London: The Return of The Queen

During my February return visit to London I stayed with some friends of mine I made while at King’s College London: Charlotte, Sarah, Sarah, and their Belgian roommate… Sarah (it did get confusing).  The best part about being back with an unfortunately small budget was the fact that I’d done all of the important tourist activities and I could just enjoy my vacation by relaxing and going out with my friends.  For some reason the fates had brought a lot of my friends to London around the same time I was there, so I not only got to see some of my friends who live in London, but I saw other American friends visiting/living in London.  Anna went to visit Deanie in Cambridge the first day we were back, so I met up with my roommate Helena (who was in England visiting cousins), two of her French friends from high school, my friend Marcos (who goes to Marquette but is studying abroad at Helena’s university), and our Canadian friend Jeff (also studying at the same university in Lyon).  I found us a place with cheap fish and chips for lunch and then we ended up taking a long walk along the Thames from Tower Bridge to Big Ben.  I was back in my element, pointing out all sorts of things to everyone else along our walk and reminiscing about my time spent along those shores.

We parted ways for dinner and I met back up with Jeff and Marcos for some drinks with my King’s friends at my former student union bar, The Waterfront, where I was finally able to indulge in my favorite drink, the Snakebite.  This drink is really simple: half cider, half beer, and some blackcurrant liqueur to make it pink and somewhat fruity, but it’s illegal in many bars in the UK because it apparently has a reputation of doing weird things to people’s minds (kind of like how Tequila seems to bring weird nights, but much more serious).  Nothing strange has ever happened to me so I can’t really explain it, but it is delicious!  The Waterfront not only has awesome drinks at cheap prices for students, but it also has a magnificent view of the Thames, including the South Bank, Oxo Tower, the London Eye, Big Ben to the right, and Tower Bridge to the far left.  It’s on my list of favorite bars in the world.

View of the South Bank, the London Eye and Big Ben

The next few nights I spent with Anna at our friend Patricia’s.  Anna and I went to high school together and took French together.  Patricia was our French teacher’s daughter who’s a year older than us and who we met on our class trip to France in 2006.  Patricia and I bonded over our love for the UK and British indie rock and stayed in touch after our trip.  Life has moved us around a bit, but she’s living in London this year as a student at LSE so we had to meet up and she was kind enough to let us crash at her place a few nights.

The one downside of not feeling like a tourist is that I don’t take a lot of pictures because I’ve already seen everything, so it’s hard for me to remember everything I did on my trip.  However, with Anna we spent some time in Covent Garden, Notting Hill, and Harrod's.

Portobello Market on a Saturday

Harrod's food halls

After Anna left, I went back to Charlotte and the Sarahs’ for the next two nights.  Charlotte and I went for a walk around Shoreditch and Brick Lane so I could finally go to Rough Trade East and get a photobooth picture with her.  Rough Trade is one of the coolest independent record labels/stores in London which has released records by many of my favorite artists (Belle & Sebastian, The Mystery Jets, Johnny Flynn, The Decemberists, Arcade Fire, The Libertines, Sufjan Stevens, etc, etc.).  Adele also worked at one of the Rough Trade record shops after winning two Grammys in 2009, so obviously it’s a big deal and quite the London landmark for music fiends.

Along our way we stopped in the famous Beigel Bake on Brick Lane, a Jewish style bakery with a focus on bagels and other really cheaply priced pastries (70 pence for a piece of carrot cake!).  The line was out the door but moved really quickly as the workers are used to the rush of people all the time.

We had a coffee at the Rough Trade café area and headed back to get ready for our long-awaited concert that night.

Now this is where I’m going to be a super music snob and nerd out about my love for Mumford & Sons and the London music scene right now.  So, without exaggeration, I’ve loved Mumford & Sons for a very long time (about 5 years).  As I said earlier I was into the whole indie/folk scene in the UK/London since I was a teenager, and in my last.fm days I discovered quite a lot of really young, unique bands.  Two of them were on a very small U.S. tour (Laura Marling and Johnny Flynn) back in 2008 with an opening act named Mumford and Sons.  My friend John happened to be at the concert in Chicago (because he’s a cool music guy) and through him my friend Josh recommended their music to me, knowing I liked that kind of music and should’ve been at that concert myself.  This was at a time when they only had one EP out and I had to go to great lengths to get my hands on any of their music.  I was in love.  Absolutely and completely, and I recommended them to everyone I knew who appreciated that type of music, and basically everyone who liked music at all.  So from there I kept listening and buying EP’s, awaiting their first album which came out in the UK in Fall 2009/US Spring 2010.   

As Spring 2010 was my big study abroad semester and Lille is close to the English Channel, I often had the opportunity to see some really good British acts that I loved.  I was lucky enough to get the chance to see them twice: once in Paris and once in Lille.  In early March they played in Paris, so Sadie and I took a weekend trip there to see their concert and, of course, have a wild weekend in the capital.  That was the weekend I woke up 30 minutes before my train, stepped on and broke my glasses, jumped on the first metro that came (without knowing its direction), nearly missed my train, spent the night at a memorable party full of Austrians and one German, lost a contact and was left with only one and no glasses the rest of the weekend, rented a sketchy cheap Parisian hotel, and got to enjoy my first Mumford and Sons experience!  The concert itself was really crowded and hot, and it was a bizarre sensation only being able to see it half-clearly, so when they announced a concert in Lille I was sure to get my ticket ASAP.  That concert also sold out very quickly and so I ended up going alone.  The best part about it though was that the opening act was announced as none other than Johnny Flynn, who Mumfz opened for in Chicago and who came out to play "Winter Winds" with Mumford and Sons on trumpet.  After the concert, as I like doing with smaller bands, I went to see if I could talk to anyone at the merch stand, just as I did with Good Shoes, another British band who were happy and surprised to have had an anglophone fan at their concert.  Luckily for me, Ben, the keyboardist of Mumford and Sons, was hanging around.  We had about a 10 minute chat before it had to be cut short since I had to get the last metro back from Tourcoing to Lille for the night.  In our conversation though I told them to come to Milwaukee to play if they ever got the chance (and not that this was because of me) which they did that October.  By this time they were so big though that they sold out the 2,500 seat theater and I didn't get the chance to talk to them again... UNTIL, one year later in London.

A few years ago Ben created an organization with two other friends called Communion which promotes and produces music of up-and-coming artists in order to give them an opportunity to flourish in a competitive music scene.  The record label itself has some really good music that I'd highly recommend looking into (Daughter, Bear's Den, Ben Howard, Matthew and The Atlas).  In London, and now all over the UK, US, and Australia, they have club nights during which 5-6 bands perform followed by DJ Sets by other artists.  The famous and original one in London takes place the first Sunday of every month in Notting Hill Arts Club.  Needless to say, I went every month while I lived there.  Communion nights were my absolute favorite part about living in London.  Notting Hill Arts Club was a rather small venue with a bar in one room and a stage in the other, giving the night just the right cozy community feeling, rather than an industry-pushed means of making money.  It always surprised me that they were still able to hold the club nights in such a small place, because there was so much talent there, and oftentimes many other Mumford and Sons band members as well as their musician friends/my other favorite artists were there as spectators.  It was basically as close as I'll ever get to living my dream of being part of the London music scene and friends with all my favorite musicians.  So when I went to my first one in October last year I brought along Charlotte and Hattie, who also love Mumford and Sons and a lot of the same music I do.  I told them that there was a chance Ben would be there.. and he was!  Most of me wanted to be chill and cool and not talk to him because there was no way he'd remember me anyway.. I mean, I was an American he met in France, why would I all of a sudden be in London?  However my friends were urging me to go say something, since I told them I'd met him a year and a half ago in Lille.  As we were leaving I found the courage in me to say something, fearing the worst rejection ever if he didn't remember me, but knowing it was likely.  I approached him, tapped him on the shoulder and said "Hi, are you Ben?" to which he responded "yeah, haven't we met before?"  *Whew* not just a relief, but surprise and utter excitement.  I introduced him to my friends and I mentioned the gig in Milwaukee and he talked about the crazy Halloween party he went to afterwards which made him miss the tour bus to Chicago.  Such a cool chap.  Those Communion nights were always memorable ones.. 

Luckily for me, my trip to London this February/March just happened to land on the Sunday of March's Communion.  Charlotte and I got to do more bonding that day, spending our night at one of our old haunts and geeking out over the musical talent that was there that night.

Or, you know, just judging people...

The next night I met up with some other old friends at The Waterfront, and luckily for my budget, we won the pub quiz (= more Snakebites)!

The next day I headed out to Cambridge to visit Deanie and her/our friends who came to visit her over their spring break.  Before catching my train, though, Charlotte and I enjoyed a nice fatty full English breakfast at The Shepherdess, a famous breakfast spot in Islington.  Standard.

My peanut butter+honey toast couldn't fit in the picture.

 

I then packed and made my way to Liverpool Street Station to catch my train.  Once I made it to Cambridge/St. John's College I was greeted with a hearty 3-way hug from Deanie and Vinnie.  Feelin' the love.  Deanie had two other guests that night as well, Beckie and Audrey, and we all had quite the night.  It started off with a fancy free port and sherry social gathering before going to Hall for a 3 course Cambridge worthy meal cooked by a Michelin star chef.  

Since you're not allowed to take pictures or even leave the hall to go to the loo while the fellows and distinguished professors are eating at the head tables, I have no pictures of the food itself.  They ring a gong when they come in, everyone stands, prayers are read in Latin, and then you can sit.  However since the fellows are served first, they leave really early, leaving the students with a more relaxed atmosphere when they're only halfway through their meals (which also means they're interrupted to stand for a closing prayer in the middle of their meals).  I'd been to two other Hall dinners during other visits to see Deanie, so I knew I could have high expectations which the food and wine did live up to.  Since there were 4 of us non-Cambridge students as Deanie's guests we got kind of out of hand and I let my self relax this time, not being too proper.  One Cambridge tradition when going to hall (as they say) at another college is to steal an entire place setting (plates, cups, cutlery, etc.) so of course we all decided to get a souvenir.  I managed to get a nice fancy coffee cup and saucer with the St. John's emblem on it.
 

Audrey, Vinnie, Deanie, Beckie and me

 After our luxurious dinner we went back to the social gathering with seemingly endless amounts of port and sherry, which we very much took advantage of to start off the night.  Ah, the joys of being in Cambridge.

The night continued with a silly not-so-relaxed Cambridge student bar and a night out at a club.  Lots of fun happened that night which cannot be posted.


 Back in London I spent my last days seeing as many other friends as I could before heading back to the land of the French.

Being in London again was a strange sensation.  Everything was so familiar but everyday things like tube stops and lines had faded a bit in my memory, making me realize I no longer am a Londoner.  For some reason the way of life seemed so much more fast-paced than I remembered from living there and I kind of hated it when I first got back.  It's so big!  Towards the end though I re-learned why I loved it in the first place, and it really is a gathering space of a lot of my favorite people and memories.  After all, it is the place where my nickname of "The Queen" became more official.

London: A Look Back / Why I Love My Life

My two week “ski break” vacation was not over yet with the flight out of Reykjavík.  I was headed for a 10 day stay in London, one of the 5 places I’ve at some point called my home.  Fun fact: strangely enough, all of the cities I’ve lived in outside of the States start with the letter “L” (Lille, London, Lyon).

The last time I was in London was mid-January of last year, 2012, when I was finishing up my second semester of studying abroad.  That semester was kind of a “why not?” experience; since I added my degree in philosophy I knew I’d be in school for at least 4.5 years, so to even it off I decided to go abroad again and graduate in 5 years.  Choosing London was an easy, straight-forward decision for me, but only because I’d already been in France for a semester.  This is where I get kind of judgy of other study abroad students.  For me, studying abroad is about being immersed in a culture completely different from your own (having to acclimate/struggle to make your way in a new language and society), so, while France isn’t the most culture shocking country I could’ve chosen (it was important, however, for my studies, and let’s be real, Sundays in France are annoying to say the least), I still think choosing Anglophone countries is kind of a cop-out.  I do, however, give props to everyone who even makes the effort to leave the States for any amount of time, and yes England is different in its own ways, but I think people could push themselves a bit further when it comes to studying abroad.  Basically studying abroad comes down to what you think is most important from such an experience: partying and not having to work too hard in the same language, or struggling every day with a new linguistic or cultural situation which is frustrating but in the end rewarding (or some variation of these).  This is mostly the language/culture geek in me speaking, because I think such an experience is really important for self-realization and learning more about the world, but really, if you have the opportunity, take advantage of it!

Okay, judging done.  I really do love the UK, so now I’ll explain why I chose it.  So since I’d already had my dose of trying to swim my way through the big ocean of French bureaucracy, I decided to go somewhere I knew I’d just have a really awesome, relatively easy time.  I decided to take the trip for me, without feeling guilty about not choosing a really exotic place, because I do, after all, really love British culture.  As I said, London was an obvious choice, and not only because of the fact that they speak English there or because I was limited to a certain amount of programs because of financial reasons.  I’ve also always wanted to see what life is like in a major world city, either London or Paris (life goal: to live in each of them at some point).  I think one of the biggest reasons I went to London was the music scene (indie/folk/punk/modern/oldies), a theme which will show up later on in this post, as well as the fact that I enjoy a lot of British tv and movies.  For a period in high school and early college I really only listened to British indie.  I can’t really explain why.  It was just always better, and there was a scene forming around London in which all my favorite groups somehow had a connection to each other and these bands hardly came stateside.  I knew I had to go and experience it for myself, a place where people knew what bands and tv shows and movies and actors I was talking about... ah yes, I’d fit right in.

Last year wasn’t the first time I’d been to London or even the UK (I’d been to Scotland on a few occasions with friends or to visit friends, and to London while I was on my first study abroad trip), so my arrival last year was really not a huge eye-opener.  It was nice arriving in a place that was so familiar already, allowing me to profit from being a non-tourist right away.  I was also living in very central London (literally 1 minute from Waterloo station and the South Bank) which was most convenient.  I definitely made the most of my time there; I saw a lot, went to some plays, went to a lot of concerts, went out a lot, made a lot of awesome friends, traveled a lot, visited or was visited by a lot of my friends in Europe, learned some philosophy, and really felt like a local in the end (as you should when you study abroad!). 

Surprisingly though, I didn’t cry when I left London, unlike the time I left Lille.  It was a completely different farewell.  By this point in my life I’d already done what I thought was the impossible: seeing so many different countries and cities and small towns, visiting my European friends I met in America wherever they live in Europe, having Americans come visit me, visiting Americans where they live abroad in Europe, etc.  Basically the world had shrunk for me.  There’s no longer any such thing as “impossible.”  This goes hand in hand with my feelings on traveling: get out there and do it while you can because the “when I’m older” excuse really turns into “never.”  The world is only as big, scary and daunting as you let it be.  Even when I left Lille I thought I’d never see some people again because I was still in the mindset of “this is a unique, once in a lifetime chance to be abroad” and “America is way on the other side of the world!” and I couldn’t foresee my future, of course.  This may be true for some people or casual acquaintances, but having made many international friendships over the past 5 or so years, I know that with a little effort seeing each other again is not impossible.  You really just need to get your priorities straight.  If you don’t travel now but say you wish you could, yet you do something else, then obviously you have other priorities.  Mine for example revolve around my friends, family and traveling and I’ve put a lot of effort into traveling to see friends and family.  My lifestyle isn’t impossible, I just have to make it possible, with the one obvious hindrance being finances of course, making my travels less frequent than I'd like but still existent.  So I left London not with a teary, woeful goodbye, but rather a “see you soon,” knowing I’d be back because it was important to me.

I was originally going to make this post about my revisit to London, but I think it'd be kind of nice to have a separate post looking back at some of the highlights from my semester because I didn't blog back then:

Afternoon Tea at the National Portrait Gallery with a view of Trafalgar Square

Seeing Doctor Faustus at The Globe

Stonehenge

Eating Nando's with the best people.

Camden!!

This Mexican restaurant in Greenwich whose delicious food always prevented me from making it to the Prime Meridian at the Observatory on time. (With Marta from Spain/friend from MU)

Visiting Deanie in Cambridge:

Celebrating THE birthday week of a lifetime with some very dear friends who came from near and far to be there (taking a quick trip to Cambridge to visit Deanie for a Harry Potter themed dinner, sharing my small room with some of my best friends, eating a very posh birthday meal on the OXO Tower garden terrace, some great nights out, visiting the Doctor Who Experience).  Deanie (high school friend) from Cambridge.  Tom (Marquette/study abroad in Lille friend) from Calais.  Sadie (study abroad in Lille friend) from Lyon.  And of course, all my great friends in London. =)

Managing to house these three in my single-bed room for several nights when we were only allowed one guest.

Surprised with a caterpillar cake!

The Doctor Who Experience!!

My lovely trip to visit friends in Paris:

Alex, me and Georges

Me, Melanie and Courtney

Mes polonaises! Monika and Anna

Winning tickets to see Noel Gallagher for free at BBC Radio Studios (300 pers. theater)

My fabulous trip to Salzburg to visit my favorite Austrians:

Lukas!

One of my favorite pictures I've ever taken

Hanging out in the clouds above Salzburg with Tasha.

Lukas & Andi

Celebrating Thanksgiving in London with Leslie at Gordon Ramsay restaurant The Narrow:

 

Then celebrating it with Tom in a little French farmhouse outside of Calais:

 

Going back to Lille with Tom:

Visiting Sadie in Lyon for her birthday (and seeing some of my first Fete des Lumieres)!!:

Winning tickets (again) to be part of the crowd for the BBC's Top of the Pops Christmas Special taping where we saw Example, Emeli Sande+Professor Green, and Will Young perform live

My trip to Frankfurt to visit my German friend Nina:

On Eiserner Steg listening to "Eiserner Steg" <3

Celebrating Christmas in London with Anna who came to visit (Harrod's ice cream and Christmas shopping, Windsor Castle, Christmas mass at Westminster Abbey, Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, Christmas dinner with Union Jack Christmas crackers and a Yule Log cake, Charles Dickens Christmas Day walking tour):

 

Decorating my room to get in the Christmas spirit:

Going to Edinburgh for New Year's/ Edinburgh's Hogmanay with Deanie and Anna:

The Torchlight Procession to Calton Hill on Dec. 30th.

Singing "Auld Lang Syne" in Scotland at the Princes St. Street Party on New Year's Eve with my best friends = love

Climbing Arthur's Seat and having champagne on New Year's Day

 

Long morning train back to London, packing my life back up into two suitcases (with the help of Anna + Deanie), then heading to Paris the next morning:

Paris!!:

Having a crepe with Alex

And finally, lots and lots of awesome concerts and club nights.

My semester in London was hands down the best semester of my undergraduate studies.  I saw old friends, made new friends, traveled a lot (even visited my first home abroad: Lille!), and enjoyed London and England to the fullest.  It was the perfect formula for happiness.  I honestly don't think there's anything I would've done differently.  No regrets.  London is a place that holds many precious memories for me and going back this February was a great trip down memory lane as well as a really fun week+ full of new memories and friends.