London Trends

London and Paris fashion weeks are upon us. Because of my internship with Stella McCartney, I feel I am very up-to-date on style. Let me tell you what the current trends are.

First, jumpsuits and denim hotpants (worn with tights) are both in right now. Make sure your jumpsuit is baggy enough (aka you are slim enough) that it does not look like you're wearing a onesie. As for the denim hotpants...if you wear them with black or purple tights and strappy high-heeled sandals, you will look incredibly cool.

You're probably wondering...'Eliz what do you wear on a daily basis because I could never see you wearing a jumpsuit?' Well, the rumor is true that people dress up more here. If I walk down the street in a sweatshirt, trainers, or sweatpants, people most likely assume I am about to work out. Because the weather has been around 50 degrees for a high this week, I've been wearing a lot of sweaters. Usually under the sweaters I either sport a solid tshirt or a button down. As for my trousers (do not call them pants!), I have been tucking my jeans into either my black or brown boots. Also, I now have a pair of black skinny jeans, which I can wear flats with. However, bare in mind, I'm definitely not the trendiest person on the street. I like to keep things simple.

'So Eliz...What's cool for street wear?' Layered looks that include something baggy (kinda like the baggy brown shirt the model is wearing in the above picture). Also, you can add in an extra long necklace or wear a scarf. Very large cocktail rings are in fashion now too. Fashionable shoes include leather boots (either high or ankle booties), or high heels with a bit of a platform under the part of the shoe that is not the heel but touches the ground. Here's an example of some Stella shoes that look like that:

If you go to London but do not want to spend a lot of money, Primark is a great place to pick up something fashionable for an inexpensive price. I've never bought anything there because I've only gone once and was overwhelmed with how large and crowded it was, but I have friends that buy things from there all time time. However, I have bought a few things from Zara and H&M, which are nice. Also, there is a store called Topshop which Londoners love. Those four are big London/European staples.

Finally, don't forget your trench coat when you come to London! Nobody wears any other kind of jacket.

Also, some new news:

-I'm going to Scotland for the weekend.

-Clinique bonus time is just as chaotic in London as it is in America

-Christine and I FINALLY finished organizing and shelving the magazines in the Stella archive today! Yay!

I Need A Little More Henge In The Picture

Yesterday the girls in my house and I decided to take a bus tour of Stonehenge and Bath in order to celebrate Valentine's Day without men. We were at Stonehenge for an hour, and had a good time. You can't get up close to the rocks, though, so don't expect the trip to be a full-day experience. Also, a lot of them have fallen down over the ages. You can walk around all of the stones, but it's pretty muddy in the parts where there's no sidewalk - so make sure you bring shoes you can get dirty! I brought my Sperries, and the toes got fairly dirty even though I was careful. The views around Stonehenge are very pretty, with rolling hills and sheep grazing on the land. Also, we got a short description of the history of Stonehenge from Anderson Tours:


"Stonehenge consists of a series of large rocks which were arranged in a circular format known as a henge. The first structure to be built at the site of Stonehenge was the circular ditch and outer bank around 3000BC. The first stones were brought there around 2500BC from the Preseli Mountains in the southwest of Wales, around 137 miles from Stonehenge. These stones formed the inner circle, which was later rearranged to form a horseshoe. The outer circle was completed around 1500BC and consists of the largest stones in the monument. The stones weigh up to 50 tons each and it is estimated that at least 600 men were required just to move one of these stones."



A View of Stonehenge


Me at Stonehenge holding one of the rocks


A view of the rolling landscape and sheep at Stonehenge

After Stonehenge we took the coach (which is what the British call buses) to Bath. The initial decent into Bath was breathtaking! The whole city is built among hills and in a valley, and the buildings are all a pretty tan color that makes the city look old and quaint. I immediately fell in love with how picturesque the scenery and buildings were. Even though the weather began to get cloudy around that time, I could not help gushing over how much I loved Bath.


In this picture you can kind of see the houses built among the hills


Bath Abbey


We got off the bus at Bath Abbey, and then immediately took a tour of the Roman Baths, which is a building built by the Romans surrounding the only natural hot spring in Great Britain. Here's the history that the Anderson Tours description says:

"When the Romans discovered the therapeutic value of the water, they built their famous baths - now one of Britain's finest remaining Roman monuments. Once the Romans left, it was not until the 18th Century that the value of the springs was rediscovered and Bath became not only a healing center, but also the center of 18th Century style, etiquette, and fashion."


The Source of the hot spring (you can see the steam and the rock is very orange)



Me sitting on a rock next to the Roman Bath

That helps me describe how excited I was to see the famous Bath Pump Room that I read about in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey last December! It was really cool to see the scenery from that book come to life! The pump room was a meeting place for the citizens of Bath, and Catherine, the heroine of the novel, goes there a lot for tea and socializing.


Outside the Pump Room


After the Roman Baths we went to lunch at a local pub. This might sound astonishing....but I had my first taste of fish and chips while I was there! (I usually don't eat fish much, but I thought I'd been in England too long without trying it.) It was just baked cod and french fries, so it was definitely tasty. I also ordered tea and fudge - which was amazing!

After lunch we roamed the shops of Bath for an hour, and I found some great brown boots on sale! They have traction on the bottom, which was the order winner for me since I'm going to Scotland next weekend and need some good boots. I regret not bringing my rain boots to England, but they also would have taken up a lot of space and weight in my suitcase.

The coach ride home from Bath was long, and I listened to music and slept the whole way. Then, I went to the grocery store before going all of the way home and picked up some food. I also went to a different grocery store this morning to pick up the rest of what I needed, since it's hard to carry everything in one trip. The two grocery stores I go to here are Tesco and Marks&Spencers. Tesco is a lot like Jewel with lower prices and more generic foods. Marks&Spencer has higher quality foods (lot's of organic) and probably is slightly more expensive. However, they have sales and promotions a lot. I ended up buying two giant packages of hamburger meat for 5 pounds today, which was a great deal. (I'm going to freeze them, don't worry Mom!)

Some food differences I want to write about real quick are that organic products are a lot more expensive here, they don't sell American or Swiss cheese, there's no individually wrapped pudding or Jello like Snack Packs or those Jello packages, and there's no Macaroni & Cheese. Also, most brands do not exist and the ones that do go by a different name (Dannon goes by Dannone). Finally, types of bread are different, such as "wholemeal" instead of "whole wheat." It's tricky, but I'm getting used to it slowly!

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!

It Pays To Be Friends With Important People

Through my internship program, there is an option to intern for an MP at the House of Parliament. Although I was not interested in interning at Parliament, my friend Chad is interning for an MP in the Conservative party. Being Chad's friend has now paid off, because he was able to bring me and five other people as guests to tour the Parliament building!

Usually you have to book a tour of Parliament, and often you cannot see the House of Commons or the House of Lords due to security reasons. However, Chad knew that there was a recess today, and decided to bring us in to tour the entire building! We got to see the House of Commons room, which has a lot of green cushions and wood. Then, we toured the House of Lords corridor, which was much fancier - and gorgeous! There were statues and gold panelling, and the seats were cushioned with really deep read leather. Also, we were able to see the queen's throne in the House of Lords, which is covered in gold and absolutely breathtaking (and her section takes up an entire wall and is two stories high!). It was definitely an experience to remember.

There were also two funny experiences I had in Parliament while going through security. First, I had a coffee from McDonalds that I had just begun to drink. At security, when they asked me to throw it out I said, "it's fine" and then tried to drink as much as I could in two seconds. Clearly the woman thought I meant that it would be fine if I took it through security, and she said very sternly to me, "no it's not, we don't want you to ruin the new 12 million pound renovation." I was very confused and insulted until I finally figured out that she misunderstood what I meant by "it's fine." The second weird experience was that we were able to just walk around by ourselves throughout the entire building. Although Chad had a pass and is an intern, and they took our photos at the door, I still feel it would be somewhat unsafe to let random foreigners wonder arround unaccompanied. I think we would have been a little closer watched had we been foreigners in Capital Hill.

The final cool experience about the trip is that we were able to go to one of the pubs in Parliament, where the food is very subsidized. I paid 2.20 pounds for a glass bottle of cranberry juice and a giant piece of chocolate pudding (British pudding). I didn't order any alcohol, but I hear you can get a pint of beer for a pound. There are definitely monetary benefits to working at Parliament!

Gun Control

So Christine and I were walking home from Queensway tube station today after a long day of work and two classes, when all of a sudden we get to our block (all residential town homes) and there's caution tape blocking the entire street and sidewalk off. Now, the only other time I have seen this happen was last summer in Tucson when every street intersecting with Campbell was blocked off in order to allow President Bush to pass safely down the road. This time, however, I knew the president was not driving down my street. After some prodding, Christine and I finally convinced the police officer monitoring the caution tape barrier to tell us that "there was a report that there MAY have been a gun on our block." Not a shooting...just the existence of a weapon itself.

In America, we have the right to bare arms. However, in London, it is a HUGE deal if you are caught with a gun because owning or carrying a gun is completely illegal. However, I still think it is extreme to block individuals from returning to their own homes on the possibility that a gun is within a quarter of a mile. As far as I know, no gun was found, because ten minutes later they took down the caution tape and let us pass. Moral of the story, I am very safe in London.

To finish, I just want to state that during our overseas orientation, we were told that there were a total of 49 gun deaths in England last year. In America there were tens of thousands. I definitely chose a good place to study abroad.

No Rain In Spain

I went to Sevilla, Spain this weekend to visit my boyfriend, and I had a really great time! There are a lot of Kelley students studying in that city this semester, so I was able to visit some of my other friends as well.


On Thursday night I left work a few hours early in order to get to Stansted airport to make my 6pm flight. Unfortunately, a bad chain of events took place that wound up with me getting food poisoning at the airport. In the morning, I realized someone had taken my bread out of my refrigerator, so I couldn't make a PBJ sandwich to take to work for lunch. So, I grabbed a Marks & Spencers pre-made soup that I had bought and brought it instead. It served two people, but by the time I ate lunch I was starving enough to eat both servings. Needless to say, the soup must have been expired, because by the time I was on the Stansted Express train to the airport, I was already nautious. I wont go into detail about the goings-on at Stansted and on the airplane. You can just use your imagination based on what you know about food poisoning.


However, the actual journey to Spain went very smoothly. The trip to the airport was fairly easy. I took the Central line from Bond Street to Liverpool Street, which is a big station. It was a little challenging to find where to buy tickets for the Stansted Express, but luckily I speak English so I could read the signs. I bought a ticket for my return trip, too, because I knew I'd need to hurry to catch the last train at 12:30am Saturday night. The Stansted Express takes about 45 minutes from Liverpool Street. Then, at the airport, I was able to use a self check-in machine. I recommend bringing a carry-on duffle if you study abroad, because it really came in handy that I didn't need to check baggage this weekend.


The actual plane ride seemed smoother than plane rides in America, too. Much less turbulent. I think my plane flew at a lower "cruising altitude" so there was less choppiness. Also, with RyanAir, all of the drinks and food on the plane cost money, so I recommend bringing cash with you. On my flight home, my water cost 3 euro...but it was necessary. A final thing to mention, RyanAir lets passengers off on the tarmac, so bring a coat on the plane if you don't want to stand too long outside in cold temperatures.


When I arrived in Spain, Derek was there to pick me up! It was so amazing to see him right away. He had taken the bus to the airport to pick me up, and then helped me find out how to take a bus back to the center of the city. From there, we found another bus that took us on a long journey to a stop close to our hotel. However, since Derek was not familiar with the hotel (and many of you readers know he's not exactly Mr. Rand McNally), it took us another half hour to meander around the area and find our hotel. In Derek's defense, though, the streets were not labelled too well and it was dark ouside.


When we arrived at the hotel, I was astonished with how nice it was! We really lucked out on the price of our room. We stayed at a 3-star hotel called the Hotel Eurostars Regina. The people at the front desk spoke English and Spanish, and the whole place was extremely nice. It even had a courtyard we could look out on! Our room was on the second floor, and, although it was a double, somehow we had three beds (you can only see two in the picture). The shower was really nice, too - which was a relief. Here's some pictures from the hotel:








The next day Derek had a test until 2pm, so we were not able to start sightseeing on Friday until later in the day. The weather was gorgous, though! It was much warmer than London and even though it was supposed to rain all weekend, it only sprinkled once for a little bit! I really lucked out. We walked around Sevilla for a while to find food (I had nothing in my stomach), and I was really surprised to find how annoying it was to find cheap food in the afternoon. Most of the stores and restaurants were closed for a siesta, and the tapas bars that were open were like 5 euro per tapa order. Finally we walked to the Universidad de Sevilla, where we found a restaurant called Casa Blanca that sold inexpensive bocadillos (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly), which are sandwiches.




After eating on Friday, we went to the Plaza de Espana, which was AWESOME! There were people playing music, a cute puppy, and it wasn't very crowded. It was so pretty, and we went when there was really great lighting because it was late in the day. Also, we ran into some other Kelley Honors friends, which was random but fun! Here's a picture of me and Derek at the Plaza de Espana, as well as the group we ran in to.







After visiting the Plaza de Espana, Derek and I went to his homestay so that I could meet his senora. She was a very nice Spanish woman, and humored me a lot with my out-of-practice Spanish. I kept trying to tell stories in Spanish that failed miserably because I was rusty with my past-tense conjugation as well as limited with my vocabulary. However, I was still able to hold my own and understand the majority of what was being said. At her house, I also had my first Sevilla cafe con leche which was delicious!!! I also really enjoyed the pasteles that she served, even though they were basically cookies and donuts. But as many of you readers may know, I love anything that has chocolate on it.


After that, Derek and I went to El Centro Ingles to go shopping and have him fill up his cell phone minutes. Then, we met Ethan and Alan (two other Kelley Honors students) for a tapas dinner. It was very yummy, and I never asked what I was eating. I thought that would be the safest option.


After dinner, we met up with Clarisa and went back to our hotel room to chat and drink wine. I was able to hear about everyone's experiences so far with their families and their adjustment to the Spanish language. It was very interesting to compare their experiences with my own. Honestly, I feel like the two programs are total opposites.


The next morning Derek and I began our sightseeing much earlier. We first went to get cafe con leche y tostados in a nearby cafe that was close to the Museo de Bellas Artes. Then, we went into the Museo, and I saw a TON of beautiful paintings. There was a lot of religious artwork, which contrasted greatly with my experience at Tate Modern.


Then we walked along the river and saw the bull ring and the Torre del Oro. Next, we walked to the Royal Castle, where we both were able to get in for free (I used my international student ID and they let me in free...I'm not sure if they were supposed to do that). The castle was probably my favorite landmark because the architecture and the gardens were so big and gorgeous! I can't choose a picture to post because I wouldn't be satisfied with just showing one part of such a beautiful place.


Then we walked to the cathedral, which happened to be closed for an important religious service. We were kinda bummed about it, since apparently the cathedral is the third biggest in the world and going up in the bell tower is really cool. So instead we walked around and went to find some food before we started heading back towards the hotel.


After we checked out from the hotel, I went straight to the airport, but we got there really early compared to what was needed. I'm very used to the long lines at O'Hare, and I barely needed to wait in line for anything at the Sevilla airport. My flight home was uneventful, but then getting back to Palace Court was a journey.



The Stansted Express was late at 12:30am, so I didn't get back to Liverpool Street until around 1:45am. At that time, I was surrounded by a lot of drunk people and trying to figure out which busses ran at night to take home. (The tube closes at midnight.) Then, I finally got directions to take a bus to Thorsby house, which was close, where I waited outside on the steps for 40 minutes for some of my friends to get home and let me in. I was able to stay there until the morning, when I finally took the tube home at 11.


That concludes my adventure to Sevilla. Right now I have a really bad cold, and I'm trying to get healthy. Wish me luck on improving my health this week!

Back To The Grind

The tube is back open again. That means City University is open today, and I have to go to work all day.



This is a really cool picture from the London Underground website:



By the way I forgot to post the terrific news that I planned a last minute trip to visit my boyfriend in Sevilla, Spain this weekend! I'm very excited. We got a great deal on air travel and our hotel because no one wants to go to Southern Spain in February. I'm so excited!

There Were 3 Inches Of Snow In London Today And...

the following events happened in this order

-above ground trains close
-all bus routes stop
-all public and state schools close
-most tube lines close
-"snowed in" neighbors shovel walks and steps using large brooms
-FedEx completely stops all deliveries
-milk and bread sell out at grocery stores
-City University closes until further notice
-only half of the Stella interns are able to get to work
-mass chaos*
-the London economy crashes* (again)
-slow-paced riots in the streets due to every one's dire fear of the slush*
-shovels and snow plows are imported to England, where they are viewed as a new technology*
-life as usual ensues on Wednesday, February 4th*

*yet to happen, but very likely


To Note: With three inches of snowfall, this is the biggest "blizzard" to hit London in 18 years!!!

Here's an article you can read if you are further interested in how the Brits react to three inches of snow: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/02/snow-london-travel-chaos

My First Taste of Snow From The Atlantic Ocean

It snowed today! This does not happen often in London. Hence the reason why they felt the need to create a beach of salt on the sidewalks. Walking home from our sushi dinner at Yo Sushi in Whiteleys, we discovered that Queensway is the new London Riviera!


snowing outside of Palace Court


This is what Bayswater looked like at 7:30pm



This is the amount of salt necessary to prevent British people from slipping in 0.1 inches of snowfall.

This is literally the view from the window of my room. As you can see, the snow didn't really get "heavy" until it became dark.