Cultural Activities

Sunday after Halloween we decided to do something London-ish and went on a walking tour along the Thames.  We started at Westminster Abbey and also saw Parliament and Big Ben.  Then we moved onto Trafalgar Squar where Becky and I climbed up on the lions (with Justin's help haha) and saw Somerset House and other random things along the way.  It was nice to actually get out and about in the city for once.  I felt extremely accomplished for a Sunday.

Monday morning I was feeling highly motivated to do something with my day instead of sleeping until my 2pm class, so I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum that is just a 10 minute walk away from my dorms.  I was pleasantly surprised to figure out it is actually a design museum and I thoroughly enjoyed the fashion and jewelry exhibits.  I spent the whole morning wandering around the museum and sat in the middle courtyard for a while to enjoy the semi nice London weather (there was sun!).  As my tradition goes, I bought postcards of my favorite pieces and got myself really cool earrings that are made of zipper pulls.  From now on I'm going to use my empty Monday mornings to go to museums to avoid the crowds and to feel somewhat cultural here.  We'll see how I do with that. 

Leopards, Grizzly Bears, and Zombies, Oh my!

The Halloween festivities started out Thursday night at the BU Halloween Party in Notting Hill.  Can't complain about drink vouchers, free food, and seeing a BU employee in a full on cow costume. 

Actual Halloween night started out with a concert at the music venue the Barbican.  Ian and I went to a unique concert that was a performance by the band Grizzly Bear and the London Symphony Orchestra.  It was a really good concert because they made the orchestra blend into their songs.  I was impressed and happy because I got to hear an orchestra, which is a rare event lately.  Here’s the band’s site, definitely check them out:http://grizzly-bear.net/

Afterwards we morphed into Shaun of the Dead and a leopard. Met a Shaun of the Dead wannabe who gave us drinks on the tube, got a little lost, and then I went to meet up with the 4^th floor crew at a club that was throwing a Halloween party.  I was told I sound Scandanavian (??), got a bruise from running away from a fight, and somehow didn’t take a single picture in my costume.  It was an odd night.  The weirdest part though was that people in London actually dress up SCARY. Not just kind of scary with a witch hat. No, full on scary with blood and fangs and everything.  I severely missed Halloween in Boston/normal places.

closest thing to me on halloween :)

Kate and Fur

October 31st

There are many markets in London, and the one I was the most excited to go to was Camden Market. It is GINORMOUS. It’s made up of many smaller markets that intertwine all over the place and sells anything you could ever want. There’s food, clothes, vintage stuff, jewelry, everything. You get lost every 5 minutes as all the paths twist and turn and go underground then over bridges. I loved it.

I had been on a search for a Kate Moss shirt ever since meeting a bartender who was wearing one at the Sun Inn Splendor. And to my delight I found an amazing one at Camden. It is my new favorite article of clothing, but probably not my most versatile because it is of her giving the finger... Not appropriate many places I guess, but I just couldn’t not walk away with it.  I also found a big gray fur vest at a vintage shop. I can’t wait to wear it in Wisconsin and get many many stares.

After being completely overwhelmed by stimulus we started heading home, but not before buying fried bananas and blowing our taste buds away.

The Royal Treatment

October 29th

I came into work to a briefing about how the Prince of Wales was coming to visit the Burberry headquarters at Horseferry House.  Lacking royal knowledge I had no idea if that meant Charles, William, or Harry. Obviously I was crossing fingers and toes it was William but, alas, it was just his dad.

Burberry’s first floor is set up with a big VIP waiting room on one side next to the “branding room” set up with displays of the different sub-brands, with the reception and elevators to the right.  The middle of the entire building is an open atrium with glass on all sides.  When it was time for the Prince to arrive all the Burberry employees lined the balconies and glass stairs to look down at everything.  I stood in the stairs with some girls I work next to and got to see him walk in and meet with Christopher Bailey (Creative Director) and Angela Ahrendts (CEO).  I mostly saw the top of his head until he turned to go to the elevators and waved at us!!!

After he had gone into the 7^th floor design room with all the higher-ups I asked one of my co-workers what I could compare my Prince sighting to in the States and she said it’s like seeing the President. AWESOME!

Here’s a link to an article about his visit:

http://www.elleuk.com/news/Fashion-News/prince-charles-visits-burberry-hq-in-london

everything is better down under

October 22-24

Thursday: Heaps of fun with my favorite Aussie

My Australian friend, Theon, came to visit London for a few days before heading back home down under.  I met up with him by his hotel in King’s Cross and then we went out to Crazy Larry’s, a place some Imperial boys had recommended to us. Unfortunately Crazy Larry’s wasn’t very crazzzy so we went to McD’s and (surprise!) Arch Angel.  Luckily he liked Arch Angel, I mean who doesn’t, and I even got him to try out my go to Arch Angel drink-pear cider ;)

Friday: Now THIS is my song!

I took the day off from work and rested a bit until meeting up with the crew for drinks byOxford Circus.  People say Picadilly Circus is like Times Square in NYC but I have to say that Oxford Circus is much more akin to the painfully busy streets and overcrowded sidewalks of my old workplace.  I am avoiding that tube stop at all costs in the future. After a drink we had dinner at a little gem of a sandwich shop with probably 100 menu items, cheap prices, and a super friendly sandwich guy.  Credit goes to Lee for the find.

That night we switched it up and went to Covent Garden to go out.  I led the way toPorterhouse, a massive pub I had been to on a previous outrageous night (see Los Locos reference in September…).  You walk in and are immediately surrounded by wood and copper piping.  The building is huge with multiple floors in staggered levels and mazes of stairs.  One part is kind of like a balcony over the main floor bar, and the basement houses the live bands. The Friday night band there is phenomenal; we debated if it was a real band or just the radio until we actually saw that there was indeed a band below us. 

After Porterhouse we crossed Covent Garden and went to Los Locos, where things mustmustmust get crazy.  We danced like mad and escaped with only a few bruises (hahaha).  Luckily we had a sweetheart of a protector with us to get us all home safely and make sure we didn't stay on the dance floor ground too long...thanks Theon for being the absolute best. 

sorry, we're kind of sweaty from the los locos dance floor

Saturday: No, I am from Boston

After Theon left for his day long journey home and sleeping off our Los Locos night, Hillary and I went to Topshop to check out the huge sale we had been eyeing the day before.  We got some great deals and I finally can say I shopped in Topshop without buying the entire store. Success.

That night we went back to Notting Hill to the Prince Albert and then went to The Gate, a club right nearby.  You go downstairs and it’s pretty small, with a few rooms off to the side.  They played our requests and we met some BC/NYC guys so all in all, a nice night in London.

By Sunday morning my entire body was aching from the dancefest that was the weekend.  I’m so glad I didn’t waste money on a gym membership here.

party crashing

October 21

After work Hillary, Becky, and I went on a mini-pub crawl.  We were supposed to meet up with a club from Imperial College but couldn’t find them so just did our own little crawl.  We went to two places in Notting Hill, the Sun Inn Splendor and the Prince Albert.  At Sun Inn Splendor we discovered great bar food and the tastiest beer ever-Fruli! It’s a Belgium white ale that is strawberry flavored. New fave.  The Prince Albert is another nice little pub in the area that was full of legit British people (you can tell because they are all wondrously fashionable) and had a small beer garden in the back.

We moved on to the Imperial pub to meet up with a group of our friends.  Little did we know that we were crashing a graduation celebration.  Imperial College is mostly guys and often compared to London’s version of MIT.  A lot of smart British boys, all in full suits for their graduation.  It was a sight to see.  Weird that they graduate in October though.  They explained to us that they are done with classes in May, go start working, then come back to actually graduate.  

As one dapper young man explains his experience, “The real world is rubbish!”  Words of wisdom, I say. 

a new world religion

October 19, Sunday:

How does one describe THE CHURCH correctly???  A quick preview: it’s a club that rents out a concert venue every Sunday from 12-4pm and throws a rager with strippers and music. Oh, and everyone dresses up in ridiculous outfits.  Try to wrap your head around that and then keep reading..

We got up at 9:30 am to eat breakfast and start the day drinking early.  We get to THE CHURCH around 12:15 pm to find a huge line has already formed.  People are dressed up as anything and everything.  There are pirates, guys in football uniforms, cheerleaders, lots of neon, and even a very daring guy in a Borat swimsuit.  We walk in and it’s a GIGANTIC theater-type space with a huge stage in front.  To the side is the bar where you buy your drinks three at a time and are given a big plastic bag to carry around with you. 

We each bought a bag of drinks and started to get into THE CHURCH mood.  They were already playing amazing music.  This isn’t club music or dance music, this is straight forward sing along lose your voice rock music.  Lots of oldies but goodies.  On either side of the stage are huge tv screens that zoom in on random people in the crowd and then display hilarious captions about the camera man’s victims.  I want to be the guy who makes fun of people through captions every Sunday.  

The “show” began and things got out of control at that point.  There is a comedian at first, but that was pretty pointless to us because the combination of a thick accent and yelling into a mic=confusion not amusement.  The ground by now is full of empty cans and plastic bags and people are getting rowdy-we even saw a guy chug a beer out a shoe.  I am in awe of everything.  Then a stripper came out and we were mesmerized by her for a while. After she was done doing her thing it basically turns into a massive dance party.  We pouted our way onto stage and danced like mad for the rest of the time. 

The weirdest part is leaving THE CHURCH and realizing it’s sunny outside and only 4:30 pm….the sight of a bunch of weirdly dressed drunk people leaving that place every afternoon must be a sight to behold to normal citizens passing by.

I want to spend every Sunday at THE CHURCH. But I don’t think my body can handle it.  That, and my sparkly dress lost a lot of sparkles last time.  I might need a new outfit.