seeing in black and white

i had such great fun this week, but it went by thoughtlessly fast! and i kept thinking about how the lack of color in this city is starting to make my life resemble scenes from a black and white film. with all the fancy, crooked, old, and elegant architecture, the grey sky, and the black clothing that people wear, life sometimes looks like this. (not really)

i tried to be studious on monday, to remind myself that i'm here to study abroad. but as the week went by, i seemed to have made the decision that i'm actually here to learn how to breathe easier and be content with not letting schoolwork be the center of my life...

wednesday was by far my favorite day. i went to The National Gallery, which stands right behind Trafalgar Square, for my art history class. i spent my morning looking at amazing works of art (we weren't allowed to take pictures in that museum so i can't show you how fantastic Monet is...). during lunch time, i went with Victoria to eat some yummy pizza and the fanciest garlic bread i've ever ordered. following lunch time, we went to watch The King's Speech. we then, of course, babbled on about how dashing Colin Firth is allll the wayyyy home :)

great art + great food + great film = great day.

The National Gallery 

Trafalgar Square

  

 fancy schmancy garlic bread

thursday was by far my favorite night. i made some good girl friends here. we went clubbing! that night consisted of getting neon paint all over our arms, dancing under UV lights, and me accidentally biting into styrofoam thinking it was bread (i was very confused...)

the weekend was also so exciting! i got to spend time with a friend that i met from my internship in korea last summer, and another friend i met from governors school a few years back. catching up with good friends in (of all places) London makes me realize that good friends always keep in touch. you never know when you'll run into each other, but you can definitely count on it happening sooner or later. it's just the way life works! full of lovely surprises and coincidences.

anyway, plenty of other tales to tell but it'll only bore you. let the pictures tell you and use your imagination!

 i spy with my little eye, two red lights, two british flags, and too many windows.

 equestrians may not pass. pedestrians may jaywalk.

sunny days, sweeping the clouds away

this week was absolutely lovely! i think three out of seven of the days this week were sunny! and the other days, we didn't experience rain--maybe a few drizzles, but mostly a week with very little precipitation and lots of vitamin D from the smiling sun!

just a random street i usually pass everyday

tuesday was one of those wonderful sunny days. seeing all this blue mixing with the usually drab streets of brick in London filled me up with immense happy feelings (imagine giggles + bubbles). it made me decide to ignore all my schoolwork and to spend the rest of my afternoon at the British Museum.

i spent a good amount of time in museums and train stations this week. it got me thinking a lot about how and why these buildings are so incredibly massive.

say hello to:

inside of the British Museum

The Victoria&Albert Museum

King's Cross Train Station

(i haven't been to Platform 9 3/4 yet...)

the museums here put American museums, such as the Smithsonian and the PMA, to shame. aside from the colossal scale of the buildings, i can't even describe how amazing the collections are here. never have i ever seen such a dense and diverse collection of things in my life. it's both impressive but infuriating at the same time. i felt weird and uneasy while wandering around the British Museum, thinking about how this museum would be nothing had it not been for a dark, ugly past of British imperialism. when you walk in these museums, you would hardly think about how those items got there...the greek-like architecture of the museums impose a misleading appearance of sacredness. i guess the point of the whole museum is to use it as philanthropic space--to embody the endless imagination of humanity, to display the infinite possibilities/achievements/creation of man. i don't want to belittle how awesome these museums are. when you get to see something like the fucking Rosetta Stone for free, i'm not gonna complain.

but let's get real. most of the stuff in those museums do not belong in there.

on a girly side note:

i went to Brick Lane yesterday! what a fun market! famous for its great food, cool street art, and vintage markets! i bought a few little trinkets for myself :)

i love this one

and a nasty cup of turkish coffee to finish the night.

note to self: avoid turkish coffee. it's gross and over priced.

geez...i want to share a few more adventures i had, but i'm tired. plus, all this playtime made me put off a lot of school work, so i need to snap back to reality for now. i'll be back soon!

and on the seventh day...she sort of rested.

my first week is already gone! it's been a rough couple first days, but as of thursday afternoon, i've been feeling much more settled in. and as of last night, it finally hit me that i'm in London!

i went out to dinner last night with Jiwon and Esther. it's always nice seeing familiar faces in an unfamiliar setting. we went to a wooden themed thai restaurant called busaba.

(they had really pretty bowls...)

afterwards, Jiwon and i were feeling spontaneous and decided to walk around in Soho. never in my life have i ever felt so...baby-ish and uncool! i didn't dare take pictures while i was there, out of fear that someone would jump me for being such a tourist. i wish i did take pictures though! so many different pubs, cafes, restaurants, clubs, shady looking stores, and yummy looking windows! the thing is, i seriously need to age another 10 years to look like i could fit in with the crowd that hangs around those parts. we tried mustering up courage to go to a pub, but we ended up just getting a bottle of beer each at a bar and taking it out. we must've looked like little high school punks trying to be rebellious, walking those streets on a friday night. note to self: next time you go out at night in london, at least put in SOME effort in what you're gonna wear. don't just wear comfy tights, t-shirt, and a cardigan.

for the first time this week, i slept in till 10:30. i woke up laughing about how silly and bashful i felt last night. had a light breakfast: a scrumptious Pear Puff that i picked up at a patisserie last night, a glass of milk, and a crispy Pink Lady Apple.

then i went out for a walk around Regent's Park. what a beautiful park! i promise i'll take more pictures when i go back. on my way back, i stumbled upon a bridge and watched these people playing a peculiar game on kayaks...i couldn't quite figure out how the game worked.

i'm off to a little dinner party to meet some new people tonight! wish me luck! i've been so awful at meeting british people and socializing since i've been here. i missed orientation, so i didn't get to meet the other study abroad students. i met a few people in my classes, and i actually bumped into some girls from bryn mawr, which was a nice surprise! but i've been so busy trying to figure out how to function in London that i haven't had the energy to branch out. plus, i'm not the most outgoing person in the first place. i've always been more of a wallflower.

i was talking to Edin the other night about how awkward i am...he always knows how to make me feel better about any situation.

conversation w/edin

Me: edin...i managed to sit with a full table of people during breakfast and ended up talking to no one around me by the time i finished eating.

Edin: oh no! rachel that is so awkward haha. just remember--they lost the war!

here's to socializing!

sleepless nights...

its 4am right now.

we are, by nature, complainers. it's our natural instinct to complain, whether it be out loud or in our minds, when we're put in an uncomfortable situation. most of you are probably are aware of this, and most of you have probably tried to (and continue to) work on not complaining, as i have (and still try to). the thing about trying to restrain yourself from complaining is that you're able to hold your tongue, but it's soooo much harder to hold your thoughts from complaining. and if you're actively trying to refrain from complaining, you find yourself going back and forth, battling and counteracting your complaints with attempts to think of reasons why you shouldn't complain so much, only to go back complaining...

by the time i arrived in London, i was unsmiling--it was an awful trip. my connection from Calgary was a disaster--all the passengers boarded the plane and the plane was getting ready for take off on the runway, when all of a sudden, there was a pop noise. the captain announced that the left engine was not working. an hour later, we were told that another plane from Vancouver was on its way to take us to London. we would have to wait 6 hours--that is, until 1:30am.

aside from the fact that the airport's stupid wi-fi only allowed access to facebook (which really is enough for any college student, right?), the wait for the second plane wasn't too bad. it was the flight itself that made me realize how much i complain, and how much i try not to complain, and then end up complaining again, miserable from my fruitless efforts.

below are some conversations/complain battles i had with myself during the 8 hour flight to London:

oh my gosh...that baby has been crying for an hour...please stick a pacifier in her mouth or something...anything to shut her up...(minutes later) i totally feel her pain though. i wanna scream right now too...gosh i hate flying. in fact, if i were a baby, i'd probably be crying right now too...it's ok, baby, you go right on crying. i know it's awful...(minutes later) how can a baby produce such a sinfully ugly noise?

need water...water...when are they gonna serve drinks/snacks? wow...it sucks sitting toward the back of the plane...can't they hurry up? (minutes later) oh goody! cookies and water! i love water...cookies...nom nom nom...(minutes later) oh my gosh my throat is parched. i can't breath...

why am i leaning on the wall? it's freezing. lemme just move over a little bit...HEY! this man is totally invading my space. why do men have to sit with their legs wide apart? mister you need to remove your arms from my arm space. i don't like touching strangers. the boundary is behind the armrest...i don't like touching strangers...(minutes later) well...he is a pretty big man, horizontally...if i feel cramped, he REALLY must feel cramped. oh look he's crossing his arms and is trying his best to keep his arms from flopping over to my side. he must feel very uncomfortable. they should make airplane seats wider for people his size. poor guy...(minutes later)... why couldn't a skinny 7 year old girl sit next to me?

plane rides are no fun. since this entry to is getting too long, i'll save my next horror story for later this week. but just so you know, even though getting here and settling in the first night was pretty rough, i'm super excited to be here! i went to an awesome church on sunday that made me feel so glad and so blessed to be here. i'm much more at peace now. can't wait for happier adventures :)

i have a meeting with my advisor in about 4 hours...i'm gonna go to bed.