A Day Of Decadence

Hi Family! 

Mom was pretty fed up with the tube, so we actually took a red double-decker bus today. Surprisingly Mom loved the bus! She says it was because she could see the city while we were driving around and because it wasn't so hot. Honestly, I think there's more characters that get on the bus rather than the tube, but I guess it didn't really matter at this point since I'm travelling with someone else. Plus on this bus ride over we sat with a preschool! I literally had the best time seeing London from their eyes, as things like birds flying over statutes or random advertisements had them tittering in awe. Anyways, we decided to start our morning off at St. Paul's Cathedral. 

 We walked around in the gardens. The cathedral itself wasn't open, since they were in some service (what is this? A cathedral actually used for prayer instead of tourism? Blasphemy!) so we just enjoyed our surroundings.

Since there's definitely no drought here (are you sick of me complaining about the rain yet?) the flowers are just out of this world. They're so vibrant and big. I absolutely love this color!

Mom started getting pretty artsy with her shots. 

Then we did the best thing ever. We had high tea in London! Yup, since I couldn't put together a Mother's Day gift in time due to finals, I told her I'd take her out to high tea in London. I am so glad that I did. We went to Bea's of Bloomsbury because they could totally accommodate my nut and fish allergy (which was awesome and meant I could eat everything on my tray!). Let me run you down this insane menu. Sandwiches were avocado and dill, hummus and roasted aubergine, pastrami and mustard, and egg salad. Then the next course was an English scone with homemade strawberry jam and clotted cream. Finally desserts were brownies, blondies, a red velvet cupcake and a strawberries and cream cupcake. I almost ate everything, but then had to pack up most of my desserts for later because I thought if I ate any more my stomach would burst. Oh and of course we had proper English Breakfast tea. Simply couldn't have anything else could we? It was delicious and mom and I just sat there for about two hours munching and chatting away. She even posed for pictures! I felt like I was a kid at a tea party. Really, we should do high tea in LA, it's just so much fun and a great way to pass the afternoon. 

We then made our way across town to the British Museum. I have to say, I feel like the more I travel the more things start to look the same. Museums are great but sometimes they just have all the same stuff, or you've seen a better collection of what they have. Well, the British Museum absolutely blew me away. I've been to Egypt, but the Egyptian collection here was fabulous! Maybe, dare I say, better than the one in Egypt? Which started a fierce debate between me and my mom about whether or not this collection should be a permanent one in the British Museum or some of these pieces really should be given back to Egypt since it is their heritage. I have no problems with travelling artifacts but I kind of don't like how soooo much of this is just permanently here. What mom and I did agree on though, was that the top pieces of the Parthenon really should be put back on the Parthenon rather than housed in this museum, especially since the Parthenon is still standing. After walking into that collection though, I can finally say that I have seen both pieces of the Parthenon, albeit that it only took me 10 years to get to the other one. Mom was obsessed with the Rosetta stone housed here, which was super cool, but I was more into the Assyrian collection. I loved their style and mythical creatures more. We got a good look at a bunch of Ancient Greece and Rome artifacts, passed through the mummies, examined King Henry III's library (including all of his weird taxidermy and coin collections) and finally called it a day around the Asian collections. Here are a few pictures I snapped:

Exhausted, we made our way back to my apartment and had a little nap before watching Love Island (a totally hilarious and trashy British version of the Bachelor that I got my mom hooked on) and eating our desserts from high tea. Like I said, a day of decadence. I definitely am going to bed on a full belly tonight!

Love you lots,

Carolyn

Down In The Borough

Hi Everybody!

Today was a rough one at first, not going to lie. Mom got a call from the office at 3 am to do some work, and let's just say that me getting up after three hours of sleep is not pretty. On the one had, I had time to write blogs, on the other I was the biggest grumpy cat out there and there was no stopping me. So after a while, I went back to bed and then mom and I had a late start to our day.

First, we went to Borough to get pancakes from that place I went to when I was sick! Trust me when I say the waiter was very concerned about our totally silent table. I mean, literally I was non functional until I had a belly full of forest berry pancakes with clotted cream and a nice big latte. Poor mom. Poor waiter. At least we were quiet restaurant-goers?

Afterwards we went to Shakespeare's Globe!

Mom kept stopping along our river walk for pictures, so here's more of my face!

Remember that market Tanja and I found. Well it was on the way to Tower of London so obviously even though we were insanely full, mom and I found nice French cheese (Laious), freshly baked sourdough bread, strawberries, and grapes. (I'm fast fowarding a bit, with the pictures, but isn't this the most European dinner you can think of? And honestly we were so full afterwards)

We even found Rainer cherries in the market and mom could not get over how expensive they were ($28.80/kilo) She said she literally bought a carton for $4 back at home before she came here. Apparently they're from Washington and boy does that pricing show! On the one hand, Borough Market is perfect if you want anything from Europe - Spanish meats, French cheese, you name it. On the other hand, something from America is a less than ideal purchase.

Tower of London was next!

Unfortunately you can't take pictures of anything in there, so you've just got my words. First off, you had to be elite to get executed at the Tower of London, so actually only 6 people were executed there, everyone else got shipped off down the river. Second, it was partially a palace, but a not very fancy one when you think about palaces. Third, at this time period people were obviously clueless and discovering other parts of the world. So they'd bring home animals, like cute little lion cubs from Africa, and then realize that lions are actually dangerous and you shouldn't have kept them there, so they locked them in the moat. So, in the tower of London, you had a moat zoo. There was a polar bear who could go fishing in the Thames River because he was tied to a long rope. The British apparently didn't learn from their first mistake and continued to keep lions at the Tower of London for over 200 years (with the lions finally being moved to a zoo in 1832). Uncaged monkeys roamed around. Ostriches were brought over. If you're thinking this sounds like a bad set of jumanji, you're totally correct. People literally died all the time because these animals weren't cared for properly (usually because the British didn't know how) or because humans were clueless as to the actual nature of these "pets." I mean, literally a lady died because she was petting a lions paw. Um lady, where are your survival skills? You don't have to actually know a lot about a lion to be able to look at it and think hmmm big scary predator, maybe I shouldn't pet it like a little house cat. All I can say is I'm glad those animals are no longer roaming around in that Tower.

The one animal that is still left is the ravens. There's a superstition that if the ravens leave the Tower of London then London will fall. Well, these sneaky pete Brits clipped the ravens' wings so they never can leave. I'm not really sure that's how fate works people, and usually the Fates get really pissed when you try to cheat them. Also, where's the fun in the superstition if you cheat at the game? It was cool to be around so many ravens though, I don't think I've seen a lot of them before.

Finally, we waited in line for forever but we got to see the crown jewels. So. Much. Bling. I mean seriously, I think my sunglasses were needed for so much sparkle. Like all the coronation dishes were totally elaborate gold with figures and designs. They had a bunch of unicorns with beards on the dishes which I thought was hilarious. Then you've got the crowns, which are more like hats that all the various queens and kings wore. It was a good idea to have unisex head-wear, but also, I think I'd prefer a tiara thank you very much, they're just so much prettier. I saw that famous diamond that's literally the size of a rock you find on the floor. I wanted to take it, but mom said no being a total buzz kill. hehehe just kidding mom, I value my life more than that diamond so it wouldn't have been worth it anyways.

We walked around until closing time exploring and then made our way home. Jes came over! So we had a lot of good laughs (mostly at my expense). See what I mean? My mother condoned this behavior.

I'm counting on you Mumma Bailey (Jes' mom) to even the odds when we go on our countryside trip, because I was totally outnumbered for dinner. We stayed up way to late and giggled most of the hours away. Guess a day can really turn around after all.

Love you guys,

Carolyn

Back To See The Queen

Hi guys!

Now that mom's in town it's time for being a tourist part II. I informed the Queen of my return arrival, since she forgot to open the gates the first time I came in June. She promised to have the gates opened for me, but somehow, Mr. Body Gaurds with Machine Guns didn't get the memo and barred me from entry, again! How dare they, Her Majesty will not be happy when she finds out. Alas, for the second time in a row, I was stuck being a tourist outside the palace. At least we got some pretty pictures! (Next time though, I'm going to be walking through those doors as an honored guest and be given an apology for not being let in the first two times I came here)

Mom tried her best to get a picture of me in front of the gate with the guard "putting on a show" (ie marching) but she instead got an artsy insta pic, with a barely visible guard...new profile pic?

The Wellington Arch also had pretty gates that matched my outfit, so a picture was a total must!

Mom and I then walked to Hyde Park and ambled through the gardens. We had pizza by the Serpentine and really enjoyed the breeze. Scratch that, mom really enjoyed the breeze while I froze my butt off. That didn't stop me from getting soft serve ice cream in the park though! We also watched a pair of ducks protect their babies from a heron (don't worry this time the duckies won!).

Making our way to Kensington Palace we came across Albert's memorial. I made a comment about how highly he must have thought of himself, but then my mom informed me that actually his wife Queen Victoria had it built for him. But still this is the epitome of pomp. 

Like look at all that gold and religious stuff surrounding it. I mean...was this all really necessary?

I did find a portrait of myself from a previous life, as a queen of course heheh. Actually this was really interesting. Each corner of the memorial represented a different continent (I think they might not have figured out the last three lol). So they had Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Each statute was some human riding a beast, so for the Americas it was wild buffalo or Africa had a camel. Obviously Asia had an elephant. Very intriguing, but still a weird thing to memorialize. 

We actually went into Kensington Palace this time, which was home to Queen Victoria as a child. It was pretty cool! My favorite pieces were the tiaras. Poor Queen Victoria though, her mother was so paranoid she would be murdered that she had this insane rules and practically lived under her mother's thumb. When she ascended to the throne at 18, her mother tried to usurp the crown from her! Like come on, how cliche could her mother get? Obviously Victoria quashed that pretty quick, but man what a suckish awakening to royal life. All I can say is, I might joke about being a princess, but I'm so glad that I am not. It's way to much drama. Plus I'm a rather easy target with my food allergies and asphyxiation as a mechanism for death sounds less than ideal.

After Kensington Palace my mom and I got dinner with really old family friends who were in London for the day. They were so excited to see my mom! So I just sat back and enjoyed the Persian food. It's not every day that your mom is way cooler than you, so I let her have her moment. Just kidding mom! It was a pleasant evening (despite their screaming child...trust me the teacher in me was itching for some discipline, I was like your 3's will be out of control if you can't contain the 2's. But who am I to judge, I only managed a classroom of 30 toddlers ;) ). Anyways, that's all for now.

Love you lots,

Carolyn

Kew Gardens

Hi Family!

So this Saturday is my last day solo before my mom comes into town and guess what? The sun finally came out over here! Today was literally 95 degrees all day long and I don't think I could have been more excited for blistering weather. Seriously, a month of rain and cold weather was more than enough for this Socal girl. I decided to celebrate my freedom by taking a trip to Kew Gardens, and was definitely not disappointed. I started with a gentle 3 mile walk to Waterloo and then caught the train to Richmond. Am I starting to sound like a local now? But in all honesty, thank god for google maps. 

I was determined to spend my day out in the sun, but may or may not have gotten too much sun. I found this observatory and was like "retreeeeaaaattttt." Except I went inside, and you would not believe it, it was a tropical observatory -.- Which meant it was hotter on the inside than it was on the outside. Oops. Needless to say I did a lap and then hightailed it out of there for some shade. 

Look at the inside! It's just so gorgeous, I forgot how clean the air can be and how fresh (even if it was humid in the glass house). My lungs were so happy, looks like London has been smoggier than I realized.

Anyone know what this vine is? There was no sign but I absolutely love these purple flowers! I kinda want to grow them on a trellis on the balcony of my new apartment.

This is a very English landscaping set up...or so all the signs told me. But I have seen that it's popular to put beds of flowers in various shapes on the grass. I kind of like it. Also it's so nice to see grass that isn't brown and dying! (Can you tell I'm from the desert?) I wonder what their water bill is like in these gardens, and if it's way less because of all the rain?

These flowers were so cute! I felt silly taking so many pictures. But honestly, around this point I was at 7 miles so I need to sit on a bench and take a little break. I'm not sure what possessed me to walk half the way to Kew Gardens when I'd only be doing more walking here, but too late to take it back now! I was determined to make the most of my student discounted 9 pound ticket.

Would I even be a Cali girl if I didn't stop and take a picture at the mini redwood forest? These trees took me back to a year ago, when I road tripped to Oregon with my cousins and best friend Kelly! Funny how I can be taken back to SF when I'm in the middle of England. But dang am I lucky to have seen so much of the world. It's funny, no matter how far I travel, I always seem to find bits and pieces of home. 

And with that, I rounded out my trip to an even 10 miles. Apparently I was gunning to break the personal record Tanja and I set without knowing it. My feet might have been super sore, and I may or may not have gotten a bit too much sun. But if you can't tell by the smile on my face, I was one happy happy girl.

Mom comes in tomorrow, so I need to tidy the whole place up and pretend like I've been living in the peak of cleanliness this whole time and hide the fact that the 8 dishes I used never left their drying racks hahaha. So excited for all the toursity stuff again. I'll take pictures of different things so it won't feel repetitive...I hope.

Love you all!

Carolyn

And That's A Wrap Folks!

Hi Everybody!

I'm riding the high of just having finished my internship so I thought I'd put all my feelings down on (virtual) paper before I forget them. I cannot believe I'm done! This experience has been so good for me, as I've figured out a few things that will guide my next two years in law school.

First off, I really need to decide if I want to do corporate law or not. This week I spent half the time down in corp and while the team was amazing, I'm wondering if the job is the right fit for me. As my boss put it, "there's not a lot of law in corporate law," and it's so true. It's mostly putting out fires between a bunch of clients that don't want to play nice with each other and throw temper tantrums on the regular. Let's just say in my time down in corporate, a good amount of objects were tossed around with a good amount of swearing whenever a deal went south or a client was being particularly difficult. However, I will admit that the clients were interesting along with the casework. I think it's safe to say transactional work is my forte.

Second, I know that it is totally unrealistic to expect to get off at 5:30 pm when I actually start working in a law firm for real, but it has been so nice to tune out work and actually have a life after clocking out. I feel like I'm never really done with school, and I'm usually working well into midnight and then early the next morning, which in all fairness will prepare me for the awful 24 marathons at the firm. But this week after work I got to go to a sustainability in fashion lecture with Jes, which by the way was so interesting. Did you know you can re-purpose fishing nets into thread to make swimsuits? After the talks, Jes and I got a nice greek dinner and chatted away. (She had to keep her fingers on everything we were going to order so we wouldn't forget)

Obviously between the two of us we simply can't both look good in a picture. So here is a series of attempts at taking a nice photo lol.

Finally, I'm really going to miss all my coworkers, especially Emma (my handler). It's so crazy how you can make a little home for yourself in no time. So when it came time to say goodbye, everyone told me how much they'd miss having me around. I tried to be helpful as much as possible, but a lot of the times there wasn't really work for me to do. So I was genuinely surprised when I was told that I would be missed! I felt like I didn't contribute much, until I realized just generally being available and ready to work, having a good attitude, and being kind goes a long way. Which I probably should have realized sooner, but in the US I feel like I've been praised in my past work experience for working hard and always taking up any task no matter how big or small (ie packing up 300 boxes for the partners' retreat vs critical thinking research). So it was nice to see that just having a good personality can positively impact the work space even as an intern. I mean it's not every day that the doorman says he hopes to see you come back as a qualified attorney!

Hopefully I haven't bored you to death. Mom's coming this Sunday so be prepared for adventures!

Lots of love,

Carolyn

Devil's Dyke

Hi fam!

Legend has it that there were a string of churches in Sussex, so the devil was digging a trench during the night to let the sea run through and flood the churches in the morning. A clergy man heard of the devil's plan and lit a lamp at the bottom of the valley. The devil, thinking that the sun was beginning to rise, fled for fear of being caught, leaving the job incomplete and the churches saved.

Samantha, Jes, and I all decided to road trip up to Devil's Dyke for a good hike and picnic. I mean for the first time in forever the sun was shining and we were determined not to waste a single second. We met up and Samantha drove us in the cutest car ever! Seriously, I want one. A convertible, golf Volkswagen. We were the quintessential example of girl's trip, blasting the music, letting the wind knot our hair (I seriously regretted not braiding my hair that night), and singing and dancing like the crazy loons we are. It was hilarious to have cars drive past and realize that it wasn't a bunch of teenagers, but grown adults partying it up on the countryside roads.

The views took my breath away. I'm a through and through desert girl, so to see this much green had me in absolute awe! I mean look at it!

We started our hike through the tall grass, and maybe about five minutes in I heard some rattling noises coming the my right. Being a good girl scout, I slowly started backing up and looking for an alternative footpath. Well imagine my surprise as Jes and Samantha continued trotting on, not worried or panicked by this snake hiding in the bushes. So I shouted out to them that there were snakes and we needed to leave, only to have them bust out laughing and say, "the only predator you'll find here is a dog running up to you for tummy tickles." Yup, that's right, I went into full panic mode over a BUG. To be fair, in Cali we have rattle snakes, and I've come across quite a few in my hikes, so my instinctual panic was not wrong, just simply irrelevant in the countryside. Oopsies.

Jes told me that  the only predators in England, are foxes, rabbits, cows. Because apparently cows are predators of grass? This is Jes' list, not mine so you can take it up with her the fact that rabbits and cows don't really count. Although, they might have adders in some parts of the country? But not where we were. The worst thing we came across was stinging nettles, which are itchy leaves, but oddly the doc leaf grows right next to them and will take the sting away. Nature is weird, but oddly convenient on this little island.

I passed by cows, HORSES, and lambs (but unfortunately no lambies, apparently it's past their season). If you think the passing farm animals on your hike is weird, don't worry you're not alone. But it's kind of nice not having to worry about bobcats or coyotes. We kept following the footpath but losing it in little towns here and there. It was a good excuse for me to take more pictures though!

We may or may not have gotten horribly lost without adequate cell service, and somehow ended up at the very bottom of the valley. And when I say bottom, I definitely mean the lowest point of the gorge only to realize that our car park was at the tippy top and off to the left. We were already two hours in and literally the only place to go was up. Sooo we took a few breaks and one step at a time made it back to the top. I wish you could see the distance, but the green all melts together so you'll just have to take my word that it was far.

Thank god for Samantha being the older and wiser one because she packed a picnic! Guys back in America, we are missing out. You will not believe the options of cheese they have here! I was so overwhelmed and I literally knew none of the names. Thank goodness I had natives here to show me the way. If you're wondering what we packed in our little basket, it was three loaves of fresh tiger bread (we pretty much finished 2 ½), three types of cheese (camembert, mild cheddar, and some other white one), grapes, chili tomato houmous (that's their spelling here not mine, you know how crazy the Brits are with the letter u, so excessive), and ginger beer (pretty much a spicier version of ginger ale).

We literally sat there for hours just chatting, napping, and eating while taking in the silence that surrounded us. We started our own little dance party (much to the chagrin of others) and played around with juggling and poi (not on fire tho). The circus in me knew kind of how to do poi, at least I'd like to think so, but juggling was absolutely hopeless for me. This is why I stick to aerial arts guys, that totally normally hand-eye coordination you were supposed to be born with simply isn't there for me. Jes had a lot of fun laughing at my expense. Also you know Samantha is a true goodie just by the fact that she brought circus stuff to a picnic…what is that saying about birds of a feather?

After four hours of sitting and chatting, we decided it was time for dinner and to make our way back to the sea. And by dinner I mean the best gelato on the island, because I'm an adult, and adults can eat ice cream for dinner whenever they want. I just know that my 5 year old self is so proud of this 25 year old decision.

If you thought I couldn't top ice cream and sunsets on the beach, just wait until you hear what happened next. Samantha heard of this little bar called Neptune with a live band that supposedly played blues. So we went and got ourselves a seat before the bar became too crowded. If you're thinking that a bar called Neptune would be filled with mostly old people reminiscing about their past over pints of beer, you would be 100% correct. Think dark wood, a rather broody bar tender, everyone literally knowing everyone else, and vintage everything on the walls. I think the patrons were genuinely confused as to why three giggling girls want to hang out here instead of the latest and greatest. That is until the blues music started. You know I simply can't help myself with music, I just need to dance. Well, Samantha actually goes blues and swing dancing. So your girl here spent the night dancing blues with her new friend Samantha and it was So. Much. Fun!!! I miss dancing so much, it just makes me so happy and I automatically am laughing the whole time. Maybe I'll pick it back up when I come home.

The three of us stayed for all the sets the band played and then ambled our way back to the car to pick up the perishables left in the trunk. See Jes? Everyone will know what I mean, no one says "gather the food in the boot" hehehe. And then for some reason we started singing throw back songs from our middle school days. Jes and Samantha started to sing the beginning of one, and I was like no, I don't think I know that song. And then Samantha went "sure you do! It goes namanama namanama" and started jumping around. And jes was like no no then started singing other random words but not the right ones. Me I'm off to the side terrible confused until Jes goes "the song is Jump Around!" So it's midnight, we're on the street alone pretty much, in this super residential neighborhood singing and dancing to this song, scaring anyone who would potentially walk down the street off. If only they knew it was just the three of us being our goofiest selves.

And that my friends, was the end of a perfect day. Don't worry we all made it home in one piece, giggling enough to give me an instant six pack. Can't wait for tomorrow!

Xx,

Carolyn