London 101

If you're a frugal college student like me and you plan on studying abroad in London, then these are all of the important tips you will need to save money! 

1. Always ask if there is a student discount - 

When you study abroad your school will give you a school identification card with your picture on it, and a lot of restaurants and retailers will give students a 10% discount. To name a few, Topshop, Topman, EAT and Abokado are some of the places that give students discounts. With this said, this also means that you should never forget to bring your student ID with you. Otherwise, you would not be able to receive this deal.

2. Never tip or pay the optional dining fee –

In most European cities, including London, customers never tip at restaurants. Do not be fooled by the "optional fee" on your receipt either. All receipts will list this with the cost of the fee, but that does not mean you have to pay it. There has been numerous times where I dined out and waiters attempted to be sneaky by claiming that we had to pay the fee. If that ever happens, let them know that you are not the "naïve American" they think you are and rightfully confirm that you know that it is optional.

3. Always "take away" your meals –

Unless you are eating at a sit-down restaurant, always choose the option of getting your meals to go. It is ridiculous how every restaurant will charge you one pound or more for just eating in. That is equivalent to $1.50! Instead, take your meal to a nice nearby park, to your school's campus or even back home. Not only will you be more comfortable, but you will save a lot of money too. Trust me, these tiny fees will add up!

4. Apply for a free Waitrose membership card –

Waitrose is a large grocery chain store that is literally in every neighborhood you will go to in London. You can apply for their membership card for free online, and it will be shipped to your flat within a week. With this card you will accumulate discounts, but the best part of all is that you can claim a free cup of tea or coffee every day. All you need to do is walk up to the register, ask for a cup and swipe your Waitrose card for a free drink. Then you go to the coffee and tea dispenser, where you can choose from a selection of various tea flavors, a cappuccino, a latte or regular coffee.

Dos and Don'ts of Dublin

Last weekend, a few friends and I went to Dublin, Ireland. My dad's side of my family originates from Ireland, so I figured it was the place I had to visit while I was abroad. My friends and I booked this trip three days before we took off. You can only imagine how spontaneous this was. So, for this blog post, I want to tell you the "dos and don'ts" of going to Dublin.

1. Do book The Beach House B&B 

Usually, booking a hostel in the city center is the way to go. However, since we took an overnight ferry and was only in Dublin for one night, we had to book a hotel.  Hostels usually only allow people to stay for a minimum of two nights. Instead, we decided to go with the bed & breakfast that was on the beach in Sandymount (10 minutes outside the city). This b&b was amazing. The room had a bed for all four of us, a beautiful bathroom, and free breakfast. When it was time to leave, we did not want to go because the room was so amazing. 

2. Don't forget your rain jacket 

The one thing to know about Dublin, even in the summer, is that it rains a lot; when it rains, it gets cold. Even if you think it is going to be a nice day, you never know when the weatherman might deceive you. It is better to be prepared than sorry. 

3. Do go to the Guinness Factory 

The Guinness Factory is a must see in Dublin. It is an interactive exhibition that allows you to see the ins and outs of the company. It gives you so much bang for your buck with a quick tasting, a tutorial on how to pour the perfect pint, and one free glass of Guinness that you can enjoy in their top floor bar. The best part about this tour is being able to enjoy a beer while looking at the best view of Dublin. For those who are skeptical, Guinness tastes so much better in Ireland. It does not taste like poison like it does in the States.

4. Don't go on the Blue Line City Bus Tour 

To be clear, the Red Line will take you on tour of the city center. The Blue Line will take you on a tour of the outskirts of Dublin. According to the map, and the woman who sold us the tickets, the Blue Line will show you a more scenic route. In reality, this line took us through, what we believe, is the ghetto of Dublin. This bus gave us a tour of nothing but questionable, "historic," neighborhoods. Take my advise, if you want to do a City Bus Tour stick with the Red Line. 

5. Do go out relatively early 

The Irish are not like other Europeans who love to eat late, go out late, and stay out late. In Dublin, we noticed that they party much like the Americans. Eat around 7, pre-drink around 9, go out around 10-11. If you try to go out any later than that, you may get into some trouble. People are already drunk by then and are ready to get loose before you are. 

6. Do have an authentic Irish meal  

What is the point of traveling if you aren't going to try new things (i.e. food). Ireland has some amazing cuisine. They have Shepherd's pie, Bangers and Mash, and more!  I highly recommend going to The Shack Restaurant. Don't let the name fool you. The restaurant is of very high quality and the food is incredible. 

I can write paragraphs on what and what not to do in Dublin. But to keep it short, my one advise would be to plan ahead and make the most of it. There is so much to do and you do not want to miss out. 

Shooting

Time has flown by while in London! This week is our last week of classes at LCF and it is really like finals are upon us. This weekend was the first in a while that we weren’t traveling and almost all of it was spent finishing papers and other projects for our classes.

            My favorite class while in London has been the styling class we have been taking. It has been very hands on planning everything for our shoot including buying all the clothes for it and finding a location. Since class is coming to the end this past Sunday Olivia, my partner, and I had to do our photo shoot. After contacting a couple different venues and not getting positive responses we ended up shooting at the Southbank, which is a public space that has a lot of food trucks and a theater. We were disappointed at first that we had to shoot there but it ended up working better then we had imagined! We love how the pictures turned out so we are really excited to show our class.

            Since we have been in London for a little longer then usual due to not traveling this past weekend we have also had more time to try new restaurants. One of our favorite areas that we have discovered right by our school is Carnaby Street. There are so many different shops and restaurants around the area so we can try something new everyday. For those in the area I recommend Rosa’s Thai food or Cha Cha Moon but really you can’t go wrong with anywhere in the area!

Some of our favorite shots from the shoot!

London Tourist

Hi everyone! I know I am a day early in this post but I am taking a day trip to Bath tomorrow and don't intend on bringing my computer along. So while I enjoy my day tomorrow I figured I will take today to talk again, on how amazing London is and how I may truly never leave.

This week I finally hit Big Ben and acted like my true tourist self in hogging a phone booth with my friends taking an endless amount of photos... seriously I mean endless. While yes, Big Ben is beautiful, I may never go back to this area due to all of the tourists, however I have enough photos to last me a lifetime. And even more exciting, I was able to wear my favorite Jac Vanek, I hate everyone flannel without being judged because the British do have a wonderful sarcastic sense of humor that the Irish, and even most American's definitely do not have.

When it comes to tourist attractions, usually most of them are must see's. However, my friends and I heard people rave about the Emirates Sky Lift. A ski lift-esque idea of a tube that travels over the city. In theory, how exciting to see London from the sky. In reality, you do not see the scenic parts of London but you actually travel over construction sites... and a river which really can't even be appreciated next to all the dirt. However, after arriving to the other side of the river, there were some amazing little cafes and restaurants that served some of the best wines and the best cheesecakes I have ever tasted. Did the cheesecake make up for the lackluster experience of the skylift? Probably not but I'll take the little things as they come. 

London surprised me this week. By that I mean, I have realized I more enjoy the little hidden treasures of London opposed to the "cool" places all tourists are told to go see. With that being said, I have a whole list of places from Hindu temples, to gardens, to more graffiti tunnels on my list of must sees but of course still have my typical American tourist activities that I must partake in such as, finding Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass, where are you?!), riding the London Eye and last on my list, shopping at Harrods. 

A Nice Surprise

            After a stressful week of finishing papers and projects I was lucky to end the hectic week with a weekend visit by my boyfriend, James. This was a very last minute decision and he only booked his flight a week before he came. I was so excited to see him! I’ve missed him so much! James has never been to London before so I took him to the touristy places and around where I live in South Kensington. I took him to my favorite crepe place in South Kensington where we had delicious crepes. We then went to Big Ben and walked around the area and then to Buckingham Palace. James was very confused by the traffic and cautious about which direction to look when crossing the street.

That night we got dinner with one of James’s close friend’s and his girlfriend who happened to be in London at the same time. We had dinner at this restaurant that I’ve heard nothing but great reviews about called, Bumpkin. James told me he wanted traditional British food and this was the perfect place. It’s a British Brassier so it couldn’t get more British. James got the fish and chips and I got the duck. It was a delicious meal and I definitely want to go back for brunch before I leave London. That night we went to my favorite night club, Libertine, and danced the night away. They play such great music! James’s younger brother, Alex, previously studied abroad in London this past year and told James Libertine was the place to go. Luckily it lived up to the hype and James has a blast!

The following morning we had a lazy start and then I took James to a local Italian market/restaurant around the corner from my flat. All the food is imported from Italy and everyone who works there speaks Italian. The food is absolutely incredible! We were starving and everything looked so good that we had to try a little of everything. We got spaghetti carbonara, tomato, cucumber, feta salad, a tomato and mozzarella panini, and a meat and cheese board. Everything was amazing! James couldn’t stop raving about the food.

James left later that afternoon and headed back to New York City for work on Monday. It was such a quick trip but I’m so glad he came. Only 3 more weekends till he’s back and then we’re going to Mykonos with friends for a week. I can hardly wait!

The City That Stuns | Prague [5]

With my time in Prague coming to an end, I've been doing my best to explore every inch of this city. This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to a few great museums and seeing work by various Czech artists in one place. The museum pictured below was my favorite. There were five floors of art installations, from paintings to sculpture, to films. I spent a few hours wandering from floor to floor, looking at all the artwork in a very relaxed environment.

I saw so many different pieces, but my favorites are the artworks pictured below:

I also took another trip to the Prague Castle this past week. A few friends and I decided to take the hidden back road up to the palace complex. It is very scenic and cuts through woods and one huge tunnel. Taking this route instead of walking through hoards of tourists was more special. I have been to the castle numerous times since being in Prague, but this trip was definitely something different. The sky was so bright and the castle looked absolutely stunning with the backdrop. 

The number one highlight of my week was a trip to Cesky Krumlov. Cesky is a small city about three hours outside of Prague. This town is unlike any I have ever been to before. Quaint does not even begin to describe it. We stayed in a cozy cottage-like hostel. The ceilings hung low and the environment was so peaceful and whimsical. 

We spent the weekend wandering the tiny town, sitting by the river and eating vegetarian meals. If you felt you were lost, all you had to do was walk a little further to see something familiar. It was an incredible town and while I was only there for 24 hours, I will remember my time there with the utmost appreciation. Never before in my life have I felt so safe, calm, and at peace than I did in Cesky.

Living my Childhood Dream

     I know I said I was going to keep writing about Italy since I plan on laying low for the rest of the summer, but Maryland is low-key pretty cool, so I thought I'd dedicate one post to my home state. This week has been extremely relaxing for me, since I have been spending time at our vacation home in Ocean City, Maryland. The fact that I can get away with being outside and on the water without talking to anybody for a whole day is a nice break from the real world. Maryland is one of those states that everyone's heard of but no one pays attention to, and that's okay with me because it's a nice place to fall back on every time I get tired of the city.
     Even though our house is in Ocean City, my favorite place to visit while I'm here has always been Asateague Island. Compared to Ocean City, Asateague is a relatively quiet beach that people don't usually frequent. The sand feels more natural because it hasn't been pumped, the sand dunes aren't filled with litter and, most importantly, the wildlife is all over (and, no, wildlife doesn't mean the eclectic individuals you can find on the Ocean City Boardwalk).
     Asateague is known for their beautiful population of 150 wild horses that surround the beaches and marshlands of the island. Since Asateague is only allowed to have a population of 150 horses at a time, a pony swim is held once a year to move the extra ponies from the Virginia side of Asateague to the nearby island, Chincoteague Island. This beautiful tradition is one thing that Virginia is known for, and it has even caught the eye of authors and movie producers. If you're interested, you should check out the film Misty of Chincoteague (based on the book), a childhood favorite of mine that captures the tradition of the pony swim.
     On Asateague Island, the horses are rounded up by the Saltwater Cowboys, who are in charge of rounding up the horses and taking them across the Asateague Channel by horseback. The Saltwater Cowboys are usually local firemen that have been part of the tradition most of their lives. The swim lasts about three minutes, and it happens during a "slack calm" in the tide so that the young ones are safe to swim. Hundreds of horses make the swim each year, and once they arrive to Chincoteague, they are herded into a massive pen, checked out by vets, fed and kept until the next morning, where the foals and yearlings will be auctioned off to new homes. The rest of the ponies are hearded back across the water the next day after the auction. This tradition has been happening each year since 1925, so the swim is rich in culture and deeply loved by the residents of Chincoteague Island.
     Since crowds wait for hours to watch the mere three minute pony swim, my parents decided to wait until my sister and I were older to finally take us. My sister couldn't make it to the beach this year because of her summer internship, so we all decided to wait until next year to wake up at 4 am to catch the swim. We did, however, go to the Annual Fireman's Carnival that happens the night of the pony swim. My dad used to go every year when he was younger, so he was very excited to take my mom and me. The carnival was straight from the 1950s. To put things in perspective, there was a massive bingo tent where bingo was still played on individual wooden blocks. This added to the charm of the small carnival and made playing the old fashioned games even more fun. The ring toss, for example, was a bunch of glass bottles lined up in a large tent, and you were given a large bucket of rings to throw. Around 15 people were playing at once, and the guys running the game had to walk through the space with giant brooms to sweep the rings off the floor and back into the buckets. Rings were flying everywhere, and I may or may not have hit one of the workers in the face a few times.
     While we had a great time playing the games and getting to know the locals (I swear we were the only people there from out of town), the best part of the carnival was the homemade food. As you may know, Maryland is most famous for our seafood, especially for our Maryland blue crab and Old Bay crab spice. Needless to say, the crab cakes were incredible, and super fresh. My dad's favorite is the Chincoteague Oyster Fritter Sandwich, which the island has been making ever since he can remember. The sandwich is made by taking a handful of Chincoteague oysters, pouring fritter batter over them and sicking the massive fritter in the fryer. They come out extremely hot and gooey. My dad was happy to say it was the same exact sandwich he used to enjoy as a kid 40 years ago. Another fun food we tried were the Pony Fries, another staple at the carnival. We found out about these from a mother telling us her son was back there cutting the potatoes for the delicious fries. Every food item at the carnival was homemade, including the caramel corn where you could watch them pour the hot caramel over the popcorn.
     My favorite part of the whole experience, though, was going to watch the horses in their pen nearby the carnival. Seeing the herds of horses was beautiful. I was especially impressed with all of the foals that made the swim over. There was rumored to be a newborn born the day before the swim that made it across with is mother.
     Overall, we had an amazing time at the carnival, and we plan on doing the whole day next year, including the swim. I told my parents they can''t take me to the auction, though, because I'll leave with a foal. I'm glad I finally got a chance to go to the carnival after 21 years of waiting. I hope I get to go for many more years after this! Now I'm off to go eat some more crabs :)

Making friends with a wild pony on Asateague Island the day before the swim. 

Entrance to the carnival. "In Memory of Surfer Dude" refers to the stallion that passed away this year. The town is currently in a state of mourning because this is the last year you can purchase one of Surfer Dude's foals. RIP Surfer Dude. 

Cowboy boots on sale at the carnival's riding store. This made me wish I still had my horse!!

The infamous oyster fritter sandwich. Crazy good.