Snowed-In Culture

If I had to describe the past week in only one word, I would describe it as cold and snowy (okay, that ended up being 2 words - sorry, clearly I put a lot of forethought into these posts...). In fact, one of our professors today said this is the most snow he has seen in London in his lifetime.

Outside St. Paul's on a nice, snowy day

Arushi being cute in the snow

Let's do a quick-run down analysis of my feelings towards the snow:

Pro - Pretty!
Con - Slippery
Pro - Pretty
Con - Cold
Pro - pretty
Con - Wet
Pro - pretty...
Con - The wind is blowing the cold, wet snow in my face
Pro - pretty...............
Con - It's muddy slosh all over the ground
Pro - pretty...................
Con - I've caught a cold and my nose is snotty because of all the cold, wet snow that is constantly blowing in my face
Pro - pretty.....................?
Con - I JUST SLIPPED AND FELL ON MY HIP AND IT HURTS AND MY CAMERA FELL OUT OF MY POCKET AND I AM UNHAPPY

Final Scorecard: I AM NOT READY TO GO TO LITHUANIA THIS WEEKEND WITH EVEN MORE SNOW AND WHERE THE TEMPERATURES LOOK LIKE THIS:

And No, unfortunately, as much as I wish I could say those degrees were in Celsius, alas, that is the Fahrenheit degrees. I'm sorry, but I can't even fathom what -1 degree Fahrenheit feels like. 

(Also, is it just me or after seeing it a bunch of times does the word "pretty" seem really bizarre? By the end I was doubting myself as I was pronouncing it phonetically in my head, like "pret tea"....)

Making the treacherous walk across Millenium Bridge (which so happens to be the same bridge the death eaters blew up in Harry Potter 7 Part 1)

As the snow has erased the possibility of outside adventures, I've been using this past week to do lots of touristy museum visiting. Weekend before last Dylan and I hit up the National Gallery, but there is so much in it that we didn't even get through half of it - we will definitely be making a return visit (check out Google's fancy new Museum View of the Gallery if you want to live in my shoes for a minute - it's basically street view, but for museums).

On Wednesday, the program took us to an improv comedy show at the Comedy Store. The structure was a lot like Whose Line is It Anyways (which is fitting, because one of the performers actually used to be on some of the original Whose Line episodes).

Also last week I visited the office I will be working at for the first time. It was really nice, and my boss was really nice - it should be a good atmosphere. I felt so legit as I took the tube home from "work" in my suit, casually reading the Standard and navigating the city like a pro. The next day our program took us to visit Lloyd's, which actually my place of work, Beazley group, manages 5 of Lloyd's 88 syndicates. The building was stunning on the inside.

No, I didn't take this picture, but I wanted to do it justice so I used the wonderful internet.

This past Friday, Arushi and I hit up Tate Modern, which was really interesting. It had a couple exhibits which were a little too "modern" for my tastes, but some of them were really great (check out the link to see some of the works on display).

Having fun in the Tanks exhibit (ie creepy music and creepy lights in a creepy warehouse) - That's me on the right and Arushi on the left. 

Look - Arushi and I are modern!

And yesterday, Dylan and I decided to visit the British Library, which was awesome. Asides from being a full-fledged library, they have an exhibit called the Treasures of the British Library, which was awesome. In it they house some of the most priceless manuscripts (again, check the link if you're curious) - literature (Shakespeare, Jane Austen - and her writing desk), historical documents (the Magna Carta, letters from Churchill), music (Handel's Messiah, Beethoven, Haydn, the Beatles), biblical (Codex Sinaiticus).

Asides from getting some good 'ole culture through museums, I've also been spending my rare pieces of downtime at home curled up in the warmth reading, courtesy of my fancy-pancy new Kindle. In honor of my time here in London, I've been working through some British Literature. I feel entirely too cool anytime I recognize a place they talk about thinking "Hey, I've been there!" or "Oo, I'm going there later!"

Anyways, I still am constantly excited and amazed at all the things I've had and will have the opportunity to do. I'm so grateful to be here, and I hope I never get so used to it that I begin to take it for granted.  I hope all is well with everyone, and again, don't forget to drop me a note!!

All the roomies! Arushi, Elise, me, and Alex :).

Taking A (Trip to) Bath

This week we started classes, of which I'm taking two courses: the Political Economy of Britain since 1945 and International Economy and Business. Since we're condensing both of these full courses into one month, our class schedule is very full, frequently meeting for the same class multiple times a day. The professors are both pretty interesting, even if the content isn't always super captivating - one professor frequently gets sidetracked on very bizarre anecdotes... Between that and random office visits to companies (this week we went to Google and EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction & Development) we unfortunately lost basically all daylight hours to go sight-seeing this week.

Monday for the first day was the only day we finished before 6, so Dylan and I took advantage of that opportunity to go to the Natural History Museum. We ended up seeing very little of the museum itself as we got distracted in this temporary exhibit they had called "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" for hours. Totally doesn't sound 100% up my alley, right?

Outside the Natural History Museum with an ad for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit - quite a likeness between us, right?

Similarly, Nim found a new best friend at the gift shop for the exhibit

That night the program took us all out to dinner, and then afterwards, to the theatre! We saw Billy Elliot, the dancing in which was pretty good. I'm really hoping to see more shows while I'm here, that may end up being something I splurge on one night.

Outside the theatre before the show

On Wednesday between class and an office visit a group of us briefly went to check out St. Paul's Cathedral, but due to a hefty entrance fee, we admired it from the outside. Afterwards, Arushi, Dylan, and I went to grab lunch at this delicious falafel place in the financial district. I have never seen so many well-dressed people in my life as were walking about the streets there. And for those of you who are well-acquainted with my bizarre obsession with goats, you can imagine my delighted surprise upon stumbling across a wonderful goat statue. Needless to say, it was a good day.

Elise, me, and Arushi at St. Paul's Cathedral

Overwhelmed with happiness at the goat statue - I would find this

After a long week of classes, on Friday we were delighted to finally have a day off. While literally everyone else in the program took the first weekend to travel abroad, Arushi, Dylan, and I decided to stay in country. Instead, we chose to do a fantastic day-trip to Bath. So we took a train an hour or two through the English countryside (beautiful) and arrived in the stunning city of Bath.

On the train to Bath, prior to playing naive that we were sitting first class and having to move... worth a shot...

The countryside from the train - I delighted in reading some Pride and Prejudice during the ride

From the minute we stepped off the train, each thing we saw was beautiful. The streets of stone and the ornate architecture spread to even the most simple streets in the city. Shortly after arriving we had to grab food as we were starving, where we proceeded to have the most delicious lunch at Sally Lunn's, which is in the oldest house in Bath. With happy bellies, we wandered over to see the Circus and the Crescent, which were stunning. Continuing to explore, we wandered through a park, admiring all its loveliness.

St. John's church

In St. John's church

Arushi and I outside Sally Lunn's, with very, very happy bellies

The culprit of my happy belly - Brie and cranberry on their world-famous buns

The Circus - it makes a full circle

Arushi and I in front of the Crescent

This park was gorgeous - imagine living here and this being your daily walk

Yeah, this is kinda pretty

Group picture success!

Bath's most famous landmarks are Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths, which we proceeded to explore. Bath Abbey was absolutely gorgeous, both from the outside and on the inside. Inside I got caught up in looking at the two great windows - the one on the East End featuring 56 scenes in the life of Jesus, and the one on the West End depicting scenes from the Old Testament. The Roman Baths were very interesting and there was a lot more to it than I went in expecting.

Bath Abbey - stunning

Bath Abbey from behind

The East End window of Bath Abbey (note the 7 columns and 4 rows - the rows were split top and bottom, thus the 56 scenes depicting the life of Jesus. Words cannot describe)

The Roman Baths

Dylan looking pensive at the Roman Baths

 The private bath

After a long day of exploring, we decided to treat ourselves at the lovely Thermae Bath Spa, which was so wonderfully relaxing. My favorite was the rooftop pool, which had incredible views over the city. For obvious reasons I didn't take any pictures, but due to this modern marvel called the internet, you can still get an idea of how spoiled I was. After, the day finished up swell with some dinner at a Nepalese place called "Yak Yeti Yak" and a couple hours at a pub before catching our train home.

Arushi and I preparing for wonderful relaxation

A picture found via the internet of the rooftop bath overlooking Bath Abbey

Phew sorry that was a lot all in one post, I'll try to be better about splitting things up in the future! I hope everyone is doing well, and remember to e-mail me or whatnot how you're doing as well - I love hearing from you guys!

Cheers from London!

So a few days ago I took flight to the wonderful city of Charlotte!! (And oh yeah, I suppose from there to London). After many adventures sorting out my “out of sync” reservation (lo and behold that my return flight in May should change by 5 minutes and thus prevent me from checking in), a delay in my first flight resulting in me hastily rushing through the airport to make my connection, losing my phone in the process (and then conveniently having a nice man turn it into the desk and tell me so when he later spotted me – the lady at the desk then got to smile and hold back a chuckle as she asked me what my background picture was to claim it and I happily answered 2 baby goats), struggling immensely carrying my luggage that in total weighed more than myself, proceeding to trip out of the train from Gatwick into London as I tried to carry said luggage down the little train steps, and then finally arriving at my lovely place (in the Waterloo / South Bank area right next to the river).

I am not sure what to expect from these next 5 months (asides from expecting my bank account to mysteriously disappear), but I am so excited to see what London has in store for me. Undoubtedly I’m in for a few adventures and a healthy dose of awkward missteps (which I will happily supply any accounts of my awkwardness to this blog).

As a preface to what you can likely expect from my blog (asides from awkward), to accompany me on my international travels, I would like to introduce the wonderful Nim the Gnome (but you can call him Ni for short). Nim, a present from a certain best friend’s trip to Sweden, will probably be making a few guest appearances in some of my photographs in Amelie style.

In fact, let’s see what all Nim has been up to this week….

(Nim's flight takes off)

(Nim is so excited that the London Eye is right next to his place)

But actually my stay has sincerely been wonderful so far. I came in New Year’s Eve and proceeded to see the most incredible fireworks show through the London Eye. The atmosphere was unreal - basically just a happy riot on the streets (it took us an hour to walk back to our place that is a 5 minute walk away).

(Brief video of the fireworks partway through)

New Year’s Day was lovely, surprisingly warm and sunny to welcome me to my first full day in London! Due to the nice weather, Dylan and I took advantage of it by doing loads of exploring. We walked miles and miles, stumbling across a number of the major sites and accidentally stumbling into the London New Year’s Day Parade in Westminster (which was really cool except for some reason some marching band from Florida started playing America the Beautiful??). We walked through the parks, made it over to Buckingham Palace, and so on.

(Dylan and I at Buckingham Palace)

 (Sneaky Nim made it through the gates)

(The Eye in the distance from the parks)

(The New Years Parade left confetti all over the ground - please excuse the stereotypical photo...)

(Nim in the crowds after the Parade, checking out Big Ben)

The rest of our program arrived on Thursday, so since then we’ve been busy with orientation activities. Our program took us up the London Eye yesterday, and this morning we did a bus tour. Basically I’m trying to squeeze in most of the stereotypically touristy things at the beginning, because while they’re all things that I want to do, I also want to move on to being a slightly pretentious “local” who can then judge the short-stay tourists coming in ;).

(Parliament and London from the top of the Eye)

(Alex, Elise, and I with the Bridge in the background during our tour)

Classes will start Monday (for those of you who don’t know, the program is structured so that I will be taking classes for the first month, and then will spend the rest of my stay doing an internship at Beazley Group), so unfortunately I won’t have all day everyday just to sight-see and sit in cafes, but I’m excited to get settled into the swing of things (and I know my bank account will definitely appreciate it when I’m no longer eating out for every meal).

I’ll try to do my best updating this so you folks can follow what I’m up to and will also do my best to make it not a complete snooze, but I make no promises as this is my first time blogging.

Finally, throughout my stay, in addition to following my blog, feel free to reach out at any point through e-mail, Facebook, set up Skype dates (for central time peeps, I’m 6 hours ahead), etc as I also want to stay in touch with how everyone is doing. Hope all is well, talk to you soon! Cheers!