Everything's Hunky-Dory over Here

Okay, you're thinking, my capacity to spit out british slang has officially gone too far. I get it. Hunky-dory means all good, as in this has been a pretty great week of adventure and ridiculousness in London.

This week I not only got to keep exploring the city but also got to show it off to my cousins who came to visit me for the weekend. It felt kind of hilarious to show off a place other than Chicago as my home. Literally... the first thing my cousin said was that it was weird to see me in a european city as a person actually living there. I told him that sometimes I have to pinch myself because I forget that I get to live in LONDON for five months. And now that we're officially past the one month mark and that's settled in a bit more, it still makes me giddy.

What have I been up to this week? Well since last friday (lmao who predicted that my wednesdays would turn into fridays which would turn into mondays....everyone), I have played boom cup (lol yami's new favorite game), gone souvenir shopping in Notting Hill, walked through Kensington Gardens twice (and ok, how is it so open to the public bc don't william and Catherine literally live there?), found a Russian grocery store!, went to (and also ofc officially lost my pink macaroon earring in:() a ball pit bar, celebrated valentines day with my friends, wine, and chocolate covered strawberries (and in my defense, the UK legit does nothing for valentine's day. they don't even wear pink and red. or have valentines day candy in the stores. its actually depressing (more than red lobster iykyk), and toured the national gallery (which i'm convinced is just a sucky art museum with a fancy name sorry not sorry).

When my cousins got in, I showed them some of my favorite spots here: borough market, oxford street, every fish and chips place, covent garden, buckingham palace, tower bridge, camden market, the elizabeth tower (NOT the big ben for all you amateurs), marcado metropolitan (which might just have been their favorite place on earth) and shoreditch. We also did an escape room (which was freaking hilarious, more on that below), almost froze to death in kentish town (don't go here this is majorly dissapointing and not just because we went during a winter storm watch), and tried food from boxpark (which makes the list as my favorite night here so far). And the highlights of their visit were definitely trying The Avocado Show, an influencer breakfast spot where EVERYTHING and I mean everything is made from avocado and having camden market shut down halfway through our visit there because of the storms from eunice.

One of the things that I've picked up on as I get more used to London is that while it's the best place, it also has cons that are pretty notable as well. Firstly, the school system of five hour classes is starting to get to me. On Mondays, I have class from 9-5🧐) And when I told my younger sister that, she did remind me that that's the normal schedule of high school (or sorry grammar school). But I don't even know how I survived high school, because taking 8 hours of classes again is kicking my arse lol. I also have to muster the energy to work through group projects again, which suck to a whole new level in a different country. Turns out people here don't want to do any work correctly either lol. Finally, don't get me started on some of the classes-- today one of my teachers had us practice introducing ourselves and then reflect on why we introduced ourselves that way. And in typical Zoom in a pandemic world fashion, the breakout room featured a bunch of silent people with their cameras off. New country, same hatred for Zoom breakout rooms!

Also, the food here highkey sucks. I thought it was just a phase, but if you're looking for a definite con of studying in the UK, it would be the inability to find normal ingredients. I think part of that might be the fridge that my flatmates have "molded up", but nothing quite tastes right. The cookie mix is the equivalent texture (and taste lol) of play-dough, the chicken is rubbery, and I still haven't quite gotten over the unrefrigerated eggs. Yesterday I made crab rangoons though, and those were very delicious... so maybe cooking something good isn't a total lost cause. & some of my lovely amazing friends are sending me care packages with RANCHHHHH so better days are coming.

As for a final con, I'd have to say it's probably thinking of leaving this place. Every morning I pull open my curtains or close them at the end of the day I note 2 things: 1.) how much the dumpsters are overflowing and need to be taken out and 2.) how much this place rocks. What's really exciting though is the plans I have to visit some other places in europe very soon...stay tuned for those plans. Where is S going next? That's one secret I'll never tell. After all, C'est la Vie😘