Alice who?

Oh by the way, before I forget: Today I had to explain who Alice Cooper is... :'D Let's just say my jaw dropped to the floor.

Oxford Street

This afternoon I decided to go to Oxford Street for the last time before I'm headed home. It was... very unpleasant. The place was drenched in people and I sometimes had a hard time moving forwards in a decent tempo. Bleurgh. But at least I managed to find what I was looking for - two pairs of tights from Primark (extremely cheap, but also waaaay too much people in there), a present for a friend and on my way towards the bus I also found a Mark's&Spencer and did some of my last food shoppings here. Feels very odd... Oh, and I tried to look for a Vivienne Westwood store but in the end I was too tired to even bother, so.. yeah. xD
Oh and when it comes to the bus; I always try to get home by bus if I'm around Oxford Street since one of the buses go straight to where I live. If I would take the tube, it would take about the same amount of time, I'd have to switch tube lines and also - I wouldn't be able to see anything outside the train except for the tunnel. So... bus ftw!

Tate Modern



Okay, so it's monday. Which means a boring day, and also a bit sad because this is my last week here. Before I go home I'd like to go to a Vivienne Westwood store here (I can't believe I haven't already!), one last time to Camden, the Victoria and Albert Museum and to the school's pub night on Thursday. Maybe I'll be able to do some other things as well, we'll see how much time I'll have on my hands.

As I said, it's a boring day today (because I had to wash my laundry, go food shopping, etcetc.) so while I'm waiting for my laundry to dry up in the dryer I thought I'd write a little about last Wednesday when I went to Tate Modern with my classmate Jenny, a russian guy who's name I've forgotten and the swedish guy Erik who lives in my corridor.
Tate Modern is basically a museum of modern arts. I'd heard so much about it and everyone I talked to about it said it was a great place to visit. But honestly, I thought... well, it was alright, but not THAT fantastic. I saw a few paintings by Salvador Dalí, some Andy Warhol exhibition, some Picasso and a beautiful photography exhibition. Other than that, most of the stuff there was just hard for me to appreciate.

The Andy Warhol room. Pink cows on a yellow background! 8D

This was to remind people of WW2.

And this was just hilarious XD

...and so was this one. I laughed like a maniac when I saw it. So creative!

A painting by Salvador Dalí, my favourite painter. Need I say more?

Highgate Cemetery + new stuff!

Just a quick little post before I'm headed to bed. As you might notice I'm trying to put up everything that I've yet to post this week, but I also thought I'd make a little entry about what I actually did today xD
I went to Highgate Cemetery, a beautiful victorian cemetery which is definitely worth a visit (it hosts the grave of Karl Marx, for example...)! I finally found a quiet and peaceful place in London, haha...! I took like a million of pictures and I won't post any of them today, but when I get home I'll show you some of them. This was definitely a great day - I almost fell asleep on a bench at the cemetery because everything was so quiet. I haven't experienced this... quietness(?xD) in almost a month now so it was extremely relaxing.

Apart from the cemetery, I visited Camden yesterday. Surprised? No, of course not. :P I found some very nice stuff though:
A thumb ring for my left hand! Now I only need a ring for the middle finger on that hand, and a ring for my pinkie on the right hand... :D

Yarr! Earrings!

Alright, now it's time for bed. I hope those damn spaniards will shut up soon and just let me sleep...

Westminster



Last Tuesday I went to Westminster to have a closer look at Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament. Both are very impressing! I also went to have a look at Westminster Abbey - but appearantly you had to pay something along the lines of 15 pounds to enter and I'm not that eager to go inside. Therefore I sat down of the lawn outside and watched the exterior closely before heading back home again.

Protests and such outside the Houses of Parliament

The Houses of Parliament.

Westminster Abbey

British Museum & The Tower of London

Gosh, I haven't updated for a week now! Sorry 'bout that. It's just... that I haven't felt motivated and, of course, I've been very tired since I've been doing so much stuff!

Last weekend when my parents were here we went to British Museum and The Tower of London. Both places were great! There was so much to see in both places that I will just post a few pictures because if I'd tell you about everything I saw and experienced it would take an eternity...

British Museum:


The Flood Tablet. I recognised it from my culture hitory lessons the past year. I was amazed to find it here!

The remains of a 6000 year old human. Impressing, to say the least.

Cuneiform.

The Rosetta Stone - The most impressive item at the museum, or at least it was to me - language freak and all. Since the stone has such an important role in language history I was thrilled to see it for real!

The Tower of London:

The famous Traitor's Gate!

They had an impressive exhibition about the english kings' armors. This is the armory of Henry VIII, if I'm not mistaken.

Last but not least - some actors showed us the trial of Anne Boleyn. It was very, very interesting!

GACKT @ O2 Academy Islington

Alright, the weekend is over and I have been doing loads of stuff. First of all, I went to the Gackt concert on Friday evening. I got there pretty late since I had school and then I needed to get my school stuff home and everything. (and eat lunch as well...) So I arrived at the venue around 5 pm - one and a half hour before the admission. The queue was pretty... long. But I didn't care really, because I felt no need to be standing up at the front or anything.
As I went to the venue I met an Italian guy who asked me if I knew where it was. So naturally, I showed him the way and we ended up queueing together for the show. He was nice but his english wasn't too good so our conversations mainly involved stuff that's easy to talk about. :P I believe his name was Victor - but I lost him inside the venue so unfortunately we didn't exchange emails or stuff. Ah, such a pity.


Anyhow! As I got inside I bought some merchandise - but only a tank top though (and a t-shirt for a friend!) since the rest wasn't that interesting really. I was surprised as I went inside the hall because it was so small! I mean, Gackt usually plays at arenas right? Not surprising the tickets sold out quickly!
And then to show started. I couldn't believe I saw everything so clearly - I was so close to the band! Gackt had an amazing stage prescence and he definitely put a spell on the whole crowd. But actually I found Chachamaru more interesting actually :P He was so happy, smiling and cheerful all the time! I really liked his performance, and, of course, Gackt's as well. But Chacha made me feel happier, you know. The only thing that annoyed me during the concert were all the screaming fangirls... Seriously. And it was even worse when Gackt decided to strip and throw his tie and shirt into the crowd. I'm glad I wasn't up front XD
So, what did they play? Well, they started off with ZAN, DYBBUK and such, and played a lot more (I can't remember all songs, haha :P although most ones at his latest album were played) JESUS was played, and his new single EVER. JESUS was amazing, I loved it! There was so much energy in the band and the crowd. Great! Sadly, no Vanilla was played... But that's okay. I mean, it's really an old song so I'm not surprised he doesn't play it anymore.
All in all this concert was very cozy, I liked the atmosphere and most people were actually really really nice. It was also a bit funny that I was asked by a cameraman to be filmed and send a little message to Gackt, haha. Who know's if it'll make its way to the DVD, but... Yeah. It was a bit awkward though since I didn't really say anything interesting, haha.

Excited

Uwah, just a short little entry today!
This weekend will be busy - tomorrow's the GACKT concert and my family's coming to visit me for the weekend. So... I'll probably not update the blog until monday ;) (and it's damn crazy, I've almost been here for half a month already!)
Toodles, see you later!

Headed for Camden again...

I slept really badly this night. I went to bed around 10 pm and woke up around 2 am because people were being really loud in the corridor. And they continued to be for about 2 more hours - which means I went to sleep again about 4 in the morning. Ugh. And what's even worse is that when I got out of bed this morning and went into the kitchen, the whole place smelled like cigarette smoke, and the TV room was filled with cigarette stumps and empty wine and Coke bottles. Uack. The ones responsible have cleaned up a bit bit they haven't cleaned the dishes, and this time, neither will I. Some people seem to believe that their mother is living here.

Cyberdog's entrance

Ahem, apart from the rant, I went ot Camden Market with the social programme today. Two of my classmates accompanied me and we had a really great time :) One of the girls is really into fetish stuff, so it was interesting to hear her talk about it... x)
I ended up spending about £60 (lunch included in the price, haha) at the market today so that's not too bad. I tend to get carried away here and buy too much. <_< But this was some great stuff.


Pants or whatever from a store whose name I don't remember, underwear and a T-shirt from Cyberdog and some CD's (Alice Cooper and Mötley Crüe) from some random store.

It was my first time riding the bus here. Awesome!

Natural History Museum

Today I only took a trip to Islington, the place where the GACKT concert will be held on friday. I just wanted to see how everything is like around there and where to get off/on the bus and so on. It seemed alright, the venue is appearantly located inside a shopping centre of some sorts, so it won't be hard to get something to eat around there at least. :)

However! Yesterday I went to the Natural History Museum located among loads of other museums in South Kensington, so I had to travel a little longer than I usually do. But it was worth it! Here are some pictures:


The huge hall with mammals.


Dinosaur eggs


Rawr!


The central hall


Last but not least... appearantly I'm a fossil.

I also filmed a little while I was inside. Here it is for your viewing pleasures:


Sunday... phototime!

Yesterday I went to The Photographer's Gallery which is the photographic "museum" of London, so to speak. They have this Sally Mann exhibition right now which I was really interested in seeing! So I went there and I really liked the photos on display. Unfortunately one wasn't allowed to take photos (but of course, I get why xD).


I ended up with this as I left - a brochure about the exhibition and three postcards (one of mr Salvador Dalí, haha!) I also ended up talking a walk down Oxford Street this warm sunday. It was quite nice, but I didn't find anything interesting enough to write about ;D

Camden Town



Darkside in Camden Town

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been so busy the past days xD Anyhow! This is what happened on Saturday! I went to Camden Town with Pablo to do some shopping! But it was boiling hot, I almost thought I'd faint by the time we were leaving. 5 hours of walking certainly made my legs sore...


And this is what I ended up with! A top from Sai Sai's, a necklace from Elizium, underwear from Cyberdog (I just love this store... Really awesome) and a skirt from GLP, I think. All in all it was a great day, but I was deadly tired when I got home... xD

Rage against the washing machine

It's already friday and this week has been overwhelming, to say the least. Today, me and my class went to do some sightseeing in London City - which means we started at Tower Bridge and then made our way past The Tower of London, the Monument (in which I climbed all the 311 steps - I even have a certificate, haha :P), the Bank of England and last but not least - St. Paul's Cathedral. And of course I was damn stupid and forgot my camera. Great, so no pictures :(
Other than that, it was a really nice day, and afterwards we went to a pub together with our Speaking teacher Ray. Great way to start the weekend, I say :) Unfortunately we had to say good bye to three persons in the class who were finishing their course. I'm going to miss them because they were really nice :/ Paul the octopus, cross dressing, crisp rolls... ah... xD

This evening I'm staying at the accommodation to watch a movie on my laptop and if the washing machines are nice to me, I will try to get some laundry washed. I tried earlier this evening, but the stupid machine ate my money and I had to go to speak to the reception guy about it. He told me I'd get my money back then they finally get a service man to fix it. So I have to try one of the other machines, but they were all taken so I just have to wait a little while and then come back to try again...
The rest of my corridor seems to go to this party tonight, in which I'm not interested by the way. So they are currently getting ready as I'm writing this. I hope they will be off soon, so I might get some peace and quiet around here. ;)
Tomorrow, me and Pablo are going to Camden Town. Hopefully I'll get to do a lot of shopping there, eh heh heh. :'D

Already Wednesday evening?!



The National Gallery

Time is flying!
I've already been here for half a week now and it's quite hard to believe. A lot has happened since I wrote last time. For example, I've gotten to know a few people now and my class is really really nice. We spend the whole mornings laughing and learning at the same time - it's great!
I've also started to speak a bit to my neighbours, the people I share the corridor with. They seem to be nice, but it's hard to get to know the people who are from the same countries, since they always seem to talk to eachother and doesn't really care about the other people... It's quite sad I think. Meeting people from around the world is part of the whole experience I think...

Anyhow! Yesterday I went on a walk on Oxford Street together with my spanish acquaintance Pablo (lol, stereotypical much?) It was alright, too much people for my taste though. And then we went to Waterstones - the largest book store in London. It was great, I might go there again to buy a book or something.

Today I went to the National Gallery with the school's social programme. I chatted a bit with some girls I hadn't met before and then we walked around in the museum. I lost the rest of the people though because it was so huge XD And.. I finally got to see one of my favourite paintings:


Sando Botticelli's Venus & Mars. I just had to buy myself a postcard afterwards, haha! x)
So far I really like to live in London except for the fact that sometimes there are too many people. Ugh. I'm glad my apartment is big enough and private because otherwise it would be really hard for me to handle the huge amounts of people that I meet everyday.

One day.

Okay so now I've been in London for about a day and I'm completely exhausted. I should try to be a bit more social here at the accommodation but I really don't have the energy. I've been through so much these last few days that I'm not at all up for some random chatting with someone completely new.
However. The trip here went by all right and I finally found my "home" for this month. Today I got myself a tube/bus travelcard and an english phone number.. feels weird. xD My school seems great and the teachers as well. I got to chat a bit with some other students as well but I still feel kinda lonely. I've only gotten to know one person in the corridor - which is another swede. He's nice and all, but I wish I has the guts to just talk a little more to the others. Damn this shyness. (although I mainly feel lonely during the evenings so maybe I'm just too emotional at this time? Bah. I miss my family.)
Tomorrow is the beginning of my classes - which means I'll finally get to know my "true" class. Today we were just put together to do the test to determine what level we should be reading. So hopefully the annoyingly shy me will get to know someone... because otherwise this'll be one hell of a lonely month. ;(

Ready to go

I can't believe it, everything is set and my knees are shaking a bit. Tomorrow is the day!


My bag weighs 12 kgs. It's going to kill me a bit but it's all right and totally worth it. :P So this is my final blog post before heading to London and staying for a month. Follow my blog to see what kind of stuff I'll be doing. :) Buh-bye!

Packing

Today is the first day of serious packing. As you can see, I've already got myself a lot of stuff. And there's more to come...

I have to bring at least three books - a dictionary, the tourist guide and a cookbook (ehe^^').
I'm currently trying to figure out what clothes to bring and what to wash before I'm off. Camera batteries must get loaded, memory cards get emptied... and so on. Nervous? Of course, but at the same time I'm really looking forward to this experience. Aaaand of course there's another thing I'm a little worried about; the weight limit. I think you may only carry a maximum weight of 20 kgs, which probably isn't a big problem when I'm going - but the question is, how heavy will my bag be when I've been visiting London for a whole month? I'm planning to do a lot of shopping, so yeah... I'll keep my fingers crossed.


And this is my new handbag. It's so far so good and has a lot of pockets - which I love. It cost me only 149 SEK - and was totally worth it ^__^

It's getting close...

In exactly two weeks I'm going to London. I am getting a bit nervous, but at the same time I'm really looking foward to it. Mainly I'm nervous about these things: Getting lost at the airport, missing the flight, not finding my way to the apartment where I'm going to live for the whole month, etc etc. Traveling related, that is. It'll be my first time ever traveling to a country outside Scandinavia on my own. Phew!
I started to write a packing list but it's going a bit slow... I have to think everything through and make sure I remember to do all the preparations.
Speaking of preparations, I wonder how long it will take for my Gackt ticket to arrive? I mean, I understand if it takes a while since I live outside the UK and I couldn't choose priority mail... but it's been like almost two weeks now. If I'm not getting the ticket in the upcoming days I'll mail the ticket service center and ask what's taking so long. I don't want to miss out on this, especially since I've payed almost £50 to get it...

Oh, and by the way - I'm almost well again. Tomorrow is going to be a blast - I'm finally getting out of the house again :)

London

London is booked! <3

In the booking process.

I'm right in the middle of booking my trip to London~ I'm so damn excited! And of course, quite nervous as well. I haven't been living alone for more than a few days before, and now I'm suddenly going to live alone for a whole month. And in a foreign country as well...

Here are some pictures of the residence I'll be staying in during the month:
It looks awesome, doesn't it? 8D

Earlier posts

Katsu Jag går under pseudonymen Katsu, är 20 år gammal och kommer från Skåne men bor för närvarande i Uppsala där jag pluggar. Mina intressen involverar bland annat metal (och lite andra musikaliska genrer), fotografi, språk och spel. Detta lär dyka upp här och var i bloggen.
Det bästa sättet att känna igen mig är på min frisyr. Stort och spretigt - och svart, förstås.


bloglovin

RSS 2.0