Sunday, May 25, 2008

No More


"...the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time."
-T.S. Eliot



I could write something really nostalgic and meaningful for my last London blog post, but I'm going to go eat cake instead. You can find me here:

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

I'M DONE WITH SCHOOL

Yesssssssssssssssssssss!!

Well, it was a tough semester but now it's over! I have a whole week left in London just to do whatever I like. I'm foreseeing a week of museums, galleries and parties. Also, this whole entry is in italics because for some reason Blogger wants it that way. Here are some photos I took the other night... just to take advantage of some cool lighting.


James


Emilia

Friday, May 9, 2008

Just a few...

...photos I took of Late of the Pier at the Bar Fly in Camden.










Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Banksy

It is an amazingly beautiful day out in London today but instead of enjoying it, I am cooped up inside making a PowerPoint presentation and finishing my sketchbook.

Anyway, here are some photos from the London Cans Festival, featuring work from Banksy and 30 other artists.


ha ha...









I don't know how well you can tell from this picture, but there was an absolute SEA of people waiting outside









Great article about a New Yorker painting over a Banksy here

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Gray Day





I took these out my window the other afternoon... yeah, it's that dark in the AFTERNOON.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Nightmare on Queen Street

On Thursday, I was at the National Portrait Gallery, complaining to my friend Frank about not being able to find a job. “I can’t imagine a girl like you walking into a bar, asking for a job and being told ‘no,’” he said. Well, I hadn’t asked any bars. Working all night for minimum wage in a country that doesn’t tip isn’t exactly my idea of fun. I told Frank I didn’t understand why people bartend here. “Because people like you need jobs…” Oh. Yeah, he’s right.

The next day, I went and dropped off some CVs at a few bars. About 15 minutes later, my phone rang. One bar had another place that was understaffed and wanted to know if I could bartend that night. Well, I’ve never bartended before, but as long as they’re okay with that, I’m okay with that.

I get there about 6:30 and it’s busy already so I don’t really have time to go over the basics. Instead, I’m told I’ll be helping out collecting glasses, etc until 12. This is fine with me. The bar is huge, packed with people, and there is a lot to keep me busy. The clientele is very specific: all businesspeople in suits coming to “unwind” after work. The skeeziest of the skeeze, willing to hit on the girl cleaning up their empty beer bottles. Mostly I just ignore it, but one guy legitimately creeped me out.

He was at the bar alone (red flag!) and asked me when I got off work. There was no way I was going to tell him that, so I said I didn’t know. He said “I’ll wait for you” and I laughed and walked off. Later on, I see he’s taken a seat by the door and he’s watching me. He keeps asking me when I’m getting off work. I went and talked to the group of bouncers at the door and told them that I was nervous about him. We came up with a plan; if I think he’s following me out, I say “pizza” to them and they take care of him. When I actually left, I snuck past the guy, through another exit so he wouldn’t see me.

Anyway, midnight finally rolls around and the bar is quieting down. I haven’t drunk a drop but I am covered in beer, tequila and Jager. I smell like a frat party. The manager has left for the night but the bitchy second-in-command is there. I tell her that Wayne told me I could leave at 12. “Ummm, could you stay a little longer?” Normally I wouldn’t mind extra hours but the bar was so painfully slow. I ended up staying until 1 AM anyway.

I was planning on catching the last tube home, but since I stayed late, the tube was closed and I had no clue on where to catch a nightbus home. The bouncer that helped me earlier felt bad and walked me to the bus stop. The moment I step on the bus, I hear a noise like someone pouring out a litre of Coca-Cola, fizzing and splashing. A drunk girl is puking all over the bus. Of course I take the seat farthest away. A few stops later, the bus stops and the driver tells everyone to get off, someone’s been sick and he isn’t allowed to operate anymore. I wait for the next bus and get on it for a while before I realize it’s the wrong bus. I get off again near Holborn and have absolutely no clue where to catch a bus to King’s Cross, so I walk down the street past every bus stop until I finally find the right one.

I get on my third bus of the night and Thank God no one is puking. (Someone puked at the bus stop though.) An old Italian man sits next to me even though there are CLEARLY other seats on the bus and starts talking. He says he lives in Angel and asks me where I live (I obviously didn’t tell him). I get off at King’s Cross and he follows me off the bus… even though that’s definitely not Angel. He keeps talking to me and I have to walk out of my way until I lose him just so he doesn’t follow me home.

Finally I get home around 2:30, all my schoolmates, buddies and peers are grouped outside, jolly after a drunken night out. I’m staggering like a drunkard but really I’m stone sober and exhausted as hell. When I get to bed, I can’t sleep… instead I stay awake until around 4, thinking about how dumb I am for starting such a tiring job when all of my work for finals is due.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Finals

I'm incredibly stressed out about finals, so I've been putting off writing essays/preparing presentations/studying for exams but it basically all goes to hell on Monday when finals begin. Here's what I've got coming up:

-Essay on gender and sexuality of the Victorian age, as portrayed in Dracula
-15 minute presentation on aforementioned topic (the good thing about choosing your own topics for finals is that you can overlap if you're crafty)
-Essay on masculinity in the 19th century (again I can reuse some Dracula stuff)
-Exam on 19th century Brit lit
-2 hour, 1 question exam on Gothic literature
-Essay on a contemporary British issue (can't use Dracula here)
-Presentation on Chuck Close
-Exam on British architecture
-Finishing my sketchbook


That's my schedule for next semester, which will be even less fun.


And here's a picture of me out, enjoying myself... which I'm sure won't happen again for a long time. At least not until finals are over.