This has been one hectic week, so buckle in and get ready for this lonnnng post. I will do a daily play-by-play in order to cover all that has happened.
Saturday February 11-
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| Violet in Hackney |
This initially lazy day turned into a crazy fest due to London Public Transportation and a Gay Bar. How do the two relate, you may ask? Well, I urge you to read on.
The initial stop of the day was to a tea place named Violet. Violet is in Hackney, which is East London. East London is notorious for being ‘dangerous’ or the shady part of London, but as we Americans joke- all of London is clean and pretty, so we can’t really tell when we are in danger. After taking two buses, we made our way to the tea place. It was definitely the best place we have been yet. The cake was to die for and at one point I recall yelling, “CAN THIS BE MY WEDDING CAKE?” I got a pot of Early Grey tea and the group of girls I was with spent a whopping 2.5 hours there drinking tea and chatting
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| Take note parents- This is my wedding cake. |
When we finally did leave, we realized that a group of us needed to go food shopping. In a spur of the moment decision, we decided to go to a place called ASDA. ASDA is actually the sister store of Wal-Mart and is all the way in South London. A girl I was with had been there previously, so we felt safe in her directions and confident in the bus system. Little did we know, we were on a bus that was on a huge diversion…..through the ghetto of South London. Once we realized we were not in Kansas anymore, we started having a little panic attack. We realized we could not get off the bus since we would be lost in South London, but we had no idea where we were headed. To make it worse, a drunken Polish man would not stop talking to us. When we finally realized where we were, we literally RAN off the bus and RAN to ASDA. When I say run…I mean run. Going into ASDA made me feel as if I was reentering America. There was Mac&Cheese…Hershey’s….Massive Diet Cokes! I died of happiness.
After an hour of pure-American-greatness, we got back to our dorm and I changed quickly to make it out to dinner. The guys on my flat went out to Italian dinner and they asked me if I wanted to come along. They had a thing called an ‘eating-card,’ so the meal would be half price, which is the major reason I decided to eat out. I got a Caesar salad and macaroni and cheese meal. The conversation was great and was definitely entertaining.
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| Emeli Sande in all her glory. |
At the end, we headed over to a gay-club at Charring Cross named ‘Heaven.’ All the guys I went with were straight, so let me explain the reasoning behind all of this. There is a new upcoming artist in England named Emeli Sande and she was performing there for only 4 pounds. Cheap concert? Yes please. After waiting in the queue for 20 minutes, we finally got in. To be honest, I do not know what I was expecting from a gay-club, but now I know what it feels like to be gay in a straight club. I was one of like 20 girls there and my guy friends were probably the only straight men there. I had to pretend to their girlfriend to keep the guys off of them, but sometimes this did not even help. Fighting our way to the front, we got to see Emeli perform and she was amazing!!!! I downloaded her CD because I enjoyed her so much. Also, the gay-club Heaven had the BEST MUSIC EVER. There was N*Sync and Britney Spears, so obviously I plan on going back.
Overall observations about the club- All the men were a head shorter than me and will have nicer hair than I ever will.
Sunday February 12
Nothing major happened at all today, except I found out that an American guy in my friend group had been in the hospital for the past 4 days [alone] due to internal bleeding from food poisoning. We had really thought he was dead before we heard. He wasn’t picking up his phone, wasn’t on Facebook, wasn’t responding to texts, and didn’t open his door when we knocked. We were just about to get security to open his room door expecting to see a decaying body on his bed when he finally called us to tell us what happened.
Supposedly he started having hallucinations in his room, so he took a taxi to the hospital only to learn he had massive internal bleeding. His phone died so he couldn’t call any of us, but he did contact his parents who flew in to see him. I went all Jewish mother on him as I [borderline] yelled at him for not calling us before he got in that taxi. I would have gone with him to the hospital! Whatever, he is alive and doing well, so that is all that matters.
Another highlight from Sunday is that I booked tickets with my friend Zach to see the play Madness of King George III. The tickets were only 15 pounds, but are going to be in the balcony allllll the way in the back. I have only heard good things about it, so I am super excited.
Also, I booked my Sunday afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason for April 22! To make this even more exciting, the Queen, Camille, and Kate are having tea there March 1st! I am going to have to go dress shopping in order get myself ready for this proper tea.
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| Fortnum and Mason! |
Monday February 13th
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| The Birthday Girl with her wings. |
Today was an American friend’s birthday, so we decided to do it up right- we got good ol’ American buffalo wings. We found a restaurant named the ‘Red Dog Saloon.’ We all got hot wings, bufflo wings, bbq wings. The Brits that came with us were loving it.
At this restaurant, they offer a spicy wing challenge. Basically, if you can eat these 6 spicy wings (made from venom peppers) in less than 10 minutes without eating or drinking anything else, you get the wings for free and your face on the wall. Everyone at our table was joking saying that they would so do it since they loved spicy food, but we got a good view of what this challenge entailed.
Next to us was a table of Indian men and one black guy. The group decided to do the challenge. I was putting my money on the Indian guys since they are used to spicy food, but as they dug in, I started to loose some faith. They were crying, screaming, and throwing up. In the end, the black guy actually finished. Actually, who would’ve thought? Anyway, I put my pinky on the spicy sauce and into my mouth and I regretted it immediately. My whole entire mouth went numb and my eyes were tearing. I was on fire. I could not imagine what it was like to actually eat 6 whole wings with that sauce. When we asked the winner at the end how he did it, his response was, “After the second one, your body just goes numb and it gets easier.”
Were the free wings worth it? Maybe. Is it worth it for the bragging rights? Yes.
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| The winner is shown slowly dying on the right. The Indian man to his left almost finished, but gave up so close to the finish. |
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| Some of the group outside the Red Dog Saloon. |
From there, we headed over the Leicester Square where are the bars, clubs, pubs are. A guy in our group spent around 5 minutes arguing with a promoter until we got into this club for free. Basically we robbed this place when we got in for free. Not only were we undressed, but also we were way too young. The club was called Penthouse and was in the middle of the square, on the seventh floor of this building. Basically, we went to the club for the view, which was amazing. We started dancing in our jeans and jackets to some trashy American music that the British people didn’t know at all and enjoyed ourselves as we watched the slutty Brits in action on a Monday night.
Overall we had a good night and the birthday girl had fun, so I must say it was a success!
Tuesday February 14th-
I have been feeling sick the past week and Tuesday was the worst. My face was stuffy and my throat was sore, which was totally perfect for Valentine’s Day. It was another friend’s birthday, so our flat threw her a party. I was feeling ill, so I sat quietly in the corner drinking tea, but my friends convinced me to go out since ‘I couldn’t go to sleep early on Valentines.’ Well, we ended up going to this really cool club called Piccadilly Institute in Piccadilly Circus. This has definitely won for the best club so far, which is partly due to the fact that I got in for free and spent literally no money there (always a plus). This place had five different rooms and each room had a different theme, different music, and a different set up. For example, one room was called ‘Shrink,’ which was hospital themed. The bartenders wore scrubs, made drinks in test tubes, and the whole room looked sterile (other than the massive groups of people ragging). The music theme was modern house music. Another room was called ‘Decadia’ and was 90s themed. This meant the bartenders wore like overalls and the room had all the 90s memorabilia anyone could ever want. The music was pure 90s and I relived my childhood. The best part about this place is that each room was so removed from each other, that you felt you were in a whole new club when you entered a room. Basically it was 5 clubs for the price of one.
On our way back we ran into a guy at bus station who danced for Cirque du Soleil. He was Native American from New Mexico, but was in London dancing in the show Totem. I was literally star struck. We found out that the circus pays for all of his food, living accommodations, and traveling. All he needs to do is show up at trainings and the show. When we finally departed, we shook his hand, almost like he was a celebrity.
Wednesday February 15th –
Wednesday’s weather was so warm (50 degrees Fahrenheit) that a group of us played soccer outside. At first I thought it was weird that we would just randomly play soccer, when we got to the park, I realized there were hundreds of boys and girls just kicking around. Such a European thing to do. I haven’t played soccer since like 6th grade, so it was super embarrassing as the 7-year-old soccer pro’s around me schooled me big time.
Speaking of European sports, in the gym everyday I run and watch rugby and cricket. While rugby is starting to make more sense to me, cricket is still a mystery. I actually realized today that I have been watching the same cricket game for the past 4 days without even realizing. Cricket is literally from another planet and is not baseball, which I just initially assumed. The game even has tea breaks. THEY PROVIDE BREAKS SO PEOPLE CAN DRINK TEA. Hopefully by the end of my time here, I will learn a little bit more what this sport actually entails.
Friday February 17th-
On Friday, I met my friend Sarah from field hockey back at Haverford. She is studying in Edinborough, Scotland this term and decided to visit me for the weekend. I met her in Hyde Park and then took her on a mini tour. We went from Hyde Park, to Buckingham Palace, to Parliament/Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, to Covent Gardens, to Leicester Square, to Strand, and then walked back to my dorm.
At night, we went to an Irish pub and then came home.
The funniest part of the night entailed finding a drunk man in a fancy suit half in the road on half in the sidewalk. As he was obviously not a hobo, we picked him off the side of the road and tried to get him home. In his drunken state, he told us he had to be up at 7 AM the next day for a charity walk that was 20 minutes. The funniest part of this story was the next morning we saw that charity walk and tried to look for our drunk lawyer (which we also found out), but didn’t find him as he hopefully was still in bed recovering.
Oh also, when I got home I learned the NJ governor vetoed Gay marriage. Just another reason for the world to make jokes about NJ?...hmm....
Saturday February 18th-
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| Little kids getting knighted outside of the Tower of London. I am going to drop out of college and become an actor for the Tower of London. |
Sarah and I woke up early yesterday to get a full day of touring. First I took her to the Tower Bridge and Tower of London. I had hoped we could catch the tube from there to Trafalgar Square, but as we found out – the whole line was down. This meant we had a nice approximate 4-mile walk from Tower Bridge to the National Gallery. On the walk, we passed St. Paul’s Cathedral where there was a protest against deportations. Also, we stopped to get some Earl Grey tea and Earl Grey cupcakes. Delicious as always, we ate as we walked on to the Gallery. Once in the gallery, Sarah almost had a breakdown when she saw some of the artwork. She took an art history class last semester, so she had studied a lot of the famous painters in the gallery. Seeing her flip out was a great sight.
On a sadder note, one of my favorite paintings, “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey” by Paul Delaroche went missing. When I frantically walked up to the information desk, I learned that (a) I wasn’t going crazy because the painting was there last week and has just recently been moved- meaning I have been there enough that I have become aware where each painting is (b) The painting is on loan (c) It is on load at the Louvre until May 21! That means I will never see it again…well I can in the far future, but not again during my time in England! Sarah bragged a little because she was going to be in Paris in a few weeks so she will get to see my painting in the Louvre. I was actually upset. Didn’t think that possible.
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| My beloved painting, which the French stole. |
Also at the Gallery, as I was explaining Monet’s cataracts, a family started listening in and asking me questions. It was good that I did a little research on this topic since I ended up giving a little tour.
From the gallery, we tubed it over to Piccadilly Circus, where we ran into the same protest from in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Great, the protest was following us. Then we walked through the fancy shopping district touring the stores, Coach, Louis Vuitton, BCBG, Alexander McQueen, and many many more. We found ourselves at Oxford Circus to go a little more window shopping.
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| 'Occupy your Heart' - The protest that followed us. |
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| Sarah and I at Piccadilly Circus. |
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| Alexander McQueen- an influence behind Kate Middleton's Dress |
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| Relaxing with FDR and Churchill. |
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| Sarah and I are the British Museum. |
Our penultimate stop was at the British Museum. I showed Sarah all the highlights such as the mummies, the Parthenon artifacts, and Rosetta Stone. A new find was the ‘Enlightenment’ Room. This was just one big looking library, which I concluded was just a summary of the whole museum. If you are ever rushed, the enlightenment room gives a nice overview.
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| An ancient chess board I came upon at the British Museum. |
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| The 'Enlightenment Room' |
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| The 'Harry Potter' Station |
Kings Cross is nice since it is on the same tube line as my home station, Borough, but as we sadly found out…the Northern line was DOWN!!! This huge diversion led us on a 45-minute tour of the tube as we changed trains around 4 times. Since we walked in the morning, I never learned that my line was down, which caused some fun problems on the way home.
Finally getting home, we had a quiet night as we went to a pub and played Trivial Pursuit and scrabble with the kids on my flat.
Sunday February 19th-
This morning Sarah left for Amsterdam, but not without a little complication. Last night we planned out the whole path via tube to where she needed to be, but when we woke up at 5 AM, we both realized that the tube down and the closest one wouldn’t even open until 6:30 AM. To make matters a little worse, all the buses were on a huge diversion since there was a massive car accident, leaving everything messy and delayed. Frantically calling a cab company, Sarah finally got to her destination and on the flight.
I went back to bed, woke up to go to the gym, and now I am writing this.
This is basically a five-page paper, WHOO!
I now need to write this same length for a tissue pathology paper! Yay?
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