The final days

I have 6 days left until I finish university and my life is pretty much lived in two of my university's libraries. And tonight I'm supposed to be going to a party and I think I've forgotten how to be social + look nice.

It's a strange transition to make; to go from silence to small talk and big talk.

We'll see how this goes...

Reflections

Having just read through my blog I still can't get over the direction my life has taken.
I started this blog in 2009- that's 6 years ago, I was 16 years old and still at boarding school.
Within this time I've seen my desire to travel increase and funnily enough it has happened during this interim blogging break.

Last summer was probably the start of it. I decided one day, probably about this time last year that I was just going to go to Bordeaux to see a friend. I booked a one-way flight and thought I'd find my way back to Edinburgh in time for my internship. This took me through France, with a stop-off in Paris for the weekend, to Brussels for a day (my first time staying in a city alone) and then flying to Bodrum to meet my parents for a week before flying back to Edinburgh.

Travel is so amazing, but it doesn't have to be distant. Since my travelling experience last summer I became braver (is that right?!)and started to travel within my country. I've explored so  much more of Scotland and it has been incredible. This is such a beautiful country and I didn't even realise until 2.5 years living here- how ridiculous!

I just got on my bicycle and rode to places, taking in the air, the beauty and sounds of nature.

And that's crazy too because without those experiences I doubt I would have got this job, or maybe even wanted to stay in Scotland.

If you go back far enough, you see how homesick for Surrey I used to be, but now Edinburgh is home.

To shift your heart to a new city is a big thing.

I've come to realise though, that it is not possible to flourish when planted in two places. You must decide where you put your roots, to allow them to get the depth they need for nutrition.

In the next 2 years I'm going to be moving around again and I anticipate it to be tough, but I've learned so much from resettling 400 miles North. 

-xo

It's been some time

So I restarted this blog when I came to university. I am now 9 days away from the end of university.

4 years later and so very much has changed.

I cannot believe how much I have learnt within the academic sphere, the workplace and just out and about in daily life.
I feel like a lot changed when I hit 21, which is now over a year ago. It sounds ridiculous that a new age can change things, but it truly did for me. At 21, I essentially moved away from home properly, since that birthday I haven't been to my parent's for longer than 2 weeks at a time.

I am now 22, about to finish uni and have a graduate job lined up for September, conditional on getting a 2:1. 3 more exams to get there.

~ T O K Y O ~

The Pin
Just from doing a simple Google Image search (how good is that function though!?) I found that these are the Reversible Destiny Houses in Mitaka, Tokyo.
Here's a bit of information from Wikipedia about them.
They were made in memory of Helen Keller and these lofts make up a nine-unit multiple dwelling. It was the first completed example of procedural architecture put to residential use. Through its construction, the Reversible Destiny Lofts – Mitaka invite optimistic and constructive action to help residents live long and ample lives.
How cool is that!? You can find more information on the website.

So, how to get to Mitaka?
It's a suburb of Tokyo, and you can get the train from either Tokyo Station, which takes just over 30 minuts, or from Shinjuku which is only a 15 minute journey.

How to get to Tokyo?
Flights are expensive, but going that far around the world was always going to be.
Cheapest flights I could find are in January and to go for a decent amount of time would  cost £564, with a crazy long stopover making the total transit time 30 hours!
That's flying from LHR to Tokyo Narita, stopping over in Munich.

Although I would love to fly with the Hello Kitty plane there! I could take that from Taipei to Tokyo!

I have a friend who lives in Osaka and she has said I can come to visit her, so I must make the most of that whilst she's there...I was kind of hoping to go to Japan after I graduate, but maybe I shouldn't wait that long- although it's less than 2 years now!

In second year I did an outside course on Japanese culture. My specialist topic assigned to me was Japanese leisure culture and there's so much to it!
Shopping is a massive deal and I really want to visit Shibuya 109 which is basically a giant shopping centre.

 You have to go whilst you're young I think though because otherwise you'd feel highly out of place. Although I guess in Japan I'll look out of place everywhere as a taller than average mixed race girl.

I'm excited!

Poor effort

My blogging efforts have been poor recently. I think I've been lackikng inspiration. However, I'm going to have a fresh approach.
Next week I am going to Iceland to see the Northern Lights. This is something I've wanted to do for years. Thus I am excited. However, I don't want to be sad once I've been there because then what will I look forward to, but instead set my sights on how practically I'm going to see all the places in the world I want to visit.
I have a pinterest board called I just want to see the world and I'm going to work through that as a start and look at how I would get to these places and what I'd do and see. It currently has 82 pins and is ever increasing.I'm going to start from the first thing I pinned- Tokyo. Next post it will be there.

I've just been watching singing parrots on youtube.
I want a bird now. SO MUCH.

Your love untamed is blazing out

I have been playing this song on repeat the last 2 days. IT IS SO GOOD. I absolutely cannot wait for the Young+Free album to be released..hence why I've downloaded a youtube copy of this song, it is just phenomenal. Obviously the quality isn't the best, but considering this and how good this song is.. how SICK is the actual album going to be!

I'm excited.

Tablet GIVEAWAY

Hi,
As part of my job I'm doing a facebook giveaway of a 7" Android tablet. Its very  handy, handbag sized and I love the operating system (I personally have an Android tablet and it is great)
If you could, please enter..all you have to do is like the company page and share the picture here 
I promise I'll update this blog more in the near future, but Hillsong Conference Europe is this week, hence I'm working/interning/serving/volunteering, every single day.

I appreciate you all.

Tell the world I'm coming home

On the Saturday we were rather wiped out as following our day in London we'd had Youth Encounter, which was mental as per and also quite late. So we decided to stick around Surrey. We went for a walk by the Thames and ended up at Hampton Court Palace gardens (I couldn't afford entry :()

 The English Garden is full of roses which were beautiful.

 Oh look; there's the Palace in the background. I told Karli some of the stories of it, from memory, as when I was much younger we had a season ticket and went at least 30 times.

 The pergola is usually prettier, I blamed the poor weather up to this point for the lack of blooms.

 We then headed to Bushy Park for a walk. It started to rain so we took shelter under a large tree, it was actually really enjoyable.

 The next day was Sunday so I spent the whole day in church, Karli came for the 6pm service, and spent the rest of the day inside Hampton Court Palace. 
I managed to fall at church quite badly though, and was later to discover that I'd burst the liquid capsule under my patella..so the next day we couldn't do as much as I'd wanted to. We headed to China Town as Karli had missed having legit Asian food (it's pretty terrible in Edinburgh in general, which is surprising as there's so many international students). We also checked out Covent Garden where we picked up these gorgeous macaroons from Laduree. I personally prefer the ones I bought in Brighton last year though. Definitely heading back there.

I had to leave Karli to get the train to Victoria for her coach as I was in so much pain I thought I'd be sick, so hobbled (literally) off to the hospital.
Not the best end.

The first time ever I saw your face

The first time I went to Brick Lane was when I was preparing for my GCSE art project on street art. Since then I've loved all forms of it. Brick Lane has some truly outstanding pieces.

 Some of it is slightly crepy.

 Or cute.

I feel there's not that much that to add to this. Its just so incredible.

I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque

Next we headed East. I love Brick Lane, its one of my favourite places due to its culture clash. One end is totally Bangladeshi where we shared a curry + paratha (Indian food is not so common in the US hence why we decided to stop for some). Then the other end is totally hipster. We stumbled upon a secret sample sale, a vintage fashion market (underground may I add) and the most independent coffee shops in one strip I have ever seen. Along the way we saw the most incredible street art.

 So so intricate and clever.

 I thought this was cool. We love anti-slavery campaigns. Speaking of which have you guys heard of A21? They work to free victims of modern day slavery  (human trafficking) of which there are around 27 million peeople trapped within today...greater than any other time in history (yes, even when slavery was legal, there were less slaves!)

A sweet escape, my hiding place

I think these next few pictures speak for themselves. I wish I had more money, then I'd have sampled like everything.

 This guy was so careful in pouring out his bruschetta topping, it was almost an art.

 These funny chaps were at the end of the food stalls.

 Ahhh YUM!

 Then we stumbled across a Beano exhibition. SO RANDOM, SO FUN.

 Notice my glasses as Gnasher's face..I'm such a joker.

 Karli didn't quite get it, but its such a traditional British experience I couldn't let her miss out.

 Apparently Dennis the Menace is blonde in the US...who knew?

This was the 'Tree House'...apparently no adults allowed, but I'm 20, that doesn't really count does it? 

 Obviously, I had to add my name to the graffiti. I tried to be creative & failed. Naomi it was.

 We played ping pong for a while. I'm better than I expected.

And here's some cheeky birds to leave you with.

Next stop; East London.

And everyday I'm learning about you the things that no one else sees

In my last post I mentioned how Karli wanted to see street art. Here's some great examples. I don't know who this artist is, but these pieces are magnificently huge.

 The next thing we stumbled across were these bizarre creations.

 It was fun to describe these British-isms to my American friend. The fact that we do such things just for fun I think was slightly absurd to her. I guess it stems from the American stereotype of Brits as uptight/conservative..which I guess we are in some senses, yet our humour is deep routed as a nation, although slightly dry and self-deprecating, very amusing.

Things you'd hear around your neighbourhood. A lot of them you're more likely to hear in the North/Midlands (where I grew up) which was fun to see. Maybe that's part of the point though, to get Londoners to have a slightly greater neighbour-mentality.

 Loved that the Festival of Neighbourhood incorporated the nations. This piece had a poem playing inside of it, read by the school children who did the painting/design. It was slightly creepy, but very fun.

 Next we spied the South Bank Street Food Market. YUM.

 They were growing strawberries on the steps. So very quaint.

 Of course we had to sample the free food.

More to come...