I LEFT MY HEART AT BOROUGH MARKET

This was probably one of my favorite days in London. I got up early one Saturday (early weekend mornings were my favorite because all of the infamous hustle and bustle of big cities is no where to be seen and it’s just quiet and the weather is cool) and headed to Borough Market, one of many food markets in London (I guess we’d call them Farmers Markets in Missouri).

Oh what I wouldn’t have given to have had a real kitchen to cook in and hundreds of pounds in cash in my wallet when I went to Borough Market. I’m one of those people that loves grocery shopping, cooking and baking, so this place was a dream come true. If I lived in London, this would be my every Saturday morning ritual.

The market is a maze of partially indoor, partially outdoor stalls and booths of the most wonderful things. Fresh produce was plentiful – I mean look at these berries.

Walk further and you’ll find stacks and stacks of bread, pastries and doughnuts. Turn the corner and there will be wines, cheeses and fancy things like truffle oil.

One section has all of the meat and fish, which was pretty smelly, but once you get past that you are in baked good paradise. Teeny tiny french delicacies, giant cookies and individual savory pies in cute boxes. It’s a wonder I didn’t spend all of my money.

After making a few purchases I made my way across the street to a Costa (they’re like the Starbucks of the UK) for a quiet morning of coffee and people watching. It was a simple, peaceful morning to remember.

COOL CULTURAL PLACES I GOT TO EXPLORE

The first short course I took at Central Saint Martins in London was called “Cool Hunting Fashion”. It’s a strange name I grant you, but the promise of exploring London with an experienced instructor and fellow classmates was what made me sign up for it.

My instructor was essentially a professional “cool hunter”, meaning she explores and observes what is going on in the world and uses it to create fashion trends. Throughout the week we would travel outside of the classroom at Granary Square and visit the following places:

1 . Victoria and Albert Museum

There was a beautiful exhibit of fashion from the 1700s to today that we went to see. There was also the world famous Alexander MacQueen exhibit on at the time, but the tickets were always sold out. The architecture of the museum itself is just as amazing as the art inside.

2. Lamb’s Conduit Street

Where anyone who’s anyone gets their bespoke suits and other fancy knick-knacks. The street gets its strange name from the man who gave the money for a conduit to be restored in this street in the 1500s, thus providing water for the residents in that area.

3. The Design Museum.

They actually had the “Design of Year” exhibit going on, where you got to see all of the designs up for top designs of the year, many of which had to do with conservation of resources and the environment. The museum is in the middle of a really cool location right on the River Thames. Tower Bridge is just outside as well as a wonderfully coastal boardwalk-like area.

4. Old Spitalfields Market

This extensive market is held in a marketplace over 350 years old. It features vintage treasures, jewelry, maps and fashion and lots of cool food trucks and stands. I even spotted two ladies in full 1950’s garb.

5. Box Park

Box Park is a two-story setup of teeny tiny stores – except they’re not actually stores. They are mobile storage units locked and stacked together to create a small city of unique pop-up shops and even well-known classics like Gap. All with restaurants and balcony seating on the second floor! I doubt I’ll ever see anything like it anywhere else.

6. Portabello Market

Portabello Market is the vintage market to end all vintage markets. Taking place in the famous Notting Hill area, this place is a popular weekend activity for locals and tourists alike. There was even more vintage clothing, countless vintage tea trays, rings, clocks, etc. Move further on down and you’ll come to the food market where Greek women stir big vats of olives and men are hanging fish from the ceiling of their stalls and their are fattening pastries everywhere you look. Fun fact: the picture on the right is from the walk to Portobello Market and is actually the flat where George Orwell once lived.

 

ON THE BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF SOLO TRAVEL

Just like traveling in a big group, traveling alone has both pros and cons. As someone who has always been very independent and introverted, I’m probably kind of biased and obviously prefer traveling alone, but I will do my best to cover both sides here:

Cons: 

1. Eating at nicer restaurants alone is very awkward.

   Maybe it’s just me that’s awkward, but I definitely think some of the waiters were pitying me.

2. Foreign men think that they can just walk up and start talking to you.

   I’m sure some of you were genuinely nice people or were honestly asking for my help with directions (God help us), but when you’re a solo traveler your guard always has to be up.

3. If anything goes wrong it’s automatically your fault.

   Every family or group has that one person they blame when something goes wrong – you get lost, a ticket goes missing, you get the time of an event wrong, etc. When you’re on your own, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.

4. If you want to be in the picture, you have to have very long arms or a selfie stick.

   Of course you can always ask a stranger to take the photo for you, but they have to look very, very trustworthy.

 

Pros:

1. It’s cost effective.

   It’s no secret that London is an expensive city. I’m just imaging the already significant amount I spent on transportation and food multiplied by 2, 3 or even 4. Yikes.

2. You don’t have to share your ice cream/desserts.

   Enough said.

3. You can nab a really good seat in crowded places.

   There’s this unspoken rule between groups and families and couples that you must leave a polite “one chair distance” between each other when sitting in cafes or at attractions. This leaves me, the solo-traveling super heroine, to sweep in, cape-flapping, and grab that prime spot. For example, the picture for this post was taken at the café at the top of the Tate Modern, a tall, looming building over looking Millennium Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral. The entire back wall (made up of big picture windows) contains only bar seating, and let me tell you, these are coveted seats. I was there at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Monday and it was packed. But there’s always that one seat in between groups, and so I wasted no time claiming it, which is how I got what is probably my favorite photo from the entire trip.

4. You can go wherever you want whenever you want, no questions asked.

   It really is a beautiful concept and the most important thing (for me) about traveling alone.

A COLLECTION OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES: AMERICA AND THE MIDWEST

This is a map of the effect the atomic bomb had on Hiroshima, Japan, located in the British Museum. I chose it as the image for this post because it was one of those times where you experience your own country and their actions from an outsider’s perspective. The caption read “The first atomic bomb was dropped by the USA on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The map has a darkened area, where the centre of the city and the people who live there were obliterated.” I don’t think I’d every heard the events of August 6 put so bluntly, so honestly. In American history we tend to try to justify and make ourselves feel better about what happened. I’m not trying to say that what we did was right or wrong, it’s just a very interesting experience to step back and get a view from outside of the bubble.

People in London are from all over the world. So it is a very common thing to ask, and be asked, “Where are you from?”, often times before you are even asked your name. After a while, you settle on a little spiel and just go with it. When people asked where I was from, I would simply answer “America”. If the conversation continued or if they wanted to know more, I’d say “Springfield, Missouri – it’s right in the middle of the country and no one has ever heard of it.” That usually got a few chuckles, and truthfully, no one had ever heard of it, let alone of Missouri. When people ask “What’s it like there?” or “Do they do this/have this in America?” I would always answer “Well, it depends on where you are.” People from all the way across the world don’t always realize that the United States is so broad, there are actually completely different cultures and ways of living from coast to coast, even state to state.

However, there were a few people who did have vague ideas of what midwest America was like, and two particularly humorous ones stand out in my mind:

1.

The first was the horse riding instructor that accompanied me in Hyde Park (see previous post). He was telling me how he actually visited the United States once and went “American horseback riding” (it’s different than “English horseback riding” apparently) with a few “cowboys”. Apparently they took off like it was the wild, wild west and he just had to hold on for dear life and wonder what he had just gotten himself into. He also recounted lunchtime where they’d all pull out their PB&J sandwiches. I guess peanut butter and jelly aren’t quite the classic combination to refined English palates as they are to ours… poor things.

2.

The next time I encountered someone who had at least an inkling of what this part of the US is like was a shop assistant I was chatting with as she rang up my purchases. She was asking if they were gifts and I said, “Yes, souvenirs for family, you know how it goes.” So that prompted her to ask where I was from. I gave my typical answer and she said, “Oh I know, that’s the place where there are lots of tornados!” I just thought about it and said, “Yeah, I guess so, we’re just kind of used to it, really.” To which she replied, “That is so badass. Here we’re just used to rain and traffic.”

Getting Lost – Also Known As The St. Paul’s Cathedral Fan Club

I am really bad with directions. Incredibly bad. I could probably (read: definitely) get lost driving in my own neighborhood that I’ve lived in for the past 15+ years. I think that was probably my mom’s main concern when letting me go to a different city alone, simply getting lost, especially in a foreign country where I don’t have cell phone data, so Google Maps only functions when I have wifi (very stressful by the way).

So my very first outing in London required a bit of planning, in fact, all of my outings did. I looked up where I was going, where the closest tube station was, wrote directions in my phone, even took screenshots of the maps on my screen and saved them as pictures. My first full day was a Sunday. I woke up early and headed to this beautiful garden/cathedral that I had seen suggested on Pinterest particularly for Sunday mornings because it’s so quiet and peaceful. I had a plan and everything. Walk to Angel Tube station, by your first ever Oyster Card, get on the right train and go three stops to Bank Station (<- pretty much the mantra I kept repeating in my head the whole time so I wouldn’t get lost). Then I just had to walk down Prince Henry (or something like that) Street and I would be there! It wasn’t so easy in real life…

You see, in most places (I’m assuming) in the United States, the streets make a grid formation that makes navigating much simpler. Not so in London. I emerge from Bank Tube station and somehow find myself standing on a sidewalk in the middle of an intersection of six or seven different roads, none of which are Prince Henry Something or Other (although the street signs aren’t always visible – why make it easy on us poor tourists?). I had no idea where I was so I just started walking. After a few minutes I was questioning the whole purpose of my trip to London. Why go if I wasn’t going to be able to find any of the places I wanted to see? In short, I was cursing the city and it’s entire existence.

But that’s the funny thing about getting lost. Sometimes you find things that you never intended to find. For example: a lovely and unexpected view of Tower Bridge.

I kept walking at that point, still more than a little put out by getting lost so quickly. But then I see it. What’s that peaking through the trees? Surely not the famous dome of St. Pauls Cathedral! Word and pictures cannot express the sheer massiveness of this place. And as soon as I saw it and walked up to it I knew everything was going to be okay. That I had come here for a reason and that it’s going to be okay. In fact, I ended up walking by and visiting St. Pauls several times more in my time there, and every time it filled me with such peace (usually, I’m not overly sentimental about such things, but for some reason I am now). And you know what? In the end I did end up finding that ruddy garden place I intended to go first, and it was pretty cool.

(Hey, at least I knew I was still in the city of London…)

MEET PUZZLE

Here’s something you don’t necessarily realize will happen when you travel alone in a city where you know zero people – you get strangely attached to animals that you meet along your journey. Or is that just me? That might just be me…

Anyway, I was looking for something to do one weekend in London and Pinterest suggested this place called Hyde Park Stables, where you can pay for an hour of accompanied horseback riding through Hyde Park. Now, I don’t know anything about horses or horseback riding, but of course I immediately think of Downtown Abbey-esque horseback riding, of scenes of galloping through the English countryside and those cool equestrian uniforms, so it seems like a perfectly English way to spend an afternoon (and too good of a photo opportunity to pass up). So I made my appointment and showed up at Hyde Park Stables as I was told. 

I was given a helmet and riding boots and introduced to the horse I would be riding. I met the instructor who would be accompanying me and helping me learn what in the world I was doing as well as the other woman in my group (of course, she had ridden a horse several times before and appeared to be a natural, unlike me…). We then took off with another group of three (an instructor and two sisters, both under the age of eight). And let me tell you, these little girls put me to shame. They were practically pro-equestrian competitors compared to my pathetic attempt at trotting. However it didn’t matter. I got to spend a beautiful afternoon trotting through the gorgeous Hyde Park atop Puzzle, a black and white horse all the way from Ireland. We splashed through muddy puddles, which meant that Puzzle would have to get a bath later that evening (poor Puzzle) and enjoyed the sites, as well as got ogled by a few jealous tourists.

So yes, if you are traveling alone, be prepared to get very attached to animals and expect to have a lot of fun when you get to meet them. I hope you’re doing well, Puzzle!

   

“BROLLY” ETIQUETTE AND STREET RULES

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN WHEN I WOKE UP ON MY FIRST MORNING THERE, LOOKING OUT OVER THE ROOFTOPS OF ISLINGTON. I WAS THRILLED TO SEE THE INFAMOUS ENGLISH RAIN FOR MYSELF.

There are certain unspoken (and sometimes spoken) street rules that all Londoners must follow. In fact, it’s one easy way to set the hardened, long-term inhabitants of the city apart from the visitors – those that know the rules, and those that don’t.
Today’s weather brought these street “rules” to the forefront of my memory. With no gap in the heavy rain in site, I made my way through campus this morning with my rain coat zipped and buttoned and my umbrella extended over my head. I passed by a few others with umbrellas, but the majority of people were huddled under hoodies, making a daring run from building to building sans umbrella. In London, it’s quite a bit different. Leaving the house without an umbrella (even when the sky is clear blue) is a silly, silly mistake to those people. So that brings me to street rule number one.
1. Never, ever go anywhere without an umbrella [or at least a rain jacket].

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When it does actually rain (and it will) and you’ve got your umbrella out as you should, there is certain etiquette that must be followed. Millions of people pass through the streets of London, which means millions of umbrellas, all clanging around, threatening to drip water on an unsuspecting fellow commuter. One must always be a polite brolly carrier and either duck, raise  or pivot your umbrella out of the way of other people and their umbrellas as you pass in the street. It’s like a synchronized brolly ballet that many Londoners have learned over time.
Furthermore, once you’ve made it to a covered area, there are further rules in place. As I said, there are a lot of people passing by, and the entrances to tube stations can get quite congested turing peak times. Don’t stop in the middle of the entry to stow your umbrella, you will only make people very, very aggravated. Instead, you have to learn to do it in one seamless motion all while never missing a step. That wraps up street rule number two.
2. Pay attention to brollie etiquette.

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If one observes the crowds they see on the London pavement and crowded tube carriages during morning rush hour, you can’t help but get the impression that Londoners are tougher than the average person living in a small town, like I do. How could they not be? Life consists of weather that you’re never sure will stay dry, tubes that you’re never sure will run (or run on time), a seat on a bus or train that you’re not sure you’ll get. Not to mention the hundreds of winding stairs and escalators that carry people down, down, down below ground for their morning commute on the tube. Londoners have adapted to this, at times, rough life style and it shows. Many business women wear sneakers with their suits. Some people even pull little rolling suitcases with them to work. Those $0.99 flip flops you can buy at Old Navy here? They wouldn’t last a day in London. You have to be durable to function in London. You have to walk fast, keep left, keep out of the way and stand only on the right. But you also have to be incredibly polite. The English are teased for being overly polite, even if they don’t mean it. But with that many people putting up with that rainy of weather, you kind of have to be. Apologize if you run into someone’s umbrella with your’s. Apologize when you step in someone’s way. Let people off the train before boarding. These are basic rules, but they’re taken very seriously in London.
3. Be tough, be durable, but still polite and patient.

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I wanted to finish off this post with a humorous anecdote – one that I call “the most British situation I have ever experienced”. It also illustrates, I think, the importance the people of London place on these little rules, and above all, on politeness. So here it is:

Crossing the street in London can be dangerous, especially if you don’t wait for the little lit-up symbol of a walking man to signify it’s safe (for the most part) to cross. Most people (again, this is a way to separate the true Londoners from the pretenders) don’t wait. They’ll look for an oncoming car and, if one isn’t too terribly close or fast, they’ll make a run for it. One man in his late 20s did just that one afternoon. We were both on the same side of the street waiting to cross. Well, I was waiting, he on the other hand, went for it. Unfortunately for him, a cab turned onto the street we were crossing just at that moment, forcing him to leap back onto the curb just in time. The cabbie (picture a stereotypical British cabbie – herringbone cap, bad teeth, London accent) leaned out the window to yell, “Oi, mate, have a look next time!” The man, who was now safely back on the curb, let out a long-suffering sigh and just yelled back, “So sorryyyy!”.
​And that, ladies and gentlemen, is about as British as it gets.

THAT TIME I GOT TO GO TO HARRODS AND SEE THE NEW DIOR COLLECTION WHILE SIPPING COFFEE AND EATING MACARONS

I just had to write up this little anecdote from my trip because it’s one of those things that I will probably think back on in years to come and just laugh with disbelief, as I am now, and as I did then.

In my very first short course, I became friends with a fellow classmate from China. After a day or two, it became apparent to me and others in the course that she was a bit… different financially from the rest of us. First clue was when she let me borrow her leather jacket and it was the softest thing I have ever felt in my life, really. Second clue was when someone asked her where her sweater was from and she said “Valentino”. Of course. Then came the day when we went out in groups to explore Dover Street Market and the surrounding area.

Dover Street Market is known for its collection of dozens of luxury brands and rare pieces of art called fashion. I followed my friend around as she did her shopping there. Then we strolled into Louis Vuitton where she picked up two pairs of exquisitely luxurious men’s shoes and said “which pair is better?”. I pointed to the one of the left, I liked the tassels on the laces. She took them up to the shop assistants, all men in very expensive suits, and got the correct size and purchased them for her fiancé. Five minutes later we were moving on to the next store.

Next she asked me if I would like to go to “Arrows”, which is what I kept thinking she said in her strong Chinese accent. I said “sure” (why not?). When the cab pulled up in front of Harrods, the Harrods, I realized I had misunderstood. She then took me on a personal tour of each floor and showed me all of her favorite brands. One stop along the way was Dior, where the two ladies working knew my guide as a personal friend. They guide us into a personal fitting room (bigger than the room I was living in at the time) and closed these sliding doors I didn’t even realized existed so that it is closed off from the rest of the store and ask if we would like anything to drink. I got a coffee, my friend requested water and “oh, some of those macarons I like”. So there I am, feeling very plain in my glasses and casual outfit and hair in a braid, having coffee and decadent macarons while my friend tries on the brand new Fall/Winter 2015 Dior collection. I don’t remember if she bought anything because at that point I am meeting her fiancé and they’re asking me if I’d like to join them for dinner, at which point my friend says “all though you might not want to, because we ordered a steak dinner and I know you’re a vegetarian”, so I graciously declined. 

Next, my friend and I went to the Valentino section of Harrods, where, surprise, I get to sit in on the fitting of one of two wedding dresses that she has been telling me about all week. So I got to observe as this flowing, glittering Valentino gown was being custom modified just for her.

Our last stop before parting ways that day was actually in the children’s toy “land”. After seeing her float elegantly in £5,000 dresses and stride about in £3,000 coats, we played around in the fabulous toys of Harrods, posing with Thor’s hammer and giant stuffed giraffes.

On top of that, I saw Una Stubbs (who plays Mrs. Hudson in BBC Sherlock, one of my favorite shows) looking simultaneously fabulous and adorable on the sidewalk outside of Harrods. It was a whirlwind of a day, and probably the craziest adventure I’ll have in a while.

A COLLECTION OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES – LANGUAGE

Before this trip, I had never traveled out of the country. I found myself not only in a brand new country, but also going to classes with people from all over the world. Just to test my memory, in all three of my courses I encountered people from the following countries:
– China
– Thailand
– Spain
– Brazil
– The Philippines
– France
– Switzerland
– Canada
– Poland
– India

​   There was only one other person in all three of the courses that was from England, and only one other from the United States (Funnily enough, she goes to Washington University in St. Louis and we actually have a friend in common. It’s a small world. )
It never failed to boggle my mind how well all of them could speak English. One or two of them struggled, but it was usually because English was the third or fourth language they had learned. I often times found myself wanting to apologize because I only knew English and a smattering of Spanish vocabulary and grammar. Learning a second language isn’t really pushed in American education until about high school, which is really too late to become fluent in a language easily. Most of the people I talked to had been instructed in English from a young age and that is why it came so easy for them. Culturally, it’s just not as important for us to learn another language.
Despite most all of them speaking English well, there were a few times when communication got a bit…wonky. For example, one Saturday morning I got breakfast with a girl from Spain. We were staying in the same student accommodation building in Islington and walked to a place close by. After we had breakfast we were sitting there, just chatting. She mentioned how early it was and she was still sleepy. I said, “I’ve had coffee so I’m ready to go,” meaning, I’ve had caffeine so I’m energetic, ready for the day. She replied, “Oh, well we can get the check now, then.” It took me a few moments to realize that from a someone who doesn’t speak English as a first language, she took that statement literally, that I was ready to leave the restaurant.  Most of the time, language barriers weren’t a total lack of understanding, they were just misunderstandings of exact meaning or implication of words.

Working on projects with people from different countries brings out all sorts of phrases and words you don’t know. When working on a photoshoot, the classmate from London asked me if I had any “kirby grips” she could borrow. I had to admit to her, I had no idea what she was talking about. Someone else produced a “kirby grip” for her to use and that was when I realized it was simply a bobby pin. Later in the day I told her that for the next set of photos we were going to take a field trip to the other side of the building. She laughed because “field trip”  wasn’t a phrase she had heard of. We may both speak English, but it is certainly not the same language.

In fact it’s amazing the differences you’ll hear if you just listen. While exiting a tour at Buckingham Palace, I overheard an older woman ask an employee if there was a café nearby. Though she asked about a CAfé, not a caFÉ, as I’m used to hearing it. On the subway, called “the Tube”, I don’t know how many times I heard over the intercom “this is a Northern line train via Kings Cross St. Pancras”. Except they pronounced it “vy-a” and not “vee-a”.

When I first arrived in England, the people I checked into my room with, or helped me with my luggage would always ask me “Are you okay?” It really confused me at first, because any time someone asks you that it’s because you don’t look okay. Well, I thought, I just got off a nine hour flight and am incredibly jet-lagged and slightly terrified and lost. I probably don’t look “okay”. So I forgot all about it. Then my instructor for my first course would always ask the class first thing in the morning, or after lunch or at any time really “Are you okay?” in her strong Scottish accent. At this point I started realizing, they’re not really asking if I’m okay out of concern because they think I’m not, that must just be the phrase British people use the way we’d use “Hey, how’s it going?” or “What’s up?”.

Though we may live in a global society and, for the most part, communicate with ease, there are always little moments to learn from when you meet people from around the world.

ANTICIPATION AND EXPERIENCE

For many years, it had been my dream to visit England. How could it not be with it being the home of so many beloved stories that have shaped my childhood and early adulthood? The English weather, which all Londoners complain about as a general rule, seemed blissful to me, someone who craves cool, cloudy days whenever I look out the window to another 90 degree day of perfectly blue sky. The accents are more distinguished, everyone dresses in cardigans or wellies and afternoon tea is  a peaceful time in the day where all of your troubles evaporate like the steam from your teacup. This was the England I wanted to see, and I did, but I also saw so much more.

Author, and Londoner, Alain de Botton writes in his book, The Art of Travel, about anticipation. How it is often the planning and excitement that comes before travel that draws us to it. When we do finally arrive at our destination, some of the dreams we had do indeed come true, but many do not. He shares a personal anecdote about how he believed that once he was on a sunny beach, all of his worries about work and his relationships would leave him. But in reality, he found himself walking along a sandy beach and still worrying about his everyday anxieties. Just because we transport ourselves thousands of miles away (by the way, London is a frightening 4,386 miles and 11 hours by plane away from my hometown of Springfield, Missouri) doesn’t mean that we aren’t the same person.

The picture I chose for this post is from The Making of Harry Potter studio tour in London, a day trip I took during my summer there. Anyone at all familiar with the series will recognize the mirror I stand in front of and realize why I chose this photo for this particular post. The mirror that shows us our greatest desires showed me no magic that day (ah, well we all have to come to terms with our muggle status at some point). It simply  showed a lone person nearing the end of her time abroad. Someone who had seen Kings Cross Station, had visited 221B Baker Street and talked to people with British accents and drunk tea on rainy afternoons. It also showed me someone who got a bad sunburn in Regent’s park and had to buy a room fan because most places are not air conditioned. It showed me someone who realized that London can be a very lonely city and that the vast, overwhelming majority of people there aren’t British at all, but people who come from different countries around the world like me.  It wasn’t so much that London wasn’t what I anticipated it to be, it’s actually that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Traveling is hard. Traveling alone to a different country is even harder – but it is what makes it worth it. Yes, there were some disappointments, but then there were also incredibly positive experiences that will stay with me forever. Travel is all about reconciling your anticipation with your experiences and the ability to say yes, I did it, I did what I’ve wanted to do for a long time and achieved my goal.