South of France

 

Travel Buddy Wanted!

I want to go to Madeira Island in late January or early February. There are great prices on flights from London, and great prices on spa resorts on the island. Madeira is nicknamed the "floating garden"...which only increases my insistence that I find myself there immediately. Any takers?

Gay Paree

I did it, and I spoke le French all weekend! *Applauds self!*

They Don't Give Thanks Over Here..

...and that's only part of my disillusionment with Europe in general, and London in particular. Anyhow, I'm throwing Londontown the deuces for Thanksgiving and flee-ing to Paris in hopes of some revitalization for my beaten down soul. I haven't been talking about it, but the last month has been hell for me here. Paris will be a welcome change, whether i like the city or not.


Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Despite my struggles, I'm so thankful to God for everything...including the ability and opportunity to travel around the world. I don't take my blessings lightly.


Pictures soon to come!

Handel's Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall/ All Souls' Church

The Lord Mayor's Show and Fireworks 2008

Pictures from the big parade held every fall for the incoming Lord Mayor of the City of London below! Enjoy!

Cute!

Yes, those are hand puppets...

Obviously, i love the hats.

my flag!

St. Paul's Cathedral, where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married

Obama-Mania in Londontown

I'll be in Leicester Square tonight celebrating the awesomeness that is President-elect Barack Obama.

I'm still in shock, but I can't wipe this grin off my face...

Lies.

They told me that London had much nicer weather than New York. True, there is, like, NO sunshine, "but at least it's warmer here," they would say.

Lies. Today, I was so freezing that my nipples GOT UP and WALKED AWAY. And not only that, but it's FREAKING SNOWING, and STICKING. It's not even Halloween yet!

"Oh, it's just a little sleet," said my god-dad, as I screamed after looking out the kitchen's sliding doors.

"Are you joking?" The Brits were not going to pull wool over my eyes this time, though wool would have been warmer and cozier than the five layers I'm already wearing. "There are snowflakes the size of my thighs! And it's covering the ground...and accumulating!"

The god-dad puttered into the kitchen. "Oh, right. Well, I guess we are having a bit of snow. Fancy that!" And he walked away, in his tee-shirt.

Fancy That. Wow.

Camden Town/Camden Market

Checked it out this week, when I went to meet a new person. I don't like it. The vibe does not agree with me. For that reason, there are no pictures. Just imagine pierced body parts, gloominess and Satan-worship. Pass.

Russell Square: Pictures

Can I Live?

When I got to London, I had a fresh Opi mani/pedi, and beautifully waxed eyebrows. It's been 3 weeks. The situation is serious.

I also take offense over the UK's insistence upon roll-on deoderant and boat-sized sanitary napkins (Clearly, We keep it real in here). What's really good, London? You sell healthy food at McDonalds, but you don't know about Always ultrathin overnights with flexi-wings? A wha really a gwaan?


My IMMEDIATE goal for life in London is finding a great salon, where I won't have to pay $80 USD (40 pounds, approximately) just to avoid looking like a grizzly bear. If I could find a black salon where I could get my color touched up, that would just be icing on a necessary cake.




before.



after.

London is Cold/ Pictures!

The sun is out, and it's still bloody freezing (yes, I'm learning the lingo). This is my last free weekend before class begins, so I think I'm going to go exploring today...even though I technically have other important things that I SHOULD be doing.

In other news, I think I've found two lovelies who will travel to Portugal with me...but I'm still looking for traveling buddies for Amsterdam, Monaco/Nice, and Ibiza. I'm also contemplating a trip to Switzerland. I'm saving the trip to Morocco for when Bestie comes to visit (!!!)

Below are some pics from my trip to the National Theatre, to see to very weird Harold Pinter plays, with my wonderful godparents and their friends. Basically, they are pictures of the view from the Waterloo Bridge, of Central London in the evening. Enjoy!







The London Eye



The God-Dad!



A view of the famous "Gherkin" skyscraper





The Eye again, and the top of Big Ben



The National Theatre



Some posh award show, happening next to the Theatre, red carpet and all. Random!

I Offically Like London

...Just thought you should know. More details to come...more pictures to take! :)


In the meantime, I need to register with the U.S. Embassy, and do some more shopping for sweaters, coats, and wellies. And there's this little matter of finishing a research proposal, and re-working last semester's Refugee Law paper for potential publication.

I also just booked a round trip ticket to Barcelona for mid-October, to play with two of my good friends.


I'll post the first weeks' pics soon...like tomorrow, God willing. As you can tell, I'm less hungry today.

Homesickness

Because of how scant and foul the food is in Britain (I think I live with the best cook in the whole nation, but she's a conservationist and a health nut), I am freaking starving and unable to think about anything other than salt and sugar.

Today at dinnertime, after a very British meal of smoked haddock, rice and eggs (much better than it sounds...actually delicious, even though maybe my starvation has clouded my judgment), my goddad asked me "so, what foods will you miss from America?" I pretended to have to think about it for a moment before saying "...ohhhhh...I don't know, really...I guess I'll just miss...EVERYTHING!!!!"

But I forgot to mention one thing while I was ranting to my godparents about vegetarian pizza, super-sweet American chocolate, french fries, chips ("crisps" in Britain), Chinese take-out, non-dairy soy ice cream sandwiches, sushi, etc (the godparents wished they hadn't asked): Pinkberry. Where the heck is London's version of Pinkberry? Do they not have one? Because, if not, I am going to jump off the solar panel on the roof of our conservationist, environmentally-friendly house.

Bloody misery.

Apparently, we eat too much in the States...

I have never been hungrier in my life. I wanted to lose weight over here, but I didn't want to DIE...

*dies*

My first day out and about

I suppose you're wondering about the name of this blog. That deserves it's own post, and I'm not in the mood to think about it right now. I want to talk fashion.

Surprise, Surprise.

Today I went to scope out campus (LSE) so that I wouldn't get lost tomorrow during registration. Afterwards, my god-dad and I parted ways, and I went off to traipse about Oxford Street. Shopping. Yum. Um. *Flips Price Tag and Converts to Pounds*. Boo. Yuck. Sigh.

Honestly, I was expecting more. I think I need to go again...in some SUNSHINE...to get a better vibe, but H&M, Esprit and Bennetton are not impressive to someone coming from New York, and neither is Zara. I did get a mild kick out of TopShop, but it's still too damn expensive. I ended up just convincing myself that I was paying in dollars instead.

What really confused me, however, is that the people were not as fabulous as I hoped. Again, maybe I caught the wrong day, but all I saw was a LOT of bad weaves.

A moment on the weaves, and black hair care in general

My sister warned me, but I couldn't have fathomed... I'm talking about multi colored weaves, latch-hook braids (!!!), fuzzy dookey braids, feet of new growth, new growth on top of tracks, visible glue....oh, Jesus, take the wheel!

Stop the madness.

I've also spotted colored contacts, in colors such as blue and violet, on the black women, accentuated by very false lashes.

On another minority group of people not here to defend itself (I dont think), I spotted skinny high waisted granny jeans and hightop "trainers" (gymshoes") a couple of times. It was enough for me to go back to Heathrow right then and there.

Don't make me bring Tim Gunn up in this country. PLEASE.


Anyhoo, trust and believe that I will be making a section of this blog called "BLOODY INCORRECT" to address the fashion disasters and other belligerent madness I see in this city.

London Is Cold and Gray

That's my first impression of it. I'm freezing. I'm also starving because the food is not great, and there isn't enough of it.

I'm living outside of the downtown, but in what's known as Inner London, in the Borough of Hackney, with two lovely friends of my parents, who I will refer to as my godparents quite often. I've actually got a really nice setup here, in their beautiful and newly renovated house...

...but I still feel like a fish out of water, so far. And it's still cold and gray.