and all that jazz.

ronnie scott's.

apparently it is a very popular and well know jazz club in soho. world-renown and all.  

this statement, of course was solidified by the presence of kevin spacey in the room. 

and the live jazz performance of course. 

at the start of the night giles, will and i met up at the bus stop--waiting for the golden boy as always. we were headed to southgate for a curry dinner before heading into central. as proper lovely guests, we headed to the market to pick up some peppers and such for the meal. 

it was quite nice sitting on the sofa as all the jazz boys sorted out dinner. i was surprisingly impressed with their cooking skills. the food was amazing. it's nice to have a proper meal after living on PB&J for days on end. i decided to wash the dishes as a thank you for the dinner preparations. 

the group of jazz boys adopted me as the only girl in the group for our outing to the jazz club. and the only american too i suppose. lucky me :) it was well funny to hear the discussion and comments of a large group of boys, some slightly vulgar, but entertaining nonetheless. 

when we got to ronnie scott's i felt a bit underdressed in my jeans and banksy t-shirt. not exactly a cocktail dress and heels, but oh well, what can ya do? eating before getting to our destination was definitely a good idea. everything was expensive. it was water and standing for us-- the cheap way is the best way.  

listening to the live jazz music was refreshing. simply a change of pace. while i didn't have the trained critical ear of the boys, i still paid close attention to the different pieces--wanting to soak everything in. it was a lovely evening. 

like the endings to most of our nights, we caught the last tube home and wandered on up to the halls. here, i met up with selina and claire...there were birthday plans to be sorted out. marianne's birth-week was just around the corner. i love living this way. one memorable moment to the next, always having something to anticipate and look forward to. 

"where you at?"

there are times in which i am astonished at the timing of things. 

i have to admit, i was feeling a bit melancholy after jennifer and elizabeth left.

i was experiencing one of those pivotal moments in which you reflect on your behavior and make adjustments accordingly. (thanks mom) :)

i had gone to bed quite late after a long night of reading. 

to my surprise, the noise of vibration from my phone woke me in the morning (or should i say afternoon). 

i tried to make my voice sound lively and awake for fear of revealing my embarrassing sleeping habits. "hello?"

it was willie! "where you at?"

"london"

"me too! hahaha"

he just so happened to remember that i was in london and decided to give me a call. thank goodness for my unchanged american number. 

he was anxiously awaiting his return to the states and was feeling a bit homesick and i was in definite need of encouragement. 

the timing couldn't have been better. 

we met in central at the pizza hut. 

it is so strange to see familiar faces in unfamiliar settings. 

we both were so excited to meet up. what are the odds huh?

just what i needed. 

familiar faces

early thursday morning, before the sunshine could be seen behind the gloomy clouds, 

i received a phone call from dear elizabeth. "i'm at victoria station." 5:23 a.m. 

i lazily rolled out of bed and headed down snakes lane to the station.

quite a scary experience, due to the forest-like scenery and lack of lighting.

"i'm by the burger king"

"so am i" 

(both of us hopelessly looking around to find the other)

two burger kings in the same station, who would've thought?

by the time we found each other, the coffee shops began to open.

it's crazy how hungry you feel in the morning when you are not occupied with sleeping.

caffeine was a must anyhow.

we nearly skipped through the streets of downtown london, slurring the tune to the bee gees "stayin' alive". 

our first stop was buckingham palace. on the way, we took a stroll through hyde park. it was nice to see so much more than the back of your eyelids before noon.

we stopped by westminster abbey. 

we couldn't quite understand the logic behind charging 12 pounds to walk into a church.

aren't all supposed to be welcome.

we took the photo opportunity in front of big ben just like the rest of the tourist. we never did muster up the tourist to obnoxiously ask everyone what time it was...the cleverness of the idea made us giggle nonetheless. 

i had been wanting to see the salvador dali exhibit seeing as he's one of my favorite artists, so i selfishly suggested the museum for our next destination. elizabeth and i both thought it a marvelous idea. the exhibit was absolutely fascinating. both of us left feeling rather inspired. but the weariness that resulted from our travels caught up to us. we headed back to oakwood wear we finally got in touch with jennifer. we made plans to meet up in southgate that night and slept until the evening hours approached. 

both of us reluctantly woke up to our phone alarms. if it weren't for the amazing new outfits we bought on sale at topshop, we probably wouldn't have been so keen on getting up to beautify ourselves. the word spread that my american friends were coming and so everyone took the opportunity to meet up all together. we kept it local--"wetherspoons"

when jennifer saw elizabeth and i at the southgate station she was so excited that she tried to run through the exit without swiping her ticket. she nearly broke the barriers in a fit of happiness. it was so incredible to see american friends in london-quite a weird experience. 

all of my british friends were amazingly welcoming and nice. we all had a blast together. after wetherspoon closed, everyone continued our gathering in my room. what a completely eventful and exciting day. i have the slight suspicion that i will be needing more visitors for the duration of my journey here. [ i hope you can come visit me mom, i love you]

the british words i swore to bring back to the states.

there are quite a few times in which i have been talking when all of a sudden, everyone starts to laugh at me. often times, i am asked to repeat my words. 

according to my british friends:

aluminum is pronounced "al-you-min-yum"

iraq is not meant to be pronounced as "i-raq" 

leicester is pronounced as "lester"

process is pronounced "prO-sess"

whoever thought that an english speaking person would have to be taught how to speak english?

the three words giles told me to bring back to the states:

1) cling film a.k.a. saran wrap

2) tin foil a.k.a. aluminum foil

3) grimsby football club

these are the phrases that the girls told me to bring back:

1) he is proper fit/ bear buff a.k.a "he's hot"

2) that's well good a.k.a. "really good"

3) i couldn't be bothered a.k.a "i didn't feel like it"

i'm still working on my british accent...i'm not very good. but i suppose none of my american friend will know my english accent is terrible so i might try it out when i'm home anyway :)

"i don't watch tv, i read"

it was on a rainy wednesday afternoon that i visited walker primary school. 

one of my courses that i'm taking here at the university is writing and publishing for children's literature. 

while i'm sure i want to teach literature, writing it wouldn't be half bad either. i love exploring different avenues of thought and experiment. you can never learn enough.  

as planned, our entire class met at the southgate tube station and took a bus to the school that resembled a large cottage. 

as we walked inside, i noted all the children's work hanging on the wall. creative works of art and such. all of their winter coats hung in a straight line. the walls were busy with things to look at. as we headed toward the classroom, we looked through the clear glass into the small gymnasium where a bunch of young students stood laughing in their red sweater uniforms, playing with big red balls. they ran across the floor, a clear expression oft heir abundant energy. 

we entered into the classroom. clusters of 5 or 6 children at each desk. each person in my class was assigned to talk to 3 students. tori, pierre and mahmud. it was quite the diverse group i had. my job in our little interview was to get them to talk about what they liked to read and why. i was blown away with their intelligence. pierre was obviously the nerdiest little boy. at one point he told me, "i don't watch tv, i read." i was impressed that a ten year old little boy appreciated literature in a way that an adult would. mahmud was focused on telling me about beast wars, a series similar to transformers it seemed. and little tori, she was such a contrast to the boys. she liked reading about animals and nature. all of them told me about their favorite plot lines and favorite characters. what bright kids. 

we will return to the school at the end of the semester with the stories that we have written, taking all of their opinions into account. i can't wait. i could see myself working there. 

...

when i came back from my trip to the school, i was ready to relax. selina, marianne and i headed to the cinema in wood green. we decided to see slumdog millionaire. the cinematography of this film was amazing. it brought me to tears. i recommend it. it was a film that put things in perspective. there is more important decisions in life than "mercedes or BMW?", "blue cardigan or black cardigan?". there are people with difficult struggles all around the world. wake up!

corsets and fishnets...

i will let the events of the weekend be represented with this cluster of three dots. there, inevitably, had to be an evening of dramatic events. it is not to be discussed. simply acknowledged as a link to the next memory of grand proportions.   --the burlesque party :)

...

here, at middlesex university, there are lovely planned events for the students in the student union bar. some are more populated in attendance. the burlesque party was the place to be on tuesday night. half of the fun was dressing up of course. it felt a twisted version of your high school prom; you spent half of the day planning your outfit, hair and makeup. true to my prom analogy, everyone met in my "house". curling irons, bobby pins, brushes and hairspray were spread across my desk, my very own hair salon station. a burlesque party called for big hair and dramatic makeup. my mom would have been so proud of my finished work. i clearly inherited her beautician skills. 

midway through our girly preparation period, the boys entered. surprisingly, they had some preparation of their own to accomplish. red and black hair dye, suspenders (or as they call them "braces") and so on. most importantly, ollie needed his hair cut. i did quite a good job, if i do say so myself. by 8 o'clock it was time to start taking pictures before the festivities of the night melted away our makeup and flattened our hair. we headed off to the SU.

the night was a blast!  all the girls looked lovely, and i'm sure the boys didn't mind seeing all of them in frilly little outfits and corsets. despite the aching we felt in our high heel shoes, we danced around the dimly lit dance floor until that moment when the dj stops and the room suddenly reveals its true colors in the light. drinks spilled across the floor and sweat revealed across your face. a bittersweet ending to a fantastic night. finally loosening the ribbon to our corsets, we were able to breathe and fall asleep.