Of Sun and Disasters

For the past few days, it has been obvious around London-town that Spring is on the way. In a city that spends the majority of the year overcast, people definitely celebrate when the sun is shining. Everyone you meet seems more cheerful and even tourists bouncing around the Tube seem more excited by historic London.

Which is why, when the sun came out (finally) for a Saturday afternoon, I decided not to waste the opportunity and visit Hyde Park. It's a short journey from my house and the views of the park are absolutely amazing. People were going out on the lake on paddle-boats, roller blading, walking with their dogs, biking and just out enjoying the sunshine. I even saw two people on horses.

It's absolutely beautiful, and some flowers were already in bloom. It's been a balmy 50 degrees Fahrenheit in London lately, which I think many Londoners may consider still fairly cold but I consider spring. (One London lesson I've realized, though, is that the English seem to have a huge appreciation for the green space in their country and cities. I suspect this is because the English people haven't always had open space to enjoy, whereas Americans have had thousands of acres of land to do where they can do whatever the want.)

I would love to see this in the summer, although it may also be completely swamped with people through June, July and August.

Still. Beautiful.


So that was my outing for the weekend. Schoolwork has been taking over my life as of late, but I will try to share as much as I can when I can.

In other news, there was obviously a huge earthquake in Japan on Friday. And there's nothing like this headline at the end of the day to put your life in perspective:

This has shocked me. At first because of the best friend I have studying in Japan and the family of another best friend who lives in Japan. Luckily, they were both fine. Then, I was shocked because of the extent of the damage Japan has seen over the last few days. So best of luck to everyone still in Japan! Stay safe and best wishes!

Why The World Needs Apparition

There are too many different and important things going on in two of my favorite cities. All I want is to be able to go to work, and then apparate back to Madison to watch the rallies at Capitol Square.

Seriously, there are no words for how much this story makes me want to be back in Madison. Governor Walker dictatorially deciding to scrap collective bargaining rights for state and local employees? A) Ridiculous. B) Please. I should be there. Either to cover it or to participate. (Are any of you lovely people participating? What do you think of the protests?)

I was surprised by the video on that article and excited. When was the last time students protested at the Capitol against something?

I'm not sure how I feel about all the Facebook events though. It's great to see word spread about these kind of 'movements' on Facebook and to see people enthusiastic about them online. But are people actually doing it?

Anyway, I would love to see how all this stuff is going down in Madison. Which is Reason #1 why we need apparition.

Reason #2 is because the sun was shining and the birds were singing in London today, and you all should have been there. I also saw the inside of a BBC studio and the Thames through the window of a Parliamentary Committee room. So that was exciting.

Now back to real homework. Oh yeah, it's still studying abroad, isn't it? Fantastic.

Valentine's Day

Happy V-Day everyone! I obviously spent my Valentine's Day away from all my great loves, who are back on my native side of the pond.

Instead, I visited my new love: Big Ben.

That basically means all of London, my friends.

This picture illustrates all of my favorite things about this city: the traditional and iconic Big Ben and Houses of Parliament, my workplace of Portcullis House and the modern ever-present London Eye.

So that's worth being happy about this Valentine's Day I suppose.

Either way, I miss everyone back home terribly! Shout-out to my truly amazing friends and family who continue to read this blog!

Cheers loves!

Of Crumpets

[This post is dedicated to my roommate, Liz Schultz, without whom I would have persisted in my ignorant belief that crumpets are basically English muffins.]

Crumpets are so much better than English muffins.

They're more like miniature waffles. I think English muffins are a little flatter, but a crumpet is thicker, so the butter seeps through it.

It's just really good bread. Try it if you get the chance.

I think food overall here is pretty good. Most of the restaurants or cafes I've tried have been amazing. (Obviously, we're living in a city, so there has to be good food somewhere.)

I might not be the best person to write about cooking, seeing as I don't do much of it anywhere. However, I have succeeded in not burning any pots or pans, or forgetting about food stored in some corner of my cabinet, which is a success in my eyes. I can stock up on food fairly cheaply at the Tesco or Tesco Express. And most stores will randomly put food on sale if it's about to expire, leading me to buy a pack of muffins, crumpets or baguettes whenever it's marked down to 99p or less.

So there. Food in Britain: not bad. Am I excited to try food in other countries though? Absolutely. I would pretty much give anything to have a crepe cart in this city. [And there's a shout out to you Bre.]

..And the fish is pretty big here too obviously. [Sonya? Ah, sorry. I'm just going to start tagging you guys in posts I think you should look at.]