About two weeks ago my Media Consumption class took a field trip to the BBC Broadcasting house. Although I haven't really ever watched anything on the BBC (I'm more of an E4 kinda gal) it was really interesting to see and learn about how the BBC works. Did you know that if you want to watch television in the UK you have to pay 145 pounds every year? The money goes to fund the BBC and you have to pay it whether or not you want to watch the BBC. Quite interesting. The tour guides took us around and we saw the giant newsroom (with everything from local news to worldwide), the studio of The One Show (which I had never heard of before, but apparently it's a pretty big thing here), the radio theatre and the inside of their older building. It was cool because they had two of the girls and a random dude do a fake newscast complete with a weather report and later a few of us acted out a radio program. It was definitely cool, but it would have been a lot cooler if I watched a single thing on the BBC.
One of my favorite things in London definitely has to be all of the markets. I talked a bit in my last post about Borough Market, the one with amazing and delicious gourmet foods, but the markets definitely do not stop there. While yes, I have been to Borough three times already and maybe have spent over forty dollars there total (sooo worth it), my friends and I are in the process of exploring the other markets. Second on our list was Camden Town Market, which is enormous and full of trinkets, clothes, and such. It's one of those places where the first section has every seller selling the exact same things, typically knockoffs of clothing brands, and they're each trying to get a higher price. We found another section called The Stables Market that had a bunch of unique stuff inside a giant old horse stable. Apparently there was a lot more to explore, but the rain was bringing us down that day. This past weekend we went to Brick Lane and the Old Spitalfields Market. Brick Lane was half ethnic food and half trinkets and posters and stuff, but we only explored the food side. Katherine, Taylor, and I split Tibetan dumplings, Vietnamese noodles, Ethiopian samosas, Greek dessert, and a delicious Nutella & banana crepe. It was ridiculous and amazing. Apparently they have the best bagels in town as well, but we were too full to keep looking. The Spitalfields Market is just around the corner, and that was all handmade and vintage things. We didn't have too much time to explore considering we had only planned to go to one market, but it was really awesome and I'm definitely planning on going back.
This past Saturday we all went to a real football game. Not, not soccer. Football. Most of us had never heard of the teams that were playing (Fulham vs. Southhampton) or cared about who won (Southhampton), but it was still really really fun. The fans were so loud and exciting and somehow chanted in perfect harmony. My favorite chant was the one that only consisted of various inflections of "We're taking a piss." During halftime I decided to do it big and I tried my very first meat pie. Inside the crispy crust was minced meat and mashed potatoes... it was alright, but it gave me an awful stomach ache for the rest of the day. Maybe I'll blame it on the fact that it was stadium food and give the pie thing another chance... We'll see. After the game, we hung around by one of the team's buses and successfully saw one player. Hopefully my next English sporting event will be rugby - I'm not sure how thrilling I'd find cricket...
One particular thing I find myself doing more than I expected to is going out. Since this is the first time most everyone in the program can legally "go out," we've all been taking advantage of it. From pubs to clubs to bars, it's been so fun exploring the London nightlife. One of my best nights so far was probably at the End of the World party - this giant party was a bit pricy, but it was super worth it. Since the theme was 'end of the world' they had a spot where you could post your "last wishes," submit your "last request" of music, and even "look good before you die" by getting sparkly makeup. Naturally I took advantage of everything. I even got a free manicure! There were so many people at the party and it went on until 3:30am.
The money system is pretty different here, and I love it. No, I don't love the fact that one dollar can only get you .60 pence, but the denominations of notes and pence make so much more sense. There's no such thing as a one pound note here (note: "pound note" is like "dollar bill") - they have one pound coins instead. And they have two pound coins, which tend to make life easier. In terms of coinage they have one penny, two pence, five pence, ten pence, twenty pence, fifty pence, one pound, and two pounds. It was difficult to get used to initially, considering that the ten pence coin resembles a quarter, the five pence coin is the size of a dime, and the twenty pence coin looks like a nickel with sharp edges. The second week I was here I actually had to count the coins in my wallet because I had so many - eight pounds worth, to be exact. And the different denominations of bills are different sizes and colors - so a fiver is green and smaller than a tenner, which is orange. Twenties are purple and obviously bigger, and fifties are red and barely fit in my wallet. Why are American bills so boring?
One of my favorite chain restaurants here is called Pret a Manger and I am obsessed with it. The "fast and premade, but healthy" is a pretty big deal here, so there are a lot of places with ready-made food. While Pret's coffee isn't anything to beg for (although my new fave is their Love Bar Latte,) their sandwiches are delicious and cheap. For like 3.95 pounds (about six dollars - you just have to accept that nothing here is cheaper than anything in America) you can get a delicious prosciutto, tomato, rocket (arugula), and cheese sandwich on a delicious crunchy baguette. It's to die for. The fact that there are about five different chain restaurants that all boast the same sort of "premade, fast, and healthy" type thing was jarring at first, but now I've just gotten used to the fact that Londoners like things that are smart and easy. Unlike Americans, apparently.
There are definitely American chain restaurants here though, but they're a bit off... For instance, the Pizza Hut here is a sit down restaurant (or so I've heard) and McDonald's is actually pretty nice inside. Most everyone has complained about their food the few times we did our late-night dining there, but I honestly liked their chips (fries hehe) way better than the ones at the Mickey D's in America. The time I went to Subway I had to choose between "turkey" or "turkey ham" and I was mad that a footlong was five pounds, considering that's eight dollars. Yesterday we stopped off at Chipotle and I almost didn't get anything because I couldn't decide if a burrito bowl was worth eleven dollars WITHOUT guacamole, but I decided to splurge and spend the seven pounds. I also decided that if I was splurging, I had to pay the one pound forty (or $2.30!!!) for guacamole. Boy, did I make the right decision. I'm not sure if it's because I haven't had Mexican food in over a month (not that Chipotle can be considered real Mexican food), or if I was just really hungry, but I enjoyed my British Chipotle so much more than I think I've ever enjoyed my American Chipotle. Crazy, I know.
Speaking of food, grocery stores are so weird here. There are a lot of small "express" or "local" grocery stores that sell limited amounts of food, and you'd be hard pressed to find a "normal" sized store. And even at the larger stores, almost 70% of the store consists of premade food. It's crazy. Each grocery store will have giant rows of premade sandwiches and salads and microwavable meals that expire in like three days. It's ridiculously hard to shop in bulk. The closest grocery store only sells 4-packs of toilet paper and 2-packs of paper towels. Plus, even if you tried to buy in bulk, all your food will go bad before you have the chance to eat it. Trust me, I've learned from experience. London is the kinda of place where you have to go to the grocery store about twice a week unless you're a wizard at making food last, which I apparently am not. But I have been cooking for myself while I'm here! I've made chicken and salmon and I even made bacon for the first time. I accidentally burnt it to a crisp, but I bought a pretty big pack so I eventually got it right. Don't be surprised if I come home with chef-like skills.
Also, pedestrians here do not have the right of way. At all. At first it was hard to get used to because not only do you have to look the other way sometimes (not all the time!) when crossing the street, if you screw it up the car will not stop for you. I haven't seen anyone get hit yet, but I admit even today I was almost hit by a cyclist. Oops. Buses are probably the scariest though because they get SO CLOSE TO YOU when you're standing on the sidewalk. But honestly, I can't complain. The public transportation here is amazing. I don't know what I'm going to do without the tube when I get back to LA. Even the bus system is really great - sitting on the top deck and enjoying the view can be such a fun alternative to the hustle and bustle of the underground. I never want to drive again in my life, and that's saying something.
What's on the horizon for yours truly? Well, this weekend my friends and I are going to... wait for it... PARIS!!! I'm so unbelievably excited because it's our first trip of the semester. And obviously because I've never been to Paris before. We're taking a chance on a nine hour overnight bus ride so we can have the most amount of time in Paris. We're leaving for Paris Thursday night and then taking another overnight bus on Sunday night... class in the morning on Monday will definitely be a killer. We also have a tour of Westminster Abbey tomorrow, a tour of the Tower of London next week, and we're seeing the play Fuezrabruta as well. Plus, Taylor and I bought tickets to the Phoenix concert for next Wednesday and I'm beyond thrilled. Their set at Coachella was incredible and I've been wanting to see a concert while I'm here :) We also booked spring break! Unfortunately our schedule is kinda crappy because we're following the USC calendar instead of a London university's calendar, so our spring break is a week long instead of a month long (curse those of you studying at a real uni here!!!!). But we're doing our best to take advantage of the short time we have - we're starting off our week with three nights in Dublin. I'm actually really stoked because we'll be in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day! After Ireland, we're flying to Brussels, Belgium and spending two nights there. Can you say chocolate and waffles?!?! Our last stop is Berlin, where we're spending the last three nights of our week. I'm so unbelievably excited. I'm in the process of booking more weekend trips, but so far all I've got is a flight to Amsterdam the first weekend of April. Hopefully I'll get to go to a few more places while I'm here, but that's all I've got for the moment.
I promise I'll try harder to blog more frequently.
Cheers to getting my wander on.
-h
With fruits and veggies, you can get away with leaving it for a bit after the expiration date but obviously not too long since they don't have as much artificial stuff in their food. Pedestrians actually do have the right of way, it just doesn't seem like it! You definitely get used to it though. I totally feel you on the public transport over there. Being back in LA, all I can think of every time is "why can't I just take the tub there instead of driving?". I'm so jealous you're going to Dublin! Everyone from LMU that went loved it there- I don't think I've heard anyone say a bad thing about Dublin. Berlin is so amazing! Definitely rent a bike (€10) and just explore the city- my friend and I rented bikes and hit all the spots we wanted to see and it was a great way to see the city. I'd also recommend doing day trips within England because it's nice to get out of the city and see the countryside. Definitely living through your pictures, wishing I was back in London.
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