Music: A change of taste.

It's really interesting to me how my music tastes have shifted since I got here. I still like all the same bands (and some new ones) and music, but what I actually choose to listen to is different.

As you all know, because I repeatedly tell you without mercy, London is very loud. It's also very busy and there are just a metric crap-ton of people everywhere, all the time. The only time I get silence is if I come home from a late night, around 11pm, or 3am, or the like. I love and cherish those quiet, near silent walks home in the dark with just the streetlights to guide my way. Sometimes I see the city foxes running through the slats in the park fences and I say hello, but at those quiet hours in my neighborhood it's like no one else exists but me...and it's so enjoyable.

But that brings me to music. When I was at home in Arizona, up until I left I was enjoying quite a bit of electronic music, dub-step and music with a much more rapid pace to it. Also lots of pop music and catchy things that you might hear on the radio. But now that I am in London, a place so busy and fast and populated, all I want to do is have a peaceful melody with which to drown out all the other sounds.

And thus, I present to you a few songs from a few artists that I have been OBSESSIVELY listening to, on repeat: Ellie Goulding, The Oh Hello's, The Civil Wars, and Birdy. (And no, I have not stopped listening to Paramore, duhhhh).

I suggest is that you play these whilst browsing the internet, or browsing photos of rainy England or something. Or just press play, take a deep breath and close your eyes. Enjoy the quiet and the serenity!

Ellie Goulding - Explosions

The Oh Hello's - The Lament of Eustace Scrubb

The Civil Wars - Devil's Backbone

Birdy - Shelter

Paramore - Future

I'm a work of art. And also a tourist.

"The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist." - Russell Baker

(Disclaimer: Blogger is a very annoying application to try and put pictures into, so I apologize for the weird order in which they are placed on the page...I tried everything!)

It's a very confusing feeling, moving somewhere and then going to do tourist things. You wonder if you're still a tourist...or if there's another name for it? I live here in this city now, but here I am walking around with my camera amidst the throng of people who don't live here but also have cameras.

Anyway, my new friend Erin and I (HEY GIRL!) went on a tourist day to see a few sites and it was really fun. Erin is especially good company and I owe my friend Sarah B. some British treats or something for introducing us. Or maybe a postcard because I'm a poor graduate student.

So Erin and I walked the Waterloo Bridge, where I took some photos of Parliament and the Thames River (remember, it's pronounced like "temmz") and the London Eye (the giant ferris wheel that I still haven't been on, much to my disappointment).





At the end of the bridge we happened upon a weird looking truck, painted to look like an old-school camera. There was a huge line of people so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be something called Inside Out Project, the London edition. It was started by an artist called JR from France, who used portraits as a way to speak to the world about different issues (take a gander at the website, it's really interesting stuff!). The London version was essentially asking "What do you have to say to the world?" through facial expression in your portrait. The photos were printed in HUGE format, and then they glued them to the sidewalk in rows.

Not the type of people to miss such an amazing opportunity, Erin and I decided to stand in line. About 1.5 hours later, we got our turn. So when you finally go into the truck there's like a little photo booth, and then you literally have 6 seconds to think of something, and then it takes your picture. And that's it. So here was mine!

 And there we are, being immortalized on the sidewalk behind the Somerset House...at least until the rain washes us away...or they take it down. Whichever comes first.

Somerset House:

Anyway, then we were off to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, as well as Big Ben:

There's a statue of good ol' Abraham Lincoln near the Abbey:

And then there's this giant blue cock in Trafalgar Square. I have no idea why. I shall have to investigate further:

I swear I'm still a blogger!

I know, I know. I haven't been blogging. Partially because I've been busy, partially because I've been lazy, and partially because I had written some things up that, after a recent death in the family, just seemed so unimportant in the current moment that I deleted them and then had to start all over.

Honestly, they still seem unimportant. My beautiful and wonderful and sweet cousin Andrew passed away over the weekend from cancer (can I get a loud "FUCK CANCER!" yell from my readers, please?) and since then everything has seemed...diluted. And so trivial. But I know that I cannot, and he would not want me to, feel that way forever. So I am bucking up and dealing with the days as they come and the sad moments as they come as well. It is hard, VERY hard, to be away from my family right now. And not just a state or two, but oceans away from them at a time when we all need each other the most. Crying to my mother over Skype about this great loss that we are all suffering is just not the same as crawling into her lap for motherly hugs and embraces. But what can I do? Keep living, I guess.

Anyway, enough of that. I GOT AN INTERNSHIP! AND A JOB! Yes, both.

The internship is with a company called Ki'pe'peo Designs, run by a wonderful woman named Rachel. The company is focused on women's empowerment and business skills in the Nairobi (Kenya) slums. They teach the women to make greeting cards out of recycled materials, which are then sent to the UK and sold here. There have been tragedies and successes with the business, but at the moment it is doing fairly well. Hopefully I can help make it even better. I start on Tuesday, and will be doing all sorts of operational goodness, which is exactly what I want. Hands on, NGO experience where I can make a difference. Plus maybe I can even head to Kenya next summer to really get involved. I bet you didn't think I was planning on going back, DID YA?! HA!

As for the job, I am working with AIESEC again, but this time I am on the National Support Team (NST) for AIESEC United Kingdom, doing local committee development. Basically, I will be helping newly formed committees and demoted committees be the best that they can be. Which is going to be pretty darn excellent if I have anything to say about it (which I do, as I'm sure you know)!

My AIESEC work actually brought me to Southampton over the weekend, which was rainy but nice and quiet, which I liked, as you all know by now how terribly loud London is. Here's a few pictures I took of the beautifully empty streets in Southampton (located Southwest of London, if you didn't know). Also a photo of a cute table sign featuring British slang.