Middle of exam season

Hello lovely people! I am sorry for not updating for so long, I have been quite busy. I have just taken a big exam and have one more on Monday. While revising for exams, it has also been so sunny and beautiful outside. Anyway, I don't have a lot of time for a real update, but here are some pictures I have taken over the past month. :) After my exams, I will update more!

A deer in Richmond Park, where Ellie, her mom, and I went for Ellie's birthday

Banana and Baileys Bread and Butter Pudding from Jaime Oliver


A part of the Parliament Building

hilarious/helpful sign near Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives)

Elliephant

Horse crossing sign near Buckingham Palace

going to see the queen

more baking therapy/procrastination

My papers are not going the best. I am trying, maybe not hard enough, but they are just taking so long. Anyway, Ellie was in need of a pick-me-up today, so I made these delicious cookies. Seriously, the best cookies I have ever made. The picture isn't the best, as its from my phone, and definitely does not convey the amazingness. However, if you check the original recipe here, there is a better picture.

I modified the recipe a bit. First of all, they are gluten free! I used a white gluten-free flour mix, and added a little less than 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum. And secondly, I used milk chocolate chunks instead of dark chocolate chips.

I think next time I make these, I will use some white chocolate chips. The amount of chocolate in these cookies is a bit hilarious, but also so delicious.

Spring is here?

Hello gentle readers! Spring is here. Seemingly... although it was quite cold and rainy yesterday. I think there is going to be more cold weather before proper spring sticks.

Here is what I am up to in between papers (which are going slowly).


I made many batches of these cookies, chocolate-peanut butter cookies. The first time I made them by the recipe, but Maple Syrup is expensive here, so I substituted Golden Syrup - which is far too thick. I have been baking a lot of things lately, which soothes the soul after all the paper writing when its not going well.

With the occurrence of spring weather comes awesome things like this:


Back to papers for me! Come visit!

How has it almost been a month?

Time is flying by! Flying by. I am already almost half way through my last term of teaching at LSE. Work is piling up, and I am struggling to keep up. But I am working hard.

Here are some pictures from Bilbao! I couldn't get the pictures to actually upload to the blog but this URL should work.

It was such a lovely time. The ceremony was so beautiful. I think what struck me was how official this gay union is! There was no sense that the wedding or the union wasn't real, it was completely validated by everyone. The ceremony was in a government building and officiated. Carlos' family was so lovely, all there to support him. A few of William's friends flew over for the ceremony as well.

The reception was in a restaurant in the hills above Bilbao. It was renovated to look like a Basque farm house. When we arrived, we were sent downstairs for wine and an appetizer of cured ham and baguette. The ham was carved right off a leg when we got there.

After lots of wine and ham, we went upstairs to start our courses. I can't quite remember all of the courses, all I know is that by the 3rd I was too full to keep eating, yet I still soldiered on. The food was mostly seafood. The last course before dessert however, was steak and chips. During all the courses, we were topped up on wine anytime we got to the bottom of the glass. After the steak, we were brought a beautiful dessert (picture is in the album), that had a piece of white chocolate with Carlos and William's names on it. We were given Champagne for the toast. At the toast were some amazing tributes to William and Carlos - some of William's people attempted toasts in Spanish. Quite a decadent night!

If any of you are considering a trip to Spain, I definitely recommend Bilbao. Its so beautiful and tranquil. Also, easy to get around - bus, underground, tram. Plus, its so walkable. Definitely want o go back!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

I have finished one of my 2 essays for this break and its Christmas! Ellie and I are at her mom's house, basking in the free warmth and filling ourselves with delicious tea and food. Today I think I may be eating a lot. Yesterday I helped Ellie's mom to start making some of the food. We also decorated the tree (its quite small and in a pot).

I got some brilliant presents from ellie's family - her brother brought me some peanut butter filled pretzels and pancake mix from trader joe's, as well as tickets to see a pantomime. Quite a British experience! Ellie got me this lovely gift indoor plant grower, it doesn't use soil. Its hard to explain, but I'm very excited about it. I will post a picture soon, and make updates about all the delicious plants I grow (I plan to grow only food).

I made the most of my first week of vacation (I have a month)! I went ice skating for the first time, which went very well. I didn't fall once, I think my rollerskating background helped me.

Ok, I am tuckered out, so I am off to bed. Hope everyone is well!

Beginning of Week 3

My brain is exhausted! The things I am reading at the moment are intense and there is a lot of philosophy-type concepts I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around. I am enjoying my classes in general and getting into the groove of reading, even though it is quite difficult.

Things are rolling along, I am making friends! I had a friend, Alex, over last night for dinner! I met her at the LGBT bar hopping thing. I went out for some drinks for her birthday last week, we went with a few others we met at the bar hopping event. Apparently, in Italian culture you buy people drinks on your birthday. So she bought a round of 5 drinks! It made me feel slightly uncomfortable, as I felt I should be buying her drinks. I must save up for my birthday! Alex likes Buffy! We have some important things in common.

In addition to the study group for my Gender Theories class, I have just started a study group with 2 others for my Gender Research and Knowledge Practice class. We are basing this study group on baked goods. Each week, one of us will bake something for the group. I am the first up, I don't have time to bake something for tomorrow, so I am just going to bring some biscuits. I think they will go over well. The two fellow classmates in this study group are really nice, I think we are becoming friends.

I have had a few headache moments with the banking system and bureaucracy here. I deposited my financial aid checks in the bank a few weeks ago. The checks are in $'s instead of £'s (no idea why). Because they are in $'s, the checks have to be sent to the US and back. Anyway, I was originally told this would take 2-3 weeks. I received a letter last week saying it would take 6-8 weeks!! If it does take 8 weeks, I won't have money until December! I immediately emailed the LSE fees office and explained - they gave me an extension to pay me fees. The fees are due on the 28th of October. I am currently living out of my US bank account. This is super frustrating. I am going to go into my new bank and talk to them about how they mislead me. Had I known it would take so long, I would have gone with a different bank. Part of this process is probably complicated by the postal strike, but come on people! The strike was announced! Many businesses that have time-sensitive mail are using other carriers like DHL.

Ok, off to watch Glee with Ellie!

1 orientation down, 2 to go

I went to the school orientation for postgraduates today. The director of the school (what Americans would call the president), Howard Davies, addressed us for the first part. He started the orientation by congratulating us on navigating the intense game the British government has set up to obtain a visa. A lot of people laughed - I am not the only one who had a stressful time getting my visa! He asked everyone who was from outside of the UK to raise their hands - it felt like almost everyone. At least 80% from where I was sitting. This is truly an international environment.

I learned some good facts about LSE. 70% of the school comes from outside the UK! There are 9000 students, half of which are postgraduates. LSE has the largest social science library in the world.

I was only gone for a few hours but I am very tired! After my school orientation, I opened a bank account with HSBC and I joined the LGBT society at the societies/freshers fair. You have to pay dues to join a society, it was only £1 to join the LGBT one. I want join the Mexican society and the feminist society at some point. There were 7 floors of a building dedicated to the societies fair! It was a lot to take in and I didn't see the Mexican society or the feminist society. I saw so many other societies, and it started to feel like a lot to go through. There were a lot of people signing up for societies - every floor was packed to the brim.

Ellie and I are going to make sushi tonight. It will be a nice way to unwind!

End of the First Weekend

Today Ellie and I took it slow- she starts work tomorrow and I must begin my life tasks. My interest in Julia Child has been renewed since seeing "Julie and Julia" and so I have been watching clips of her programs. Ellie and I watched this one about omelets. Ellie actually made this omelet this morning! It was awesome. The egg is too runny for me (I need my eggs overcooked), but it looked delicious and Ellie enjoyed it. Julia Child's method makes the egg very fluffy and light.

In the afternoon, we went to the National Portrait Gallery to see the "Gay Icons" exhibit. It was very interesting. The exhibit featured pictures of people who are considered gay icons as "selectors" - and those people picked 5 others who are inspirations to them. It is a special exhibition, so we had to pay £5 to get in, I think it was worth it. After the exhibition, we went to First Out for coffee and cheesecake. All in all a low key day. Not much to report at the moment, these posts will become more interesting as I start school!

Busy Saturday

I broke the shower today. Yep, less than a week in and I managed to charm it up enough to actually break the shower. In reality, the shower was possibly not that far from breaking because the lever was increasingly hard to turn. But why did I have to be the one to break it?! We will be without a shower for a week (there is a bathtub we can use) until we get a plumber in to fix it.

Ellie and I spent the better part of today finding shoes for Ellie's first day at the BBC. We went to Kingston to do this shopping. In the evening Ellie, her 2 brothers, her brother's girlfriend, mom, and I had dinner together. We had a turkish dish called "turlu turlu." Ellie and I did a lot of the cooking for this, as her mom was preoccupied with a cleaning task. This was a really fun night - her mom and brother talked about me as part of the family! I think I am starting to fit in well there.

Tomorrow will be a rest day and then I will fill my week with tasks - phone, bank account, and other things I have needed to do.