Me on a camel... not a big deal

Now I am back in London though and I have to do all my finals studying :( But since I only have 2 weeks left in London, I also need to get all my last minute tourist stuff in.

PIctures from Portugal

Since my post about Portugal was a bit short, I'll let you see some pictures of the paradise I got to spend 7 days in.

First, the three different beaches we got to surf:

Amado Beach... Our first, most frequent, and my favorite beach

This was more or less our base beach. This is where the surf shop and equipment rentals were and where we went for the first 3 of the 6 surf days. It was my favorite for many reasons but mostly because it had a cafe that had really good coffee which is really nice after you've been in cold water for a few hours. It also had a lot of white water to surf so its good for begginners (aka me).

Baranco Beach... our 2nd beach, affectionately referred to as "the hippie beach"

This beach was really, really pretty, maybe even prettier than Amado. It had those beautiful orange cliffs that are apparently characteristic of the Algarve region of Portugal we were in. It was pretty small though so it got kind of crowded. Everyone came with campers and RVs to stay there for a few weeks which is (I guess?) why its called the hippie beach. One upside was that it had a ton of dogs everywhere that I played with, of course.

Our third and final beach... don't remember the name.

This beach we only went to for our last day or "free surf day." This place was on the southern coast of portugal so the waves were smaller but still plenty big to surf. It was also the closest to our house. It was a really big, tourist beach with lots of families but we were the only ones really surfing so we didn't have to compete with waves or run over people or any of that.

Now that you got a view of the beautiful beaches I got to spend all day at, here's a little view into Algarve Surf Camp:

The surf rental shop and cafe at Amado Beach

This is where we picked up our boards and wetsuits and where I got that wonderful coffee I mentioned earlier. We also have a cameo appearance of a few of the 17 Norwegians that were at camp the same time as me.

One of our jeeps with the boards being loaded up

First of all, I just have to say that I really want one of these jeeps. Second, you can see two of our surf coaches, Alli and Mo, both of which I loved. Let's just say that if one of them asked me to move to Portugal and leave in a beach town with them it may be hard to refuse, partially because Portugal is that beautiful and partially because they were that great.

And after 7 days, I had to leave :( But, on the way back to london I got to go to Lagos, Portugal and spend one more day on the beach:

The Marina in Lagos

I hope this has convinced you that you should go to Portugal, because you definitely should. And if you do go, please take me back with you!

Sun, Surf, and a Wicked Bruise

Sagres, Portugal!!!

As I've probably bragged to you before, I went to surf camp in portugal for 7 days this week! After months of rain in london and visiting tourists sites everywhere, I was craving some outdoor fun. My first instinct was camping in Switzerland but since all of my camping/hiking gear is back in Georgia, that didn't seem too feasible. Since I've been wanting to go to Portugal, surf camp randomly popped in my head and so I went.

Its been so great! If anyone feels the desire to pack up and fly to Portugal I highly suggest Algarve Surf Camp. The camp is located on the Southwest corner of Europe. Sometimes we drive to the west coast but when the waves were too big we drove to the south coast where they were a bit calmer. Everyday we packed up the jeeps and stayed at the beach all day. We surfed for a couple hours during the morning, took a lunch break, and then another couple hours of surf in the afternoon.

So, I ensure you that I will not pursue surfing as a professional career. Let's just say coordination isn't one of my best qualities. I did improve though. For my first week ever surfing, I think did alright. By the end of the week I was able to catch a few green waves by myself and ride them all the way in, so I'm satisfied. I also have some pretty awesome battle wounds. I have this swollen growth/bruise on my right hand from being run over by another surfer and blue blisters all over my hands. I look pretty official I think.

Anyway, tonight is my last night so I'm off to enjoy but early monday morning I will be back in London and will post pictures.

An Example of Wedding Madness

A friend (hey Kels) sent me this link. I think it perfectly describes the madness surrounding the Royal Wedding.

Please Enjoy:

http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/man_gets_prince_william_and_kate_middleton_tattooed_on_his_teeth/

Will & Kate

Today is finally the day the UK (and really the whole world) has been waiting for- The Royal Wedding! I had no idea how seriously people would take this. I mean, I knew there would be celebrations and it would be all over the news, etc, but this was probably a bigger deal for these people than the inauguration was in the US. And trust me, the inauguration was a big deal. London was empty this morning except for a few key places such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and all along the parade route (obviously) and Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square (where public streamings were going on). It was almost eerie. Besides the random royal wedding decorations adourning the street, all I saw was empty roads and dark buildings as I made my way to the festivities.

People started camping out towards Buckingham 4 days ago! I can't even imagine waiting in one spot for four days! Don't get me wrong, I love a good royal romance story just as much as the next person but heading out at 6 this morning was about as early as I could do. A few friends and I headed to Trafalgar Square where they put up big screens and threw a little wedding party of its own. There were souvenir booths, food booths media tents, and yes even people selling champagne so noone would have to miss out on toasting to the young couple. I stayed in Trafalgar from the first live broadcasting of the events leading up to the wedding until the couple's procession arrived at Buckingham Palace. Then I headed back to my room and watched the infamous kiss on the balcony on live youtube streaming.

My thoughts on the wedding:

(1) Kate Middleton looked beautiful! I loved her dress (yay Sarah Burton) and her hair and her make-up (which she did by herself I may add). I thought it was the perfect combination of more understated while still fitting for a grand cathedral and a wedding that estimated 2 billion people were watching throughout the world.

(2) The service was a bit long and boring at times but lovely nonetheless. I guess with that much hype around an event you have to drag it out for longer than 30 minutes.

(3) The couple is adorable together.

(4) That was the most interesting guest list to watch enter.

(5) Prince Harry absolutely must be my future boyfriend.

(6) The kiss from the balcony was a little bland (especially the first one but they kind of redeemed themselves on the second one)

and finally...

(7) I really really wish I was invited.

Why the British School System is Inefficient

So, I have been increasingly bitter about how inefficient UCL (and I suspect the British University System in general) is. I mean, I am trying to write my paper/ study for finals, etc and they are really not making it easy for me. I vow right now to never complain about Gelman or GW again. Of course, I will complain but much less than I would have before coming to UCL I promise.

First of all, by the time of my last final I will not have had class for 2 months. How am I supposed to remember everything I learned 2 months ago in order to take a final. Oh, I know why because we didn't learn anything to remember.

This brings me to point number 2: lectures are pointless. You have to go because they take attendance but I leave each lecture with no more knowledge than I came in with. My infectious diseases class is an exception because I felt like I actually learned a lot and I might have learned a little in Art History, but the other two? Definitely not. Especially not in archaeology. I may even know less about Egyptian Archaeology than I did in January.

Point #3: They have so much red tape with everything. Each paper you have to turn in like 3 ways and each one is graded by 3 people. This really doesn't help with integrity or fairness or anything. All it does is make everything take longer.

Point #4: The library is never open. The hours are short and it closes all of the time. The library is currently closed for 7 days for "easter holiday." Yes 7 days for Easter holiday. If Gelman did this, people would revolt.

Point #5: they don't put any resources online, meaning you have to get everything from the library, which is made increasingly annoying by the previous point.

Point #6: University offices and dorms just closed for 7 days. Our internet broke the day before so I will not have internet in my building for over a week. I also will not get my mail for over a week. This is especially annoying since my debit card stopped working and the new one was supposed to be sent to me yesterday.

Luckily London is great so it makes up for the fact that UCL is inefficient. And one good thing about this weird system of learning is that we never have class. We get 6 weeks off throughout the semester. Since I am only here for one semester I really appreciate this because it gives me time to travel and explore London and all of that. But how do full time British students learn anything? Maybe I just don't know how to take advantage of this type of school?

BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM

As some of you know and some of you don't my friend Fernando came into London last week to visit for 2 weeks. Although we could spend two weeks in London without even being able to do everything, we thought it might also be fun to go to Amsterdam and Brussels. So technically I have been to both of these cities before but I never made it out of the airports.

First off: Brussels. This is the quirkiest little city I have ever been to and I love it! For instance, their most famous statue is about a foot tall and they dress it up in various costumes on a regular basis. But not just anyone can dress it up. There is only one guy who is allowed to. He is the official Mannequin Pis costume designer. Despite their apparent insanity, people are friendly and laid back and the city is pretty small but still a lot to do. The food is great and I ate falafel for pretty much every other meal. Going out in Brussels is pretty fun too. There was a bar next door to one of the hostels that had a secret alleyway door and screamo music and then we went to another bar with over 2500 types of beer. For the record, I really hate beer. It makes me want to gag. But they had some flavored beer (aka raspberry) that was actually pretty good. For all my GW friends, do you think that McFaddens has Floris Raspberry during happy hour? Yeah I didn't think so either.

The Atomium

Mannequin Pis

Grand Place

Next: Amsterdam. Amsterdam is pretty no doubt but I honestly wasn't a huge fan. I think it was partly because of where we were staying though. The street we were on was 2 streets down from the red light district and had probably 20 "coffee shops" within 2 blocks. For the record, we all know I love coffee so if you don't now what I mean by Amsterdam coffee shops then you should search google. I realize for a lot of people my age who are staying in cheap hostels that's what they are looking for, which is why all the cheap places to stay are right here, but it's not really my style. I did find a market and a beautiful park though. My last day in Amsterdam before catching the train to the airport, I spent about 4 hours in my new favorite park reading. This probably makes me a 70 yr old woman but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Beautiful Canals

Tulips from Vondelpark

Classic I amsterdam Sign

Remembering Why I Love London

Lately I have been feeling a little homesick. Well, not really homesick, just kind of ready to go home. I feel like I have had my study abroad experience and now its about time to head back to where I've known people for longer than 2 months and I have my normal routine, etc. Don't get me wrong I love my study abroad experiences thus far and honestly I am sure that as soon as I get home I will probably want to hop on a plane and head back to London. But let's just say I was hitting a bit of a slump.

But then my mom came to visit and my friend Fernando just came in to visit and something about showing people around my life in London makes me realize how much I really do love this city. All of the options I have. From West End Musicals to Museums to Great Coffee to Happy Hours with Passion Fruit Cocktails.

Its good to have a reminder every once in awhile about how luck I am.

With all of this being said, Fernando and I are heading off to Brussels early tomorrow morning and then on to Amsterdam before heading back to London. Always on the road.

I'M BACK

I am back in London and think it is about time for another blog post!

My two weeks of vacation were amazing but I have to say it is also good to be back here in London with my own room and free time etc. What I am not looking forward to however is starting my final papers and studying. They have to wait for a little bit though. Tomorrow my friend Fernando is coming to visit and we are heading to Brussels then Amsterdam. I promise that when we get back to London I will start working though so don't worry :)

I guess I could get started with my work today but today is my day of TV watching, sleeping, laundry, errand running, picture posting, and blog updating and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I already gave you a brief update about my travels with my mom and there is no way to describe 6 days of packed travel throughout italy in something short and readable so I'll just show you some of my favorite pictures from both my trip with my mom and when I met up with friends in Italy.

Borough Market in London

Tea Time in London

Waterfront in Cannes

Monte Carlo Casino

Montpellier, France

Flamenco Show in Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia by Gaudi

Barceloneta

Just Pushing Over the Leaning Tower

View of Florence from the Duomo

Beautiful Florence!

I Love Venice

An Absolutely Beautiful City

Swanky Mall in Milan

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Update from the road

So I am currently in our hotel room in Montpellier typing on my moms iPhone so this post won't be long but I thought I'd give you a quick update on our mother daughter travels. Well first off my mom came in to London on Wednesday. After being so far away from home for a few months, it was really great to see family. It was just what I needed after the end of classes and the beginning of my two months of travel. For two days we hung around London and I got to show her my life for this semester. We went to borough market, we ate fish and chips, we shopped on Oxford street, we went to afternoon tea, and we even saw two musicals in the west end, les miserables and Chicago. On Friday morning, however, we left for the French riviera! We flew into nice but stayed in Cannes at the most beautiful hotel right across from the beach. The sun was shining And the weather was beautiful which was much needed. Seriously, London weather really does live up to it's reputation. Anyway, while in Cannes we rented a car so we could also drive up to Monte Carlo and some of the other surrounding villages which to me were the most beautiful of all. The drive to all of these places was possibly the prettiest thing I have ever seen. We drove along the beach with the ocean on one side and village dotted mountains on the other. Ok, so I am about to run out of wifi minutes so I have to wrap this up, but after Cannes we took a train to Montpellier where we are staying for the night tonight and tomorrow we head off to Barcelona! I will continue to keep updating as we go along. Much love as always!

Paris is Always a Good Idea

Audrey Hepburn is a goddess. Seriously, if I could be anyone in the world, past or present, it would probably be Audrey Hepburn. She once said, "Paris is always a good idea" and after going there this weekend, I couldn't agree more. It is possibly the prettiest city I have ever been too. As far as living for any extended period of time, I think I would pick London over Paris, but Paris is such a fun place to visit.

First of all, the Eiffel Tower is even more beautiful in person than it is in pictures- even those pictures they make giant posters out of. It's especially beautiful at night and when it lights up and sparkles once an hour. I haven't yet counted, but I probably have over 50 pictures of the eiffel tower alone.

Eiffel Tower!!

At the Top

Then you have the museums! Such good art museums. Granted, I only had time to go to two but they were both incredible. We went to the louvre, which is obviously great. I got to see the Mona Lisa and the Three Graces and Napolean's apartments not to mention lots of old Egyptian art among so many other things. We also went to Musee D'Orsay, which even though small, I probably loved even more. It was lke impressionist heaven. It had works by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh, etc EVERYWHERE. It was only two floors and we got there an hour before close, but if we had time I could have stayed there forever. I'm not going to pretend I know a whole lot about art but I really do enjoy it, and between visiting all these museums and my current art history class I am learning a lot more.

The Louvre

I also got to see all the big monuments of Paris that you always hear about like Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and Sacre Couer. And Moulin Rouge and Cafe des Deux Moulins (from Amelie). And Luxembourg Gardens and the grave of Oscar Wilde. Ah, so much in 3 1/2 days. It was insane. Sadly, my beautiful green boots have given in for good I think. So worth it though.

Moulin Rouge

I'm basically Amelie

And lastly, on the day I left, we went to Versailles. We toured the state apartments, the gardens, and Marie Antoinette's house. It was beautiful and sunny and warm thank goodness! Well it was warm part of the time at least.

One issue with Paris is that my French is horrible. Ok if I'm honest that's more of an issue with my rather than an issue with Paris but whatever. I mean, I took 2 semesters of French at GW and still feel like I can't even carry on a basic introductory conversation. I really should have studied up. I am studying French non-stop before I leave for the French Riviera in a week and a half. Hopefully it will all come rushing back to me.

Communication issues aside, Paris pretty much lived up to my expectations- beautiful, plenty of stuff to do, yummy food, and history everywhere you look.

PS: This was my first REAL hostel experience. And by real hostel experience I mean where you stay in a bunk room with random people you don't know. I must admit, hostels are actually great. I am a big fan- the people were nice, the place was cute, the bathroom was clean, and i you lean really far you can see the Eiffel Tower from our window.

Bienvienidos A Miami

Hey! Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. This weekend I went to Madrid not Miami so don't get confused haha, Miami was just the name of our hostel. It was actually my first trip of the semester outside the UK, the first of many.

View from hostel room balcony

Let me just say that I was so excited to go to Spain. I made the horrific decision of skipping our AP Spanish trip to Spain in high school so I could finish a yearbook deadline (per usual) and have been dying to go ever since. And honestly even though we were only there for 3 days, we covered pretty much the whole city. My now hideous feet are the proof. They are full of blisters and probably bruises from walking miles and miles each day in either 4 year old boots or cheap primarck flats, neither of which were made for walking. My post-Spain exhaustion is also proof because I think we got an average of 3 hours a sleep per night. Nonetheless, I am glad in the long run for all of that walking and lack of sleep because that will be my only time in Madrid for a long time if not ever so I wanted to experience as much as possible.

Instead of telling you every little boring detail of what I did and where I went and what I ate, I'll try and make this post a bit more interesting by giving you my overall impressions of Madrid with a few little anecdotes along the way.

(1) The weather in Madrid is far superior to the weather in London. And while the weather channel predicted rain all weekend we lucked out and had only one day of rain and the other two were beautiful and sunny and warm.

(2) Madrid has beautiful parks, which were made even more enjoyable considering impression #1

Parque de Oeste in the beautiful sunshine

(3) All wine should be made into sangria. I think Spain agrees.

MMM Sangria!!!

(4) My high school Spanish is really rusty. Trying to communicate was embarrassing. I would ask someone something then they would respond and I would have no idea what they said.

(5) The architecture is beautiful and everything is colorful.

Beautiful buildings at the Plaza de Oriente near Palacio Real

(6) The Museums are huge and while they usually cost money they also have times when they are open for free so look into it ahead of time.

Picasso at Reina Sofia

(7) Chocolate is best eaten by the spoonful.

The chocolate portion of chocolate y churros a favorite Spanish snack/dessert. Too bad I'm allergic to churros

Yep, those were my biggest takeaway points from Madrid. I am heading to Barcelona in about 2 1/2 weeks so I am excited to compare the 2 and experience even more of Spanish culture that we didn't have time for. Bull fights and flamenco dancing anyone??

Bright Dresses, Feather Headbands, and Fur Coats

Translation of title is--- Its London Fashion Weekend!!!

For the record, sadly no I was not invited to attend a designers runway show. I did however get to buy a ticket to fashion weekend, which is an ongoing event the few days after the official fashion week. They take one of the main tents of fashion week and host a catwalk that shows some of the highlights from the past week. You can also get tickets to enter the designer sample sale where everything is marked down a lot, up to about 80% off I'd say. Of course, I bought tickets to both!

What may not be apparent by how I actually dress is that I really do love fashion. What I don't like is spending the money or energy on being fashionable so alas I where the same basic outfits over and over again but thats life. My dream for years and years was to work for Teen Vogue. And yes, this was my dream before the hills and no I do not aspire to be LC. Anyways, I have been so excited about this catwalk/ sample sale because I have never been to a real fashion show and I figure that London will be even more fashion forward than New York, right? Plus designer clothes at 80% off isn't bad either. Maybe I'll buy some stuff so all of these chic London girls stop showing me up with their fantastically grunge wardrobes.

Sarah and I got to the tent around 3 30 and the show started at 6, so we had time to look around at the sale and do some shopping. I kind of forgot before hand that a $600 pair of shoes at 60% off is still way over my budget, so for most of the clothes I admired and walked away. I did buy one dress though! Its a bright orange, flowy dress. It was only 20 pounds. I can picture myself now walking through the sand in Cannes then throwing on my color-blocked sandals (that I do not yet own) and walking through the streets of the Riviera. Yeah, embarrassing imagery. What can I say? I like to imagine where I will wear clothes before I buy them. And I am going to Cannes in April so it's perfect!

I also bought a fashion weekend gift bag. Not because of the stuff inside of it though. It was all lame. They gave me mouthwash and hairspray and mentos and I honestly haven't even looked through it all yet so maybe there's something good hiding deep inside. I bought the gift bag because of the bag itself. Its a regular tote but it has a sketch of the building and says London Fashion Weekend and has purple straps. I really just want to go shopping with it at trader joes when I get back to GW and make everyone jealous when they read it and think I was invited to some exclusive show of London Fashion Week. That really is my sole purpose for buying the bag. Well that and the purple straps. I do love purple.

Moving on- the show itself was OK. It was really cool to actually be inside of the tent, and some of the clothes were great (especially the series on bright color-blocking, I'm kind of into bright colors at the moment if you haven't noticed), but the way it was set up was weird. I guess I was expecting like a normal catwalk type thing, but it wasn't. There were weird interruptions throughout of ads or this random woman talking. It was fun nonetheless though, so I am glad I went. And I am really excited about my new dress.

Work it Girl!

Just on the catwalk after the show :)

Cheers to You Reading Week

As I mentioned to you before, this week is reading week so I figured I would update all of you on what I've been up to with all of my free time since Greenwich.

First off, on Wednesday I went to Windsor to see the castle and the town and all that good stuff. The castle is really big! I expected it to be somewhat like Cardiff Castle since that is my only point of reference as far as castles go, but it was so much bigger not to mention it is still in use unlike Cardiff. In fact, I believe that Windsor is the largest castle that is currently in use. We got to see the changing of the guards. If you ask me, it is way to drawn out. It was interesting for about ten minutes but then it all just kind of looks the same. They make a big deal about it though, there is an entire ring of floutists and drummers and other musicians in addition to the group of guards who are switching. I also got to take the tourist picture with the guard, who decided to stomp and freak out when I accidently touched him. AWKWARD. Apparently, touching them is very forbidden. We also toured the Queen's Doll House and since the royal family wasn't there at the time we got to tour the state apartments which were but also, like the changing of guards, way overdone! I guess thats what royalty is all about though, right?

Windsor, the castle

Me and the guard, who looks really uncomfortable

Castle Repelling... my new favorite sport

After our castle tour, we went around the town which had a lot of shops and restaurants like every other cute small town in the UK that I've been to so far. This one had a lot more of the big name shops though.

Windsor, the town

Where Harry and William went to college (note: not the same as University) in Eton, the town across the bridge from Windsor

By the time I got back to my room we had been gone for about 13 hours, so I was exhausted. And THEN, when I was getting ready to curl up in my bed and pretend to work on my paper, I read an email from my mom saying the bank called about fraudulent charges so I needed to call them back. At this point I was annoyed because they had done this before just because the charges were in London after I told them about 4 times I was out of the country. Turns out, however, that someone had in fact gotten both my debit and pin number somehow and stolen 800 dollars from my account. Most of my money is in my savings account so that means that they put me about 600 dollars in the negative on my checking. fantastic.

When I try to call to call the bank, my phone runs out of pre-pay minutes and when I call to top up my phone, my card is obviously rejected. This leaves me with no money, no phone, and no way to get in touch with the bank. Thankfully, after freaking out on facebook and getting sweet advice from a bunch of different people, my mom was able to put money on my skype account so I could call the bank. Once I called the bank, they were really helpful. They put the money temporarily back in my account and sent me the claim forms and assured me it wouldnt be an issue. The only thing that bothers me now is the person that would take my money :( With my lack of money, they didn't choose a good person to try and steal from so their loss! I hope the money at least went to pay for their sick child's medical bills or buy food for their family or some other worthy cause . My debit was cancelled and I have to make it to Barclays to get my credit card activated so for now I am trying to live off of my cash but hopefully it will all work out fine. Whatever. Annoying but no big deal and really what can you do? life happens.

On a happier note, on Thursday I went to Camden Market. Its like the alternative, goth, punk and many other weird sub-culture area but they also have lots of vintage stores and that kind of stuff. Has anyone seen What a Girl Wants with Amanda Bynes? I'm pretty sure its the place where she goes shopping by the River and tries on the weird clothes and sunglasses. It at least looks like it. The market seems to go on forever. It is quite possibly one of my new favorite places in London. I am definitely going back before I leave and stocking up on clothes (and an extra suitcase to carry them back in). There was also this store called Cyber Dog (google it) that I am now kind of obsessed with. Its all futuristic looking and rave clothes. I want a dress from there so bad! I think I might just have to be Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century (Disney Reference) for Halloween so I have an excuse to buy one since they're pretty expensive. Just don't go in the basement. It's a bit disturbing hehe. The last thing we did before we left was go to the first ice cream shop in Europe that uses liquid Nitrogen to make your ice cream right in front of you. They always have chocolate and vanilla and then each week that add a different flavor, which happened to be sea salted buttered popcorn when I was there. The whole place looked like a science lab- it was amazing.

Camden Market- again, think What a Girl Wants

Ice Cream Science FTW

Then today, GW England took us to the National Theatre to see Frankenstein. I thought it was really good! I think I was the only one who thought so from our group. It was definitely an edgy choice for GW because it was gruesome and there was a lot of nudity but it was really well done and the scene changes were incredible. It was ridiculously fluid, almost like a movie. Overall, I was entertained and thats what you look for in a show so I thought it a success. Oh, and random fact: the guy who directed it was the man who directed Slum Dog Millionaire.

Want to know the one thing I didn't do much of during reading week? Reading. That is probably what I should do for the rest of the weekend. At least I got a lot of the touristy stuff done :)