Alcohol Freezes in London

This is really overwhelming. It has been far too long since my last real post and I really have no idea where to begin! Let's see... I went to Bath so I guess I could start there. 

We took a train from London's Paddington Station to Bath (which is in the UK). Upon arrival we did a little walking tour of the city and learned a little history from our cultural activities coordinator, Tony, whom we all love. He is incredibly knowledgeable about history and you can tell he loves retelling his stories. On our tour we saw the Royal Crescent which is a curved row of flats with an amazing view of green rolling hills. I guess the queen loved it so much that she declared it royal and therefore the view can never be changed. I wish I could do that! After the tour we had a little lunch (I had an unfortunate Pub burger which was atrocious) and then we visited the Roman Bath House (pictured above). It is these ancient buildings made into a museum that you walk through and then you get to the baths (that smell old) and that's about it. Interesting for a few minutes but the audio guides were a tad unnecessary. Oh well, it was an experience. All I have to say is that I would not care to take a dip in that water... We also didn't touch the water because our flat mate Megan who visited Bath the term before and all of her old flat mates touched the water and then had really bad luck afterwards. We didn't risk it. After the baths we were going to get high tea in the Pump room but the wait was too long so we found a little tea place and had some there. Then we returned via train.

I don't think I have written about the bus tour yet. Ally, Bill, Bri, Megan, Amber and I all decided that we wanted to get a good look at London so we bought tickets for the open air bus tour around London. That was pretty fun... We ended up riding the same end bit twice because we decided we would get the full share of the transportation and we ended up guessing what the guide was going to say next. It's kind of sad to know they are scripted but at the same time It's good to know we didn't miss out on anything. Actually, I recall correcting a few of the things the speaker said because our guide previously had told us something different. Not to her obviously because that would have been rude-American-esq. 

I feel bad because this entry seems a bit lame but I am a little fuzzy on the details of everything. Aside from these two little trips I have mostly been going to class, working on homework, having picnics in the park because the weather has been GORGEOUS, fabric shopping, vintage shopping, pub going... Friday night we went to a club called Fabric and it was a giant maze! They played drum and bass music (alternative... like techno a bit) and had all these different dance floors with different DJ's. It was really fun and we danced the night away. Ally got a little exuberant with her dancing at one point and flopped her hand into my nose and, of course, I got a bloody nose. I rushed to the bathroom and the bathroom attendant tried to get me a paramedic. That was embarrassing. Luckily it had a short run which is fairly unusual for my nose but I was incredibly thankful. We also went to this other club a few weeks ago called Proud. It used to be horse stables and they turned all the stables into mini rooms with light up dance floors. This is a picture of Ally, Kate and I at Proud in one of the stable "rooms".

In my menswear class we are starting the creation of our patterns for our final garments. We have to design 6 outfits and we will be physically creating one of them (it is going to be CRAZY expensive! My silk for my hat for accessories class was £40 a meter!). The theme was Darwin so my collection has a fossil inspiration. Essentially the collection has an Edwardian-modern look to it, the colors grow progressively darker the farther down the body you go (like rock layers) and the top is going to have "growths" on it (made from fabric). I'll post pictures when it is done so it makes more sense. It has been a little stressful because I have had to fill an entire sketch book with mixed media of my design ideation process, make a toile (mock up) of a menswear jacket for practice, make 10 two page collages of line, texture, color, lighting, and photography style that represent me, put together and prepare for two fashion styling photo shoots, and work on my hat for my accessories class. This is why I have been absent from my blog for so long! Here's a picture of my accessories classroom and the blocks we are using for our hats. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of my hat progress but I hope to take some this week.

To the left are the blocks and to the right is a dress form and a row of sewing machines. This is the basement studio in the fashion building. The studio where I have my menswear class is on the top floor and it is surrounded by windows. It is gorgeous with the natural lighting. I hope my studio will one day look like it! Then again, by the time I whip up my three garments I might just hate it. Probably not though. I'll have to get a picture for you all to see its glory.

Here's some pics of my haunting spots: The park for our picnics and Camden Head, our favorite local pub. The picture on the left is Ally and Megan and the right is Megan and myself (both my flat mates). Recently we have been meeting new AIU students and hanging out with them. They are full time degree seekers at AIU and I am JEALOUS!

This Friday Ally and I are heading in the early AM to Paris to visit Hattie (FINALLY!!!). We are going to spend the weekend through Wednesday in Paris and then she comes to London Wednesday night to visit us for the weekend! I am excited for a whole week and a half dose of some Hattie AND we get to see Paris to boot! I am not sure when and if I am going to Paris with my accessories teacher. She's having some trouble getting through the hurdles to take us so we thought we would go on our own. I guess I will let you know how it was upon my return! I have to stop procrastinating and get on my homework... boo... maybe I'll watch Stardust instead.

I miss you all tons and I wish you would all just come here so I don't have to leave!!!

Cin Cin!

Boredom Anyone?

I thought I would be a gem and offer an extrication from boredom. I am snail mail's number one fan and I would LOVE to hear from any and all of you via post. Therefore, here is my address; use it wisely and liberally (please!). Thank you to those of you who have already jumped on this opportunity (Parkers and Oglesbys). I thank you a thousand times for sending me Easter wishes! I just picked them up today but I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as "after the fact" for any sort of wishing so I loved it all the same, perhaps even a little more! It helped more than you will know with my Easter woes of being some 4000 plus miles away from home and family celebrations. You will be thanked via snail mail in a few days, don't you worry. So, for those of you missing out on this FUN, here is my mailing address:

American InterContinental University London

110 Marylebone High Street

Attn: Jessica Oglesby - Study Abroad

London, England W1U 4RY

Please post your addresses in the comments and I will gladly send you greetings from over yonder! I will return shortly to give you a few London stories but for now, that is all.

Much, much love from across the big blue!

Three's a Charm

I do not really know where to begin. So much has happened in the last few days that it is hard to pick a starting point. I guess I will start with last Thursday. We had our accessories class with Prudence who is a famous couture milliner. As I said before, she has made hats for the Queen, Hugh Grant, Vivienne Westwood, and countless others. We learned in class that we are going to make one couture hat this term. A couture hat is only touched by one milliner's hands throughout the production process and is 100% handmade so it is going to be immensely time consuming. We also have to have a portfolio of past famous milliner's by the end of the term. 

Prudence took us to the Wallace collection which is a beautiful old mansion that was converted into a showcase of amazing artworks. Prudence and Vivienne Westwood went there for inspiration on one of Vivienne's past collections that Prudence was creating hats for. It is amazing to hear our teacher talk about these famous designers like they are close friends of hers (because they are)! I cannot wait until the day I can say, "Oh, Viv and I love this painting"! Prudence informed us that she will be unable to attend class this week because she has to go attend to some business in Paris. To make up for the lost class time she asked if it was alright with us if she arranged a trip for the class to go to Paris and view the private Yves Saint Laurent archives!!!! We were all drooling and stuttering that yes, that would be alright. 

Friday was another cultural activity. We visited the Isle of Avalon where the Chalice Well and the tower of St. Michael's chapel can be found. Legend says that the Holy Grail was placed in the Chalice well. The Isle is no longer and isle but an incredibly steep hill/ cliff. We climbed to the top and found the tower of St. Michael's chapel. According to another legend 

the chapel was demolished in an earthquake but the tower remained. This does not quite bode with science so it is a mystery if and how this happened. We then traveled to Stonehenge which was amazing and yet a little bit of a let down. First off, it is directly off the highway so when you picture a sprawling quiet country surrounding it, don't. Second, it was slightly smaller than I imagined and third, we could not get ANYWHERE near it. I understand protection but it felt like we were a mile away! I took some pictures but how many pictures can you really take of some big rocks? I was very interested in the flock of sheep that were much closer and much more adorable so I played photo shoot with them instead. 

Saturday was a bit of a lost cause but it was still great to see and explore more of London. The G20 is in London this week so transportation is all jammed. We went to meet with our fashion styling teacher to see the fashion exhibit at the V&A but he was an hour late due to the transport jam and we missed him. Then we decided, after going through the V&A alone, to check out Portobello Market. By the time we found it is was hailing nickle sized ice balls and then pouring down rain. Needless to say the day had started beautiful and sunny so we were all in tights and dresses. We looked like frozen, drown rats by the time we made it home. 

Sunday we went to the Camden market which was a looping maze of stalls that goes on forever and ever. There was this one store hidden in the end called Cyber Dog. It is supposedly fashion from the future. The store BLASTED techno music and had two cages on the wall containing dancers. The clothes remind me of the Zenon Disney movie. After this we went to the Natural History Museum to see the Darwin exhibit for our menswear class. It was all interesting and 

inspiring and we all got some ideas for our

collections. I took a picture of a stuffed sheep which was not nearly as cute as its living counterparts, a giraffe, a Dik Dik (your favorite animal dad!), and a few others. The museum really needs to dust. Taxidermy freaks me out. I cannot imagine having any in my house. The giraffe had very noticeable stitches arcoss its body and I could not really bare to look at it. Too gruesome.

Monday was Bill's birthday and we celebrated at the local pub. We wanted to stay out until 12:03am because that was the time he was born but most of the pubs close at 11pm on week days (lame!). We found one that was open but they were doing a game show. We had no idea what the man was asking nor any inkling as to what the answer might be because it was all British pop culture from 20 years ago. (Everyone in the picture except Kate who is on the far right are my flatmates)

When we got home some how a bottle of soda (you should see these suckers, they are HUGE and awkward and weird- definitely not form following function because they are impossible to pour) got sprayed all over our kitchen floor. I went into the kitchen and tried to jump across the spill. I hit the spill like it had a giant target on it, went down slamming my knee cap into the floor meanwhile trying to catch myself by grabbing the closest thing to me- the burning stove (I was unaware anyone was cooking). Not only did I get a goose egg on my knee and a crispy finger but I ripped my jeans. Why do things happen in threes?

Anyone who has seen my bed knows that I am a creature of comfort. If you were to see, rather, feel the bed in which I am currently sleeping you would be shocked that I even go near it let alone sit or lay on it. After 13 nights of restless "sleep" I gave in and bought a king size duvet so I could fold it over and have triple the width of my "mattress" (box spring). I would like to say that last night was heaven but even the duvets are weird here. The cover of the duvet is like something you'd find covering a hospital bed. It is almost like paper; very weird. 

Today there were protests for the G20 and it was a little unnerving. Our accessories teacher told us not to "dress posh" because there were thousands of threats on anyone looking as though they possessed money. All week bankers and higher ups have not been wearing suits to protect themselves. There was something in the paper about a man who said that all "bankers should hang for lampposts"! It is all a little scary but so far I am safe. We had to go to school to get certified to use the sewing machines so I took a chance and did a little shopping and I was not in any danger so that was good. Tonight I went to the WORLD CUP England vs. Ukraine qualifying soccer match! It was amazing! There were 88,000 people in the stadium and we won 2-1! When David Beckham got on the field all of the girls behind me started screeching. It was a little much. Getting out at the end of the game made you feel like a herd of cattle. We had to stop every few yards and the police on horses would turn the horses to create a fence. Then we would stand there for almost 5 minutes and then proceed to another holding tank. Finally we made it to the tube and arrived home after waiting a good 20 minutes for the bus. 

I could go on but I feel like this post is a whole lot of rambling. You guys must just be humoring me and pretending to read these. I feel like there was more I was going to say but I can't remember anymore so I will free you from my babbling. 

Cheers!

Video of my flat

This is a video of my flat- I'm whispering because my flatmates are sleeping and I was a tad loopy with lack of sleep so please forgive the commentary.

So... I love it here. I want to stay! I had my first day of classes on Monday and they were absolutely amazing! It was a 10 hour day but it didn't seem like it. Classes here are small and much more independent. You do a lot on your own and if you want to learn more you have to take the initiative to ask. They gave us our projects for the term and then we mostly discussed and began ideating together. My first class was menswear which will be a lot of work but worth it. We got our design brief which is the theme of our work for the term. This term the brief is science based and since it's Darwin's 200th birthday he, his life, and his work are our inspirations. We are required to visit the Darwin exhibition in the Natural History Museum and do an abundance of research. By the end of the term we will have a sketchbook filled with our research, ideas and designs. It will be bursting at the seams with fabric swatches, pictures, tearsheets (magazine rippings), documentation of our progress, etc. and it has to be mixed media so I had to go shopping for watercolor paints, pencils, pens, markers, glue, scissors, etc. The final will be a set of 6 boards detailing our process and a final outfit which will consist of at minimum 3 garments but I might do 4 (pants, top, vest and jacket). We will also have a 1500 word essay evaluating our work.

Fashion styling is also wicked brilliant (I'm practicing). Our teacher reminds me of Ms. Jay from Americas Next Top Model. He dresses in vintage; on the first day he wore an amazing fur coat, a houndstooth (or as he calls it "puppystooth") jacket, magenta scarf, a pocket watch, a murse, leather pants and Italian dress shoes. He also must bathe in some concoction of oils because he has a very, very distinct aroma that remains long after he is gone from a room. I would love to go through his closet and see his other amazing clothes. Our projects for this class are a still life of a fashion item that we purchase, 5 two page elemental collages of things representing our self, a fashion shoot, and 10 pictures in the final. We have to turn in a portfolio at the end of the term with 100-500 word explanations of each of our works. Each of the fashion shoots are directed by us and we have our own studio time. This weekend he is taking us to  vintage markets and museums to give us a quick and dirty fashion history lesson and help us find objects for our shoots. It will be amazing and enlightening to follow him around and listen. He absolutely loves what he does and he has been in almost every area of fashion so he is incredibly knowledgeable. 

My class on Thursday for 5 hours is accessories which is apparently taught by a famous milliner who has fashioned hats for the likes of The Queen, Vivienne Westwood, Hugh Grant, and many, many others. All of the teachers here are still very integrated with multiple facets of the fashion world which is amazing. In fashion, if you are out for even a few months you are no longer up to date. I am going to find it very, very difficult to leave London for this and many other reasons. Another reason is the well dressed people. The over abundance of brilliant looking people awes me and excites me. It is without a doubt inspirational and urges me to design and be more and more creative. 

The night life is so fun! The crew that goes out always changes

but my flatmates are usual suspects. Bill, Ally, Bri and Megan (not pictured because she was busy in Dubai) are all AIU students from the states and only Megan is an interiors student (the rest of us are fashion design). Ally and I are always dancing (nothing new there) and we found a great dance place the other night called Taste of Brazil. We weren't going to go in because there was a cover but he let us in for free (the ladies anyway) and sent us to the VIP room! We danced the night away! Guiness is amazing here; nothing like the states! What is funny is that they measure out shots in shot glasses to make sure you get the right amount. My friends were complaining that 

usually they don't do this in the states. It makes more sense to me for them to not pour it out because it creates more dirty dishes! 

As you can see in the group picture I FINALLY found a leather jacket! I LOVE it and plan on purchasing more. It feels and smells so amazing! It was a great deal too- I found it at Camden market which is a crazy place! Bill and Bri keep saying that the market is almost like Hot topic threw up on Camden road which is pretty close. You have to dig for the finds but they are there (take my jacket for instance!). Of course I haggled too so that made the win even better. 

I have been walking my feet off! You would think, then, that I have been getting amazing sleep but, alas, the bed is without a doubt simply a box spring. You can feel each and every spring in your back which makes it impossible for you body to relax. Luckily Megan, who lived here last term, had some extra blankets from the girls who lived here with her and she donated them to our beds. It helps but I know when I get home my bed will be heaven. That is if I actually do come home. 

Well, there is so, so much more but I'm off to see what the flatmates are getting into. I'll write again soon. I miss and love you all! 

Mom: you know you can comment on this page, right? Ask Ben. Oh yeah, happy UK Mothers day!!!! I love you!!

Dodgy Days

Ello, ello! I am officially here, safe and sound in London’s Camden Town. The neighborhood is adorable, lots of row houses and just 2 blocks away is a busy street (Camden Road of course) with shoppes such as “Snappy Snap” (where you get film developed; how clever), “Murray’s” (London Radioshack), Sanisburys (My grocery store), “Chicken & Ribs” (full vegetarian courses… kidding), and the like. Apparently just up the road is H&M (dangerous, I know) but we haven’t made it there yet (don’t worry, I will tomorrow!).  

My travels were less than pleasant. I have discovered a few things I would like to relay to anyone planning on traveling here via the route I took: 7 hours is JFK airport is 10 too many, people in JFK have their panties in a multiplicity of wads, men with Scottish accents are a cute novelty until they yell loudly across the whole 757 and have to be told repeatedly to put their chair back up to take-off/ land, don’t count on your pre-arranged cab to be there (it wasn’t), and finally, 45-50 pounds actually means 80 pounds. We arrived in London at 9am London time so that was about 2am Portland time meaning we traveled for far, far too long and slept far, far too little. We had hoped to get out into Manhattan for some sightseeing during our awful 7-hour layover but we did not. This was due to the fact that a) Ally and I were exhausted, b) we were tired of carrying our carry-on junk around, c) we felt disgusting and nauseous, and d) I had TA attendance to grade! So for 7 hours Ally semi-rested in what must have been the loudest and most obnoxious airport on the planet and I input attendance data and thought about taping my eyelids open for the majority. Thus, I am exhausted, more than sleep deprived, thinking I am still in a dream, didn’t see Manhattan, didn’t get much exploring done in London, my immune system is failing (Nyquil/ Dayquil here I come), and I have heartburn from the stress and nasty airport food. I was more than ready to get the grades onto the Internet for the kiddies in the class but, alas, I was unwilling to pay for Internet in the airport (no Royal Crown Club for us poor students, thanks for the thought though Rick) because I figured I would have it upon arrival to my flat (yes, flat). Wrong. Apparently I will not have Internet until tomorrow morning. What can you do.

Our [$130] drive from the airport [more like in a few circles] took about 40 minutes. The cabbie was not much of a talker- I asked about the weather and he half answered, paused for what seemed like forever, and semi grunted/ semi spoke something to finish his sentence. He was helpful in the end after he took us around our block a few times… you might be asking how he was helpful? Well, he did finally drop us off on our doorstep. So, we checked in, lugged our bags to our flat, crammed into the world’s tinniest elevator, dropped our bags off and went on a walking tour. All I can say about the tour was that I felt like I was at camp and there was a giant stamp on my forehead that read “Stupid, Obnoxious American”. We stopped to talk at the most inappropriate and teensy areas and were rewarded with a multitude of disgusted looks. I was almost killed by two different ladies utilizing strollers as bulldozers to get through our group. Finally we were done with the excursion and Ally and I literally ran to our room to shower. After the shower I got to know two of my other flatmates, Bill and Briana. They are from SUNY Oneonta New York and are studying fashion as well. We have one other flatmate whom I have yet to meet. Apparently she/ he lived here last term so we are guessing she/ he is traveling until school starts up on Monday. For dinner we went to a cute Italian pizzeria, had a Margherita pizza, paid for water, and went home to unpack. People here are adorable. People watching has never been more rewarding. I have noticed two prominent things during my stares: first, everyone has their own style so there is tons of variety and not really a right or a wrong, and second, there are zero rusty beater cars driving around. 

American convience store: tobacco and beer; London convience store: Food and wine. This is my world, without a doubt where I belong.

[Please remember that I am very sleep deprived and lacking full use of my brain when reading this section] I will be utilizing Murray’s tomorrow because I blew a fuse. First I tried plugging in my alarm clock in an adapter, which effectively fried the a/c plug’s inner workings and smoke immediately emitted from the cord hole. I threw open the window so the fire alarm would not sound which thankfully worked. After it cooled I wondered if I had broken the a/c plug so I plugged it into the converter. I blew technically two fuses. After bravely opening the fuse box that read “CAUTION” and “DANGEROUS” in hundreds of places to right the first fuse, I flipped my bedroom switch back on. To right the second I tried to switch the fuse from the surge protector with one from another adapted. It did not work and I am now out a converter until tomorrow- off to boots. Lovely.

So, here I am, logging my first adventures of what is shaping up to be a most exciting, nerve wracking, and life changing experience of my life and here you are living vicariously through me! Pretty sweet of me don’t you think? Heh.

Few questions for those travel experts out there:

What is the kosher amount to tip taxi drivers?

Since they drive on the left should I walk on the left? Trying to figure out where to walk makes me look like a complete idiot with two left feet thus rewarding me with more disgusted death glares. Some of these glares rival even my best stink eye if that gives you a good idea.

What should I do if I realized that I have a check I neglected to cash prior to departure? Theoretically of course.

I’m sure there will be more. I’ll try to keep up with posting pictures and more stories best as I can in the future.

Much love! Ta ta, cheerio, peace out (a little Americana for you incase my accent was getting too thick)!