Brunch in Putney: Tried & True

Felt a little like I was home in NY today with my bacon and egg sandwich from Tried & True in Putney. Even though it wasn’t on a New York bagel it was still close enough to satisfy my craving. Especially when pairing it with an iced coffee <3, which I haven’t had yet in London. Unfortunately, school has taken over my life and I haven’t had the chance to go to brunch for a while now. And since brunch is one of my favorite things ever! Lexi and I decided to go check out this place down the street to treat myself after finishing my paper. We wanted to get some exercise in and since it was such a beautiful day this morning we decided to walk there. It ended up being about a 25min walk, which was perfect because we both devoured our breakfasts. 10/10 recommend this place and would definitely go back. It’s a little chillier now than it was this morning (London’s weird like that, everyday its super warm one minute then freezing the next) but it was still a really nice way to spend the day before having to attend class this afternoon. Because even though I’m living life here in London, I’m still a student and have to go to class.

 

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Oxford vs. Cambridge Boat Races

One thing I was really excited for while being here in London is that I was going to be here for the Oxford vs. Cambridge boat races, which are a really big thing here in the UK. Luckily, the races were being held only a 20min bus ride from my Uni making it super quick and easy to go see. The races started at 4:15pm so we headed to Hammersmith Bridge, which was the middle part of the race at around 3:30pm. We stood on the bridge and watched the women’s race pass through at around 4:30pm with Cambridge in the lead. While waiting for the men’s race went across the bridge to Furnivall Gardens, where they were hosting a live viewing of the entire race and had vendors selling food and drinks. Then headed back to the river at around 5:45pm when the men came through. We hung around for a little in Furnivall Gardens to watch the finishing of the race on the big screen and to see Cambridge take home the medal. I have to say the entire day was a really cool experience and I’m glad I got the chance to go and experience a real British event rather than just doing the typical touristy things. Even though I have yet to ride the London Eye.

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Varsity: Roehampton vs. Bucks

Yesterday I went to Varsity, which is a day-long event where two colleges compete against one another at multiple sporting events including field hockey, football (American soccer), and rugby.  Our school was competing against Bucks New Uni and the event was being held on their campus so we had to take a coach to get there. We left at around 8am and arrived just after 9am giving us an hour to kill before any of the events actually started so we grabbed breakfast at Wetherspoons “Spoons.” Which is apparently the go-to place to eat for college students in the UK. During the day there were shuttles to take us from event to event, the first being Women’s Field Hockey. Two of my American friends are on the team so I got to watch them play (they’re the two in the black shirts in the first sports pic). After field hockey, we took another shuttle to a park were Men’s Football was being held. We sat on the grass and watched for a few hours before the big event of the night, Men’s Rugby, which was held in an actual stadium with bleachers. We were behind by a few points the entire game, but we ended up winning at the last minute! Giving us enough points to win all of Varsity! I’m definitely glad that I got the chance to go to a school event while in London and experience what its like to be a full-time student at a university in a different country and to anyone who is ever studying abroad I 100% recommend getting involved as much as you can even though you’re only there for a short period of time.

 

St. Patrick’s Day Weekend

The past couple weeks I tried to save a little bit of money and didn’t do much but go to class so I didn’t really have anything too interesting to post about. However, it has been over a week so I figured I should probably post something. Last weekend some friends and I went out on St. Patricks day to try and celebrate like we do back in New York. I had really wanted to go to Ireland to celebrate but flights and housing turned out to be ridiculously expensive so I ended up just staying in London. After heading to Trafalgar Square where there was suppose to be music, a parade, and Irish food I quickly realized St. Patricks day is definitely more of an Americanized holiday with the parades and all the big events since when we got there it was completely dead. I actually learned the British and the Irish aren’t huge fans of one another (which apparently I should have already realized, but I didn’t). We ended up walking through China Town to a street just a little ways from Trafalgar Square to try to go to a few Irish Pubs. Unfortunately, most were so packed they weren’t letting any more people in and the one we found took an hour to get in. After we finally got in through we had a good time listening to Irish music and of course, had to have a Guinness. Unfortunately, it was too dark to get any good pics. After the pub, we wanted to explore the area a bit more so we walked around for a couple hours and all shared an Easter-themed donut from Doughnut Time. I guess we are already ready for the next holiday. On Sunday, I went back to my favorite place, Camden market, because why not go for the 5th time. We didn’t stay long but for lunch, I finally tried the award-winning Poppies fish and chips which is apparently the one must try fish and chips while in London.

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Sky Garden, Borough Market, and Peggy Porschen Cakes

Today was a fun, busy, and super cold day. Alison, Liv, and I started the day by going to the Sky Gardens, where we got to see some amazing views looking out onto the city. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed out on the balcony because we’re apparently having the worst snow storm in London in 50 years right now (snow storm Emma). I thought I went abroad to escape the NY snow but apparently I brought it with me instead. After spending about an hour at the Sky Gardens we headed to the Borough Market for some lunch. I had to convince myself not to get a burger because I swear that’s all I eat but I had to get a quick pic of the New Yorker and the Londoner because they were right next to each other! I did have more mulled cider though because why not drink in the middle of the afternoon! Honestly, it was a good move because it kept us from freezing for a little while. If you couldn’t already tell by my outfit, it was very cold. We walked around the market exploring and stealing samples before we got super cold and decided to head someplace inside to get warm. So we hopped on the train because public transport is how you get everywhere in London and went to Peggy Porschen’s. Which is this super cute all pink bakery that has tons of yummy cakes and cupcakes. The three of us ended up sharing two slices of cake and a hot chocolate. The cakes were super yummy but I’m not really a cake person so I mostly stuck to the hot chocolate which was not only the prettiest I’ve ever seen but the best I’ve tasted too! While waiting for a table I took tons of pics outside because how could I not with how cute it was! (these are not even all of them). Once we finished we decided to call it a day and head back to campus.

 

Weekend in York

This past weekend I took a trip to York with the social program that I’m apart of while studying abroad here in London. The trip began at the early hour of 7:30am Saturday morning when we hopped on a bus and headed out for our 4-hour journey. We arrived in York at around noon and began exploring immediately. Because it was an organized program we had a tour guide who began the tour showing us around the streets before quickly sending us loose to go on our own and grab lunch. The streets in York are very quaint where you walk through this little archway and arrive on an area lined with restaurants and shops that you can only access by foot. After window shopping and grabbing some fish and chips for lunch we met back up with our tour guide. He continued giving us a walking tour, taking us on top of the original wall that used to keep invaders out of York. After climbing the wall we went inside the cathedral (York Minster) where we saw the most beautiful architecture and stained glass. At the church, we were lucky enough to hear the bells chime which echoed beautifully within the church’s confined walls. Later that night we went out to dinner for my friend Ashton’s 21st birthday and did a mini pub crawl before calling it a night at 3:30am. The next day we woke up super early again to begin the day at Clifford’s Tower. Here we got to climb all the way to the stop seeing some amazing views of the city. After the tour, we did some more exploring before we got on the bus and headed to Hardwick’s Castle. We spent a few hours here before we were finally on our way back to London. I definitely enjoyed the small quaint town but after the long and cold weekend, I was super tired and ready to head home and get some rest.