Ok ok so since my last promise that I was going to update this more frequently, I've fell even more off the wagon. I've had an extremely busy week and as Yasin and I sit here listening to the Chicago movie soundtrack on Youtube because we just booked ISH student tickets to go see Chicago and Lion King, I figured I had more than enough time to let the world know my life.
Last Monday our British Life and Culture class went to Brick Lane for a tour around one of the oldest parts of London. It was freezing but it was really interesting to learn about Petticoat Lane and the poor part of the city. The journey ended with a fantastic meal at an Indian restaurant where it we got to sample almost the entire menu. That night I had my Islam presentation, and then after my Islam presentation and all day Tuesday I had to work on my presentation for my music class on Tuesday night. We did an ethnographic project on the relationship between London hiphop and dubstep and how they relate back to the US. In fact, they don't, but the other groups did their projects on the history of punk and the history of dubstep, so we got to learn in depth the music cultures of London. This Friday we're going to Corsicorda Studios, which is apparently a nuts-o dubstep club as another one of our music excursions; I'm super excited...we're not even leaving until 11pm.
Wednesday after Islam class I met up with Fiona and after Yasin got out of her play, I dragged her out to Imperial club. It's so bizarre that I haven't seen fiona in years and I see her, no, BUMP into her, in London. We went out, and the bar was just closing when we got there, which sucked. This was just another night which confirmed that the Brits can't dance, but it was seriously so much fun. The music just shut off at 1 with Barbara Strisand (apparently the Brits love this song) and we walked the like 50 feet back to our flat.
Friday I had class in the morning and sadly Yasin left for her adventure weekend in Wales. I came back to the house and hung out for a bit all day. At night, a few of the flat mates and I decided to go back to Brick Lane to a club called 93 Feat East where I will definitely be going back. It was 'Free Fridays' so entrance was free; the outside was a BBQ and hangout area, then you went inside and the first room was an electronica/dubstep club and then the 2nd room was a live music hall. Whatever you wanted, they had. We had a blast and headed back pretty late. I had a sad night eating drunk hummus and pita without Yasin.
The next day Kelly was expected to arrive from Cork, but her flight was very delayed so Steph and I decided to walk around South Ken and get Starbucks/flatbreads from Whole Foods until Kelly got here. Kelly finally arrived and we walked around Piccadilly and Oxford Circus. As soon as we got off the Tube station in Piccadilly there was a human beatboxer who was making noises I had never made a human make before. We wandered around and eventually ended up at a pub where I finally got my fish and chips! I actually really liked it even though I'm not a fish person. Kelly was amazed by the architecture and it was so nice to finally be with her again. We went back to my flat, got ready and headed into Camden. We went to the Worlds End pub where its usually a good time but there was a weird crowd going on. We ended up in Leichester Square and she was amazed by the flood of people there at 2am. On the bus ride home we of course got serenaded by a guy with a guitar and a whole top bus full of rowdy people. I got it on camera and it's uploaded on Facebook. The next day we woke up at 7am and were out for almost 11 hours and must have walked almost 10 miles. We saw all the London classics that Kelly wanted to see: Big Ben, Parliament, London Eye, Southbank Center, Changing of the Guard, Harrods, Aldsgate/Brick Lane, Kings Cross (aka Platform 9 and 3/4), St. James Cathedral, and Portobello Rd. We did a lot of traveling on the tube and the bus and she definitely got her days pass worth. We got home that night and ate Chinese take out on High Street for about 5 pounds and passed out around 10pm. The next morning I had class and Kelly left before us because she wanted to see Abby Road. It was sad to see her go but no worries, I'm going to Cork March 11th!
Class that morning was of course riveting with all of our newspaper presentations, and I started to feel more and more sick as the day went on. It was Singles Awareness Day as you all knew and I was feeling badass enough to skip Islam and go shopping on High street with Yasin. I finally got the cliche London boots I wanted for a student discount price of 15 pounds, suspenders, and medicine for my nasty cold. We also got sparkling special wine at Whole Foods for about 6 pounds. That night we gathered in flat 6 with Gabby, Lauren, and Rob, drank our sparkling wine, I ate my leftover delicious 5 pound chinese, and made up twitter updates about our fabulous Singles Awareness Night lives. All and all it was a great weekend/night.
(This is where I should have started a second blog, but I thought I'd just continue my week. Tomorrow starts a new week, and I will update it before Spring Break. Promise!!)
Phil had training for his company in Erith so he came back to London to hang out again, so it was really great seeing him again. We went to the British museum and saw mummies, pots, spoons, coins...the museum is huge but gets very repetitive after a while. I think it's really great that after so many years of talking I get to finally hang out him in person. It's crazy that we are able to just talk and talk without feeling awkward quiet. We click so well and it's such a shame we live so far.
I had my interview with my internship with London Music Masters. The company is on Wall Street (yes, I'll be interning on Wall Street in London) and I get off at the Liverpool Tube Station. I just feel really baller saying all of that. They seem really passionate about their projects and although I'll probably be copying papers and doing intern-y things to start off, I'm really excited to start off with them. They only need me 3 days a week and Marist expects me to do 4, so they referred me to Nordoff Roberts, which is a Music Therapy Masters program in London, but also internationally. I'm going to try and contact them and see if I can intern for them for the last day of the week.
Friday night my class had an excursion to a dubstep/grime concert at Corsica Studios, which is essentially a broken down warehouse. It was intense. The dubstep lifestyle in London is nothing like I've never seen before. In my music class we did a ethnographic project on dubstep and the culture but it was another thing actually living it. My teacher bought us drinks on FIE (so essentially, my tuition paid for my alcohol), and we ended up on stage literally feeling the beat of the drum and bass. The party didn't start until 12 but we couldn't handle more than a couple of hours of it. The next day I slept the latest I had here and Yasin, Lauren and I spent the day on High Street eating Bens cookies, looking around and walking around. We were going to stay in and do homework but Ally had other plans for us. Christina's friend had a 'hook up' at a bar in SoHo and Bob Sinclair was playing at Ministry of Sound. Well, Ministry of Sound was totally sold out and after rushing to get to Christina's friend's bar by 11, we were told we couldn't get in because they had the cap on the amount of 'free ladies'. Out of nowhere, this girl in almost rags came up to us and asked if were looking for a club. Although it's usually creepy old men trying to hustle you to get you to go into their club, it was a really nice cute girl. She said she had this club 'Bond' with a bunch of lights and that it was free for ladies. We went there, got in for free, and it was one of the nicest clubs we had been in so far in London. It was Willy Wonka theme night and there was oompa loompas walking around. On the menu there was finally LONG ISLAND ICED TEAS. Although they were 10 pounds 50p which is insane, Yasin and I splurged and finally got them. The DJ was crazy with techno and trance and every once and a while he would play a Willy Wonka song and remix it. Neil, Christina's brother, got us this crazy drink that serves '10', aka serves 20. It was a sex on the beach and honestly took all of us at least half an hour to drink (there are pictures on my facebook of this crazy drink). It had fireworks and had fresh fruit in it. We were dancing all night, Lauren got offered sex by Germans and met the owner and the socialites of London and Ally sucked face with a soccer superstar (theme?...).
This week is finals week. What? I have 3 finals, 2 papers, and a presentation. On Tuesday my music class is going to the British Music Experience which I'm really excited about. Saturday we're flying out for Spring Break (which I'll reveal at a later date!) We're going to Paul van Dyke, a Trance/Techno artist at Ministry of Sound on Friday night before our flight out on Saturday, cuz we live big in London. I'm currently attempting to study for British Life and Culture at the moment with no success. It's so far come to me uploading a picture of Steven Colbert as my user picture on Moodle, FIE's own version of iLearn with the description of myself as Colbert's pledge of allegiance. Oh well, 20% of my grade on this test? I think the whole flat will just have to push for Dr. Graham for a combined learning exam. Wish me luck!
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