"For happiness is anyone and anything at all, that's loved by you"-Charlie Brown

My weekend is not off to such a great start, but I spoke to one of my best friends from home last night and she made me feel so much better, and I looked at some pictures of my family, and that made me happy. But then I started feeling really homesick as a result (moral of the story? My friends from home and my family need to be less wonderful so I will miss them less). So to cheer myself up I am making a list of things in London that make me happy.

1. Parks: There are so many parks here (apparently about 30% of London is parks), and they are all well maintained. And I love that there is a park by my flat that will only let adults in if accompanied by a child. There’s even a gate monitor to make sure no childless adults sneak in. Even though I can’t go in, I think it’s great that there is such a park, especially because it is so close to a major children’s hospital, so very often I will see children from the hospital going there with their families, and that always makes me smile.
2. The Markets: I absolutely adore going to markets. There are the giant ones that are always packed but have lots of cool stuff, like Portobello Road and Camden Market, but then there are lots of smaller markets that have great stuff and there is usually a crepe station. And nothing cheers me up like a crepe.

3. Chicken korma: England loves Indian food, and I have learned it is not hard to cook. I have successfully made chicken korma and it was delicious! I am very proud of myself.

4. Milky Bars: There is an abundance of white chocolate in London, and Milky Bars are just like Hershey Bars, except that they are made with white chocolate so I can eat them! (And they come in 2 types, one of which is only 116 calories).

5. Babysitting: I miss the families I baby-sit for back home so much. But I’ve done a bit of babysitting here, and the kids are just adorable. I ran into one of them on the street as he was heading to the park with his weekday-nanny, and he just looked at me and grabbed my hand (or my finger, because he is only 18 months and cannot quite hold my hand) and walked me into the park with him. It was so cute!! Being around kids always lifts my spirits.

6. My classes: Ok, fine, I’m a dork, but I am here to study, so the fact that my classes are fantastic makes me really glad I’m here. On a similar note…..

7. My art history class: every week we go to a different museum and study the paintings. I haven’t taken an art history class since high school, but this class helps to remind me why I love art so much, and how awesome it is to be here surrounded by so much history.

8. Les Miserables: It is my favorite show of all time, based off of my favorite book of all time, and I only got to see it three times when it was on in New York. London is the only place where it is showing now, which is a tragedy, but works for me. I saw it a few weeks ago and it was the best cast I have ever seen. And because of student tickets, I can (kind of) afford to meet my goal of seeing it at least 5 times before I leave. I’m seeing it again on Tuesday ☺(me in front of the theater raising an imaginary glass to The Master of the House)

9. Theater besides Les Miserables: I’ve seen two other shows and they were both fantastic, and I plan to see a lot more. A lot of the shows here are the same as in New York but I think because I’m from New York I don’t always take advantage of what is so close to me, so I have never seen The Lion King and it’s been a while since I’ve seen Wicked. But while I’m here I plan to really make the most of it and go see lots and lots. (Seeing Oliver! on November 19th with my parents!!!!!!)

10. The fact that I no longer feel like a tourist: There are certain things I am used to around my area (the old lady who sits outside the corner pub chain-smoking and drinking, all day, every day; the Indian restaurant just around the block from my flat where the “Special of the Day” has been the same since I moved in) that make it feel more like home. I’ve learned my way around, I know where to go to get the things I need, and I can successfully give tourists directions (sometimes). It’s nice not to feel such like a stranger in a strange land anymore.

"Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. "- Seneca

My classes are fantastic but sadly my schedule is much less so. I have only one class a day, and I am finished by 1 or 2 in the afternoon most days. I formerly had Tuesdays free, but then I suppose some sadist in the psych department learned of this and decided to crush my happiness by giving me a 9 am seminar on that day. So no free days for me this term.

Fortunately, my Friday class was canceled this week so it seemed like the perfect time to take a day trip. Two of my friends and I took a 5:42 am train (yes, 5:42

a.m. I was not happy about this) to Oxford, then headed over to the breathtaking Blenheim Estate. It was not crowded at all, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day, so it was just perfect. We walked around the grounds until the Palace opened and it was unbelievably beautiful. Pictures do not do it justice at all, but here are some nonetheless:

This is Blenheim Estate. It is really old and historic, but most importantly, really, really beautiful. It was absolutely breathtaking. This is the view we got just as we walked in and we were instantly in love.

This is the one of the bridges over the water. Amazing, right?

Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born. (The palace is actually even more impressive than this image captures, but the lighting was bad). They have a very cool Churchill exhibit, including a recreation of the room where he was born, which I found creepy. By far the coolest part was the library. It reminded me of the library in Beauty in the Beast that is full of wonderful books that have barely been touched which is a travesty because they are such treasures- only the library at Blenheim has a giant organ (as in beautiful, gigantic musical instrument, not a part of a body).

Another shot of the lake (river? I'm not sure) on the grounds, this time with people in canoe.

This picture is for my mom: apparently they filmed part of the movie version of The Scarlet Pimpernel here, and though my friend could not remember exactly which part, this part of the palace really jogged her memory.

This is the incredible fountain/gardens outside the palace. The best part? The fact that there is a great cafe that overlooks the fountains where we ate lunch.

The Marlboro Maze!! It is the second largest maze in the world and so much fun!! All three of us split up, got totally lost, and then when my friend the amateur photographer was in the lead and made it to the tower first she took pictures of us being totally lost and trying to catch up to her (I came in second!). The bottom picture is the end of the maze. We felt very accomplished to have reached it.

My wonderful friends/travel buddies and I on top of the Carfax Tower overlooking Oxford.

This is Christ Church College at Oxford. Many of the scenes in the Harry Potter movies are filmed here (you might recognize this spot from the 4th movie). Because I am a huge dork, I had been really excited to go and tour it but we got there just after they had closed to visitors. However, they were holding Evensong at the Church, so we decided to go to that and just before the service began I needed to "use the WC" which was really an excuse to sneak as many pictures as I could (which was sadly not too many, but we shall go back!). Evensong was beautiful, as was the chapel itself, but what I found interesting was that the audience was almost entirely tourists, with the exception of 2 or 3 older people who seemed to be regulars at services. The students were all getting ready to go out. What a difference from how they would have been 200 years ago!

It's so interesting to think about the rich history all of these places have. The town Blenheim is in is preparing for its 900 year anniversary. And Christ Church College is several centuries old as well. I am reading Oliver Twist right now (for fun, because I am a nerd) and often Dickens will mention a place like Barbican and I get really excited and think "I was just there the other day!!". But sadly I did not see any orphans being dragged out to perform crimes against their will while I was there.

Things here are going ok. I have not posted much lately, but I hope to do better soon, and I hope to have more to write about. I've un-privatized this blog because I realized some people were having trouble viewing it (ie those without Gmail). So I will not be using people's names or anything like that.

"A house that does not have one worn, comfy chair in it is soulless." - May Sarton

I have now been in London for about a month. I really don’t know how that happened. It has all gone by so quickly and been quite overwhelming. Things are finally beginning to settle down and I have developed a bit of a routine, which helps things to feel more normal, and I have just about mastered the way to get from my dorm to campus (no easy feat).

Classes have at last begun, and so far they are great. Lots and lots of work, but the courses (or “modules” in Brit-speak) are very interesting and the professors (“lecturers”) are all brilliant. It almost makes up for UCL’s complete lack of organization and archaic policies. Not to complain, but when Smith College starts looking organized, there’s a problem.

I have also gotten completely, hopelessly lost so many times that I have learned my way back from many different places and tube stations and learned who to ask for directions (and who will give you dirty looks and tell you the completely wrong thing…thanks a lot Nasty French Lady). I have also learned what stores sell what and in what price range, which grocery stores carry the good yogurts and which have the cheapest prices on produce, which tube stations have Cranberry or are near an Itsu (← my new addictions), and many other important things. Knowing these things has made me feel like I’m becoming less of a deer-in-headlights tourist, and actually making London home.

On a similar note, I seem to have developed an accent! It’s not quite a British accent; in fact, its rather unclassifiable. It is certainly not forced but I have been noticing it a bit and realizing that I have picked up on certain British speech mannerisms, but today a British person pointed it out. She did not believe me when I said I was from New York, because I apparently do not have a New York accent; she said I speak “very posh English combined with a slight American accent.” It’s quite strange but at least I do not have a Long Island accent!

To further make London feel like home, I have been cooking more. I like to cook, but there are several obstacles at the moment:
- London does not have: refried beans, normal oatmeal (just “porridge”, which is disgusting), grape jelly, ground turkey, or garbage disposals. This makes many of my recipes difficult, and the clean up very near impossible.
- My flatmates are gross and do not clean up after themselves when they use the kitchen. This makes me less inclined to use said kitchen
- I cannot find a reasonably priced shopping trolley anywhere! So until I do I can only buy what I can carry on the fifteen minute walk home from the closest big grocery store.
- I have lots of cookie recipes, but very few actual food recipes.
- Time. I’m a busy girl! And even when I’m not busy, I just don’t want to be in the kitchen for that long (see complaint #2).
- (This is where the title comes in) I broke my chair. I was sitting on it and the seat part just caved in! Now there is nowhere to sit in my room (though supposedly it will be getting fixed within the next few weeks). The chair is really cheap and poorly made, but still, I feel really, really fat. And we don’t have dining chairs at the table in the kitchen so I now have to eat on the floor in my room.

But I want to cook! And I want to want to cook. So I am asking my dear friends and family if they have any recipes they would like to share with me! I’d really appreciate it! The quicker and easier the recipe the better. And if they were also low fat/healthy, that would be a huge plus (see complaint #6). Thank you in advance!

Fun fact: There are no “cook books” in England. Instead we have “cookery books”.