Exams, Visits, and Other Adventures

Wow. The last few months have really gotten away from me. Don't worry though, I'm planning on doing better. For this month at least.

I can't believe the second term of my degree is over. Or that I had my birthday. Or that my time here is more than halfway done.

Having exams here was maybe the strangest part of the switch from the US to England model of testing. I haven't had exams that asked me what I learned in September since the AP exams in 2008 (was that really 6 years ago??) and I had a study guide for those. So I was both extremely out of practice and completely out of my depth (four weeks to just... study? More like four weeks to hone my procrastination skills) when last Monday rolled around. But I think I got enough down on paper to pass. I hope! Otherwise it will be a very expensive ticket to do a very not fun thing. And who knows anyone who wants to hire someone who failed their exams?

During the four weeks off I celebrated my birthday, took a trip to the English coast with my wonderful friends A and W (hahahahaha no they don't have any root beer), had a week long visit full of London adventures with my friend L and acquired some alpaca yarn for a cardigan I'm knitting myself. And I studied.

While L was here, I also got a new sketchbook and pen, so I've been doing some doodles of the places we visited, like this one from the British Museum:

And this one from when we went to see Once in the West End (which, by the way, was fabulous and I highly recommend):

I'm really excited for Term 3 to start this week! I'll be taking two practical modules, one on documentary and the other on web design and content management. I'm particularly looking forward to doing some coding in the latter. I miss the logic problems that have answers! Working on finding a career that balances the two. We'll see. Anyway, at the very least I'll gain some PhotoShop and Final Cut skills, so I expect my YouTube videos should see some improvement. I'm also hoping to be posting some more science content, as a result, so keep an eye out for that.

Until next Monday!

Late Night Delusions (and other things)

It's 2 AM so clearly it's the perfect time to be blogging.

I have come down with some sort of cold/lethargy thing and while I attempt to down some heavily sugared Lemsip (how do you Brits DRINK this stuff?? I think mine needs like 3 tablespoons of honey...), I decided it was the perfect time to face my own lack of action and write something on here.

It's nearly halfway through my second term here in London and the weather has been grey, miserable, and quite chilly for entirely too long (although I am very much enjoying the days getting longer, hurrah Earth!) I'm fairly certain I mentioned in my last post that I got a retail job at the large mall near me to help with paying for the Tube - which I'm taking a lot more these days since it's rather miserable to walk in the cold rain for an hour, and also I like sleeping in.

This term has me running the facebook for I, Science, which is a sort of collection of blogs and journalism pieces centered around science, and generally just being exhausted. We've started group projects, we're supposed to be coming up with our dissertation topics, and I've got an assignment for my Science and Display course due next Monday. So now is obviously the perfect time to blog

I have made more time in my schedule for exercising (I did 1.6 30 day challenges - I'm still working on the darn squat challenge, 200 squats just seems excessive... and I'm swimming once a week most weeks) which I think has helped with both my energy and my general mood. I've also gotten to explore some more of London - a trip to several museums including the Grant Museum, which is responsible for the amazing selfie below. All of the yellow tiles are actually slides of microorganisms.

I also decided to switch my Thursdays to the knitting society this term instead of choir and tried my hand at a spinning wheel last week! I'm on the last sleeve of my jumper, so expect an update on that sometime... in the future... maybe.

I hope all of you are having a lovely 2014, and, as always, I'll try to keep you updated with snippets of my life.

Year/Month End Recap

"Oh look she's doing that amazing thing where she tells us about her life... I had completely forgotten that existed."

Me too, Internet, me too...

So what have I been up to the last month? Um... I've done...

Okay so not that much, but I'll try to make the stuff I did sound pretty awesome.

I GOT A JOB - it's a really low key, 4 hour a week, low wage, retail job. It'll help with Tube fare and it makes me leave my cave every once and a while. Plus it massively helps with my "I'm not going to find a decent paying job at the end of this and I'm going to have so much debt" anxiety. Which is important

IN FUN NEWS
A week after the end of term, my friend E from undergrad came to visit for a couple days on her way back from India (!), we made good use of our time with food (can you say Wagamama?), movies on Netflix, lots of chats, and, best of all, a trip to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour (AKA see all the amazing sets and costumes from the Harry Potter movies). Here, have my favorite picture from the visit:

It was really really really cool and honestly, I have difficulty articulating my feelings about it. Well worth the approximately $50 (it's 30 pounds) ticket price. Also, it made me even more appreciate the Harry Potter World detail. Because it looks so so on point with regard to the movies.

So I went to the Studio Tour and guesses on what I bought? Anyone? ...if you guessed another copy of a Harry Potter book, you're right. I picked up a new adult edition of Philosopher's Stone.

I've been doing a good job of getting out more which has included a trip to the West End to see Matilda. Which was an excellent show. And you can't beat the 5 pound pricetag for rush tickets. Sure we were up in the nosebleeds, but the choreography and costumes and everything... just fantastic. If you have a chance to see the West End production, definitely do it!

I've started two knitting projects - my first sweater/jumper which is about half-ish done, and some 18" doll Gryffindor scarves for my mom's Etsy shop. I'll try to remember to post some pictures as I go... next time ;)

I got wonderful surprise packages from both my mom and my brother and his wife - Polish cookies, yarn, knitting needles, and some anise oil to bake cookies of my own from my mom and a wreath and really cool woven wrist wallet and bracelet. Those massively brightened my holiday :)

Oh and on the fitness front I have managed to make it to the pool twice with the help of my London friend S. On our second week I swam a kilometer!! So proud of myself. And I'm on day 19 of the 30 day ab challenge (ooph I still have to do that tonight)

Anyway, enjoy the last few days of 2013. Hopefully I'll be back soon with some New Year's Resolutions (posts once a week? crazy talk!)

Love from London!

4 Essays Down (And None to Go!)

Hello readers of my bloggy bloggy blog (apologies if this come across a bit hyper, I may have just crossed into the land of overtired.)

It has officially been over 2 months of me being here in London! I still can't really believe it, I've been sort of running on all cylinders for the past two months, and I'm really excited to get to slow down. And walk around more of London. And swim. It's on my list and I'm going to do it! This week, maybe! (Yesbe?)

Job prospects are mixed. I have a couple of leads on tutoring agencies that I need to follow up with (I rather like explaining things, and tutoring math in particular would be excellent, I think.) I also applied to a job at Next which is a sort of H&M ish place. Hard to articulate really. Anyway I got called and passed what I assumed was interview one to be followed with in person interview two. Showed up and basically ended up abandoned on the store floor for an hour and an half and told to help customers. Can't say I was overly fond of the experience, but I was willing to tough in out since the online literature said they'd tell me immediately after if I was hired. No such luck. Ended up being a rather awful day for me after that so I'm honestly not sure if I'll take the job after all that. Better than sticking around my apartment for a month though! I'll drive myself and everyone online crazy!

In the land of trying to get out and do things more so I spend less time muddling about inside my head, my choir's concert was on Sunday and went really well I think. There's always a sense in that choir of being vaguely lost, but I really enjoy the work that goes into it, so I'll continue along.

I went to the Royal Society's Best Popular Science Book of the Year awards ceremony (or something along those lines on the name) last Monday. Admittedly, I almost fell asleep, but that was wholly because I think I was running on less than 4 hours. It was actually pretty cool, because the winner was a graduate from the same program I did for my undergrad. And also I learned about a guy who jerked off a bird. You learn something new about scientists every day...

I actually spent some productive time in the Imperial Library, and boy does that place need an overhaul. I'm strongly reminded of Falvey pre reno's. Same temperature issues too, ick!

My evil coughy cold thing seems to have FINALLY gone. Hurrah! (fingers crossed, knock on wood)

I acquired yarn and other equipment to make the sweater that I decided I wanted to make back in September and I'm already a skein in! The yarn isn't exactly what I expected but I'm excited to see how this adventure turns out (how important is a gauge square anyway?)

In that package I also acquired a cupcake tin and some cookie cutters. I'm VERY excited to make some cupcakes and pierniekes in the near future!!

Oh, and I've just finished my last essay of the term. So glad to be done with it!

 Hope Turkey Day treated everyone well!

Love from London!

End of Term?

So I've gotten nearly as bad at updating this as I am at my vlog...

My term has consisted of a new essay every other week and on the off weeks (those not directly leading up to a due date) desperately denying the fact that I have a new essay due in two weeks. So really my weeks consist of class, choir rehearsal, and watching Netflix.

And they say it's so different in the UK...

I guess I can talk about things I have discovered this month:

• Ben and Jerry's core ice cream is delicious. The caramel core one is superior to the fudge core, but both are good. Jam is yet to be tested.
• Actual weetabix is far inferior to Crispy Minis. But Crispy Minis in Chocolate Chip are delicious.
• I can make halfway decent stovetop rice now! I'm pretty proud of that.
• Rice is like the best decision when you have no money.
• Also it needs lots of flavoring.
• I am terrible at waking up/falling asleep. It only gets worse as the week goes on. Which means waking up Monday mornings is the worst!
• Wagamama firecracker chicken is amazinggggg and also costs 10 GBP a go. Which leads me to...
• I definitely need a job.

There are only 3 sessions left of term and what where did the time go? And I get to see an Undergrad friend after term end!! We're totally going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour and I'm verra verra excited.

In the meantime, me and my freezing self are going to go curl up under the super fuzzy blanket I got from Primark and stop being cold. Stay warm this winter!

Halloween and Bonfire Night

So after lecture today it is officially halfway through my first term! That's crazy. It's also a bit mad that having been to five lectures counts as being halfway through.

I feel like I'm finally settling in a bit to where I'm living and what's expected of me, although I can't say it's been the easiest thing in the world. I did take a trek with a coursemate to Peter Jones to look at craft supplies, and grabbed a shot of a completely lovely street along the way.

 

Honestly, the photo really doesn't do it justice. I didn't really manage to properly stop to take it!

In any case, I didn't actually do much for Halloween or Bonfire Night - although I have heard fireworks going off for the past few nights. It's like living near Magic Kingdom again. I think several people did go to "fancy dress" - costume - parties, but I spent my Halloween attempting to work on my second essay of the term and at choir practice.

 I did manage to go to a small ceilidh ("kay-lee") put on by the Scottish society at my uni with a bunch of coursemates after lecture today and it was completely wonderful! It's a bit like line dancing only with way more spinning and way better music. Plus the addition of men in kilts just adds a bit of fun to anything.

Last post I said I was going to try to go swimming, and I didn't manage to make it last week or this week for rather the silliest of reasons - I've realized I don't have a second towel and I don't much enjoy the idea of chlorinating my showering towel. So something added to my list of expenditures for this month. I haven't much figured out a way to add to my income column yet, so if you've got ideas, I'm your girl!

I hope my friends Stateside enjoyed the trick or treaters and costumes! I'm actually bizarrely glad I worked a few Halloween parties before I left Disney - I don't feel like I've completely missed out.

Til next time!

See? Told You.

Apologies abound.

I had my first proper assignment due last Tuesday in addition to being down with some chesty cough "moved-to-a-new-place-and-now-my-immune-system-hates-me" thing. So blogging wasn't really on my radar.

Let's get the sad stuff out of the way so I can talk about the cool things. Basically can't get a part-time regular job because I don't have time between essays every two weeks and the amount of reading assigned (let alone the amount I'm actually expected to do.) So I applied for an RA-type position at my residence (nope) and a really amazing science events planning job (nope again.) The ways of the universe better have some good stuff on the agenda for me or I'm gonna hunt them down!

I still haven't done much exploring of London besides my immediately pertinent mall and campus area. I did get a chance to go to the Natural History Museum as part of a class video assignment which was completely amazing. The architecture is amazing and the parts of the collection I saw were pretty awesome. It's also positively massive.

I FINALLY got my checking account up and running and, therefore, my phone up and running. I ended up having to go a different way than I'd initially planned, but it wasn't that much different in price and I have a phone again. So that's the important bit.

I have been doing an excellent job of trying as many chocolates as possible while I'm here and the far and away winner in my book is still Crunchie by Cadbury - sponge candy readily accessible? Yes please. And I've gotten Wagamama three times now, with my favorite being the firecracker chicken I had yesterday as a consolation meal. Totally delicious, A++, would buy again.

I'm just getting used to the idea of how the grading system works here. Like, people shoot for passing. It's such a foreign concept to me and I'm understandably, I think, more than a little stressed to hear how I did on my first piece. Not my best work, I think.

I did manage to do a night out in East London with some of my coursemates after choir rehearsal last week and a pub called "The Book Store" or something like that. There was actually a book launch going on downstairs, and I was so tempted to crash!

So I'm starting to fall into a groove of things here, and I have PLANS - this week I'm going to try to go swimming! Inside, of course, but I am trying to add some physical exercise into my schedule before it gets cold and I get even lazier.

Oh and for all of my skips out there - it looks like someone shot this hippo.