HALLOWEEEEEEN

this year halloween had to take a backseat to steven's birthday, but this certainly did not stop alice and i from dressing up (although it did stop everyone else at the party....) unfortunately no one thought to get a camera out until we had had a few drinks so here is what was left of my costume at that point.

the loverly joey and i showing off our fantastic moves

 tom and alexandria can come too...

things i can make that keep me warm

i recently knit myself this hat and scarf combo to keep from freezing to death

"he thawed himself with the heat stored in his mustache..."

mr sun

i haven't seen the sun for days at this point, to be honest i'm not sure it's even still there. it may have been replaced by the shard, which emanates rays of light down onto london. they sent a note to international students recommending that we take vitamin C supplements, to keep from getting too depressed. the good news is that in this sunless environment no one seems to question my obscene paleness. clearly this is where i'm meant to be. so take that all of you tan ppl who used to point and laugh, pale IS coming back. perhaps i am a bit too excited about this... but really, it is deserved. i still have italian family members who believe i have a genetic disorder.

dorm life is glamerous

the driers are broken, so i've strung up yarn and hung everything i own across my room. now i just have to hope no one comes to visit as there isn't anywhere to stand in my room. i'm thinking this is the gods telling me it's time for a study break, so i am off exploring courtesy of kings college halls maintenance department.

them little chickies are growing up quick.

the baby chicks have clearly reached that awkward chicken phase where they are losing there baby fluff but haven't quite grown enough feathers to look alright again. i lurve them!

the two red ones are chick pea (my baby!) and sweet pea, the funny looking brown gal with fluff sticking out the sides of her head is betty boop, and the two yellow chicks are nelly bells and squeaker.

a few of my favorite things

in continuing our tradition of being old ladies, allison and i attended knitting club at knit london. there was tea, wine, middle aged women complaining about their children, and a plethora of fancy organic yarns. it was everything one could want from a thursday night. AND there was a yarn baller, which is by far the coolest thing i have every seen.

my newest knit creation... still looking for a name.

shiny things.

there was a time when gay clubs were a fun place to go because you could wear glitter and didn't have to worry about being hit on by creepy men. unfortunately, the creepy men have caught on to this strategy and begun frequenting gay clubs as well. nothing like a 40-something year old german man with a comb over asking if you and your lover girls want to come back to his place. this all may still be worth the array of beautiful shirtless men paid to walk around being beautiful and dance on pedestals and the excuse to wear really shiny things.

blarg.

adjusting to life halfway across the world, although exciting can be quite lonely and overwhelming. so thank you to all you loverly people who have spent even a couple minutes talking to me, it is so nice to be reminded that i didn't have to leave everything behind. but the fact remains that there is quite a bit i did leave behind, and quite allot i miss.

but on a much cheerier note, we came in third in pub quiz tonight! i'm not doing to terribly for myself here. i am making friends and a life i do really enjoy. everyone says it's hard some times during the first couple months, and i expect things to work themselves out. please don't worry, (especially you, mum!).

this is why i don't meet men in pubs

i met this really cute bartender, and he took my number, and i was super super excited. a couple days later he texted me and asked me to come for a movie and i was all, YIPPY FOR BRITAN! and then he proceeded to explain how he actually just wanted me to come have a threesome with him and his girlfriend. and i was like... graggleeekeels? because there were no words, and then, please don't call me again. so that's one less pub i can go to which is sucky because they served tea and not many pubs do that. hmph. it was so blatantly, hey can i use you? and then kick you out so my love and i can cuddle? and i was like, please, i lived that for the past year. you make good tips, hire a hooker.

gahh school

this is me, keeping up with my school work.

things you win at pub quiz

the great thing about pub quiz is that you can get prizes for things other then having extensive knowledge of random facts, you also get a prize for best play-do model of a pop idol... more reasons to love this city. by combining our fantastic knowledge of united states presidents (perhaps this was unfair) and our ability to sculpt both life like llama figurines and exploding pop stars we were able to win our groups first pub quiz! i got this really happy pinwheel.

lessons learned: useless knowledge should always be rewarded with equally useless trinkets to decorate one's room.

more tall buildings

thank you london for being so pretty and for providing me with infinite ways of not doing my homework.

i found this really amazing park today, it was walled off behind a church but the gate said public park so i wandered through (possibly not the best idea in retrospect). i was jealous of the people sitting and reading in the park, who obviously have a higher tolerance for cold then i do. i'm fairly certain everyone here has a higher tolerance for cold.

do hamsters have directional skills?

i told my friend i was feeling homesick and he asked me where i was homesick for; and then i laughed because i have absolutely no idea. there isn't anywhere for me that feels like home, so what the hell am i homesick for? it's comforting to know that this place could be my home as much as any other. 

i don't think it was brave to pick up and move across the ocean, i think it was just something i'm accustomed to doing from time to time. (thank you mum for moving me all over the country!) i miss my friends and i miss my mum and i certainly miss not being completely lost all the time. lets be honest, i have the directional skills of a hamster, there are few places i could go where i wouldn't be lost. and not a particularly intelligent hamster with all of those tube-y attachments he has to navigate to find his food every day. there just wasn't much of a life for me anymore where i was, so i left. it would be nice to have a hamster though because it does get lonely. 

very tall buildings

my dorm sits in the delivery lot of the tallest hospital in the world. this is one of those random facts i really wish i didn't know. who keeps track of the heights of all the hospitals in the world? this means every morning when i leave for class i get to walk past the liquid nitrogen delivery truck and then the empty oxygen tank storage and then through the trash and recycling storage. this is a lovely way to start the day. i am fairly certain i smell like garbage by the time i get to class, which is not as bad as how i smell at the end of the day after 4 hours in dissection lab swimming in formaldehyde and decaying bodies. my lab partner is very excited that no one tries to sit next to him on the train home... the upside is that i live on the 13th floor so i have a really great view of the city that does not involve dumpsters of any kind! this also means that when there's a fire drill i have to run down a very narrow staircase 13 floors and stumble out into the street no longer able to walk in a straight line. the view is spectacular. i can't get over how nice it is to sit and drink tea while looking out at the whole city and the river and the overground train lines zigzagging everywhere.

my favorite british postcard

i have been on the look out for really good postcards since i've been here, but this is by far the best.

British people really love their peas... and i really love knit vegetable puns!

dorms are gross everywhere...

a brief tour of my room

you would be surprised how often i wash my hair in that sink, as 15 people share the one shower on my floor! truly, i am a classy broad...

BABY SPOONS

i found a store today that sells stationary and baby utensils. obviously, this is the greatest place ever. either people who like paper tend to have babies or it is socially acceptable in this country for adults to use tiny fruit shaped spoons. i am banking on the latter as i have invested in a spectacularly tiny spoon decorated with happy peas!

in honor of a ladder for moths trapped in baths...

30 equally dumb and useless inventions

inventions include:

the must have dog restrainer, for when reaching down and restraining a dog in the usual way of leash to collar is our of the question

the cigarette holder built for two, to take all the sexiness out of sharing a cigarette and to share cancer equally with your friends

the yodel-meter, I WANT ONE.

so thank you alison for providing me with hours of homework-free entertainment.

Alice and old men

note to self: stop going out with alice, something about the two of us, in public, at any time of day seems to attract loads of middle aged men, and not the sexy professional doctor kind. no, the kind that will ask you if you know the difference between tarsus and metatarsus, then try to buy you a whiskey. perhaps the issue was that both alice and i knew the difference? or that we frequent pubs advertising disco karaoke? ok, so actually this is just all the more reason to go out with alice, few people can handle disco karaoke and foot bones like she can. plus something about exploding cat bladders.

horrah american cotton sheets!

sheets here come in two varieties, scratchy or shiny. i went for shiny. still not soft. but alas my mumsie has sent good old american soft cotton sheets! this is how exciting my life is... but also i sat next to a guy on the tube today who had the hairiest ears i have ever seen. it was amazing. and not in a good way. AND i memorized the yeast life cycle and the components of the lymphatic system. yup, you are all now very glad that i have a blog to update you on such topics. hopefully this makes up for it...
marcel the shell with shoes on.

happy birthday little chickies!

these little love birds are 1 week old today!

LONDON

apparently now, i'm the kind of person who blogs. oh joy. but i felt it was my duty, at long last, to let you all appreciate the thrilling details of my glamorous life abroad.

things i have learned about living in the UK
1. british accents still sound funny.
2. plumbing is crap.
3. people do not find american accents cute and endearing.
4. themed parties are important.
5. it is very easy to be hit by cars.