Christmas Time

It's Christmas time in London!
Before I get ahead of myself though...
First off is thanksgiving! My friend from U of I came out and we made a homemade thanksgiving meal at my apartment with 2 friends from school (an American and a french girl). It was the first turkey I have Made and it turned out pretty good!
Besides thanksgiving I have not been up to much- thus the lack of blog posts. Beyond homework, I really only sleep, eat, and occasionally shop.


My roomates and I decorated our apartment: complete with a tree! All the Christmas as decorations throughout London are gorgeous... I just wish I had more time to enjoy them! I did go ice skating at sommerset house, which was beautiful (abet raining)

Tonight I head off to Australia!! Hopefully I will be able to upload some pictures while I'm there :)

Blue Skys, Warm Weather

Hello there!

So I know it has been quite a while since I have posted, but I have been very busy! Mostly with school. At least 4 days a week I leave for school at 9 am and get home sometime between 9 pm and 11pm. But keeping on top of my school work allows me to have somewhat of a social life....

Oxford


Saturday (1 month ago...) we (My roomates, their classmates at RVC and I) spent the day in Oxford! We really had nothing in mind, so we wandered around the campus (SO pretty and, well, English), had a nice lunch at an English pub, and than walked through Christ Church College (AKA where parts of Harry Potter where filmed like the entrance to the Great Hall etc.). We then when punting on the canal before heading for a burrito dinner (It is hard to find Mexican food in England, so when we see Mexican us Americans get a bit too excited) and then home!

Bear Down, Chicago Bears


Alas, there is no rest for the weary as the next day we had tickets to see the Chicago Bears vs. Tampa Bay Bucaneers at Wembley stadium! It was quite a breezy day, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the "American" tailgate party where they only served Bud Light (yes. you heard me right. But lets be real, what is American Football without Bud Light?). We got to meet up with my cousin and some of his friend there as well! The game was amazing! Although I think all the English people sitting around us were really confused when my friend and I stood up to cheer and when we yelled at the refs. It was an AMAZING day.... although 6 hours of school the next day was a bit tough.

Halloween



So Halloween in the UK is a bit different than America. I was pretty excited at first because the Brits seemed so excited for the day! But Halloween came and all the British dressed exactly the same: as a bloody zombie. I guess they didn't get the Halloween creativity memo. Nevertheless, my roommates and I had a blast preparing for Halloween. Anna made pumpkin pie while we carved pumpkins and roasted pumpkin seeds. We spent Halloween night at an RVC event. I was Belle from Beauty and Beast! I hope everyone back in the states had a fun Halloween too!


Pedi-Bike and Borough Market



Last Saturday Emily and I met up with some friends to go pedi-biking. Now if you look at the photo, you will see a contraption of sorts with 8 seats with pedals and a counter around the inside. Basically how it works is:
- you find 8 friends
- you sit on the seats facing each other
- You pedal through the London streets while consuming beer and wine (The owner of the company is the sober driver)
It was such fun! We were pedaling through the streets of London next to the big red buses in the middle of the street. While I am sure this is probably incredibly dangerous, none of of got hurt so no harm no foul! We did get a TON of strangers taking pictures of us though.

After "biking" we went around the corner to the Borough Market, which is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. It is a HUGE market that has everything you would ever want (microbrews, mulled wine, CHEESE, homemade sweets, Halloumi veggie burgers (well not everyone wants that... but I assure you it was delicious). I fell in love and Emily and I are DEFINITELY going back this weekend to explore further!


Everyday Life/ Misc

On the whole, everything is going great! I hang out with a great group of people at school (Mostly French people, who would have guessed-> Lets just say I now drink a lot of red wine and eat a lot of cheese). My class goes out to dinner every other Friday night at a different nationality restaurant, this week it is Greek food!.

My roommates and I explore a little bit every weekend. A couple Saturdays ago we spent the day at Harrods looking around and eating. That took us about 4 hours we only hit up 2 of the 6 floors. We also explored Convent Garden this weekend and ate at this delicious (and affordable!) Tapas place.

I guess I should also explain the title of this post. The weather has been AMAZING (well, for England at least) It really hasn't fallen below 55-60 degrees F (we have not even turned our heat on in our apartment and its the end of November!) It only rains when I am in my apartment or class which has been VERY convenient thus far.

The next few weeks are also very exciting! Wednesday, my friend Katy from U of I is coming to visit for a week! I can't wait to show her around and do all the touristy stuff. We are having Thanksgiving dinner at my cousins Thursday as well! I am a bit sad I will not be at home, but I am happy to at least still spend Thanksgiving with family and friends! Then the weekend after next, Amber comes for the weekend! THEN just 2 weeks until I leave for Australia!! December is going to be an exciting month :)

First week of School (for the 17th time...)

Hello Hello Hello!

Okay so last week was pretty eventful trying to get into the swing of things! Here are the highlights:

Apartment Life:
Everything in my apartment is pretty swell, except for the internet constantly cutting out. I am really starting to love the area we are in. There is a bakery below me I can get fresh bread from everyday (!!). We have finally gotten everything settled in our apartment, and all I need is one more picture to make my bedroom complete!

School:
Imperial has definitely started to pick up. It is a lot harder and time consuming than I thought it would be, but everyone in my class is so nice! I am basically at school Monday-Thursday most of the day (Mon. & Tue.I have class all day, and Wed. & Thur. I have 1 class and spend the rest of the time in the library).
I also have started playing water polo with the school team and I love it! Everyone is friendly and we have a proper coach and everything.

Misc:
Something that is fairly obvious in England is their OBSESSION with meerkats. No, I am not kidding. Literally in EVERY store (even some classy ones) there is either a statue of a meerkat or something with a meerkat on it. I really don't understand it, and if someone does please leave me a comment explaining this awkward obsession. Thank you.

The Future:
While this topic sounds a bit lofty, I merely mean to inform you about my future plans for travel etc. Well the biggest news is I am going to Australia for Christmas Break! It will be my first Christmas away from my family and snow but I am so excited! (especially to come back to England with a tan :) ) I am staying there for three weeks and still trying to plan the details beyond that.
Before that, however, is this weekend! My roommates and some other friends from the Vet school are going out to Oxford for the day! I am so excited as I have never been there before. Then Sunday is the Bears game at Wembley Stadium! I am beyond excited!! There is even a tailgate (complete with coors light... only the best of american beers :-p) before the game- so stay tuned for pictures from that event!

My First Plant

So I have made a big step in my life, I have gotten a plant. Its a purple orchid from IKEA and it sits in my window sill. It has stayed alive for a week so far.



Besides the plant, my first week has been pretty busy- I spent the first half getting food and my apartment together. I also got to catch up with my cousin, Nate, who lives in London. My roommates' college had a lot of freshman week events, so I was able to partake in their events and hang out with their classmates! It is actually quite funny, because most of their classmates are either British or American. On the other hand, I am one of three American's in my class. My class is 60% chinese and the rest are mostly French and Greek. This week has been orientation at Imperial. It is nice to ease into school... mostly because my school is next Knightsbridge and Harrods so I can use my time off accordingly :)

Apartment!

Hello!

The flight to England was LONG ( I spent almost 10 hours on the plane between being delayed and waiting for a gate at Heathrow) but with no significant the problems. My first trip was to IKEA- obviously- after which I met up with my roommates and went out with their classmates in central London. Needless to say, it was a long day!
Today I walked down to South Kensington and saw my campus, got cupcakes (yummmmy), and then went to the Italian restaurant across the street. The great part about where I live (the Maida Vale neighborhood) is there are a ton of really small and REALLY delicious cafe's. I can't wait to try them all! I suppose I should probably talk a little more about where I live; We live on the 2nd floor in a three bedroom apartment. The back of our apartment looks onto tennis courts and a big green lawn (we are still trying to figure out what they use it for...) Below are a few pictures of my room and my apartment!






We are trying to find a way to get rid of that creepy picture above the fireplace. It is kind of scary, especially at night!

I start meetings for school on Sunday, so until then I'm just hanging out with my roommates and shopping at IKEA- probably not anything blog worthy but we'll see!

-Ana

Pre-Departure

Hello All!

So as you may of may not know, I am leaving tomorrow to spend a year in the UK at Imperial College London! Imperial College is in South Kensington. My walk to school everyday involves walking across Hyde Park past Kensington Palace... not too shabby!

I am living with two girls, Anna and Emily, who are attending Vet school in London. We have an apartment in northwest London in an area call Maida Vale! Here is the view from our apartment...



When I get to the UK wednesday it will be all IKEA, phone, and grocery store shopping for me! So thats that for now!

-Anastasia

p.s. The posts will get more interesting... I swear