Spring Break, Volcanos, and Strawberry Tea

So my spring break was absolutely incredibly AMAZING with caitlin and angela, we went to Nice and Monte Carlo and Naples, Vesuvius, Pompeii, Capri, Florence... so so much fun and everything was so beautiful and I have the most amazing memories in all of the places that will last foreverr (so corny baha) we met so many awesome people and saw so much and did so much and i'll never forget our Australian boyfrands, dancing on tables and seeing the sunrise in Nice, drinking wine in the middle of the day in Monte Carlo, "big daddy" and crazy hips in Naples, the puppies in Vesuvius, panini boy in Pompeii, carving our initials in at the top of Capri and all of the craziness in Florence that I can't even write on here!

Coming back felt so so weird but it definitely felt like I was coming home when I was finally able to flop back into my sauna of a room in Nido, and it's been great catching up with everyone. I've been super busy planning my Strawberry Tea event for Breast Cancer Care, which is coming up so soon and I'm really nervous/excited for!

Of course, the damper on this is the freakshow of natural disasters that is the volcanic explosions in Iceland. While there is absolutely no way you'd know it from being here, apparently I'm living under a huge cloud of ash right now, aka my mom couldn't come this weekend when she was supposed to. Now I'm just hoping and praying her and Lizzie can get here this weekend, I miss them both lots!

Spring Break Catching Upppp

I'm so so terrible at this blogging thing but I'm just so so busy lately!

Dublin was absolutely incredible, it was seriously everything I'd ever hope for and more. I got to see pretty much everything there and the weather was absolutely gorgeous which was really nice. It was sort of crazy being the Six Nations weekend with all the Welsh (eww) and the weekend before St. Patrick's Day but it pretty much made it even better. My first night there I literally got in, went straight to the Shining Hostel (baha), took a bunch of shots, and then met Glen Hansard (LOVE) who bought us Guinness, so it was obviously perfect. The rest of the nights were just as good, especially since our accommodations got better each night leading up to us being upgraded to the Crowne Plaza the last night which was so nice, probably would have been nicer if I actually slept there haha but staying out all that night was totally worth it.

Following Dublin I legit like broke my ankle and didn't have a voice for a week but I didn't care (that much...) because ASHLEY WAS HEREEE! I stumbled off the flight that Sunday and went to the St Patrick's Day festival in Trafalger's Square with her and then ignored my homework Tuesday night to see her. St. Patrick's day Wednesday was hilarious/a bit sloppy, as noticed when 2/3 of my journalism class didn't show up the next morning (even though Steph and I made it yay!)

Then Lizzie and Tim came Thursday and us and Ashley and some of my NYU loves here went to O'Neils in Piccadilly which was fun as alwayss and Ash and I got to dance on stage and then the next night we wandered around and ended up following these people in costumes to some "exclusive" club which was random but funn. Then they all left Saturday and I was saddd but desperately needed sleep/to do all my work anyway.

This past week was a blur of failing at my law and society paper and trying to get my life together for spring break WHICH IM NOW ONNNN! I got back from Paris Monday which was AMAZING, I swear every time Lizzie and I meet up abroad it just gets better haha. We did everything from talking to divorcees and singing to Queen to running around the Moulin Rouge Area again to being Harry Potter characters to just being British in general to talking to ourselves alone in British accents (oh wait.. maybe that was just me) and i got to meet family friends that my grandpa originally met in WWII so that was really cool.

Now i'm back in London which is so so quiet with almost everyone gone... I'm jealous of everyone out traveling right now but with my consistent lack of voice, overwhelming amount of work/volunteer stuff/job apps/etc, and just recovering ankle I kind of desperately needed some alone time so it's been really nice. Plus I obviously needed to rest up for the ridiculous time Angela, Caitlin and I are about to have on break!

I miss everyone at home and I can't wait to see you all, just wish I never had to leaveee

ERIN GO BRAGH

aka IM GOING TO IRELAND TOMORROW

i cannot believe it.

and then

i come home

and ASHLEY IS HERE and its london's st patricks day parade and then its st patricks day and then LIZZIE and then lots of papers due boo but then

SPRING BREAK

time is going SO fast i cant believe it. which is why im vowing to not sleep for one second in ireland. we'll see how that goes

Lifeeee

I'm sorry to anyone who still looks at this that I'm such a blog fail! Between midterms and after-midterms celebrating and fashion week stuff and applying to internships and planning my event and classes and planning trips I've been a total mess, especially now that I've gotten sick booo.

Anyway, I love and miss everyone and can't wait for Ashley Emrani's visit and Ireland and spring break yayayay

Pinch Me

..because this can't be real

So my life dreams included going to Paris (check), Ireland (check) and every fashion week

and even though I don't have legit tickets to a fashion week show I'm going to a London fashion week event! I am so fuckingfuckingexcited/happy/AH! I don't know how i'm going to get through all my horrific classes/midterms/papers this week knowing that on Friday I will be with ridiculously fashionable British people at London Fashion Weekend. I. DIE.

and really, after the disaster I'm forced to call last night, I think I deserve it

Rainy Dayyy

So lots of random people have told me they read this and I apologize to all of youu because I never update and my updates aren't that exciting but it's nice to know people from home still read it <3 I have my weekly columns for collegefashion.net that I have to write since it's mah jobbb and those talk about study abroad so if anyone cares enough that's always updated

and it's an amazing site that you should go on anyway especially right now with NY Fashion Week going on which I miss so so much. DVF and MJ were incredible so far and I'm so excited for London fashion week.

But anyway. Today was rainy rainy and I discovered my boots are like ripped on the bottom so now I actually have to go shopping because sitting through Middle Eastern Politics with wet shoes and feet is no fun

I feel lame updating about my weekend but it was fun minus all of the 3,000 word paper writing and research but I'm so glad to have that over with

AND I AM SO EXCITED JESS SZE IS COMING I LITERALLY MAY SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST. AND THAT ARIELLE IS COMING TO JERSEY THIS SUMMER. even though the fact that study abroad is going abroad is seriously scary since there's so so much more I still want to do. i'm working on booking spring break right now and it seems like greece is going to work so i'm excitedddd

and and lizzie and tim are coming and ashley (i hope?!) still is so yay lots to look forward to!

Dear Bath water, please work...

I officially suck at this blog businesss which is strange since i work for one. But. Anyway.

I'm going to be super lame and uncreative here and just start listing what I've done because I had a very British weekend (at least in my opinion) so I'm pretty proud of myself:

Thursday: After 6 hours of class I went to a wonderfull dinner at O'Neils with Kelsey where we had my most legit English meal yet of fish and chips and Guinness! Then we just hung around in the cafe with lots of people and then went out around midnight in this huge group where we ended up in Angel but things were closed so we just went to the Lexington and then homeee

Friday: Friday was exciting because I finally went to M&S, which is pretty much the closest thing I've found here to a Trader Joe's (even though it isn't half as amazing, of course). They had a huge deal on pain au chocolat that I somehow resisted so I'm very proud of myself for that. Friday night ended up at the rocket as many seem to do, where the bouncer made fun of me from being from New Jersey and I met French boys and was terrified because all I could think about was the movie "Taken."

Saturday: I had been looking forward to Saturday allll week because Caitlin and I were finally going vintage shopping! But of course the tube was messed up and we ended up accidently leaving London and being in Essex, so after hours of being lost we finally just decided to go to Oxford Street and spend ridiculous amounts of money shopping in their epic Topshop which was amazinggggg. And then we had an adorable girl's night in Soho during which we met British guys that promised they would take us to a good club, which involved lots of walking. My heels + cobblestones + British guy walking too close to me = massive disastrous falls which my legs are still recovering from. But it was worth it of course because Soho is so so much fun and Charlie's Angels (aha) are pretty much awesome.

Sunday: Trip to Stonehenge and Bath! I was surprisingly super interested in Stonehenge (the sheep were a total plus) and Bath was really pretty and interesting, too. The water there tastes like iron and blood but is aparently good for your joints so my aching knees and I chugged a full glass.

So now this is pretty caught up sorry it's boring if anyone still reads itttt

And I miss my friends back home. And family and dogs and shoes that don't want make me fall.

LazylazyLondon

So having Wednesdays off is officially amazing (minus the fact I can't sleep in due to fire alarm testing at 11 grrrr) and I love being able to go out on Tuesday nights like last night at the Lexington which was so cute.

But. The whole not having class + London being ridiculously gray and foggy outside seemingly every Wednesday makes me so insanely lazy. Lazy as in the farthest I have gone today is the cafe even though my room for some reason is sauna-status hot. So I've just been looking at summer internship stuff (ahh) and online "window" shopping (if anyone knows where to find these http://www.stylefeeder.com/i/r6tnc36p/Henry-Holland-By-Pretty-Polly-Super-Suspender please please tell me, I'm obsessed) and I have come to two conclusions:

1. I really, really really hope this summer works out with me finding a good TV internship in the city and a job and living with Jess Sze. Like I can't think of any better way to spend my summer and I want it to happen so bad.
(this of course includes the part where we all get a Jersey shore house for my birthday and Arielle visits and we GTL errrydayyy)

2. I want to go to London fashion week so bad too. Like if this summer works out and I somehow make it to London fashion week, I may explode of happiness. And while I highly doubt both will happen, I sincerely wish by some miracle that they could. Henry Holland was one of my very first designer obsessions and I would kill to see his show. And Matthew Williamson's. And... yeah, pretty much all of them. Gah British people being so cute and perfect and good at everything.

Anyway, it's like.. 4 something here and I should at least try to leave Nido once today so I'm going to venture out to buy a newspaper for my lovely Journalism class. I miss and love everyone back at home and I think you should all start waking up earlier so I can actually talk to more of you <3

Paris, Je T'aime-- Part Deux

So.

Considering the fact that I've wanted to go to Paris since I was une petite Colleen, this weekend was like absolutely, incredibly, tete-exploding wonderful. And after weeks (ok.. like 2 weeks) of missing NYU people BEAUCOUP, it was amazing to see Lizzie, who is always amazing to see of course but especially when we're running around Paris together. Her blog has our weekend mapped out in detail so check that outtt because I'm tres fatigue maintenant and have a class early demain so I don't want to write a lot.

But suffice it to say that the Eiffel Tower is unbelievable at night, I am secretly in love with a French street performer who lets me play with bubbles with him, I want to furnish my first apartment with Parisian furniture, vin chaud is the best thing that ever happened to me, when my hands get really cold they turn into sausages, I CAN NOW WATCH AMERICAN TV ONLINE, lizzie and i are going to be on Jersey Shore this summer, Lizzie speaks French impossibly well, we saw the weirdest people ever on the Metro, I love how easy the Metro is that I don't even get lost (which is such a first), I'm glad I didn't buy my angry Russian man hat, I'm sad I didn't get my Eiffel Tower brandy (I want one Lizzie!), I COULD LIVE OFF OF FRENCH FOOD ESP. PAIN AU CHOCOLAT AND EXPRESSO, I almost became a dancer in the Moulin Rouge/Lizzie and I almost got taken there....

Basically, it was a really, really wonderful first trip to take. I still can't believe I was just in Paris this morning and I'm proud of myself for taking the Eurostar by myself since I hate traveling alone so much. I can't say enough about how much fun I had with Lizzie and how much I cannot wait to go back to see Versailles and the Champs-Elysees. And of course I can't wait to return the favor when her and Tim come (even though I don't think the three of us can fit in my bed like Lizzie and I did hers....)

Other Things I'm Excited About:
- I signed up to start volunteering with the Marie Curie Breast Cancer Cure people and they started an email correspondence with me and I'm really excited to do something for them. I'd love to host an event but we'll see!
- I can't wait to go shopping in London. I need to like now before the sales end.
- More traveling! Paris got me so excited to go exploring more all over Europe. I really really hope I can go to Madrid to see Daniella when she comes!

Au revoir et je t'aime,
Colleen

Paris, Je T'aime-- Part Un

So I'm just sitting here in Paris, eating a baguette next to my wonderful new purse and bottle of wine, parler francais-ing with Lizzie. No big deal or anything... Seriously. Paris?! I'm so happy to be here... it was absolutely worth waking up at 4 in the morning and running like a crazy person to St Pancras. Even though it's raining today it's still exciting to have walked around and I can't wait for sun and sight seeing and pastries and lattes tomorrow

It even rains indoors here...

My ceiling drips. Even now when it's not actually raining for once. And my straightener burnt a hole in both my leg and my bed. My insomnia is out of control.

But I love it here. I love British people and humor and way of life and way of looking at things. I love my classes, even the required one. It's so interesting to see everything from a different point of you.

I love the people here, British and not British. I've met so many amazing people, I literally am in awe of how smart/funny/etc a lot of them are. I miss my friends from home and family who are obviously all great too but I'm so happy to be here.

This is a terrible update but i need sleep.

Also, Arielle Feldshon is a goddess for sending me this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjPLwzoNQpY&feature=fvw

Topping Up

So I obviously am not so great at this blog thing considering I just realized I haven't actually even chronicled a single day here so I'm "topping up" my posts today with actual information about my life..

For those of you who aren't British, they use "topping up" from everything to adding more phone minutes to refilling Oyster cards (their version of Metro cards) to talking about fashion (like Vogue this month says "What To Top Up Your Closet With").

So now that you have some of the adorable vocab they use here, here are some of my life highlights from the first week of classes:

First, I guess I should be thankful that I like barely have class. Everyone I talk to is jealous but for those who know me, it's pretty much my worst nightmare. I love being busy and overwhelming myself and having a million things to do and I absolutely can never relax. I'm trying hard to learn how though--I even sleep here (which is so abnormal for me).

Second, on that note, I really do wish I had a job. But since I don't think I will be able to get one (especially with all of the travel I want to do on weekends), I'm just going to volunteer 387423 and maybe join their paper here. I know I know, I suck at this whole "vacation" sort of thing.

Third, I also want to spend my extra time doing more exploring around here. Tomorrow I'm going to Greenwich which I'm pretty excited about except it's a boat ride and the weather tomorrow is supposed to be kind of gross, so yeah, could potentially be a bit rough. But I'm even getting used to the rainy weather (I have the wildest Carrie Bradshaw hair here and it's pretty funny), as it makes days like today (which was surprisingly sunny!) seem really amazing and wonderful.

Fourth, I love my classes. My Politics of the Near and Middle East is so interesting and I'm so excited to not be stupid about Middle East history and geography anymore. My Journalism class is amazing. My professor used to be a political correspondent on BBC and then ran BBC online and now is just an adorable man with his own publishing company and all that. I'm pretty sure I'm in love/he's my hero/wish he was my best friend. And my Law class is okay, definitely the most boring so far but the professor is so smart that at least I'm sure I'll learn a lot. And he's adorable too. Of course. Everyone here is.

So looking back that pretty much sucked as an update of my day. But some more wonderful things about this week are that their version of Barnes & Noble (aka one of my favorite places in the world) is right by classes and I've been there like every day browsing magazines and drinking coffee and listening to British accents. There's also a cute cafe by classes that my friend and I found today where people bet on whether or not Americans need Visas to come here and the waiter called me "love" and "sweetheart." Seriously, I really am in love with everyone here and how adorable and nice and perfect they all are.

Well that's about it for noww I'm thinking... I have so so much I want to do this weekend (like shopping!) and the idea of me being in Paris about a week from today with Lizzie makes me tres heureuse <3

Ps.. Check out the love of my life in action... BBC is awesome but seriously, Anderson Cooper is too wonderful.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/18/anderson-cooper-carries-b_n_427472.html

First Week!

So I officially left a week ago today (though I do not think I've been here a full week yet because of the time difference but close enough...) and classes officially started for me today. The 3 hour class thing is kind of tough but I actually sort of like it, the break in the middle is perfect for grabbing coffee and professors speaking with accents makes everything infinitely more exciting.

In sad news, I'm pretty sure my vidchat does not work here... I was hoping it was just a fluke thing but a few people have now told me that theirs doesn't work here either. So please please everyone get skype!

In sad/happy news, Kraft bought Cadbury aka the people who make chocolate that I have had for breakfast, lunch, tea time, and dinner everyday here (they have it now in America but not all of their products). This probably means that it's going to become much more available in the US, which probably means I'm doomed to gain 3847 pounds when I'm eating it and not losing all the weight I lose here trying to find my way around these crazy streets.

Things I've learned so far..

1. My bathroom is haunted (this seems to happen a lot at NYU...)

2. A diet consisting only of caffeine, cheap alcohol, and European candy will eventually start to make your hands shake.

3. And yes, you can overdose on Cadbury chocolate.

4. There actually is sun in London, you just rarely see it. When you do (like today), it's ridiculously exciting.

5. Digestive biscuits (biscuits=cookies) are actually just regular cookies, not cookies with laxatives like you may think.

6. They still play Ke$ha here. And I still keep trying to walk into rooms when "the party don't start till i come in" plays. And I still look like a tooool.

7. The 5 hour time difference from here to New York/NJ is endlessly annoying.

8. People often park their cars up on the curb. Likewise, buses drive crazy close to sidewalks. All in all, I will probably be hit by at least one car/bus/truck while here.

9. I'm fairly positive everyone in America has a European twin. It's kind of freaky but I've seen at least 4 people that are identical to people I know at home.

10. My address! By this I of course mean the place you can all write to me since I miss you. Message me on facebook/skype/ichat/etc if you want it =]

Lalalondon

So I'm on my second or third day here (the time difference confuses me like crazy) and things have definitely gotten better. I think there's just no way to prepare for what a total and absolute change studying abroad is no matter how ready you think you are, or maybe that's just me. Either way, adjusting to London technically is pretty hard, getting a new phone set up and just trying to make it "home" overall, but it's pretty exciting too. I've found it's easiest to just take it one day at a time because the idea of being here for 4 months still kind of makes my head want to explode.

"Brill" (aka what I love here):

-The chocolate. I'm lame to put this first but European chocolate seriously is my favorite thing in the world. I've pretty much consumed my weight in Buttons already.

-Bars. There are literally bars everywhere. And when I say everywhere I mean like in my class buildings and dorm they have deals on Vodka and Red Bull, Sex on the Beaches... pretty much everything. Not that I want to drink during class but I think it's pretty awesome that they do.

-Accents. This is obviously a given. But I love it. I have a problem where when people speak to me in an accent I start copying it, which has been slightly embarrassing so far, but I'm so jealous of the accents.

-British people. British people are amazingly funny. Part of this is probably because of my infatuation with their accents, but even the police chief telling us yesterday about how we're all going to get robbed was hilarious (he also told us to puke on someone who tried to rob/rape us.. hmmm..). And they're all super attractive. Seriously, there must be something in the water here or whatever because while I'm running around looking like a frizzy rat in this weather they all look perfect.

-Extracurriculars. While classes are looking kinda hard, I'm so so excited for volunteering stuff and traveling (Lizzie I'm coming to see you soon!) They also have a Harry Potter club here. Yeah, I'm in a nerd. But I'm right by where platform 9 3/4 is anddd they have a Harry Potter club here that plays Quidditch, so I'm basically going to become a wizard.

-Drinking age. Another given, but gotta include it.

-NYU people. So nice, so excited to get to know them better.

"Wanker" (aka how London is weird)

-Money. So expensive. They generally only take "chip and pin" credit cards. They have crazy pickpockets and ATM scams. Basically, I'm going to be poor in like 1 day and I can't find a job.

-Food. I'm a picky eater and because of this, I've had approximately one actual meal since I left America. Yeah, it's that bad (and expensive).

-Streets. We all know I suck at directions but here it is seriously a maze. I'm terrified to go anywhere and have gotten lost countless times. Seriously, who designed this place?

-Weather. I expected rain but this is actual 24/7 rain. Like, they don't even bother to say rain in the weather reports because it's just a given. All the weather reports say is just "gray clouds," which is all it is. Besides rain. I have yet to see the sun. My hair is a poof (and not in the Jersey Shore way, in the frizzy mess way).

-Cell phone. I don't have a phone here that works overseas aka I'm isolated unless you come find me or facebook me. Not cool, especially when I get lost.

So that's my update for now about life... I'm on my way out to get a straightener that works here and try to fix my complicated phone situation (really Verizon? Killing me even when I'm here?)

I love and miss you all andd just know that if you BBM me or whatever and I don't answer it's probably the time difference. London wears me out so my insomnia doesn't even matter anymore, gotta sleep lots and lots

<3

heree

So I'm finally in London after a killerrr long flight and I have to say, it's pretty weird. London itself is really nice minus the cold and snow but it feels so, so strange to be here. I freaked out for a little on the plane when I realized how long I'm going to be gone for and how much I'm really going to miss everyone I left behind.

My dorm here is really pretty from the outside and the lobby but definitely a little cramped in the actual room. However, everything looks really clean and I'm on the top floor so I have a pretty good view.

I guess my main problem is that I just miss everyone at home so much, like a ridiculous amount. But hopefully that'll get better as time goes on and I'm less tired, too!

Love and miss you all and promise to write about more interesting and happier stuff when I'm not as tired and dead,

Colleen