Birthday fun, sightseeing, and a social life, Round 2

As my lack of blogging probably indicates, the second half of October has been just as busy as the first half.  As my date of departure from London draws inevitably nearer, I've been trying hard to do everything in the city that I want to do!


Last Wednesday I went on another London Walk day trip, this time to Oxford.  The trip started in the Cotswolds, a region of rolling hills and meadows outside of London that back in the day was used for grazing and keeping sheep.  The Cotswolds is designated as an "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" and is exactly what one would imagine the English countryside to look like.  We started our trip with a visit to a quaint little village full of thatched-roof cottages and a decayed 15th-century manor house, Minster Lovell (also the name of the village itself).  The cottages are still used as residences, but they are mostly occupied by rich Londoners who use them as weekend houses.  We drove through the countryside, stopping in another slightly larger village, Burford, for lunch.  Our tour guide told us that most of the shops and places of business in these little villages have closed since there are so few permanent residents, but there were a few cute little shops to explore after lunch.

I made a friend in the Cotswolds

Inn in Minster Lovell

In the afternoon we made our way to Oxford.  The tour was similar to the one in Cambridge: we learned about the history of the university and it's famous students (and even saw the bar where Bill Clinton "did not inhale"), current student life, the architecture and art, etc.  Oxford is a unique university because rather than having large seminars or lectures, students attend tutorials with their professor and maybe 1 or 2 other students.  Not necessarily how I would want to go through university, but to each his own!  Also, Oxford if famous for being the home of some of the buildings used in the Harry Potter films.  I saw the outside of the building used for Hogwarts library (unfortunately only students are allowed inside) as well as the outside of the building used for the Great Hall, plus some others.  Apparently you have to go on a specific Harry Potter tour to see the insides, sadly.  Oh well.

The Divinity School, Oxford University
Used as Hogwarts hospital in the Harry Potter films;
the library across the courtyard is used as the Hogwarts library.  

Visiting Cambridge and Oxford made me a bit nostalgic for college--and made me feel a bit intimidated by the incredibly smart people that study at these two universities!  In comparing the two visits, I think I liked Cambridge University itself better than Oxford--it was very charming and historic and felt very academic--but I liked the town of Oxford better than Cambridge.  It felt a bit bigger, and it seemed like there was more to do there.  


After I returned from Oxford, I went to happy hour at a bar downtown with a new group of girls.  They were all very nice, and I think it might turn into a semi-regular meet-up, which would be fun.  On Friday I went out to an Australian bar with another new group of people.  After a bit of socializing, the DJ came out and it turned into a dance party.  There were plenty of '80s tunes, and we were all belting them out.  I had a great time, and ended up missing the last Tube home and had to take the bus.  Oops.


October 23 was Xavier's birthday!  I think it's pretty cool that we both had our birthdays this month, and while I turned 23 on the 1st, he turned 1 on the 23rd.  We had a lovely day: we all went to lunch, went to the park and played on the playground, and visited with friends.  I gave him a little toy piano, which he liked, although I think I've been playing it more than he has.

The next day I went to Camden Town for the first time, a neighborhood in north London that is the artsy, hip, funky part of town.  I met up with a couple friends for lunch and shopping and bought myself a fabulous leather jacket--my birthday present from my parents.


On Wednesday I finally saw the musical Wicked!  I have wanted to see it ever since it came out in 2005--I read the book ages ago, and I know the album by heart.  It did not disappoint!  Beth and I met up for a drink beforehand at the glamourous Goring Hotel, then went to the show.  I was singing every song in my head and had a smile plastered to my face the entire time.  Unfortunately, in the last 5 minutes of the show, there was a bit of commotion in the audience--someone in the front was apparently sick and was calling for a doctor.  It was quite distracting--I'm sure even more so for the actors--but the issue was taken care of pretty quickly, in time for us to enjoy the final song.  All in all, a wonderful evening!

So, with all this fun stuff I get to do, you may be wondering if I ever actually do work here.  Nannying continues to go well, and we've hit a milestone in the past couple days--Xavier's been walking by himself!  We practiced walking all afternoon yesterday, and it was very exciting, as well as adorable.


I've also been going into the House of Commons office about once a week, and my big task is responding to all our backlogged mail.  Maybe not the most thrilling work, but it needs to be done, and it gives me a feeling of accomplishment to watch my piles get smaller and smaller.  And on Wednesday, I finally got to meet my MP (Member of Parliament)!!  He's a rather important guy, so he's not often in the office, which is why I hadn't met him until now.  He was extremely friendly and welcoming to me, and I even got to sit and pass him mail as he signed it.  Obviously I was a bit star-struck!


Tomorrow morning we leave for our weekend in Antwerp, Belgium.  I won't really be celebrating Halloween (for the first time in my life!  But European Halloween is nothing like American Halloween anyway--it's not nearly as big of a deal here), but I think a little trip abroad will make up for that.  


Sorry for another long post, I'll try to be better about making my posts shorter!


And happy Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive for my lucky friends in DC!

Birthday fun, sightseeing...and a social life?

October is turning into a very busy month for me!  I've been trying hard not only to get into the city and see the sights but also to meet new people and be social.  This "being social" can be a bit of a challenge since I only go into my office one or two days a week and spend the rest of my work days with Xavier, which doesn't leave many opportunities for meeting people, but I've been pretty successful the past couple of weeks in getting some socializing in.  How have I achieved this?  Well, a few weeks ago I literally googled "meet people in London" and found a site called City Socialising, a social website for Londoners.  Members can create socials, join groups related to their interests, and see other members' profiles.  The socials are nice because everyone there wants to make new friends, and I've met a lot of really nice people.  I went to my first social at the end of September, which was for new members only, and I've been going to one or two socials a week since then.  It's been a really fun way to meet lots of different people from all over the world and change up my weekly schedule.

Slightly smooshed, but still delicious, birthday cupcakes

My 23rd birthday was October 1! I had a great birthday celebration. Earlier in the week Josh took me to a wine tasting, which was very cool, and I learned a lot. On my actual birthday, Beth, Xavier, and I Skyped with my parents and they all sang happy birthday to me. We had a nice lunch out and then had cupcakes when we came home. It was raining, so I spent a lazy afternoon catching up on Glee online and chatting with some friends back home. That night Josh took me out to Soho House, a swanky social club downtown. We ordered some cocktails (the bartender called me out for ordering a cosmo--thanks, Sex and the City) and then we watched Eat, Pray, Love in the in-house movie theatre (Josh was a very good sport about watching the movie!). The theatre was very small and cozy, and apparently they usually get to show movies before they are released to bigger theatres. After the movie we had dinner at Soho House, then went across the street for a drink at a pub frequented by Peter O'Toole. Apparently Soho House is a popular hang-out for celebrities, but unfortunately we didn't see any (or at least any that I recognized). But even without the celebrities, it was a very fun Friday night out and a great way to celebrate my birthday! On Sunday some family friends from Nebraska, the Hellers, were in town, and I met up with them for tea at Harrods. It was great to see them, and a perfect finish to my birthday weekend.

The next week I did a lot of socializing.  I met up with a friend of my cousin Kerry, who she met here when she was studying abroad last year, for lunch and shopping.  I also went to a couple more City Socialising events, one of which was Rockaoke--karaoke with a live band!!  It was sooo cool, it was like being at a concert with everyone taking turns singing with the band.  My name was too far down the list, and I was disappointed that they didn't get to me before the show ended, but I guess that just gives me more of an incentive to go next time.  Last Saturday I went to an extremely fun and intense jazz class then met up with some girls for ice cream.  We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon together, and it was nice to hang out with a group of girls.  On Sunday I did some shopping at Spitalfields market and checked out the Columbia Road flower market, which was lovely.

Flowers, flowers, everywhere

This week was also very busy.  On Monday I went to Cambridge on a London Walk.  London Walks are very popular walking tours of London, but they also offer day tours to other famous places in England, like Cambridge, Oxford, Bath, etc.  We learned all about the history of the town and the university and saw many of the colleges that make up the university.  It was cool to hear the stories of everything that has happened at Cambridge throughout history--we saw the building where Isaac Newton lived when he was a fellow there, the colleges founded by Henry VIII, and works by Darwin.  I even had lunch in the pub where the discovery of DNA was announced!  The thing that really struck me throughout the day was how much history has taken place in Cambridge and how many people who have changed the course of history studied or taught there.  After all that profoundness, we ended the day with a fun punting trip on the River Cam.  Punts are flat boats that people push around the river with poles, and punting is a big tourist attraction in Cambridge.  It was lovely to float down the river and see all the beautiful fall colors and the impressive buildings and bridges of Cambridge.

King's College, Cambridge University

Punting down the river

Later in the week I met up with some girls from City Socialising for coffee, and we got dinner afterwards.  There's this one girl I've met who always hosts socials specifically for girls in their 20s, and it's been really nice to meet some new girls that I can hopefully continue to hang out with!  I also went to a "monster mingle," put on by CS, which was pretty much the same as the other mingles I've been to but on a much larger scale--there were about 350 people there!  Everyone was there to meet other people, but it was still kind of an overwhelming experience.  But I had a good time and met some nice people, and I got to chat with some people I've met at previous socials.  


On Friday Beth and I went to the Frieze Art Fair, an annual contemporary art exhibit that takes place in Regent's Park.  It's a really big deal in the art world, and artists from all over the world have exhibits.  I'll admit, I didn't get a lot of the art, but a lot of it was really cool too.  Yesterday I intended to go on another London Walks excursion, this time to Stratford-Upon-Avon, but when I arrived at the train station the tour guide told me that we couldn't go because the train had engine trouble.  I was disappointed, but since I was already in sightseeing mode, I decided to go to Hampton Court Palace instead.   Hampton Court Palace was the palace of Henry VIII, and later on William and Mary lived there and added on to it.  I thought the way they set up the palace for tourists was very well done: there were several different tours that you could take through the palace, focusing on different parts of its history.  Also, throughout the day there were events taking place for Henry's and Katherine Parr's "wedding"--actors were dressed up and roaming around the palace all day as if they were preparing for the wedding (of course I ate that up).  In any case, I liked that there were a lot of elements throughout the tours and exhibits that brought the history to life.  After I finished exploring the palace, I rambled through the beautiful gardens, then made my way home.  

Hampton Court Palace

Katherine Parr dressed up for her wedding

the gardens

Sadly, this weekend marks the halfway point of my time in London.  I know the next month and a half are going to fly by, and I still have lots to see and do before I go home!