Birmingham and Islington and Hampstead, Oh My!

It's been almost two weeks since my last post and I feel like I've had so many experiences and I've made so many significant discoveries! But as always, conveying them all just seems impossible.

As I mentioned in my last post, Katherine, Helga and I made our way to Birmingham to visit a friend for 24 hours. I particularly enjoyed walking around the school's campus, parts of which were beautiful (see below!). I think what stood out to me most was how much calmer it felt. The hustle and bustle of London can be pretty intense, even for a New Yorker, and the vibe in Birmingham was very mellow and relaxing. Though by the end of the 24 hours I was also ready to be back in my London home.

A few photos from the night:

We slept on an "air mattress" that was more like the kind you would bring into the pool. We had to sleep on our sides to fit all three of us. Most uncomfortable night ever!

Since I last posted, I discovered that the neighborhood of Islington is right next to where I live. It's actually kind of embarrassing that it's taken me this long to realize. In any event, Islington is one of my favorite neighborhoods here! It has a quaint, residential (sometime Brooklyn-y) feel in some parts, and also has a lot of cute coffee shops, independent stores and a plethora of street vendors selling vintage goods and knick knacks. While the main street by the tube station is generally quite busy and hectic, just a step off the main road provides a much more relaxing experience. 

I took a lot of photos of the quieter areas and failed to document the more vibrant ones. 

A typical block in Islington. I definitely would not mind living here!

Fence & Wall along a canal.

Pictured below is a grocery store called Unpackaged—Amanda Fox told me about it! I am not entirely sure how she heard of it (being across the pond and all), but as it turns out, it's only a seven minute walk (thank you google maps) from my dorm. It's a small shop which sells primarily organic and locally grown food. You bring your own reusable containers and bags to the store and therefore reduce a lot of the waste that comes with grocery shopping (especially in the UK, it seems like everything is sealed in plastic). They also have bath products and dish soap which you can refill. While I am not able to get all of my shopping done there, I have been making an effort to be more conscious of how environmentally friendly my purchases are, and for the things I can't recycle, I have been trying to find uses for them (as it turns out, the containers from cherry tomatoes have come in very handy for organizing the abundance of little things lying around my room). 

On a similar note, I also recently discovered a small clothing boutique called Equa, also located in Islington, which sells only fair trade clothing made of organic and sustainable fabrics. Unlike your usual hodgepodge fair trade store, this place has a sophisticated vibe, proof that you don't have to sacrifice a clear conscience for fashion—and vice versa. Although, I am going to be keeping my shopping to a minimum!

A couple more photos of Islington in the late afternoon. 

Another neighborhood I recently explored with Miranda was Hampstead. It is known for being quite ritzy—home to the most millionaires in all of the UK! Despite this fact, the neighborhood didn't seem to have a particularly extravagant vibe. It was definitely beautiful, and quite different from other neighborhoods I've seen in London, but it was more quaint than arrogant (which many upscale neighborhoods tend to be). It had a bit of a Park Slope feel—stroller mafia included. Hampstead is very hilly, and in some parts you get the feeling like you're not in London at all. There is also a beautiful, spacious park. But anyway, I should just let the pictures speak for themselves!

The park in Hampstead

I know this is almost repulsively cliché, but it captures the feel of the park so well!

A typical block in Hampstead

A Chapel

One of those streets in Hampstead that make you forget you are in a city. Not even a paved road!

It's hard to capture, but on some higher ground, you can see bits of other parts of London below.

This weekend, my friend Adria stayed with me for a couple of days on her way from Oxford to Paris. It was great having her here! Last night we went to a dance club called Fabric, where they had a bunch of pretty well known artists and DJs playing to celebrate their 10th year. Long story short, when Spank Rock was performing, he pulled me on stage to dance with him! At long last, my fifteen (minus fourteen) minutes of fame have come! Unfortunately for you, and quite fortunately for myself, I do not have photo documentation of said evening.

Anyway, it feels like I smooshed a lot of stuff together, hopefully this post was bearable? I am going to Spain for 10 days on Wednesday (absolutely cannot wait!), but before then, I have to write two papers... ahhh! One of them I am in the process of and need to somehow finish tonight so that I can spend the next three days on the other. Of course, based on the time I have spend updating my blog, my time management skills are seriously questionable. Wish me luck! I will probably update next after España!

The London Eye!

My lovely Katherine has been visiting me in London for six days now, and our friend Helga who lives in Estonia has come to visit as well, she has been with us for three days! We were an inseparable trio junior year of high school while Helga was studying at Beacon for the year, this is our first group reunion! Needless to say it has been a very good week, and my focus on school has been minimal. It's only the beginning of the semester though so I am not yet stressed out by schoolwork.

Before Helga got here, Katherine and I went on a long evening walk, where Katherine took this picture of the London eye—look at those Mardi Gras colors!

We went to a cheese store called Neil's Yard Dairy and got some yummy cheese.  These are the crackers that followed:

The following evening we attempted to go out, which was pretty much a fail aside from the fact that we got Mojitos... mmm.

The next morning Katherine and I went to a quaint diner in my neighborhood and got breakfast before Helga arrived. We ordered "coffee" and they brought us lattes, I love Europe! No grey drip coffee for me.

After a bit of downtime with the Helgster we walked to the National Portrait Gallery where we saw the Beatles to Bowie exhibit, which was in its final days. The exhibit was about Pop music in the 60s and it was pretty well put together, I thought. The only problem was that it was so crowded! That's what I get for going on one of the last days.

The girls in front of one of the exhibit posters

All of us in front of the National Portrait Gallery

Yesterday, we wandered around Notting Hill, where I only took one mediocre photo, many of the houses in the neighborhood are painted pastel colors.

A picture Katherine took of a pink door.

We walked down Portobello Road which has a famous market that goes along the road as far as the eye can see. Vendors there sell a variety of things such as cheesy touristy souvenirs, handmade leather goods, knick knacks, and antiques. We stopped into a shop along the road which had a lot of antiquey British knick knacks, it was really cool.

After Notting Hill, we went on the London Eye!

A view of one of the bridges near the eye as we began to ascend.

People on the promenade below.

The BT tower in the distance—it's in my school's neighborhood and always a good reference point when I am walking around.

Big Ben...obv.

St. James Park & Buckingham Palace.

When we were approaching the top of the Eye!

From way up above

Spaceship

Obligatory photos of us on the Eye

Preparing to cross back to the other side of the river.

Later in the evening, we went to a club called Proud which had three live bands performed followed by DJing. It was a lot of fun despite the fact that at one point an old man tickled my armpit.

One of the bands, Race Horses, on stage. Our favorite band was called Fool's Gold but we don't have a picture of them.

The four of us in the fogginess.

There were two main rooms, and after the live music, we went in the other room where the DJ was playing mostly soul music—it was amazing. He played lots of Otis Redding and Stevie Wonder... this turned our good night into an absolutely spectacular one! I was dancing so ferociously I actually managed to hurt my knee, which resulted in a slight limp on the way home and some pain today. Tis the price you pay for a good time.

Today has been pretty low key, we wandered a bit around Camden and went into my favorite tea shop (Yumchaa) for some tea and cake. Tomorrow after my Russian class, we are headed to Birmingham for 24 hours!

Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why, would I wanna be anywhere else?

Given that I went to bed at 8am "last night" and woke up at 2pm today, I feel as though this has been a fairly productive day thus far (note, I've been up for a little bit under four hours). It was actually sunny and warm today (a high of 50°F!), the first time it's been this nice since I've been back, so I decided to go on a long, lovely walk around London. I think I can safely say I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (with the hilarious acronym of SAD). According to Wikipedia, "The US National Library of Medicine notes that 'some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change. They may sleep too much, have little energy, and crave sweets and starchy foods.'" I know that in actuality, the SAD description applies to basically every human being on earth, but my winter lifestyle patterns are much more similar to those of bears than those of humans. 

In any event, with no particular route in mind, I decided to make my way towards the Thames river. According to google maps, it was about a 6 mile walk in total. 

My Route:

View of my dorm from Wren Street

Grey's Inn Road, the old and the new

While walking through Russell Square, I passed a man feeding a Squirrel which climbed up his leg to get the nut from him (pause). I was quite shocked by the boldness of said squirrel, and after the initial bafflement, I attempted to document this occurrence. Unfortunately, it was too late. I made note of this event as not to forget to mention that there are really bizarre squirrels here in England. Then later, while I was walking along St. James park, an old lady was feeding a squirrel and it did the same thing! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

I just thought this was pretty, and the sun was so bright today!

I passed a lot cliché London sights.

The London Eye and Big Ben from a distance.

London Eye

Westminster Bridge

It was right around the time that I took the above picture, that I spotted an attractive bearded man. As I stared a bit I realized it was, in fact, teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson (the star of Twilight, duh). I did not take his picture, but I did stare a bit. While I have never really been a fan, I did end up swooning a bit.

Moving on...

Big Ben

Buckingham Palace from Afar

Being back in London has been really good so far. I am feeling really optimistic, and happy to be here. Of course, this may be the weather talking! I had a fun (though unproductive, as usual) weekend. Thursday night I went with Hannah and Miranda to a hipster dance party (kind of intense) which resulted in my shoes looking like this:

And last night we went to a nearby college-hangout pub where I ended up watching the Saints game and dancing to pop-rap. Made me slightly NOLA-sick, and while I am sad to be missing DJ Pauly D from Jerz Shore perform at the Boot, catching glimpses of the Real World cast, and seeing Simon and Garfunkel at JazzFest, there will be plenty of things to look forward to when I get back. For now, I am trying to concentrate on enjoying myself to the fullest here. Not to mention, Katherine will be here tomorrow!

Back in LDN

I survived the plane ride back! Always a success. Granted, this success isn't attributable to me, more-so to the pilot and Iceland's lack of enemies (as far as I know). I connected via Reykjavik. Both planes were no bigger than a plane to New Orleans so... that was an interesting experience. Overall there was very little turbulence, but that didn't stop me from thinking I was going to die anyway. I did however get to see 500 days of summer, which I enjoyed.

Today was my first day of classes, but I didn't go. Instead, I slept till 2:30 in the afternoon (oops). It was well worth it. Though I worry since skipping class usually leads to more skipping class (which is why I usually try and wait until at least halfway through the semester). But eh... I am jet lagged. What can you do?

London is cold. As is New York, as is New Orleans. So I guess, at least right now, there would be no escaping it. Though I dream of a weekend vacation to Barcelona (highs of 60° F are still way better than this).

I haven't done much since I've been back, only about 32 hours or so. I did manage to get food and coffee with Miranda today which ended the hibernation/solitude of the first 24 hours. Needless to say, human contact is pretty crucial in staying sane, particularly in this weather.

Anyway, break was really wonderful, I am glad I got to see so many of the people I love in New York which I still think is pretty much the greatest place in the world. It recharged my batteries so I think I am (almost) ready to face the next semester.

It's nice returning to London and not feeling new anymore. Since I am a lot more settled than I was at the beginning of last semester, I am hoping to find a job and join some clubs, tentatively considering the following:
yoga & meditation
cycling club (though I don't have a bike here... but perhaps this would lead me to finding a cheap place to get one?)
hiking and walking club
women students
foodcycle

I am also planning on joining the gym, and possibly going. This is really a stretch, but why not dream big.

That's all for now!