tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15658683103492839792024-03-05T04:01:32.827-08:00Walking in WelliesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-17248059167930671302014-11-03T20:53:00.000-08:002014-11-09T20:54:07.558-08:00Calvert's Charismatic Chef<style>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrqs9c8_1b1NuD0mghNFQhy8hJbyG2CR-zl4HW2Qb2vMQqqsFRNgt7NJq36mGyNQWQ4WBmADtwfp4F3FDQuDG0fZR5YiISwYwBUoaDrQpQzQBIFR0NNdBBuwH5NAGP_7k1DVTaWfrmps/s1600/COCOAMODA.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrqs9c8_1b1NuD0mghNFQhy8hJbyG2CR-zl4HW2Qb2vMQqqsFRNgt7NJq36mGyNQWQ4WBmADtwfp4F3FDQuDG0fZR5YiISwYwBUoaDrQpQzQBIFR0NNdBBuwH5NAGP_7k1DVTaWfrmps/s1600/COCOAMODA.png" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I found myself in Calvert, Texas because of an assignment for my Travel Literature class. A leisurely afternoon spent walking up and down the storefronts on historic Main St led me to COCOAMODA, the only high-end restaurant in the sleepy little town of 1,100. Upon entering, I heard a rumbling coming from the kitchen, and out walked
a tall, slender man. He was dressed in jeans, a traditional white button up
chef jacket, and a black apron, with a pair of thin glasses on his aged face.
His gray hair had been slicked back with comb and gel, but most noticeably, he
was missing half of a finger.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ken
Wilkinson moved from the United Kingdom after forty years of culinary
experience throughout Europe. So naturally, my main question was what he was
doing in Calvert, Texas. He responded, telling me that he moved there for the
tranquility and the erudite people. Seconds later, he burst into an uncontrollable
hiss of laughter, covering his mouth with four and a half fingers. Calvert is
smack-dab in the middle of the Texas triangle, he explained to me, giving him a
unique opportunity to market himself to Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San
Antonio. I learned a little more about his fine restaurant, perfectly placed on
a corner at the only stop light in the town. Construction took over two years
and had its ups and downs. When you’re a chef with no kitchen, he remarked, you
have no job. So Ken had a two-year holiday, though he had little time to rest. He
took the project on himself and hired outside help in order to reduce costs.
There was one incident with a saw and his left pointer finger, but the
transformation of a 19<sup>th</sup> century bank building into a truffle shop
and restaurant was a success.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">When
Ken wasn’t informing me about his business ventures, he told me about his
passion for cars. Specifically, fast cars. On a drive from Houston to Calvert,
he was overtaken by a car, a rare occasion. Normally, he would give it little
thought, but this car was a Corvette (in Ken’s words, a “vette”), and there is
nothing he despised more than a vette. Without breaking a sweat, Ken kicked his
machine into high gear and roared passed the vette going 195 miles per hour. He
kept the pace, wanting to prove a point, and wanting to distance himself from
the eyesore. On another occasion, he made his trip from Houston to San
Francisco a little more entertaining by setting his cruise control to a
leisurely 140 miles per hour. To Ken, if he had money, there was nothing better
to spend it on than a machine that could making driving into a sport.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-75228848504607076472014-07-22T21:34:00.000-07:002014-07-24T09:32:27.275-07:00California for the 4thWhere is a better place to spend the Fourth of July than California? I'll tell you- nowhere! Annie Scott was gracious enough to invite a few of us to her house for
the holidays and it might have been the best Fourth I've ever had. As
soon as we flew in Thursday, we kicked off the vacation with a lunch at
Facebook. We met up with Will Siegfried and he showed us around the campus. If any of you don't know what Facebook headquarters looks like, let me paint you a little picture:<br />
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- One million restaurants<br />
- Two million people<br />
- Five million super cool things that you look at and go, "WOAH!"<br />
- One Mark Zuckerberg<br />
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Those facts might have been a <i>little</i> exaggerated, but it really was the coolest place I have ever been. They provide everything their employees could ever need from a bike rental system to unlimited snacks and drinks. Will gave us the tour, fed us, and then sent us on our way back to Annie's house, where the entire family came together to have a pizza cook off. Katie Johnson and I, aka team Spicy Paradise, went for a delicious assortment of cheeses with jalapeños and pineapple slices sprinkled atop. Needless to say, ours was the best.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Group pic!</span></div>
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On the Fourth, festivities were in full swing at the Scott household by 9
am. There were World Cup games to be watched, beer pong tournaments to
be played, and hot dogs to eat. Everyone was decked out in their red,
white, and blue, feeling more patriotic than they ever had before. By
six, we were all ready to carry our celebrations over to Sharon Heights Country Club.
Paul made sure we got the VIP treatment, which included unlimited food,
unlimited balloon hats (Annie and I really
capitalized on that one), unlimited face paint (again... we divulged),
and unlimited drinks. Needless to say, we were having the time of our
lives, which eventually led to tearing up the dance floor after an
exquisite fireworks show.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Vince and the gals</span></div>
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A trip to San Francisco was planned for Saturday, so off we went. Vince volunteered to give us the grand tour, including a delicious meal right on the water at <a href="http://hogislandoysters.com/" target="_blank">Hog Island Oyster Co.</a>, a look inside the local bar scene, and a final descent down Lombard St.<br />
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Maude and Paul took Annie, Katie Johnson, and I to the beach and the views were absolutely breathtaking. We walked along the beach, watching families fly kites, picnic, and splash around in the freezing water. Vince met us for lunch at <a href="http://www.samschowderhousepa.com/" target="_blank">Sam's Chowder House</a> and we walked off the lobster rolls and clam chowder by exploring <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=maverick%27s+beach&client=firefox-a&hs=iop&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=EzjPU4W7GsynyASP8ILACw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1176&bih=702#q=maverick+waves&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch" target="_blank">the Maverick</a>, the location of some of the largest waves in the world. Sadly, it was pretty calm, but it provided a nice walk after lunch.<br />
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After that, it was time to head back to Dallas. It was one of the most memorable trips I've had, and I can't wait for more Chronics next year! x</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-87226581468287146492014-01-25T21:09:00.003-08:002014-01-29T19:56:12.450-08:00Long OverdueAs with any other school, the closing of term kept me very busy. So now, after being in the states for a month, I'm missing Europe more than anything. Which makes this the perfect opportunity to reflect on my favorite places.<br />
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<u><b>Berlin</b></u><br />
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<u>Favorite Activity</u>: Berlin, you got me. I can't come up with a favorite activity because I loved them all. But, if I had to choose, I would have say the Jewish Museum. The part that stuck the most with me was the bottom level, which was dedicated to the Holocaust and its victims. The emptiness and daunting feeling inside of the Holocaust Tower was indescribable. I also couldn't believe how terrifying of a noise the metal faces made when clanking together in the Fallen Leaves room. It really made me think about how many lives were lost and how the world has suffered since.<br />
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<u>Favorite Restaurant</u>: With all that Berlin had to offer, its restaurants did not disappoint. Everywhere we ate was unique and delicious, but the best was <a href="http://www.chipps.de/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">Chipps</a>. We went for breakfast and it was the perfect start to our day. The restaurant was very modern in design, with shades of gray and clean cut edges throughout the space. This might have been the best breakfast I had the entire time I was in Europe.<br />
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<u><b>Amsterdam</b></u><br />
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<u>Favorite Activity</u>: Without a doubt, Anne Frank's House. We were told by multiple people to go early, so we heeded their advice and woke up hours earlier than we normally would, resulting in a small 15-minute line. Walking through the house where her diaries were written was unbelievable. I walked through trying to soak everything in, but it was all so beyond belief that it left me breathless the entire hour I was inside. The best part of the tour was her room, which they prefaced with a quote from her diary, “Our little room looked very bare at first with nothing on the walls;
but thanks to Daddy who had brought my film-star collection and picture
postcards on beforehand, and with the aid of a paste pot and brush, I
have transformed the walls into one gigantic picture. This makes it look
much more cheerful…”<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photograph by Anne Frank Museum</span></div>
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Walking into her room and seeing the actual pictures that she posted on the walls was so surreal and made the experience that much more intimate.<br />
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<u>Favorite Restaurant</u>: One morning, all we wanted was brunch, as brunch is the best meal ever created. So, we looked up the best brunch in Amsterdam, and we were not disappointed. The restaurant, <a href="http://restaurantfraiche.nl/" target="_blank">Fraîche</a>, was adorable and had a happy, young vibe going on. The food was great and we left much happier than we came.<br />
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<u><b>Paris</b></u><br />
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<u>Favorite Activity</u>: We only had two days in Paris, so we didn't have all that much time to explore. However, being the first-time-to-Paris tourists that we were, Hailey and I had to climb the Eiffel Tower. We weren't going to take any of that elevator nonsense, so we trekked up the 710 stairs to behold the amazing view that was waiting for us at the top. After we spent a good five minutes catching our breath, we walked around looking at the maze of beautiful French buildings surrounding us as far as they eyes could see.<br />
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<u>Favorite Club/Bar</u>: Hailey and I didn't know much about the night life in Paris, so we did what we thought would be the best idea: ask our Parisian concierge where to go. He seemed to be around our age and was always very friendly when we walked into the hotel, so we asked him. After talking to him, we struck out with our instructions to "walk down the street until you see Gap, take a left, and you'll see a crocodile on a wall." Turns out, we were directed to an Australian bar, Café Oz, that was filled with people dancing everywhere. The dance floor, on tables, on chairs, everywhere. Needless to say, Hailey and I spent the entire night laughing and dancing until we couldn't dance anymore.<br />
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<u><b>Marrakech</b></u><br />
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<u>Favorite Activity</u>: Marrakech was unique because my grandmother hired a guide for us for the entirety of the trip. And when I thought Berlin was different, man was I wrong. Marrakech was unlike any place I had ever been, which made everything that much more magical. I don't think I would ever be able to pick a favorite because it was all so amazing. Abdul, our guide, took us to the souks, the Atlas Mountains, traditional Berber medicinal markets, old palaces, <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293734-d308902-Reviews-Ali_Ben_Youssef_Madrasa-Marrakech_Marrakech_Tensift_El_Haouz_Region.html" target="_blank">Ben Youssef Madrasa</a>, <a href="http://jardinmajorelle.com/ang/" target="_blank">Jardin Majorelle</a>, and to an open expanse of desert in which we got to ride camels. However, I think the experience that stands out the most is when Abdul took us into this tiny opening in a wall on a random street. Standing from the outside, you would never know that anything could even be inside that wall. However, we walked into this dark room with a giant fireplace where two old men were baking bread. Abdul told us that all of the women in the neighborhood would make loaves of bread in their kitchens and their children would take the bread to be baked in this bakery. When the children came home in the afternoons, they would pick the bread up and bring it back to their families to eat for dinner that night. What was even more fascinating was that the children knew what all of the neighbors' bread cloths looked like, and would bring their bread home for them if it had not been picked up yet.<br />
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<u>Favorite Restaurant</u>: When we were in the Atlas Mountains, Abdul took us to his friend's restaurant that was situated on a lake and overlooked the other half of the mountains. It might have been my favorite view of the trip, as it was stunning. We all ordered traditional Moroccan plates, which were brought out in beautifully decorated tagines. I took the most amazing pictures of our view, but my puppy, Pearl, decided my SIM card would be her chew toy for the day, so I lost them all. This picture from Google will have to suffice for now.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">www.bugbog.com</span></div>
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<u><b>Rome & Florence</b></u><br />
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<u>Favorite Activity</u>: While we were in Italy, we spent most of our time learning about the history of the cities. In Rome, we had a tour guide take us around the city, which was the best way we could have possibly immersed ourselves in the city. Without his extensive knowledge, we would have no idea what the old rocks we were looking at used to be. I loved how condensed the city was. You could walk from the Pantheon to the Colosseum in twenty minutes and pass six other ruins on the way there. In Florence, our hostel was a five minute walk from the Duomo, so we were able to get everywhere in less than ten minutes. One day, we decided to walk up what felt like a million steps to a mountain that overlooked the entire city and we couldn't believe how beautiful our view was. That's another view that I will never forget.<br />
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<u>Favorite Restaurant</u>: The absolute best restaurant I have ever been to in my entire life is in Florence, Italy. And that's not an exaggeration. I was told by a family friend that they knew of a restaurant in Florence that we had to go to and that we were required to order the Pear and Gorgonzola Ravioli. Not something I would normally choose off the menu. However, on our last night in Florence, we obliged, went to <a href="http://www.coquinarius.it/" target="_blank">Coquinarius</a>, and all five of us ordered the ravioli. The owners of the restaurant ended up giving us a free appetizer to accompany the two other appetizers we ordered and a plate with five pieces of a different ravioli so that we could all try another dish on the menu. Appetizers: great. Other ravioli: delicious. Pear and Gorgonzola Ravioli: words cannot describe how heavenly this dish was. The sweet of the pear and the bite of the Gorgonzola created a taste that is incomparable to anything I've ever eaten.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://eatmoredrinkmore.com/2014/01/06/a-week-in-florence-italy/</span></div>
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<u><b>Barcelona</b></u><br />
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<u>Favorite Restaurant</u>: When we were in Spain, we decided to do as the Spaniards do and sleep until noon, eat a lot of food, and go out until the sun was threatening to rise. We ate at a lot of restaurants and I have to say that the tradition of tapas is not my favorite that I've experienced. That being said, my favorite restaurant was <a href="http://www.rosanegrabcn.com/" target="_blank">Rosa Negra</a>, which was not a tapas restaurant. Instead, it had margaritas for <span class="st">€3.50, which was a huge selling point for us. The food was good too, which was a plus. My favorite thing about Rosa Negra though was the decor. One word that would describe it would be kitsch. Bright colors, flip flops hung on walls, sombrero chandeliers. Everything just worked and gave the restaurant a very fun vibe.</span><br />
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<u>Favorite Club</u>: If there was one area of Barcelona that we thoroughly explored, it was the club scene. Without fail, we took a cab to the beach and hit up the clubs every night. The one I had the most fun at was <a href="http://www.opiummar.com/" target="_blank">Opium</a> because it was always just packed with people. The music was great, the view was great, and we couldn't have had more fun dancing all night. Plus, we were able to take late night walks on the beach, which was always the perfect way to end our night.<br />
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As cheesy as it is, this entire experience was the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and I'm literally counting down the days until I get to go on some other grand adventure somewhere in the world. Who knows what that will be, whether I make an impromptu road trip to Enchanted Rock or I fly across the world to Australia. Either way, you can be sure there will be a post about it!<br />
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Ciao for now!<br />
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xAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-58624281635770836322013-10-21T16:20:00.002-07:002014-01-25T21:23:30.037-08:00Get Ready...Chances are, this blog post is going to be a novel seeing as how I haven't posted in two weeks. So if you're not feeling that ambitious/don't have much time/don't really care, I'll give a little table of contents for you to glance at. For everyone else, get comfy!!<br />
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<b>What I've Done:</b><br />
1. Nina Nesbitt concert at KOKO on October 10<br />
2. Weekend including seeing Marshall and Drew, Camden Pub Crawl, and the London Film Festival<br />
3. Bastille concert at O2 Academy on October 15<br />
4. Dublin, Ireland<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">1. Nina Nesbitt</span><br />
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Taylor, Rachel, Hailey and I went to KOKO to see Nina Nesbitt perform. To say we stood out is a bit of an understatement. Considering Nina is only eighteen, the entire crowd was filled with fourteen-year-old girls and their bored parents. Waiting for the show to start was a little awkward since we felt ancient, but once the music started, all the weirdness melted away. She had two opening acts, Daniel James and Olivia Sebastianelli. None of us had ever heard of either of these bands, but they were excellent.<br />
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First up was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ThisisdanielJames" target="_blank">Daniel James</a>. His sound was somewhere between Ed Sheeran and Mumford and Sons. It was just him on the stage with his guitar and he was incredible. I would definitely see him again if he played somewhere close to me.<br />
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Following Daniel was Olivia Sebastianelli. Weird name, weird girl. But her music was really, really good. I wouldn't say she was as good as Daniel, but definitely enjoyed her performance. Plus, her drummer's facial expressions could entertain me for the next ten years.<br />
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Then was the main event. I only knew a few songs going into the concert and since then I've basically listened to her CD on repeat. Nina is just literally the coolest girl I have ever seen. She's so young and cute, but she's also super tough. She really got the crowd into the show and absolutely smashed it. Plus, seeing a concert at a venue like KOKO is unbelievable. It originally showed theater performances, so the acoustics and smaller feel to the venue makes the concert all the more awesome.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">2. The weekend I did A LOT of things..</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I got a <span style="font-size: small;">Facebook message ear<span style="font-size: small;">ly in the week from my friend Drew Cowan, who I went to middle school with, saying that she was visiting London for the weekend (she<span style="font-size: small;">'s studying in Barcelona). So, Saturday morning, I hopped on the tube and met Drew and Ma<span style="font-size: small;">rshall at the Borough Market! We walked around<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>tasting everything we could get our hands onto, and then settled for a grilled cheese to share between the three of us and a hot dog. No, not a hot dog, the biggest hot dog I've ever seen in my life.<span style="font-size: small;"> A</span> GIANT hot dog. After we sat and ate our dogs, we got goat <span style="font-size: small;">milk ice<span style="font-size: small;"> cream (so beyond delicious)<span style="font-size: small;"> and made our way to Tower Bridge, where we took the obligatory tourist shots.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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Covent Garden was next, where we walked down Portobello Road looking at everything they were selling. I stopped in to get a tea at my favorite cafe, <a href="http://www.charliesportobelloroadcafe.co.uk/" target="_blank">Charlie's</a>, and drank it as went moved on to Harrod's. I've never been to Harrod's, so I figured this was the perfect time. I've never been to a bigger store in my whole life. I'm literally trying to find a word to describe it and I just cant. It's a maze? It's over the top? It's overwhelming? I don't know, but it's awesome. They will literally have anything you could ever want. I also got my first macaroon there. I wish I had never tried it because I literally want them all the time now.<br />
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Saturday night, Catherine, Ailee, Hailey and I did the Camden Pub Crawl! We've all heard from tons of people that it's really fun, and they weren't lying. The people doing it were kind of weird but they made for great people watching. I ran into a friend from high school and she introduced me to a bunch of her friends from Notre Dame, and they were really nice! One of them even congratulated Hailey and I on our big win over OU (Hook 'em!!!!). The first bar we went to was Barfly, and it had a really cool mural on the wall.<br />
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The second place we went was AWESOME!! It's called Soundtracks and they are only open on Saturday nights. It is exactly what it sounds like- they play the best songs from the best movies ever made. That means Grease, Ferris Bueller, Dirty Dancing, all the classics. I didn't stop dancing the entire time I was there and it was so much fun. After Soundtracks was Proud, the old horse hospital. That was really fun too, but since we had been there before, it was nothing new. Still, it was super fun and it was a great way to end the night.<br />
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Sunday, I did homework (swear Mom & Dad, I haven't forgotten about school over here) and then went to the London Film Festival with Marshall. He's a lot cooler than me and has a lot of tickets to showings during the festival and was nice enough to invite me to the premiere of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLYkXhgFIAk" target="_blank">The Zero Theorem</a>. Before the movie, Marshall, Hailey and I had a nice Mexican dinner at Benito's Hat, and then Marshall and I went to Leicester Square (pronounced Lester. I've made that mistake before.... clearly a tourist) for the movie. There was a red carpet because the director was attending, so it made the movie feel very important. The movie was great, but if you asked me to tell you what it was about, I don't know if I could. It was so weird, but in a good way. There's just no way to explain it. But, I will say, after seeing the movie, the trailer makes so much more sense. It's kind of hard to follow if you haven't seen the movie.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">3. Bastille <span style="font-size: large;">c</span>oncert</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I think it's safe to say that I was so incredibly excited for the Bastille concert, nothing could ruin my mood.</span> I looked this concert up back when I was in the states, so I've been looking forward to it for a L O N G time. But then, disaster struck. Apparently, there are two O2's in London. Who knew? Not Hailey or I. After the hottest 30 minute tube ride ever, we stepped into the iconic O2 arena ready for the show. We walked around the arena for about fifteen minutes, noticing that not many people were there. Okay, Bastille isn't <i>that </i>big yet. Totally understandable that it's not packed. But after passing closed entrance after closed entrance, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. We weren't in the right place. As Hailey and I were both in heels, we shuffled as quickly as we possibly could back to the tube station and took <i>another</i> 30 minute ride to the <i>other</i> O2. However, after relaxing for a minute at the venue and buying awesome t-shirts, we were feeling good. Once again, there were two opening bands, and neither let us down.<br />
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First was <a href="http://bipolarsunshine.com/" target="_blank">Bipolar Sunshine</a>. They easily out dressed both Hailey and I and were the coolest guys ever. They had kind of a reggae-ish feel to them and they were the bomb. After them was <a href="http://tokillaking.co.uk/" target="_blank">To Kill A King</a> and they were equally as great. They were banging on drums all over the place and their music was incredible. I was really, really happy we didn't miss either of the openers (what a miracle).<br />
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And then, BASTILLE!!!! Oh my goodness I love them so much!! When I listen to their CD, they're great. Incredible artists. Then you hear them live, and they kill their CD. A million times better live, which is so hard to find. Literally just a band that is SO AWESOME. Everyone was jumping around and singing at the top of their lungs. Everyone was so alive and having the best time ever. Easily one of the best concerts my life. The venue was also really cool (although I'm still bitter about the whole two O2's thing..) because it was built to look like you were outside. The ceiling and the top of the walls were painted black, so it looked like the night sky, and the walls were painted like stone walls with palm trees. Basically, I'm praying they go on tour in the US next year so I can see them again.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">4. Dublin</span><br />
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Once again, we made a pretty spontaneous decision to make a trip to Dublin. None of us (Ailee, Rachel, Hailey and I) were particularly excited to go to Dublin, but we all knew we wanted to go while we were in the UK. Turns out, it's one of my favorite cities ever. First off, when we were going through Irish customs, the officer made a dirty joke while stamping our passports. We knew from then on it was going to be an interesting weekend. Then, we hopped in a cab with potentially the most friendly cab driver ever. His accent was excellent (yer hostel's about turdy minute from ere) and he told us a million fun things for us to do. We got to the hostel at 10:45, so we ditched our bags and went straight to dinner. Time Out Dublin told us to go to a place called <a href="http://bobos.ie/" target="_blank">Bobo's</a>, which did not disappoint. Then, after the friendly waitress told us all the fun places to go (I'm telling you, everyone was so friendly), we decided to go to the Village, a club right around the corner. The rest of the night consisted of all of us just dancing like crazy people together and it was so, so much fun.<br />
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The next day, we took the advice from our cab driver and took a train out to Howth, Ireland. It was about a "turdy" minute train ride from Dublin and we ended up in the cutest little fishing village. All the buildings were painted cute colors and everything had a sea theme to it, as it was right on the Irish Sea. Rachel hadn't made it to Ireland yet because she had to take a later flight, but Ailee, Hailey and I ate at <a href="http://www.aqua.ie/" target="_blank">Aqua</a>, where we had a glass of wine as we looked out onto the Irish Sea. It was really beautiful. We even saw two seals swimming!!! Then we walked around the village until we decided to go back to Dublin. Sorry for the overload of pictures, but I think they're cool.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Really cool chess set at a restaurant outside the train station</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">So s<span style="font-size: x-small;">erious</span></span></div>
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Back in Dublin, we went to a traditional Irish pub and had a pint of Guinness and then met Rachel at the hostel. We then went to a really fun Thai restaurant and then hit the town, dancing the night away once again. The next morning, we missed breakfast because we slept in too long, but we went to <a href="http://www.merchantsarch.ie/" target="_blank">The Merchant's Arch</a> for lunch, a pub right on the River Liffey (so fun to say with an Irish accent). There was a guy playing his guitar there and we immediately became best friends. We were sitting at a table on the second floor, so we could look over a railing down to where he was playing. Every time we looked at him, he'd look up at us and laugh. He mostly played Irish songs that none of us knew, but towards the end he covered Rihanna, Passenger, Ed Sheeran, and Van Morrison. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed every one of these covers better than the real songs. <br />
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After lunch, we went to the Guinness Storehouse and learned all about how Guinness is made. It turned out to be more of a museum than I thought it would be, but it was really interesting and nicely done. On the first floor, there were a lot of metal tank things that were used in brewing the beer, and they all had plaques on them that said "Spence Dublin." Obviously, I thought it was super cool and made Rachel take pictures of me by them. Only when I got back to London did I learn that my Uncle Robby took the exact same picture sixteen years ago.<br />
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So weird, right? But anyway, we got to learn how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness in six steps (did you know it takes 119.5 seconds to pour a pint of Guinness?) and take our glasses up to the seventh floor, which was a giant circular room that let you look over the entire city of Dublin. It was breathtaking and I really felt like I was IN Dublin at that moment. Funnily enough, I ran into one of Kathleen Ashcraft's friends from Notre Dame there!!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">View from one side of the top of the Guinness Storehou<span style="font-size: x-small;">se</span></span></div>
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After the Guinness Storehouse, we caught a horse drawn carriage to the oldest pub in Ireland- the Brazen Head! It dates back to 1198... unreal. We spent hours there talking over dinner and then spent our last night in Dublin dancing once again. However, we lost track of time and ended up at home at 4 am... when we had to wake up for our flight at 5 am... it was a rough morning of traveling, but I think all of us would agree that Dublin was worth it.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">My best attempt at taking a picture with the horse...</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Our brief visit to Temple Bar<span style="font-size: x-small;">, </span>a more touristy but awesome area of Dublin</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snagged a pic of <span style="font-size: x-small;">Christ Church Cathedral on one of our walks through the city</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Hopefully y'all enjoyed this! I promise I'll try to post more often so they're not all a million pages long.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">lizzie </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-42179027680965188882013-10-06T15:01:00.000-07:002014-01-25T21:28:23.002-08:00Borough Market<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday I went to the Borough Market with five of my friends! I've been told by a countless number of friends that this was a place I HAD to go, so I went!!<br />
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It was a lot bigger than I thought it was. I had only seen pictures of the main walkway, so I thought the set up was pretty straightforward. Turns out, that place is a maze. Catherine, Hailey and I tried to meet up with Rachel, Alexa and Taylor for about thirty minutes, continuously failing to adequately describe where we were in the market. I think one of the sections I liked the most was what I called "cheeseland." Underneath every tent were beautiful cheeses stacked on top of each other. All of the vendors had delicious tasters, and I probably tried twenty different cheeses, each better than the one before. It was heaven.<br />
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The prepared foods section was really cool. I saw the weirdest foods being served and Hailey got the most delicious "cheese sandwich" I've ever tasted. I forgot what the stand was called but they had these weird fire machines that were long metal strips with fire coming out of the bottom of them. Massive cheese blocks were placed under the fires and the cheese would melt off onto bread to make sandwiches. So weird, so cool, so delicious.<br />
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One thing I noticed is that everywhere you turned, you could see at least one stand selling fresh juices. We probably passed ten juicing stands, all spread out throughout the entire market. Each vendor was making different combinations of juices and they were beautiful. I wanted to get one but didn't. Catherine did though, and hers tasted great!<br />
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I got two drinks with Hailey- a glass of cider and a cup of Prosecco wine spritzer (recommended by Marshall). Both were great, but if I had to get one of them when I go back next time, I would probably get the Prosecco. Next to the Prosecco stand was a sangria stand, which looked equally as yummy, but I passed on that one. Additionally, I had some great spinach ravioli.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hailey with her prosecco!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>It was a really fun day and afterwards we all went back to my flat and booked tickets to Berlin!! We're going for a week next month and I can't wait! I can assure that there will be a great blog post dedicated to it, maybe even more than one!</div>
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With that, I'll leave you with some random pictures I took that didn't necessarily have anything to do with what I talked about in this post. Later!</div>
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lizzie</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-29908125543016271612013-10-01T14:47:00.004-07:002014-01-27T17:29:32.326-08:00"Normal" lifeI haven't done anything great in the past couple days, but don't let that discourage you from reading the rest of this post!! I just wanted to comment on a couple of the things I have done recently.<br />
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1. I walked two blocks down from my flat and met my friend, Rachel, for breakfast at Speedy's Cafe! For those of you that don't know, Speedy's is the cafe in the BBC series <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018ttws" target="_blank">Sherlock</a>. In the show, they reside at 221B Baker St, which just happens to actually be filmed at a flat down the street from me and next to Speedy's! I mentioned this in my very <a href="http://www.lizziespence.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/countdown.html" target="_blank">first post</a> but that was a while ago. Anyway, Rachel is the only other person here that also watches Sherlock, so we went together and it was completely obvious that 75% of the people eating there were only there because of the show. So we tried to act as cool as possible and only took one picture after we had eaten. I had a cup of Earl Grey and delicious scrambled eggs on toast. Great morning!!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Okay so maybe I took two pictures. But I thought it was cool how the address on the door is on a piece of wood that has been scr<span style="font-size: x-small;">ewed in<span style="font-size: x-small;">- easy <span style="font-size: x-small;">removal for filming!</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">2. I went on a run through Regent's Park <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">with Hailey and we stopped to take a picture with the camel<span style="font-size: small;">s!</span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">They're hard to see, but they're behind us<span style="font-size: x-small;">, I swear.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. Also on this run, I found what I think might be my favorite part of the park: this beautiful elephant! I <span style="font-size: small;">want one.</span></span></span></span></div>
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4. The Fresher's Fayre was this past Thursday and Friday, which is a line of booths promoting each of UCL's clubs and societies that snakes through all of the buildings on the campus. Hailey and I perused the booths (which took about 30 minutes, you wouldn't believe how many there were) and I ended up joining three societies- Book Club, Lacrosse Society, and Women's Football Society (soccer). After careful deliberation, I decided to stick it out with lacrosse (no pun intended). Football was way too intense- they had their trophies on their table- and lacrosse seemed more fun and relaxed overall. I'm hoping to do Book Club as well, but that hasn't really picked up yet. Lacrosse, however, had their first practice on Sunday. I thought we would meet on campus, walk to a nearby field and throw the ball around a little. No. We got onto buses that took us an hour outside of London to a sports complex owned by UCL. There were probably 100 new people there and only 20 or so had ever played before. I broke off with the more experienced players and it was so fun! We just covered the basics, passing, catching, shooting, because none of us had played in a while. All of the girls are so nice and fun! Also, you have the choice of playing on the Ladies Team (I haven't heard the word ladies used so many times in my life before) or the Mixed Team, which is both boys and girls, but the boys play with women's sticks and play by the women's rules. It's hilarious watching the guys run up and down with the wrong sticks. After practice, we took the bus back to the city and some of us went over to The Rocket, a pub a couple blocks from campus. It was about 30 people- 15 returning players and 15 new players. The returning players taught us the "Lacrosse Pub Rules," and things got crazy after that. Mostly with the returning players, though. All of us newbies were still a little shy. But the night ended up being so fun.</div>
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5. This is piggybacking off of number 4, but I thought it needed an explanation. In Europe, it's the "cool thing" to join clubs. It doesn't really have that negative connotation that can sometimes come with joining campus clubs in America. Joining clubs is a way to be social, especially sports clubs. Every Wednesday night, a bar on campus called Phineas throws Sportsnite, which is when all of the sport teams go to the bar dressed to different themes. This week for instance, the Committee Members of the team (president, VP, social, etc) are dressing as cops, and the rest of the players, returning and new, are dressing as robbers. The teams hang out at the pub for a couple of hours, and then the team has buses that drive everyone to Loop, a club near campus. The entire club is reserved for UCL sports teams!</div>
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6. The least fun fact in this post. Classes started yesterday. My schedule ended up being pretty good, Tuesday's are just crazy for me. I'm taking Social Anthropology, Material and Visual Culture (another Anthropology class), Economic Analysis, and Holocaust Writing. I've only gotten lost once trying to get to a class- the doors weren't numbered in the building! So I ended up sitting down in a Law class, then walking into a Chemistry class during lecture, then finally finding my class after thirteen minutes had gone by. It was rough.</div>
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I think that's all! Miss everyone!!!!</div>
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x</div>
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lizzie</div>
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ps <a href="http://haileygoestolondon.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Hailey has a blog too!! </a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-31389262468495179162013-09-26T08:44:00.000-07:002014-01-27T17:31:17.007-08:00Regent's ParkAfter indulging in anything I could get my hands on this week (the food's a lot better in London than people say), I decided it was time I go for a run. I knew there was a park pretty close to my flat, so I followed my map to Regent's Park. Turns out, this is my favorite place on earth.<br />
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At the beginning of my run, I found myself in some weird flower/fountain garden. It was really long and narrow, but running by it and the people sitting on benches was beautiful. Continuing on, I ran through the middle of a giant, open field, with two football pitches on either side of my path. Only one field was being used though, and it looked like a rugby team doing practice drills. The path continued, and I was running next to the London Zoo. I saw multiple school field trips, camels, giraffes, and zebras! Not a typical run! I went around a bend and came across another field, but this one was much, much bigger than the last. Tiny British boys were practicing football everywhere and I was immediately brought back to my own soccer practices as a little girl. They were adorable and they all were wearing football jerseys of professional teams.<br />
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Later, I walked through Queen Mary's Gardens. I could tell the plants were already starting to die a little since fall is setting in, but it was still beautiful. There were different colored roses everywhere, hundreds of other flowers I didn't know the names of, multiple ponds, waterfalls, basically anything beautiful you can think of was in this garden. I spent probably twenty minutes just walking around and looking at everything. It was incredible.<br />
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After that, I ran to the park exit and down Euston street, right back to my flat! Easily the best run I have ever been on. I think it's safe to say that will not be the last time I go to Regent's Park. Here are some pictures I took on my run/walk!!<br />
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x<br />
lizzie<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-86044676176448022382013-09-25T18:40:00.001-07:002014-01-27T17:35:38.375-08:00Everything's Funnier... In ScotlandOur first adventure- Edinburgh, Scotland!<br />
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I don't really know what I was expecting, but Catherine, Hailey, Ailee and I decided VERY last minute to take a trip to Scotland, bought train tickets, and left the next morning from King's Cross Station! After a short four hour train ride (I slept the whole way), we were in a different country. It's crazy, that's how long it takes to drive from Houston to Cleburne, and you don't even leave the state!!<br />
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But back to this whole 'not expecting much' thing. I'm not very versed in Scottish information, but I had no idea how beautiful Edinburgh is. All of the buildings are made of giant, old stones and everything looks like it was made hundreds of years ago... which it was. We dropped all our stuff off with Catherine's friends at the University of Edinburgh and went to grab a quick lunch. We learned of new language barriers- Scotland does not have grilled cheeses or pickles, they have cheese toasties and gherkins (not the little ones). The trip started out with lots of laughs, and they didn't end there.<br />
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Moving to a much less comical adventure, the four of us plus James and Richard (two of Catherine's friends) walked out of the bustling city and climbed up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur%27s_Seat,_Edinburgh" target="_blank">Arthur's Seat</a> to get a better view. It was one of the most breath-taking scenes I've ever seen! From the peak of the mountain, you could see the entire city and how it was built to wrap around the mountain. And beyond the city, the North Sea. So, so cool.<br />
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After the hike, we went to <a href="http://www.pilgrimbar.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Pilgrim</a> to collect ourselves and have a drink. This bar was really cool because everything was made from recycled materials, like the couch was made out of different denim pieces sewn together! Later, we went to <a href="http://www.revolution-bars.co.uk/edinburgh" target="_blank">Revolution</a> for dinner. The food here was great and the entire table couldn't stop laughing throughout the entire meal, who knows why. Then we went to <a href="http://wnclub.co.uk/" target="_blank">Why Not</a>, a bar that a lot of local students go to. As we were waiting in line, a very over-served guy told us to tell the bouncers we were with John Allen. With those magic words, we were granted VIP access to the club. The place was filled with college aged kids and the music was loud, which made for a great night.<br />
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The next day, we tried to do as much as possible. We first got coffee at <a href="http://www.elephanthouse.biz/" target="_blank">The Elephant House</a>, which is the coffee shop that J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter in. The bathrooms were covered in Harry Potter graffiti and we probably spent a good fifteen minutes in the bathroom. Kind of gross, I know.<br />
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With our coffees in hand, we walked along the worn streets to the <a href="http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Edinburgh Castle</a>. It's so weird how something built so long ago is still standing in the middle of the city. I can't even imagine what it was like living in the castle. We didn't want to pay the £16 to go inside, so we walked around the outskirts taking pictures for a while. You could get a really good view of the city from here too. Then we went to the Scottish History Museum and saw the exhibit about Mary, Queen of Scots. She was one cool girl. I went in not knowing much about her, all information from previous history classes forgotten. But she had such an intricate and exciting life, all to be taken from her because of her boy troubles. Go figure. If you don't know much about her, I highly recommend looking her up on Wikipedia or something, because she is so interesting. Her life would make a great TV series.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Edinburgh Castle</span></div>
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We went home afterwards to cook dinner- tacos! We got all the ingredients necessary at Tesco (who knew they had guacamole!? Except.. it didn't really taste like guacamole). I was in charge of cooking the taco meat, which I made to perfection. Thanks for all the practice, Dad! Hailey and Ailee were put on salad duty, and Catherine and James made the rice. To be clear, in the picture below, James is holding the rice in the bowl because neither he nor Catherine knew how to properly cook rice, so we ended up with white mush in a bowl which no one ate. Except James. We also had no napkins or paper towels, so we had to resort to using toilet paper, another comedic occurrence that had us doubled over for fifteen minutes. Definitely one of the best/worst dinners I've ever had.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The classic study abroad home cooked meal photo</span></div>
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After dinner, we all met up with John Melvin, a friend from UT, who is also studying in Edinburgh. He is on the club golf team, so we took part in Pub Golf with him and his teammates. It was a great night, and we got to see a lot of the pubs by doing this with them! When 8:30 AM rolled around, none of us were ready to get on our train and we had a bit of a hectic morning. However, we all concluded that Edinburgh was incredibly fun, but we were ready to head home (which is London.. weird, right?!).<br />
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Classes don't start until Monday, so hopefully I will do something blog worthy in the next couple of days!<br />
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lizzie<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-44519009874008563772013-09-25T15:43:00.000-07:002014-01-27T17:38:16.195-08:00Palaces and PartiesAfter eating out all over the city and shopping way too much, we all decided it was about time for some culture. We set our alarms and after a hectic sprint to Buckingham Palace, we queued up to tour the palace! It was amazing how much gold was inside this place. I swear, if I had a penny for every gold object I saw- silverware, walls, ceilings, tables, jewelry- I would be loaded. But it was especially cool because it was the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, so there was a giant exhibit on her coronation. We got to see her crown and robes and lots of footage of the event. It would have been cool to be able to see the rest of the house, but it was still nice to be able to go inside!<br />
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After learning a little history, it was time to put on our dancing shoes again! UCL held an orientation party at a HUGE club in London, KOKO. It is an old theatre that has been transformed into a club, and it's unlike any other place I've been before! It was a little weird because everyone there was a fresher (what the British call freshmen), but it was still fun to dance with my friends!!<br />
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lizzie Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-91782433521420226612013-09-20T05:21:00.001-07:002014-01-27T19:13:34.884-08:00Trivia, Mexican Food, and OpalSo I know I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger last post, so I'll just start from there.<br />
Two nights ago, Hailey and I decided to meet up with a girl Ailee (like Hailey, but without the H. I know, confusing) at the Trivia Night that UCL's student union put on in the bar on campus. We went into it thinking that it would just be a bunch of people sitting around, answering questions about pop culture while drinking beer. We were wrong. We got there a little late and immediately ran into Ailee, who was with two girls we had never met before, Rachel and Catherine. The four of us grabbed a beer and headed over to the tables, where teams of people were crowded around answer sheets. Since we were late, we were assigned to an existing team of two boys who were sitting toward the front. They were Alex and Jack, two local boys who are a year below us at UCL. After introductions, we quickly learned that this trivia was about Europe- politics, history, art, literature, sports, food, everything. Needless to say, the two British boys were very unlucky to have just teamed up with four American girls. We knew NOTHING except for the four questions that had something to do with America. I did, however, nail a question about the London Underground, which made me feel a little better.<br />
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When the questions were over, all the teams exchanged answer sheets and checked the answers, then turned them in to see which team answered the most correctly. As it turns out, Alex and Jack were incredibly smart and our team ended up winning £96! For those of you that don't know, that's $153.94. So all seven of us split the winnings (I'm sure the boys were super happy about that), and Rachel, Hailey, Catherine, Ailee and I went to a restaurant called <a href="http://www.zizzi.co.uk/" target="_blank">Zizzi Ristorante</a> and dinner was on Jack and Alex! Afterwards, we attempted to go to a club, but every place we came across was closed. Who knew London wasn't open on Wednesday nights?<br />
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The next day, I went to 3 hours of Anthropology meetings. At the introduction meeting, the girl to my right was named Anna, and she was from Finland! She was super cool and very interesting, so I hope we get to hang out more while we're here! Then, on my left, was Anna from Switzerland. Extremely confusing, but at least I only had one name to remember.<br />
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Hailey and I then explored London a little bit. We chose a new tube stop to go to for dinner. Hailey had never seen Covent Garden, and I knew it had a ton of restaurants, so we ambled through the small, winding streets until we found a fun restaurant that had a reasonably priced menu. We ended up picking <a href="http://www.benitos-hat.com/" target="_blank">Benito's Hat</a>, a Mexican restaurant. I know going to a foreign country is all about trying new things, but I've always been very curious about Mexican food in other countries, so we decided to give it a go. Turns out, it was happy hour and they were serving two margaritas for the price of one. We liked it already. The restaurant was tiny with bright colors everywhere. Once again, it looked like a lot of locals on dates (why is this country so obsessed with dating??). Hailey and I grabbed two stools and sat at the bar by the window, which provided for excellent people watching. One guy passed and made completely ridiculous faces at us all the way across the street, which was highly entertaining. Overall, good food, great drinks, and an excellent atmosphere!<br />
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After dinner, Catherine, Ailee, and Rachel came over to get ready for UCL's first big party at Opal Bar. It's right on the River Thames and the place was so cool! There was a giant disco ball over the dance floor, with interesting glass structures hanging down everywhere. It was for the international students, so I met people from all over the world! The only downside to this party was that the drinks were ridiculously expensive. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0yypWde3Rk5AKNXhBUMX7HZDOByPO2-HPen565rat0Y4zTjBNNtzoviteKCrSIoyRI5pxgBobuOrZDsnVqYe7Ywl6eSz2tfTrfnzSJd3rBv-kLX0vMTLJ3qFrkMPILlnfLsLQ91GHGDg/s1600/IMG_7754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0yypWde3Rk5AKNXhBUMX7HZDOByPO2-HPen565rat0Y4zTjBNNtzoviteKCrSIoyRI5pxgBobuOrZDsnVqYe7Ywl6eSz2tfTrfnzSJd3rBv-kLX0vMTLJ3qFrkMPILlnfLsLQ91GHGDg/s400/IMG_7754.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Me, Hailey, Ailee, and Catherine outside of Opal</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We made it home after running into a boy who was too drunk to remember his last name (we got him in a cab and sent him home, no worries) and after enviously star<span style="font-size: small;">ing at people eating french fries on the <span style="font-size: small;">late bus. O<span style="font-size: small;">verall, two great nights in Lo<span style="font-size: small;">ndon.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">x</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">lizzie </span></span></span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-59899262258948769212013-09-18T10:28:00.000-07:002014-01-27T19:16:47.682-08:00We made it!!It's day two in London and I'm already OBSESSED!!<br />
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It was an easy flight, only spent 5 minutes in the customs line, and Hailey and I got a taxi with no wait. We didn't expect it to take an hour and a half to get from the airport to our flat though. Traffic that could have easily competed with Houston's 610 rush hour. But then we got to move into our flat and it's incredible! All of the walls in the building are painted a cute pink/purple color with bright royal blue doors! We got a corner room, which is basically triple the size of all the other rooms. It has a really intricate white crown molding around the ceiling and two floor to ceiling windows behind each of our beds. The community bathrooms aren't as bad as I thought they were going to be, but then again, no one has moved in yet except one exchange student from Japan. We've only run into him once.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNwVMIpEUVGGHpPuLR2eJDLI0W0pbeWyH5A5b9launq7maA97Y-AH6j93L7K7RmbceM3rD5AxiKIGd8pY06hCq9lYhEVsTjv_T5cpD2n9l-bxYscpIIK1KuR8APedBEgsplrQ0z7iE-y8/s1600/bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNwVMIpEUVGGHpPuLR2eJDLI0W0pbeWyH5A5b9launq7maA97Y-AH6j93L7K7RmbceM3rD5AxiKIGd8pY06hCq9lYhEVsTjv_T5cpD2n9l-bxYscpIIK1KuR8APedBEgsplrQ0z7iE-y8/s400/bed.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">My side of the room! Don't worry, I didn't pick out the bedding</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Hailey and I spent our <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">first</span> day looking around our neighborhood and running errands, nothing too exciting. But being two girls who have ne<span style="font-size: small;">ver really lived in a cold climate, we made the rookie <span style="font-size: small;">mistake of thinking a sweater would be enough to walk around in. Thirty minutes later, when it was raining and windy, we <span style="font-size: small;">were definitely regretting our decision. </span></span></span>We escaped the rain and ate lunch at Nando's</span></span> (favorite restaurant ever), did a little shopping, and then went home until dinner.</div>
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We met up with one of my friends who I've known for twenty years (wow that makes me sound old) (so basically my whole life), Marshall Shaffer. He suggested we eat at <a href="http://therumkitchen.com/" target="_blank">The Rum Kitchen</a> in Notting Hill and it was great! Tons of locals on dates and friends meeting up for dinner. It was so good to see him!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgioRuD9fD0NivErwEF6P5dzKmHcr40MZ2UBBngAvbPBDmmKxcrIZEy-IQA8Nr3qVevTkpzjlm3d2_1XD2rsnIAM7gau8SI-y3uCSXEV1mgDKOjufwKRCeqQ70PEYGMDPyULhDCU1mNk1c/s1600/marshall+and+liz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgioRuD9fD0NivErwEF6P5dzKmHcr40MZ2UBBngAvbPBDmmKxcrIZEy-IQA8Nr3qVevTkpzjlm3d2_1XD2rsnIAM7gau8SI-y3uCSXEV1mgDKOjufwKRCeqQ70PEYGMDPyULhDCU1mNk1c/s320/marshall+and+liz.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_TaJ_UG4BWc1QxatZuwP0qu6UK3krLnYoBUm6TmWxzznQcyuHBPAr1cgrKV9E8IgZB-iVGGgEhO6bEQelxS055RhKrfQx3cpvKvbQI1DZK23TeOFnx94cEYH7iViTYZJiqsAA6Ts0iho/s1600/hailz+and+liz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_TaJ_UG4BWc1QxatZuwP0qu6UK3krLnYoBUm6TmWxzznQcyuHBPAr1cgrKV9E8IgZB-iVGGgEhO6bEQelxS055RhKrfQx3cpvKvbQI1DZK23TeOFnx94cEYH7iViTYZJiqsAA6Ts0iho/s320/hailz+and+liz.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a> <br />
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After Hailey and I passed out (hello, jet lag!), we had an International Students Orientation meeting where we quickly realized that almost every International Student is from America. We did meet one Australian and one Italian though. We also let some of our inner tourist out and went to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. I LOVE how Big Ben just towers over you when you step out of the Westminster Underground stop. It's literally the most exciting feeling in the world. We took our obligatory photos in front of the landmarks and headed home, and now I'm writing this!</div>
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We made some plans with some other Americans the Australian we met so we'll see what ends up happening tonight!</div>
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x</div>
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lizzie</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1565868310349283979.post-81150570604926922642013-08-25T23:39:00.001-07:002014-01-27T19:26:06.482-08:00Countdown..<br />
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Three weeks from today, I'm London bound! When you look at a calendar and see the three long weeks, it seems like its forever away. But when you think to yourself, "21 days...," it's way closer!<br />
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So what can I do for the next three weeks?</div>
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Well, I've already settled the international banking issues, gotten an International Student Identification Card (so official), gathered all of the necessary travel documents, spent hours on Google Earth exploring my new neighborhood, and tried on every sweater I own, which isn't very many. So now it's just down to figuring out what the heck I'm going to do about my cell phone, planning where I want to travel, and packing! Wish I could start filling up the suitcases tomorrow, but that would be a little early.</div>
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I've also started watching Sherlock on Netflix! Believe it or not, the flat they use as Sherlock's home is actually down the street from my flat! I've been looking at all of the <a href="http://www.sherlockology.com/locations" target="_blank">filming locations</a> and I'm going to Speedy's Cafe right when I get there!</div>
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I guess that's about it for now. I swear it'll be more interesting once I've actually left...</div>
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x lizzie</div>
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^^ that's how the Brits sign everything... with a kiss!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04678298235817219862noreply@blogger.com0Houston Houston29.7386 -95.444695