England, Week Two and Three!

WOW it is actually scary how time has flown since I have been here. I am absolutely in love with England. Tons has happened since I last wrote, but it honestly feels like a blink since my first week here. Insane.

After me and Lewis's day trip to London last Saturday things did quiet down a little. On Monday he had to return to Uni and I was left to fend for myself. Not really though because me and Sonia had adventures (aka walking all over beautiful Beccles). Tuesday he had the day off and we could finally celebrate our six month anniversary (seven months minus four days). We went for a long walk and headed into Norwich for dinner and a movie. We saw Anchorman 2 and had dinner at a little Italian place. It was so nice to finally be able to do normal couple things like that together.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I spent mostly working on my abroad journal and doing a lot of walking around town. Thursday Sonia and I drove to Lowestoft (sp?) to walk along the beach and see the primary school that Lewis would be teaching at for the rest of the year.

Saturday Lewis and I ventured back into London with alllllll of my billion pounds worth of luggage... rough. To make it even more challenging the "lift" at the Travelodge was broken and our room was on the fifth floor. Our arms were incredibly sore to say the least. Other than that minor detail Saturday was awesome. Unlike our last London trip the weather Saturday was perfect. Sunny and mild temperatures-- a perfect day to see and do everything.

We started the day by heading to Borough Market to see if it was worth the hype. It definitely was. It was a Saturday so it was a little too crowded to fully enjoy, but the food looked, smelled, and tasted AMAZING. We had already had lunch so we just stuck to samples and dessert. I'll definitely back with an empty stomach more than once in the next couple of months.

Lewis got a gigantic fudge brownie and I sampled the carrot cake, yummmm.

Afterwards we tried to venture over to an ice sculpture festival that was happening at Carnaby (I think...) Wharf but it was also way too crowded. However, we did get to see one ice sculpture being made and we even got to try to do some sculpting ourselves.

After that we literally went EVERYWHERE. Trafalgar Square, Oxford Circus, Coven Garden, literally everything. We saw all the scenes at Embankment in the sunny day time but we also were able to see it again at the end of our night when Big Ben struck nine and everything was lit up and beautiful. Definitely one of the best moments of the day.

Such a beautiful scene.

We spent at least two hours walking in circles trying to find Chipotle which was a total fail. Instead we ended up going to a restaurant that was exactly like Chipotle called Bennito's Hat. It was so delicious and just what we needed at the moment because after the completely failed search for Chipotle we were both getting pretty hangry. The only downside was we decided to splurge on the two for one happy hour deal that ended at 7pm. We ordered our drinks at 6:45 and literally did not get them until 7:45. Not exaggerating. But, we didn't have anywhere to be and we made some new friends in the waiting process so it was all fine in the end.

Bennito's hat burrito bowl.

I don't know if I had mentioned it before but I REALLY wanted to see a pheasant while I was in Beccles. On the drive back to Lewis's on the very first day one darted out in front of the car but that was the only one I had seen all vacation even though we literally searched and searched. But on Saturday as we were waiting for the train to London (my actual last moments in Beccles) we saw a dog chasing one down the sidewalk. After dinner on Saturday we wound up at the Jack Wills sale and I made my first purchase of my trip; a beautiful pheasant t-shirt. I love it. Its gonna crack me up every time I put it on.

I couldn't find the girls version of this top but it looks like this and I love it haha

After a really long, but really fun day, we walked along the River Thames enjoying my first ever McFlurry. It was such a perfect end to a really great day.

Sunday Lewis and I dragged my luggage all the way from Liverpool Station to Tottenham Court Station, down the five flights of stairs, through the streets, through the tube, and all the way to St. Giles Bloomsbury. Holy shit, it was the work out of a lifetime. After that we were pretty much dead so we lounged around and finished watching The Wolf of Wall Street. Great movie, but reallyyyyyy long. Still worth watching though. He was such a Dad walking me around pointing out all the places I could eat lunch and buy groceries and take out money and I was so sad when he had to leave. I didn't realize how weird it would be to be alone for the first time after such an jam packed and AMAZING two weeks.

Luckily Monday I was able to meet up with another friend from camp who is studying abroad here. But not until after I had a A Very Traumatizing Experience on the St. Giles elevator...or 'lift.'

I finally got over my lonliness of being in London without Lewis, or anyone else I knew for that matter, and decided to start my day with a walk down Oxford Street to shop. I got all dressed up and was finally ready to go. So I got on the elevator. There was my first mistake.

A big family gets on and also a couple. We go down the first floor alright and then, nothing.

Really nothing, it just stopped moving. We all kind of waiting about fifteen seconds and then we kind of realized what was happening. Long story short we were probably in there for about ten minutes...the last two of which we lost electricity and the air conditioning turned off and we were standing crammed in the pitch blackness of the elevator. Honestly it was horrific.

Anyways, back to more cheerful things... I met my friend from camp, Janelle, at Covent Garden for coffee and again walked MILES and miles all the way down Oxford Street. Which brings me to my absolute ADDICTION which I cannot believe it has taken me this long to get around to writing about...

The Oxford Circus Top Shop.

OH. MY. GOD.

If I had to choose one store to go on a shopping spree at that would 100% be the one. WOW.
The ground floor sold not only the coolest accessories, jewlery, make-up and bags I had ever seen but also had a frozen yogurt booth, a cupcake booth, AND SUSHI. I was dead. It was four stories of absolute paradise. I spent two hours in there no joke.

I had to buy something to show for my experience at that wonderful place, so I picked up some socks that I seriously love. I know, you're thinking, socks...not that cool. But they go really well with my new short boots that I was talking about coveting a while ago and I think its the little things like that that really make an outfit.

A little Kylie Jenner outfit inspiration for the new socks.

Finally, today was the first day of orientation. Some Syracuse people were around last night after I got back from my outing with Janelle but most people arrived looking as jet-lagged and confused as the new counselors did their first night at camp. All in all it was a pretty productive day. It's weird to think that I will actually be doing school here. I met a lot of cool people and managed to find roommates. Now just to find a flat tomorrow, yikes! One day at a time...

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