6.12.15

This was my last week of my first class in this program! I took my final today and now its goodbye Historical London, hello British Fantasy Writing on Monday. This week absolutely flew by, I can't believe it is already Friday. I feel even more settled here than I did even in my last post, I think leaving and going to Paris made me appreciate my little routine in my part of the city.

On Monday after class, Hannah and I took the tube out to Shoreditch, which is one of the most hipster neighborhoods in the city. There's graffiti and record stores and art shops everywhere, and so that was cool to see and just walk around in. We didn't end up staying very long because we had to get back to Kensington and work on some things for class, but at least we crossed it off the list of things to do here!

So Monday was pretty chill where Tuesday was just completely hectic. We had class for three hours in the morning, as per usual, and then we were off and running literally for the rest of the day. We, first, went out to High Street Kensington, which is one of the best shopping streets in the city because it has all the stores of a Piccadilly or Oxford Circus but less than half of the crowds, so it's nicer. We went to H&M, Topshop, Zara, Urban Outfitters, New Look, Boots, American Apparel and Zara Home, all in total taking us about three and a half hours. Me. Shopping. For three and a half hours. Can you even imagine the size of the headache that was occuring in my brain at that time? But I did manage to get some good stuff at a couple of the places, so I'm not complaining (too much). We then went to Waterstones, which is much more my cup of tea, and spent some time in the cafe there! For dinner that night, we took the tube just one stop up to Notting Hill, which is famous for the Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts movie of the same name, but is also an adorable neighborhood just north of us. It is famous for its pastel colored houses and the food, which is there in abundance and quality. There are even entire bookshops there just dedicated to cookbooks!

Wednesday, we had our last field trip of our class, which was bittersweet in some ways! After our time for lecture, we headed out for the last time, this time to Southwark (pronounced suh-thahk) and the Borough Market. We got off the tube right at London bridge, so we again at the incredible view of the city from the middle of it. We then passed one of the dragon statues that mark the one mile radius that is the Historical City of London, which to this day has its own mayor. Our professor showed us the Southward Cathedral and the replica of the boat of Sir Francis Drake that is moored nearby, as well as this awesome cafe where all the seating is mismatched and outdoors. Then we got to eat lunch at the Borough Market, which is one of the coolest places that I've seen so far in the city. It is basically this enormous open space underneath an overpass where hundreds of vendors set up tents and sell the most delicious looking food you've ever seen. I saw tapas and a knee high mountain of rice, Italian gelato, Swedish meatballs, falafel, burgers, curry and even an entire pig roasting on a spit, just in the short amount of time that I was wandering about. It smelled incredible and so many people are passing out samples as you walk by, its like Costco time a million. I ended up having some amazing tapas there.

just a small glimpse of the Borough Market

Yesterday, Hannah and I, after our lecture and exam review, went to Covent Garden in search of burgers from Shake Shack, since we both had coupons for free milkshakes from there. We also went into Burberry and the Moleskine store while we were over there, and I got a limited edition notebook from there. From Covent Garden, we walked over to Trafalgar Square where we were able to get the tube from Charing Cross station over to Bond street, which isn't far from Oxford Circus, and is where some of the best and biggest shopping in the city is. After Hannah dragged me about in the stores for a bit, we went down a small alley and suddenly popped out into the cutest little square ever, with restaurants almost completely lining it, pennants hung from the buildings, and tons of people just sitting out in the sunshine, eating and enjoying the day. I love that we could walk for thirty seconds off the main road and find this little gem of a place on a random Thursday afternoon. It makes me happy. Inside the square there was a small coffee shop called Workshop Coffee Co., and we stayed in there for a few hours, studying for our final, which was today.

 Today we had our final, and after that was over with we took the day to have a nicely deserved break, which was a good thing because today was the first day since I've been here that it has well and truly rained. It has been gloomy and sprinkling before, but today it was refreshingly stormy, and so we spent most of the day indoors. However, tonight we are going for Italian food in a nearby restaurant, which I should probably actually go get ready for now. Until next time!

view of our street in the rain

Caroline