The School and the Hill

To give you a bit of an idea what its like in Nottingham, here are a few pictures of the area and the school.

One of the main buildings, Newton-Arkwright, which has been described to me as looking like a '1930s police station.'

A view of some of the other buildings in the school.

Some pictures of the steep hill I climb every morning to get to school. On the way there..

...and on the way back. 

Veggies Veggies Everywhere

Before leaving for the rainy land, my sister had told me about something done in Canada and the US called the CSA box. It is a program where you can get a regular delivery of fresh produce from a local farm. I thought this was a lovely support-the-little-people type of idea to satisfy my aquarian humanitarian tendencies, while also receiving fruit and vegetables that haven't been sitting on a plane/train/automobile for the past 2 weeks while they're flown from a far away land. I started researching to see if anyone did this for Nottingham and lo and behold, I came across Riverford Organics. After stumbling across their booth at the local Fine Food Market while exploring the city, I decided to order a mini vegbox for the following week. For 8.95 pounds I received the following...

• 2 heads of calabrese broccoli
• Savoy cabbage
• Carrots
• 4 potatoes
• 4 onions
• French beans
• Swiss chard

It was delivered right to my door, at no extra charge, and came delightfully covered in dirt, freshly pulled from the ground. The box is meant for one to two people for a week and I've been trying to eat in all in the past two. Granted, some things, such as the swiss chard, I had never tried in my life and needed to google recipes for, but it was a fun way to try something different (and it all tasted wonderful!) The farm also sells fruit boxes, meat boxes, and all items separately as well. No need to commit to a regular order either, you can try as often or as seldom as you like. Because of the amount of food, I don't think I will need to order another for at least another week. 

Oh Look its ACAD...Oh...No...Wait...

Meandered into the Waverley building on campus, which will be where most of my classes are to take places and came across a small gallery with a few student projects. These were a few of my favorites.

3 words. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. 

All you'd need is to paint it black and set it next to some of Delia's art work and you'd be set. 

A fascinatingly designed set of stairs with different storage compartments in each step. Something to please the more practical, functional individuals.

Its Official!

Now officially settled. Living in a four floor walk-up thats a 30 minute walk from the school. 6 person flat with 2 shared bathrooms and a common area with a full kitchen. Had taken a video of the place but then somewhere along the line I lost it so I will have to do another one sometime.. Fully unpacked (not that I had much to unpack anyways) and ready to explore. Stay tuned.

Tidbits

Other things I did while in London...

- Waited in line at a ridiculously early hour to get a cheap seat for Wicked. SO worth it. It was fantastic. The guy in line in front of me had actually seen it 32 times, which I thought was a bit ridiculous, when the cheapest tickets you can get are 25 quid...That was, until he said his lady friend had seen it 220 times.

- Attended a hot yoga class with my sister's old flat mate. Don't think I've ever sweated that much in my life. 

- Made peace with the leggy spider that lived above the bathroom sink (see below). Even named him to keep myself from smooshing him with my boot. Leggy McGee. 

- Ordered dirty chinese take out from New Bamboo, as recommended by my sister. The vegetarian alternative to chicken balls, so essentially deep fried mushrooms and other vegetables in the same dough as a chicken ball. And some Monks vegetables, which included bamboo shoots, onions, mushrooms, etc. 

- Discovered thinly sliced bread. I'm not a huge fan of texas toast, but its quite hard to find nice thin bread in Canada. Here, however, its quite popular.

- Mistakenly stumbled into a snooty part of town, and decided to snap some pictures of the snazzy flats. 

- Devoured a cheap and delicious meal at a Thai place called Tuktuk, recommended by my sister and her flat mate. The following picture is only the entrees (green curry, pad thai, and tofu in black bean sauce). Before that there was tempura vegetables, crispy seaweed, and tofu skewers. Needless to say, I didn't need to eat at all the next day. 

Nerding it Up

Went to the British Library today to see their rare and unique book collection. Wasn't allowed to take pictures but spent several hours fawning over the following items, which were only a small part of it...

• Jane Austen's writing desk, a gift from her father in 1794
• The 3rd volume of Jane Austen's journal, in which she copied stories for the amusement of her family
• Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
• The composition draft of Handel's Messiah 1741
• Beethoven's tuning fork
• Medieval maps showing just landmarks with wind heads and zodiac
• Cap. Robert Falcon Scott's journals from the British Arctic Exhibition of 1910-1913, which predicted tourist trips to the Poles (which happened later in 1988) and described their failed attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole. After being preceded by a Norwegian exhibition, him and his four comrades perished on their journey back 
• Alice in Wonderland original drawings and books. It was originally titled 'Alice's Adventures Under Ground' and was written by Charles Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll) for his younger sister Alice
• Leonardo DaVinci's notes on mechanics, arithmetic, and architecture, all written in the mirror writing he is now famous for

The outside of the library.

The Best Chocolate Moose

At the request of my mother, I stopped in a Pret a Manger to eat a chocolate mousse (or moose, as they call it.) Highly recommended. Their sandwiches are pretty tasty too.

Step 1: Travel to the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and United States, and enter one of these restaurants. 

Step 2: Purchase chocolate moose...and hot beverage (optional)

Step 3: Om..

Nom...

NOM!!!

Whole Foods Goodness

Happened across the only Whole Foods in the U.K today. I think I had been in the one in N.Y when I was there but I have to say, I really wish I had one in Nottingham. There was a plethora of organic produce, baking ingredients, everything! I was particularly excited about the bulk muesli mix (yes, I know I need to find a hobby). You get a plastic container and can fill it up with whatever you want (desiccated coconut, oat flakes, bran, sliced almonds..) and are charged by weight. The picture is a little foggy but you can kind of see the mix I put together for only 3 quid. I can't quite remember what I put in but it was mostly nuts and seeds with some coconut and bran flakes. You could also grind your own peanut, almond and cashew butter.

I had already eaten dinner before stopping by there that day, so I ended up going back another day to grab lunch at their hot food and salad bar. Naturally, wanted to try a little bit of everything, I put tiny amounts of an assortment of things into one little flat fee box and tried it all in their upstairs cafeteria. In hind sight, it probably wasn't the best combination of things to eat in one go but hey, I knew I wouldn't have a chance to go back for a while. Here's what I tried... (p.s note the wood cutlery...hippies, gotta love em!)

• Spinach tortilla
• Fruit salad
• Rocket salad with feta, sprouts and balsamic
• Grilled aubergines and courgettes
• Sweet potato couscous with cranberries
• Arame, radish, and cucumber salad
• Spelt
• Mixed sprouted beans
• Lemon bulgur salad

V&A

Popped into the V&A today to get my weekly fill of culture...

"Arthur...Arthur, King of the Britons!  Oh, don't grovel!  If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people groveling."

The door I imagine my parents would like to have on their future home. Y'know, something nice and inviting. 

There was a Beatrix Potter exhibit there, featuring a lot of original sketches and first edition prints of her books. The image above contains The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 24 different languages, including...

My personal favorite: Hieroglyphs!!

For some odd reason, whenever I see an old library, I'm reminded of Harry Potter...

...and Beauty and the Beast. 

The following explanation is for the sculpture above. 

Afternoon Tea

Another novelty is the tea-party, an extraordinary meal in that, 
being offered to persons that have already dined well, 
it supposes neither appetite nor thirst, and has no object but distraction, 
no basis but delicate enjoyment.  
Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

If I were to only be allowed one more meal for the rest of my life, it would be afternoon tea. I have already tried to smuggle clotted cream back to Canada (but they took it away, because we are apparently not allowed raw milk products there.) Having very little money but a craving for a proper tea, I headed to Marks & Spencer. Its not even remotely as fancy as Harrods or the ones offered by the fancy hotels (and unfortunately doesn't include any proper desserts), but it'll do in a pinch. It includes...

• Fruit scone, jam, and clotted cream
• Sandwich assortment including egg mayonnaise and watercress on brown bread, ham and mature cheddar on brown, prawns with egg mayo on oatmeal bread, and roast chicken/tomato/cucumber/lettuce and egg mayo on brown
• Tea of choice and a small shortbread biscuit

Happiness for only 7 quid. 

An interesting combination of 1/4 sandwiches. 

Look! Canadian salmon!! 

Southfields

Arrived in London at the lovely hour of 6:30 in the morning. Have since schlepped all 55 pounds of my luggage across the tube to Southfield station and uphill to Leanna's old flat. Basically dropped all my belongings and headed back out again to Spitalfields market, where I meandered all the fashion and food stalls. Spent some time in Trafalgar square where they had a huge ship in a bottle up on display then later met up with someone I met on the flight over for a couple pints of Pimm's (a local gin based liqueur that I keep bringing back to Canada every time I come over.)

Across the Pond

Today I am flying from Calgary, Alberta to London (no, not London, Ontario, the other London.) I'll be spending a week at my sister's old flat, then heading to Nottingham, where I will be attending Nottingham Trent University's International Fashion Business program. I decided to follow in my sister's footsteps* and keep a blog of my time here, mainly to appease my parent's need of knowing I'm still alive. Enjoy!

*To see my sister's account of her 2 years in London, go to http://leannainlondon.blogspot.com/