I Like Good Coffee.

To be completely honest I was trying to remember what I did this week, and my mind went completely blank.  I had to pull out my journal to remind myself that this past week was actually pretty great.  Sometimes I even have to remind myself that I'm in London.  I wake up and look out my window, and lo and behold is a skyline view of the city.  Needless to say, I'm definitely appreciating my time here.  During the week I distinctively remember going to multiple cafes and going to class.  After a month, I now know which cafes are my favorite and which ones I'd pass on.  For instance I now know that I love the smell of this cafe called the Nordic Bakery, but the staff are quite snobbish.  I also know that the Monacle Cafe has good coffee, but don't EVER buy one of their "cinnamon" buns.  They are not cinnamon.  I took a bite and almost had to spit it out.  Just no.

One morning I visited a cafe called 106 Baker Street.  I love this place so much.  To be honest I went because I procrastinated on my photo project and needed to take pictures of something.  Taking pictures of coffee seemed like my best bet considering my project was due in three hours, so there's that.  But, I definitely want to come to this place again.  It's literally a half of a block from my flat and is so cute.  There is fresh cucumber water for you at this cute little table, and you don't even need to wait for your coffee because they bring it to you!  Good service and good quality.  

On Wednesday night I have photography.  This past week, the class went on a little excursion to the Tate Modern.  We specifically went there to visit a photo series called, "Conflict Time Photography."  I literally was depressed after walking out of there.  The whole exhibition was beautifully done, but you can only see so much disaster in one hour.  That being said, a couple friends and I decided to make our lives a little more enjoyable by getting a good old fashioned American breakfast.  We went to a place called The Breakfast Club, and it was so so so good!  I felt just like I was back at home, and the syrup was even the same.  Syrup always makes or breaks breakfast for me.  Oh and there are pancakes hidden under the eggs and bacon.  Most fluffy and satisfying part of the meal by far.

Another little tid bit of this week included myself getting lost in Regents Park.  I take pride in knowing where I am, for the most part, but sometimes I just get turned around.  I decided to take a nice little (or not so little) walk to the park on Thursday.  It was such a nice day, and I wanted to enjoy it!  I walked to the Queen's fountains, walked to the zoo, and the next thing you know I've walked about four miles.  And I'm still in the park!  I decided to just walk around the outskirts of the park to see if I could recognize any landmarks and thankfully I eventually did.  All in all, those six miles were great, but very tiring.

This past Saturday I got to take yet another weekend trip!  My study abroad program is awesome for planning all of these little excursions.  This time I was able to visit the city of Bath as well as the famous Stonehenge.  Bath was really cool and very historic.  The main reason we visited the city was to take a look at the ancient Roman baths.  It was really cool to see how they were still in tact and were still full of steaming, hot water!  Unfortunately you can't enjoy a nice bath in the Roman's baths anymore due to lead piping, but nevertheless, it was really cool to see!  Before we got off the bus, the tour guide told us to eat a pasty.  Being obedient and respectful, I guess we had to get one.  A pasty is kind of like a glorified hot pocket/croissant.  The one I got was a traditional meat and potato filled pasty, but it was really good!  Trying local foods is kind of scary, but so far I haven't been disappointed.

Next stop was Stonehenge.  Before my bus even arrived, the tour guide gave a little intro to what we were about to see.  He told us about different reasons why the rocks might be there, and also about the celebrating of the winter and summer solstices.  One interesting thing he mentioned was that the people actually celebrated the most on December 21st (the winter solstice) because it was the darkest day of the year.  Most people would guess June 21st because it's the brightest.  The reason they did that was to celebrate that life could only get better after the worst.  I might be thinking about that too hard, but it just stuck with me.  I just like the idea of finding joy in the darkest times, and I guess the ancient people did too!

All in all, this week was really good!  I love time when I can just sit down, relax, and really just take it all in.  I remember this time last year I was just looking at coming to London to study.  I was so excited just looking at all of the options I had in front of me!  I could go here then there, then back to that country, and everywhere.  Now that I'm here, I'm determined to enjoy it.  So if anyone ever hears that I sat in my room and watched Netflix all day, they are lying.  Whether it be a walk that turned into a marathon or an afternoon spent at an overpriced coffee shop, it was all worth it.  Oh and shout out to my parents.  None of this would be possible without their love and support.  I am blessed beyond all measure.

Janae