I don't really have that much to write about to everyone, I had a pretty boring week. School....pub...bed. Nothing new to report. I am very jealous of the snowstorm KC and STL had. It almost seems a shame that being so cloudy/rainy all the time London doesn't get a least one REAL snow a year....
This weekend I decided I was going to broaden my horizon aka friends and go out with the Brazilians from school. I think half of my school is made up of Brazilians because in every class there are at least 10 people from Brazil, their casual conversations of housekeepers and their horses at home also intrigued me.One of them tried to prank me with a fake cockroach....still not sure why he had brought a fake bug to class. I didn't have the heart to tell him that while I am scared of cockroaches 1. I have an older brother, getting pranked was like my childhood 2. I'm a pro a pranking (KC roommates....remember the week I buried a skateboard under the snow)
Back to the story, I recieved a text on Friday night telling me my name was on the list at Zoo! Of course I googled what the hell I was getting myself into. I am really more of a get drunk at a dive bar than a bottle service kind of girl anyway but isnt the whole reason I am across the pond to experience new things....Like a night out at a club with a bunch of Brazilians. I don't need to get into any details but the night got a little out of hand but a good clean fun out of hand.
The next morning I woke up around 10am..that alone should shock everyone because I am usually up at the crack of dawn. I was having a slow morning in bed when all of a sudden I heard what, to me sounded like a bomb had just gone off. Of course, I had just blown the fuse next to bed. By blown the fuse I mean the extension cord next to my bed blew up, who knew that the plugs were sooo shitty over here that if you had 4 things plugged in (also using plug converters) that it would be a deal breaker. I know I can be a little dramatic...but Im not. Im talking like the whole 4 socket thing turned black also blackening things around it. I got so nervous my whole room was about to burst into flames. (Yes, I have seen Just Married and thats basically what almost happened) Well maybe it was nerves, maybe it was the amount of alcohol I had consumed the night before but I forgot how to walk and fell down the stairs.....
I then ran down the hall to the person working the front door to tell them that I maybe just set my room on fire, but really I was also thinking....I am so glad I put pants on when I went to bed last night. Turns out I only actually blew a fuse, so maybe three other rooms surrounding me had their fuses blown too but thats neither here nor there.
So I have bruises all over my legs from falling down the stairs, and maybe a bit of a bruised ego, literally personifying the American stereotype to the Italian man who works the front desk at my apartment. And yes, I did stay in bed for the rest of the day.
Love ya, TTYL
Sunday 24 February 2013
Sunday 17 February 2013
Real Londoner Now
Hello!!!
So EVERYONE keeps asking me when I am going to write on new blog post so I am finally doing it....I don't want to overkill it. There is only so much I can write about without boring you death when I tell you all I did that day was shop. (jk mom and dad)
It was my second week of school and to be honest I need something else to do....I only have class two days a week, Monday and Wednesday so I have like a 4 day weekend to get myself into trouble. I know what you are thinking, get a job you filthy animal. BUT I can't because I am only on a student visa, meaning no one can legally pay me. Now I also know that you are probably thinking, yes I have looked into under the table jobs kind of but 'Drug Dealer' or 'Street Walker' don't look very good on a resume or I wouldn't want the queen to behead me if I got arrested (thats how it works here right?) Also incase anyone is wondering....I get deported if I don't go to class. So that puts a pep in my step to go to school for a 6 hour class.
I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day, I spent mine hungover watching netflix and ordered Indian takeout (cue Bridget Jones Diary)
I have begun to fully submerse myself in the culture, don't worry I am not talking with an accent but close enough. Although someone did ask if I was Scottish the other day....Im thinking they were hammered. I have had to learn/try a couple things so I don't look like the awkward American. I'll start off by saying that I stand out a little with my bright colored clothes, I had a green sweater on the other day and my friend from London kindly compared me to one of the street construction workers. So of course this turned into me doing a little bit of shopping on Oxford Street. I tried on a tasteful pair of leather pants. Thats all the really needs to be said, didnt turn out so well. If you have seen the episode of friends when Ross buys a pair thats a good indication of what went down in the dressing room. I once spent a whole evening perfecting 'the sock bun'....thats how all the cool girls do their hair. I have had to learn the art of keeping warm because its cold but also not too warm because since you walk everywhere you (maybe just me) get REAL hot and you obvs don't want to be the sweaty kid on the tube home at 6pm.
I moved to a great area called Russell Square, I can walk to school everyday and its super close to the city center of London, like out my window a sightseeing tour bus passes around every minute,I am on the ground floor so my view is of cars and a Greek restaurant. But I am much closer to everything. I still am getting used to things being so small, aka my room. I moved into a studio because all the flats at this location were booked. I am calling my new place "a luxury dorm room" even in its small size... much better than my last place. I can actually shower without falling into the toilet with one wrong move.
I went to a bar the other night to watch the 'futbol' game after class with my British friend and we were going to meet some of his friends up there. In a full on dream come true we walked in and the place was filled wall to wall with British men in suits. I literally almost fainted at the door. Apparently it was a pretty big game between Real Madrid and Man U (I was told only Americans call it this). In typical me fashion I got way too into the game and many beers later I officially became a Manchester United fan. I was told that it did not work like America if I was going to commit to being a 'United' fan that night I would have to stay that for the rest of my life, so if another British team (like Arsenal) was playing another country I am not allowed to even cheer for Arsenal. So being swept up in the moment, I agreed to being a United fan. If anyone knows me they know I am great fair weather fan of almost anything, start a chant and I am sold....I also tend to be a little too 'loyal' to the team I am rooting for (Lauren Wanner can attest to that, many sporting events have ended up with us yelling at opposing fans...whether they be 80 year old men with canes or school aged boys with their family) 'The big important game' ended in a tie, don't worry though I looked like an idiot when at the end of overtime I slurred " Its ok though, we totally will get them in the shoot out kicks" yeah, they don't do that.
Soooo moral of that story is I am a Manchester United fan and I discovered the best bar in London.
I can't believe I have been here almost a month, it does not seem possible. I will probably post some pictures later this week.
Love and miss you all!!!
So EVERYONE keeps asking me when I am going to write on new blog post so I am finally doing it....I don't want to overkill it. There is only so much I can write about without boring you death when I tell you all I did that day was shop. (jk mom and dad)
It was my second week of school and to be honest I need something else to do....I only have class two days a week, Monday and Wednesday so I have like a 4 day weekend to get myself into trouble. I know what you are thinking, get a job you filthy animal. BUT I can't because I am only on a student visa, meaning no one can legally pay me. Now I also know that you are probably thinking, yes I have looked into under the table jobs kind of but 'Drug Dealer' or 'Street Walker' don't look very good on a resume or I wouldn't want the queen to behead me if I got arrested (thats how it works here right?) Also incase anyone is wondering....I get deported if I don't go to class. So that puts a pep in my step to go to school for a 6 hour class.
I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day, I spent mine hungover watching netflix and ordered Indian takeout (cue Bridget Jones Diary)
I have begun to fully submerse myself in the culture, don't worry I am not talking with an accent but close enough. Although someone did ask if I was Scottish the other day....Im thinking they were hammered. I have had to learn/try a couple things so I don't look like the awkward American. I'll start off by saying that I stand out a little with my bright colored clothes, I had a green sweater on the other day and my friend from London kindly compared me to one of the street construction workers. So of course this turned into me doing a little bit of shopping on Oxford Street. I tried on a tasteful pair of leather pants. Thats all the really needs to be said, didnt turn out so well. If you have seen the episode of friends when Ross buys a pair thats a good indication of what went down in the dressing room. I once spent a whole evening perfecting 'the sock bun'....thats how all the cool girls do their hair. I have had to learn the art of keeping warm because its cold but also not too warm because since you walk everywhere you (maybe just me) get REAL hot and you obvs don't want to be the sweaty kid on the tube home at 6pm.
I moved to a great area called Russell Square, I can walk to school everyday and its super close to the city center of London, like out my window a sightseeing tour bus passes around every minute,I am on the ground floor so my view is of cars and a Greek restaurant. But I am much closer to everything. I still am getting used to things being so small, aka my room. I moved into a studio because all the flats at this location were booked. I am calling my new place "a luxury dorm room" even in its small size... much better than my last place. I can actually shower without falling into the toilet with one wrong move.
I went to a bar the other night to watch the 'futbol' game after class with my British friend and we were going to meet some of his friends up there. In a full on dream come true we walked in and the place was filled wall to wall with British men in suits. I literally almost fainted at the door. Apparently it was a pretty big game between Real Madrid and Man U (I was told only Americans call it this). In typical me fashion I got way too into the game and many beers later I officially became a Manchester United fan. I was told that it did not work like America if I was going to commit to being a 'United' fan that night I would have to stay that for the rest of my life, so if another British team (like Arsenal) was playing another country I am not allowed to even cheer for Arsenal. So being swept up in the moment, I agreed to being a United fan. If anyone knows me they know I am great fair weather fan of almost anything, start a chant and I am sold....I also tend to be a little too 'loyal' to the team I am rooting for (Lauren Wanner can attest to that, many sporting events have ended up with us yelling at opposing fans...whether they be 80 year old men with canes or school aged boys with their family) 'The big important game' ended in a tie, don't worry though I looked like an idiot when at the end of overtime I slurred " Its ok though, we totally will get them in the shoot out kicks" yeah, they don't do that.
Soooo moral of that story is I am a Manchester United fan and I discovered the best bar in London.
I can't believe I have been here almost a month, it does not seem possible. I will probably post some pictures later this week.
Love and miss you all!!!
Friday 8 February 2013
My First (Almost) Two Weeks
I want to start off by saying if anyone randomly found this blog by googling weird shit, this is in no way related to 'Alexis Does Texas.' I am just your run of the mill white girl blogging about what I am doing for the next six months in London.
I decided to start a blog of my adventures here in London because if you know me, you know most of the time I can barely manage to keep my mouth shut. SOOO since I haven't made friends that will actually listen to me talk about nonsense for 5 hours straight, I had to find someway to 'talk' about my day to day activities. And I think some people will actually be interested in what I am doing across the pond (I am talking to you Aunt Colleen)
Dont take anything I say on here seriously. Also Mom, Dad, family, and if any little kids happen to be reading this (Adeline....you just turned three, you should be reading by the time I get home) sorry I cuss but its going to happen. I will try to not say the F word but if i do ill grade school it and use f***. I will try not to talk about how often I get drunk. It will probably seem like I am complaining a lot but really I am not....its all in good fun. And don't worry about my punctuation....it will almost never be correct, most days I can barely manage to write my own name.
So I got here on Monday the 29th and somehow made in into my student accommodation with my 4 very large 50 pound suitcases all with the help of the nice Indian man who drove me from the airport. Luckily I had called ahead to demand a larger car because I knew there was no way my ass and all my luggage was going to fit in one those little things they like to call cars over here. So anyways I made it in and it took me all of two days to unpack and find places to put all of my stuff. The three drawers they provide barely fit my bras so most of my clothes are folded NEATLY on this like book case shelving thing. Anyway my room is chilling....its in a 4 person flat. I currently only have two roommates, one is a 19 year old German girl...only seen her twice. The other is a 30 year old man 'working on his masters' not quite sure how they let people like that into student accomodations. Nice guy though.
When I got here I made friends with the other roommate who is a Danish girl but she had planned to move to a cheaper place so she left but we are still friends.
My second day in I was getting like actually worried sick of the thought that I had no idea how the hell to manage the 'tube' considering the only times I have used public transportation are to get to cardinal games and this one time I got my license taken away because I forgot to pay speeding tickets and my mom would drop me off at the Metro in Clayton so I could get to work downtown....that was like 3 years ago though so I don't really remember it. But my Danish friend said she would take me and help me find my school which is 5 stops away on the tube in Holborn. I am in Holloway (for now...more on that later) So then we went on like a little day adventure and she showed me some cool places that are not for tourists and we went to some mall.....I am not really sure how we ended up there but we did and now I have no idea where it is. Main point of this story is that I had spent all day with this girl and we were like BFFS and I had no idea what her name was so on the train home I VERY smoothly asked to see her like oyster train student pass since I knew it would say her name, problem is....shes foreign. Her name was Nanna. Seems pretty easy but I didnt want to start calling her my nana. I just waited till the man we live with said it right.
I started school this week I made friends with this girl named Emma, I think we will be besties. Also there was this British guy who I became 'friends' with....I think it was because he was the loudest person in the room and looked like he knew what he talking about. He is hilarious...he has lived in London his whole life and is the walking stereotype, horrible teeth and thick accent, half the time I have no idea what he is saying because they use different words over here. Not like the ones you are thinking like 'oh the loo' or 'im going to smoke a fag' but shit I literally cant explain. My favorite being all girls are called birds...I think thats hilarious. I am sure he has no idea what I am saying when Im like 'yeah Ill probs be there in like a min'
I decided I was moving, not that I don't like this place, but I dont. For starters the 'ensuite bathroom' they described is a little more like a porta potty with a very small shower in it. The other day I bent down to shave my legs and my ass pushed the shower door out and then I was like basically just sitting on the toilet. I know from traveling to Europe before that everything is like smaller here but seriously. And the british kid from class told me the area I was living in was a shithole and no one would ever have a reason to come out there and "nice" prostitutes frequent the area. Thats all I need to hear to call up my Mom and Dad and ask them if I could move, almost doubling my rent price. YIKES.
I am moving next week into a studio, but its still a student accommodation...apparently like half of University of Iowa lives there. So I'll probably meet an American farmer while studying abroad in London.
My new place is small, but a lot nicer and the bathroom is a lot bigger..thank god. The best part is it's in a really cool part of town called Russell Square and its less than half a mile away from my school so I can walk to school everyday. The coolness of taking the tube everyday has kind of worn off.
So this weekend I am going out with Emma, I'll tell you all about it on Monday. Also next week I am going to have my first tourist day because I still haven't even seen Big Ben or the London Bridge since I have been here
Have a great weekend everyone (the three people reading this) Love you and miss you all.
Since I know the first two (maybe only) reading this will be my sister and Samantha...give Addison and Adeline and Bennett a kiss for me.
I forgot to say this so I had to come back and add it or else I wouldnt have felt right. For those wondering I did not abandon my sweet Jax in America. He is living with my Mom till I come back and is being treated like a king. I felt like a horrible dog mother that I didnt even mention him but dont worry, we often facetime or skype.
ps if you actually read the whole thing.... my next post wont be this long, I just had so much to talk about.
Love you,
Alexis (The Fancy Yancey)
I decided to start a blog of my adventures here in London because if you know me, you know most of the time I can barely manage to keep my mouth shut. SOOO since I haven't made friends that will actually listen to me talk about nonsense for 5 hours straight, I had to find someway to 'talk' about my day to day activities. And I think some people will actually be interested in what I am doing across the pond (I am talking to you Aunt Colleen)
Dont take anything I say on here seriously. Also Mom, Dad, family, and if any little kids happen to be reading this (Adeline....you just turned three, you should be reading by the time I get home) sorry I cuss but its going to happen. I will try to not say the F word but if i do ill grade school it and use f***. I will try not to talk about how often I get drunk. It will probably seem like I am complaining a lot but really I am not....its all in good fun. And don't worry about my punctuation....it will almost never be correct, most days I can barely manage to write my own name.
So I got here on Monday the 29th and somehow made in into my student accommodation with my 4 very large 50 pound suitcases all with the help of the nice Indian man who drove me from the airport. Luckily I had called ahead to demand a larger car because I knew there was no way my ass and all my luggage was going to fit in one those little things they like to call cars over here. So anyways I made it in and it took me all of two days to unpack and find places to put all of my stuff. The three drawers they provide barely fit my bras so most of my clothes are folded NEATLY on this like book case shelving thing. Anyway my room is chilling....its in a 4 person flat. I currently only have two roommates, one is a 19 year old German girl...only seen her twice. The other is a 30 year old man 'working on his masters' not quite sure how they let people like that into student accomodations. Nice guy though.
When I got here I made friends with the other roommate who is a Danish girl but she had planned to move to a cheaper place so she left but we are still friends.
My second day in I was getting like actually worried sick of the thought that I had no idea how the hell to manage the 'tube' considering the only times I have used public transportation are to get to cardinal games and this one time I got my license taken away because I forgot to pay speeding tickets and my mom would drop me off at the Metro in Clayton so I could get to work downtown....that was like 3 years ago though so I don't really remember it. But my Danish friend said she would take me and help me find my school which is 5 stops away on the tube in Holborn. I am in Holloway (for now...more on that later) So then we went on like a little day adventure and she showed me some cool places that are not for tourists and we went to some mall.....I am not really sure how we ended up there but we did and now I have no idea where it is. Main point of this story is that I had spent all day with this girl and we were like BFFS and I had no idea what her name was so on the train home I VERY smoothly asked to see her like oyster train student pass since I knew it would say her name, problem is....shes foreign. Her name was Nanna. Seems pretty easy but I didnt want to start calling her my nana. I just waited till the man we live with said it right.
I started school this week I made friends with this girl named Emma, I think we will be besties. Also there was this British guy who I became 'friends' with....I think it was because he was the loudest person in the room and looked like he knew what he talking about. He is hilarious...he has lived in London his whole life and is the walking stereotype, horrible teeth and thick accent, half the time I have no idea what he is saying because they use different words over here. Not like the ones you are thinking like 'oh the loo' or 'im going to smoke a fag' but shit I literally cant explain. My favorite being all girls are called birds...I think thats hilarious. I am sure he has no idea what I am saying when Im like 'yeah Ill probs be there in like a min'
I decided I was moving, not that I don't like this place, but I dont. For starters the 'ensuite bathroom' they described is a little more like a porta potty with a very small shower in it. The other day I bent down to shave my legs and my ass pushed the shower door out and then I was like basically just sitting on the toilet. I know from traveling to Europe before that everything is like smaller here but seriously. And the british kid from class told me the area I was living in was a shithole and no one would ever have a reason to come out there and "nice" prostitutes frequent the area. Thats all I need to hear to call up my Mom and Dad and ask them if I could move, almost doubling my rent price. YIKES.
I am moving next week into a studio, but its still a student accommodation...apparently like half of University of Iowa lives there. So I'll probably meet an American farmer while studying abroad in London.
My new place is small, but a lot nicer and the bathroom is a lot bigger..thank god. The best part is it's in a really cool part of town called Russell Square and its less than half a mile away from my school so I can walk to school everyday. The coolness of taking the tube everyday has kind of worn off.
So this weekend I am going out with Emma, I'll tell you all about it on Monday. Also next week I am going to have my first tourist day because I still haven't even seen Big Ben or the London Bridge since I have been here
Have a great weekend everyone (the three people reading this) Love you and miss you all.
Since I know the first two (maybe only) reading this will be my sister and Samantha...give Addison and Adeline and Bennett a kiss for me.
I forgot to say this so I had to come back and add it or else I wouldnt have felt right. For those wondering I did not abandon my sweet Jax in America. He is living with my Mom till I come back and is being treated like a king. I felt like a horrible dog mother that I didnt even mention him but dont worry, we often facetime or skype.
ps if you actually read the whole thing.... my next post wont be this long, I just had so much to talk about.
Love you,
Alexis (The Fancy Yancey)
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