It's too late to apologize...

Yeah, I know these pictures are from November. My bad.

But enough people have asked me to put my pictures up that I'm going to keep going. So... back 2 months ago, my mom came and visited me and we went to Paris for a few days via the chunnel. We didn't even notice going under the English Channel... it was only after a while that I was looking out the window of the train and I noticed the cars were on the right side of the road that I asked "... are we... in France?" So apparently the chunnel is not a glass tunnel with brightly colored fish and sharks all over the place. (I didn't actually think that, for the record, but WHY CAN'T IT BE THAT WAY).

Turns out the Eiffel Tower is huge. It always looked so small in postcards...
Despite my mom's fear of heights, we made it up to the second observation level (after an hour and a half wait in line), and the view of Paris at night was definitely worth it. Unfortunately, me and my tripod-less self aren't very good at taking night photos, so I'll spare you the blurry and confusing pictures I took from the observation deck.

Of course the most important thing about Paris is food. The first night after wandering around the city and all the small shops and alleys (without my sweater... oops. Also turns out it gets colder at night? Who knew.) my mom and I stopped in a restaurant called Mondrian and had some delicious cheese and pasta and wine. A good night indeed. However, apparently I was rather out of character for this trip and didn't take many pictures of my food. I did get one pictures of a cheese plate, but that was only after we'd eaten most of the cheese. Oops? I did also get a picture of a delicious falafel:

But rather in character, I did take a picture of our morning coffee at the Parisian cafe down the street. (I know I didn't really need to say "Parisian," but #pretentious).

 We were too cool for pouring the espresso into the water to make an Americano #wearecultured

One day we went to Versailles, and, well, I took a ton of pictures. I don't have much to say about Versailles, but as my mom says, you can see why the French people were angry at how much money the monarchy was spending just looking at the building without even going inside:

And then you go inside...

(On the right side is the Hall of Mirrors where, at the table bottom right, the various Treaties of Versailles have been signed)

 Looking up at a chandelier - the ornery behind it gives you a jist for how most of the inside was decorated...

 

And if you're REALLY lucky, you'll find ME! What d'ya know. 

Also, the cafe at Versailles had the best hot chocolate I have ever had in my life. Now, I'm not claiming to be any expert on these things, I never went to some fancy school to study chocolate tasting - but I was in the real world, doing it. (Re: this). Anyway, it was amazing.

We also did some of the typical touristy things: walked around the Louvre, went to the Musee d'Orsay, ate plenty, had wine, went to the Pompidou:

Which I thought was really cool (my mom thought less cool since we started with the contemporary exhibit), but definitely tested our museum fatigue. 

We also of course went to Notre Dame, but my camera died before we went inside. Oops.

Yay Pariz. 

Meanwhile, back in London... Thanksgiving approaches. Over Thanksgiving weekend some of the Budapest kids were in town, including Sam Whitehead who imposed himself on me rudely and stayed in my small room. What a douche. 

And so this will be the one picture I post of him. 

Thanksgiving dinner was a success! Joseph and I cooked a delicious chicken and vegetables, eventually finished cooking sweet potatoes (which turn out take longer to cook than 15 minutes in the microwave. Bummer), Frances made a tasty vegetarian dish (with quinoa?), I made a salad, and overall things were very merry.

And of course pie. 

And on that note, happy new year's, folks.

V&A, Arsenal, and a Scottish Breakfast

Howdy folks

I'll just jump right into the pictures here - first things first, I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum a while ago and it was a really incredible museum. To put it in context though, every museum I've been to here in London is insanely huge, gratefully free, and always leaves me saying "Oh hey, I should come back." Whether I'll actually go back to all of them and actually get to everything is highly unlikely, but hey, at least the thought was there. Right? Anywho, the V&A had this cool exhibit called "The Power of Making" which was all about various crafts and particularly people today who make things in an era where it may seem like crafts are a thing of nostalgia. Unfortunately they didn't let you take pictures in there, but the point is it was really cool. Especially the huge gorilla made solely of coat hangers, and an beautiful entirely wooden bicycle - wheels and water bottle holder included.
Being one who likes shiny things, of course I had to take this picture as we strolled through the Jewelry section:

So you might have to be in the infamed 1% to have this, but... w/e.

Even outside of the exhibits, the V&A has little wonders throughout, like the grand Chihuly glass looming above the entrance (I couldn't get a very good picture of it, oops), and this funky squashed brass thing:

And as this museum has an eclectic mix of stuff, they had an architecture exhibit with miniature models, so of course I had to make this picture out of it:

Weeeeeeeeee!

Moving on, a crucial part of British culture is definitely football. And, for ye *Americans* (cough cough lame, I'm so cultured now that I've been abroad and therefore not lame, cough cough... cough) I don't mean American football. So, thanks to Pomona College and their "entertainment expense" fund for us Londoners we got to see an Arsenal vs. Stoke City match on Pomona's dime. (Well, technically Pomona's dime is really tuition dimes, but that's neither here nor there.) It was definitely an experience. Fans sang various boisterous songs, and I think even "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" made the list of Stoke City rally cries.

And of course, the beer was served in only plastic bottles (without caps) and plastic cups, so that you can't get mad and throw glass at people. Apparently this used to be frequent.

The following weekend I took the train up to Edinburgh for a Sparagmos-style Halloween with fellow expat Nick Humphrey.

(Oh hay Nick)


In a word, Scotland is... well... beautiful.
In a few more words, Scotland is beautiful, chilly, and it got dark really early. Also, I did eat haggis, which was no minor mental feat. Still haven't had any black pudding... and I probably won't.
Arthur's Seat is a hike between the center of Edinburgh and the grand sea beyond, and is a must-do if you ever find yourself there.

It's also insanely windy. And super shaggy dogs in the wind is a great form of entertainment.

And as promised by the title, a Scottish breakfast. Mind you, not a full Scottish breakfast (since I don't want to eat congealed blood, kthnx), but I say I still get credit. My favorite part was the potato pastry on the bottom right of the plate - so good. I need more of those in my life, as so far there has only been one. And one is the loneliest number. (I think people need to quote Three Dog Night more often in daily life.) But also, I note the lack of greenery in all Scottish food. How do these people get any vitamins? /not die of coronaries?

PRETTY CASTLE.

And now, Halloween themed pictures.

AHHH IT'S AN EYEBALLLLLLL WITH AN ARTFULLY PLACED KNIFE BEHIND IT AHHHH FEAR FOR YOUR LIVES

We did Halloween right, I'd say. Ate a lot of delicious food. Did fall-y things. We carved pumpkins.Went to a cemetery.

Boooooooo...!

Baked pumpkin seeds. (Which of course deserved taking a picture)

Mmmmmmm.

And of course, dressed up like the cool people we are.

Left to right: Nick as Mahler, me as Mrs. Clause, Nick's flatmate Richard as an amazing rendition of Old Greg, Laura's friend as Little Red Riding Hood (gone cannibal, I guess, since there's blood dripping from her mouth), and Nick's flatmate Laura as a beheaded princess.
One of the best moments of the night was walking to the pub when two girls spotted Richard and said, "Oh look! It's Old Greg!"

Another good moment: my costume was bought at a convenience store for £10, and I ran into someone who really wanted my hat. He offered £5. I said I liked my hat. He offered £10. I accepted. Free costume, w/e.

Canary Wharf wandering

So, turns out it was a while ago that I actually went to Canary Wharf, but here I am with old pictures and an empty new blog-post/canvas to fill with whatever I want. And so I'm posting pictures of our adventure to this major business district of London.
First off, you should know how impeccably clean this place is. Most of the places I've been in London have been actually surprisingly clean, in a noticeable way that can make you feel strange sometimes. Especially at Canary Wharf, where the buildings are made of glass and the ground is a spotless light concrete. It's a little intimidating.
Anyway, I don't feel like typing too much, so I'm just going to post the pictures. 

Tallest building (currently) in Europe: the Canada One building

Just Broseph overlooking the Thames and contemplating Scandinavian architecture.

On the left is Andras, who was the one who took us down to Canary Wharf in the first place. He works at the UCL department of biosciences with us Pomona kids. But important in this photo is how bored the statue is with their conversation. And how Joseph posed for this picture trying to be nonchalant. Did he succeed?

There were quite a few sculptures sprinkled around the area - as far as I could tell this was a sort of Trojan Horse reference. It was cool.

This was just cool. I have no idea what it was supposed to be.

Looking over the Thames back at central London. You can see the Gherkin in the left picture.

And yet again, the grand Glass Shard in its embryonic stages.

Sidenote: I've been trying to go through my iTunes by artist alphabetically to listen to all the songs and create a huge playlist. I started something like a month ago, and I'm all the way to 'Bea' for Beatles. Wooooo!
kbai

CHARLEY

The title of this post is not a reference to the famed "Charlie the Unicorn" videos. Although, those are great.

If you haven't seen them, you should watch it now. So worth it. 

That little candy mountain tune will be stuck in your head for a few days, you probably shouldn't fight it. And instead learn all the lyrics and have your friends consider you to have gone off the deep end. #notpersonalexperience

Anyway, the title is an homage to my friend Charley from Pomona, who visited and told me I had to put him in my blog. So here he is:

w/e. Just uke-ing it up like a pro.

So anyway, Charley came to visit me, and slept on my floor on a pile of clothes. That pile of clothes is now my wardrobe, and has still not really moved from the floor. So, I'll blame Charley for that. He also somehow convinced me to let him have the bed one night, but it was one way to get him to be quiet so that I could just go to sleep.

His first evening with me we went to this tasty vegetarian Indian place in Soho (I don't remember the name... awkward, since I've been there three times now). Pictured above is chili paneer, veggie curry, yellow basmanti, and some naan. Tasty, and a recipe for stomach pain when you mix it with a pint of taddy lager right after. But worth it.

That weekend was also sprinkled with Pomona alumni events, since the Ox was in town (Ox = prez. Oxtoby, president of PomoCo, in case that wasn't glaringly obvious).

So, this was one in a weekend long series of super overexposed pictures that Charley was excited about taking with my camera, which I will spare you the rest of. But the point is, this is Charley with his dapper tie for the Saturday alumni event - lunch at a Pomona alumni's house who is currently one of the richest men in Indonesia. Let's just say, after the oysters, three different types of lox, delicious fish, truffles, crepes, etc. there was a £2000 bottle of cognac. #wut #mostexpensivedrinkI'lleverhave
The brand was Louis XIII - I'll let you explore the website on your own. You should probably watch the 10 minute introduction video. http://www.louis-xiii.com/

Anyway, we also went down to the Thames and did some more exploring of London.

Big Ben again, along with other parts of the parliament. So coooooool. I'm actually going to be taking a History of Parliament class (which I'm nervous about, since I know nothing about English history or their parliament, so... yeah), and I might get to go in and watch some debates etc. Wahoo! And what a beautiful Union Jack flying high and mighty above the city.

This is just a picture of Charley lookin' fly in front of Westminster. Just look at that smirk.

And there's the grand abbey itself. I haven't had the chance to take pictures inside yet, but I did go to an organ concert there with PomoCo pals Joseph and Miriam, which was great. All of the music concerts inside the abbey are free, and it's such a great space for it. You haven't experienced the true awe of reverberation unless it's been in a huge old church like this one.

Benches overlooking the river. #idyllic

A different view of the London Eye. This was as we were walking through something called the Mayor's festival, which took place by the Thames and made it even more crowded than normal. I think I'm learning that I don't like crowds very much. In fact, I do not like crowds at all. But there were a lot of food stands, and I got a delicious free range organic burger with a delicious creamy blue cheese which made it worth it.

I took this picture in the tube on the way back home from the Thames adventure. I haven't mentioned it yet, but London is full of CCTV cameras. Everywhere. (CCTV = closed circuit TV). I swear, they probably even put them in bathrooms. I've already gotten to the point like other Londoners where you just ignore them and they don't really bother you anymore, but it still feels a bit "big brother" as you can imagine. Ironically, we went to a pub once that had about five CCTV cameras inside, which was apparently one of George Orwell's favorite pubs. He probably had a lot of favorite pubs, following his reputation, but still. The cameras were a bit eerie after that...

Finally, to the most important part. That being, I've already been to my great hipstamatic coffee place enough to get a free cup. Win. I do love the place, though, it's called Tapped and Packed and it is some of the best  coffee I've ever had. Check out their website (http://tappedandpacked.co.uk/), but more importantly their blog (http://tappedandpacked.wordpress.com/). And their cups are each hand stamped:

I DON'T CARE IF YOU CALL ME HIPSTER, SINCE YOU PROBABLY ALREADY DO. So hah.

Classes are finally starting next week. I know it sounds weird to be excited for class, but I've also learned I'm a person who likes structure and a sense of purpose. And it's also funny that PomoCo started classes five weeks ago. w/e

How come every time you come around my London, London Bridge...

First: SORRY I'M SO LAZY AND IT'S TAKEN ME SO LONG TO POST ANYTHING

And now on with the first "Oh wheeee I'm in London!" post.
Getting here was somewhat of a blur - I remember not sleeping on the plane, arriving at 7:30 am, taking some kind of train, and meeting with two other Pomonans with our UCL (University College London) contact at Paddington station. Then, a tube ride (still with my stupidly large amount of luggage), and a 5 minute walk, and hooray home! There are five of us total on the UCL molecular biology program, and they housed us suite style in one of the UCL dorms. Fortunate for now to be living with other people, since classes don't actually start until late September and students aren't here yet, but I think later it'll make it harder to meet people. Oh well.
Three days of mind-numbing jet lag later, I finally get a good night's sleep.

In the meantime, we toured around London some, and of course, I took pictures. Surprise.

 

Quintessential sightseeing - Big Ben

 

The London Eye, across the Thames (why do they pronounce that word like "Tems"? srsly)

And we crossed the London Bridge. It's not quite what it used to be - the original London Bridge is actually somewhere off of I-40 in Arizona. Go figure. Now this is pretty much just a bridge.

Throughout the city there are an amazing number of small parks and green spaces, and one of my favorite things so far has been the use of churches and sites bombed in WWII. In particular, this church garden was so beautiful and peaceful. The other day fellow Pomonans Miriam and Joseph and I went to Borough market and bought some tasty cheeses, bread, and interesting beers (including Oktoberfest weisbier, an espresso stout, a dark chocolate stout, and a black IPA) to bring to this great little place and have a picnic.

Our UCL contact was particularly excited about this building - it's called the "Glass Shard" and will soon be the tallest building in Europe. Wheeeeee!

The Tate Modern in all its glory. I haven't made it inside yet, but Miriam and Joseph say it's very cool inside. The building is an old power house converted museum, fitting with a modern art museum, I'd imagine. One great thing about London is so many of the museums are free - meaning that since there's too much in any one museum to see at one time, you can always go back without having to pay for it again. #notmadeofmoney

A random beautiful church in downtown London - these things are scattered everywhere. Our UCL contact treated us to a nice afternoon English tea in the courtyard. Brilliant! Righto! #British

Coupling the old with the new, this building is innovative in its design to be sort of "inside out" in its aesthetics. I don't remember what the building is called, but apparently opinions of its beauty are quite polarized - you either love it or you hate it. I think it's pretty cool, but I don't know if I'd want to see it every day...

And today's final picture: the Gherkin, as it is colloquially called. I think a gherkin is a pickle, and that makes sense. There's a small rail around the top of it going all the way around for the window-washers to hang from... #wut
I guess you'd get a good view of London, as you hang from ropes in a cart off of a small rail on a super tall building in a windy, rainy city.

In other news, classes haven't even started yet, and they won't for another week or two yet. w/e