Goodbye for Now

"There's nowhere else like London. Nothing at all, anywhere." 

-Vivienne Westwood 

Today, I leave London...

From the first time I studied in the city in 2010 to the last two years of grad school, I fell in love. London is truly one of my favorite cities in the world.  

I'm heading back to America with a suitcase full of Primark clothes and memories, a handful of new slang words, a passport full of stamps, and enough game theory textbooks to start my own library. 

As I begin to embark on my new journey and new chapter of my life, I want to say thanks for everyone who was apart of this chapter of my life.  My blog is appropriately named "Wandering Walpole" as even though I will no longer be in London and Europe, I'll still be wandering around this amazing world.

As I'm not good with goodbyes...I'm telling London that I will "see it later." I'm not sure when I'll be back, but I know it will be as soon as possible!

Pip, pip...Cheerio!

Kensal Green Cemetery

As part of my goal to see more of London before I leave in June, I recently visited the Kensal Green Cemetery near my flat. When I say near my flat, I literally mean a five- minute walk down the road. Despite living in the same place for the last year and a half, I just hadn't had time to take to stroll London's first garden cemetery. Kensal Green is also one of the last of seven magnificent cemeteries in London. 

Kensal Green Cemetery was opened in 1833 and takes up 72 acres of land. It borders the Grand Union Canal. Kensal Green is a distinctive cemetery as noted by many writers and historians for the various memorials that you pass as you stroll the grounds. I certainly noticed that right away- there was no one section for the grandiose mausoleums. The cemetery is still used today as I saw many recent stone markers. 

There is also an  Anglican Chapel and a Reformers' Memorial on the grounds. 

The cemetery is the resting ground for many famous people. The inventor of Pears soap, the founder of W.H. Smith Bookstore, Winston Churchill's daughter, and many famous actors and singers of their day. A few famous cremations have also occurred on the grounds including Joe Stummer's. 

I didn't get to spend too much time visiting the Cemetery as it was starting to rain, but it is full of history. Seeing the grand designs of the graves and mausoleums is worth a visit in and of itself! 

Have you visited Kensal Green Cemetery? 

Weekly Recap

Before I begin my weekly recap, let's just take a moment and celebrate (again!) Syracuse's victory over Duke last night!! I was at a MPA party and had to withdraw to the corner for the ending of the game. My tension and stress of the game might have scarred my friends that aren't used to the stress of college basketball. (Sorry all!). It was a great way to start the new rivalry! 

This week was much more mellow than the first few weeks of the term. Nothing too major in terms of assignments due. My capstone group met with our client this week to get a grasp of how they perceived out interim report. We got a a lot of great, constructive feedback which will be helpful moving forward for the final due in March. 

On Thursday, I went and met with a Pi Phi at the Sloane Club who is hopefully moving to England. She pledged during the 1960s, and it was awesome to just sit and discuss our college days together. Lifelong friendship, indeed! 

Friday morning, I helped out SU Abroad by assisting chaperoning study abroad students on a tour of Fuller's Brewery (post to come about the tour)! 

Fuller's Brewery

Friday evening, the MPA Student Association elections were held. How has it already been a year since the last ones? Time is just flying by! My dear friend, Alyssa, won the chair position for the next year! Afterwards, we all headed to a pub nearby campus for a few drinks!

With the newly elected MPASA Chair

Yesterday, I felt I was on the go non-stop. 

I started the down wandering the gardens of St. Paul's.

St. Paul's 

From there, I walked to an open air shopping mall to grab brunch with two friends I met through the Local Levo group. We tried out the Bread Kitchen which was amazing food wise and had a great atmosphere.

Inside of the Bread Kitchen

Brunch me, please!

Grabbing cupcakes for later, I headed home to do some laundry and answer emails before going out to Wahaca in Shepard's Bush for dinner! I met up with my friend, Maggie, her wife, and a few of their friends. Maggie is on the Executive Board for the Pi Phi Alumnae Club with me! 

And, last night ended with going to a MPA party. The theme this week? Tropical! 

BG and me 

Tropical goodness

Today, Alyssa and I grabbed brunch before wandering down Portobello Road. After she headed to campus to get some work done, I finally went and walked around Kensal Green Cemetery (more on that to come).

It was a great week of balancing academics, a social life, and being a tourist.

How was your week? 

A Little Rock 'n Roll

When you think of the London tourism market, there are a few things you think of right away. 

The London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, etc.

You get the picture.

I think of the same things, but as my time in England begins to draw to a close, I've been making it a point to find hidden treasures. If you're a regular follower, you know I've found the location where the last D-Day briefing was among other gems. 

St. John's in Notting Hill 

One of the things that I've been interested in was learning more about the Notting Hill/Ladbroke Grove area.  Knowing general history of the area especially with the notable musicians that hung out in the area in the 1960s and 1970s, I did a simple Google search to see if anything interesting sprung up for locations. Let's just say that I got more things to do than I expected! 

Last week, I hunted down two key places based on the Google search results that I got. 

The first? The building or rather house where Jimi Hendrix was found dead.  22 Lansdowne Crescent was the former Samarkand Hotel where Hendrix was found in dead in the basement in September 1970. 

Down the road, I found my second destination of the day. The Elgin Pub is a pub that I literally pass multiple times a day on my way to school, run errands, or just take in London life. Joe Strummer used to play and hang out at this local spot in Ladbroke Grove before he joined the Clash! 

The hidden treasures of London are my favorite! Stay tuned for what I find next! 

Article Review: "Lessons From Living in London"

I'm a huge fan of the New York Times Travel section. They recently just published their list about the places you should visit in 2014. Their, "52 Places to Go in 2014," is just plain awesome listing famous cities as well as locations that are often the beaten track. 

Back in October, there was an article written by Sarah Lyall entitled "Lessons From Living in London." Believe me when I say that I bookmarked that article as soon as I finished reading it. It captures everything I've felt, thought, and loved about living in London.  There are days that I pull it up just to remind myself on why London is an amazing city.

With my final six months of London already counting down, I'm trying to take in more and more of the city in. Truth be told, there is a lot I've never done despite living here. That does include a lot of the art museums, riding an Old Routemaster bus, eating Black Pudding, etc. I've got a running list of things to do before June comes to a close.

For now, though, I'll leave you with my favorite quotes from the article. 

Read it yourself, then bookmark it. 

"Residents tend to feel more connected to their neighborhoods than to London as a whole, and because it can be an undertaking to travel to another part of town for a social occasion, geography starts to feel like destiny."

"In London, people keep themselves to themselves, as the expression goes, and this can feel either liberating or lonely."

"Things you learn as a resident: the Tube, the world’s oldest subway system, is full of jolly announcements exhorting you to “mind the gap”…"

"Learn that there are as many meanings for the word “sorry” as there are hours in the day."

"And wherever you go, always take an umbrella."

A HUGE Recap

Well, my goal of becoming a better blogger lagged off again this past week.

It's been a busy couple of weeks in jolly ole England. After Romania, I was swamped with a bunch of schoolwork dealings with my capstone project, my internship, tourist activities, and getting over a stomach bug. The stomach bug aside, despite the workload with school, the last two weeks have been full of laughs and memories as usual!

Last Thursday, I had dinner with two of the first years in my program. One is my first year buddy who as I've mentioned before has a CNY connection. The three of us went out to Wahaca for margaritas and some Mexican food!

The Wahaca location that we went to was in Covent Garden which has been decorated for Christmas. You just have to love London getting in the holiday spirit as soon as possible!

Last Friday, four of my friends in my programme hosted their house-warming party as they had just moved in together. As always, MPA parties are a ton of fun.

Saturday, I took myself to see Fantasia: Live in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.  Believe it or not, that was the first time I had ever set foot inside the Royal Albert Hall. Even back in 2010 when I lived a street away, I had only explored the outside of the building. While I couldn't take photos during the performance, I did snap a few shots beforehand! And, don't worry…I was tapping my foot to the music the entire time!

The Royal Albert Hall

At this point, I'm sure you are wondering when I do my homework…I swear, I do!

Last Sunday, I explored part of my neighborhood that I rarely get a chance to go to. What's cool about living in Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill is the ability to see the clash between old and new. There are a ton of the famous Notting Hill colorful homes, the new building that I live in, and the old council housing buildings that were built in the 1950s/1960s.  I plan to write a post in the future on the history of my road, alone, but here's a sneak peak now!

Old v. New on Kensal Road

Sunday evening, my friend Emma invited a bunch of us out for Indian food and to meet her Mom!

Emma and her Mom!

And, on this past Tuesday, there was a Levo League event for the London club about dressing for success. It was great to hear some tips about professional wardrobes as well as catching up with old friends.

How has your week been? Have you done anything exciting?

Survived the UK Storm!

Thanks for everyone that reached out to make sure that I was okay post the UK storm that hit England and Wales yesterday (and eventually the continent).  I know many are still without power, and some lives were lost during the storm, so please keep them in your thoughts.

As for my storm story, I got home around 7pm on Sunday when it started to rain and the winds were picking up. My window in my studio is actually a door (e.g. emergencies). I had shut that firmly and locked the handle. When the storm hit London around 5am, I woke up due to the wind and rain, but also an open window due to the magnitude of the wind. Living right along the Union Canal was not so serene yesterday morning as the current had become similar to river rapids.  

I left for work around 7:30am as I usually do. Thankfully, there were hardly any delays on the busses and only waited a few more minutes than usual for the next train on the Central line. 

The majority of the damage I saw were a few broken lights, one broken traffic light, and some trees down. 

Post the Storm hitting my area of London.

Broken Traffic Light

Did you survive the UK Storm? 

Tourist Time: Off the Beaten Track

While I'm currently in the MPA lounge rocking out to the new Lonely Island/Adam Levine hit, "YOLO," I figured it was time to post what tourist activities I did on Saturday. I rarely get to play tourist in London. For one, I've done a lot of the big activities and attractions, and I'm saving to redo them with my Dad. Yet, at the same time, I rarely get free time to do things outside of classes, homework, internships, and the MPA team. 

So, with a long week behind me....I took full advantage of a day off! Something that I've been meaning to do for ages is to take a trip down to Bethnal Green. The Bethnal Green Tube Station was the site of the worst civilian disaster during World War II.  As a side note, a little unknown fact about me is that I have a huge hobby of learning information about the London Underground. My knowledge surrounding Bethnal Green actually was born out of my history senior seminar paper that I wrote during my senior year at Syracuse. The paper was about the use of the underground stations and the separation of social classes in the use of the stations as shelters during the Blitz. (history, geek...I know!)

Staircase

It took some time to get down to Bethnal Green from Ladbroke Grove. It's a straight shot on the Central Line, but I live in the other end of London. It was a quick tour of the tube station. I was able to view the monument that is currently being built for the victims, the staircase of the incident, and the plaque. The staircase was the place of the incident for as the air raid sirens went off, a woman tripped causing a domino effect. 

After my jaunt down to Bethnal Green, I headed up to Sloane Square to view the secret river that runs over the platforms. See what I mean about knowing random facts about the tube? There is a tube containing the water of the River Westbourne to the Thames.  The amount of water still in the tube is unknown, but hardly anyone realizes water is inside it. It looks as if it just part of the station. My photos did not come out due to the time of the day, but this article gives a lot more information about this fun fact. 

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...

Obviously, I should have done a neighborhood post last semester. I often found myself taking photos of things in Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill, but never seemed to post them into a coherent blog about where I live. Of course, there were my numerous trips to Portobello Road, and the time that I did the Notting Hill, the Movie, walking tour. 

Anyways, since I arrived back in London a few days prior to the new term starting, I figured that a quick jaunt around snapping some photos was a perfect way to spend an afternoon. I actually keep finding info out about where I live all the time.

Nido Notting Hill

For those who don't know, I live in private student accommodation in Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill area. It's been a great place to live so far- all inclusive, security, gym on site, and my own studio! It's situated right along the Grand Union Canal which is linked to all of the other canals in London (Little Venice, etc.). 

My building is on a side street off of Kensal Road. Kensal Road has quite the history of change. The neighborhood has gone through a lot of revitalization in the past 30 years or so following a "rough" period post WWII. Nevertheless, it's turned itself around. Time Out recently published an article about the area that you can check out here: Kensal Road. 

The road is now home to the Dock restaurants, the HQ for Innocent (yummy smoothies!), and a lot of smaller shops that have recently opened. And yes, if you read the article, it appears we have a few celebrities in the neighborhood. Time to get the cameras out in case I see them!

About a five minute walk from me is a jumbo Sainsbury's where I normally get my groceries for the week. I say jumbo because it takes me a good hour to do a real good shopping trip for how much they carry in addition to food.

I live past the Ladbroke Grove Tube Station. I haven't really checked out that part of the neighborhood except for the fact it's right near where Portobello Road is! It's got a tube station that has both the Hammersmith and City lines and the Circle line. Not the most ideal lines to get places, but it is helpful sometimes.

To get to Ladbroke Grove and beyond, especially when I'm on my way to class, I have three main bus options. The 52, 452, and 23 are my busses that I continuously take. They all run the same path up until 23 heads straight into Queensway rather than Notting Hill Gate. The only good thing besides the long journey with route 23 is that it stops right outside of LSE. With 52 and 452, I generally take them up to Notting Hill Gate and get on the Central Line.  It's nice to have the three bus options because sometimes in the morning they are a bit crowded with school children!

The area around the Notting Hill Gate tube station is home to my daily activities. I generally come home from class via the tube and then grab the bus back down to where I live.  There are a few other grocery stores that are up along the main road which I go to if I am in a jam or want to change up a routine. Among the stores in Notting Hill are a few celebrity restaurants such as Recipease by Jamie Oliver which is also a food store.  And yes, if you are wondering, there are two Starbucks which I frequent quite  a lot.

I've enjoyed living in Notting Hill/Ladbroke Grove these past few months, and I look forward to the next seven months as well. There is always something to do here from the market to the history to the people watching from inside a cafe. There is never a dull moment!

Walking Tour: Notting Hill: The Movie Film Locations

"After all... I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her. "

As a huge fan of the movie, Notting Hill, it comes to no surprise that I was interested in trying to do the walking tour of the filming locations from the movie. After doing some research online, I came across a website dedicated to wear movies were shot in London.  With the guide to the movie, we were all set!

(Ignore the ad before the trailer)

With a guide down, Jenny and I decided to undertake part of it today.   Stopping along the route for some window shopping and delicious cupcakes, we soon found ourselves at the location where they filmed the travel bookstore. 

Location of the Travel Book Shop

The inspiration for the actual store is around the corner at the Notting Hill Bookstore. I picked up a book for an adventure later this week (it's a surprise) as well as the bag with the store's logo on it. Jenny and I did make our way to the back of the store to the travel section. We were sure to try to do and remember as much from the movie as possible!

Notting Hill Bookstore

Now, unfortunately, Hugh Grant was not on Portobello Road today, but that doesn't mean we couldn't pass up stopping over to see the "blue door!" While it may not actually be the original blue door anymore, it still counts, in my opinion. The balcony is visible if you go across the street, as well. 

Add caption

From there, we managed to find the house used for the birthday party, the gardens that Anna and William break into, the coffee shop where William spells the orange juice, as well as the outside of the building used for the tattoo parlor shown in the beginning scenes. For those of you do not remember, the tattoo parlor was with a man who got a tattoo with 'I love Ken' on his arm. 

Tattoo Parlor Location

Coffee Shop

Birthday Party!

Reenacting the garden scene

All in all, it was a fun outing as we found all the locations! We left out a few that were farther away from Notting Hill, but tomorrow is another day...

Look Back on the Past 2 Weeks

As I have been slow to post, I figured that some of you may be interested to see the adventures that I have been embarking on!

8th- First Day of Class and my Internship!

9th- MPASA Marketplace. MPASA is a student organization designed specifically for MPA students. I joined the career team, the social team, and the Public Sphere. I also was able to meet up with my friend John from Syracuse. He's on a Marshall Scholarship here, just finished a Master's, and has started his second. 

11th- After staying up to watch Biden in the VP debate, I went to a Careers in Public Policy event to hear about public service careers in the UK. In the evening, we had our first Policy in Practice Seminar for the MPA programme. Our Dean of the Institute presented on the creation of public policy. 

12th- Had my first wine club meeting! Tons of fun, met some great new people, and looking forward to the rest of wine club. 

13th- Went to Greenwich, the Dickens Inn, and spent the evening in making sure I wasn't getting sick. 

14th -Had high tea with Nicole off a GroupOn. Stay tuned for a blog post about that!

15th- We had our second Policy in Practice Seminar for the MPA Programme. We heard from Craig Calhoun, LSE's New Director. 

17th- Went to the Welcome Reception for LSE's New Director, Craig Calhoun. 

#weekend

As my first week of my pre-semester math course wound down, the weekend began with a lot of adventure! On Friday after math class and a career talk, Kaitlyn, Arielle, and I headed over to the Three Tuns. The Three Tuns is one of the several campus bars.  We had a few drinks before it was a casual get-together of the first-years put on by the MPA Student Association.  Pizza and friend speed-dating started off the evening. The quick three minute conversations of speed-dating were nice to get to know some who I haven't had a chance to meet yet. It did remind me a little of recruitment, though...

Following the speed-dating, we went on a scavenger hunt around campus. While there was no prize at the end of the evening, we learned more about the somewhat hidden computer labs on campus, study spaces, and met tons of second-year students. The rest of the evening was spent at the George. Another on-campus pub with the LSE name splattered everywhere. Not quite the same as Chucks, but it will do for the next two years. It does win one category and that is being able to be outside with having an open container.

Saturday was a sleeping-in day since math camp had taken over mornings and sleeping in past 7am. A bunch of us girls met up a bit after lunch to go to Portobello Road/Market.  Hours were spent browsing stores, stands, eating cupcakes, and street food. Visiting Hummingbird Bakery brought back some good memories from 2010.

Enjoying a bite! 

Hummingbird Bakery

Delicious Lunch

I must admit that I've always had a soft spot for Portobello Road. I think it goes back to loving "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" as a child. A whole song devoted to how great Portobello Road is not easily forgotten, especially for this Disney girl who loves the British culture.  The stalls of antiques and non-antinques, crafts, jewelry, etc. are just fun to take in. I think the essence and the attraction of Portobello Road/Notting Hill has increased since the movie with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts was released. While I still have yet to do the walking tour of movie shooting locations, I am able to immerse myself in this area as much as I want. Just a short ten minute walk!

Zaina, Arielle, and I at Portobello Road

Afterwards, Arielle, Kaitlyn, and I went to Covent Garden for happy hour. We found this cute Mexican restaurant tucked down a back ally. We will have to go back for more!

Saturday evening, about 30 of us first-years went salsa dancing. Now, I know what you must be thinking. And, you are right. I really can't dance, but I still had fun! Something new, something different. Plus, getting to know your classmates in another setting is always a positive! It was out in Camden, so a bit of a journey from Notting Hill, but I had plenty of entertainment on the bus. Sunday was uneventful as I mastered the art of laundry in my building, went grocery shopping, and did math homework.