Inventory

One year in London. This is the beginning of the list...

Things that I gained:
Very Good Friends: Natalie, Kayde, Carla, Lee, Liza, Rebecka, Spence, Adam, Sean, Isis, Mike.
Travel experiences: Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, Berlin, Vienna, Austrian Alps, Budapest, Salzburg, Canterbury, Bath, Brighton, Cardiff, Windsor/Bray. And now India!
English vocabulary that I use regularly: Pants (underwear), trousers (pants), lift, flat, cheers, quid.
Oh, and a Masters degree.

Things that lasted me the whole year:
One bottle of nail polish remover.
One bottle of eye makeup remover.
Somehow I have maintained a steady supply of imported altoids.
The plant I bought my first day here (though it has a new home now).

My favorite things about London:
Pubs. I'm going to be at a loss of where to go in New York! You will probably find me at the Spotted Pig until I find some other decent options.
The upper deck of the bus. A great place to stare and daydream.
The international contingent. I have friends from more countries than I can count.
Speaking of, London's proximity to everywhere else is amazing. So easy and cheap to travel.
The urgency of enjoying a sunny day. You should have seen the crazy tan lines ( I mean burn lines really) after the one hot summer saturday in June!
My friends.
That everyone cycles. I didn't get to do it enough, but love it.

Blogging Slacker

But I have been taking pictures of some things I've made. Oh, and of course my new housemate, Ellie.
Bed
Wood, glue, tape, foam, thread, shirt

Tub
Clay, glase, screw

Chair
Foam, wood, glue, tape, thread, hair, shirt

Tea pot and cups. I'm in love.

Post nap cuteness

Ellie: My New Housemate.

I recently moved in with Lee (who is the co-author of this post), her husband David, and Ellie, who is 15 months old. While Ellie is extremely cute, she is not the best housemate one could ask for.

Some positives and negatives of living with Ellie:

• She throws her food on the floor and expects you to clean it up.
• Watches the WORST shows on TV and cries when you change the channel.
• She goes to bed early but sometimes wakes you up in the middle of the night.
• Drinks all of the milk and never replaces it.
• Respects my privacy but poops her pants in front of me.
• Smiles when I come home but never asks me how my day was.
• Likes my peanut butter cookies but never thanks me for making them.
• Doesn't borrow my clothes or hog the phone line but keeps trying to eat my iphone.

Luckily, the positives score way higher points.

Correction

I spent my second to last night in the dorms having drinks with Sean, Mike, his bf Leon, and another fine art dorm friend, Rubin. It was fitting to be with my Hoxton crew and Mike was my friend friend in London! Anyway, back to the correction: Mike informed me that all the reasons I was moving out of the halls were actually not entirely true. Well, they were true when I was informed but the management changed their tune. Anyway, I'm still glad I'm out of there, but my reason is now: I'm almost 29 and over residence halls. Now begins my slight homelessness/adventure in other people's homes. It was a long week moving but I am all done and mostly settled in at Rebecka and Spence's. Goodbye Hoxton, hello Newington Green.

My first order of business in my new neighborhood is checking out a little cafe around the corner called Tina, We Salute You. I am already familiar with the local pub, The Nobody Inn, so don't worry. My second order of business is to make use of Rebecka's bike. Mom, she also has a helmet that I will wear, I promise. I just want to get around more easily, not get myself injured!

Movin' out and English Summertime.

It is finally time to move out of the residence halls! It is bittersweet, as most endings are. I had the option of staying through the summer but I would have had to move rooms (don't ask why, no one knows) and would also need to be out by September 1, which happens to be the day my final show opens (AHHHHHHHHH). And really, I'm over the halls. I was about to find a summer sublet when some friends very generously offered their various residences for around 3 weeks each. I will be at Rebecka and Spence's until July 17 (they are going away) and the to stay with Lee, David, and Ellie until August 11. It makes for a bit of a stressful move with strategic packing, bringing stuff to my studio, storing stuff (with another generous friend), and getting rid of things. But, its almost over! And then I can focus on school school school.

Isis, my friend and now former flatmate :( and I had some wine last night and this was her only cup left:

And for an English summer tradition:
Here is my friend Sophie from college (that is what they call it here) about to drink a very large pitcher of Pimm's. Kidding, we helped her. Pimm's is all the rage in the summer in England, they mix it with "lemonade," which is really like sprite, and lots of cut fruit. English sangria. Brilliant.

More on summer in England to come.

Because there is a sweet cafe on the grungy canal...

...I like London a little more today. Also, the weather is warm and sunny and I finally went for a run. The other day it was around 60 degrees, not a joke. Welcome to English summers!


I have been procrastinating writing an entry because I was going to write about my trip to Budapest, Vienna, the Tyrolian Alps, and Salzburg but was overwhelmed at summing up 9 eventful days. So I am not going to, call me if you want details :)

In other news, I cut all my hair off. I feel a bit traumatized but getting used to it. Some good things about short hair: you use less shampoo, it takes two seconds to blow dry and I can actually get away with not drying it at all! I look better in hats (tried on 100 at work yesterday) and can now buy hair accessories.

Updated

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