The Wonder and the Beauty

September 21st

We began the day as new roommates and went out in search of hangers and toiletries. Nothing was open when we went out so we stopped at a little cafe called Leyas. I hadn't eaten breakfast yet so I ordered a cappuccino and eggs benedict. I didn't love the eggs, but it was an experience since I'd never had them before. My coffee, though, was too beautiful to drink. I stared at it for a long time.

Doesn't it look cute? There's a heart!

It was a very hipster looking place. All the tables were old desks and they had mismatched chairs. All the decor was old looking too. I took a picture for my mother, whom I knew would just love it!

After breakfast, we went to a strange place called Argos in which the store was just filled with tablets that you search for your items and then put them in your "cart" and then when you are ready to check out, you go up to the counter and the people will go get your stuff for you. It was weird and they didn't have what we needed so we left. We also went to the 99 pence store where we found a lot of what we needed for less than a pound. We then went and explored in Camden Market since I really wanted to go back but not without someone with me. We found a wonderful shop called The Black Widow. A woman named Reem worked there and she was so nice and helpful. We talked brands for a while which I am normally unable to do with people since I wear such different stuff. I bought a lot of nice clothes and a steel-boned corset from the shop. We were unable to find any hangers though which is why we went out in the first place. We were heading back home when we passed a place with a little basket with two packs of hangers in it. Success! We bought them immediately and hurried home with our prize! The last hangers in all of London.



We returned to the dorm and then checked in on our neighbors. Danielle and Katelyn, the girls in my program with my school, live two doors down from us. We ended up hanging out together for most of the day. I suggested going to the green steps next to the Art University where the canal runs by. So we trekked over there the end goal being Regents Park because Allie wanted to see the wild hedgehogs that reside there. Here is the picture I promised of the fountains outside of the Art building.

We began to walk along the canal until we came upon the St. Pancreas Lock. I got video of the Lock being used for tour boats, check out my facebook if you want to see it.

The only thing is that we had to get to the other side by crossing this ridiculously small beam. Also, there are no fences or barriers between the path and the open canal.

That's me in red tights crossing the beam.

In the end, we walked all the way to Camden again and never actually made it to Regents Park. I bought more stuff at Camden such as another corset. I'm terrible. We ate at a variety of places since there are so many food places there in the market. We then headed home.



September 24th

        We went to a two hour presentation with guest speakers to tell us about our program with the school. Some of it was interesting and useful and some of it was boring information we already knew. Not much happened the last couple of days except orientation stuff. Once we finished, we all walked back to the dorm and made some lunch. I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Allie and I made plans to go find Regents Park since we tried the other day but ultimately failed in our attempts. We began walking but got distracted by the British Library. We had to go in, but before we did, we were stopped by man coming to tell me he was impressed that I had the balls to be dressed as I was and enter the British Library. Then in the same breath he said something like, "I don't know a thing about goths though, your friend here is more my type anyways, but I have a girlfriend." I think he complimented and insulted me in the same moment. He mentioned something about wanting to learn more about gothic culture and that he was a film director, blah, blah, blah. He handed us his card and we went on our way.

Statue of Issac Newton

Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside so I'll just have to tell you guys about it. So upon walking in, I was greeted with a sort of gift shop where you could buy books and stuff. Of course I bought some, but what was really interesting was that they had an entire Gothic section right out front. They are setting up some event soon that has vampires and is called "Terror something" and I really wanna go, but to rev up for it, they are selling all this gothic stuff. There are plates with human heart diagrams on them, and even gothic makeup! I was shocked! (and that guy said it was amazing i walked in there...) There was also a book called Gothic Histories which details architecture, literature and culture. (Again this man didn't look hard enough). I bought that book of course.

After the shop, we went upstairs to look around a bit and found a museum place with all these historical documents. I saw the Gutenberg Bible; the Magna Carta; writings by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Sylvia Plath; Beetles lyrics; and Michelangelo's sketches. It was awesome. After that we decided to get back on track and head over to the Park. It was a long walk for me, Allie is from New York so it was a breeze for her. We were trying to get to Queen Mary Gardens but we ended up taking the most roundabout way to get there. Here are some of the lovely pictures we took of what we saw.

It was so lovely and very manicured everywhere. We do not know what these statues were for, there was no sign or plaque explaining them. After a while we managed to get there. It was nice, but we can only imagine how it looked in the summer at full height. We stopped for a bit to rest at a park bench. I took off my boots to relax.

We began to head back and saw this amazing gate on the way out.

It took us longer to get back cause I was dragging my feet the whole way. That was a LOT of walking for me and I was pooped. We made a rest stop at the Cider Tap so I could rest and Allie could get a drink. I didn't take pictures cause I was too tired. I spent the evening curled up in bed resting after that.

September 25th

        I spent the morning writing this blog until about 10:30 when we walked to London Met to wait for the tour bus. We boarded at 11:30 onto two buses and took off on a 5 hour tour of London. We saw a lot of what I already saw on the free tour of London with Linton. We stopped off at Buckingham Palace. We also saw the Shard, London Bridge, the Tower, the Tower Bridge and Big Ben. It was very fun actually, and all on a comfy bus. We ended the bus tour at Greenwich and got on a boat and floated down the Thames all the way to Westminister. We got off there and caught the Tube back home. There isn't really much more to say than that because it was a lot of staring at things but I will include some pictures here:

The Shard

Self Explanatory

Tower of London

The Eye

Tower Bridge