G20, the cinema, and Camden Town

As I'm sure many of you saw on the news, last week was the G20 Summit in London. Since we don't have TVs in our rooms, it wasn't really until the protests started to flare up that we realized that this summit might be a bigger deal than we thought. We were supposed to go down to the center of town on the Wednesday that the summit began for a class field trip...but I made the executive decision not to go because the transportation promised to be a nightmare. I didn't want to get in the middle of the Tube and it be so crowded that I wouldn't make it to my class on time (and waste 2 pounds). This was a good call because apparently rioters attempted to break into the Bank of England, and they successfully broke into the Bank of Scotland and began destroying the place. It would have been cool to be in on the action, but not cool at all to be caught up in it all and get arrested! However, I didn't hear anything much about the summit after that, and the rest of the visit went off without a hitch. Apparently, everyone over here was wowed by Michelle Obama and loved all of her outfits. She was all over the free papers that they give out on the Tube, and all of the reporters came to the conclusion that she looked miles better than Prime Minister Gordon Brown's wife. I don't know much about global politics, but I do know a bit abut fashion, and I'd have to agree.

If you know me at all, in any way, shape, or form, you know that one of the foremost loves of my life is movies. If my money would hold out, I could go to the theater every night and see one. So it's been a long, hard three and a half months without going to the movies. This is not to say that I still don't watch movies...as an abroad student, you get very well acquainted with certain websites that have less than legal copies of movies and television shows. But I had not gone to the theater, bought a ticket, some candy, and a drink, and then spent two hours in a darkened theater with twenty other people in three and a half months. So on Friday night, we decided to go to the small cinema (they aren't called theatres over here...those are for plays, cinemas are for movies) in Notting Hill and see 'Two Lovers.' It was a lot of fun to go to the cinema. The tickets at this smaller cinema (2 screens) were probably equal after conversion to American ticket prices, and there was a nice area where you could buy a beer, mixed drink, or nicer food to take into the theatre with you. The cinema was in Notting Hill and owned and operated by a church, the Kensington Temple. I think I may go to see another movie before I leave...although, they have far less movies than there are in the United States...now, there are probably only 10 movies to choose from in the entire city.

On Saturday, Katherine, Rachel, and I went to Camden Town and explored the markets. Camden Town is essentially a couple of large markets, along with lots of established stores. I feel like Camden is the London that we have missed living in Kensington. Kensington is such a nice, safe, POSH area of London. Camden Town has the punks, the Rastafarians, the goths, and all of the hipsters. There were lots of really funny T-shirts, cute dresses, jewelry...but also lots of leather, bongs, pipes, and inappropriate body jewelry. I would compare certain parts Camden Town Market to gigantic Hot Topics. But there were also amazing vintage stores that we spent a lot of time looking through. There was a really exciting and unique food market...with food fromMe xico, China, India, etc, crepes, and freshly squeezed juices. Sadly, we ate before we got there, and could only walk through and enjoy the smells. I made one purchase at the markets...it is a really unique leather bracelet with a key charm and beads. It was only 3 pounds!

After the market, we went out to eat for a friend's 21st birthday at Texas Embassy. The food there is not the best (nothing compared to the Mexican food of Barberitos or Senor Garcia's) , but they have good chips and salsa and margaritas, so it was a fun and chill Saturday night. Since we had such a large group, we sat upstairs and listened to the musical act that was performing.