the potterheads go to lacock

"After all this time?"

"Always."

I would have to hang my head in shame if I spent six months in the UK and never saw a Harry Potter film location. After quite a bit of mishaps with the train tickets and bus schedules and directions, Christie, Maria, Christine, Anna, and I got to Lacock Abbey where Godric's Hollow, the place where Dumbledore found Slughorn, some Hogwarts corridors, Snape's dungeon, and the room for the Mirror of Erised. But seriously, we had a fun time getting lost before even getting to the Abbey. In the video, the guy talking to Christie at the station is drawing us a map to get to the buses, and we still managed to cock it all up and get lost anyway. It was hilarious.

can i has cheezburger

"I'm allergic to cats." - Danielle.

Danielle loves cats, but like the true hipster masochist she is, she went to the cat cafe anyway. I wrote about the experience for the New University (zot zot). So instead of writing it again, you can read it here. #lazyAF

that one time i went to london

Why am I not cold and damp? Is... is this sun?

I went to London the first weekend of March to visit Danielle. We planned to go to the cat cafe later that day, but we had a whole day to kill, so Victoria Park and Chinatown it was.


After brunch at this super delicious lakeside cafe, we wanted to walk off our food babies around the park. We should have just followed our hearts on the second breakfast idea, but our more rational, money-saving minds said otherwise. So around the park we went. Yes, we are 21-year-old adults playing on a bunch of these playground things, but really, why wouldn't you play on these things? Do you see these things? They are so much cooler than the ones at home. Probably because no one will sue because their little joy-suckers children are incapable of navigating a playground without getting nailed in the head. Naps and playgrounds are wasted on kids. The spinny selfie bit in the video? It was a wind up carousel. As in, no one had to push you because you wound it up, hopped on, and went on a pleasant spin. So cool. Danielle has pictures of me failing at the rope jungle gym. At one point, a mom nearby commented that I had the wrong shoes on, but I didn't care. She wasn't my mom, and there's no way she could have told mine. Right?

Being in the UK, my life has been pretty devoid of Asian cuisine, and I have the cravings. It's not like I eat a whole ton of Asian food when I'm at school. It's like I know I can't have it easily, so I want it more. This hunger for the food of my people led us to Chinatown where we found the holy grail of instant noodles in a supermarket for really cheap. We got pretty excited and bought two 5-packs each. I also scooped a mini bottle of Sriracha sauce because 7 weeks without Sriracha is just wrong. Outside the grocery store, we basically got ambushed by this crafty little Chinese woman beckoning us to go into her dim sum shop. We had no choice. We had to get dim sum at that point, which meant we had yet another food coma to walk off. Down through Trafalgar, the Thames, and Tate Modern we went. Then on to the best part yet: cats in a cafe.




Anyway, I'll do the cat cafe in another video. My retinas are burning from staring at this screen.

groceries and

Yeah, so surprise. In between all the super cliche study abroad things I'm doing, I have to do the really everyday things, too. Grocery shopping is the bane of my existence. Being here has added another dimension to my hate/love relationship with food. I love eating. Love. Nothing is as comforting when you're miserable as eating your weight in carb-heavy mac 'n' cheese, lasagne, spaghetti, basically anything at Sage Bistro in Culver City, a heaping of ice cream, chips (the British kind topped with garlic mayo), whatever. I will find it, stuff it down my face hole, and sleep like it's no one's business. Lately, I've been only really hating food because buying it gets in the way of the other desires I have such as clothing and traveling. It's come down to "Do you want to eat something other than zucchinis (courgettes, for those in the UK) and instant noodles (the Shin Ramyun kind is the best ever) or do you want to go to Ireland for the weekend?" I've been eating zucchini/courgettes and instant noodles for the last week, but I treated myself with an aubergine and rice. The receipt for my groceries was £8 last week. Don't do the conversions, but that's actually pretty cheap. If I could only stop buying drinks, I would have so much more money.


I should post a video about the cat cafe and general London shenanigans pretty soon. Then another one about Lacock Abbey where they shot a bunch of Harry Potter scenes. Just been feeling kind of unproductive/ inadequate lately. Music suggestions anyone?