Marathon Catch Ups

I'm sure everyone's had those coffee dates with friends where each spills for an hour (or more) and both parties are sufficiently informed on the others' life by the time their affogato or latte is finished.

Well we can consider this blog post as one of those catch up sessions.
To review it's been exactly 55 days since I've arrived in London. And I head back to Chicago in 33 days. Gotta love those doubles..

Anyway, forgive any corny humor on this one. I am personally a little tired, but definitely want to post before I head to Amsterdam in the morning!

Instead of a day by day recap, I'm going to post highlight stories and pictures. More fun, less words right? Haha, alright here we go.

Starting 2 weeks ago, on Monday the 31st, I went out for Halloween! I didn't know what my costume would be until the night before. But I decided on being a cute chef / baker/ trophy wife after getting inspiration from an old friend Allison Dongo's costume. I embarked on a mad search for an apron and found this one in a cooking shop in Primrose Hill. It's a great area I'll photograph soon. I went to the Penthouse Club in Leicester Square with my friends Allie, Kelsey, Andrew and Katie.  Here are some pics!

The rest of the week I caught up on work and got ready for Paris! We left early Friday morning and got back Sunday night, taking the fast Eurostar. It's an incredibly easy and fast journey, and you even go under the English Channel!

285 miles- but only takes 2.5 hours city centre to city centre. Incredible!

Once we arrived Friday we took a bus tour of the main sites in the city, had a crash course in French, checked into the hotel, went to Louvre, and then had free time. My friends and I got dinner in the Latin Quarter and shared dessert wine in front of the Notre Dame. Great day!

First stop: Napoleon's Tomb

The beautiful Seine. 

The Eiffel Tower!

First of 3 crepes- classic Nutella here :)

Wing of Louvre as we walked over. 

The upside down Pyramid in the Louvre. 

Winged Victory.

Mona Lisa! 

My one of many French dishes. Escargot for the table. Later in my meal I had Fois Gras as we enjoyed a 2008 Bordeaux. 

Notre Dame at night, our view as we had our dessert wine.

Saturday was a great day as well. We began with a walking tour of Chatalet and making our way towards Notre Dame. Afterwards we boarded a boat cruise on the Seine with the group. The rest of our day was free. We got lunch and then embarked on our own walking tour of Avenue des Champs Elysees, spanning between the Louvre and Arc de Triomphe. On our walk we saw Nicolas Sarkozy at the Presidential Palace! So cool. After the Arc we got fresh bread, cheese and more wine to enjoy in front of the Eiffel Tower at night. After that we got dinner and went to a pub.

Such fresh fish! 

A little intense seeing the feathers on the duck still.

Fountains in Chatalet, behind the Pompidou center. 

Entrance of Notre Dame. Incredibly detailed!

At the altar. 

Still beautiful in the daylight!

On the boat cruise. Haha I loved this boat. 

Iconic.

My latte and French Onion soup. So delicious! 

The lock bridge. 

My new General Course friends! James, Jeff, Kevin, Kedar and Sarah. 

Oh the Louvre. 

Sarkozy's motorcade! We saw him wave. At the Presidential Palace.  

Finally made it! Arc de Triomphe. 

Paris by night.

Such fun!

Dinner at Le Wilson. I tried tartine, flank steak and Parisian ice cream. Jeff and Kedar's friend Gordy came along. They're all Sigma Chi's! We bonded over Greek life and I bragged how Kappa just won Derby Days. Raise the roof!

That night we had quite an adventure getting home. The Metro stopped working a few stops away from where we were staying (Brochant- haha best name ever) and we were trapped for an hour underground. It was really hot and stuffy, we had no cell service, spoke no French and didn't have our passports. Luckily nothing worse happened, but apparently criminals were running loose through the tunnels cutting electric wires. After a long wait we got back a station and cabbed it home. Crazy!

Sunday morning was a free day. People were doing various things and I was on a mission to try fresh oysters! I heard they were great and wanted to try them. I walked from our hotel from Brochant, to Place de Clichy and to the Opera house. Not many places were open Sunday, but I was finally in luck at Cafe de la Paix. It's the nicest restaurant I've ever gone to on my own. 5 star Michelin rated. Yes, I probably paid too much for my 6 fresh oysters, but it's an experience I'll never forget.

Gustave Moreau museum.

Opera National de Paris

Chef at Cafe de la Paix.

Mission accomplished! Fresh seawater oysters with shallot vinegar and warm bread. 

Accolades. Definitely worth it!

After this my camera died, but we were meeting as a group at 3:30 to take a walking tour of Montmarte. It was so beautiful! We saw Sacre Coeur and the various artists. We had more desserts. By this time I've decided Paris has the best food ever. I nagged a few pics from Facebook. After that we went back to our hotel (got another eclaire..) and headed back to Gare du Nord for London. Such a great trip!!

Sacre Coeur

Moulin Rouge! Before heading up to Montmarte.

Overlooking Paris.

Pets de Nonne, so good!

All in all it was a great trip. We walked a lot, saw new places, met new people, had great food and wine, and experienced Paris! I thought of Casey a lot while I was here, since she studied abroad here 2 summers ago.

I had a really quick turnaround in London. I got home Sunday at midnight and left for Wales on Tuesday at 6 PM. I did my best to get caught up and get ahead with work. I was able to get most things taken care of, and before I knew it I was off to Wales with Rowley!

Actually before that I got to see Maddie!! She's been studying at St. Andrew's in Scotland and came to visit London. We had lunch and I showed her my favorite spots at LSE. I finally was able to have Kappa bonding time!

Kappa Kappa Gamma!

We were taking a quick overnight trip to Cardiff, the capital of Wales. We booked it somewhat on a whim which became apparent Wednesday as we realized there's not a TON to do there. But after having a delicious breakfast at our hostel we packed up and headed out to explore. We went through a park, past the castle, into a museum downtown, and then out to St. Fagan's National History Museum. It's the largest outdoor museum in for sure the UK but possible Europe (I can't remember exactly). Here are some picture highlights.

My fall fix! 

We don't really know what this is.. Hilarious though.

Downtown Cardiff.

Arriving at St. Fagan's.

One of the gardens. 

Despite the rain and cold it was still beautiful.

Looking back at the castle.

Near a stream.

After running out of sites to see and 4 hours till our train we embarked on a pub crawl in Cardiff. 

Christmas lights! Since Thanksgiving isn't the kickoff here there are Christmas decorations all over.

And we were back in London later that night to finish out the week. A surreal trip indeed.

151 miles each way.

I had a few days to catch my breath before heading to Oxford to see my dear friend Farzeen. We are in Kemper together. She is from Pakistan, goes to Lake Forest College, and is studying at Oxford for the semester. It was so great seeing her! She was an amazing host. I got in Saturday evening. We donned the famous black capes and had formal dinner at Christ Church at Oxford. Then we went to a date auction at the Christ College bar (haha much different than KKG Win a Date) before checking out the famous Tuft Tavern. Then we went to New College's Emergency Services BOP. A BOP is like a themed frat party; lots of costumes, alcohol and fun.  Haha except we didn't have costumes.

In the Christ Church dining hall.

The head table. You can't touch it though.

Haha I had no idea this was in Oxford.

Farzeen's roommate Ali, in SWAT gear. We didn't have proper Emergency Services costumes haha.

The next morning we woke up early to make our way to Stonehenge and Bath. Farzeen's program was headed there and I was able to tag along. Here are some pics. 

And a map :)

London (F) to Oxford (E) to Stonehenge (C) to Bath (D) back to Oxford and then London. 308 miles roundtrip.

In the Christ College courtyard. 

Stonehenge! 

Pretty amazing to think how long they've been there. Thousands of years- and a mystery!

Kemper love :)

And now we're in Bath!

Remembrance plagues outside the Bath Abbey. We observed a moment of silence on the bus. 

The Great Bath.

Bath Abbey

The lovely Farzeen :)

Karla and Kari were there with us in spirit!

The makeup demo haha.

And that finally brings me up to date!

Woo we finished the marathon! I really wonder if anyone read the whole thing. Maybe next time I'll shorten posts into separate ones.

This week has been pretty academic for me. I had my first social psychology paper due today and more finance problem sets. I went out last night with Allie Kelsey and Andrew and had a really fun night. We went to happy hour in Covent Garden, saw live music at Notting Hill Arts Club, and finished out the night at Zoo Bar in Leicester Square. 

Today I got the best haircut of my life and napped very pleasantly after having a not so fun morning. I'm about to go to sleep, and in a few hours meet the group that's going to Amsterdam!!!

I'm really excited. 

A post will follow with that, and I can think and write more coherently then. 

So for now, take care!

Love,
Hannah