Ten Things I Learned Working In London

1. Always be aware of who is walking in front of or behind you when trying to enter a building with revolving doors. If it's a man you better watch out because there's a 99% chance they'll push the door way harder than you because they just aren't paying attention to your 5'5'' frame in the next slot and then you'll be smacked with a revolving glass door either in the face or the bum.
   
   
2. The Oxford Comma originated in Oxford. However, Brits seem to have forgotten how to use them, or just commas in general. So when in doubt, leave the comma out.
   
   
3. Start every conversation with "sorry". And if someone starts a conversation with you with "sorry" don't ask them what they are sorry about. Because they won't know and then will get thrown off their track for their actual purpose of conversing with you. It seems that everyone is "sorry" but no one is really quite sure why, so odd. My theory is these last few generations have been socially conditioned to apologize not genuinely  for all the wrongs  their empire had done in the past millennium?
   
   
4. When your supervisor tells  you to "contemplate life" while you wait for another assignment to come by, don't day dream too hard, as your big boss will definitely walk in that exact moment you've stopped paying attention and ask you what you are working on…to which your lame response will be "life?"
   
   
5. If someone says they're going to "chase you" don't worry they won't actually chase you, it's just a weird phrase they use to say that they are going to follow up with someone. Good thing I didn't start running…before you judge me too hard, remember that I worked with children and old habits die hard. The last time I heard "I'll chase you" I had 20 tiny humans coming after me and trying to take me down. Alone a tiny human isn't a threat, but in a pack they are quite a force to be reckoned with.
   
   
6. Never go grocery shopping Sunday – Tuesday. Restocking doesn't happen until Wednesday and the markets are the size of 7/11 so you are forced to go multiple times a week, including after work (Oh the horror! Buying constantly fresh food that doesn't last unnaturally long like ours does in the US. Poor me, but also poor me, because we all know how much I hate my bi-weekly grocery run). But if you forgot to go or plan wrong, you're better off ordering takeout for the next few days because Thanksgiving Day Vons has more options than these tiny shops with only the weird stuff left.
   
   
7. "Cheers!" is used to mean "thank you" or "bye". My best tip is to leave an awkward pause after the other person says "cheers" because that is way less embarrassing than walking off before your supervisor is done talking to you. Like really, the English language has how many words, and yet you use the same one word for two totally different things.
   
   
8. If you want to get to work on time during rush hour, say a hail mary, hold your breath, and cross the street quickly. You will never make it on time if you wait for a light, especially since one USA street crossing is actually three roundabout crossings with three separate pedestrian lights in the UK. Not that I would ever condone j-walking in any form, obviously I learned this all from watching others cross while I waited patiently for the light 😉.
   
   
9. If you have an "o" there's most likely a weird "u" after it. Also, if you used a "z" it's probably an "s." Remind me again how we speak the same language? Because I'm starting to feel like I learned a very different one. Oh and always google a word that looks funny before actually asking someone, google is your friend who will never judge you. Hence, how I learned that "expiry" and "courgette" were actually English words.
   
   
10. Don’t be stubborn or fashionable. Wear the stupid tennis shoes to work and then switch your shoes at your desk. I promise you walking a mile each way in you work heels isn't worth the pain, and more people will look at you funny if you do because wearing trainers and your suit on the street is normal. Let's just say I only had to make this mistake once before I carried my dress shoes in a bag.

Carolyn Can't Speak English

Hello Everyone!

I actually had a really after-work life this week, which by the way is this what it feels like to be working? I had forgotten how nice it was to "clock off" and just be able to enjoy myself once I left the office. While I know that this won't actually be the case when I start working as a real lawyer, I'm going to enjoy my time as a trainee where my biggest worries are editing and deed ticking.

After work I caught the tube to Bond Street to meet up with Jes and Carlos (Jes' friend from Spain). We had the best time chatting, so much so that the Londoners next to us huffily left their dinner table because they were so upset we were laughing. Like I'm sorry we like our lives? Sorry mate, I'm not about to be a Debbie downer just because you decided you were having a bad day in an overly crowded, too loud restaurant. Them leaving actually gave us more breathing room anyways, but I digress. It was during this dinner with too many belly laughs that I learned something rather critical. I don’t think I can speak English.

Picture this. You've got an American, a Brit, and a Spaniard. We are all speaking English, except when I speak, Jes has to translate for Carlos. That's right, Jes had to TRANSLATE between me and Carlos. So much so that sometimes I would just start speaking in Spanish because I found it easier. And I'm telling you, I can honestly sympathize with Carlos.

Coming to England I was under the gross misconception that it would be easier because I would actually be travelling to and living in a country whose language was the same as mine. WRONG. Every day I have to work so hard to understand what the people are saying around me. Sometimes I think it was actually easier in Spain. It got so embarrassing that I finally had to confess to Emma that I was not actually hard of hearing but that frankly for some reason I just could not understand her accent. I know, I know. It sounds ridiculous to me and even more so typing it out. Ironically the person I can understand best out of the whole firm is Scottish, I joke that it's because we are of the same people (which was a joke totally lost on everyone here). But honest to goodness, it took Jes translating from American English to British English for me to actually realize that there could very well be this sneaky language barrier here in London. How crazy is that!

So if you're ever having a bad day, just picture me, dressed in a suit, sitting in a partner meeting, giving 100% of my attention just to understand the meeting going on in ENGLISH and still having to politely laugh when jokes are made (usually about Americans) because I have no clue what was actually said. These pour souls have no clue how sassy I can actually be, but it's kind of hard to think of a witty retort when all you heard was the Charlie Brown "wah wah wah wah wah." Lord help them when I finally understand English! Anyways, hope I made you all laugh.

Lots of Love,

Carolyn

While You Were Sleeping

Hello everyone!

Okay I know you all are dying to know how work went…so I’m going to do something a little different and update you on the whole week. My Sunday before work was mostly being sad and crying after saying bye to Tanja and then being a whole mess of nerves for my job the next day. I knew how to get to my office (for the most part) so it was mostly me trying to tell myself I was prepared for whatever was to come. And you know what? I was. Next time I will not underestimate myself so.

I’ve changed the names of people so this blog never becomes a liability. I walk into the office all suited up (see picture above, plus shoes of course) and meet my supervisor Emma. My first rotation was in Real Estate Law and I was shocked by how much I loved it! Okay, I’m getting a little ahead of myself so I’ll backtrack. My head boss Molly was feeling a bit under the weather after returning from a polo trip in Spain (someone please sign me up for this lifestyle! That’s it, Europe here I come). However, Emma was deemed my handler for the time so she was the one who took me around the floor and introduced me to all the other associates. She’s 28 and literally has already been working in the field for five years, has a trainee, and an intern (aka me). I’ll be 28 and only a year into my legal career. Can someone please tell the US to get on this system! Man I feel so behind.

Essentially in the UK if you decide you want to be a lawyer, you go to school for a year. Then you do two years at a firm and rotate every 6 months into a different field. Like how practical is that? Suddenly I am regretting all my decisions to do an American JD over doing an English barristers. I digress.

Being a work experience intern means that you do basic work, so my days have been spent ticking deeds. So when you buy a property the other side (either the owner or solicitor) has to give you all the deeds to that land. Since England is old, I was literally working with vellum deeds from 1902. How friggen cool is that? That is, until I learned that vellum paper isn’t paper, it’s sheep skin. Bleh. Yup friends, your girl here was handling hundred year old sheep skin. Let’s just say I pretended I never heard that little tidbit after Emma so kindly mentioned it to me while making a face.

It’s funny because it was like going through history, even though my job was to just make sure that everything in the packet they said was there was actually there. I got the black carbon paper that my grandpa and my mom always talk about when they say how lucky we are to have photocopy machines these days not on this inky paper. I looked through some beautiful calligraphy from the 1910s and then saw it slowly transition to typewriting to our modern day computer fonts. Also, who knew keeping the lines straight with a typewriter was so hard? Some typewriters were definitely superior to others…or the models just got better.

Other jobs I was assigned to do were things like researching Japanese outbound real estate investments in the UK. Fascinating! I mean seriously, I honestly did not know I could be so interested in economics and land. Like I’m the girl that cried all the way through microeconomics and barely passed her macroeconomics class. And yet here I was, researching the economy and forecasts and looking at investment numbers like a walk in the park. Take that old professors!

The absolute best part of my job though, is being able to sit into Partner meetings. Molly has been so kind to arrange for all these people to take me into their meetings with the other side’s attorneys. When I walk into that room, I try to imagine myself in that position ten to fifteen years from now. These attorneys are brilliant. Everyone at work thinks that I am bored, but I’m serious. The other side proposes a change from “and” to “or” and then the attorney sits there and you can see her brain going a million miles a minute trying to guess 10 years into the contract and how that could affect any of the related clauses long term. I imagine it’s like playing chess, but with 6 chess boards and 12 players all trying to win. I can’t wait to be that good one day. Transactional work definitely seems to be where I am leaning most towards. And after sitting in on these huge project meetings for things like railways and residential buildings, I think that this could be a serious contender as an avenue of my future career. Plus, the way the world works now, real estate is international, even if it’s on your home land, I guarantee there’s at least one foreign fund or investor at stake.

I think the funniest thing about being in England is that the culture here is so different. Where I’m sure the American teams would have been shouting across the table, the Brits sit across from each other, clearly frustrated but delivering their lack of compromise with a rather neutral sentence. I was told that not all legal teams are like this, but I seem hard pressed to find a more excitable British lawyer. I’ll let you know if I ever do during my time here. It’s funny, the best I got were very high raised brows and pure stubbornness and unwillingness to budge on changes. Oooo, there was this one time where the lawyer delivered a perfectly passive aggressive statement about how if the other side were more experienced they would understand that this was a natural liability to take on in this type of transaction work. It took everything I had not to bust up laughing. I feel like if there were a dancing pink elephant in the room, these lawyers could keep their poker face on and never once crack to address the elephant. Looks like I better start working on that, my personality is to mention the elephant immediately and then move on….I might be getting tired so maybe this no longer makes sense. I’ll stop off here, but I do have further flotsam and jetsam of my working days that I’ll get to sharing with you soon! All I know is I’m loving it here and I can’t wait to see what the rest of my time will be like.

Sending you all love,

Carolyn

That Time I Walked a Marathon in 3 Days

Hi family,

Funny story I had the whole four days planned out with Tanja perfectly not realizing that my California stroll just can’t compare with the Munich march. So after three days of walking around 9 to 11 miles, we finished everything on my list. So today was a day of improvisation!

Being the best friend that I am, I waited for the coffee shops to open and brought Princess Tanja coffee in bed. Did you know that taking a boat counts as public transportation in England?! Like what the heck. It costs $50 to get to Catalina island, but today Tanja and I took a boat to Greenwich Village for 7.50 and Tanja thought that was expensive!!!

Back to blogging, today was so sunny and nice. We started off with the markets, and I’ve grown to love them. They’ve got so much character and each stall is so different. Especially near the docks, however the further we got into the city we came across “vintage markets” which literally looked like garage sales inside white booths. Just junk, and there were even CDs. When did I become old enough to have CD-ROMs become “vintage” market finds….yikes! Mostly we just strolled around taking in the English cottages growing roses in their front lawns. I swear it was the suburbia of England there.

What was actually really amazing was the fact that I stood on Earth’s zero degree line of longitude. Ever wonder what GMT means? Greenwich Mean Time. Don’t worry I was totally clueless, until Jes sassily informed me. There’s an Old Royal Observatory which is on this line and that’s where we went!

Jes told us to go to Camden next, but Tanja and I were not prepared for that town. Leave it to Jes to suggest an “alternative” market and conveniently be busy that day hehehe. Just kidding Jes, love you. But seriously, weirdest part of town. One moment we are in super cute suburbia, and the next moment we are in punksville. It’s like when Disneyland does their goth day, but this was a town with permanent punk, rock, goth day. And obviously this became insta famous or super popular, so now you have the people of Camden and then all these tourists and the area was over inundated. So Tanja and I got off the train, and then bounced real fast. I’m not claustrophobic but this was Japan or Bangladesh street traffic worthy. That’s saying something.

Tanja and I decided to walk (and by Tanja and I, I mean Tanja 😉 ) to the next subway station through the gardens to catch the tube to Notting Hill. They were having more weekend markets. We found the cutest Italian restaurant with the worst service, so we were probably there over an hour just to eat bruschetta appetizers as an afternoon snack. Overall Notting Hill was cute, there were little shops and pastel houses, but it still did not seem to hold a candle to the charm of Kensington. It was nice to walk around, but at this point Tanja and I were a bit tired of walking through more weekend markets haha. We called it a day, took the tube home and rounded the evening out with a personal record of 12 miles for the day! Honestly, our feet hurt so badly once we hopped into bed to watch How I Met Your Mother there was no going back. I am really sad for Tanja to leave, tomorrow, but she keeps telling me I’m not allowed to be sad the night before she actually leaves because we still have the morning to enjoy before her flight. Having international friends is hard, but who knows, maybe work will send me to Germany during fall semester and our reunion can be sooner than a year away! At least I know I always have a great crash pad in Germany.

Update you more later!

Lots of love,

Carolyn

Towers, Thames, and Other Touristy Things

Hi guys,

Another day, another adventure.

Tanja is more of an outdoorsy person which is perfect because this weather has been amazing. I don’t know if London got them memo that I was coming or not but seriously, it’s been sunny and 75 all weekend long (knock on wood I don’t jinx it now). We are staying in Brick Lane which is only a mile from the Tower of London.

So in true and proper European form we decided to walk there. They had these weird lion sculptures which caught my eye, while Tanja was actually taking pictures of what we were supposed to be looking at…oops.

We crossed the bridge on foot and continued to walk around the River Thames on the other side. The river gets a meh, but crossing a bridge like that on foot was pretty cool. You think I would be less impressed after going to places like the Golden Gate Bridge, but nope, it looks like I am still impressed with the littlest things.

One of the benefits of walking around a town is that you can happen upon random places and surprises. Mind you we had both just eaten a very large breakfast and were only two hours into our day but the smells wafting from Green Market were irresistible. Seriously, I’m going back it was that good. There were so many food stalls with practically everything you can imagine. It’s one of those things were you aren’t even hungry but as soon as your near suddenly you decided you have room for another three or four meals. We couldn’t help but buy freshly made pasta, spinach and cheese ravioli of course with only olive oil (gotta stay true to the Italian I was meant to be). Tanja legitimately bought a whole slab of rosemary focaccia and I couldn’t help but splurge with an Eaton Mess doughnut. Best 2348384578 calories of my life.

Here's some more snippets of cute scenes we saw along the way:

We stopped off at Tate Modern. I'm not the biggest fan of modern art but on the 10th floor we had this AMAZING view of the entire city. The elevators were full and slow, so Miss Tanja kicked my butt into gear 6 flights up the stairs. Let's just say my thighs were burning and I couldn't help but think back to my days in Peru, oh how the mighty have fallen, 6 flights would have been nothing two summers ago! Yikes. Don't worry guys, it seems as though Tanja has come to keep me in shape, along with providing me company lol. I will have to concede that the view from the top was totally worth it.

We walked past the London eye and found out that it takes 30 minutes to make a full rotation. 30 minutes standing in a small box with a bunch of strangers…mmm no thank you. But I got this pretty picture!

We ambled on to what I was very very excited to see, the Houses of Parliament. Literally out of all of London this was the one thing on my list. Well family, it seems as though I have impeccable timing…the entire thing was totally under construction. Yup, just my luck. Big Ben too. And Westminster Abbey was closed. Tanja and I definitely felt as though we had really missed out, or maybe missed the main attraction? It was weird, I think I’ll go back to Westminster and try again but it was no doubt disappointing. Sorry guys, not every story can be a win, plus wouldn’t you rather know where not to go? Anyways, my friend Kari says to give Westminster Abbey another go when my mom comes into town, so I think that’s what I’ll do. I haven’t given up on Westminster as a whole just yet and I did get some good pictures which cut out all of the construction, don't be fooled friends, the cropping tool is magic. 

Being able to spend time with my best friend Tanja has been amazing. It’s only been four months apart but it felt like forever…no clue how I’ll make it a whole year before I see her again! Back in Los Angeles we were total adventure buddies, she did a great job getting me outdoors and exploring (even if I did all of the driving lol). I am on strict orders to enjoy the beach more when I go back, I know I literally live 15 minutes away and have been there twice? It’s bad. Who knows, maybe this new public transportation and adventurous side of myself will get translated over to my 2L self. I’ve still got another whole day before Tanja leaves so stay tuned for the tales of Adventure Tanja and Carolyn!

Lots of Love,

Carolyn

Parks and Palaces

Hi everyone,

I would like to know if there is such a thing as death by walking. 11.6 miles. I repeat 11.6 miles. D.E.A.D. On that note, let me walk you through my day.

Time for an insider story, when Tanja left for Germany we became commute buddies…she calls me when she commutes from her home to work and I am commuting from my study desk to bed (hey I never said my commute was long). Anyways, every day for months I heard about this special German bread that she has with cheese every morning. I am happy to report that four months later I finally got to try this world class breakfast. It was so different! Their bread is soft, but loaded with seeds so it has got this crunch to it. After all the build up, I was not disappointed.

We started the morning at St James Park, it was gorgeous and the trees were huge. I wish we had more real parks in our cities back at home. It’s so nice to have the greenery amidst so much city, it’s like a free Descanso Gardens. Our walk was mostly me slowing poor Tanja down as I stopped to gaze up at every big tree or watch the baby swans swim or literally smell the roses. There was this one tree served as the cutest natural hut.

 We then made our way to Buckingham Palace, the flag was up so the queen was there! Apparently she wasn’t notified of my arrival so I was waiting outside the gates like all the normal plebeians.

Funny story. Tanja and I read the signs and knew that since it was a Thursday there would be no changing of the guards. But, there was a huge crowd, and police, and crowd control. It was 10:45 and curiosity got the best of us. So we waited a full 15 minutes just in case something happened. Newsflash, we should have stuck to our guns, the best thing that happened in that wait was this carriage passing through. I cannot believe we fell for it! Lemmings hahah. At least we got to rest our tired feet for a bit and chat, while all the other tourists were legitimately waiting for something that would not happen today, gotta love group think >.< our bad haha. Tanja and I had a good laugh at 11:05 when we realized we had both waited for nothing. 

We then passed through the Wellington Arch.

Then moseyed our way through Hyde Park to Kensington Palace. Tanja would live in Kensington Palace, but since part of it is a museum and the other part hosts royalty, I’m not sure it would be enough space for me. I mean, if I’m going to live in a palace might as well have the whole thing hehehe.

Actually, as we continued our merry way through Kensington, Tanja and I decided that we would much rather live in one of these cute pastel houses. It is simply too much work to be royalty.

Also, love being in a place where a chocolate torte, madeleine, and coffee count as lunch. Can this be my lunch everyday? Don't mind me, just living my best European life here.  

We made our way to Trafalgar square and just enjoyed the street artists before eating the world’s spiciest ramen for dinner. Let’s just say it did not take much for the two of us to fall asleep after the entire day. Tanja literally had to force me to watch five episodes of How I Met Your Mother so that I would not go to bed before 9:30 pm. Need I remind you 11.6 miles. More adventures to come!

Love you lots,

Carolyn

Aubergines and Other Silly Things

Hello Family!

Guess what? My best friend Tanja flew in from Germany today and I was SO EXCITED! So this little baby took some big steps today and used public transport all by herself to pick up Tanja. Trust me, I’m just as shocked as you are that I actually made it to the train station successfully.

I switched neighborhoods for the duration of Tanja's stay and am now located in the “hip” Brick Lane area. Verdict? Being hipster is just way overrated…but don’t tell the people of Brick Lane that I said that. Think grungy neighborhood, lots of street art (aka graffiti but pretty graffiti), and way overpriced clothes you could probably get at target and never know the difference, and let’s not forget the most important accessories, man-buns and vapes. Hilariously, the worst insult we got was being told we were “a healthy lot” after a group of guys asked us for a lighter only to find that none of us smoked. The disdain in that phrase was rather ironic in a borough full of vegan places called “honest burger.” I’m sorry, but no way in heck am I eating a non-meat burger…that’s just wrong, and as an American, simply blasphemous. Walking around Spitalfields, I took Tanja to the markets where they had a live band and classic dancing. It was so cute, I almost jumped in (looks like all those Cotillion classes paid off after all mom), except between Tanja and I, we realized that neither of us actually learned how to lead (guess they were useless after all mom…told you so).

We wandered into the work district going through Shoreditch, Hackney, and Hoxton. Except everything was under construction. Tanja was amazed and has a theory that the amount of construction London is going under is to mask the fact that the economy is suffering with Brexit. The longer I stay here the more I am convinced that she just might be right. I will let you know if I get the inside scoop at work.

Something that continues to be a constant source of amusement for my European friends, is my hesitancy in crossing the road without a green signal or even the cars stopping for you at a crosswalk without a light. I’m the chicken that won’t cross the road. So even though I’ve been navigating my way through London acting as a tour guide for Tanja, most of the time my view looks likes this…

This picture is honestly worth a thousand words. Also if you think me being a tour guide for Tanja is the blind leading the blind situation…let me assure you that you are totally correct.

After a day of casual exploring we had a Mediterranean dinner that was AMAZING. Fun Fact: I hate eggplants, you can thank my dad for that. Fun British Fact: aubergine means eggplants. New Fun Fact: Carolyn didn’t know that aubergine means eggplants so Tanja ordered three aubergine dishes and Carolyn ate all of them….so apparently Carolyn likes eggplants. I blame it on the Brits for using their sneaky ways to get us children to eat vegetables lol. 

And with that fascinating tale I am off to bed. Goodnight friends, I love you all.

Xx,

Carolyn

The Posh

Hello everyone!

Monday was a bank holiday here so that meant that everyone was out and about and it was the perfect time to check out the downtown area. I walked to my future workplace and almost made it without getting lost. Does someone want to explain to me why straight doesn't actually mean straight on these London city roads? Like who decided that instead of putting everything on a grid you would have to choose between straighish left, straightish right, or a leftish straightish left aka the road which isn't as far left as the straightish left. Confused? Yeah I was too. Jes mostly chuckled beside me as I tried to navigate the downtown streets. Apparently she had already memorized the way to work and let me walk almost a whole block in the wrong direction before gently suggesting I check my GPS. Don't worry guys, I'm sure I'll get it right on the actual day I report to work...but I'm leaving extra early just in case. 

After finding my future firm we decided to reward ourselves with some Duck and Waffle coffee. It's some samba sushi lounge on the 38 floor in a skyscraper. And yeah, the Brazilian and Japanese combo was super weird. No clue whose idea it was to mix the two, but rich people pay a fortune to eat snails and monkey brains...so I guess samba sushi is relatively tame. Side note: glass elevators are the best! Especially when you get to ride them twice because you missed the exit for your floor...oops? Overall the samba music was perfect, but the expensive coffee life was just not all it's cracked up to be, especially when you can get a perfectly brewed latte for 2.50 about four blocks over. 

Jes had me walk all through the next few neighborhoods, Hoxton, Shoreditch, Brick Lane, and Spitalfield. I totally failed at taking pictures for you guys, so sorry! The good news is I get to do it all over again when my friend Tanja comes into town, so I promise to take pictures. Although, some of the areas were "hipster" or "punk," so there really was not that much to see. After she had me walk 8 million miles, jet lag began to creep in hard. I was allowed an hour nap and then forced out of bed to do work on my refugee case. On the plus side, we found this really cute non-alcoholic bar! I got a fiery martini to match my dragon-breath, jet-lagged self. Jes is one brave lady who I can happily report lived to tell the tale of waking a dragon from her nap. 

 

Day 2:

If I thought London skyscrapers were posh, I was not adequately prepared for Covent Garden. Since Jes had a meeting in the area early in the morning, we took the tube during the morning work rush. Let's just say this A/C car girl will be walking to work. I did not know that many humans could fit on one subway car. All bets were off for personal space and I was absolutely sure when the doors closed Jes, who pushed me onto the car and followed behind my hesitant self, would be crushed. Don't worry, she wasn't and apparently an inch of space between her and the door was "loads of room." The tube ride was worth it, as in the end we beat everyone to the market.

Apparently if you live in the middle of the city and have loads of money and feel like you are missing out on spring, you turn the city center into a version of Descanso gardens. Like what the heck, I cannot imagine how much all these fresh flowers cost.

The whole morning tube ride was made worth it for this piano! How amazing is this? Of course I had to play at least a bit of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata...I simply could not resist, even if it was dark and broody for 8 am song hehe. 

You name the designer brand, they've got it here...kind of like Rodeo Drive, except older. It was funny, the people here were drawn to the shops whereas little ole me only cared about all these flowers! I mean seriously, it's like walking into a homey English cottage, but the cottage is everything from Burberry to Dior and spans a few blocks. 

Our day got even better with free Pret coffee!! Apparently if you're nice and treat your cashier like a human being, they have permission to give you free coffee. Also talk about socially conscious businesses, they donate the food that does not sell every night to homeless shelters across the area instead of just throwing it away and work with lots of local charities. Why can't all coffee shops be this cool? 

The rest of the day was just spent moseying around and enjoying all the greenery while window shopping. It's not that exciting I know, but honestly it was exactly the low key day I needed. Plus it's fun to pretend like I was a part of the British elite for a day. More adventures to come so stay tuned :)

Love you all!

Carolyn