London | Day N° 20 | Knightsbridge, Mayfair, and Oxford St.

My last day at LSE – and the day of my final exam! I woke up quite early to study in my room, reviewing as much as I could. It’s so much material to understand in such a short period of time, but I can only do my best. I let Eli catch up on sleep while I went down to study at the New Academic Building on LSE’s campus for a little while before I took the test.

One of the differences in schools here (or at least a difference between William & Mary and LSE) is the strictness of exam-taking. At W&M, all students sign an honour code and are then trusted to be faithful on their exams and schoolwork; many tests are completely un-proctored by the professor or any kind of instructor. Here, the regulations during an exam are extremely strict. You must turn your mobile phone off and have it under your desk during the exam. You can only use LSE-approved calculators, and you aren’t supposed to have anything else on your desk during the exam (drinks, etc.). Your student ID card needs to be out on the desk so the invigilators (such a better name than proctors!!) can come around and mark you down several times throughout the exam. No one is allowed to leave during the exam, and in the last fifteen minutes, no one is allowed to leave, even if they’ve finished. I’m not complaining, it’s good that cheaters are so discouraged, but it’s quite strange.

Goodbye room..... 

Anyway, after I had finished my exam (and officially finished my program at LSE!), Eli and I met up with my friend from LSE and did a quick shopping trip to Knightsbridge, yet again. We didn’t get to spend much time there, but I felt that Eli needed to see Harrods while she was in London. We had a quick late lunch at the Caffe Concerto across from Harrods, and then had to scurry down to the tube to meet our friend for dinner. He (very generously) treated us all to a fantastic Indian meal at Benares in Mayfair. The restaurant was so beautiful, modern with black stone and fountains and colourful candles. We had the strangest assortment of dishes: my first course was a lotus kebab with lavender yoghurt (very spicy!), the entrée was jackfruit biryani (the jackfruit was almost flavourless and kind of had the texture of an artichoke heart or aubergine), and dessert consisted of tandoori pineapple (incredible) and Earl Grey ice cream. My friend also recommended a passion fruit and chutney martini, Benares’ signature cocktail, which was so interesting: quite sweet but with a rich spicy undercurrent in each sip. Every single thing I tried was completely different from the Indian food I’d ever had before; it was definitely a culinary adventure! Such a great recommendation and experience.  

Passionfruit-chutney martini   

Eli, my friend, and I then walked the few blocks down to Oxford Street. This is another busy shopping district, perhaps more accessible than Knightsbridge. We looked through a couple of British (maybe European) shops that I’d never visited before, Primark and River Island.  I wish we had more European stores like this in the US: our clothing shops are either very cheap and horrendously unfashionable, or very fashionable and expensive. H&M is the one of the few common shops that has low prices but supplies us with European fashion, but I wish we had more!

It was quite late at that point, but when we returned home (and after I said my goodbyes to my friends from LSE!), Eli and I stayed up for a bit planning out our trips to Oxford and France. We went through many opetions before finalizing all our various means of travel: bus, train, cab, shuttle, airplanes… This will certainly be an interesting trip, and we will definitely be experiencing many different aspects of Europe! It’s strange for me to travel so much without a car, which I’ve always had, and have to submit to the schedules and fares of public transportation; honestly, it’s much more of a pain too. But it’s a part of the experience!  

Zab in London | Day N° 5 | Shopping and Ministry of Sound

The River Thames at night

Hullo! I had quite an adventurous day trekking all over London on Friday. The weather was beautiful, and made even more so by the fact that I didn't have lecture that afternoon!

I did have class in the morning, though, so after class I went back to Waterstones to relax for a little while. I purchased some cool (and expensive...) cards for my family and sat writing for a little while. Then it was off to the Sherlock Holmes Museum!

Damn the Sherlock Holmes Museum. I have been there twice, once early in the morning and once in the afternoon (both weekdays!), and there has been a line at least a hundred people long, probably more, stretching down the entire block. I tried to go yesterday (I had already bought a ticket!) and waited for about twenty minutes in line, didn't get anywhere, and gave up. I guess I have to get there one morning about an hour before it opens and hope to get somewhere near the front of the line! This tour had better be good... I've probably already spent an extra ten pounds just getting back and forth on the tube unsuccessfully! I did get a good shot of the front of the flat, though.
They have his hat hanging outside and everything, it's very cool. In the show, they cover up the museum (which is right below 221B) with Speedy's Cafe, which doesn't actually exist (stupid me, I thought it did). The cafe awning covers up the museum sign, and they use the same big glass windows. Quite interesting. I'm very frustrated because I would love to catch a glimpse of filming for the new season, but I can't find when or where they're actually filming. They're here somewhere though!

After my second attempt to visit 221B, I went back to Knightsbridge to do some shopping. I didn't end up returning to Harrods just yet, but instead went to H&M (the biggest branch I've been in yet, and of the biggest clothing company in the world - it was big!!) and Topshop (a UK fashion shop) and got a couple dresses and things to wear while I'm here, and a handful of men's clothes for my boyfriend Jared... notably, short European shorts! I couldn't resist.

The women's clothing here isn't much different from what I'm used to at William & Mary or the East Coast in general; it's definitely different from the way people dress in the Midwest, which is mainly in pajamas. The women do dress a bit better here, in beautiful dresses or professional attire, etc. The big difference is in men's clothing, though. Men in the US don't know how to dress (Jared, you are an exception!). The men here dress much better, in collared shirts and nicely fitted pants and proper shoes. The men in the US (even on the East Coast) wear sneakers and baggy shorts and t-shirts. Ugh. They have a thing or two to learn from European men.

Anyway, after doing a bit of shopping, I had supper at my favourite cafe, La Pain Quotidian, which is right next to my residence hall and is beautiful, full of natural wood and plants and glass windows. I was able to nap for a little while after eating, before getting ready to go and experience my first European club! I've gone out a handful of times with some girlfriends in Richmond, Virginia, but that's the extent of my club knowledge. It's much more intense here, of course. I was amazed to find that the tube was even more crammed at 23:45 on a Friday night than it had been at 17:15, during rush hour, earlier in the day!

Surprisingly, many people were not as 'dressed up' as I would have thought. Girls were wearing shorts and jeans and flats, where I had expected dresses and heels. The club was huge and packed with people: there are three separate rooms with three different DJs at any one time, a VIP lounge, and a loft. Another difference when compared to American clubs is that the men here seemed able to have fun on their own: in the clubs I'd been to in the US, single men would just stand off to the side, watching, waiting for a chance to creep up to a woman that was on her own. Horrible. Here, there were many gents who were on their own or with a group of friends, but they were all off dancing and having fun, without poor ladies to creep on. As a lone girl at the club, I was very happy to see that!!

I only stayed for a couple hours as I have tons of studying to do this weekend. Our midterm for this class is on Wednesday, after only six lectures, and this is the first chance I'll have to step back, breathe, and go back over the material that was covered in the first week. I'm destined for a boring but well-needed weekend.