The Week of Epic Adventures!

I have done so so much since I last wrote that I honestly don't even know where to start. The only other notable thing from last weekend was the market tour. Last Sunday our lovely student assistants took us on a market tour, to a few of the Sunday markets in London, and they were incredible. First we went to Brick Lane, probably the most famous and had delicious crepes while surrounded by Indian, Thai, Chinese and Mexican food all in a area that also sold dresses and jewelry. We then walked through a flower market, so beautiful I don't even know how to explain it and then went to our final destination, the market with cheap clothes and scarfs. Since going to Beloit I have developed a new found love for scarfs, thank you Beth, Kate and Sarah and now cant stop buying them. And they were one pound each (probably the cheapest thing I have bought here thus far!)
Then Monday I had a lazy morning, and then went to meet up with Rachel after her internship interview at Parliament which is conveniently located next to many HUGE London landmarks, such as Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We also took a quick walk through the National Gallery (I must go back soon), have I mentioned that I love that museums here are free so you can do that.

 We passed both these things on our walk. Then on Monday night the adventures continued. First we went to my new favorite place, a restaurant literally across the street from our res hall, called My Old Dutch. Basically it's if a pancake and crepe and a pizza had a baby, they would be these pancakes. And on Monday they all cost 5 pounds. Which sounds like alot for a pancake but this is like the Chipotle Burrito sized pancake. So good. And then on Monday night we went to the ICE BAR. For those of you who haven't heard about this yet London is known for it's Absolut Vodka Ice Bar, which is literally a bar in room kept at -4 degrees Celsius and everything from your glass to the floor to the bar itself is made of ice. So strange but yet sort of amazing in its absurdity, also you wear ridiculous parkas and gloves so that makes it even more epic. But since it's so cold you can only be in there for forty minutes so afterward Rachel and I headed to Tiger Tiger and danced for a awhile.

PARKA, PARKA, PARKA!

Even my drink was served in ICE

The walls of the room, literally we were surrounded by ice!

 Tuesday is my long day, 3 classes and of course I woke up on Tuesday morning with a cold so that day is sort of a long blur. Though I do love all of my classes, alot. In my Women In London class, my first class that morning, we went to the Museum of London which is a really cool social history museum, I highly recommend it. In my theatre industry class that afternoon we also met a casting director who casts for big British tv shows and productions.
Wednesday I fell in love with Notting Hill, a place I have wanted to go ever since I saw the movie. And let me tell you it definitely lived up to my expectation. I went on this epic adventure with Jenna who loved the movie as much as I did. We also both share a love for chocolate and baking meaning this had to be a great adventure. First of all the houses in the Notting Hill are all super-duper cute, pastel colors with bright colored doors. I want to live in one of those houses! After wandering around admiring the houses and cute little (semi-affordable) shops for awhile we found the best street of all time. Our first stop on this street was the travel book shop, the one from Notting Hill (the movie). Though the movie was filmed in Hollywood the set was based off this actual shop and looks super similar. Julia Roberts etc... have visited this actual shop. On this street there is also a spice shop, it smells delicious and is basically a tiny, hole in the wall just filled floor to ceiling with spices and now I can make much more yummy food.  We then went to my new favorite store, it is a cook book store, with a entire section devoted to desserts and sub-section for our favorite thing chocolate. We then found a awesome coffee shop where I want to go hangout, people watch and eat delicious brownies. I want to live in Notting Hill, Chelsea is very fancy and a bit pretentious but Notting Hill has much more character. Then that night we went to my new favorite pub, Trafalgar, and it's in waking distance. I had strawberry beer for the first time. So fantastically girly!

The real one, from the movie!

I love these houses and shops!

Books for Cooks, the store of only cookbooks

My new favorite coffee shop!

Strawberry Beer!

Thursday was another super-long day of epic adventures. After my first class I had my internship interview at the New Diorama Theatre. After the panic of getting super lost, as we all know I have no sense of direction and once I got off the tube I did way to much wandering around in the wrong direction (probably about 40 minutes or so) in the pouring rain but apparently everyone gets lost going to the theatre. And since I left a ton of extra time I still got there early. So the New Diorama is the actual theatre which produces shows by many theatre companies but the Quicksilver theatre is the children's theatre, that is the resident company. Working there I would be working for Sophie, who manages the New Diorama theatre. For my internship I will be able to work with Quicksilver, (usually in the morning) but also work for the New Diorama meaning I get to do everything from educational children's theatre work to running front of house during an adult show. The theatre also just opened meaning it is the newest fringe theatre in London, how cool is that!
I went to a show that night, one of the best shows I have seen in a long time. We saw Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris which was well written and incredibly acted (the guy from Love Actually was in it!) I have never been this blown away by a show before! We then went out that night to a really fun pub, its 3 stories with a tradition pub on the first floor, music on the second floor and then a really awesome cover band on the third floor!

Friday...what did I do on Friday? It's sad that I have done so much I can barely remember. Friday I basically took the day off, slept and bought groceries. Though the girls and I did bake a delicious cake last night, I love girl bonding that involves baking and eating chocolate.
And then today I went shopping, I love Primark so much, 40 pounds for 2 purses and really cute boots, not bad. One of these purses was bigger than any bag I have ever had and it's purple :)
That's all for now, I start my internship this Wednesday and then next weekend its off to Dublin!