Weekend Outing (Part Three: Sunday)

Some signs along the way back to the car-rental place that made me think of home :)

Melrose "Rosie"

                YMCA                                     Lloyd's. Miss you Kenz and Aubs!

After dropping off the car, we headed to the ritzy hotel next door to see if we could find a taxi. 

This really friendly man welcomed us in, carried our bags into the lobby, and told us we "must check out the grand staircase" while we waited for a taxi to come (he sent someone to book one). So we did:

It was a breathtaking hotel...and it was right on the water!

Back at Brighton train station:

Once we made it back to Victoria Tube Station, I instantly felt at ease...I know my way around London! 

I <3 my grandpa

It took us awhile to find the hotel...we went retraced our steps twice (I guess I should take my above statement back...I know my way around some parts of London...haha). After we dropped our bags off, I showed them around Camden Town/ Market and then we went to Wagamama for dinner. Our waitress, Erika, was so sweet. She is a student living in Archway! We exchanged emails and are planning to hang out next week :) I love meeting new people so spontaneously :)

 The view from their room. Can't get enough of this city!

Camden Lock. Grandpa explained how they work. I've been here several times and I've never noticed it!

Grandma at Wagamama's (left) and them on the escalator at Archway station...almost home!

After showing them around my place, I headed back to the hotel with them, the three of us Skyped with Mom, and then it was time to say goodbye. Mom told me to text her to make sure I got back okay by myself; I tried to explain that I travel by myself to my house from Holborn every day at night and she never knows or worries....but I guess that's what moms do. 

[put apartment pic here]

I had the best weekend. I didn't realize just how much I was looking forward to seeing them until I no longer had it to look forward to! But I'm enjoying it so much here too...I wish I could live in two places at once ;) Sigh. 

Interculturalism, Gender Culture, and Familiar Faces

Now that I'm sitting down to blog, I realize just how full my weeks have been. I'm a lucky girl!

When using your phone as a mirror turns into taking a selfie..

On Wednesday (Oct 19th), my London Crucible class went on a visit to Camden Market to revisit the idea of interculturalism, the integration of many different cultures, with the main objective to find examples of culture appropriation. To be honest, I kind of forgot to take pictures of this and instead got distracted by all of the stuff for sale...and the possible Christmas gift potential of said stuff ;)

It's a very overwhelmingly large market! 

The class as a whole did discuss how lots of religious garments are often for sale as fashion pieces (like hijabs, for example), some vendors were selling jewelry with a variety of different religious symbols, and how these items are often inaccurate and can be offensive. 

Then we walked along Regent's Canal on the way back:

Me, Hannah, Claire

"She thought the view was beautiful but I thought she was beautiful":

 Haha, that's for you, Claire!


On the way back, a random guy was unloading packages from the back of a truck when he suddenly handed one to Zoe and asked if she could hold it for a second. Then he asked Melanie to hold one. My first thought was that we were going to be kidnapped. He tried to ask Marisa and Anna but they purposefully kept their distance. Scared, Mel asked why he couldn't place the packages on the ground. He said, "You have to hold them gently because if I put them on the ground they 'go boom'!" Mel practically pushed the package back into the guys hand "Please take your package back." Then he started laughing...apparently it is a past time of his to play bomb pranks. Not a funny prank though.

I did happen to catch it on video (of course...Leah doesn't run for her life, instead she takes a video):

I guess you can say we are immersing ourselves in city culture... :0

On Thursday, the topic for sociology was Gender. We were sent out to Oxford Street to look for examples of many different things including an example of retailers appealing to gender,  I noticed this example...just from the font of the logos of the two stores. One's feminine and one's masculine:

Always about the graphic design! :)

And then the best part of my week. I had dinner with these two strangers!!

I planned to meet them after class at Holborn Station. I could see them from across the cross-walk but they had their backs to me. I kept calling to them as I was walking, hardly containing my excitement.

 Grandma got this picture of me as I was walking across the intersection:

I think it is safe to say I was excited!

Grandpa and I in deep thought at the Pancake House:

Unfortunately I couldn't spend the rest of the evening with them because I had to head back to Student Central for a seminar on gender gap issues...But Arcadia paid for our drinks at the bar downstairs so that was a plus:

Coming soon: A special weekend with my grandparents!

Canary Wharf, Camden Market, and a High Class House

As part of a sociology experiment, our orientation group was split into several groups to explore different areas of London. My group's assignment was Canary Wharf, a major business district in East London. For a financial centre, it was surprisingly beautiful. The juxtaposition of modern architecture and very old streets was strange but unique. We didn't quite fit in, us with our backpacks and jeans. But the men in tailored suits were out and about on lunch break, so we joined in: 

Dee-lish-ous duck and sweet potato salad from a food truck. 

Canary Wharf is home to the 2nd-tallest building in the UK. As part of our assignment, we took a lot of video-recordings of the skyscrapers and the sleek architecture. But for pictures, I gravitated more to the older areas. These parks were absolutely gorgeous. The six of us ended up relaxing in the park for almost an hour before heading back.

"Leah x2"

The next day we presented our observations to the rest of the students and got to hear about the other groups' experiences. One such group was assigned to Camden Market, often called "Camden Lock", a collection of retail places with too much food and lots of free samples. It seemed really interesting, so on Saturday 10 September, (before taking our tour of Buckingham Palace), Ally and I explored the market for ourselves. 

I got roped into testing some product that removes hair, Now I have this weird patch of  bare skin on my arm. 

Most of the vendors gave us samples; we probably could've had lunch for free. But after sampling some crazy good cheese, we settled on The Good Yard for lunch:

 It. was. so. good. 

I'll probably go back and have it again, which is a shame because there are many other talented vendors. There just aren't enough meals in the day!

We stopped home after the market, and I took a quick long nap until Ally came bursting into my room:

We had a 3:15 time slot. I left my room to get Leah at 2:16 and she was asleep when I got there. She quickly got ready and we left the residence at 2:25. Then we hustled over to the tube station, once on the tube I realized CityMapper* was bringing us to the wrong address (I honestly don’t know how). We were still getting off at the same station, but instead of exiting we needed to change lines. We successfully did that, then we sped walked as fast as we could through Green Park as it was now 3:10. We ran across the crosswalk because the light was .5 seconds from changing. I then stepped in a puddle of water. BUT WE MADE IT.

 And then it was time for Buckingham Palace. 

 It was rainy and gross out, so it was the perfect day to be inside the state rooms. I learned so much about the Queen (as expected) but also got to see original works from famous artists I'd learned about in class. An added bonus for this girl! The marble halls and gallery rooms were gorgeous, but even better was the temporary exhibit-featuring hundreds of gowns worn by Her Royal Highness. So much care and consideration is gone into the design and construction of her outfits, especially in the ones worn diplomacy (keeping cultural garment restrictions in mind). For example. this 1967 gown was worn on a trip to Canada. It's hard to see, but at the waist of the dress, the design features Canadian maple leaves:

This is a screenshot from Pinterest. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside. Even so, I highly recommend visiting! We spent three hours and thirty minutes reading just about every word and listening to each section of the audio (yes, I've become my mother!).

On the way home, we stopped at Russell Square because we were craving this:

And of course, when we found this, we had to stop and take a picture:

"Oh how nice it is to give my feet a break from the cobblestone."

And that's it for now. Off to Journalism class I go. 

Cheers!

Leah