razzle dazzle 'em

It seems like October is a busy BUSY month! No time to rest, but I like this fast paced life... we'll see if this causes me to just become a bum in November.

First Cream Tea!
So our prof for British Museum class got sick, so we had no class on Tuesday! She was also sick on Thursday too, so our paper and midterm got pushed back! Not as good for me, since I didn't procrastinate that much... The girls from Flat 12 (Anar, Erin, and Jen) and I went to Covent Garden for Cream tea (scones with clotted cream and strawberry conserve)! It was sooo good! I'm drooling just thinking about it :9

Anar and I, Erin and Jen with our scones!! YUM (the ovens were SO HOT in there, that's why i'm shiny)

Visitors from Madrid
Jeanette from D9 last year, Sara, and Naomi came to visit! They got in on Thursday from Dublin. I showed them around (using the same path that Enqin took me on that first day in London), and they went to see Spamalot that night. Actually, they saw a musical every night they were here! :) Naomi kept saying every building looked like Kerckhoff, which made me miss UCLA :( One thing I don't miss are the large hills! But I do miss the company, especially since I get a lot of crap for going to my bubble of a school. What's wrong with having great dorm food, name brand food (Jamba Juice how I miss thee!), and a beauuuutiful campus? I'm not sure if it's having a lot of school spirit or that my mostly nonUCLA friends here get tired of my almost-bragging. (Besides, if they think that I do live in a bubble, how come they're the ones that never leave their bedroom and talk on skype all day?!?!) On Friday, we didn't get to hang out, since I had class and they basically saw London in a day. On Saturday, we went to Westminster Abbey, King's Cross for Harry Potter pictures, and Covent Garden Market. It was really sad to see them go, but I'll be visiting them in Madrid in November!! :)

Starstruck... by dead people
At Westminster Abbey, we saw the AMAZING stained class windows, ceilings, and architecture. It's one of the grandest churches in England, if not THE grandest. We got to see the chapel where all the funerals are held- I remembered this from Princess Diana's funeral. There was also the Coronation Chair, which every king has sat in (it's ancient!!) The best part was seeing SO MANY famous people's graves! Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, Mary Queen of Scots, King Henry (don't remember the number), Jane Seymour, Geoffrey Chaucer, Lord Byron, T.S. Elliot, Jane Austen(!), Robert Downing, Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens... I know I'm forgetting some. Jeanette, who's an English major, was in heaven! Then we walked over to the other side of the church and saw... (drumroll) Sir Issac Newton, Michael Faraday, Kelvin, and Charles Darwin! (the sciency party) One of my favorites was James Prescott Joule's grave, since it said "the theory of conservation of energy and the mathematical equivalent of heating one gram of water" (paraphrased) The nerd was coming out in me... I'm so glad I got to see it with Sara and Naomi, fellow South campus majors, because if I had gone with my London friends, I would get made fun of. We also saw memorials to other famous figures and the grave of the unknown soldier.
*Naomi has all the pictures (sorry!)

And All that Jazz
So one of my roomies saw Ashlee Simpson in Chicago and said it was amazing. So, being tempted and giving into our guilty pleasures, Phoebe, Danielle, and I went to see if we could get tickets. We got £20 tickets for seats 10 rows from the front! You could practically spit on her if you wanted too :X She wasn't too bad... her singing was shockingly pretty good, but her acting couldn't be saved. She overacted way too much! Velma's blonde hair was pretty distracting, since I kept picturing her as Catherine Zeta-Jones. Overall, the music was SO GOOD! The 14-man band was on the stage the whole time, so even the band was a character! There wasn't any set, since the company performed in front of them the whole time. They didn't really leave the stage, but just sat on the sides. It was sooo different, but good from any other musical I've ever seen. Must see list: Phantom, Avenue Q

*pictures aren't on my camera :(



The River Cam and many many bridges

Rachel and I went out to visit Emily at Cambridge today. Emily's a Chemical Engineering student, so she has a hugeeee brain! We met her at church before she had to start school two weeks ago. Her boyfriend, Danny, is also from the church and was visiting her too! Before leaving London, this uber CREEPY man had a coversation with me at the bus stop. His breath reeked, and he was like "I only date Japanese and Hong Kong women". EWWW I totally made up a boyfriend who's 25, British, and graduated already. European men are just sometimes sooooo EWW. Anyways, the bus took us there 30 minutes early, so Rachel and I explored for a bit before meeting up with Emily. It was SO COLD! Thankfull, the sky cleared up and we got a big of sunshine later :) We had lunch at Teri-Aki, where I stuffed myself. I told them how cheap sushi was back home too. (I miss cheap food!!) We visited St. John's, King's, and Trinity Colleges. (no Pembroke, Lisa :( ). Emily was like "Don't look like a tourist", so we just walked straight through the booth where visitors had to pay. We fooled them! ^_^ They have really strict rules about not walking on the perfect grass- only fellows are allowed to walk on them, and Emily said that they totally strut and show off that they can step on the grass. Cambridge totally felt like Hogwarts and was 1000x more beautiful than any campus in the states. It reminded me of Yale, since the students live in different colleges, but go to lecture together. Their term is only 8 weeks long too, and they get 6 weeks of break! LUCKY! It also costs the same as any other university, not lots more like a private uni here. We got to go punting (pushing a boat with a stick on the River Cam). Emily's friend Andrew got us Trinity College boats for only £1! He got us the boats and dropped him off near King's College. We went out on the river for a while and picked him up later (so it looked like he had been punting with us the whole time). It's so beautiful riding along the river. They let me do it for a longgggg time. I finally got the steering down and was able to go straight for a while. I ran into a willow though and nearly lost my balance. It is hard work! My arms are going to feel it tomorrow. We had a little snack at Starbucks after going to the Market Square. We talked about teeth for a really long time for some reason lol... then back onto the bus where I'm home right now! Must finish two more papers before midterm break next week!!!

The really cute street performer- his dogs sang along!!

Rachel and I on the Bridge of Sighs (like the one in Venice!)The Senate House (wow my picture taking is so crooked)
Courtyard of King's College... can you believe students live in those halls?
Riding the boat on the River Cam, that's Andrew doing his best male model poseTrinity College- the biggest and the richestMe trying my hand at punting! (I was much more nervous than I look)Danny and Emily riding in the Fate (our boat!)

One for the road
When I saw this last Monday, I believed it to be true. (we got in from Barcelona at 1 AM, so I didn't know anything). Apparently it was an ad for a documentary called (can you believe this?) "The Death of a President". I'm not sure that that could be shown in the states, but now we know for sure how the Brits feel about him. The inside page was so real too, it talked about how he got shot and had more pictures inside. It was kind of eerie I have to admit.

OH and did anyone see the preview for next week's Project Runway?!?!?! AHHHH! I can't believe Laura did that to Jeffrey. He and Michael were my faves :( She truly is Cruella DeVille! >:l

And I almost forgot... a big GINORMOUS thanks to Carlin who sent my first package (or post for that matter)!!! The ramen is sooo good :9 it really made my day too! If you'd like to send me some post, (hint hint) my address is:
99-103 Great Russell St.
London WC1B3LA
UK
I'd love you forever!!! <3