Island in the Sun

So in the past few days, I have been reacquainted with these lovely faces from risd:





Kat and Stephanie just came to London after traveling from Milan (where Stephanie is spending her semester abroad) to Munich for Oktoberfest to Berlin to Amsterdam to London via a BUS. Needless to say, it was good to see that they made it here alive. As Stephanie is only visiting for a few days, her and Kat went to the Tate Modern. Saera strolled around and the Thames and hung out outside because it was very crowded and it was beautiful today. My iPod was on Shuffle and it magically started playing Island in the Sun by Weezer, which was totally where we were today on the Island in the sun.

Flat mates

We were all hanging out and taking pictures of each other, so I decided to do semi-mug shots of my flat mates. We are each holding sheets saying our names, where we are from, and our favorite animal. Sorry but you are going to have to click on the pictures to actually read the text.







There are two other people that live in my flat, but one is on holiday, and the other does not really hang out with us at all. He is chinese and between the tension with the taiwanese and his very bad english, he doesn't find our group particularly great to hang out with. They have all started courses so I am the last one to begin a long ways away from now.

100% Design

A couple of days ago, I got an e-mail with my badge ID number for 100% design. I then remembered the 100% design, a huge design trade show, was going on this weekend and I whisked out today to go and look through the show. It was pretty fun, and really inspirational to see all of the stuff that is developing. By far my favorite part was a section they called 100% Materials. They had small samples of tons of different materials, some which I was familiar with, but tons that I had never heard of before. Here are some wonderful pictures:

From 100% Design

Also, tonight, I FINALLY met the majority of my flat-mates. There are 7 of us total, 2 Taiwanese girls, one Thai girl, one Welsh boy, one English boy, one Chinese boy (who I have not met), and me. Most of tonight involves us talking about how the Taiwanese girls may not be on speaking terms with the Chinese, and a good old English spar between me and and English chap. Several of them are starting school tomorrow, and so I have been put in charge of throwing them a "hooray for the weekend" party on Friday. The theme, as requested by the Englishman, will be High School Musical/ American Football.

Also, I learned a very important thing today. It's not that an English person "can't be asked" it's that they "can't be arsed!"

Strange Encounters

Today, I got an e-mail from my friend Emily from risd. Emily lived in London when she was a wee one for a few years and demanded that I eat fish and chips at some point at some place right near her old flat. I was in a fish and chips kind of mood, so I headed over. Turns out, it ain't open on Saturday! Damn Brittish! Oh well, Fish and Chips extravaganza for another day.

Instead I went to what is fast becoming my favorite store, the Japan Centre. I've been really good about not blowing my money on meals. I've been cooking and packing a lunch most days, but today, I hurried out the door without doing so. Amongst selling tons of random things imported from a 99 cent store in Japan, this store also has pretty cheap, but still good sushi.

The store is right off of Piccadilly Circus, so I got some grub, and then headed out to find somewhere to eat it. I ended up sitting next to an English family with two kids under 12. They were both fascinated by my sushi. The younger boy began whispering in his sister's ear about my food, and how funny it looked. Then he ran over to his Grandma, and began to tell her about it. Basically, the kids had never seen sushi before. Or what there Grandma stated most eloquently, they have never seen anyone like you eat it (aka, only asians eat sushi?). It was just such a strange experience, but then I realized it's the weekend. The hicks of England come out to London on the weekend. Thinking about it later, they definitely had a more country accent, so it's not as strange as it was in the moment.

Late tonight, I watched tv for the first time in a while. Not anything I cared about, but I sat downstairs and entertained a few Brits with my American ways. I was laughing uncontrollably a few times at them too, so I think it was a fair trade.

Also, several people have asked me if I am part CUBAN? I'm confused.

Visiting Mecca

Yesterday, I got a 3 month Travelcard/oyster card, allowing me to use any form of public transport in zones 1 & 2. Today, I ventured away from the tube stations and took the bus about 5 times. It was so much fun. I, of course didn't bring my camera, so I'll have to do it again. The UK double decker bus is such a smart design. I just hung around on the upper level and it was seriously an amazing view of the city. Also, those bus drivers can really maneuver those huge buses like it were a smart car. Other than the occasional tree branch, we only hopped one curb the whole day.

Anyways, the oyster card came in a holster sponsored by IKEA! On the back, it has a list of all the London IKEAs and the nearest station for each location:



So today, I went to my Mecca: IKEA! It was pretty exciting because there were actually lots of differences from an american IKEA. For instance:


It's basically a savings card. But they also sell bath products and business clothing! I didn't think IKEA could be more fun. I mostly went to get small stuff, like cheapo lamps because my room is fairly dark and some kitchen stuff. Obviously, I ended up with more than I went for (as is the way with IKEA) and had a fun time getting it back to the dorm.

Also, about going to France. I found out yesterday that the other risd girl whose passport was being held by the UK visa office is FINALLY getting her passport back and is flying over early next week. Therefore, I'm going to stay in town to help her settle in and celebrate her arrival. Maybe another time France. I'm really excited that Saera, that's her name, is finally coming over, so I'm not so bummed about sticking around.

It didn't rain today, except on me

So, do to a bit of a mix up, I have even more free time on my hands. I thought classes were to begin on September 29th with a week of orientation fanfare beforehand. Turn out, Orientation week starts on the 29th and classes don't begin till October 6th!

So I've been planning a trip for a while, in my head of course. It involves Mont St-Michel, Bayeux Tapestry, and Ferry rides. Seeing as it will only be getting colder, I'm seeing this as my opportunity to take the trip before it becomes too cold to think of a Ferry ride as entertaining. But more on that when I've really committed to anything (ie bought tickets).

Other stuff I did today included applying for membership to the International Student House which looks cool. Also, my dorm had a Hall Meeting, which was a bit of a bust. Everyone in my dorm is a first year and so they have the attitude of a first year. We were given a presentation during which pretty much everyone was talking, many were rolling cigarettes, and it was just generally angsty. As soon as the meeting broke and the "social hour" was set to begin, nearly everyone walked outside for a cigarette break. I hung around with the few left in the room and gave up after I found their accents really hard to understand. Real country kids have this accent that I just haven't heard before and so I really have no idea what they are saying. Also, the few times I have understood a conversation, I'm totally at a loss at what to say. I was briefly involved in a conversation with three kids from various parts of countryside, UK who had NEVER been to London! They live at max 5 hours away! I just don't know what I could ever talk about with these kids. I know things might change, but it was just way discouraging I guess.

Also, just before going to the International Student House, I sat at a bench to eat my Lunch. It was pretty brisk outside, but all the sudden, it felt really cold, and there was some guy SCREAMING at a car load of gardeners. Turns out they had splashed me with what must have been a bucket load of water. My whole back side was wet including my hair and the street behind me! Well, good thing Mr. Passerby was there to properly chew out the scum who did it, because he gave them a good thrashing.

Case of the Mondays?

I clearly haven't figured out my alarm clock on my phone as it failed to go off today and instead of waking up at 9:45, I woke up at 1:30 pm. I currently feel like I feel after spending a few days in New York, totally beat. Today consisted of wondering around looking at shops. I took the tube to Baker Street, walked down to Selfridges and eventually found my way to an H&M. Kat called and we decided to meet up. This of course took a while as we found out there were 4 H&Ms between Selfridges and Oxford Circus. Eventually, we went to Topshop.

So, I really didn't want to like Topshop, but I kind of love it. We were like kids in a candy shop, running around tugging at sweaters trying to figure out how they were made. Our knitting teacher once told us that exploring in a shop can sort of seem like looking at pieces in a Museum once you are able to comprehend the design effort behind each piece. However, the best part about looking around in store is that you can touch everything. If you really like it, you can try it on and buy it too. One of our favorites was this one:



Not something I would ever wear, but it was just so cool so see a technique we had learned actually in use. Anyways, we were in Topshop for a good while. When we got out, it was dark!

Kat and I have been talking about how great the knits are in this city. Even just looking around in the tube, you are bound to find somebody wearing something technically interesting. It's really fascinating to try and figure out how something's made, but sometimes you have to think about what others think you are doing. I found myself totally obsessed with this little boy's sweater, but I thought it would be way too creepy for me to stare at him the whole tube ride so I switched cars.

Also, continuing with the them of weird London products, I bring you this package of Toilet Paper:



Yeah, I bought it a few days ago because the options were Puppies or Pink Puppies. Strange

Parsnip Crisps

Today, I went to the Cy Twombly exhibit at the Tate Modern. Today was the last day of the exhibit and luckily, I got tickets online the day before. It was a really interesting show, I hadn't seen much of his work other than one or two chalkboard scribbly ones. My favorite ones were a series called Nini’s Paintings, dedicated to the wife of Twombly's gallerist who had died suddenly. They were so spot on in achieving their goal of "absence impossible to articulate". The mark making was really beautiful and not at all something I thought I would enjoy walking into the exhibition.

After the exhibition, I stepped out onto a balcony that overlooked the river:



So one of the things I love about London's Museums is that they are free. Therefore, I didn't feel bad that I skipped out on the rest of the Tate Modern this time, I'll be back. Maybe next time for one gallery, maybe for longer.

So you can't see it in the picture, but at the opposite end of the bridge, I could see a parade, so obviously I had to check it out. Turns out it was a Fallen Firefighters Memorial parade? I'm still not sure. I got there at the end, and people were standing around getting their picture taken with the firemen. I happened to be wearing a orangish-red sweater and so, I got m picture taken with them, and thy were laughing saying I understood their dresscode. Unfortunately, whoever took the picture, didn't actually TAKE a picture. Oh well.

Other than that, a TON of walking today. Like 4-5 miles of walking. My legs are begging me to buy better shoes than my converse to walk in. I somehow ended up at the British Museum and popped in for a quick look. They have an on right now, like many big museums where you can watch the conservationists working on Museum pieces. The thing that made this exhibition different was that you could talk to the conservationists, and if fact, they encouraged you to do so. Today, there were three stations with marble sculptures that were being cleaned. I had a nice chat with one woman behind the counter who was not at all sad to be working on a weekend, as her department was now on exhibition. The different conservation departments are rotating through the space so in two weeks, textiles will be in there. I can't wait.

I went to other parts of the British Museum, but it was really crowded, probably the only downside to free admission. It didn't help that it was a weekend and still sort of tourist season. The number of people sitting on or putting their arms around sculptures to get a funny photo made me nervous so I left. I'll be back of course.

Oh, also, I've become obsessed with these:


I got them accidentally once, but they are strangely delicious.

Day 3

Today was much more encouraging than the days before. First, I met up with Kat, another risd kid going to Central Saint Martins for the semester. It was very good to see a familiar face. This is Kat's first time in London and she somehow managed to come to without a map so we spent most of the day finding her a map that included enough of London to show both of our dorms. I showed her an A to Z, but we both agreed it was very hard to read, but eventually we found something. We had gone to Oxford Circus to go to Marks and Spencer to get her some room stuff, and the whole experience was just really funny.

It was really funny to hear her first impressions of London. Kat is from California, but spent this summer in New York City. I met her today in the Underground Station near my dorm, and she was so excited about how small the subway here is. She said she understood why it is called the tube. It's true, compared to the NY Subway, the cars are small and the doors curve in at about 5ft so the top of the train cars are domes. I never really thought about it, but it is definitely small compared to New York. It's also ridiculously clean, not only of rubbish, but it just doesn't have the gross NY Subway feel that I don't know how to describe. Also, when we were walking around, Kat was like "Where are all the tall buildings? I thought there would be tall buildings like in New York." It's true, in general, the skyline is much shorter and there are rows of much older buildings. I was trying to explain how there are some taller buildings across the river like the Gherkin, which I now realize is not across the river, but it was just another thing I hadn't really noticed.

I went and got groceries at a local Sainsbury's which was fun. My dorm has a really great kitchen setup. The kitchen is down the hall from my room and I only share it with 6 other kids. We each have a locked section of a pantry and there are 2 full-size sinks, 2 stoves with 4 burners, and 2 ovens. Considering food and eating out a lot is expensive, I know I'll be making food here. Also, there just isn't anywhere around here that I would want to get breakfast at. Anyways, the stuff at the supermarket made me laugh. Mostly, the selection was more interesting than what I would normally find at a store of it's size (think 1/2 the CVS on Thayer) but I found the cereals to be slightly hilarious. They had about 5 different brands of shredded wheat, each with multiple flavors. Oh, and one box of Coco Puffs. Anyways, I found enough stuff to make dinner tonight.

Also, I found out today that my Grandparents are off on another adventure in October, to Uganda this time. The best part is, they are going to visit me for a couple of days on their way over.

Day 1.5

Today, I wanted to try and get an oyster card. Basically, to travel on the underground, you can either pay for a paper ticket, or you can use an oyster card which allows you to pay which money you have stored on the card. For some reason, the charges on oyster cars are ridiculously cheaper than paper tickets. You can also use an oyster card to store monthly passes, which I also want to do, especially since they have student discounts for those. So that was my main goal today.

I eventually found out that student discounted passes are only available at the University you attend. However, I only found this out after running around town. In the process of trying to find the right office who deals with this stuff, I went to the University of the Arts Student Union. I didn't spend a whole lot of time there, but it was still interesting. There was a gallery space, bar, snack shop, general lounge space. Basically, a lot of things risd lacks. I didn't even walk through the whole thing, but I plan to go back there when I don't feel like such a visitor. There was a student services office, that had a "JobShop" center inside. I didn't go in, but it just sounded funny. They told me to go to my specific school to get an oyster card.

So I headed off to Chelsea. The school isn't actually in Chelsea. It's just about 5 long blocks south of Parliament. The group of buildings it encompasses is really nice looking. I found another little snack shop and an information desk with a guard, but no offices or anything. I asked about the international office, since that is literally the only one I know that exists because the woman I have communicated with works in that office. Turns out, I was supposed to get an international student information packet, which would have explained to me how to apply for an oyster card amongst other things. They were out of said packets, but the woman told me that I should just come to orientation and all my questions would be answered there. When I asked her where and when orientation was, she looked at me like I was crazy. What? Didn't you get an e-mail about orientation? Nope.

So, good thing I hunted these people down because I was missing a whole lot of information. The only downside is that I have absolutely nothing to do until September 22nd, which I just found out is orientation day. Hopefully then, I'll be filled in on what classes I'm taking and how to get an oyster card.

So, for now, I am just trying to adjust for the time difference, get rid of my cold, and not die of boredom. Tomorrow, I'll do some really touristy things and maybe go and see this Cy Twombly exhibit that is closing in a few days at the Tate Modern.

Also, I just found out about an hour ago that Saera, the other risd girl who is doing a semester abroad here in London, couldn't fly yesterday. Basically, the UK visa office screwed up her application appointment, and pushed it back a month so her passport has not been returned to her. I really hope the whole thing gets solved soon, because this place is lonely with no friends.

I'm here

I made it! I'm in England!

The flight over was fine. Virgin Atlantic is still awesome. Within minutes of sitting down, the girl sitting next to me started talking. She was an English/American dual-citizen who had found work for the summer in the US and was just returning home for a bit before going off to school. We talked about the difference between the American and English schooling system, like how in England, once you are 16, you can get your qualifications in the main subjects and then choose only one or two areas to focus on for years 17-18. Apparently, she had done just that and had decided to do just that and took Textiles courses for those years. She is now a Fashion Merchandising major in college in Manchester. Anyways, it was really nice to meet her because she was just coming back from a 3 month journey herself.

Once I got off the plane and through the tube to my apartment, I immediately took a shower and took a power nap. More about my apartment when I upload the pictures I took of it. I was so excited on the plane that I didn't really sleep a lot. Then, in order to stay awake, I just started walking around London looking for a supermarket or department store to pick up a few things I needed. I didn't really have a planned route, more like I pointed myself towards the river (my dorm is just south of the Thames) and went from there.

I ended up walking well over 2 miles and on the way hit a Pret a Manger for something to eat, a gigantic Sainsbury, which is a grocery store, and my favorite Marks and Spencer, which is like everything you would ever need in one gigantic store. I told myself that I would just keep walking until it looked like it was beginning to get dark outside, and then I would take the Underground back to the dorm. The thing is, it was overcast all day and I had no idea what time it was, so I kept thinking it was 6pm and I should start heading back. Eventually I did head back and I pretty much collapsed when I got back to my room.

Now, its a bit after 3 am and I have woken up because my stomach is pissed off at the lack of food I have had the past day. I ate half a sandwich and a banana at Pret, but otherwise, I hadn't eaten anything that day. Good thing I had bought a bar of Cadbury chocolate to break a 20 note for Underground money. Yum.

Pre-Flight Plan

I can't really believe it, but I am leaving for England today. I have packed and re packed and found tons of extra things that I need. I finally found a sub-letter for my apartment the day before I left. She is an incoming exchange student for risd from India and her reactions are making me just that much more excited to go away myself.