Claire in London

Hello everybody! With only five days until my departure, everything seems hurried and rushed but also slowed down, all at the same time. Time seems to be inching by and then very suddenly flying past! It is a very strange feeling and it’s almost as if I’ve been in a funk over the past few days. Not happy or sad, just somewhere in between. Last week, I had the chance to visit Somerset House on the Strand. When I say it’s next door, I mean it quite literally — King’s and Somerset House actually share a wall. And yet this was the first time I ventured into the massive courtyard.     The first [...]

Hello everybody! So I finally found some time to put my pictures up from Dover and tell you all a little bit about my trip (even though it was almost two or three weeks ago that I went! Yikes!) If you’ve been reading my posts lately, you know how crazy things have been! It’s a mad rush between getting work done and doing all of the things that I wanted to do before I head home! The papers are never ending, and it looks like I will probably have to bring some of them home with me. Although I am still hoping for the best and trying to knock out as many as possible before I head home on the [...]

To say things have been nuts lately would be an understatement. But probably the craziest thing around is me. With less than six hours total in three days, I am so sleep deprived that I am actually losing my mind. “But Claire,” you say, “you are normally so stable and rational it just seems hard to believe that you could be acting crazy!” I know, I know. So let’s just recap a few things that have already happened this morning, shall we? I realized this morning when I went to get dressed that I had completely  forgotten to do laundry last night, so I had to wear the same thing I wore on Monday. On the way to class, I had [...]

Hey ya’ll! (Ed Note: This post is best read while listening to ‘Mylo Xyloto’, since that’s how it was written.) Lately, it’s been a bit rough with all my friends tweeting and posting about getting to travel home and be with their families for Thanksgiving Break. Jealous!! Especially since no one here has any clue what Thanksgiving even is, despite it being such a massive holiday in the States and somewhat related to their own national history. Several of my flatmates are really curious about it, though. So,  I’m planning a little Thanksgiving craft project for them this week, along with some trivia about the holiday so they can learn more about this American tradition and why it [...]

Hey y'all! I’ve talked before about the differences in words that I’ve encountered in my time abroad. I thought I’d setup a little mini-translation for those of you back home, in case you ever need to communicate with a Brit. So print this out and keep it handy if you ever make it across the Atlantic. (I got this idea from my friend Katie’s blog, which you can read here.) American v. British Subway = Tube “I’m late, I have to catch the tube to work!” Sweater = Jumper “Haven’t you got a jumper? It’s freezing outside!” Underground walkway = Subway “Go in the subway and you’ll bypass the traffic and come up the other side.” Pants = Underwear “Someone’s left [...]

Hello! Last Saturday I went on an Adventure Day Trip with IFSA-Butler to Bath with a bunch of other IFSA students from different schools. I was re-united with some of my favorites, and we spent the whole day exploring the Roman Baths and the town. Our first stop was the Baths and we got to take a tour of the Roman ruins. It was very interesting and so complex – really incredible to think about how advanced they were. The audio guide pointed out that the Roman settlers in Bath were desperate to make this new place as much like home as possible, hence the construction of the baths and temple. Bath Abbey is [...]

Hello! Here are pictures from my adventure to The National Gallery! I brought my camera along, and once I got there I asked one of the staff if there was any photography allowed. She told me no, but she obviously took pity on me so she gave me one of the £1 guides for free! The National Gallery is massive. You think you’ve reached the end of the hallway and suddenly there’s five more rooms off of the room you’re currently in! There is such a diverse range of art there as well, from Rembrants to Renoirs to Rousseaus. It is really an incredible place, even the interior of the museum itself is beautiful. I discovered the works of Venetian painter [...]

Hello everybody! For today’s post, I’ve included a few pictures that I took last week on my way to and from class to give you a better idea of what I see everyday. Here’s a map of the route from my dorm (B) to campus (A). The great big brown smudge in the middle is the Thames, and as you can see I live in Southbank. In the mornings, I typically walk to Borough station, transfer at Bank, get off at Temple and then walk to Strand. After class, I usually take a bus back to Bricklayer’s Arms (a bus stop just south east of this map) and then walk back to my dorm. The buses are usually less [...]

Good morning! I was able to get my photos from this weekend uploaded rather quickly today, so I thought I would go ahead and post them! I struggle with really capturing landscapes — I personally think they are very hard to photograph. Maybe because I don’t have an eye for it, or maybe because I feel my pictures never really do the scenery justice. We had beautiful weather the entire time, but that means in most of these photos the sun was shining directly into my shot, so please ignore all the light spots! I caught a train out of Euston Station  on Friday, which ended up being quite a stressful experience. Maybe I was spoiled by the ease of [...]

Hello! Here is the room tour that you all voted for (thanks for that, by the way!). I hope you find it interesting although it is quite random and maybe a little too detailed — you probably didn’t want or need to know the contents of my pantry! But now you know a little more about where and how I live! The Lake District was amazing. I had the BEST time and I can’t wait to share my pictures with you and tell you all about my weekend. I should have that post up within the next few days! Thanks for reading, voting and watching. It really surprises me (and means a lot to me) that people take any interest [...]