"If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel— as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them— wherever you go." -Anthony Bourdain

Cheddar Abbey

My mom came to visit last week. On wednesday we rented a car and drove to Bath and then to Glastonbury, where we stayed the night. I especially liked seeing the Abbey. The next day we went to Cheddar (where they make cheese!) they had all different kinds of cheese. Mom and I really liked the garlic and chives flavor. We even bought some but accidentally left it in Glastonbury at the place we were staying so they had to mail it back to us in Lodon. Sadly it arrived today after my mom left. We drove back to London on Friday, stopping in Stonehenge, it wasn't as big as I thought it would be. Over the weekend we visited Spitalfields and Portobello Market. My mom bought a beautiful necklace at Portobello Market that is from the 1920's. Tuesday we took the train to Brighton and then in the evening we saw the play Jerusalem. She left this morning but hopefully she will be back in the spring after classes end!

Oxford Street

So today after class I went to Oxford Street for the first time with the intention of hunting down this scarf that I really want at the huge Topshop there. Of course when I get there they tell me the color I want is out of stock buuuuut I ended up browsing and splurged on this gorgeous black leather clutch. I couldn't stop myself. It is handmade and has a tooled design on the leather. The clutch is made by this London brand Etui and I looked it up online but I couldn't find much information about it. The only thing I found was a fashion post talking about how the author got a clutch here last year and it seems to be exclusive to the Topshop on Oxford Street. I should probably stay away from Oxford Street but it was nice to be amongst the hustle and bustle, it made me feel like I was in New York City.

Weekend Wandering

First Week

So I've completed my first week of classes. I am officially a graduate student. That sounds old...but anyway, classes went quite well. It's nice to be busy again. I was getting a bit sick of just wandering around. This weekend some friends and I are going to go see Mulan at the BFI theatre. It's going to be totally EPIC.

Portobello Market

On Saturday I went to Portobello Market. The Market is very long and it was extremely hot so it took me a while to make my way through the whole thing. There was tons of vintage clothing, old cameras, and beautiful old jewelry. There was also a whole store full of ancient sewing machines. They made quite a picture on shelves climbing as high as the ceiling. I also tried a rich vanilla cupcake from Hummingbird Bakery.

Borough Market

Last Thursday I went to Borough Market for the first time. It's very close to the London Bridge with part of it under the train tracks. I ate some delicious ravioli with pesto sauce and finally tried the tiramisu cheesecake.