A Week (or two) of My Life in London

So I think I've been meaning to write this post for some time... and like many things are easy to do - have been putting it off... So first and foremost what is great about my life here is that no two weeks are the same. After coming off of a 10-day hiatus from being anything resembling social, this week was all about relaxing, catching up with my life and friends, and celebrating.

The 10-day hiatus was because of two things: deadlines and a ridiculous cough. The essays I knew were coming... they have been instilling the date in our head since before I even arrived in the U.K. All of our professors kept referencing to November 21st as if it was doomsday. To make it worse, after running in Hyde Park 2 weeks ago in the cold, (gloves and all) I developed a super painful chest cough that was making news around both my hall and the institute. One professor offered to give me an extension because I was so disruptive in class that there is no way anyone could have ceased to realize I was sick. I finally went to the doctor (way to go universal health care!), but alas I was told it was viral and therefore I just had to suffer through.

I really don't think I've ever been so anti-social and so academic in my life... it was rough. The only benefit as I saw it was that I was actually able to meet some new people around the hall - including one of my new favorites, Kate. I heard Modest Mouse being played in the Red Room Bar downstairs - so I asked the bartender where in America she was from. Modest Mouse has definitely yet to break into the mainstream UK music scene. She laughed and said Chicago - and turns out she and her roommate were both from there. Soon enough her roommate walks in and is the same girl I connected with at the Student Rep. meeting the week prior - small world. So now it's cool because I get to switch music tastes with Katherine and get to chill with Kate.

That same weekend I also was introduced to my new favorite pub in Paddington - The Victoria - which is a very traditional English pub, fully outfitted in Victorian decor - and they serve Leffe Blond - a super yummy Belgian beer that I was introduced to this summer with Kerry at the Belgian Beer Garden in NYC. I also was introduced to a girl from Puerto Rico who makes some damn good coffee after dinner and also hooked me up with some honey drops her dad sent her from home and some lemon-ginger tea. And it was so sweet - my neighbor Augusto (from Mexico) heard me coughing (yes, through the walls it was that bad) and offered to go to the market for me... so it was really nice how caring and concerned everyone was. The guy at the market (don't worry - he knows my name and calls it out even if I am walking on the other side of the street) gave me free lemons (saying it was to keep my business) - ha!

But 2 essays and 2 research projects later.... I finally started feeling better and the day we turned our work in we went out that night. We all met at school at 5:15pm (just after the deadline) and went to Guanabara - a great Brazilian bar/club with 1/2 priced mojitos ( = fun) and carparenas ( = trouble) on Monday nights. I had a fabulous time celebrating with about 25 of my colleagues, mostly Brits, Continental Europeans and Latin Americans. Elisa (Spanish) , one of my closest friends here, and I had a dance off; Matt and I pretended we were professional dancers; and Mark and Charlie entertained us all by break-dancing and doing handstands on the dance floor (with support of course). The picture above is the 4 roomies-to-be: Jillian (Canadian); Matt (Canadian); me; Mark (British); plus Kasia on the right (Polish) - just cause she is my girl.

After we got ourselves home (Mark was staying at mine for a few days) - slept - and then had to drag ourselves to class the next morning. After not having eaten in way too many hours, Mark and I then joined a 'mature student' in our course (Mark - another Brit) for a pint and comfort food (macaroni and cheese - reminded me of Danielle!). We then wondered back to mine, picked up KFC for Mark ( he had a craving), then just hung-out eating greasy chicken, chips (fries), etc. and eventually had a late-night ping-pong match that night.

Wednesday we slept in, got coffee and went to Camden to go see our flat, check out the area and sort out our paperwork. The flat is great - small - but brand-new and very stylish (see pics in the post below). Camden is a very funky area with a lot of character(s), restaurants, pubs, shops - but is best known for the markets it has everyday. It's also right on the canal - I think it's going to be great. We then went to Belgo's for moules, frittes and bier - and they were the bets mussels I've ever had. They have this thing called 'beat the clock' - so at 6pm we got a full dinner for 6 pounds - though Mark treated me :) Right after Mark left that night, Angela (Canadian) and Hunter (American - Connecticut) came over for tea and distracted me from preparing for my presentation on Thursday.

Alas, Thursday I had to get up early and work on it and then met Angela downstairs to walk to school. It was Thanksgiving and after trying for weeks - unsuccessfully - to find canned pumpkin to make pumpkin pie for my class, we found a bakery to buy mango cake. After our presentations we had a Thanksgiving party in our class and everyone remembered what I told them to bring and more! It was great - Californian wine, doritos, guacamole, salsa, candy corn and Liz (British) even showed up with a pumpkin pie just for me! Apparently she had to call ahead and reserve the very last one at one of the most expensive store in London (on Oxford St.) and paid a fortune for it... and it was damn good (though doesn't compare to Mom's recipe). It was great though to explain Thanksgiving to everyone (again - the only American there) and all the professors came in and were chatting - it was really nice.

I then carried the left-over pie with Mark and I to Camden to go sign for the flat - back to Paddington - and then invited Kate and Vanessa (1/2 Spanish, 1/2 Mexican but grew up in Pennsylvania until she moved to Madrid at 8) for pie and tea to celebrate Thanksgiving. I then had to run to go meet Jack (East Londoner) and his friend Fred (French) in Queen's Park for a few pints.

Friday morning I slept in, got a coffee and read before class, went to learn about research methods, then went to the market and to pick up another round of cough drops. As I walked out of the store at 4:40pm it was already dark - so strange. Got home, cleaned my room, did laundry, had carrots and tsaziki (straight from Greece!) and then met Kasia and her friend from Poland who is here for the weekend, Pablo (Brazilian) and his other friend from Brazil who is studying at LSE at a place I discovered a few weeks ago called Cuba Libre in Angel. The new 24-hour drinking laws just went into effect Thursday night here - so instead of all the pubs having to close at 11pm, many are now open to at least 12 and often 2am. After vetoing the idea of meeting Charlie and Matthew (both Brits) in SOHO an paying 11 quid to get into a club - we stayed there. Only problem is that the tube still closes at midnight, so I had to find my way back to Paddington by night bus - though Pablo was kind enough to come with me, walk me home before heading to Chelsea... super sweet of him.

At long last I went to bed at almost 4am, slept until after 1pm (crazy!) and then went to go have 'breakfast' with Hunter because we had long-missed the restaurant hours downstairs. We ended up at a Lebanese place which was both really good and cheap, walked back here and am now spending my afternoon blogging and emailing before I actually have to read for class.

Later tonight Nick (American - Thousand Oaks, CA), a Marshall scholar and mutual friend of April, Jesse and Vivian (all through different connections, randomly) will be coming down from Oxford and we'll go celebrate Thanksgiving. Each year all the Marshal scholars in the UK come to London for a big dinner and I just get to be his guest. It'll be funny to be with so many Americans - there are a few here in my social circles and I've met friends of friends, but I came to London not knowing one person in the entire city. Last time I was around so many was when about 7 people from my hall went to Oxford for the day last month and Peter, who I worked on the Kerry campaign with in AZ and then we were both in DC, took us to one of Rhodes scholar parties. There I was at this party that felt like an American fraternity party (complete with beer-pong), with my 3 friends Peter, Nick, and Hunter - Rhodes, Marshall and Fulbright scholars respectively.... in the words of Mike Moffo, it was tremendous.