the first snow.

as you can tell by the title, it snowed here today. i woke up early to a little dusting on the ground. my walk to the tube was a wet snow/rain. around 9 it really started to snow. however, it was that mushy wet snow and the lack of proper footwear made for a miserable time walking to various galleries, etc. today. during my lunch break, M, an italian girl in my program, (who was also ill-equipped for the weather) and i broke down and bought our first pair of rainboots. something tells me i will be getting my money's worth for those boots! the rest of the afternoon and into this evening it's been snowing quite hard. i just looked out my window and there is probably one or two inches of snow on the ground now. i think it's still coming down. the evening standard today says it's going to be a nasty winter. i can't wait to see what december, january, and february have in store!

the view from my window.

the backyard.

outside my flat.

my street.

happy thanksgiving!

today marks the first time i've really been away from home for thanksgiving. i was studying abroad in 2007, but i was with americans, and we had a banging thanksgiving feast. it wasn't quite the real thing, but pretty darn close. ok back to thanksgiving 2k10, today was just like any other day. i had to go to my internship, work until 7, blah blah. no macy's thanksgiving day parade, or being lazy all day, or spending half the day in the kitchen, before stuffing my face and taking a nap. D and i managed to find a restaurant, the breakfast club, that was serving an american thanksgiving meal. it was pretty traditional, ok well there were lots of things i never eat on thanksgiving, but it's the thought that counts, right? the meal started with fried feta and cranberries. the main course consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes, a few sweet potatoes and roasted potatoes, and then a bunch of stuff i didn't eat. for dessert, there was no pumpkin pie, but a pumpkin cheese cake. it was pretty good. all in all a successful day, but nothing to write home about. the highlight of my day was when i returned home and the front door was decorated for me!

see, mom and dad, i am in london!

the feta and cranberries.

see, lots of questionable items.

the door to my flat!

hope all of you back in the states had a wonderful turkey day!

remember, remember, the fifth of november.

so it's guy fawkes day or bonfire night here in the uk. basically, in 1605 guy fawkes tried to blow up the parliament building and kill king james the first. well, he failed and to commemorate the british now hold bonfire night. there are several big fireworks shows around the city. and lots of fireworks going off everywhere else. think 4th of july in the states. currently, i can see some of the fireworks, from the show at clapham common, from my window. due to the cold, rainy weather, and a traumatizing crowded tube experience, i opted out of venturing to the common. it's pleasant enough to hear and see some of the show from the comfort of my room.

happy fall y'all.

happy halloween from across the pond!!! (or the same side of the pond, depending where my readers are.) halloween here definitely isn't celebrated to the same level as it is at home, sweet home. with that being said, last night D and i manage to round up a group of north americans to celebrate one of the great fall holidays. i was surprised that there were quite a large number of people dressed up and out and about last night to celebrate. we found a bar that had a 'fancy dress' night. (yes, over here it isn't called a costume party, it's referred to as a fancy dress party.) the whole pumpkin carving, pumpkin flavored treats, halloween decorations, insane amounts of halloween candy, and trick-or-treating haven't quite caught on over here, but the dressing up has. while in the states, many people try to come up with more clever costumes, over here most of the costumes tend to be along the more traditional blood and gore, zombie, witches costumes, etc. i also watched hocus pocus to get into the holiday spirit. halloween wouldn't have been complete without listening to a few cult classics including 'the monster mash', 'i put a spell on you', and of course 'thriller'. sadly, this year i didn't have a pumpkin to carve. but, thank you to all of the wonderful people who sent me cards and candy to put me in the halloween spirit! my window sill has been quite festive the past week or two. see?

my window sill and the view from my room.

along with halloween came the annual 'fall back'. gaining an hour is always a nice feeling, but i'm not sure that i'm ready for everything that goes along with it. rumor has it that it gets dark here around 4 pm...so that should be interesting. in honor of apple season, and to satiate my cravings, i baked an apple pie. and i've been talking about this for weeks! last week i bought some fresh fall apples at the borough market. i bought a prepared crust from the store. it's not the best though. i'll have to do some shopping around next time. homemade crust is always the best. i don't think i'm brave enough to attempt it here though. i am definitely missing the kitchen aid mixer at home! i baked cookies a few weeks back. i forgot how long it takes to mix cookies by hand. ah, the luxuries of home!

before.

after. happy halloween!!!

oh yes, i finally got a replacement battery for my camera. there will be more pictures coming soon!

oxford.

today, i escaped from london for the day with C and C, two new canadian friends! we took a bus to oxford and spent the day touring the old universities and the small little college town. the bus took about 45- 1 hour to get there. it was nice to see rolling hills covered in the yellow, orange, and red leaves of fall. after the bus ride, our first stop was christ church college and cathedral. the harry potter dining hall was modeled after the dining hall of this school. and hogwarts in took some inspiration from the place as well. it was very pretty, but we didn't see very many students, which i was somewhat surprised by. we wandered around the town. saw lots of pretty old, gothic inspired buildings and churches. for lunch, we found an old, typical english tavern, tucked away in a little alley. after lunch, we briefly visited the natural history museum. after a quick lap around the city again, we caught the bus back to london. the bus ride home was less than enjoyable. it took forever (over 2 hours), and it was packed. i also suffer from motion sickness and sitting on the top of a stop-n-go double decker probably wasn't a good choice. i'll spare you the details, but suffice to say i've never been so happy to get off a bus!

anyways, here's a few pictures for your viewing pleasure!

inside christ church

stairwell up to the dining hall, so harry potter.

inside the dining hall. the enchanted ceiling is way better.

the alley to the tavern.

fall in oxford!

british-isms

so tonight i had my first major american-british language mishap. K and i (both greenville natives) set off in search of mexican food, which is hard to come by here. not only is it hard to come by, but it's not corona's prices either. in a moment of not thinking, we ordered a side of chips. obviously, we have to take it in stride that an endless basket of chips and salsa isn't immediately brought to our table upon our arrival. that aside, you can only imagine the disappointment that spread across our faces when a basket of fries was brought to our table. rather than fill up on chips and salsa before my enchilada, we downed some ketchup and fries. not the same effect. next time i know to specify for tortilla chips. don't try this at home kids, stick with the usual chips and salsa. and eat a few extra for me!

...but if i get a real hankering for tex-mex there's a (drumroll, please) CHIPOTLE in london!!! you have no idea how excited that makes me!

uni.

last week was my first week of uni(versity). tuesdays, i have class at the design museum. the design museum is just up the tube line from where i live. it takes me about 20 minutes by tube to get there, plus about 20 minutes walking from the station. the design museum is located along the thames, close to the tower bridge. (in case you needed a visual.) along my walk i get to pass the infamous london bridge, city hall (design by norman foster), peer across the river at the tower of london, pass by the tower bridge, and then i reach the museum. it's a pleasant walk, but the wind gave me a small taste of what's to come when i gets cold. i got to meet our adjunct professor (or tutor as they seem to call it), who is the head of the curatorial team at the design museum. we also got to meet all the members of the curatorial team. they described their work and took us through two of the current exhibitions that they curated. both are very interesting. one exhibit is the brit insurance designs of the year and the other is the architect's john pawson's works.

wednesdays, i have class in kingston. i have to take a bus from where i live to the train station. the train takes about 25 minutes. the big if in getting to kingston is the bus. the bus should only take about 10-15 minutes to get to the station. that's only if i don't have to go during rush hour. however, the rain on top of rush hour makes for a long journey. ie on wednesday, i left around 8:10, and it was raining. so i didn't arrive to the station until after 9. good thing i left super early! wednesday we went to the kingston gallery and met the director there. we got an introduction to what the gallery does and how students are involved. then, we got a slight introduction to an upcoming exhibit the gallery is putting on. apparently there will be some student involvement...as to how much i'm not quite sure yet. we got a little vip tour to the stanley picker house in kingston as well. stanley picker was a wealthy american, living in london, who was an art enthusiast and collector. he has quite a range of art pieces all displayed in his house, yard, and a small detached gallery on the property. we got to tour it because a-he left the house as a trust for the university and left the money to build the gallery at kingston and b-the project we will be involved with is based off of the house. the upcoming project/exhibition will actually be put on by ab rogers--richard rogers' son. he is practicing in london and we have the opportunity to meet with him in a week or two. i'm excited!

hmm, on another note....i had my first official high tea. yes it was as british as it sounds, complete with delicious scones. i actually had a greenville native, K, who is a friend of friends, take me to tea. she just completed her masters in london and is currently looking for a job. so yay for new friends, and one from home! there's also been some patches of nice weather here and there. when it has been sunny, or pleasant, i've been taking advantage of my close proximity to clapham common. it takes me about 5-10 minutes to run there. and it's quite nice to be back on a workout routine, albeit a slightly half-assed one. believe it or not, friday was sunny for most of the day and was about 70. sunday was quite nice as well. i ventured out to hyde park and the serpentine gallery. the gallery was ok, but the park was very nice. due to the nice weather and the half-marathon finish line in hyde park (who knew?) there were tons of people out and about. but, there were some crisp fall leaves, lots of green, and sunny weather, so i spent the better part of my day reading in the grass. also, i have decided i have the worst bus timing ever. every time i walk to the bus station, i can see my bus approaching, but there is no possible way for me to make it in time. while this may not seem terrible, it literally happens to me every-single-time. and then i have to wait for about 10 minutes (usually a few more) for the next one. 10 minutes isn't that long, but i'm not looking forward to that when it is pouring down rain or in the middle of winter. otherwise, i've been missing pumpkin spice lattes, football games, and other fall luxuries those of you in the states are fortunate enough to have. i think that about sums up my daily happenings over the past week or so. until next time!