A Brief Tour of my Flat

I made a quick video tour of my flat and my building so you all know a little bit of what my life is like so far. I'm really enjoying it so far. I can't wait to decorate it up a little better so it's less spartan in feel, but that is probably just my inner interior decorator speaking. (When I was in middle school I wanted to be an interior decorator! I even did my 4-H DPA project on it...and won first place.) I'm sure that once school has start I will be posting less often, but for this first week I'll keep you all solid and in the loop. : )

 

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Before finishing this post I spent most of my day at the Natural History Museum, which is just a short walk down from my flat. There was plenty of traditional, but there was also a visiting exhibit called Sexual Nature and it was a frank exploration of sexuality in the animal kingdom. It was amusing and a tad awkward, but seeing as how I like awkward humor. It just made it even funnier to me. The most, um, interesting was probably the Green Porno videos that they had running around the exhibit. I included a link, but it's border line nsfw. It isn't obscene by any means, but it isn't really the thing that you want you boss or parents to catch you watching, unless they would find it funny too. Which they may! I'm off to do some reading before the first day of class tomorrow. Have a great week and hopefully by the next time I blog my loan money will have come through! woohoo! 

Be kind to yourselves ♥monica 

Sunny Saturday

Well hello there! I'm taking a reprieve from walking around all day to drop off a bunch of photos that I took today. I spent yesterday in orientation for classes that start monday! eek! I'm kind of nervous, but  that motivates me to do really well in school. Masters Degrees are no joke and I want to do well, so here's hoping for the best! Seeing as how I don't have much to say today. I'll get on with the photographs, if you  haven't already seen them on facebook.  

Albert Memorial in Hyde Park

I didn't even know that there was this gigantic memorial in Hyde Park. See what you find when you keep your eyes open and a willing sense of adventure to wander around! 

Detail of the gates surrounding the Albert Memorial

A beautiful day in Hyde Park

I have to admit it. I got couple envy seeing everyone with boyfriends and girlfriends in paddle-boats. It's really hard not to wish you had someone close to lay down with in grass that was so soft. And even more so when you see all the couples laying together and holding hands or with there heads on each other's chests. I imagine I will be coming out here all the time and hopefully having a picnic too. There where plenty of families having picnics in Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens today. The English really seem to know how to take advantage of beautiful days like today. I could learn a bit from them.

I hope that you all have been having a great weekend and that maybe you're somewhere with a loved one in a paddle-boat or a park, or somewhere inside if that's more your thing! Take care, stay excellent and be kind to yourselves. ♥monica 

First Week So Far

Good morning and hello from London! This is my first post true Life Across the Pond post and I wish I could say that I had something better planned for you all, but I don't. I've spent the last two days getting over jet lag and getting my flat set up, so I'm winging this! 

The Enchanted Palace

I was actually able to move about like a function human yesterday, rather than a caffeinated zombie like I was on tuesday. I managed to stay awake all day tuesday and had a dinner of tomato soup at a pub right by the school with some other girls in the program before heading to the most beautiful Whole Foods I have ever seen and picking up some fruit and yogurt for breakfasts. I got to skype a little before getting a shower and heading to bed at 8. I woke up a few times through the night, but managed to get some really solid sleep in, in fact I woke up because one of the girls that I'm making friends with was at my door. I almost ignored the knocking on my door, but I rolled over, bleary eyed, and asked if it was Katie. It was and so I answered the door and asked what time it was. It was noon. So I rushed to get ready and met her downstairs for 'breakfast'. We headed out and stopped into Paul a boulangerie that she really loved from when she did a study abroad in Paris and for good reason! The apple pastry I had was so delicious. It was so delicious, light and flaky, the filling was just a little tart and the top was barely sweet. We grabbed our breakfast and walked down to Kensington Gardens where we found a bench and ate our pastries in near silence. (They really where that good!) We started talking when the pigeons started gathering. They would flutter off a bit if you kicked out your leg or clapped your hands, but far from phased by this they would just come back and wait and move from side to side as we each dropped little crumbs from our breakfasts. 

After we finished up we noticed a group of people outside of the Kensington Palace gates and we made our way over to find the gates covered in flowers, signs, cards, pictures, poems and flags. Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of Princesses Diana's untimely death in Paris. She lived in Kensington Palace. I'm sad to say that I did not bring my camera with me that day, so lesson learned! We made our way around the side of the palace and started seeing installation art on the nearby trees and signs for The Enchanted Palace. It's an interactive tour through part of the palace where you learn about 7 of the princesses that lived in Kensington. When we found that it was £11 for students, it really seemed appropriate to see it yesterday, so we went. 

Bottles from the Room of Royal Sorrows

It received really high reviews from writers for The Guardian and Harper's Bazaar and with good reason. It was a fantastic journey through a curious juxtaposition of modern and antique. The old setting of the palace was filled with clever use of color, light, sound, texture, technology, antiques, installation and interactive guides called the Detectors. At the beginning you received a guide book with facts, a map and a card to write down the names of all the princesses if you're able to locate them all through out the tour. Katie described it best as "Alice in Wonderland" like.  I wish I had taken pictures of more detailed notes while I was in it, because I would write a full fledged gallery review for it, those always where my favorite things to do, probably because it gave me an excuse to be opinionated. [The Detectors where very fun. A woman sat on the knitted throne in The Seat of Power room for a photo and the detector immediately begins composing himself as if she is the queen and asked her to make a royal decree. She wished for everyone to have a wonderful day and he announced it to everyone and encouraged our applause and a round of "God Save the Queen!". That was my first time saying God Save the Queen. I really felt like I was in England then.]  

The other really exciting part of yesterday was dinner. I went to dinner with 2 other people and after dinner I went down a crazy steep set of stairs to the toilets (It sounds so crass when I'm accustomed to calling it the restroom, but that's what the English say and I'm hear to adapt to a new culture and what better way than through the language, eh?) and I when I got to the stall I flipped out. The toilet seat and lid was glittery, like a clear plastic with a lots and lots of silver glitter suspended in it! I used a glittery toilet and my life is better for it. Glitter is just a epitome of all things girly and I had developed a real love for it lately, even though I don't where too much of it. It is always welcome in unexpected places, so it confetti. They're both really little specks of tangible happiness! 

I'm going to get ready now and find what else London and Life has to offer. I hope you all have an incredible day! Stay excellent and be kind to yourselves. ♥monica