The Greatest Place on Earth :)

Every time I find myself back at camp I am convinced it will be my last.

I think that is why I appreciate being there more absolutely than nearly anything else in life. 

Today I had the most perfect day back in my favorite place on earth. Being back there always feels like transporting back into my favorite memory. Like staring at an old photograph and actually being able to be back and live it one more time. 

The people may come and go, new yurts may be built, old dining halls may be renovated but the spirit of camp never changes. Returners show wide-eyed new staff the ropes, accents mingle, bug bites are scratched, campfires burn.

 

Who knows if this summer will truly be my last but once again I am so lucky and thankful to be back at a place where "the real world" doesn't matter, people are welcoming and kind, and everyone is given a chance. And like every summer, I hope to blur the divide with "the real world" and bring the spirit of camp with me through the rest of the year. 

I love these...

I love these:)

Sailing Sombrero

Last summer, I lost two seriously essential summer staples. 

*Moment of silence for my Jojo's Pearls and my white Vineyard Vines hat*

Hopefully they are both leading happier and more fulfilling lives down at the bottom of Spectacle Pond at Camp Hayward (although I doubt it).

So, as summer has found its way upon us once again, I have been on the hunt for a replacement hat. (The earrings were replaced as immediately as possible over my soonest time off). 

It was a toss-up between a red Red Sox hat, the same white VV, or something new entirely. 

The Sailing Sombrero.

My mom's store, the Wellesley Holiday Boutique, has been carrying Harding-Lane for a while now. While I loved the needle-pointed patterns and classic beach-prep shades, for some reason I never actually got around to trying one on. But early last week I traded my mother a few hours of work in exchange for one of the lovely caps.

I love the color, the fit, and the fact that the strap at the back is actually made of an old boat sail! And what perfect timing, considering the sun is FINALLY shining, and I'm down the cape this weekend to start my internship at Cape Cod Magazine. 

I think we will be very happy together.

I'm Baaaaack!

I'm baaaaack! 

I missed blogging! I really did, but there was just TOO much to do in London and my bucket list was constantly calling. 

I managed to cross off 72/78 things on it--including "See a pheasant in real life," "Eat a 'beigal' in Brick Lane," "Sneak into Trinity College Library," and "Go to (But not fall off) the Cliffs of Moher," but not, "Meet Rosie Londoner," or "Eat all the chocolate at the Cadbury Factory," or "Eat a 'brownie' in Amsterdam," oh well, there's always next time...

I promise I'll be back this summer filling you in on all my soon to be adventures. I'm back at camp for year #7 (how did time go so quickly?!), interning for Cape Cod Magazine in Hyannis, and am going mad posting all the wonderful things from the Wellesley Holiday Boutique's social media accounts (here and here!).

Until then, here's a little catch up of all my England adventures.

xx

Pacifier - Catfish and the Bottlemen

March Madness!

I am so excited because I have some really fun things coming up! I was actually shocked to look at my phone this morning and realize that it was already March 1st. I feel like Valentine's Day was just a second ago. My family's visit and our trip to Paris came and went all too quickly, but here we are in March and time is sure to be flying even faster with all of my upcoming adventures.

Four things to be excited for in March...

• Mackenzie is coming to London!!! I cannot wait to see my best friend abroad and here about all of her amazing adventures in Italy. I seriously cannot picture Mack a world traveler but now she is and I want to hear all about it!! We made her trip even more exciting by booking a tour at the Harry Potter WB Tour with her little Gabby as well. The Harry Potter tour has been on my bucket list since before I even got to England and I was bummed when it filled up over Love London weekend before I even had a chance to make the wait list. But the day is finally upon us! April 4th, 2014 we will be there, woohoo!
• Now that it's March my trip to Berlin is coming up! I booked it with the school so I am pretty much guaranteed to seeing as much as absolutely possible in my little 72 hour journey. I don't know a soul on the trip so that should be a bit of an adventure in and off itself. I know I would probably never have traveled to Germany any other time in my life so I am eager to seize this opportunity and make the most of it.
  
• Lewis and I booked our trip to Dublin about a month ago and since then I've been brainstorming all the fun things we can do there. We specifically chose a hotel with a pool so that we could have as much fun splashing around as we did at the Hyannis Travel Inn this summer, but more excitingly we just booked a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher. They look STUNNING and a couple of movies have even used it as a location (Harry Potter!). I cannot wait for the photo oppritunities that will definitely ensue. 
  
• Already Spring Break is less than a week away! On Thursday I am taking a six hour train to Dundee, Scotland to visit one of my best friends from camp, Nicole. We spent ten weeks this summer living in a yurt and working on the waterfront together and I can't believe how much time has already passed since. It will be so good to catch up.
  

Top Ten Coolest Things I've Done in England Since 1/28...

My goodness, its been a long time since I last wrote! For a quick refresher here are the top ten coolest things I've done since January 28th...

1. The London Eye: Oh my god. Amazing. Lewis, Marisa and I went as part of the Love London weekend that SU London puts on. We got reduced price tickets at only ten pounds and a VIP capsule so we didn't have to wait in the long line. The views were INCREDIBLE. We went right at sunset so we were lucky enough to see the sights both in the day light and all lit up once the sun set. The eye was definitely one of my favorite things I have done so far in England and I would definitely suggest it to anyone that is visiting for the weekend.

The beautiful views from the top of the eye

2. Bike Ride Tour: This was also part of Love London weekend and my roommates, Lewis and I all woke up early Saturday morning and took the tube to Westminster to do it. We biked all around the city and saw so many sights that I hadn't even seen before. Our tour guide stopped us every so often and told us a lot of interesting facts. We didn't quite realize how much of the city we had covered until later that day when we were up on the Eye and could look down and see where we had gone.

3. Cambridge Trip: Cambridge WAS SO COOL. The school puts on such fantastic day trips and the fact that they're virtually free is amazing. We met at Faraday at 9am and a bus drove us the 2 hours North to Cambridge. The University was stunning and the whole town felt like the olden times. Everywhere was so historical and castle-y. Kings College Cathedral was stunning. I could not get enough pictures of the stained glass everywhere.

The most delicious homemade pizza

Stunning stained glass windows in the Kings College Cathedral

4. Portobello Market: Reminded me so much of a market version of Brimfield. Hannah, Tycho, and my mom would've LOVED it. So many cool antiques and crafts and a lot of good food. Lewis and I shared a crepe with strawberries and creme... YUM.

Have you ever seen more photogenic pastries?!?

Lewis and I shared a strawberries and creme crepe

 5. Windsor Castle: Last weekend Lewis, James, and I drove to Windsor for a little day trip and explored. Also a beautiful town and would love to get a chance to go back and explore the castle.

6. The BBC Tour: Went with my BBC class this Monday. So cool to see all the studios and where England's news gets made!

7. Westminster Abbey Tour: I think Kings College Cathedral is still my favorite but Westminster was like nothing I had ever seen before.

8. Selfridges: The magazine room, I was in heaven. And there was a Pinkberry, enough said.

9. Rabot 1745: Also part of Love London weekend, we headed to Borough Market and afterwards our lovely tour guides treated us to some VERY posh hot coco at Rabot 1745. The flavors included mint, salted caramel, and chili.

I sampled the mint, yum!

10. Zebrano: Last weekend we ended up accidentally having almost twenty people over before a night out. Lewis invited his roommate from college over and we all ended up at a bar called Zebrano in Soho. Really cool place, REALLY expensive drinks.

Champagne

And because these past few weeks have been so jam-packed with amazing activities, here are two more... I couldn't resist...

11. Harrod's Lunch: Every piece of food looked better than the rest but I settled on a ham and cheese croissant (getting ready for the real thing in Paris) and a raspberry drink... I'm drooling just remembering it. 

 

In case the first pic didn't give you a good enough idea of the tastiness of it

12. Greenwich Trip: Lewis and I spent Valentine's Day exploring Greenwich. Despite the rainy weather we had a great day visiting all the free museums and seeing all the sights. My favorite was walking around the Queen's House and seeing the London skyline from the Royal Observatory.

Prime meridian line

  

Naturally we couldn't resist a hammock pic...

Catfish and The Bottlemen - Pacifier

I have so much to write about! The past two weekends have been so full of adventure. Hopefully my favorite new song will keep you at bay...

Tuesday Adventures

Being here still feels a little bit like a vacation. The newness of my morning commute is still enjoyable. I find it slightly more exciting than dreadful when the central line breaks down and I'm "forced" to take the scenic bus route through Paddington. I hope that sticks. Today I ended class around two and after my Monday of travel and lectures yesterday I felt the need for an adventure. I'd read about the lesser known branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum--the Museum of Childhood-- in my tourist book and it seemed interesting.

Museum of Childhood

The museum was in East London at a tube stop called Bethnal Green. Not the nicest of places from what I saw but the museum was very easy to spot. At first, besides the gift shop full of vintage inspired toys I didn't really think the museum was worth my time. But as I wandered upstairs I found the display on antique doll houses. OK, I know that sounds really lame but ever since I was little I've always had a serious obsession with miniature houses (does anyone remember Tiny Treasures?!). Tell me these things aren't cool.

Such bad quality picture, but I want this house!

Toy soldiers

Next I decided to be spontaneous and travel to Camden. Besides Borough I hadn't really been to a market yet until today. It was... Something. I was trying so hard not to look as shell-shocked as I was while walking around. It felt like the type of place where a independently touring Kate could get lost and never get found again. I read in the tourist book that it had a big goth/punk section but for some reason I didn't really think that one through. Safe to say I definitely looked a little ridic in my fluffy white Patagonia and leggings. All in all I'm glad I explored today. Although my next trip to Camden I will definitely going to be bringing a boy with me to ease my nerves (hi Lewis).

Camden

Camden Market

Next up I want to visit Da Mario's Pizza in Kensington (apparently Princess Di's pizza of choice), Spitalfield's, and the Kew Gardens. So much to see, so little time!

All you need is LΦVΣΣ!

This video is so good it actually makes me miss Syracuse a little. I am really excited to meet all the new sisters!

And we're on Bro Bible! 

1 Month Mark

One month ago to this moment I was crammed in my little (teeny, tiny, microscopic) all-red Virgin Atlantic seat about to embark on my five and a half month long journey to England. Trying so hard to sleep, knowing I would definitely need my energy for the adventures to come but being way too jittery and anxious to close my eyes for more than five minutes. It's one of those things where it feels like I've been here forever, but it also feels like it's been no time at all. My awful Fall semester feels like nothing but a bad dream that I've semi-blocked from my memory and it feels like time stopped when I left Boston Logan in August and started again the moment I got to Heathrow.

I literally cannot believe how it has flown.

My weekend in Beccles was exactly what I needed and I think going back allowed me to compare how much I have grown since when I first landed there one month ago to where I am right now.

I've figured out pounds and pence (although not quite figured out how to be a wise spender). How to use the funny plugs. How to stand on the right on the Underground escalators. How to get into the car on the wrong side without automatically going to the driver's side door. How to maneuver the Tube (and kind of the buses). How to use the self-checkouts in all the grocery stores. How to text a little more coherently on my little HTC phone. How to pay rent and how to order coffee ("white Americano"). How to plan and book a vacation in a foreign country (Dublin!). How to determine which Starbucks, McDonalds, Costa's, Pret's, and Eat's will give you free WiFi. To avoid the Covent Garden Tube station (no more elevators for me). How to walk to the Quay, order fish and chips, and which Cadbury's are the best.

And that's only been a month. 

The Language of Flowers

I love reading but I usually only remember how much I love reading in the summer, when I spend more of my time un-wired and actually have time to read. 

My mom bought me this book for Christmas and I didn't have the chance to read it until this past week in London because we (still!) don't have WiFi in our flat and luckily the work load while studying abroad is just as much of a joke as you probably thought it was.

This book was so different than anything I've read in a long while and it definitely got me back on a serious reading kick, now I just need my free London library membership to come through!