My First Month in London

LONDON. What is there really to say? It's big and beautiful and full of languages and cute little parks and well-dressed people and Target dogs. London is so fancy I feel like I should have a monocle on at all times. I honestly feel weird walking from Westminster to Trafalgar Square not on horseback (the Horse Guards are pressuring me). I feel really overwhelmed because there are so many things going on I feel like I'm missing out on LIFE even though I haven't sat down for three weeks! Including when I stood for 3.5 hours to see a play with a REALLY FAMOUS PERSON that is maybe not as famous as you would expect but definitely one of those people on my little creeping list.

CLICK THROUGH FOR THEATRE WITH AN "RE":

WHAAAAAAT! I saw Arthur Miller's The Crucible starring...wait for it...RICHARD ARMITAGE. If you haven't seen North and South (the BBC miniseries, not the American Civil War one), get thee to Netflix. Story time: My friend and I were on our way to the Imperial War Museum and I saw a giant poster for The Crucible (which I thought had closed already), so naturally we had to queue for an hour and a half to get return tickets. They were coming back with £45 and £90 tickets but I'm sorry, Richard, I need money to eat as well as creep. But THEN. The lady came out and offered us two TEN pound tickets and we jumped on them. Even though we were so high up we could touch the ceiling, the theatre (fancy -re) was small and round so we could see almost everything. Every single actor was amazing and I still can't believe I saw it for so cheap! That play CHANGED me.

Otherwise, I've been on a non-stop schedule of touristy outings and shopping trips. Here's what I've been up to for the past few weeks:

• Saw a group of 1920's themed party goers on the tube and was insanely jealous
• Found an Onitsuka Tiger store and bought some new kicks
• Bought the most perfect pair of brown leather boots that was ever made
• Went to the Imperial War Museum and saw a V-2 rocket and the first video from space
• Traveled to Ypres in Belgium for a WWI battlefield tour. There's going to be a whole post on this soon; in a nutshell, European soil is littered with unexploded land mines and bombs!
• Saw Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, a two-part play about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
• Paid £10 for a glass of wine at a pub and wanted to cry
• Got a bank account and a UK phone so I feel extremely London-y and justified in pushing past people on the tube escalator. grocery store, etc.
• Ran to the Tate Modern to catch a lecture, missed it, then ate at Wagamama on the Thames with a view of St. Paul's
• Floated down the Thames with my RCA buddies from Big Ben to the Tower of London
• Had afternoon tea in a secret tea room you access from a tight windy staircase
• Went to about 500 residence hall events, met tons of people embarrassingly more interesting than myself (yay)

Secret tea flowers in a very secret pot.

Tower Bridge, a super cool tour guide, and indecisive weather.

Living here is definitely a step up from living in the country, at least from a convenience standpoint. Every day there are new things I find out about and feel more and more like I've been living in the Dark Ages. Here are some things I have discovered recently that have changed my life:

1. LUSH Cosmetics. Holy crap. I've been in a Lush store before but just got samples and forgot about this place, which is actually based in the UK. The store smells like heaven and I got the silkiest, creamiest lotion you ever swiped across your arms. I also got some loose dry shampoo (the best invention in the history of civilization), hair wax, toothpaste tabs, and some conditioner. There were lots of free samples involved.
2. City Planner app. How did I ever exist one minute in London without this thing?! City Planner shows you all the ways to get where you're going, the time it will take, when you should leave to arrive on time, and even a rain-safe route. And now that I finally have a phone plan with data, I can use it when I'm a lost goose in Kensington.
3. Smoked mackerel. The dining hall has this every morning for breakfast and I don't care about all the oil it's cooked in. It's obscenely delicious.
4. Duvet cover pockets. Duvet covers here have an extra slit at the top corner of the fabric so you can pull up the duvet insert when it falls toward the bottom. ALL THE WASTED YEARS I SPENT WITH UNEVEN DUVET FLUFF.
5. The Londonist. This site has an e-mailing list that tells you what's going on the next day in London, how much it costs, and if you have to book in advance. It can be overwhelming because you want to do ALL THE THINGS.
6. Japan Centre. A whole store of just Japanese treats. Expensive but worth every SINGLE pence just for the udon soup you can make with some hot water from your kettle. 

Japan Centre goodies!

Sigh. I love this city so much already.

If I haven't spent all my money in a week, and if I don't get buried under coursework, I'll post more adventures soon! Until then check out my Instagram to see what I'm up to!