- visiting Oxfordshire and its respective University
- entertaining/touring friends around London, namely THE Lena Wong
- catching up with Desperate Housewives
- scouting out Christmas Lights
- Gym-ing it (yeah...I know, right?!)
- three main attractions: Kensington Palace, The Globe Theater, and Tower of London
- Leather Lane Market
Oxford University - to say the least is my idea of HEAVEN in England. It is extremely picturesque and is everything that you'd ever imagine England to be. It truly is a college town and as is everything else in England, very old. The streets are tiny, the streets are cobble stoned, and the air is so crisp and refreshing.
Professor Faught graciously arranged a day excursion to the city that lies about 3 hours away by train from London. The station is about a 10 minute walk from the city centre, but when you do finally reach it, the spirit of the community is thick in the air. It is the oldest university in the English speaking world and is divided into 38 colleges. Honorable mentions include:
- Christ College - most aristocratic college having graduated 13 PM, sets the scene for parts of Harry Potter
- University College - where our 42nd President was once a pupil
- Wadham College - where my friend Lena Wong is currently studying abroad, away from her educational home of Swarthmore College.
Perfectly manicured lawns, beautiful autumn trees, and a community culture all its own was enough reason for arousing envy amongst the LMU crowd. Yes we have our 70+ degree weather all year 'round, but some distinct seasonal change would be nice from time to time. Also, not to mention their tutorial style of education where students are tutored one on one on a daily basis, averaging about one tutor to 19 tutees! The cost of attending Oxford is currently £3,145/year for home/EU residents, but the cost for international students is about £30,000...yeah...so even if I did re-apply to college all over again, I highly doubt mom & dad would allow me to attend Oxford just because of the landscaping...
...the coolest part of Oxford University was the Bodleian Library which was recently converted into a copyright library, meaning that it has records of all books that have passed through its thresholds sine the 16th century. Books three stories above your head (there's a cap on how tall buildings can be) and then swarm miles below and around you. Unfortunately visitors were not allowed to enter the library without a special permit...
...if you're ever in the London area, I highly recommend taking a day trip out to Oxfordshire, it truly stands out as a city of its own and shows much contrast in culture that is refreshing amongst the hustle & bustle of the city.
Weekend with Lena Wong - more like Saturday with Lena since she had to rush back to Oxford due to a previously scheduled engagement, but nonetheless, it was time well spent. Unfortunately, the Circle line - though always tardy and overcrowded - was closed for the weekend and made inter-city travel extremely inconvenient and round-about. Nonetheless, via cell phone and strategic maneuvering against holiday shopping (you wouldn't know that there was a credit crisis if you looked at how many people were out), Lena and I were able to reunite in Oxford Circus.
Alan Yau, a restauranter originally from Hong Kong, is a household name when it comes to a broad price range of dining and epicurean delights. He is most notable for creating Wagamama, Cha Cha No Hana, Hakkasan, & Yauatcha - notably Asian/Asian fusion restaurants, until he brought Princi, an Italian bakery chain from Milan, to Soho - which I've recently self proclaimed as my favorite part of London (think: San Francisco w/ an English Twist). There's something so comforting about this place that the moment you walk in, you never want to leave. Maybe it's the eternity water taps that line the right side of the room, the glistening marble, the smell of fresh bread, or the colorful, nearly-brilliant, ingredients. That day Lena and sampled pizza, a variety of salads, and olive bread.
Delicious - is an understatement. The olive bread alone made me want to come back for more (and I have to, I didn't even make a dent into the dessert selection!). Let me attempt to describe my infatuation with this simple piece of baked dough -crispy, but not hard; olives in every bite (olive to dough ratio was probably at least 2:1), and each luscious green olive was stuffed with a piece of cheese. Upon baking, it had melted into the dough and made it so moist and if you were lucky enough to have a stick that was super melted, you got this satisfying crunch and saltiness from the red-orange crust. Perfection.
The rest of the day was spent touring Berwick Street Market, Carnaby Street, and most notably Oxford Street that was lined with THE LARGEST (and scary!) Topshop, Miss Selfridge's, Liberty Department Store, and a variety of other shops. Note to self: never shop (even if it's just window shopping!) at any London Circus on a weekend EVER again. Mom, this was no "yoga" session, by the time I got back, I felt like I had just wrestled my way through a herd! And mind you, squeezing my way back to the tube was no easy feat!
A relaxing, much needed night-in -While a large proportion of my flatmates went to go see Joseph & the Technicolored Coat, I spent the night-in catching up on nearly 4 episodes of Desperate Housewives. A small group of us Desperate-fanatics seemed to have created a therapy group and pitched in dollars, crowns, and pounds to d/l the shows off of itunes to satisfy our American TV fix. And you would have thought this would have happened amongst the Grey's crowd - nope! Not to mention, the group isn't entirely female either....
Anyhow, four episodes, three dramatic outbursts and about five hours later - I had caught up with the show, had my "home sickness" cured by Scott's spontaneous desire to bake chocolate chip cookies (which I must say were MOUTHWATERING! and may even rival my own...). You know...there's something about hanging out with guys that is just so much more "chill" than women. For the large portion of the evening we all just sat...and co-existed independently. No words, the occasional "OMG" reaction or "oh guys, check this out..."but other than that, we all just sat, did our own thing and it was fabulous. Cheers to Flat 14, you guys life so much easier to live :D
Scouting out Christmas - So with the lack of Thanksgiving combined with the disappointment that was Halloween (though I've never really been a fan of it to begin with...I know party pooper...) England, and probably much of Europe goes from Halloween straight to Christmas - and for good reason. Why would the English celebrate the achievements of the American colonists that did not impact their bottom line?
Anyhow, in the spirit of Christmas and to to feed the sheer enthusiasm that Justine has for the holiday - we set out to find Christmas lights (or what was already put up, the wattage and celebrations are expected to quadruple once we hit December). So we visited Regent's Street which is decked out with giant stars hanging from one side of the street to the other (and looks as if Spiderman had been there...), Oxford Street (chandeliers - gorgeous), and Harrod's (completely covered in lights). I love how festive the British are...where are the lights MV?!?!? One measly Christmas tree at City Hall just won't do!
The Gym...believe it or not my dear readers, but I am an active member (keyword: ACTIVE) of Imperial College Gym. I run to/from (yep...the girl with the ASL injury w/ a cadaver tendon is running on concrete on a tri, sometimes even quad - weekly basis) the gym and my flat. So...when sociologists were talking about how peer/community pressure really sets a tone on adolescent behavior and eating habits...they weren't lying. In California I was SUPER cautious and self conscious about every single calorie that I consumed relative to how much I exercised that day. The moment I stepped onto European/British soil, that belief went out the window. Yes, British people are larger than Americans (and maybe even rival the good ol' US of A in percentage of obese citizens) but the European mindset also really set in to me. I felt less conscious of what I was eating, probably consume more sweets than I should, but I always walk pretty much everywhere, climb more stairs on a daily basis, eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full.
Imperial College Gym is tiny - maybe half of the size of LMU. The hours are restrictive (all day on weekends, but only 7am-12pm M-F and 2pm-5pm MTRF) but its a good escape from the flat and they have this super school ab machine weight machine thingy. OH another thing, this will be a shocker for mom and dad - I gym it before 8am....breathe...I know right?!?!?
The Attractions - Kensington Palace (KP), Globe Theater (GT), Tower of London (ToL)- to sum it up as a melange of random bullet points:
- KP - Princess Diana lived there with her two sons
- KP - Princess Di's dresses are there and she was extremely thin and tall, really gorgeous
- KP - The last debutantes to have been presented there was in 1958
- KP - To be a deb was EXTREMELY expensive
- KP - vintage deb stuff is REALLY cool
- GT - There's no roof and thus, its freezing
- GT - It's not on its original site, it had to be rebuilt after it caught on fire...?
- GT - At most, due to costs of paying actors, a play was rehearsed once and actors only had 3 hours to memorize the scripts
- GT - Plays were shown in the afternoon as lighting was dependent on the sun
- GT - I have new found respect for Shakespeare, but I still can't stand his stuff
- ToL- the free tour is awesome
- ToL-yeoman (beefeater) and their families live there
- ToL- it takes MANY years (like 2-3 decades) to be a beefeater
- ToL - the term "beefeater" came from the fact that yeomen were fed beef everyday, beef was received for an elite class of people and that's what they were nicknamed
- ToL- crown jewels are bomb.com
- ToL-after hearing about all the torture and conspiracy that went on during the active time period of the Tower, though fascinating, I'm glad I didn't live during that era....the thing people will do to other people...it's disgusting.
- ToL- if you ever visit - don't eat lunch before you go, you'll lose it.
Leather Lane - Is off of Clerkenwell Street about 4 blocks from my place of work. It's where leather manufacturers used to go and trade/sell their stuff in the old days. Today - it's lined with jewelry stores and stalls selling cheap clothes, random stuff, and food. Basically...Leather Lane is my new place to get cheap food. Given today's exchange rate (if the credit crisis brought any silver linings, it's the favorable exchange rate to the sterling), I can get a huge sandwich/wrap/other lunch items for about $3 and be STUFFED - its WONDERFUL :D
To look forward to in the next post
- Proper Afternoon High Tea @ the Cadogan Hotel
- Toni&Guy Hair Academy...
- Belgium
- Scotland
