Notting Hill

Since Notting Hill is one of my favorite boroughs of London, I had to make one last stop before leaving.  Portobello Road Market (in Notting Hill) is definitely one of the largest street markets here, and the prime day to go is Saturday, when all of the vendors are out.  So, we made our way there and finally got to experience it while it was in its prime!  I had to buy last minute gifts before leaving, so I got some cute goodies from antique street vendors that will make some people back home happy :)  Of course, street food is always a good little find, so we grabbed some lunch and I snapped some colorful food pictures to remember our wonderful day in NH.

Lastly, THE CUPCAKE.  I think I blogged about this before, but in NH (and in other areas of London) there is this amazing bakery, Hummingbird Bakery.  They are super famous here in London, and rightfully so.  Their red velvet cupcakes are out of this world, and definitely high up on my list of things I will miss in this wonderful city.  A dozen of those bad boys would actually be a really good birthday surprise (hint hint, mom)

We decided to make the most of our weekly unlimited tube pass (best decision I have ever made) and took the tube to Marble Arch.  I'm not sure what the significance of it is, maybe a replica of Arc De Triomphe in Paris?  But it was pretty, and we got to see a massive horse head statue, which was interesting...

3 full days left, and falling more in love with this city each day, but getting extremely excited to see all my loves back home!!

Couldn't resist getting artsy.. Notting HIll street art

massive horse head at Marble Arch

The Eye/Brick Lane

This was my last full week in London!  Everyone in my close group of friends here is gone except Caitlin and I, who got put on the same flight back home, yay!  So, saying bye to everyone and seeing their bags packed and rooms empty makes it a little more surreal that I'm going to be home in 4 days.  

We have been busy running around London like chickens with our heads cut off trying to do last minute things!  This week, we did the London Eye!  It was obviously on my list of super touristy things to do, and it was exactly what I expected.  Long, slow, and full of sights I have seen tons of times over. It was neat to see them from up top, especially Big Ben, and was a great way to avoid the rain for 30 minutes!

Yesterday, we went to Brick Lane, which is in East London.  This area is the cooler/more cultured part of the city.  It has lots of ethnic restaurants and things you normally wouldn't see in central.  Why did we go there you may ask?  Well, they have really neat street art, like they write books about the street art.  Also, Caitlin's mom had heard of this market there, Spitafields, which has typical market clothes and jewelry, but is under the same roof as really nice London chain restaurants.  It was actually my favorite clothing market I've been to, and the fact that I could get an awesome crepe just a few feet away wasn't too shabby either..

On the Eye!

Brick Lane street art

Spitafields Market
[sign says it was built in 1893]

NOM! Chocolate peanut butter crepe!

Matilda

I saw two plays with Mom & Dad when they visited, but I thought I should go see just one more to really get the West End experience.  Obviously Matilda was one of my favorite movies ever as a child (I may or may not have watched it while I've been here, too) so I knew this was the one I wanted to see, and the tickets weren't too expensive!  

So last night we went to dinner and drinks and then the play, and it was amazing!  Seriously, might have been my favorite play I have ever seen.  The music, stage, actors, everything was just wonderful.  When I got back, I researched it a bit and it has actually won lots of awards here in London (London was where it started) and I think its coming to New York soon, so everyone go see it! 

On a sad note, a few of my friends have already left for America and my one week countdown has passed, SO SAD!  But I'm getting more excited every day to get home to everyone I love, my puppy, and naturally, Bojangles and sweet tea.

Best set I've ever seen! Made entirely of books

Fuller's Brewery

Fullers is probably the most popular beer here in London, and the yummiest.  They have tons of pubs around here and I have recently fallen in love with their Honey Dew beer (only served at Fuller's pubs).  So when I heard they did brewery tours, I was all about it.  The brewery is only about 15 minutes from Roehampton and just a short tube ride away, which made the trip even better!  We went yesterday and got a full tour of the working brewery, so we had to wear reflector vests the whole time.. pretty cool.  We got to taste the different types of barley they use in each beer and see the hops that were going to be used to manufacturing the next day.  Then the good part came.. the taste test!  I was shocked at how much beer we got.  We actually to try every kind of Fuller's beer (which totaled to 5 pints).  My favorite was still the Honey Dew, and having an unlimited supply of it for an hour wasn't too shabby of a deal :)

After our afternoon of brewery fun, we met some friends at a nearby pub in Putney for their going away dinner!  Everyone was super nostalgic and talked about all of the wonderful memories we have made together.  8 days left!

Oldest Wisteria in England!
[at the brewery]

Most popular Fuller's drink.. London Pride!

and my personal fav.. Honey Dew

Then there were 10..

Today I officially entered countdown mode, with a lot of sadness, happiness, anxiousness and every other emotion you could imagine flooding my way.  This weekend, I have checked even more stuff off of my list..

TOUR OF WESTMINSTER

ICE CREAM AT HARRODS

CHANGING OF THE GUARDS

Overall, an exciting weekend with more going away festivities to come!

cutest ice cream parlor ever (and most overpriced)

with the harrods bear!

the closest we could get.. biggest crowd I've seen at Buckingham

Time

As my two week countdown came and went, time has been on my mind more now than ever.  I really can't believe that my time abroad has almost come to an end.  I feel like I should still be a newbie here, but instead, I'm now a master at public transportation, have traveled around parts of Europe, taken trains all over the UK, and made wonderful friends here.  

The other day Caitlin and I were reading the blog of a girl who studied abroad and she talked about reverse culture shock. It FREAKED ME OUT.   Of course, I vividly remember my first day here, crying over every single little thing I could (including having no idea how to plug an ethernet cord up/not knowing how to use an international converter) and wishing I could just get on a plane and go right back home.  But this girl talked about what happens when you get back from studying abroad, how your friends get sick of hearing about your new experiences, trouble readjusting, and so on.  So, obviously I panicked and texted the people closest to me and begged them to let me tell them all my study abroad stories upon my return!  I do believe studying abroad changes you, whether you like it or not.  I have become so much more independent here, making decisions and traveling by myself, that it will be hard to readjust to a life where help is just a phone call away (dad).  But, I think my newfound independence will stick and hopefully (fingers crossed) I won't have any reverse culture shock symptoms! :)

My emotions have been all over the place: excited to go home and see everyone I love, but so sad that I will have to leave London, a city I have grown to love. Nevertheless, time isn't going to wait for me to be ready to leave, so I'm making the best of the 12 (WHAT?!) days I have left!

This week, we went to an organic food festival near the London Eye and had amazing food, candy floss (cotton candy) and blueberry mojitos while enjoying the 72 degree weather.  Our next day was spent shopping for the last time on Oxford Street, where I bought a few souvenirs for people back home (and some clothes for me :)) And yesterday, we took a day trip to Wales.  Of course, the good weather had hit its limit and it rained the entire day, but we got to see Cardiff and Newport, which were both beautiful and full of green countrysides.

This guy obviously having a great time at the festival

Cardiff's claim to fame

Theatre in Cardiff (notice the purple brick)

Cardiff theatre
(did anybody know that Welsh language existed? Well, that's
what you're looking at.. basically a bunch of consonants
jumbled together)

Waiting for our debut in Hairspray

Hot mess express right there.. right after we ran in
a downpour

and these are the soaked toes of my boots after
 3 hours of drying..

May Flowers

Well, April showers certainly did bring May flowers, because everything is finally growing and springy here in London!  Since I've been back from Paris, it has been absolutely perfect weather for us to do stuff in central.

When I returned from Paris, I made a list of things I still have left to do in London/boroughs around London.  Since I had 22 days left (seriously, so sad) before flying back home, I wanted to make sure I had something to do each day.. so I started my list on May 1!

Laying in Hyde Park

This sounds completely weird and random, but when you are as vitamin D deprived as I am, simple things like this become a priority.  Hyde park is one of the royal parks, and in my opinion, the prettiest. There is a lake right in the middle and people and dogs everywhere, its perfect.  So I bought a good book and Caitlin and I brought a blanket out to the park (I read 5 pages, then fell asleep, whats new) and people watched while eating the best caramel ice cream in the whole world.  It was a perfect Hyde Park day!

Oxford

We took a day trip to Oxford, which is so much smaller than I thought!  We basically got there at 1 and left by 5, but in reality, all we wanted to do was go to the university.. which we couldn't even get into!  You must have to be smart enough to figure out how to get in there because we had no idea..  Anyways, the town was really cute and we walked along the river where the cambridge/oxford boat races are held and even went to the church where Alice in Wonderland was written

Proper Tea

I have been dying to go to proper afternoon tea at The Orangery in Kensington Gardens, so yesterday we went and had a lovely tea!  I felt so English and proper, but I wasn't too down with the afternoon snacks.  But the gardens have definitely grown since the last time I've been and were SO GORGEOUS  and fully grown, which was perfect to see before I leave

Borough Market

Since the market is so awesome on Saturdays, we went this morning to grab a bite to eat and get some stuff to cook dinner tonight.  Of course, we had to have one day of bad weather, so it hit us on the day we would be outside.  But luckily, it only lasted long enough for us to run into the shelter of the market, leaving us looking like drowned rats.  But thankfully, everyone was in the same boat with us.  I got Raclette potatoes and it was literally the best thing I've ever had in my life (if you don't know what racelette is, look it up, you won't regret it) so after that, we got some groceries to make dinner, and it was so yummy!

I'm officially getting so sad about leaving, and falling even more in love with London every single day here, so it will be a bittersweet last few weeks here.. 

Hyde Park

Oxford

Oxford

Logic Lane in Oxford

Proper tea at Kensington!

Raclette! SO AMAZING

Borough Market

Borough Market

Just to make everyone smile :)