Fabulous Food and London Fashion

Even though its only been one week since I last blogged, a lot has definitely changed. I'm slowly getting settled, and finding what I need is becoming less of a challenge. I'm also starting to get the feel for my classes, and while some seem incredibly interesting, others seem a little overwhelming. The main concept behind British learning is learning for the sake of learning, which is in all truth is very different from the American system. For example, in my Practice of Medicine class, I am expected to read papers and listen to podcasts to prepare for class. However, I will never be assessed on my participation or in fact on what we are covering for the majority of the semester. The only two things that will determine my grade are a paper on any topic of my choice regarding medicine and a power point presentation. For what seems like the first time in my academic career, I am expected to keep up with the reading without any incentive besides knowledge. While this is different from what I am used to, its a refreshing approach and I have been looking forward to attending class. I also really enjoy my medical microbiology class thus far, as we spent class this week learning about the history of the subject and about biological warfare. The professors are incredibly interesting and while some of my classes, such as health psych, are mainly review, its nice to learn about the British system of education through being apart of it.

While I have of course been attending class, in this past week I've been indulging a lot in two of my favorite things: food and fashion. While I am on a relatively tight budget, I have been discovering with the help of my peers many exciting restaurants that serve food from all over the world. A lot of the places have specials that are making trying new foods an inexpensive alternative to cooking in my freezing kitchen. Some of the most memorable restaurants include Wagamamas (a Japanese restaurant where they serve you at long tables), the Coal Hole (a British restaurant where I had venison pie), and Zen Sai (where I had my first dim sum with Jason Li). We have also been eating at a lot of Italian restaurants, but none of them have so far matched up to Little Italy in Cleveland. However, I am getting my fair share of wonderful Italian food thanks to the Borough Market, which is this truly amazing food market really close to my flat. Its actually celebrated throughout the city, and a lot of the great chefs come south of the river to pick up their ingredients. At the market, I purchased the most amazing pesto sauce I have ever tried, and also picked up a blood orange. While the blood orange was a bit expensive, I have always wanted to try one ever since I started watching Iron Chef America on the food network. The blood orange basically just tasted like a delicious orange, but the red color and the taste still didn't make it worth the price to me. They also were selling tiny truffles for 500 pounds! While its nice to get special things there, I can guarantee that will not be where I end up doing most of my shopping.

Another exciting foodie note is that I have chosen to start my own chocolate tour of Europe. Nicky, one of my best friends from high school, studied abroad in Florence, Italy last semester. She was always talking about her chocolatey adventures in London so I figured I should have on one too! While I have had my fair share of inexpensive cadburry and lint chocolates, I recently indulged in Prestat Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles from Harrods. While they have been absolutely delicious, I can't wait to try other varieties. Speaking of Harrods, the famous department store is an incredible place. There were so many levels, and the experience felt very regal. Apparently, at one point you had to dress up to go to the store, and you could find "anything from a hair pin to an elephant." While that doesn't necessarily hold true anymore, the place was very elegant and the food halls were outstanding. However, I am 100% positive that I will not be shopping for much besides chocolate at the lovely Harrods :).

Speaking of shopping, one of the most interesting, yet challenging, parts of my study abroad experience have involved London fashion. While what I packed would have been just fine for any amount of stay at a school in America, I packed absolutely terribly for a stay in London. Londoners love fashion, and the vast majority of women seem to only wear dresses and skirts with boots. And if they aren't wearing one of those, they are wearing skinny jeans. Did I pack any of the above? Of course not! I even forgot to pack rain boots for goodness sake, and I knew that London is a very rainy city. I also managed to pack coats that didn't suit London's weather and up until recently was always either too hot or too cold. Fortunately, I came to London at the right time of the year and have been hitting huge sales. Nevertheless, I still haven't purchased much yet besides a cute business casual dress from Top Shop and an inexpensive charcoal pea coat from Primark. Top Shop is an amazing store directed mostly towards a more trendy crowd and is more middle range shopping. Primark, on the other hand, is very similar to an incredibly large forever 21 and is absolutely crazy! While there are a ton of bargains, shopping at the store is very chaotic and queues are quite long. I also have been to Camden Market with Jason, which great alternative fashions and unique gifts. I'm still on the hunt for boots and hopefully I will be successful sooner than later!

With food and fashion being two of my favorite things, I am sure you all will be hearing much more about both. I miss you all and love getting your updates!