There's no place like home for the holidays

I've always had trouble coming up with an answer when people ask me where I'm from.  Even after living in Georgia for 11 years, my friends still tease me occasionally for my Midwestern tendencies (Coke will always be pop to me) and my love of all things Nebraskan, which is well established from my years growing up in Omaha.  Presently, going "back home" means returning to Georgia, but whenever I tell people I'm from the South, I still tend to add the disclaimer that I spent my childhood in Nebraska.  In London I never knew whether to tell people I was from DC or from Georgia, although I always made sure to mention that DC was the place I was returning to once I made my way back across the pond.  And of course, after 5 months living in Spain I consider it my adopted motherland.


As conflicted as I may be about "where I'm from" at this transient point in my life, and as much as I may want to get away from Georgia (who doesn't want to leave the place they grew up in?), there's nothing quite like coming back to Dalton--where my parents live, where I spent my teenage years, where many of my friends consider home--especially during the holidays.  My stints in Dalton flanking my time in London (post-graduation summer and pre-employment Christmas) have been especially nice.  These breaks have given me a chance to catch up with high school friends, spend some time with my family without worrying about the papers I should be writing and text books I should be reading (a welcome break after a lifetime as a student--although I do need to get on those job applications...), and be more of a townie than I ever was when I was in high school.


Examples of my townie-ness: Within my first week here after returning from London, I enjoyed virtually every holiday-related event Dalton has to offer.  My dad and I went to the Dalton Christmas parade and saw the beautiful Budweiser Clydesdale horses; I ran in the Silver Bell Sprint 5k race (my first race in 5 years--and I got 3rd place (!) for my age group with the lightning-fast speed of 29:17); I saw our local musical production of A Christmas Carol, as well as the Dalton High School holiday chorus show and the middle school Christmas play.  I've also had a chance to spend time with my high school pals that are in town, and I even journeyed to Atlanta for a little Hoya reunion--I got to have lunch with two of my college girlfriends.  It was SO nice to see them, especially because I hadn't seen one of them since we graduated in May!  There's been lots of family festivities too: we celebrated my mom's birthday this week, my sister returned home from college, and we spent last weekend sipping egg nog and hot chocolate and decorating the house for Christmas.


All in all, it's turning into quite a lovely Dalton December.  I still have a nagging sense of guilt that I'm not devoting more time to applying for jobs, finding an apartment, and packing up my things to move back to DC in January, but I've been doing a little bit of all that too.  Right now the more pressing issue is the amount of Christmas shopping I still have to do!  But while I'm enjoying all this small-town holiday cheer, I am PUMPED to get back to the District.  I miss city life, and I am so ready to have my own apartment and a real job.  Maybe then I'll finally feel like a grown-up?  Probably not...and I doubt I'll act like one either.


Well dear readers, as I have no more news from the mews, this is where I sign off.  I hope you enjoyed reading about my London adventures and got a little taste of how much I enjoyed living them.  I wish you all the happiest of holidays in whatever corner of the world you consider home and a wonderful 2011.


Love,
Molly 
xxx

The Thanksgiving Visitor...and saying goodbye

Over the ocean and through the Tube...my sister came to visit for Thanksgiving!  It was her first time in Europe, and we had a marvelous time.  She arrived early in the morning the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and fortunately I was more or less recovered from my stomach bug from the day before by the time she arrived.  We started the day with a trip to Abbey Road crossing for a Beatles photo, then made our way to Camden market for lunch and shopping.  After Camden we hit Spitalfields market and Brick Lane market and did lots of shopping.  We also went to King's Cross Station with the intention of seeing Platform 9 3/4 (of Harry Potter fame), only to discover that you actually had to have a ticket to get onto the platform--at least that's how it appeared.  Bummer!  In the evening I took Meg out to the Warrington Hotel for her first "legal" pint.

the iconic Abbey Road

Platforms 9 and 10, but no 3/4

Monday Meg slept in, and after lunch out at a neighborhood restaurant we went to Kensington Garden and saw Kensington Palace.  Then we wandered over to Hyde Park, where the Winter Wonderland Christmas market was taking place.  It was a combination of German Christmas market and a carnival, and it was so much fun!  We got to try delicious mince pies and lots of other treats.  After the market we did a bit of shopping at Harrods and Covent Garden market before going to see the musical Oliver!, which was wonderful.

Mince pies: who knew mince meat wasn't actually meat? 

Christmas market is a dream come true

"Food, glorious food..."

Tuesday was a packed day: we began with a trip to Buckingham Palace for that tourist staple, the Changing of the Guard.  We spent our afternoon wandering around the British Museum, which Meg really enjoyed, so I'm glad we decided on that as our museum trip.  Then we had afternoon tea at the Wolseley, which was divine--definitely one of my favorite British traditions!  After tea we did a bit of shopping at the beautiful Fortnum & Mason, oohed and aahed at the Christmas lights on Regent and Oxford Streets, and ended the night with The Lion King.  It was an amazing show--the sets and the costumes were breathtaking.

at Buckingham Palace to visit the Queen 

afternoon tea at the Wolseley

Hakuna Matata

Meg spent Wednesday and Thursday with a friend staying in Exeter, about two hours away from London, but we in the Mews had our own mini Thanksgiving celebration on actual Thanksgiving.  I think I had a comparatively easy time of being abroad and away from home on this quintessentially American holiday.  Even though it was a bit bizarre treating Thursday like any other day, the fact that I do have family here and that we had some friends over for dinner Thursday night--and knowing that Fakesgiving was right around the corner--made not being home for Thanksgiving and not officially celebrating the holiday a lot easier.

Meg came back to London on Friday, and when she returned we had lunch at Borough market, one of my favorite places in London.  After we gorged ourselves on all the delicious treats at the market, we toured the Globe Theatre, one of my other favorite places in London.  We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around--we saw St. Paul's Cathedral, the River Thames (we even stumbled upon a row of Christmas market stalls along the river), Westminster, and the beautiful ice skating rink at Somerset House.  We had intended to go ice skating but didn't manage to book a time.  I was disappointed at first, but it ended up being so freezing cold that it was for the best that we didn't go--we would have been miserable.  Instead, we went on the London Eye.  I had never been on it before, and it was a beautiful night and the queue to get on was short, so it ended up working out perfectly.  After our ride on the Eye, we met up with some of the friends I've made here for a goodbye dinner.  They went all out with decorations and balloons and cupcakes and little mince pies that spelled out "Bye Molly."  I was really touched that they put on such a lovely party for me, and it made me happy to know that I actually made some very nice friends here!

Globe Theatre

London Eye and Westminster

view from the top of the London Eye 

my lovely London friends

Saturday was Fakesgiving! (i.e. how expats celebrate Thanksgiving).  We had 11 people for dinner, plus two adorable little French-English girls and Xavier, so it was a decent-sized crowd.  We had a real American Thanksgiving, with turkey and stuffing (although we made a concession to England by replacing the mashed potatoes with Stilton potato gratin).  I supplied the pumpkin pie and pear-cranberry pie, which turned out very well.  After an afternoon and evening of stuffing our faces, in true American style, we spent the rest of the night drinking champagne and playing black jack--I think at one point I had just under 3 pounds to bet, which was high-rolling!  It was a fabulous end to a fabulous celebration.

Meg left early Sunday morning, and I spent Sunday with another friend I've made here.  We went on a Harry Potter film locations walking tour, which was very cool but FREEZING cold, then made a trip to the Winter Wonderland Christmas market.  Which brings me to my last day in London, today.  It's been snowing all day, which has definitely put me in the holiday spirit and has helped get me excited to go home for the holidays--as long as it doesn't interfere with my flight tomorrow!  I'm very sad to be leaving London, but I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to come here and get to know such a wonderful, wonderful city.  I am excited to go home, and I'm especially excited to return to DC in January, but I'm definitely leaving a bit of my heart in London and am looking forward to the day I can return.

It's the final countdown...

I can definitely tell my time in London is winding down.  I've been spending less time sightseeing and more time shopping and hanging out with the friends I've made here.  My sister Meg arrives for her visit tomorrow (yay!), so I'll get one last week of being a tourist with her, and then a few days after she leaves, I head home too.  Some of the fun I've been up to lately:


Last Wednesday I spent most of my day shopping on Oxford Street, the main shopping street of London.  The street and shops were full of their famous lighted Christmas displays, and it definitely put me in the holiday spirit.  I meant to do some Christmas shopping but ended up  just buying a lot of clothes for myself.  Oops.  I really like shopping in London: this city is all about the big departments stores (Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty...) and I think that's so much nicer than huge shopping centers.  They offer the same variety of products that you can get in a mall, and department stores just seem to fit so nicely into cities, while shopping centers/malls just make me think of suburban sprawl.  I touched a bit on malls and their impact on suburbia in my senior thesis, so I'm actually really interested in them from an academic standpoint (hence this random little blog detour).  I've been to the big shopping center here, Westfield, a couple of times--it is absolutely massive, a tourist attraction in itself.  But big malls like that just feel so incongruous with Europe to me; every time I go in there, it screams "America" at me, even though many of the shops are British or European.


After my afternoon of shopping I went to see the play Deathtrap, a mystery thriller.  I'll be honest, the only reason I had any interest in seeing it was because Jonathan Groff--who starred in Spring Awakening on Broadway and is also in Glee--was in it.  But it looked like it would be good, and it was!  I considered lurking outside the stage door to get Jonathan's autograph, but I thought better of it.


The next day I got to see even more celebrities when I went to the red carpet premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!  I knew it was going to be a MASSIVE event, but I didn't arrive until about 6:30, after the red carpet walk was already underway.  When I walked through Leicester Square the previous MORNING, there were already a few people in tents, camping out to get spots right at the red carpet.  There were even more tents when I walked by Wednesday evening, and by Thursday it was packed.  Since I arrived late, I just stood at the back of the crowd, where it wasn't as crowded and where there were screens showing the action going on down on the carpet.  I got to watch interviews with a lot of the Harry Potter actors--Hermione, Draco, Lucius, Voldemort, Bellatrix, Fred and George, Molly, Neville, and JK Rowling...it was very exciting!!  People had come from all over the world for the premiere, and while it would have been fun to be down in front and get all the celebs' autographs, it was fun to just be there and see everything happening.

Emma Watson getting interviewed

The Weasley twins

Friday I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's home at the beginning and end of his life.  I saw Shakespeare's birthplace, Nash House and New Place (where Shakespeare lived in his later years and where his granddaughter lived with her husband), Hall's Croft (where Shakespeare's daughter lived with her husband), Anne Hathaway's cottage  (her home before she married Shakespeare), and Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried.  The town of Stratford was cute, but not nearly as cute and charming as I was expecting.  It was a weird combination of 16th century thatch-roofed buildings and modern shops.  It kind of felt like a village that was trying too hard to be a suburban town and should have just embraced its quaintness.  In any case, it was a fun trip and I enjoyed seeing all the historic Shakespearean buildings, although I was ready to leave more than an hour before my train was scheduled to go back to London.  You definitely don't need more than a day to see everything!

Anne Hathaway's cottage

Shakespeare's birthplace

On Sunday I went to Shoreditch House (sister club of Soho House, where I celebrated my 23rd birthday) with Beth, Josh, Xavier, and their friends visiting from Paris.  We had lunch and went bowling, and I did surprisingly well--4 strikes! (I'm modest, I know--but I can brag because usually I get gutter balls).  I also did some shopping at Portobello Market in Notting Hill and at Brick Lane Market, which is full of cute vintage stores.  And this week I finally got to use the mani/pedi gift certificate that Beth and Josh gave me for my birthday, which it was a lovely treat.


Yesterday I got to see the new Harry Potter movie!!  I would have gone to the midnight showing, but oddly enough there wasn't a midnight showing on Thursday night, so I went at 10am on Friday.  In the afternoon I went to see Chicago, which I've wanted to see for a while and was fabulous.  Today I had hoped to go see An Ideal Husband, because I love Oscar Wilde and I studied that play in my Play Analysis class in the spring, but unfortunately I'm sick in bed with some sort of stomach bug.  I also had plans to go to the Hyde Park Christmas Market with some friends tonight, but that will all depend on how I'm feeling later...I really hope I can go for at least a little while!  In any case, Meg arrives tomorrow, and I'm planning on going to the market with her, so at least I'll still get to go.

And in celebrity news: it's kind of weird being in the UK in the midst of all the Prince William/Kate Middleton excitement.  It's given me a different perspective on the monarchy: as an American, I've always viewed foreign royalty as little more than celebrities.  But being here and seeing what a big deal the engagement is has really emphasized to me that the monarchy is still a big deal, even if the monarch is just a figurehead.  Sure it's sort of an outdated and archaic system of government, but it still has an impact on the lives of British citizens.  It will be interesting to see how the monarchy changes under Will and Kate's leadership.

And now a word from our sponsors...Shutterfly holiday card promotion

Christmas certainly comes early in London...I thought the US was bad about playing Christmas songs and setting up window displays ridiculously early, but I think here it's even worse.  At least in the US we have Thanksgiving as a kick-off point for beginning the holiday season, but in the UK I think they use Halloween as that point.  Seriously, it was November 1st and the twinkle lights turned on, the holiday tunes began, and now Christmas is well on it's way!

I've been trying to get some Christmas shopping done in my remaining weeks in London, and I've also been thinking about holiday cards.  During the holidays, my family likes to send out photo cards to friends and family.  Shutterfly is currently offering a holiday promotion to bloggers: if you make a blog post about Shutterfly holiday products, you get 50 free photo cards.  I don't know how I feel about posting a commercial on my blog, but hey, I get 50 free cards for it, so I guess it's worth it.

Below you can see some of the cards I'm thinking of using.  This year, my family is thinking of using a photo from my college graduation.  Or, we might use a picture of my sister and me in London (she arrives for her visit on Sunday!!!).  I like simple boarders that show off the photo but are also fun and colorful.  Below are my five favorite card designs.

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Fellow bloggers, if you want to get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, you can learn more here: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 

Guy Fawkes, weekend travels, and London musings

Remember, remember the 5th of November,

the gunpowder treason and plot;

I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason

should ever be forgot!

Thanks largely to the movie V for Vendetta, the story of Guy Fawkes and the 5th of November is pretty well-known in America.  In England, it is an enormous celebration.  November 5th, known as Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Day, is the day that Britons celebrate the failure of (Catholic) Guy Fawkes and his revolutionary companions to blow up the (Protestant) King James and Parliament in 1605.  Ostensibly, the celebration is to commemorate the failed "Gunpowder Plot" and celebrate the fact that the British government was not overthrown.  Along with massive bonfires and firework celebrations, people historically burned effigies of Guy Fawkes and sometimes the Pope, among other figures.  It seems a little weird to me that, considering modern anti-govenment and anti-establishment sentiments, people continue to celebrate the failure of the plot; I would think that they would rather be on the rebel Guy's side than on the side of the government.  However, I get the impression that, 405 years later, Bonfire Night is primarily just an excuse to light things on fire and watch fireworks.  No complaints from me--I'm always in favor of an opportunity to celebrate!

The week after I returned from Antwerp was probably one of the laziest weeks I've had since I've been in London.  I really didn't get out into the city until this past Friday, Guy Fawkes Day.  I had plans to go watch fireworks with a couple friends.  However, since it had rained the entire day, even though the fireworks were still going to happen, we didn't like the idea of sitting on the wet grass all night, so we decided not to go.  We went out to dinner instead at a really yummy Mexican restaurant (called Wahaca, i.e. Oaxaca--Britons apparently need the phonetic spelling!), so it ended up being a fun night anyway.

Josh had gone to Lewes, a town outside of London, Friday night to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day with some friends who live there (Lewes has the biggest Bonfire Night in the country).  Beth, Xavier, and I went down Saturday morning to join them all for lunch.  We had a delicious raclette cheese, which we melted over potatoes and meat--it was fabulous!  There was a big group of us, and I had a lovely afternoon, especially playing with the two little girls in our group.  Lewes is a really cute town and is also where Thomas Paine lived before, you know, helping found American democracy.

Thomas Paine plaque in Lewes

Lewes is really close to the seaside town of Brighton, a city that I've wanted to visit but didn't think I was going to get a chance to.  I decided to head on to Brighton after we finished our visit in Lewes, and I'm really glad I did.  I was only there for a couple of hours, but I got to see the pier, which is packed with arcade games, fairground food, bright lights, and loitering teenagers, as well as visit the beautiful Royal Pavilion and poke around in the cute little shops.  Another British town checked off my list!

the Royal Pavilion, the historic royal residence of Brighton

entrance to the carnival-esque Brighton Pier

I can't believe I only have three weeks left in London--and the last week is when my sister Meg is visiting!!  It's amazing how much I feel at home here and not like a tourist in the 2 months that I've been here.  I've decided that I'm officially a Londoner now because I've gotten to the point where I can actually give people accurate directions--instead of pointing them in the completely opposite way when they ask.  I have really loved living here, and I love all the excitement and variety of such a huge, international city.  

In addition to cramming in all my sightseeing and hanging out with my new London friends in the next few weeks, I'm also in the process of applying for jobs and hunting for apartments in DC--I'm planning on moving back there at the beginning of January, after the holidays.  I have a strong feeling that DC is going to feel incredibly small compared to London, but I'm still really excited to go back.  I've always loved DC, and going back as a working girl rather than as a student is going to make it feel like a whole new city.  I also am beginning to feel very ready for a real, full-time, 9-5 job.  I've enjoyed having these few untraditional, semi-unstructured post-grad months to travel and enjoy myself, but strangely enough--or maybe it's not so strange--the time off has made me feel a lot more ready to start my career than I did after I graduated in May or at any point during my senior spring.   It will be bittersweet to leave London, but I'm glad I have such a great little city waiting for me across the pond!  And who knows, I may end up back in London someday soon...

Antwerpen, Belgium

The last weekend of October we went to Antwerp, Belgium!  The country of Belgium is split in half, with the French-speaking part of the country in the south and the Dutch-speaking part of the country in the north.  Antwerp is in the northern Flemish region of Belgium, which means that everyone speaks Dutch there.  Fortunately for us, virtually everyone speaks at least conversational English as well, so it wasn't hard to get around.  Actually, we were told that we were better off speaking English than French, even though French and Dutch are the national languages: there's a lot of tension between the two regions of the country, and speaking French could have gotten us a negative response from the locals.

Antwerp was first named in the 4th century and is famous for being a major port city, the home of 17th-century Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, and the diamond capital of the world--80 percent of the world's rough diamonds and 50 percent of cut diamonds go through the 1 square kilometer of the city's diamond district!  Beth, Xavier, and I left for Antwerp in the wee dark hours of Saturday morning.  We took the Eurostar train to Brussels (I got to go through the Chunnel!), where we met up with Josh, who was in Brussels for business.  After that it was just a quick commuter train to Antwerp.  

Dupuy family in the beautiful Antwerp train station

When we arrived, we took a wander around the city, stopping for some famous Belgian fries.  It's popular in Belgium to eat your fries with different sauces, so we got ours with peanut sauce, which was quite delicious!  Then we took a ride in a cool old-fashioned beer cart that had been turned into a carriage to tour the old part of the city (I don't think we went beyond a half-mile radius for the whole 45-minute trip).  For lunch we went to a funky restaurant called Elfde Gebod (the 11th Commandment).  The walls were covered in religious statues and paraphernalia, and the windows had quirky painted-on stained glass.  It was a really cool place, and we were having a grand old time enjoying our strong Belgian beers and appetizer as we waited longer and longer for our meal...finally, after waiting for probably 45 minutes and watching a couple other tables arrive, eat, and leave, we flagged down our waitress, who had disappeared while we were waiting.  Earlier, when she had brought us our drinks, she told us to remind her, when she brought out the appetizer, to put in the order for our entree, otherwise "she might forget."  As we waited we thought, surely she didn't actually forget to put our order in, especially since we did indeed remind her.  Well, we finally get her attention and ask her where our food is, and she gives us some lame excuse about the "computer being full"and our order not making it to the kitchen.  So basically, we didn't get our meal because she forgot to put our order in.  By that point we were really hungry, so we left and went to get some food at our hotel.  Little did we know that this was only the beginning of our bad luck with restaurants for the rest of the weekend, although we didn't have any other experiences that bad.  Basically, if you go to Antwerp, don't expect to get reasonably fast service anywhere you eat!  

The beer cart that took us on our tour of the city

The Elfde Gebod: cool restaurant with unfortunate service

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the charming streets of Antwerp and window shopping.  The next day, Sunday, we visited Rubenshuis--the house where the artist Rubens lived and worked--the Antwerp Zoo, and the Cathedral of Our Lady.  We even got Belgian waffles from a street vendor for lunch! (It seemed like a safer option than another slow-serviced restaurant.)  We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the quaint and charming streets and enjoying some more Belgian beer.  I was surprised that I didn't see more Halloween revelers over the course of the weekend, but it just really isn't celebrated much here.  However, All Saints Day is a big day, at least in Belgium, and none of the shops were going to open when we left Antwerp early Monday morning.  All in all, it was a lovely weekend abroad in a very cool, very European city!

Rubenshuis, house of Peter Paul Rubens

Cathedral of Our Lady (Onze Lieve Vrouwekathedraal)

Antwerp Zoo

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! 

Jane Austen, rugby, and spas...a weekend in Bath

Last weekend we went on our much-anticipated visit to Bath!  Bath is a historic town about two hours west of London, home of the United Kingdom's only naturally-occurring hot springs.  Bath has been famous since Roman times as a spa town and was also a popular tourist town in the 18th and early 19th centuries.  By a fortuitous coincidence, we arrived in Bath on the last day of the Jane Austen festival, an annual festival celebrating Jane's life in Bath.  I've been reading Jane Austen novels since May, so I was definitely in the mood to soak up some Jane Austen history!  Bath still looks very much the way it did in Jane's time (early 1800s), with Georgian stone buildings and architecture, so it's easy to understand why the town is so proud of the fact that Jane lived there--I really felt like I was living in one of her novels the entire weekend.  Plus I guess it helps that she is their "most famous resident."

Beautiful garden near the River Avon in the heart of Bath

We got up bright and early Saturday morning (actually, that's a lie, it was still completely dark when we left the house) to catch our 6am train.  We arrived in Bath at 8am, checked into our hotel, and started to explore the town.  Bath certainly isn't an early-to-rise kind of town; literally nothing was open before 9:30, and most places weren't open until 10am.  The streets were pretty much deserted, and we got to get to know our way around a bit before all the throngs of tourists arrived.  Finally things started opening, and we went to Sally Lunn's house for some famous Bath buns.  The Sally Lunn house is the oldest house in Bath (the current building was built in 1680) and home of the Sally Lunn bun, which has become a trademark of the city.  They were quite tasty, sort of like brioche.  Josh really wants a sticker that says "I love Sally's buns"--because we did!

Sally's delicious buns...with lemon curd and chocolate butter

After our buns, Beth, Josh, and Xavier went on a general walking tour of the city while I went on a Jane Austen walking tour.  The little Jane Austen nerd in me was so delighted as we stopped around the city and our tour guide pointed out where certain scenes from the novels took place.  Plus I got to learn a lot about the history of the town too, which was very cool.  Bath has been a major British social center for hundreds of years--up until the mid-1800s, it was THE place to be.  Originally people came to bathe, but by Jane's time they just came to "take the waters" and socialize.

The famous Pump Room, where one goes to drink Bath's healing waters

After our tours we went on to the Bath vs. Sale Sharks rugby match!  I had never been to a rugby game, and I really enjoyed it.  The stadium was beautiful, with the medieval Bath Abbey in the background, and it was fun to learn a bit about the sport.  It's similar in a lot of ways to American football, but I think rugby is a lot more fun to watch.  And to top it off, Bath won!

Kicking off the game

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed.  We wandered around town, window-shopped, and I got very excited watching all the Jane Austen festival-goers dressed up in their costumes.  Although, because of all the Jane Austen and rugby fans that were in town for the weekend, we ended up having a bit of trouble finding a place for dinner that night, but we managed.

Jane Austen costumes!! aaahhhh!!!!

Sunday morning Beth and I went to the spa!!  The spa uses water from Bath's hot springs, and our 2-hour session was very luxurious.  We got there right when the spa opened, so we had the baths all to ourselves for a while (because people don't get up early in Bath).  We also went to the steam rooms and to the beautiful rooftop pool that had an incredible view of the city and the surrounding countryside.  It was a wonderful experience, and Beth and I were both very relaxed afterwards!

View from the rooftop pool

We met up with Josh and Xavier for a delicious lunch at a gastro-pub then spent the afternoon doing more wandering--Bath is really good for just poking around the beautiful gardens and streets.  We took a peak at the Roman baths, then I went to Bath Abbey for the choral evensong service, which was lovely.  We had intended to go to the Pump Room for tea in the afternoon, which I was really looking forward to.  The Pump Room is where people went to drink Bath's healing waters, and it was the social center of the town in Jane Austen times.  Well, unfortunately they had a fire alarm (no fire), so they closed early (which we thought was ridiculous) and we didn't get tea, which was very disappointing.  We did, however, get to sample some of the famous water from the hot springs--which was absolutely disgusting.  It was warm and tasted like sulfur, and I felt like I was literally drinking bath water, especially considering it came from the same source as the water that Beth and I soaked in all morning!  We replaced our afternoon tea at the Pump Room with a trip to the fudge shop, and with that we were back on our way to London.  It was an absolutely wonderful weekend in a beautiful city!

Fountain in the Pump Room that dispenses the famed Bath water

And it sure is a good thing I had something fun going on for the weekend, because it made up (almost) for the fact that I was missing Georgetown's homecoming, which I was quite sad about!

my Jane Austen boyfriend