Alpha Chi comes to London.

Thursdsay 18 November 2010

I had class in the morning for Design as Communication. It was a normal class and I started working on my my sketchbook that is due in a couple weeks. I have completed all the required material but it’s just not organized or in my sketchbook to turn in. It’s just a formality, but I’ll have to spend a few hours getting everything together for submission. That’s the way it is and I knew that from the beginning so I will have to deal. Class ended at 3pm.

I had heard about “Christmas on Bond Street” through Think London. Our company had free tickets to the hospitality suite. I, unfortunately, was too late to respond to the email so I didn’t get the tickets. However, it was a free, public event so Elizabeth and I decided to head into Central to check it out.

The streets in London have been lit up for quite some time, I guess this was just the official unveiling event. We got a late start heading into Central because Elizabeth had class and we wanted to eat dinner before we left to avoid spending money since we have tons of food in the flat.

When we got there, we heard musicians andwatched street performers. It was packed as usual. I think after living in London, I feel a sense of calm in a crowded place. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but now I really enjoy being in crowded places. The energy and atmosphere is just irreplaceable. We got to take lots of sweet photos of the city at night, which I was excited for!

Christmas is a comin'!

Love this!

Two of my sorority sisters from Butler came to visit for the weekned. Maggy is studying in Spain and her flight got in late Thursday night. Meredith is studying in Italy and she arrived on Friday evening. Picking up Maggy was an adventure in itself. She had to rebuy her train tickets at the airport due to a credit card issue and the station I wanted her to meet me at wasn't available on the ticket machines so we were conversing over phone trying to find a meeting place. We figured it out and decided to meet at King's Cross St. Pancras. It wasn't really convenient to get to back to Harrow but that's the best we could do.

We found each other with no problems because I asked around to see where trains from Luton airport arrive at King's Cross station. We also somehow managed to make the very last train back to Harrow. because of her flight's late arrival, I was really worried about this and that's why we were going to meet another station to catch the night bus. The last Metropolitan Line tube only went to Wembley park which is a few stations away from my flat. We got off the tube and walked to the nearest store. I asked how far of a walk it would be and if it would even be safe considering I did not know the way home whatsover. The very nice gentlement working said we should definitely call a cab because it's quite far and a bit sketchy. He gave us the number of a cheap cab company. We hit up an ATM for Mags and then waited at a nearby McDonald's for the driver to pick us up. I'm so thankful we called a cab because it was about a fifteen minute drive. It was only ten pounds for the cab and so much more convenient than walking.

After getting back to my flat, we got ready for bed and went to sleep. We stayed up for probably an hour catching up on each other's lives before drifting off to sleep.

Friday 19 November 2010

I woke up before Maggy because I had class in Central. I had a one-on-one tutorial session with Rowena (my Creative Writing professor) at Regents Campus. I submitted two EXTREMELY rough drafts of our final papers. We have to write one dialogue piece and one creative writing story. Maybe I’ll post them after they are done. Maybe. We’ll see how I feel about them when I turn them in. The dialogue piece is a fabrication of the conversation I had with the Pakistani man on the train to Birmingham about a month ago. The story is a fictional piece I made up about a pickpocket on the tube. Rowena gave me some valuable feedback. Now, all I need is willpower and motivation to finish the essay.

Maggy met me and Elizabeth at Oxford Circus tube stop (where class is). We hopped on a bus toward Camden Town. It’s a giant market in London. One of my favorites. I loved how I say that I have so many ‘favorites’ in London. I just love everywhere. Anyway, it was probably about a 35 minute bus ride, not too bad. We got off and spent a few hours shopping, walking though and having lunch. I bought a Christmas gift for Steph, Grant, Daniel and Mom. Get excited you guys! You’re going to love ‘em! For lunch, I had a Mexcian burrito that was phenomenal. At these markets, they have so many authentic food stalls from around the world. Maggy had Thai food and Elizabeth had Indian food.

We entered through a different part of Camden Market and I had never seen this route before. Of course, I took copious amount of pictures.

We had a couple hours to kill before meeting Meredith from her flight. We stopped at a proper (very British) English pub for a couple beers and chatting. I introduced her to Foster’s beer which has become another one of my favorites (I just have sooo many!) since being here. She enjoyed it.

We met Mere at Tottenham Hale Underground station.  Then we headed to Benito’s Hat, also my new favorite Mexican restaurant in the city. Christine and I found it a while back and it’s just delicious (and not to mention, the only Mexican resturant that tastes remotely similiar to America tex mex food!). I’ll be quite sad when I can’t dine here anymore. I presume I will be back a few more times before I leave London. It was so crowded we had to sit outside on the curb. Not real life. To me, it was worth it because it’s so yummy. While we were on the curb, the woman who lived in the flat behind us had to squeeze through us to get to her apartment. It was an awkward and moment to share with Mere and Maggy.

We headed to my flat in Harrow after dinner and got ready for a night out in the town. We did the whole shebang; got dressed up, walked through town and visited a mega-club in Piccadilly. We went to a nightclub called ‘On Anon’ and danced for hours. Fun times! After we left, we hit up the nearby McDonald’s for a late night snack and hopped on the night bus back to Harrow. It was quite a long, long bus ride. I'm talkin' nearly an hour and a half. We made it back safely and were exhausted.

Saturday 20 November 2010

We got back pretty late on Friday night/Saturday morning so we slept in until about 10:30am. After getting ready I took the girls to Borough Market near London Bridge. I knew they would love it. This market is unique to London and has so much energy with hundreds of people exploring the booths. I love this place in the city. Maggy tried a hamburger and the three of us each got our own cup of vegetable soup; it was full of rich flavor and sort of warmed my soul on such a chilly day.

Then, we hopped back on the Jubilee Line and went a few stops east to Canary Wharf. I wanted to show Maggy and Meredith my office at Canada Square. I think they were pretty surprised that I work there. It’s very metropolitan and a high profile part  of town because it is the banking part of the city. I guess seeing my office from their point of view gave me a new appreciation for it.

Meredith was adamant about seeing the 9 ¾ platform at King’s Cross station. It’s on one of the Harry Potter movies (or books?? I’m not really sure…) and since this was a truly "Potter Weekend" we had to make her dreams come true. It was unbelievable how many people were there to take pictures of a wall. I guess J.K. Rowling has done pretty well for herself considering her writing can get people this excited about a wall with a cart attached! I sort of want to see whichever movie this is in just so I can see it on the big screen. Hah. Anyway, we saw it and got our token, obligatory tourist pictures. I had been to the platform once before with my friends Christine and Mark but it was cool to see it again and to see Meredith get so excited about it. It is a bit difficult to find in the tube station because it's tucked between two platforms far away from the ticket booth. The first time I went we probably looked for fifteen minutes for it.

All the goons in line to have their pictures taken...

We had to pick up Meredith’s train ticket at Victoria Station so she could leave in the morning. I had put it on my credit card and she had paid me back. Since you need the card to print the ticket we needed to do it while I was with her. I did not plan on going with her to the station in the morning so this worked out well.  We passed the Wicked Theatre again and continued walking toward South Bank. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I knew my way around this part of town considering I don’t go to this side of the city much. I didn’t get us lost on our way to South Bank at all. Win. We stopped for a snack at McD’s and continued walking past Westminster Abbey and towards Houses of Parliament/Big Ben. We stopped for some key pictures.

Westminster Abbey

We continued on our stroll on South Bank across from the London Eye as I tried to get us to Embankment tube station, but failed a little because we walked past it. We were aiming to get to Tottenham Court Road and there was a direct tube from Embankment. It wasn’t a big deal and we just got on at the next station we passed. We walked by Herman Melville's house, which I had not seen before so that was a pleasant surprise.

We made it to Tottenham Court and stopped in T.K. Maxx (Not T.J., I add for emphasis) for a quick browse. Just down the road was Chipotle Mexican Grill, which Maggy had been looking forward to for a couple weeks now.  She was so excited when we walked into the restaurant that her eyes started to tear up. Not kidding here. She was that ecstatic about Mexican food. Of course, I was stoked because I absolutely LOVE it and miss it so much in London.

This was finally the few hours Meredith had been looking forward to since Spring of last year. When I had mentioned studying in London this fall, Meredith had already decided she was going to visit this weekend to see the Harry Potter premiere in London. We left Chipotle in plenty of time to get to the Odeon Theatre in Leicester (pronounced ‘lester’) Square. This is where the actual premiere screening of the film took place, so I wanted to buy tickets for Mere and us to see it here.

Potter Mania

Well, that didn’t quite work out according to plan. I try to print my tickets from the self-help machine and it didn’t work. It didn’t recognize my credit card. I wasn’t alarmed at all because British credit cards have a chip inside them that's used to read cards in machines like this. American cards don’t have the chip inside, so some machines/restaurants/stores won’t accept American cards. I go to the counter and show the attendant my card and booking confirmation number. Come to find out, I had actually looked the tickets for Leicester, England, which is a four-hour car ride away. I was so irritated at myself for making such a crucial mistake. I know my city. I know what things are called. I couldn’t believe I did this. More than that, I couldn’t believe that I screwed up this experience for Meredith to see her beloved Daniel Radcliffe in London. The attendant was quite nice and said I could get a refund and that this sort of thing happens a lot. I hastily asked where we could go in London to see the film tonight. It was crucial. She said Tottenham Court Road Odeon had tickets still. I asked if she could reserve them for us at this time, but she said she couldn’t. Ughh.

Nearly running to the tube, Maggy and Meredith followed me through the station to the Central Line so we could get to Tottenham Court. I stopped and asked for directions to the theatre and walked as quickly as I could. I was praying the entire time that they would still have tickets. Maggy and Meredith were struggling to catch up to me during this twenty minute process. I was not slowing down. I get inside and Maggy asks if there is tickets available, while I am on the phone trying to get a refund. I did get the money back on my card. And thanks to God, there were exactly three seats available in the theatre. Incredible! None of them were seated anywhere near each other, but I was just so relieved that Meredith would get to see it. It was a chaotic twenty minutes for me until I heard those words. I think Meredith’s dreams were crushed when we learned I screwed up the booking.

Mags had to go to the bathroom so we used the toilets and then were headed to a internet café to get her transportation to Luton Airport sorted out. We are leaving the theater when the woman tells us two seats miraculously (my words, not hers) opened up next to one of our seats. So somehow, by the grace of God we all got to sit together. It was absolutely perfect timing. Hallelujah!!! We exchanged the tickets and then walked to the internet café. Maggy had to change her original plan since we were seeing Potter an hour later than we thought. We figured out two options, take a (notably unreliable, but cheap) bus from Finchley Road (3 stops from my dorm) or a more expensive train ticket from King’s Cross. The wrench in the plan was that the tube would be closed and if Mere and I went into Central to help her find King’s Cross if the bus didn’t show we may not be able to get back to Harrow without paying for a cab for an hour and a half. To me, that just seemed dumb. Maggy wanted to take the cheaper bus so that is what we decided. We stopped at a grocery to buy some snacks for the movie and then went to the theatre.

The worker on the right was highly annoyed at us for taking pictures, well mostly me. Mere wasn't having it and wasn't keen on cooperating. That's cool. I still like her.

Mere was super excited for the show; Maggy and I were indifferent but glad she was happy.  As for how, I liked/disliked the film…I remember feeling like it was not something I would particularly want to watch again. The villain, Voldemort, is just gross to look at and one of the good characters is an elf that dies, but he is also just gruesome looking. As I am writing this, I can feel my face flinch as I’m thinking about how they look. The elf is tiny and frail with an abnormally large bald head. He’s wrinkly and his voice is squeaky. Voldemort’s skin is the color of chalk and his nose is stretched out the length of his face. It almost looks like it’s mashed against his skin.  There was one part of the movie where Ron’s arm is sevored and Hermione uses a potion to heal it. The sound effects were sizzling, like skin frying. Another time, an enormous snake “eats” the screen which is just gross to me. I don’t know, it just wasn’t cheery and delightful like I was expecting.  I don’t like seeing that kind of stuff and I during the scenes with those characters, I could feel myself looking away.

After the movie, we hurried back on the tube toward Harrow. I decided I was going to get off at Finchley Road and investigate the bus situation while Mere and Maggy went back to my flat to get her things. I wanted to save a few minutes by figuring out where the bus stop was in comparison to the tube station and find out when the last tube went back to Harrow. I found it, no problem and found out we had an hour and a half until the last tube to my stop. Whew. So relieved. Those two got back about two minutes after the bus was supposed to come. It hadn’t yet and I was glad. We briskly walked (mostly, I briskly walked , they just followed) and we got to the stop about two minutes before the coach pulled up. I paid for Maggy’s ticket because she had no more pounds and she will pay me back in American dollars next semester. No big deal. I was just glad that she was going to get on the bus. Little did we know, this wasn’t the bus we looked up online so it was almost seventeen pounds ($25) instead of seven. I already bought the ticket for her when she yelled, “Wait” but it was too late. This was easier and the bus was here. She got on. She ended up spending a few extra pounds than she would have if she would have taken the train, but oh well. This was stressful on me trying to figure it all out before everything closed. At this point in my time abroad, I have found that is almost always more worth it to spend the extra money and just know everything will work out rather than trying to save ten bucks and just hoping/stressing that things will come together. To me, it’s worth the extra money to buy a train you know will be on time as opposed to a cheap bus that sometimes just skips stops, or to buy a lock for your things at a hostel knowing your stuff will be safe instead of keeping your $3 dollars. It’s just worth it.

After Maggy left, Meredith and I walked into a Subway for a ‘snack.’ Hah. It was midnight and I definitely ordered a six inch sub and ate it all in about three minutes. That’s my way,I  guess. I’m in college, my body can handle it. Meredith loves Subway and she can’t get it in Italy so this was her chance. Win again for her. We chatted for a bit during our snack and then went back to Harrow for the night. Once again, it was a late night and we were ready to pass out when we walked in the door. I let Meredith sleep on my bed and I snuggled on the floor. I’m getting too old for lounging on the floor, I can tell you that!