weekend in the life

February 28

On Thursday my class went to brick lane.  Brick lane has a history of being occupied by the Jews and is now mostly a Bengali neighborhood. There are Bengali restaurants lining the street (I believe 64 in all.)  My personal favorite dish would be the chicken curry.  Curry is huge here (and it’s delicious.)  The club scene is quite popular right now in brick lane and at night the streets are full of lights and streets vendors with tempting food.  Brick lane is also popular for a specific bagel store near the end of the street.  They sell the cheapest bagels in Europe (you can get one for 60p.)  Most everyone’s favorite bagel is the salt beef bagel.  However, everyone failed to tell me that this bagel had a horseradish sauce on it that could literally burn your nose off.  After my first (and quite large) bite I was seriously concerned my nose was melting off my face.  I have never been a huge fan of spicy but this was RIDICULOUS.  I couldn’t even finish my bagel but Peter and Dan had no problem taking it out of my hands. They are such good friends.  A lot of famous artists and celebrities live on or right off of Brick Lane including Keira Knightly and some goober who narrated one of the videos we watched in class.  There is a lot of modern art scattered throughout brick lane, along with some awesome graffiti.  I really need to start taking more pictures.  There was also a Queen exhibit that just opened. I have heard it was really cool and it made me think of good ol’ Wacky Zachy back at home.  

Oldest Bell Foundry in London, also crafted the Liberty Bell

Keira Knightley's (large) flat

the Queen exhibit 

Last Friday was exciting for me broadcast-wise.  I helped write a script last week on who Wills (they say Wills here for short, not Will) and Kate invited to their wedding.  Our producer originally wrote it and then I changed it around a bit and added some lines.  They really liked my editing which was exciting.  Then my boss told me since I helped write the script I could voice it for my resume.  I was really nervous because you don’t go into this separate booth to voice a track.  You are in the same room as everyone else, except in a cubby semi off to the side.  Literally as soon as I started talking everyone went silent.  I think my first read through was straight up robot style.  But after Kim talked to me I eased up a bit and I think it was good. 

On Saturday my friends went to Portobello Market.  I said I was going to meet up with them later because I wanted to sleep in (surprise, surprise.)  When I got up and texted them they didn’t have service.  So I decided to go to Portobello alone.  Portobello market is one of the biggest and well-known open markets in London.  They have a ton of antiques on sale, which were really cool to look at.  There was everything from watches to saddlebags to old wedding dresses.  And of course there were lots and lots of fresh food stands.  You could get fresh fruit and veggies, falafels, crepes, Belgium waffles, stir fry, etc.  I treated my lonely self to a crepe.  Let me tell you, people were not afraid to throw some bows in the crepe line.  That place was dangerous!

the cute houses there were all different colors- side note: this is in Notting

Hill where that Julia Roberts' movie was filmed

Portobello

my crepe.  Couldn't even finish it because it was so big

My flat is right next to Little Venice which is a river that goes all the way to Camden Market.  There are a lot of house boats that sit on it all year round.  

My favorite house near my house.  So cute

Sunday was Jordan, my roommate’s, birthday.  We went out to celebrate the night before so on Sunday me and 3 other girls went out to eat with her.  We went to this Mexican restaurant next to Trafalgar Square, which was surprisingly good considering there are not many Mexican restaurants in London… because its London… and Mexico’s not close….not surprisingly the fish tacos were the best.  We were slightly obsessed with our waiter who conveniently happened to look like Gerard Butler.  James, if you’re reading this, no worries we are coming back.

I have found over the course of my stay here that I have absolutely no balance.  Whenever it’s crowded on the tube and I am stuck in the middle standing with no bars near to hold on to I go into a stage of panic.  My lack of balance could cause a terrible embarrassing domino effect if I fall.  Last time I craned my arm into an awkward position around a man just to hold on to a bar.  He looked terribly annoyed.  Sorry guy.  It would be WAY more annoying if I fell on top of you.