summer days, summer ways

Caitlin McGauley [my favorite water colorist]
Oh the joys of summer time.
This week has been pretty free of class because of the way our scheduling worked out and we have been trying to utilize these days to enjoy the most of our sunny days.
Let me try to recap my adventures.

Sunday: BRICK LANE MARKETS! oh, markets filled with glorious foods from every ethnicity and crafts of every style shape and color. I wish I had pictures to show since the market is famous and is only open on Sundays. I guess I will have to return. Brick Lane is the Indian section of London and so of course I had to have Indian food for dinner. However, there are SO many Indian places it is impossible to choose a place and when one is walking down Brick Lane there is a man outside every single restaurant that tries to get you to go into their restaurant by giving you special offers or a 3 course meal for only 6 pounds. That sounded good to us so we finally just decided on one and I ended up getting a mango lassi [free] then vegetable samosas, chicken korma and rice for 6 pound. Not too shabby. I shall be back to Brick Lane because I need that homeade hot Chai tea being made on the street and those virgin pina coladas that were being sold in real pineapples!

Monday: we did have class, in fact we had both Modern Design and British Culture. However Modern Design class was held at the V&A museum and British Culture was at the Tate Modern across the Thames river. We walked across the Millennium Bridge to get there which was so beautiful. After Tate Modern a few of my friends decided it would only be proper if we got soft serve ice cream and sat in the green green park overlooking the Thames. The ice cream let me tell you was delicious and the company was great.

Night time we went to a pub down the street from us the gloucester Arms.

Tuesday: Rainy day. Lazy day. We all stayed in and kept telling ourselves we would do our homework. I believe we failed at that aspect but we all moved down into the basement to our common room [which is now under construction for renovation] each with their own laptops and sadly might have wasted the day away. The thunder was roaring and the rain falling quite too heavy outside so we did what we do best, we were lazy on this Tuesday.

Night was the FIE reception for every group of American students studying over here with Foundation House. Sadly the mingling didn't go too well as everyone is pretty much stuck with their own groups. They did give us free food and drink so everyone was happy just the same even though it was cold and rainy. Good thing I had made cupcakes during the day for everyone so we went back home, got into Pajamas and had a movie night in our common room!

Wednesday: For Modern Design we met our teacher at the London Bridge train station and then took an overground to the London suburb Bexelyheath to see William Morris' Red House. Red House is Morris' arts and crafts style house that he built in 1860 for his family as a utopian escape. He was in love with medieval and gothic influences and the house exemplifies the best of that style. It was wonderful to see this house up close and personal. The craft that went into creating it was beyond belief and the English style gardens blew my breath away. I will try to post pictures once friends put up theirs, since I was without a camera. Red House had a little tea room for visitors so after our tour we stayed and had scones, jam and tea in the garden! Ah!

At night we went to the Queens Arms pub just to hang out since it was such a beautiful night.

Thursday: Such a beautiful day. I woke up early, waited for everyone to wake up, luckily they woke up earlier than 1pm and a few of us headed ot breakfast at this wonderfully delicious cafe down the street called Fait Maison. I got a cappuccino and a pear and almond tart for breakfast and we sat outside on the beautiful South Kensington street. A great way to start the day. Then we went back put on our work out gear and rented bikes for only 1 pound from the Barclays bike rentals that are all over the streets of London. All you have to do is stick a credit card into the machine and it gives you a number to unlock a bike. As long as you dock the bike every 30 minutes in a different Barclays post it is free to ride. We took the bikes to Hyde Park and rode around on the bike trail. We past the rose gardens and the fountains and all the hustle and bustle of the park which was so fun to see. After about making it half way around the park we docked our bikes and decided to walk the rest of the way. We walked towards the boat pond in the middle of the park and just watched the people on paddle boats and the ducks and swans floating by. We intend to paddle boat someday soon but the sun had gone in a tad and we want to make a day out of it with a picnic and everything!

I then walked to Kensington High Street to purchase a new camera! YAY! So happy I have one now!

At night we were given free tickets to see the show The 39 Steps which I had already seen on Broadway but I went anyways. It was much better the second time around and I quite enjoyed the laughs. It was at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Square, so beautiful. I will post pictures of it soon when I upload my new camera software. Afterwards we went to one of our favorite clubs, tigertiger and there was live band performing so we had a great time.

Friday [today]: Intentions for the day are to go to the Camden markets!

Loving this sun! Loving this experience.