Edinburrrrrr-gh

Yea yea yea, cheesy pun, I know. But fun puns make the world go round.

I spent this past weekend up in Edinburgh with people from my study abroad program. The train ride was only 4 hours but when you wake up early on a Friday morning to make the trek, it seemed a bit longer. Arriving at around 2 we dropped our bags at our hostel and immediately went in search of some food. A few of us ended up at a Thai restaurant before heading back to the hostel to figure out plans for the rest of the night.

One of my favorite, unexpected finds from the trip came that night and it was a second hand book store. We spotted it on a walk back to the hostel from a Sainsbury's and it was like walking to heaven on earth. The smell of old books stacked from the floor to the ceilings and a selection containing so many great writers nearly made me giddy. I could have spent hours in there if I had the time. I did find a book containing all 56 of the Sherlock Holmes short stories with their original illustrations. And with my student discount all it cost me was a fiver! Definitely the best £5 I've spent since arriving in the UK.

That night some of us decided to hit a local club and after a bit of a wait ended up in a place with plastic American flags everywhere. It was a bit weird, but nonetheless the night was a blast after everyone got there as the music was, for the most part, pretty on point. And of course, we couldn't not have a little Scotch in Scotland.

On Saturday one of my best friends, who is doing a semester at St. Andrews, made the short trip to Edinburgh to hang out with me, which was really exciting! First thing a bunch of us decided to do was to make the hike up to Arthur's Seat and boy was it a hike. But the view from the top was absolutely worth it.  For those who don't know, Arthur's Seat is an extinct volcano from the top of which you can see basically all of the Edinburgh skyline. The climb to the top was a bit of a mess as it was muddy, slippery, cold, and extremely windy, but the view from the top was breathtaking. Pictures truly don't do it justice. The hike back down was much easier aside from the fact that it started to snow. That part was a bit odd.

With a view like that I couldn't help but throw up my diamond at Arthur's Seat. FTK.

After the hike we made our way to a local Mexican restaurant before we headed over to Edinburgh Castle. We didn't have as much time as we'd have necessarily liked because the castle closes at 5, but nonetheless we made the most of it. The castle as a whole was absolutely beautiful despite being so old. The part that most interested me was the prisons. On one of the preserved doors on display you could see where an American prisoner actually carved an early version of the US flag. It was actually really cool to see when you consider it was done during the Revolutionary War, or as it was called here: the War of American Independence. 

One of the things about the prison that struck me was the showers: they reminded me of the showers in East halls, but better. Seriously. Part of it could've been how they were remodeled but they still looked better. And the sleeping quarters for the prisoners were barely bigger than the East dorms.

By this time the castle was about to close so we headed back to our hostel, which was fortunately only a short walk, to relax a bit. A few of us met up with some others from our group and headed out to the Fiddler's Arms pub for a bit to eat. It wouldn't be right to head to Scotland and not get some fish and chips and a pint. As you can see below, mine was massive.

Unfortunately we left early the next day to head back to London. I wish we'd have had more time to explore but despite being short, my trip to Edinburgh was a lot of fun and hopefully I'll go back. Just with some more cold weather gear. This weekend it's off to tour Leavesden Studios, better known as the Harry Potter Studio Tour. I'm already kind of geeking out about that one!

Talk to y'all soon!

Xx

Getting Acclimated

Hey all!

Despite the endless fun and free time that was first 2 weeks of my trip, I am actually here to go to school. I'd almost forgotten about that part as I toured the city. Class structure here, or should I say module structure, is very different. I only have 4 classes and each is split into 2 parts: a lecture and a seminar that totals 3 hours a week. Fortunately, my schedule leaves me Wednesdays and Fridays off to explore. And all of my final grades, or marks, consists of one exam in May and one paper. That's it. This means a lot of studying, or revising, on my own and better time management skills. So far so good though. I especially like my Modern American history (1850-1920) class since it is taught from a completely different perspective than I have ever been taught.

One other thing starting classes has brought me is a routine. No longer do I feel like a tourist in a strange city. It feels more like home now that I've settled in.

I read recently that London is officially the most expensive city in the world. I can back that up; this city is damn expensive. As a self-proclaimed shopaholic who is near Oxford Street and Regent Street on a regular basis, this is a problem. It's just so nice finally having my favorite stores right by me instead of having to rely on the internet for my fashion favorites. I'm trying not to shop, I really am…

To quell my shopping urges, I've found that I like walking around and simply window shopping or popping into random shops I've never heard of, just for a look. Recently I went out to Camden Market by myself just because I felt like it. As I wandered in and out of the stalls I took the time to observe my surroundings and just take it all in. The place is just so different from your typical tourist stuff (It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in London). It's much more alternative and eclectic than you'd expect. And there is food from all over the globe, I was a little disappointed that I'd eaten before I left or else I would have eaten more. Almost everything in the market is negotiable from what I've gathered so next time I go I plan to bring my best bartering skills even though a good number of the stalls sell similar things that are clearly geared toward tourists.

Outside of the markets there are your more typical stores such as Boots, Urban Outfitters, etc., which was also nice when the urge to be a tourist vanished. I was fortunate to wander into a pub that wasn't too crowded with tourists and it very well may have become one of my favorites.

That's all for now!

Xx

Winter Nudes

Hello all!

Hope you're having a great week so far. I've decided to give a crack at a product review post since I am partly a beauty blog after all and I don't think mini reviews in my monthly favorites does products full justice. So onward with: Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Lychee.

Winter months tend to mean darker nail polish shades are more likely to grace my nails. And since I do my nails about once a week on the regular, I cover quite a few shades but also tend to run out of dark shades. Barry M was one of the brands I was super excited to try when I landed in London as I've heard plenty of great things about the brand, especially the nail polishes. When I saw the Gelly Nail Paint shade in Lychee I was intrigued. I'm not one for nude nails at any time of the year but since the Barry M nail products were on offer at Boots I decided to give it a whirl.

The color kind of reminds my of a light taupe/ milky coffee color; you know, when people add coffee to their cream and sugar (Hi dad). It also kind of reminds me of my foundation when I pour it on my wrist before application. And since the color is so neutral, I think it would work with almost any skin tone. It's not to yellow or too pink. 

While I've never had gel nails, the finish looks almost identical and has amazing lasting power. I've had these on my nails for about 5 days now and not a chip or peel in sight. And for someone who is prone to peeling nails, this is amazing. And it is all without a topcoat because the finish is so lovely and it dries relatively fast enough that there really is no need for a top coat.

What is your opinion on nude nails? 

Xx 

(Note: For my fellow Americans who may be interested in Barry M nail paints and are not in the UK, you can sometimes get them on ASOS, although they are not there currently. The official Barry M website is the only place I know of you can currently get them )  

Whirlwind of a Week

Oh what a week it has been!

I cannot remember the last time I have been this tired and it wasn't because of THON weekend. I've done the red bus tour, gotten lost a few (ok a lot of) times, met a ton of new people, and I have completely fallen in love with London. Every day has brought new challenges and experiences and I can't wait to see what else is in store.

I'm going to keep this relatively short because I could easily ramble on and on about everything I've seen and done since my arrival. But in this short time I have already learned so much about myself and really had the time to reflect on how far I have come from a mental health stand point. I was a little worried my anxiety would go into overdrive when I got here and I would not be able to take it all inane enjoy it. I'm not one who deals with having many sudden changes to my schedule all that well, but so far so good.

On a more beauty related note I am happy to say that I have finally gotten my hands on the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer and it is every bit as good as advertised! Same goes for the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish and the Soap&Glory Sugar Crush Body Wash. I nearly squealed like a weirdo when I used these for the first time after longing for them for such a long time. My plan whilst I'm here is to try/buy primarily products I can't/are extremely hard to/are more expensive to get in the states. The same goes for fashion. Topshop being less expensive over here is extremely dangerous for my bank account...

If these kinds of posts aren't your thing fear not, I will still be writing beauty, etc. related posts. But I thought it;d be nice to keep y'all, especially my family back home, updated on my travels. This ended up taking a different tone than I wanted, ah well.

Talk to y'all later!

Xx

Stuck In a Rut

To say I have been stuck in a rut recently would be an understatement.

My fall semester is officially over but the last weeks of the semester were a very trying time for me mentally. I went from having no time to breathe one week to having absolutely nothing to do the last week of classes. Oddly enough, the week I had nothing to do was the harder week for me. Sure, I spent time prepping for my semester abroad and studying, and I did - honest, but that still left loads of free time. Thus my boredom drove me into a rut. And when I get stuck in a rut, it's normally a deep one.

As someone who as suffered from deep clinical depression, the thought of being in a rut scares me. I'm always terrified that I could easily fall back into my depression. I tend to over-think even the most minute aspects of my life so having endless amounts of free time that leads to crazy amounts of boredom, can be a bit dangerous especially when I'm alone. Having down time is normally nice, but too much of it lets my mind wander into scary territories that I would rather never revisit ever again. Some people may say it is the stereotypical "seasonal depression" that many people seem to suffer from, but that doesn't make it any less important since it can easily carry over for a longer period of time.

Even as I write this I'm still stuck a bit, partly due to confusion on the potential future direction of this blog; I will likely start doing more beauty related posts because I enjoy them. And primarily due to a massive writers block that has been driving me bonkers. Normally when I'm stuck, I write. I'm no Jane Austen by any means and most of the time this writing never sees the light of day, but it's therapeutic and helps clear my mind. Not being able to figure out things to write about is frustrating to no end.

In order to help get my out of my rut and out of my writers block, I thought I'd share of few of the things that have helped me out. Maybe if you are stuck you can try one of these things out as a small step in the right direction. One of the things I did/do to relax a bit is some extra pampering and me time. My handy dandy Origins Drink-Up mask and my recently purchased Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque seemed to do the trick. Nicely scented masks are always a go-to for me whenever I am stressed. I've found that taking care of yourself in even the smallest of ways, such as skincare, can really be beneficial in the long-run to you taking care of your mind. It may seem superficial to some, but for me it works since it is a baby step in feeling good about yourself and can make you happy if even for only a moment.

But probably the most helpful of all of the things I did came in the form of aromatherapy. I'd always wanted to try the this works deep sleep pillow spray; I've heard many great things about it and how helpful it can but was always put off from buying indue to the price. However, as I was online shopping on black friday on ASOS, I saw they had a little "dream team" bundle with mini versions of the spray and the deep sleep stress less rollerball, so I decided to give it a go. In short, they combine Lavender, Chamomile, and Vetivert for a soothing aroma. It is so relaxing and has helped me sleep and clear my mind of all of the stress caused from being stuck in such a rut.

There are also a multitude of other things you can do to clear your mind when you're stressed and get you out of a rut. These are simply two of the main things I tend to fall back on when I get stuck.

What do you do when you're in a similar situation?

Talk to y'all soon!

Xx