Things I Miss About London

- British people

- British accents

- sweet Thai chilli crisps

- Tesco

- Waitrose

- onion and garlic dip

- 6 Bedford Square

- Dr. David Urch

- Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

- NIDO bathroom mirror

- Room 3.85

- fish and chips

- eat-in Earl Grey at Costa

- Humaira Tandoori

- naan

- samosas

- chicken tikka masala

- Muller Corners yoghurt

- the Underground

- double decker buses

- Brunswick Center

- British currency

- being overage

- Pizza Express

- hot waiter at Pizza Express, Euston Road

- the British Library

- the British Museum

- Primark

- Harrod's

- saying "Cheers"

- the Gherkin

- Greenwich

- Royal Festival Hall

- Westminster

- red telephone booths

- sunset from 12.30

- photo wall

- Burlington Arcade

- Oyster Card

- tapping in

- cooking

- potlucks

- my roommate

- Twinings collection

- Trafalgar Square

- London markets

- afternoon tea

- Victoria & Albert Museum

- Notting Hill/Portobello Road Market

- Le Mercury

- Chilango

- Tortilla

- instant oatmeal

- texting

- hair dryer

- Boots

- taramasalata

- cream crackers

- Nivea products

- Q Chicken

- SHINE kids
- electric kettle
- microwave dinners
- pita bread
- caramelized onion hoummus
- Moroccan hoummus
- driving on the wrong side of the road

- walking on the wrong side of hallways/stairs

- standing on the right of escalators

- minding the gap

- ground floors

- bold and mighty architecture

- NIDO showerhead

- NYU in London organic chemistry exams

- Georgian architecture

- Senate House
- freedom
- independence

Hello Goodbye

Well, I'm home.  It's like...waking up from a really, really, really, REALLY good dream.

It's great to see my family again and be in my own home again; to have a bathroom in which I can actually stretch my arms and not bruise myself; to have a regular-sized refrigerator and not a cold locker; to have my piano; to sleep in my own bed...

...but I miss so much about London and what my life was like there!  I miss my London family, the free museums, 6 Bedford Square, Room Awesome, Tesco/Waitrose...  I want to walk to campus again.  I want to buy £1 microwave meals and crisps at Tesco.  I want to get lost in The British Museum or National Gallery.  I want to stay out really late and lose my voice screaming the lyrics to "Don't Stop Believing" at The Rocket.  I want Indian food!

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It's related, I promise: yesterday, I caught up on the final episodes of Ugly Betty.

I didn't think I could be so affected by, my life so invested in, a television show.  I remember the first few episodes years back, there was all this uproar about a show with an ugly girl as the protagonist: people thought it was groundbreaking, people thought it was stereotyping.  Whatever, I watched all four seasons dutifully.  These last few episodes got me thinking how much the life of Betty Suarez mirrors the life of Sandra Moy.  

It's eerie, in fact, how similar we are.  Betty gets her braces off (check), Betty writes a blog (check), Betty loses some weight (check), Betty meets boys (well...I need to work on that), Betty goes to London (CHECK), Betty blogs about London (check and check, obviously).

I cried when Betty leaves her life and her job in New York to move to bigger, better things in London.  When she says goodbye to her family...that scene got me.  That was what I was like, leaving home earlier this year.  Honestly, when I was watching that episode, it was like looking back into my own life.  Then, I rejoiced when she was frolicking around London with her new successful career, and I still can't believe they made Trafalgar Square such an integral part of her life.  Seriously, Silvio Horta, way to jack my story!!  Just kidding, I really enjoyed every minute of it.

One day, one day.  When I am a successful cardiologist (or something), I will move to London and do a Betty Suarez.

Le Ciel Bleu

Good morning from London, from my last full day in London!!

This week flew by so fast, unfairly so.  I mean it's great to be done with finals and classes.  BUT I MISS LONDON ALREADY.  I'm dreading leaving, and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself...

Last night we had dinner at Le Mercury again.  It was a beautiful scene to behold, all my friends sitting around a table, candlelights and romantic French music, laughter, delicious food...

And afterwards, I joined the NYU Global Medical Brigades fundraiser at The Rocket, a nearby pub.  Yes, that was rather fun.  It was a good time to let loose and see all my friends (and me, most likely) act like idiots.

Oh what an amazing four months it has been.

Today is the bye-bye barbecue in Bedford Square.  I wonder what British BBQ tastes like...?

Seven. More. Days

Oh, no.  The dreaded time has come.  We're nearing the end of Spring 2010!

I've been in denial ever since we passed the half-way point of this semester.  Let's face it, I'm not ready to go home yet!  I've had a super-productive semester - lived by myself, gone all around Europe, and still managed to do well in school - but I am greedy for more.

This coming week, I have an orgo final, cognition final, and social psychology final, and then I'm done.  This past week was absolutely awful: cognition paper, architecture term project, and social psychology group project.  I think two out of those three went alright.  I spent the entire day doing orgo today and I'm quite ready to burst.  Plus, I have another entire day to look forward to carboxyl groups and amides and whatnot.  FUN!

Seven more days and I'll be home, but London will always have a special place in my heart, as will all the people I've met here and the experiences I've had.  <3

I'm just a girl / Standing in front of a boy / Asking that boy to love her

Today I went to Notting Hill!  Yes, like the movie.

I feared it would rain today, but the weather was fantastic while we were there.  It is pouring right now, though.  We took the Tube out to Notting Hill Gate and walked around the extremely crowded Portobello Road Market.  There are lots of antique/junk shops and fruits and veggies and things you'd expect of a market.  We had lunch at a greasy spoon diner and then smoothies and just meandered around the neighborhood.

Notting Hill is really beautiful.  The houses come in two flavors, Italianate or...regular row houses.  The Italianate houses are based on palazzos in Italia.  The row houses are all uniquely painted and colourful!  I adored the architecture even more than the market itself.  Here, have a taste:

And yes, I visited the Travel Bookshop, but it wasn't exactly like Hugh Grant's.  It was really nice, though, and I flipped through some nice travel books with fantastic photos.

Cheeeerio!