Shallow Pockets Brimming With Paddington (Bear)

Our second weekend was a little closer to 'home'- we ventured just an hour away to fair old London!

As soon as Caitlin and I got out of class at 11:30a we ran to snag our bags and flew to the train station to make it to our noon train! Cheese and veggie pasty in hand, we made it onto the train and headed off to Paddington Station! Our hostel was called Equity and it was mere blocks from Paddington (PERFECT location)- the whole area was so ritzy and residential... or, 'posh', rather. It was quaint and lovely just like most all of the Europe I've seen so far.
Not wanting to waste time, as soon as we got our room keys we dropped our bags and headed out the door to test some of the spots recommended to us by the lady at the desk. We decided to start by getting lost in Hyde Park (it was a surprisingly gorgeous day for London).

Once the park spit us out, we wandered around London's shopping district and even took an unworthy peek into Harrod's.That night Cait and I met up with our British friends from Amsterdam (Stephen and James) at the pub Stephen works at called The Pilgrim. I learned two very important things that night- 1) black sambuca is FAR superior to white sambuca (blegh) and 2) the Brits have funny rules in regards to pool (and yes I do mean pool and not Snooker). My trash talking about my American pool skills didn't quite live up to my English pool performance...
The next day a group of fellow Techies met up with us at Equity and we proceeded to be full fledged tourists. It was (once again) a GORGEOUS day so we took advantage of The Eye's vantage point. We saw Big Ben and stumbled upon Oxford Circus- there was this wonderful outdoor food and beer market yummm. CAITLIN AND I TRIED TONGUE!!! AGHHH!!! It was good... I suppose but SUCH A STRANGE SENSATION TO CHEW THROUGH TONGUE ON YOUR TONGUE!!Outside of the market was this GORGEOUS art piece meant to promote freedom of speech, especially to those who have suffered some form of persecution- it was a space for them to get their stories out with the spoken word. After that Trond and I wandered around to various parks and bridges and we came upon Londond Bridge and Chinatown (of course). [It really was delicious- I let him order for me off the menu.] After dinner we met up with, oh, I don't know, A MILLION Americans at this huge dubstep show featuring(...). It was a lot of fun but I was miserably sick :/ so Trond helped me navigate back to the hostel... man that was a long, cold journey. London weather finally prevailed and it rained and rained the whole way back. I was SO THANKFUL for that down comforter! Brrrr.
Saturday was rainy and gross as well and I really wanted to see a play in London so I figured the yuck-day was the perfect excuse to do something indoors.While everyone else went exploring I headed to Leicester Square- London's entertainment capital- and saw The Woman In Black (that new movie that's coming out with Daniel Radcliffe, have you seen the previews?). Since I didn't get to actually go to The Globe (rain, meh) I ate at the Globe Pub instead before the play! The show was phenomenally FRIGHTENING! It's a ghost story (which usually turns me to putty) but I figured as a play it couldn't be nearly as effective... WRONG. So very, very wrong! The guy next to me was getting a kick out of my over-reactions. I spilt malt balls everywhere, haha.
We all had dinner in Chinatown again (can't break an asian man of his asian habits) and then decided to call it a night since we had to relocate to our other hostel... and good thing! Our Saturday night hostel took us almost TWO hours to navigate to! We took the Tube to the end of one line, transferred, and then took it to the end of another. Then we got on a bus, took that to the end of the route, and then took another bus to the end of THAT route. Then we walked until we found the road and then proceeded to follow that road for blocks until we finally saw lights! We definitely weren't in London anymore!
Sunday we left the hostel as early as we were able and I fulfilled my London-goal of watching THE FINAL HARRY POTTER MOVIE IN LONDON!!... I was a bit disappointed in the movie :( AND I was SEVERELY disappointed in the Platform 9 3/4! They were doing construction on King's Cross so you couldn't even get to the little platform they created!!! They had a makeshift one out front for goblins obviously because the little 'brick wall' was so short you couldn't get a decent picture :( This was my attempt... I was literally on the verge of tears!... What a let-down to such a long-planned pilgrimage!!

Ah well... I'm sure I will find myself back in London at some point.

Shallow Pockets Brimming with Red Light (Green Light)

For the first travel weekend Caitlin and I decided to go BIG- AmsterDAM!!!

We took a bus from Glouscter Green (right next to Worcester College) to Luton Airport (the smallest of London's three).Waiting on our EasyJet. European airports are different in the fact that once you go through security, etc you don't actually go to your gate... because you have NO IDEA until just minutes before your flight leaves which gate exactly you'll be departing from. So you have to sit in the lobby and wait until a screen displays a gate and then there's a mad dash since seating assignments are first come, first serve!We paused our dash for this picture (as did the plane attendant in the background- he posed just for us)!


We got to Amsterdam pretty late and, since I still haven't mastered this camera, all of the pictures are blurry and unimpressive. But our first hostel was AMAZING!! It was called Coco Mama... a little distance away from the Red Light district but pretty close to the bar district and the museums- SO worth it.
So, so worth it. It used to be a brothel once upon a time and now it's this super hippy, sharing, what's-mine-is-yours 'house' with down comforters and a wonderfully inviting common room/dining room/kitchen with the friendliest little fat cat you've ever seen. Oh and did I mention they gave us free food?!

We did explore the bar district a bit though and we made Dutch friends that brought us to one of the coolest shot bars I've ever been to- I got to ROAST a marshmallow ON THE SURFACE OF THE BAR! Nuts! That's NUTS!! We went exploring the next day and found a lovely little outdoor market (hello souvenirs!), toured the Anne Frank House (...one of the most sobering experiences I've ever had part in) and followed the winding canals and bike-ladden streets to see what a day-in-the-life of an Amsterdamite might be (okay and maybe to peep into a coffeeshop or two)...Later that night we checked out of Coco Mama and made our way to the heart of Amsterdam to meet up with Brian (the guy I met on the plane- remember the first post?) and his friend Russel and see what all the Red Light District had to offer. It took so many tries to find wi-fi for communication...We ended up making buddies with a little italian man and he let us access their internet while we enjoyed a glass of Cab (of course, what else would it be?) and some lemon sorbet. Sorry, after this point no pictures allowed for the rest of the night... ;)

The next day there was a festival in the center of the square- there were so many costumed 'statues' but this guy was worth the euro it cost for the picture. Do you see that detail?!We had to relocate yet again (you really shouldn't sleep in if you sneak more people into a hotel room than they say you're allowed) and we were party poops that slept much of the day away- they make those hostel beds so damn comfortable!
That night we were supposed to meet up with the boys again but wi-fi was hard to come by (we wanted to give the Italian Restaurant a break) so we found a pub crawl instead. GOOD decision. We made so many friends!! Meet the Aussis! Meet the Brits!Accents galore I LOVE IT!
A little hung over, but no worse for the wear, we conquered the ultimate in touristy activities on our last day- climbing on the Iamsterdam sign! We were able to squeeze in the Van Gogh museum and then we had a little college-budget picnic at the base of the National Monument before jetsetting back to Oxford.
May every weekend be full of so many stories and adventures!

Shallow Pockets Brimming With Stars and Stripes

Sorry this blog is so far behind- I'll catch up after Barcelona I hope!

Anyways, this post is in regards to the Fourth of July which I celebrated as my first full day in England (irony?)!

Over the summer I was stalking one of my favorite blogs: MAFFASHION. She's this Polish fashionista I found on Lookbook years ago and I think she's just divine- I want to be her picture-life.
This post particularly caught my interest: http://madamejulietta.blogspot.com/2011/05/2405-otwarcie-butiku-p.html
CHECK OUT THAT VEST!

As soon as I saw it I knew I had to replicate it so I could be an obnoxious American tourist celebrating our country's independence in the country we earned it from (I know... that sounds ignorant as hell and I'm not really serious... it's just WHEN does that sort of opportunity present itself?! I just wanted to make the most of it...)!

So I started work on it this summer...I went to the Salvation Army on Marietta Street right around the corner from Tech and scored this little gem for less than $5- why spend on something I'm going to shred?
Got some fabric paints and then I went to town with a seam ripper taking off the sleeves and mussing the jean up with a razor blade and some kitchen tools- a little more rustic.
I used the material from the sleeves to make the patches on either side of the chest as well as for the panel along the back. Added some 'Bedazzler' stars (thank you Ebay!) and voila! Pa pa l'Americano!

I got this little tee from WalMart and used transfer paper to print this image by Mitch Epstien- I scanned it from a book in the Architecture Library. I love how it captures a Bicentennial America.
These were all taken by Trond Liu (thank you!) on the CRICKET GROUNDS @ OXFORD :)
(Worcester pictures to come very soon!!)

God Bless Europe and its sense of style. I'm in deep love.

Shallow Pockets Brimming With a Standby Community

Cheers!! I begin this blog with my very first out-of-country excursion- Georgia Tech's Oxford Program. Unfortunately my journey began with a few bumps but I'm in Europe!- ain't nothin gonna get me down.

First, before my six-week hiatus from the good ole U.S.ofA.- a family goodbye dinner.

The 'rents. Mama and Daddy took us all to a little restaurant in Buckhead called 'Mosaic.' It's a little house that has been turned into a fancy pants (but still laid back) restaurant. Everything inside is super modern (I fell asleep on the cushions/bench of one of the 'booths' the first time I dined there with a little bit of help from a bottle of wine and a full belly) but it's quaint and the menu always keeps you on your toes since the tiny kitchen does not always accomodate all of the ingredients. The specials are always really creative too.

Oh Brother.

I began my journey at Heartsfield-Jackson International. Look how excited:


That was on Thursday evening for a 10:55p flight to Heathrow. Well... things didn't go as planned. I couldn't get on the over-full flight and I bid a less than enthusiastic goodbye to the other six standbys that didn't make it either.

The next day I got to the airport (still in my same clothes...) and tried for Gatwick at 5:45p. I ran into one of the standbys from the night before, Heena, and we shared or pitiful same-clothes, no-make-up, stranded predicament with one another... this flight didn't look very promising either.
Then my name was called to the counter- OH HAPPY DAY! ...Only to discover that baggage claim wanted to chck with me concerning my bag. Immediate deflate. Heena and I didn't make that flight either- but we did adopt a Techie into our little standby family- Sid!

Onto Manchester. Sid and two other Delta employees made it and THEY CALLED HEENA AND ME TO THE QUEUE!!!... Only our hopes were bashed by two late-comers running to the gate with confirmed tickets and only 45 seconds to spare... it was all the self control I could manage to not fling my backpack at them and stampede the plane. Thus Heena and I were booted. Another damn flight missed!

So we trooped our way over to another gate for Heathrow. Chances were slim to none... and the none prevailed.

Then another flight- again, the 10:55p flight. Denied.

ANOTHER day in the airport in the SAME clothes. At least I had Heena. We trudged hopelessly to the Gatwick gate and played our usual game of sit-and-wait. We ran into about three of our oher 'standby crew' from the days past- it seems hardly anyone was able to find a Friday flight. Names were called, people boarded... and then they called first one friend and then another! This might be it!! A man was called... but when she spelt the name IT WAS HEENA! WHICH MEANT I WAS NEXT... and it happened!! "Drescher!" YESSSSS!!!! We jumped and hugged and screamed and RAN onto the plane. And the nice Delta attendents gave us shiney little wings for all of our perseverance :)

Initially my seat was to be smack dab in the middle of a 3 person center row- but what did I care? I was FINALLY on a plane!! As luck had it though the other two seats were a couple that wanted to stay together. Would I like to change my middle sea for an aisle seat? You bet your ass I would!

And then- more luck. Across the aisle I overheard talk of Georgia Tech and study abroad and wouldn't you know it but a fellow Techie, and the future roommate of one of my pledge class sisters, was off to study abroad in London as well- Grace. And the boy sitting next to her- Brian- was a fellow study abroad kid from Mississippi. Unfortunately I can't get the picture off of my cell phone but I have plans to meet up with both of them in the upcoming weeks.

What a small, small world we live in.

So... now I'm on my own. OFF TO OXFORD!!!