Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder....

It has officially been a month since I last wrote on here. Ooops. Sorry people (and by people I mean Devin)... London life just beats blogging. Anyway, here's the updates since I last wrote:
-I went to Paris. I think it may just be my favorite city in the world. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE London, but Paris is just so epic. Maybe it's the architecture, the beautiful people, or the food (hello... CREPES!), but whatever it is, it's just uniquely French and glamorous. Anyway, in Paris we did all the traditional tourist things: Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Trimuph, etc. as well as the essential shopping on the Champs Elysees (where I got a really pretty perfume).
-I went to Dublin. A little less tourtisty than Paris- just the Book of Kells, Trinity College, and the Guinness Factory. The best way to sum up the weekend would be "Strawberry Beer." The Irish DEFINITELY got that right.
-Sally came to London! I had the best weekend showing Sal and her two roommates around London. Because they had all been before, we did less of the touristy things (Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, etc) and more relaxing and taking in the city. We are celebrating her 21st birthday in Rome this weekend and I CANNOT wait. We're going to try to hang out every two weeks from now on. Next Stop? Prague.
-I went to London Fashion Week. Potentially my childhood dream realized. So many BEAUTIFUL clothes and an all around glamorous affair. I bought two dresses. My bank account hates me.
-I made friends in Parliament. Last night resulted in me, 2 Conservative MPs and member of the Labour cabinet chilling in the central lobby of Parliament. Later, they showed me and a couple classmates around the House of Lords.

So those are the highlights. Other than that I am just doing a little homework, trying not to go broke, continuing my never ending search for Mexican food, and enjoying living in London (especially now that the sun has made an appearance). Miss you all! xx

La Tour Eiffel

Notre Dame

The Seine

:)

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

The Louvre

Winged Victory

At a delicious French Dinner

Dublin Castle

Kate and Britt- My beautiful Valentines

Trinity College

A forbidden picture on the grass at Trinity

We loved the name of this library

Found it!

Grafton Street

O'Connell Bridge

Molly Malone

Christ Church

Cute Park by Grafton Street- St. James' Park I think?

Self-Explanatory

Guinness is disgusting. I couldn't drink more than a sip.

Good Girls go to Heaven, Bad Girls go to London

I am the proud owner of that shirt. In a XL. Mom and Dad- before you comment about how maybe I would have more money for traveling if I didn't waste it on stupid souvenirs like that, just stop and think. I am positive you'll realize it really wasn't a waste of money at all.
Moving on... So my attempt at updating this often sort of failed. In fact, I have found that I have actually become legitimately busy. This past weekend my cousin Natalie came to London to visit and we spent the weekend rushing from one site to the next. We covered a lot and had a great time together but I still had 2 papers to write when she left on Sunday before my Monday class. As I write this I am in the middle of working on another paper so that I won't have to worry about it this weekend when I go to Paris. Next week will be just as busy because I will want to get my homework done before I go to Dublin. See what I mean?
Anyway, apart from homework I am still having an excellent time. I have really settled in here and am not even a little home sick yet. I have made a lot of great new friends and have become closer with a few old ones from Berkeley. I am still finding the balance between homework and going out, but seem to be doing fine so far. I am throughly enjoying my History of London and Parliament classes, whereas my Political Theory and Art History classes have become a little bit of a burden. I have found the library here very instrumental in both getting my work done and socializing, and I am there at least a couple hours a day.
As far as what's new in my fabulous London life, not too much. This weekend I saw Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross, more Portobello of course, and a little shopping in Covent Gardens/Chinatown. I know that seems like a lot but there's still SO much of London that I have yet to see. After my two big trips coming up I am hoping I will get to do more exploring (my favorite part of being here)!
I should probably get back to work on my paper/applying to summer jobs but I wanted to update you all.  As the Brits would say: x.

Notting Hill

Self Explanatory

The Market

Beautiful East London

Nat and I at Westminster Abbey

Whitehall (Parliament)

Kate and I heading off to Hogwarts

After 10 days it stops being called "jet lag" and becomes "being lazy"...

It is day 11.

So if I am being honest, I haven't been updating this thing not because I haven't had a spare 10 minutes to do so, but because facebook and napping have been more appealing. Yup. I'm turning over a new leaf though and going to try and update at least twice a week at the request of Devin (I guess people actually do ready this thing).
Here's the update... we started class this week. I was more than a little disappointed to realize that I would in fact have to do some work this semester. Apparently even when you're abroad you have to take midterms and write papers. Go figure. Apart from discovering that my time here would still be an academic experience, I am not too bummed by it because I only have 2 days of lectures (Monday and Tuesday) and one day of field classes (Wednesday). Since we all know I am not about to stop global warming or join the FFA you are probably confused as to how on Earth I would have "field classes". For my "Art in Context" class, field classes involve going to museums and looking at art (this week it was at the Tate Modern)- doable. For "History of London" it means going wherever our professor tells us to go so that we can wander aimlessly and he can tell us random, little known facts about the exact place where we're standing- apart from him occasionally belting out a relevant song or poem and completely mortifying me as passerbys stare, this is more than doable. In fact, being embarrassed happens a lot to me in this class since I am the only person whose name the professor can remember. Doesn't sound that bad, but it means he always calls on me unless I catch on quickly enough and manage to duck out of sight. I am going to introduce him to Kate this week ;)
I am also starting to get more acquainted with the city and it's geography. Despite the streets (and rivers for that matter) that are pronounced entirely differently than they're spelled, I haven't had too many problems. I have also become a pro at the tube (a skill that I am sure will at some point bankrupt me), which has come in handy as I have become more confident about exploring/being able to find my way home. I have even become more skillful at crossing the streets but I am still careful to avoid oncoming traffic- just for you, Dad!
Doing homework in Hyde Park has become one of my new favorite activities. I sit by the lake or in front of Kensington Palace and do my reading or write in my journal. It's not a super time consuming hobby as I can usually only manage to stay until my entire body becomes numb (it's still in the high 30's during the day here). On Thursday, Brittany accompanied me and we ended up having a photo shoot in the park and meeting one its many characters (I have fondly dubbed him "the bird whisperer").
Thursday night our program had it's start of the term party at an "exclusive" club in central London called 24. The venue was supposed to be incredible but it ended up being kind of small and claustrophobic. I got over it and went to hang out with the DJ. We ended up bonding and I think I made my first British friend. He told us he would get us a table there on Friday nights but honestly, I am not too sure any of us are anxious to go back. Apart from his overwhelmingly tooly Ed Hardy trucker hat though, I thought he was cool and he gave me some good insight into the London mindset.
Friday morning (I don't have class Friday either), I decided that it was time to live out my childhood fantasies and explore Portobello Road (of Bedknobs and Broomsticks fame- unfortunately I am quite possibly the only person on this whole island who has seen the movie). Although it was dumping rain, getting out of Kensington and into Notting Hill was really nice. Notting Hill is a less "posh" area, and considered a little less safe, but I really liked it. It has a much more relaxed and artsy vibe and the multi-colored houses are just as beautiful as the victorian ones on my block. The Portobello Road market, as much as it is shameful to admit, was without a doubt in my top 5 favorite places on the planet. In my mind it was like Pike's, Eastern Market, and Disneyland combined into one (if that's not magic, I don't know what is). You can literally buy anything you want there. I had use all of my energy not to buy every random object that caught my eye and still made it out with a much lighter wallet. My purchases were: a tiny victorian ring, a 1950's crystal cocktail necklace, and postcard from 1909 with fun image of a goofy looking lady. I only left when I was completely drenched from the rain and fearful I would turn into an icicle at any second. Even my walk back to the underground wasn't that bad though- I found George Orwell's house!
That's all for now. About to grab burgers with Kate and Ibby and then a Hawaiian club tonight. Love and miss you all.

My usual spot in Hyde Park

...right by Kensington Palace

Pictures of Portobello Road coming soon! In the meantime...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqY1lHJYIgY

Day 3

Finally have a few spare minutes to update this thing... let's see if anyone even notices.

Anyway, Kate and I arrived in London on Tuesday afternoon thoroughly beaten and exhausted by our 11 plane flight. Despite copious amounts of Tylenol PM I still managed to only sleep a total of one hour. To pass the time instead I chatted with the nice old Scottish woman next to me (actually I just nodded and pretended I could understand her accent) and watched the new straight-to-DVD Alexis Bledel movie (fun fact: it's as bad as it sounds).
Our first night in London Kate and I were too tired to go out to the pubs like most people, so we resorted to unpacking and a 10 PM bed time. When we woke up the first morning it was snowing pretty heavily and everything was white and beautiful- the best first morning ever! Later, we went grocery shopping and I legally bought my first bottle of vodka (not as great as it sounds- I accidently bought the British equivalent to Popov). In the afternoon we took a bus tour of the city and got a glimpse at a lot of the most famous sights. We didn't get to spend much time anywhere but I imagine I will be seeing a lot of the city in my History of London class. At night we went to our program's "pub crawl." Don't be fooled- sounds fun but it kind of sucked. Everyone dispersed pretty early on and did their own thing. We were still really jet-lagged and called it a night kind of early.
Thurdsay we slept in, which was very needed. We walked around Kensington High Street and went to a comedy show in Picadilly at night. Afterwards we went to a sports bar- a unique British experience.
Today, Friday, we have free time during the day and then a "boat party" on the Thames at night (if that isn't code for booze cruise I don't know what is). I am posting a few pictures now, and hopefully more soon!

T-Minus 17 Hours

After past, failed attempts at writing for a blog, starting a blog, and maintaining people's attention in general, I have decided to make 'Monica in London.' Although I have commitment issues that come in all shapes and sizes, I am going try a little extra harder to keep up with this so those with any interest (hi Mom and Dad) can keep up on the happenings in my new, glamorous London life. Hopefully this will be my first and not also my last post.
Even though it hasn't quite hit me yet, I leave for London TODAY at 6 PM. I am not nearly as nervous and stressed out as I was earlier in the week now that I am packed and essentially ready to go. I'm going to miss the fam, the pup, and everyone in Berkeley, but I am also looking forward to all the adventures and people I will meet in London.
That's all for tonight- going to hit the hay. Next time I talk you all it will be from England- exciting!

Good bye beautiful California, hello London!