V&A Design Museum and Afternoon Tea

Hello everyone! We've certainly got a few busy weeks coming up- I can't believe there's less than two months left. It still feels like we just got here!

I had a really fun time this past weekend exploring some parts of the city I had never been to. Thursday I took the tube over to South Kensington to see the Victoria and Albert museum. I had never really considered going there until someone said they had a Grace Kelly exhibit. Unfortunately, when I looked at their site, the exhibit was over, but they had many more things going on that seemed interesting!

Chandelier/sculpture in the main entryway

For those of you who don't know (and I didn't until I went!) the V&A is a design museum. They have "traditional" art (what you would expect to see at the Met) but their main focus is on things related to design. For example, they've got a section devoted to iron works, another devoted to textiles, and another devoted to silver. Others include jewelry, metalwork, contemporary design, and fashion. It was a really interesting experience!

I especially liked the theater production and performance section- devoted completely to sets, costumes, programs and posters for plays, musicals, and concerts. They even had a full recreation of Kyle Minogue's dressing room from one of her tour!

No- that's not a stuffed rhino- it's a costume! Made for two people.

This was really neat! It was an exhibit to illustrate set design. As you moved those blocks and figures around, it changed the picture in the background. They also showed different layouts so you could recreate sets from famous plays. 

Creepy marionettes

Lion King Costumes!

 Friday I went on a walking tour of the City of London with one of my classes. The City of London (different than London the city) is the one square mile financial center of London. London is actually composed of two different cities- Westminster and The City of London. The population of the City of London is over 350,000 during the daytime and drops to 5,000 at night (only 1.5% of the population in the City actually lives there). It was interesting to walk around, though it was pretty cold, but I don't think I'll be heading back any time soon.

This weekend Amalyah and Rachel came to town! They explored the city on their own but we met up at night to get dinner and hang out. Sunday Rachel, Rachel's friend Meg, Amalyah, her friend from Berlin who was traveling with her (also named Rachel), and I all went to Harrod's for exploring and tea. It was very cute! Tea there is fairly reasonably priced, and you get to eat as much as you want! We got different kinds of finger sandwiches (ham and mustard, egg and cress, cucumber and mayo, salmon and cream cheese, and cheddar and relish), scones (with and without raisins), and assorted pastries (chocolate filled eclairs with gold dust, mini cheesecakes, fruit tarts, raspberry cake). Yum! We also had a really great time just walking around Harrods- we seemed to keep ending up in the designer children's department. Baby Chloe! Baby D&G! Baby Blumarine! So precious (and overpriced!).

Our tea tray (after we started eating)

Amalyah and Rachel

Rachel and Meg hamming it up

Overall a very good, but tiring weekend! This week we've got to study up for midterms, but then Thursday night we're going to see the Woman in Black and then hopping on an overnight bus to Scotland! We're staying in Glasgow and hopefully we'll get a chance to get to Edinburgh, as well. Also- Paige and I finished booking our fall break and I'm going to head to Dublin to visit Allie right after! Should be a fun few weeks! I can't wait to tell you all about it!

This Week (Guest Post from Viveca!)

This has, overall, been a really great week so far!

To start, classes Monday went quickly. In my Competitive Advantage class we got out early (so I had time to go grocery shopping!) and we watched a great movie called Dragonwyck in Gothic Lit. In our Monday night class we had the opportunity to hear Peter Tatchell speak. Most people don't know who he is in the U.S. but supposedly over here he's quite famous. For those of you who don't know (as I didn't before Monday), he's a really famous human rights and LGBT right activist here. He's been arrested over 300 times in countries all over the world for protesting and has helped get numerous anti-discrimination laws passed here. It was really amazing to hear him speak, and it will probably be hard for any of our other guests to live up to his presentation! After class I made homemade white vegetable lasagna for the first time and boy was it good!

Tuesday's class went quickly and my academic week was over! I spent most of Tuesday evening updating my cover letters and my resume for spring internships (ugh). This morning I had SHINE, the volunteer organization I work with. The funniest thing happened today during their lunch- The woman who makes the food had made potatoes, rice, vegetables, meat, and then gave each of them a taco shell. Not one kid knew what it was! Even stranger, none of the teachers knew what it was either! The kids all started screaming, "I don't know what this is! What is it? I don't like it!" and the teacher hesitantly told them, "It's one of those things from Chinese restaurants, it's like a crisp... like a papadom." I spoke up and said "It's a taco shell! They're used for Mexican food. I guess you don't have many Mexican restaurants here!" The teacher said back, "Well we don't all live on the Mexican border." Hmph! What an experience. I guess I just assumed everyone at least knew what a taco was!

When I got home this afternoon I did laundry! Which, may not seem like a fun thing, but, our basement flooded a few weeks back and sewage got into it. The basement (including laundry room) has been off limits for about three weeks now. Do the math- no laundry for three weeks! Yuck. So, it was extremely nice to be able to go downstairs and clean all my clothes not in our small bathroom sink.

This weekend in addition to Amalyah visiting, we're getting a last-minute visit from Rachel too! Should be fun! Next week we're going to The Woman in Black, supposedly one of the scariest plays EVER (according to my Gothic Lit professor- so I believe him!). After that is Halloween weekend! One day we're going to Strawberry Hill House. Doesn't sound too creepy, but I'll explain more about it later. And then hopefully another day we'll do the London Tower Experience- a sort of historical haunted house.

Lots of things to come- I'll make sure to keep you updated!

Viv

Shoo the Tabs!*

Pip pip mates! This weekend we went to Oxford. We woke up at 8 AM to catch the coach bus and then set  off on the hour and a half long trip. I slept most of the time, but woke up just in time to see all the beautiful houses on the outskirts of Oxford.

The buses parked and we got out at the Martyr's Memorial to meet our tour guides. After a quick bathroom break we set out for a walking tour of the city. I hate to say I don't remember much of what our guide told us, I was too busy taking in the sights! Oxford is a really beautiful city. It's a lot like Bath but not completely made with one type of stone.

Martyr's Memorial

One thing our guide really wanted to make sure we understood was how the university system works at Oxford. It all seems very confusing, but I'll try to get it right... Within Oxford there are over 40 colleges that you choose specifically when you send in your applications. Instead of regular classes students attend 'tutorials' once a week with professors who are sort of like advisors. These tutorials are supplemented with lectures, experiments, etc. Different colleges are most known for different subjects.

Our guide must have had some sort of connection because you usually can't see the inside of a college (past the quad) without being a student, but he had pre-booked it and got us inside! Each college is centered around a grass quad and most have chapels. The housing for each seemed to be located around the area, but not always inside the walls of the school. The term started today, but there were hardly any students around. I think they were probably all still sleeping!

The quad inside one of the colleges

The quad inside our pre-booked college, the Queen's College

A street in Oxford

Side street

After our tour we headed to the historical Turf Tavern for lunch. It was down the smallest, winding alley way and was made up of multiple small houses. The food was really good but I was really in the mood for fish and chips and they didn't have it! I settled on chili (which was surprisingly good!).

After the Turf we wanted to see Christ Church and College. We stopped in an Oxford bookstore to buy sweatshirts and souvenirs then walked over to CC. We didn't have much time but it's where parts of Harry Potter were filmed! (Oh, and it's also very famous and historic.) We waited in line for about 15 minutes and paid our 5 pound entry fee before we finally got in. We were a bit rushed, and it was beautiful! Maybe not worth 5 pounds, but still beautiful! Besides, I'd pay 15 pounds to see the great hall from HP!

The outside of Christ Church

Me outside Christ Church while waiting in line

Recognize it? It's the Great Hall from Harry Potter! Much smaller that it seems and the ceiling isn't bewitched, but I'll take it! 

Viveca and Ana in the Great Hall!

After Christ Church we pretty much only had time to go to the bathroom before running back to the bus. When we finally got home I cozy-ed up in my new Oxford sweatshirt and fell asleep! Next up... this weekend my friend Amalyah is coming to visit! Hopefully lots of fun stuff to report then.

*The Oxford University fight song! :-)

Bath and Stonehenge

Hello everyone! Sorry for the recent lack of updates- not much too exciting going on! Were starting to get into the swing of things here. Can you believe we've been in London a month now? Crazy!

Last Sunday we went on an NYU sponsored day trip to Stonehenge and Bath. We met the coach busses outside of our dorm around 8AM to start the two hour drive to Stonehenge. (Pretty much everyone fell asleep.) When we finally got there- it was there too. That's about the only way I can describe Stonehenge. If you've seen it in pictures then you've seen it. Like the Mona Lisa, it's much smaller in real life and just sort of...there. It was definitely cool seeing it but I prefer learning about it's history than actually being there- it's more interesting.

Here are some of my friends at Stonehenge!

Me!

Jumping picture! Can you see me?

After Stonehenge we hopped back in the bus for the hour-long ride to the city of Bath. We learned that Bath is, in fact, a city because it has a cathedral. We also learned that Bath was originally the town for the very wealthy to vacation in. I can see why! It was beautiful! We went on a walking tour of the city, which I quite liked. We saw the river, the assembly halls, the Royal Crescent, Bath Abbey, the Circus, and more! Here are some pictures from the tour...

In front of the bridge

We just missed Jane Austen week! Some people were still wandering the town dressed up.

After the tour we had a bit of free time before going to see the Roman Baths. Unfortunately, it wasn't much, so we didn't have any time to see any of the museums because our main priority was eating lunch! We got lunch and hot chocolate in a pub then wandered around for a bit. Since we had some time left, we stopped in for tea at an adorable little tea house. I chose the Earl Grey.

Yum!

Finally it was time for our tour of the Roman Baths. We gathered outside, got our tokens for entry, moved into the entrance way and- fire alarm. We all had to go back outside and stand in the chilly weather for the problem to be solved. When the alarm finally stopped, we all shuffled back inside. We got audio tours and made our way through. At the Baths, they have different options of things you can listen to on the audio tours at each exhibit and one was Bill Bryson! Needless to say I chose that one most times as he was far more interesting than the normal guide.

This "authentic Roman woman" showed us how to put on makeup using traditional Roman products. 

Here I am in front of the baths!

We finished our tour around 5 and got back on the busses for the long trip back. Boy were we tired but all in all a very good way to spend a Sunday!