Day 17: Class Struggles, and Harry Potter!

The day actually started off really badly.

When I got to class, I tried to open my InDesign file that I had been working on the night before. Turns out, the trial on my laptop is the latest version and the computers at school have an older version. It wouldn't open. This was really frustrating because I forgot to take my flash drive to class the day before so I was unproductive. I figured I could download the trial of the newest version on the school computers, open my file, and save it as a file that can be opened on the old version. In order to do this, you need the adminstrator's password. So, I went to the IT department to ask for help. The guy didn't know what to do, but he knew someone who did. However, this person wasn't in yet, so I had to wait. When he finally got the information, he took me to another lab and signed me on the the administrator's account. Then, I went to download the trial. It said it was already up to date and it didn't let me download it! I was so frustrated. I went back to class and my teacher said that she needed the printed versions that day no matter what. She wanted me to start over. I told her I could run back to my room really quickly, get my laptop, and come back. So I ran. I literally made record time with my commute. In order to get to class by 10 every morning I usually leave at about 9:15. I left class at 11:35, was in my room at 12, and back in class at 12:25. It was crazy. Yes, I was that crazy girl running up the escalators and through the tube station in between closing doors. I know, I'm cool. So once I finally got everything printed and figured out, I headed home again.

Luckily, my evening was going to be fantastic. I was going to the Warner Brother's Harry Potter Studio Tour! My friend and I headed out at about 4:30. We had to go pretty sure, so we took the tube to Euston, and then the overground train to Watford Junction. Once we got there, we had to get on the studio tour bus, which was an extra cost. This is so stupid because everyone literally has to get on this bus and the tickets were already over priced. Stupid money makers. The bus was really cool though. It had Harry Potter music playing, which set me in the mood right away. I was so so so excited! I was a little nervous though because out tour was to be at 6 and it looked like we were going to get there at like 6:05. I literally ran to the kiosk when we got there to print our tickets.

 All was well and the tour began. It was soo soo soo wonderful. It started with a couple movies, and then we entered the huge doors of Hogwarts into the Great Hall. I can't even begin to describe the feelings I was having. It was crazy. The real deal. The real props, real sets, real costumes. I was living in the magical wizarding world of Harry Potter and I was loving it. We then headed into a large studio room where we saw many of the props in the movies and the sets for the different rooms and offices. It was crazy how small they were in real live compared to the movies. I saw Dumledore's Office, props from the Yule Ball, the Gryffindor Common Room, the Golden Egg, and millions more. It was so exciting. I felt like a fascinated child just running around everywhere. Then we went to the outside part of the tour. We had some butter beer (YUM!) and saw 4 Privet Drive, the Knight's Bus, the car from the Whomping Willow, the chess pieces, and many many many more. It was so much fun. My friend and I were like freaking out.  We took tons of pictures. Then, we went back inside to see how a lot of the makeup was done in the movies. We also got the walk through Diagon Alley, which was absolutely wonderfully amazing. Finally, we saw a huge replica of Hogwarts and I almost cried. The music was playing and the lighting was perfect and it was just so magical.  I know, I’m lame….but I was loving in.

We spent some time in the gift shop and then headed back home.   We got back kind of late and decided to just get dinner at the halal place by our dorm. I got a falafel meal and it was really really yummy!

I took like 300 pictures. Posting those later tonight!

All in all, it was a good night. ….magical night. <3 

Leia Mais…

Day 16 - Shopping!

In class I continued to work on my magazine pages, mostly finishing everything up. 

Afterwards, Amara and I went to Camden Town for some shopping. We also went to Stables market, which I actually like better than Camden market. It's a really nice shopping area to get gifts for people to take home. We ended up getting cute dresses for ourselves too. I shopped for about three hours and it was great. I feel like I went to every little corner and alleyway. It's so easy to get lost in this place! I loved it. For the last couple of hours I was actually by myself.

Let me just say: Being a girl, young, and sure yea I'm pretty --> I can get good discounts! All of the store owners were reducing their prices like crazy for me. It was great. I started messing with the one guy. I walked away and he was saying lower and lower prices, and then I came back later and he was like "I remember you Indian girl." It was the funniest thing ever. I'm really satisfied with everything I got for my friend and family. 

For the rest of the night I just chilled and worked on my pages. 

No pictures from today! 

Leia Mais…

Ahhh!

I know I'm like three days behind on my blog! Trying to catch up tonight!

Leia Mais…

Day 15 Pictures: Greenwich - Old Royal Naval College, National Maritime Museum, Queen's House, Royal Observatory Prime Meridian

Leia Mais…

Day 15: Hemisphere Adventures

Today I went to Greenwich with my friend. It was kind of complicated getting there. At first we were going to take the tube to London Bridge station and then get on a bus that my phone was telling me to take. London Bridge is a huge station so it was kind of confusing. We asked some guy that looked like he knew what he was doing. He told us to take the 381 to Canada Water and then the 199 to Greenwich. So we hopped onto the bus and headed off. Canada Water was actually a really big station that buses regularly come through. Then we got onto the 199 to Greenwich. We were really excited because the weather looked great. It was supposed to get up to 79! Definitely not used to that the past two weeks...I wore my cool feather shirt I bought in Brighton.

We were arriving towards Greenwich and it looked really cool. There was a town center with lots of markets. First, we went to the DLR tube station to get cash. Then, we went to Greenwich market. There were rows and rows of local shops, with everything from jewelry and shirts to paintings and photographs. It was really really cool. There was also this place that had fresh juice. I got the "pineapple orange crush". It was so yummy, I had to keep myself from devouring it. Then, we checked out the little food stalls. There was food from a variety of countries and desserts as well. We grabbed some and then headed to the area where the Cutty Sark ship was. Here, there were some street performers. They were all cute British boys :) They asked for a volunteer and I got my friend to do it. However, they had to cut the show short because of some weird insurance issue. It was really odd and unfortunate. We kept walking and ended up at the the Old Royal Naval College, which was on my list of things to do! It was this huge complex with a Chapel and a this huge dining room called the Painted Hall. Both were really gorgeous. They had extraordinary paintings and carvings. The complex itself was really beautiful. There were buildings and walkways with big pillars everywhere. It definitely felt very Victorian and royal. 

Then we headed to the other side, where we visited the National Maritime Museum. Here, we saw this really cool exhibit all about space. Then, we walked over to the Queen's house. It was an art exhibition in an old royal house with a beautiful "tulip staircase". Finally, we walked through a park, up a steep hill to the Royal Observatory. Here, we saw the prime meridian and were able to take some cool pictures on the line. We had to wait in this huge line for like 25 minutes before we could finally take our pictures.

Finally, we headed back to the market to get some of the yummy cupcakes we saw earlier in the day. We jumped back on the bus and took the same journey home that we took there. We were kind of quiet the whole way home because it was a very long and tiring day. Definitely worth it though! It's funny because Greenwich isn't super popular place when people talk about London. I kind of just found it online and thought it would be cool to go. I'm so glad I planned this day trip because the place was really gorgeous...and I stood on the prime meridian! A few years ago I stood on the equator. :)

From the Equator in Ecuador to the Prime Meridian in London, I'm traveling the world, one line at a time.

Leia Mais…

Day 14 Pictures: Brighton, Talk of Tea

Leia Mais…

Day 14: A Day in the Sunshine

What an amazing day.

I took the trip to Brighton today. It’s a city on the southern coast of Great Britain, and a beautiful city it is. 

We booked train tickets ahead of time and left at around 10am. Unfortunately, the train was about 15 minutes late, but we were finally on our way. We had been wanting to go to Brighton for a while. My one friend was going to visit her friend and another friend and I were just going to chill and spend the day there. We rode over together. This was our first time taking the over ground train. We took the tube from Old Street to London Bridge and then caught the overground from London Bridge. The train was really crowded. We didn’t have seats at first, but after a few stops we found some places to sit. Thank goodness. It was an hour long ride and I was still super tired from last night. 

When we got to Brighton, she met her friend right away. We started walking. The sun was out!!! We had missed this for the past two weeks living in cloudy, rainy London. It was great. We went through some tiny alleyways that were really cool and ended up at this small burger place called Brighton Burger. Her friend said it was really yummy, and they had veggie burgers so I was down. Deffff delicious :) and some guy was playing the sitar which was so cool. We still couldn’t get over the wonderful weather.

After that, we walked along the waterfront. We went to a bunch of small shops that had cool paintings and jewelry. Then, we sat down at a cool music hall place and got something to drink. It was really really delicious. And there was this lady singing live music…it was wonderful. We were having tons of fun and enjoying the sun. Then, we headed to the pier where there was food, an arcade, henna tattoos, and lots of fun stuff. The music was playing and there were a lot of people. It was really lively and a great atmosphere to be in. Then, we went walking around Brighton again. We came across this pretty fountain that a bunch of seagulls were bathing in. It was so legit and the funniest thing ever. We then walked through this palace that a prince had built a long time ago. It was all Indiany and there was another sitar guy. It was gorgeous. 

Then was it was time to shop! We went to some cute shops and bought some things for ourselves and our friends :) Then we went to a place called Talk of Tea that my cousin's friend insisted I go to. We had the normal afternoon tea but it was a little different. Oxymoron? Anyway, the place was really small, but it was so cool. All of the teapots and teacups were so pretty. The decorations were cool too and there were cool books everywhere. They had so many choices for tea lol. I got this cucumber sandwich thing and vanilla tea. I also had scones and a blueberry cake. SO GOOD. The sun was still shining and we were really enjoying our time there. It was such a photogenic place. We even got the recipe for the cake. :)

Then we headed back to the station hoping to catch an earlier train back to London because we were so tired. However, since we had reserved a 9:15 ticket, they didn’t let us change it. We were so tired though and we didn’t know what to do for 3 more hours. Another ticket back was only like 10 pounds so we just bought it anyway. Too tired.

I’ve just been sitting here looking at pictures since then. 

Tomorrow I’m going to Greenwich. It should be a lot of fun because there is a lot to see, including the prime meridian! 

Leia Mais…

Day 13 Pictures: Cute Breakfast, More London Festival

Leia Mais…