Something Sensational to Read In the Train: October 2013

Last weekend was a very exciting weekend for Laura, Anna and I.

On Friday afternoon we ventured into London. We arrived at Victoria Station, and according to the internet it was only a five minute walk to our hotel (hooray!) Unfortunately, however, we couldn't figure out the five minute route, as it took us at least 20 minutes.

That night (October 11th) we had tickets to see Miles Kane at the O2 Academy in Brixton. It was great (regardless of the fact that we got a lot of beer in our hair because of some stupid people)! I wasn't really sure what to expect because I haven't listened to Miles in probably more than a year, and he's released another album within that time - so yes, I'm a terrible fan, I know.

Laura had enough excitement for all three of us though, so it was okay.

Pre-gig dinner. Thanks Anna for your obsession with taking photos of us eating

Anna and I

O2 Academy

If you can't see anything in this photo, don't despair, neither can I

On the way home we kind of got lost amongst all the posh houses. The next morning we eventually realised the proper way to get to and from the station. Enjoy this map I've drawn for you. The blue pen shows the correct way to get to the station from our hotel, the black pen shows the route we took.

You may think this looks silly, but it's a pretty accurate depiction of the journey we took

On Saturday we took a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington. Okay, may I take a moment to express how much I would love to live in South Kensington if I was rich. I have a feeling though, given my lack of direction in life, that immense wealth is not on the cards for me. Sigh.

Back to the Victoria and Albert Museum! First and foremost, it's amazing! And huge. So huge. And amazing.

I love how there are so many different pieces of art from all different regions around the world, and different eras in time. It's a nice change from purely European art. Even though the European stuff is great. I think the photos speak for themselves, really.

Just looking at this photo hurts my neck

Ahh much better

Weird chandelier type thing

Some impressive sculptures

Something

Chinese guy

Blue thing

Creepy hand cups

These look familiar

Japanese warrior guys

Pretty

Tipu's Tiger. This was exciting for me to see because I originally saw this on the documentary Seven Ages of Britain. Basically, you turn the handle, and eventually the tiger lets out a 'roar' and the man 'screams'

Some...things

Arch thing

Shiny thing

My captions are becoming terrible

I don't really know what this is

Again, I don't know what this is, but it was kind of creepy

All the walking around the museum meant we were very hungry by the time we left. This, of course, meant a trip to Nando's. Enjoy these unflattering photos of Laura and I eating Nando's thanks to Anna.

Hmm nice

Wow

We then went back to our hotel to get ready to see Eugene McGuinness! Now, I've been wanting to see him live for at least two years now. But you know, living in Australia and everything. Laura (who is also a huge fan) had never seen him before, and was basically jumping with excitement.

The gig was at Queen of Hoxton in Shoreditch - it was sort of a club night celebrating This Feeling's 7th Birthday or something. The gig itself was excellent! Really! Even if he couldn't play for very long because of other bands, it definitely lived up to my expectations (which were very high).

Queen of Hoxton

Green Eugene

Pink Eugene

Shitty pink photo of Dominic

Enjoy the blur

Yep

Laura is going to kill me for putting this photo up here

Whoa met Eugene - way exciting

Hey look, it's Dominic McGuinness (of Swanton Bombs/ The Bohicas (??)) and Laura

And again, but not Laura, me

We ended up getting the last train home (oopsies). Anna basically fell asleep as soon as we got home, but Laura and I were too hyper from the amazing night so didn't sleep until much later. I realised the next morning when we had to vacate the hotel that this was a very bad idea. Regardless of my extreme tiredness we managed to have a great day shopping on Oxford Street (okay, I didn't really shop. I was too tired), and just generally being tourists.

A view of the London Eye from St James' Park

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Walking back onto the uni campus was utterly depressing. But that's okay, because I'm going back to London tomorrow! Hurrah!

Well I truly have become shocking at updating this blog - I am now endeavouring to change this.

I will begin by sharing the most surprising of news - it has only really rained once (properly) whilst here! Amazing!

Carrying on, so I moved onto the university campus on 14th September. My first impressions of my room were pretty good - thankfully! It's quite a bit bigger than my room at home, and for the first time ever, I don't have to share a bathroom with anyone - hooray!

Here are some crappy photos of my room:

This isn't really that exciting

Girly

Spot the ice tea bottle

This is about as neat as it's ever looked, other than when I first moved in and it was empty, of course

So far everyone here is really nice - and I didn't anticipate this but most of the friends I've made have been International Students too. I quite like it that way - it always makes for interesting stories, or funny moments of misunderstanding accents/words/phrases - or in the case of the non-native English speakers - mispronunciation (this may sound like I'm dissing their English - but I'm not! They all speak English exellently - yes that includes you Anna!)

I've not had a chance to do too much exploring of the country yet, but one of the places I did visit was Arundel Castle (home to the Duke of Norfolk). It was enormous and awe-inspiring, with lovely gardens.

Arundel Castle

I don't envy the job of the gardener at Arundel Castle

I'm not really sure what this is, I mean I can see it's a church/cathedral, but I'm not sure what it's called

A view

Another lovely view

Now, anyone who knows me knows I can always seek out a cupcake shop when I want to. This led to a journey one afternoon to Brighton with Laura (the Italian) and Anna (the Frenchie). Whilst Laura and Anna have a terrible sense of direction, my desire for an excellent cupcake (and to introduce the Europeans to some good cupcakes) helped me navigate the maze-like lanes with (if I do say so myself) stunning proficiency (okay I am slightly kidding here - but I really did surprise myself by finding the shop). We ended up at very cute Angel Food Bakery and managed to try something delicious just before closing-time. Now I may be biased, and although Angel Food Bakery's cupcakes are amazing, they just couldn't quite match the amazing-ness that is Cupcake Central in Melbourne.

The strength of a cupcake shop is measured by the deliciousness of its red velvet cupcake

Italian Laura feat. cupcake

French Anna feat. cupcake

Of course this newfound love for cupcakes imbued in Anna led to us baking the tried and tested recipe for Malteser cupcakes. They came out wonderfully - and I'm glad to say were very well-received.

Un-iced malteser cupcakes

Freshly decorated malteser cupcakes - delicious

Now this isn't very exciting for anyone other than Anna and I - but we figured out how to have Chinese food delivered to our flat! Woo hoo!

A Chinese feast. Okay this doesn't look very appetising in the photo - but it was great. Also note how Anna has gone straight in with the chopsticks like a pro, whilst I am playing it safe with the fork

On the 29th September us International Students were invited to a welcome reception at the lovely Brighton Dome. There's not much to say about this other than everyone is really nice, and that there was a universal agreement that there wasn't enough food.

Pink Meagan

From left to right: Anna, Laura, Meagan and Christina (from South Korea)

An unflattering photo of Laura and I mid-conversation, thanks to Anna

Last Thursday Anna, Christina and I (minus Laura who was busy gigging) went to Japanese Restaurant, Moshimo, in Brighton. I've heard a lot of great things about this restaurant and I'm happy to say it lived up to my expectations, as well as satisfying my craving for a good bowl of ramen. It also had a sushi train, which I have to say I've always found kind of intimidating. I mean, the food is there, whizzing around like it's nobody's business, you eye up something you want at the other end of the conveyor belt, and from that moment on it stops being a fun game, and it becomes serious business, as your eyes narrow in on the plate, and you attempt snatch it off the belt before any other ~~challenger~~ patron. I'm getting tired just thinking about it. I did steer clear of the sushi train this time and just played it safe by ordering off the menu.

Look at the speed of that sushi-train

Some amazing ramen

The Royal Pavilion in Brighton looking lovely in the light of the evening

Today I finally went back to London with Laura. We both awoke bright and early, and slightly pissed off about our lack of sleep the night before, and set off, first to Brighton, then onto London Victoria. The train journey itself was quite uneventful. Once we arrived, then came the business of transferring onto the tube. This, also, was entirely uneventful and easy. We first went to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, which was amazing, both inside and out. There's no way we could see everything. I think it's fair to say we will both be visiting again. Laura also called a triceratops a 'tricerapterpus' and I laughed.

Exterior of the Natural History Museum

And again...

The roof - this photo does not do it justice at all

Another crappy photo

And another...

I don't know what this is, but I liked it

Me with some guy, or as Laura said, 'it's like a whale, but it's also not like a whale'

Bang a gong, get it on

Ouch

A tiger hybrid

We then stopped at Nando's for lunch. Although I'm a Nando's devotee in Australia, this was a new experience for me to eat Nando's in the UK. It was different - it was almost fancy. The bun on my burger was a funny shape. I have to say, other than Nando's here having a refillable drink cup, Australian Nando's still holds first place in my chicken-shaped heart.

Would you look at that bun?!

We then went to Camden. It was busy. Extremely busy. Full of crazily dressed people, and crazy buildings, with crazy street-perfomers (one guy was riding a unicycle whilst juggling two knives and an apple, and would take a bite out of the apple mid-juggle). I'm sensing a crazy pattern about Camden. I'll definitely go back there in the future to do some proper exploring.