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 :)

Where Time Begins

So, this week is reading week. Meaning no classes. Meaning I am already 1/2 way through my lectures. It's crazy, by the end of March I will be done going to classes. Then I have April off, 2 exams in May and still have my flat through middle of June. That leaves a lot of time to be a tourist. Something I am becoming supremely good at! My latest tourist excursion? Greenwich.

So, I learned today, while actually in Greenwich, that it is actually in London, in Zone 2. I have always thought of it as its own city until I got there and saw the O2 stadium and other various London landmark buildings and until my directionally gifted friend informed me its part of London. It only takes about 30 minutes to get there via tube/above ground train. This just goes to show how huge London is. I think its about 700 square miles? That's one big city.

Greenwich is kind of exactly what I expected it to be. As soon as we get there its loads of British style red brick houses and then there is one section in the middle of town with majestic white stone buildings (the historic part, no doubt).

As everyone knows, Greenwich is home to the Prime Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time aka where time begins so to speak. There is other stuff too, like the National Maritime Museum, some college, The Queen's House which was one of the homes of many of the tutor Kings and Queens, the Royal Observatory, shopping, markets, restaurants, etc.

The Maritime Museum and Queen's House were average at best (well they were really beautiful on the outside, but there is nothing much inside).

The Royal Observatory was cool though. When you walk up the hill to get to it, you can take pictures on the Prime Meridian. Another thing to check off the bucket list. Since I went to the equator while in Kenya a few years ago, and the Prime Meridian today, now all I need to do is go to where they both meet. Anyone want to take a cruise with me to the Gulf of Guinea? I am beginning a sign-up sheet so let me know ;)

Oh hey, standing on two hemispheres!

Greenwich is also supposed to have some cute stores and a cool vintage shop but for some reason when we got done with all of the sight-seeing stuff at 5 everything was closed. So strange. I guess this just means that I will have to come back at some point.

Reading week continues, so hopefully I will get to do some more UK touring!

PS: Happy Valentine's Day! I just love holidays, especially one that involves sparkling wine and chocolate :)

Dancin in the Streets

This is a post dedicated to all things street theatre, music, dancing, etc including Covent Garden street theatre, underground musicians, and Chinese New Year. Why you ask? Because London is all about dancing in the streets and its ridiculous enough that it deserves its own post. Plus, I have some really funny pictures that just must be shared.

First off, Covent Garden, the self-proclaimed home of street theatre! To start, Covent Garden is a market area with all different kinds of booths and then shops surrounding these. In every corner of the market there are street performers rotating in and out. Everyone from magicians to musicians to acrobats and much more line up to showcase their talents and make some spare change and maybe be "discovered." I learned later that you actually have to audition to even perform there. When I went, I saw a crazy woman doing acrobatics with plastic knifes and a neon pink leotard, a group of dancing violinists, and an opera singer. I wonder how much money they make? And if they have other jobs? I went on a weekday so they can't have a regular 9-5 type job. If school doesn't work out for me, I'm coming back and bringing my mandolin that I still haven't learned to play. If I mix that with my ex-cheerleader skills I think I could have a really interesting show.

I believe those are vegetable steamers she is wearing as a bra.

Dancing fiddlers!

Next, underground musicians. So, most big cities have performers in their metro/subway systems, but London's seem to be the most prepared/ well established/ interesting that I have seen. And some of them are really talented (and as you can guess others are not). My favorite guy I've seen at a few different locations but he always has his electric guitar and amp and is like really goin at it. He plays like hard rock too, not your typical elevator music. They don't shy away from being loud either. I can generally hear the musicians playing from way up the escalator before I even get down by the tube. This could also be a future career for me if I had any musical abilities at all.

Lastly, Chinese New Year. I heard, although this could be completely inaccurate, that London has the largest Chinese New Year celebration outside of Asia. I heard it over the radio in Wales so don't quote me on that, but I would believe it. There were so many people gathered in the streets that there were times when you literally couldn't move. And it wasn't just a couple short streets either. The crowd spread through all of Chinatown and Trafalgar Square and pretty much everywhere else nearby as well. Honestly it was kind of lame though. There were performances on a stage but the crowd was so big I couldn't see them. And it was just an endless sea of people pushing you and tripping you and this giant dragon throwing lettuce at you and banging a drum in your ear. Granted, I really hate crowds, so if you don't mind them then you could have found some way to have fun, but I couldn't get over the not being able to move thing. And then when we tried to go sit at a restaurant and eat, one person told us to go upstairs then the upstairs guy yelled at us to get out and go downstairs. I was so over it, so we left and ate lunch at a British restaurant instead. Best. decision. ever. If I stayed at the festival two more minutes I might have had a panic attack. I'm being a bit dramatic but in summary I would not go again next year even if I was in London.

Happy Chinese New Year!

That's all folks. for now.

Day Trips Part 3: Stonehenge and Salisbury

So, its no secret that I am probably the biggest nerd in the world. Don't worry you can agree, I'm not ashamed. And now one of my nerdiest dreams has come true, seeing Stonehenge! I have wanted to go to Stonehenge for as long as I can remember. Studying it in elementary school always fascinated me. Its actually all a part of my larger archaeological fascination with megaliths (aka big rocks), seeing that another one of my dreams is to visit the giant statues at Easter Island. Let's be honest, my dad and I may or may not have carved the Easter Island statues out of potatoes when I was younger. (PS thanks Dad, best project ever!) Anyway, I have been super excited about Stonehenge since I bought the bus ticket the first week of classes, like giddy with excitement. Everyone warned me its really boring, but I refused to let anyone stifle my enthusiasm.

My first visit to one of the 7 wonders!

For the record, it is a little boring. I mean, the only thing to do is look at rocks and it was cold and rainy. BUT I still loved it because now I have pictures in front of it and I learned a few new interesting facts. Such as...

Here goes, some of the main myths of how stonehenge got there:

(1) Giants brought the stones to Ireland from Africa and then no one could move them from Ireland so Merlin got frustrated and flew them over himself.

(2) The devil found the stones in Ireland in a woman's back yard. He wanted them for some reason or another so he made a deal with her that she could have as much money as she could count while he was packing up the stones. She thought since the stones were so large it would take him a long time and she would be "as rich as a princess." Turns out, however, that the devil is pretty strong and he picked all up in seconds and she got pretty much nothing. The devil carried the stones and flew them over to England, dropping a few along the way which are still scattered across the English countryside.

(3) Aliens.

Yep, that's pretty much what I learned from stonehenge. Oh, and that the stones came from Wales and were once thought to have healing properties when pieces were dropped into drinking wells. Stonehenge is officially checked off the bucket list!

Since the bus ride was 2 hours long and we were only at Stonehenge for an hour, they drove us to Salisbury too, which was nearby. The main thing in Salisbury is the beautiful cathedral which is home to the largest steeple in the UK, the oldest working clock, and the best preserved of the 4 original copies of the Magna Carta.

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury is also home to a cute town and lots of shops though. Tapas were eaten, tea was had, and stores were entered (though nothing was bought, sadly). Then back on the bus and home again.

Salisbury... Beautiful town and crisp, clean air!

Short post today but don't worry tomorrow is the Chinese New Year parade/festival so updates will follow as well a description of ridiculous London street theatre.

Cultural Immersion UK Style

So, when I decided to come to the UK a lot of people were like "Why go somewhere that speaks the same language?" Or "It's just like a better/worse (depending on the person) version of the US?" Or "You should go somewhere more interesting and/or exotic."

Well, I am officially here to say that the UK is plenty culturally dissimilar. I mean sure I am not becoming fluent in another language while abroad or sure it's more similar to the US than many parts of the globe, but its not like I'm just in a distant part of DC or anything. I mean I've only been here for about 3 weeks and I have already been introduced to 2 new languages (native to the UK), eaten a whole bunch of food I've never heard of or tasted, and learned a whole lotta history I didn't know before.

First for the languages:

Croeso i Gymru means "Welcome to Wales" in Welsh, which is one of the weirdest languages I've ever heard by the way. I went to Cardiff, Wales Friday and the language spoken sounds nothing like it looks written. In fact, written it looks completely unpronouncable. There are approximately 10 consonants per vowel (I reserve the right for artistic exaggeration). Well that is until you take into count that y's are always vowels and w's are also vowels. Millenium Stadium, where all the rugby and soccer matches are played, is spelled Stadiwm y Mileniwm. And Wales is spelled Cymru though you change it to Gymru in certain sentences. And Cardiff Castle is Castell Caerdydd. Don't try to pronounce these out loud unless you know Welsh because you will inevitably mispronounce.

Second language? None other than Cockney or Cockney Rhyming Slang or whatever you prefer to refer to it as. Granted, it's not a language proper and its kind of along the lines of pig latin or jibberish but its different in the fact that it holds cultural and historical value, oh and the fact that its way more fun to learn. I have recently been introduced to Cockney talk by a lovely Canadian who's been here since first term, a dapper young englishmen, and a few others along the way. Its now officially my goal to learn as much as possible and annoyingly speak it to everyone who won't understand when I return to the states.

Cockney lesson 101 (aka some of my favorite words I've learned): Rosie is tea, dog and bone is phone, ruby is curry, Anchor Spreadable is incredible, Alan is flu, and Antiseptic is Antiamerican. How do Cockney rhymes work you may ask? Well, they are like rhyming word associations, so some are obvious like dog and bone phone but others are more complicated antiseptic. Septic tank= yank so antiseptic means anti-yank or antiamerican. Apparently you just have to learn the vocab and while new words are occasionally made you can't really make it up as you go.

Ok, now for weird food:

Raclette- its a swiss dish I think. Its this cheese that heated and bubbled and then scraped over potatoes and pickles

Mulled Wine- ok this isn't that weird but I had never had it until I got here and here its everywhere, especially outdoor markets because its so cold and now I'm officially a fan

Pies- the British will put anything in a pie. Just think Sweeney Todd.

pickled everything- they seem to love pickles, and pickled sandwiches and museums have pickled animals...

Mayonnaise crazy- they love mayonnaise and not in moderation

Chips vs. Crisps- chips are french fries, crisps are potato chips

OK and I am not going into all of the European history I'm learning because that is both boring for me to write and boring for you to read. In summary, however, it involves art museums, bus tours, castle visits and the like.