London Sketch Book

Whale Hello There!

Just wanted to give you a little peak into my London Study Abroad Experience! Throughout my trip, I filled 4 sketchbooks! Here's all of the images and drawings from my end of semester project-a London A-Z guidebook of my journey! Enjoy:

(This pic was actually taken at the Cliffs of Ireland, but its too beautiful not to use)

(Hey! I'm Allie, and I've been spending Fall of 2014 in...London!)

(Here's my London A-Z...It's filled with quotes, pictures, anecdotes and my favorite London places and spaces<3)

"Keep a Notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than grey matter, and lead pencil markings endure longer than memory."-Jack London

Our Honors Class went and visited Abbey Road together, it was super cool!

My flatmates and I lived in Bayswater, London. Here's a pic I drew of us sitting on our 1950s-style red and black couch. Here's Jimmy, Ella, Eric, Sarah, and Evan, the wonderful 5 who lived with me in Flat #5. We had a ton of adventures in that flat-from watching terrifying indie movies to attempting to save our floor from a flooding washing machine, it was a living situation to remember.

Brick Lane was the ultimate "Hipster" neighborhood in London. It has a rich history, and currently serves as the coolest place to see street art by artists like Stik and Roa. There are a ton of chic curry restaurants and thrift shops. Around the corner is the Backyard Mark(e)t, where local artists sell t-shirts, prints, and hand-made jewelry. I took my Dad to this awesome Marketplace and he was surprised by how cool and trendy the Lane was. We also found a super cool thrift store called Blitz where I bought a ton of knit hats with pompoms on top. Sarah and I went on an amazing street art tour that inspired my Honors Seminar presentation on Street Art and the Community. The art in this area brings a lot of tourists to Brick Lane, which helps to support the thriving area and its inhabitants.

Classroom #7 was in the attic of the Ithaca College London Centre, and holds some amazing memories from my Honors Seminar-London: City as Text. The class was taught by Bill, the cool Canadian ex-director of the Centre. Bill would take us on walks all around the city-to Abbey Road, Beatles Landmarks, Parks, Historical churches, the Docklands, and anywhere within a 3 hour radius of the school. On one particularly memorable day, Bill journeyed with my 4 flatmates and I to Richmond Park, where we explored the area in the rain, bought hot cocoa, saw a rugby match and clapped for marathon runners. Bill is an amazing individual, and helped us to see London in a whole different way. This image depicts one hilarious learning exercise that occurred in the classroom-Bill teaching us about the London Soccer teams and Cricket. He handed out Football scarves for us to dress up in, and Cricket gloves. Besides football, Bill loved to talk about the London airport drama and the impact of the Roman Roads on modern London society.

Bill showing us around Glastonbury

Sarah and I looking cool with Bill in front of Stone Henge (this might be the greatest picture from my study abroad journey).

One of my favourite courses was Drama and the London Theatre that I took with a bunch of my best friends. Our course was taught by an amazing lady nicknamed Munmun. She took us to a ton of cool and quirky shows on the West End and in the National Theatre. Her catch phrase was "that's just pure theatre!" and we enjoyed debating casting and plot lines for hours in the class. Some of the most notable acts were Beaux Stratagem-a show devoted to the crooked pursuits of men trying to marry for money, Rooselvis-a show about Teddy Roosevelt, Elvis, and female relationships, Waste-a show where it seems like the actors just yelled "Waste!" a lot, Warhorse-there were a lot of cool puppets, Medea-There was a lot of screaming and death, and Les Mis-We all cried a lot.

Sarah and I decided to be adventurous and travel out to Zone 6 of London. She was doing a research project on forests, and had found that there was a forest in London. We decided to journey forth to this wondrous place-Epping Forest! After an hour train ride, we set off with Google Maps down Main Street. After 2 hours of walking, we failed to find the elusive forest.  Everyone we spoke with had no idea where Epping Forest would be. To this day, we still have no idea if it really exists.

Sarah and I journeying through Kensington Gardens

One of the many Galleries my Art in London class visited. We saw an awesome Rodrigo Matheus Exhibition filled with interesting objects and nostalgia.

Our Honors class took us to the memorial site for the Bethnal Green disaster. We spoke with a survivor who was working to pay for the memorial-for information about this disaster check out this link.

My cousins lived in Hampstead, and let me visit for Halloween trick-or-treating! 

The ICLC, Ithaca College London Centre building. It was a Victorian-age home refurbished with classrooms and smart boards!

Anna, John and I went to see "Howl's Moving Castle" at Prince Charles Cinema. It's one of our favorite films-and it was amazing to see it on the big screen!

My lovely friend Anna and I experienced the Jack the Ripper tour together on Brick Lane. It was terrifying and exciting! Our tour guide was an American from Georgia pursuing a Graduates degree in History in London. She was super cool and told us about how the Jack the Ripper case was solved. We also utilized the huge blanket-scarf that my mom bought me, which is now known as "The Blarf."

Anna and I at Glastonbury Castle on a Ghost Hunt, several weeks before the Jack the Ripper Tour. We really loved ghost stories and created an amateur paranormal investigation club called the "Spook Squad."    

We had a lot of fun at that castle, and met some enthusiastic tour guides who loved ghost stories as well.

Here's a pic of the one time I went running with Sarah and Ella-jogging masters-through Kensington Gardens near our home in Bayswater!

Ladies Nite! Featuring our red/black color-schemed flat with Ella, Sarah, Meghan, Bryn, Anna and Stella...(if you look in the pan you can see Stella's Nutella cookies which baked together to form the ultimate Nutella cake).

A solo adventure I went on to The Monument-a large spire of 400 stairs dedicated to the people affected by the Great Fire of London. If you climb all the way to the top, you get a great 360 degree view of London and the River Thames! They also give you a certificate because 400 stairs is A LOT of stairs... 

We lived right next to Notting Hill in Bayswater. Every fall, Notting Hill throws the biggest street party in Europe. The festival celebrates Caribbean Heritage and the people of the neighborhood. It was wild-people filled the streets everywhere! It took us an hour and a half to get through the crowd to get home.

The lights at Oxford Circus were incredible! All of the shopping district was lit up for Christmas and the holidays. The Christmas Season begins the day after Halloween-and Brits take Christmas VERY seriously.

Prince Charles Cinema was one of my favorite places to go with my friends-we all bought annual memberships and attended about a dozen different shows at a discounted price! It is such a fun little independent theatre that features special pizza nights and shows everything from 80s Vampire Movies to It's a Wonderful Life. The Theatre is quite famous and brings in directors and actors to give introductions and talks when they're in the neighborhood.

For some reason, there was an Ice Skating Rink/Bowling Alley at the end of our block. I don't know why these two things were combined, but it was a wonderful place of novelty and intrigue (and it had an arcade!). What strange times we live in...

This was by far one of the coolest Art Exhibitions I've ever attended! Ai Wei Wei is amazing, and I encourage you to follow and like him on Social Media-Twitter.

Sarah, Jimmy and I went to Warner Bros Studios and experienced all that the Harry Potter Studio Tour had to offer-from Butter Beer Ice Cream to riding a broom with a green screen. It was a magical day!

One of my favourite British Art Museums to explore with my art class and my Dad-The Tate Modern was incredible and always had something exciting to show off! Unfortunately, the exhibit featuring a Dali painting was closed when my Dad visited, and he did not get to see the Dali as he had dreamed. Otherwise, it was amazing and my favourite piece was probably a starfish wearing a Barbie high heel, mounted on the wall in a picture frame. Art.

Bill took our Honors Class to Victoria Park and said "Alright, you can play for five minutes..." A half hour later, he struggled to contain our wild college-student energy as we wreaked havoc on the amazing park and its many play sets. 

For my Art in London Class, I visited the Wellcome Collection Gallery in order to see the installation by Ann Veronica Janssens: yellowbluepink.

This installation piece required my friend and I to wait in line for 3 hours before we could go into a small room filled with colored mist. It was an amazing and terrifying experience that allowed the viewer to work with their subconscious mind.

Some of the tube cars were too tall for me. 

Bryn, Megan, Anna, and I down in the tube on our way to see Vampire Hospital Waiting Room, the greatest musical to hit the West End for 2 weeks!

Sarah and I did a ton of (legal!) graffiti in the "Banksy Tunnel" under Waterloo Station. It was an incredible space filled with artists, street art, empty cans and the toxic smell of spray paint.

X is a really hard letter to find a London Letter for...Xenia is all about hospitality, and everyone I met was totally friendly, so...there ya go!

Mary Poppins inspired me throughout the trip...Saving Mister Banks was a great film to watch on one of my nights off!

One of the strangest Drama in the London Theatre Shows we saw...the characters may or may not have been dead, and spent the entire show fighting.

I spent a lot of time in this Italian Restaurant Chain in London-I went with my Dad and his co-worker, with my Mom and her friends, and on the last night of my London adventure with Sarah and Ella after we watched it's a Wonderful Life at Prince Charles Cinema!

My London ICLC Class :) (I'm the "E" in "SEASONS")

"My Mom has this thing where she likes to take photos with jazz hands"-What I had to say at every major world landmark...

Much Love,
Gold Girl Allie


P.S.
Remember:

There are good things waiting for you Just Around the River Bend...

:)