i rode on a canal. i ate goat. i dressed up. good day.

Let me begin with the fact that my camera is broken. Hence I decided to illustrate my story through other people's pictures! enjoy!

the day begins with Schama.

how could a day get better than discussing british history with this cute little old man?




Next. Hop on the tube. Bakerloo Line to Warwick Avenue to do the Little Venice Walk.




Realize that I have the song "Warwick Avenue" by Duffy, which talks about meeting by the 'entrance of the tube.' Therefore, I promptly listen to it as I walk out of the tube.





While doing the walk, I fall in love with all of the little canal boats, and the entire area in general. I meander around, and arrive at the place to ride the canal boats (highly recommended by good ol' Arthur Basset) RIGHT when the boats are leaving. I jump onto the boat, and get to ride for 45 minutes to Camden Town! (note: the boat lady described the boat as "wonky." Tony isn't alone! heyy tony! (our bus driver))
Camden Town is this insane market filled with crazy artsy things and punk rocker stores and ethnic food. Speaking of ethnic food, I had some African curry. Speaking of curry, it was goat curry. mmm De-Licious! I wandered around for quite some time looking at all of the crazy stuff, comparing prices, seeing what I might like..

Then I decided to go to Portobello road because *gasp* I hadn't been there yet, and I live the closest to that place! I know, I'm a horrible person. It was a long tube ride back there, and it was pretty crowded..

While there, I found a lot of cute things that I think I might get for myself.. and possibly others. It was cute! Tons of antiques and cheap clothes. I think it might be my favorite clothes market!







By then, it was really dark, and it was cold, and rainy, so I took my first taxi by myself back to the center! It was sooo worth it, cause it was far, and I had to be there soon so that I could leave to go to the ward talent show!


At the talent show, we dressed up in Nigerian dresses and head dresses that were designed by a lady in our ward. It was WAY fun. The show was long, but we had a great old time doing it. Being oh so white. I just keep singing to myself "One of these things is not like the other one, one of these things just doesn't belong"... haha


Then, to celebrate, we went to SNOG again! delicious! How can you end your night better than a little 'naughty' snog? I don't know.. I don't know, really. :)

So yeah, you could say that I had a pretty good day. :)
I love London.

we drank tea. we gave thanks.

Thanksgiving in London is just a little bit different than say, thanksgiving in America. I'll give you a unlimited guesses as to why..

oh wait. It's because they aren't thankful for that first meal with the pilgrims and the native AMERICANS. hm. odd isn't it?

Today we went to a synagogue in the morning (it was very ornate and beautiful) to learn more about Judaism. The whole time, I was thinking, I LOVE JEWS! i love MARLEY! :D ! hehe.
After that, we went to high tea at Kensington Palace. It was delicious! I had rose hip tea, and we had cucumber sandwiches, and raisin scones, and lemon cake!

Tonight we, as the dutiful Kitchen Crew, were in charge of setting up, helping with, and cleaning up after dinner. We also got to decorate the whole place! We had orange tissue paper and sparkly fall leaves and we made some fantastic runners. Basically, because of us, Thanksgiving was absolutely fabulous. :D

Hope it was grand for all of you in America too!

austen. not to be confused with austin.

Yesterday we went to Jane Austen's home! It was probably the most quaint town of all time. I love, love, loved the little town, and her house, and her tiny writing desk that looked out over the street, and the herb gardens, and the little piano that I played, and the creaky floors, and her little room and even smaller closet.

Basically, I loved it all!

My favorite part has to be when I meandered around her little town, found a little bush covered foot path covered in a thick layer of crunchy fall leaves that lead to the edge of a horse pasture. After walking around there for a while, I walked the 2 minute walk into the main town and walked back listening to "Dawn" from the new Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. It was magical. I think that is probably the closest that I will ever get to really being in an Austen story, and I loved every minute of it.

Then we went to Winchester (the old capital of England). It had the cutest little streets, and a great atmosphere. I loved wandering down random alleyways just to see where I would find myself. The cathedral there was huge! One of the longest in the world. It was fun to see everything there, and Jane Austen's grave... (Just don't ask about her finger. You don't want to know.. )

It was sad though. That was our last trip outside of London.

I can't believe I have less than 3 weeks left...

mahler is my main man.

musically wise that is.

it was awesome. lots of crazy and interesting musical sounds and techniques.

way to be creative. it worked.

if there was vh1 of the 1890s, he would win.

oh gustav. you can compose something for me any old day.<3

and just look at those specs.
i think i'm in love.

it's cold here. really cold.

I don't understand.

We left to go to Paris, and it was, you know, the normal November Seattle-ish 50-60 winter.

We came back, and it snows? Really?

Today I sat in class all day. No socks, 2 scarves, my one little zip up jacket...yeah.

I don't have winter clothes...

this is going to be fun. i can tell.

paris.

Yeah. I went there. It was awesome.
Got a free apricot croissant. ;)
Walked up the Arc de Triumphe and Notre Dame.
Became a Hunchback.
Un became one right after.
Ate a ton of crepes.
Ate a ton of pastries.
Ate a ton in general.
Almost didn't mind the gap on the metro.
Saw the Mona Lisa.
Saw Venus de Milo.
Saw and fell in love with Rodin.
Lost Rick Steves' Lourve speed walk competition. I think he cheats.
Walked everywhere.
Watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle on the hour and be blue.
Went on a boat cruise of the Seine at night.
Went to the Moulin Rouge and sang a lot.
Went to the Opera House and sang a lot. (Phantom that time).
Found some fun art.
Found the Camino in Chartres.
Sat at a cafe on the street and had a 'bowl' of hot chocolate.
Broke a police barricade. aka. Lived Les Miserables.
Became royal for 3 hours while at Versailles.
Talked to some donkeys.
Skipped a lot.

Yeah. I'd say this trip was a success. :)!

staging my life.

I went to a few shows this past week.. with time running out, and the weeknights being the cheapest time to get great tickets for nothing, we took advantage! On thursday night after being at the Imperial War Museum, I ran all down The Strand to find tickets for Lion King before dinner. This was slightly a time crunch. I ran up and down literally, a couple hundred stairs, sped walked down The Strand, only to find that I couldn't get my ticket and someone else's at the student price without them being there, and then I got back on the tube and ran home, got there 20 mins late, shoved food down my face, and ran out again to go and get the tickets with my friend. However, it was all ok, because we got 4th row center tickets for Lion King for 30 DOLLARS! i LOVE LOVE LOVE the exchange rate right now!
The show. was. AMAZING! I've always heard that the costumes and the sets were amazing, and I was not disappointed! All of the animals were AWESOME! and the birds they would make fly over the audience, and rafiki was AWESOME. she click talked and had a great voice. Yeah. it was AWESOME.

Then on Friday we went to STOMP! It was very inspiring. They made beats with everything. Brooms, barrels, match boxes, lighters, newspapers and coughing, they hung from the ceiling and bangs on fences.. yeah it was great! plus, it was only 15$! student night! yes!

Basically, I LOVE LONDON. and I LOVE theater! :)!