Adventures in the City

A little more than a week has gone by, but as always, it seems like so much has happened. Ever since I arrived in the U.K., little things have always developed into quite an adventure. For example, as I stated in an entry or so ago, it rains quite a bit in London and as a result I had been on the search for wellies for weeks. I eventually gave up and purchased a pair of wellies online, due to the fact the fact that all I could find in the stores were Hunter Boots (which are basically $115 rubber boots...I couldn't justify it, obviously). After ordering the boots, I quickly discovered that nothing thicker than skinny jeans would work, so I asked my mom to ship mine over. I later found out that my mom wasn't going to ship anything because it would cost her over 150 dollars to send a silly pair of jeans. This resulted in me spending last Monday shopping, and for the first time I was actually able to find the things I was looking for.

All in all, I did find an amazing pair of jeans at Uniqulo, and bought a super londonesque outfit at Jane Norman. Another different thing about London is that while of course they sell jeans, they usually only sell trousers based on your waist size and then hem them to your height free of charge. Also, on one occasion while shopping for trousers, one of my friends made the mistake of saying pants instead of trousers, and we promptly got a bit of a laugh from the sales team (pants are the term for underwear in the u.k.). I was also pretty excited when I found Jane Norman, because along with being reasonably priced, the clothes were directed at women my age. However, I know at this point I am done shopping in London since there are so many other things I can and will be spending my money on.

After spending the day shopping, I ended up joining a lot of other people from the Butler orientation group for dinner at My Old Dutch. My Old Dutch is an amazing creperie that has 5 pound pancake nights for students. I ordered an Italian crepe with cheese, tomatoes, and olives, and it was absolutely huge! I have a feeling we will be going back a lot more often, and the place was incredibly packed with students.

Last Saturday was also a bit of an adventure. With it being my last weekend in London for at least three weeks, we knew we wanted to have a less expensive but enjoyable day. Dana, Jason, and I started off in the Borough Market for lunch. The place was so crowded, but we knew we would get amazing food. I ended up buying a lamb burger from a Greek stall, and it was absolutely delicious along with some fresh hot mulled apple juice (not cider, which is alcoholic). We then took a few tubes to get to the Science Museum, which was where we met up with five other people. While London is the most expensive city in the world, it has some nice free things, including most of the museums. We explored the exhibits for a few hours, and then left to go explore South Kensington. I was so excited when we ran across the Hummingbird Bakery. I had read about it in my guidebooks and had seen specials on the food network about it, which made waiting in the long queue completely worth it. Once I got inside the bakery, I waited a little longer for a freshly made Red Velvet cupcake. I'm so glad the bakery isn't closer to where I live...I can almost guarantee I would have been there everyday!

Jason and I had also made a reservation for a famous London restaurant, La Point de la Tour, for that Saturday night. I learned about the place by reading the Evening Standard on one of my many tube rides, and also learned that they were participating in a restaurant week where you could pay 10 pounds for a 20 pound meal. After enjoying the cupcake, we headed to Tower Bridge where Jason took a ton of amazing pictures of the bridge at night. We had gotten to the area where the restaurant was located a little early, and decided to have a cup of tea at Teapot, which was a really cute little teashop. I definitely want to go back there for afternoon tea, and I am sure that as the weather gets better we will do more exploring in the area. After the tea, it was time for dinner. Jason and I agreed that the place would have been much better had we got to sit outside by the river, but nevertheless we had a pretty good meal.

Finally, my last big adventure for the week involved seeing Les Miserables this past Monday. I left early in the morning with one of the girls who lives in my flat complex to go attempt to buy tickets at the theatre. After looking for 45 minutes, we finally found the place and learned that the theatre's policy for students was that they should arrive an hour before the show and would pay a student price of 27 pounds for the best available seats. Later that night, Jason and I were the only ones able to go back and we ended up sitting in the 12th row (which are normally roughly 65 pound seats). I do love the perks of being a student :). Les Mis, of course, was absolutely amazing, and was worth every pence.

This weekend, I am going to Edinburgh Scotland with Jason and Jenni P. I am really excited about seeing the beautiful castles and exploring the city. While I'm a little scared about sleeping in a hostel for the first time, I know it will be an experience and I know its something that I will have to start getting used to :). I can't wait for more adventures, and I promise to keep you all updated!