Author Archives: Isabella Fordyce

About Isabella Fordyce

My name is Bella Fordyce, and I'm a sophomore from South Elgin, Illinois studying public relations at Penn State University. This semester, I'm studying abroad at University College London, and I look forward to sharing my adventure with you!

What I Ate in Copenhagen

If you had asked me a month ago what makes Denmark so great, the last thing I would’ve said would be the food. When I think of Scandinavian cuisine, I immediately picture lots of fermented/pickled fish or something you could get from an Ikea cafeteria. So needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find AMAZING food in Copenhagen! The food scene there has been gaining more and more attention over the last several years, with Copenhagen being home to several Michelin-starred restaurants and what is considered to be the best restaurant in the world, Noma. While we didn’t partake in the some of the nicer eateries, we were able to find great food all around the city:

Smørrebrød

Smørrebrød: Don’t ask me how to pronounce it, but Smørrebrød are open-faced sandwiches that are quintessentially Danish. They’re made with Danish rye bread and are usually topped with some sort of seafood or egg salad, and can be found almost everywhere in Copenhagen. We went to Torvehallerne, an upscale food market (and one of the best I’ve ever been to) to try them, and we weren’t disappointed. I had a less-traditional Smørrebrød with roast beef, pickled veggies, grated horseradish, and fried onions, while my friend had one with breaded white fish and a shrimp topping.

flødeboller

Pastries: They’re not called danishes for nothing! Still at Torvehallerne, we stopped at a bakery for some dessert. Denmark is famous for cinnamon buns, or Kanelsnegle, so of course we had to get one of those—and it was out of this world! I also got something called a flødeboller, which when I translated the name on my phone it came up as ‘cream puff’. I was expecting the typical choux pastry with cream in the middle, but it turned out it was just marshmallow fluff covered in chocolate–still teeth-rottingly sweet and delicious though!

Carlsberg

Carlsberg: Copenhagen is home to Carlsberg beer, a brand that you can find in probably every bar in Denmark. They have a “Carlsberg Exbeerience” visitor’s center at their original factory that includes tours of the factory, the largest collection of beer bottles in the world, 20 Jutland horses, and of course, a bar. Admission includes two free drinks, so we tried the original Carlsberg and the Carlsberg Special Brew. I’m generally not a beer person, but Carlsberg is my new go to–though I’m not sure how common it is in the US.

Cheesecake

Cheesecake: One of our walking tour guides told us that we would be crazy not to try the cheesecake at Bertel’s Salon, so of course we couldn’t pass it up! We got there about an hour before closing, they only had a few flavors left, and it was expensive (a whole cheesecake goes for 450dkk, or about $70!)–but it was the best cheesecake I’ve ever had in my entire life. Hands down, no contest. I had the cherry, and it was the perfect mix of tart and sweet, and the cake itself was rich without being too dense. It was my heaven.

Othellokage

Hot chocolate and more cake: Yet another cake place we couldn’t not go to. Conditori La Glace is the oldest confectionery in Denmark, and the interior is the same as it would’ve been back in the 1870’s when it first opened (so basically adorable in every way). It also has one of the best hot chocolates in the world (according to the internet), so we were there. We got the hot chocolate which was delicious and intensely rich, and it came with its own little silver dish of whipped cream. They offered free seconds, but I literally couldn’t move afterwards so I wasn’t up for it. We also had two of their famous cakes–the sportskage, which was crushed nougat and whipped cream with a macaroon bottom and caramelized choux pastry, and the othellokage, with custard cream and chocolate ganache. Both were to die for, and the atmosphere of the cafe made it even better.

Brunch at Paludan

#Danesknowbrunch: The morning after we arrived, we went for brunch at Paludan Bogcafe, a bookstore/cafe/bar recommended to us by a friend who was in Copenhagen a few weeks earlier. We each got the Paludan’s Brunch, and it was mind blowing. It included scrambled eggs with sun dried tomatoes, bacon, sausage, prosciutto and melon, smoked salmon, a pancake, danish brown bread with butter, two cheeses, and homemade berry jam, mixed fruit, Greek yogurt with berries, syrup and muesli, and a choice of a smoothie or fresh-squeezed orange juice. I didn’t even know where to start but everything on the plate was delicious!

That’s all for Copenhagen!

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen

A few weekends ago, we decided to make a last minute trip to Denmark–you know, to get away from the cold and overcast weather and the expensive restaurants and stores of London. Copenhagen has got to be one of my new favorite cities–it’s small for a European capital but it couldn’t have been more different than London. Here are six things I loved about København, Danmark.

Nyhavn

Nyhavn: I’ve been to a lot of places where I’ve seen pictures of the most iconic place/street, and then have expected the whole town or city to look like that, or be in that style. Copenhagen was the first place where the style of the iconic Nyhavn harbor carried throughout the city. It almost felt as if everything was built at one time, because all of the buildings look the same and they’re almost all the same height–kind of like “it’s a small world” land. That being said, Copenhagen was adorable. Pastel-colored houses and cobblestoned streets were around every corner.

Hygge: Hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) is the one word of Danish I learned while in Copenhagen (it’s a hard language!), and it’s my new favorite word. It doesn’t have a direct English translation, but the closest would be ‘cozy’. It’s basically the feeling that you get when you curl up under a blanket by the fire on a cold night, in an oversized sweater while drinking a cup of tea. It’s not just a term, but it’s a lifestyle–I’m convinced Hygge is why Denmark was just named the happiest country on earth, even though it’s insanely expensive to live there and for a lot of year it’s dark 17 hours a day and freezing cold.

Spa day at the aquarium

Fish Pedicures: This isn’t a Danish thing, and it’s definitely not something I planned on doing while in Copenhagen, but when we walked by the window we couldn’t help but go inside. I’d seen fish spas on TV (I’m pretty sure the Kardashians did it once), but I’d never seen one in the US (and as it turns out, a lot of states have banned them). Basically what you do is wash your feet really well, a spa worker checks for any broken skin or scabs (which need covered by a bandage), and you just dunk your feet in the tank for anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes. The fish go crazy and start eating all of the dead skin off your feet (which I definitely needed after months of walking around London), and, as gross as it might sound, it really works! It didn’t hurt at all either–the fish don’t have teeth–but it tickled like crazy!

The People: Everyone we met was super friendly (and they all speak English!). So nice and friendly–until they got on their bikes. I didn’t see anyone with a helmet (I saw several with noise-cancelling headphones though), and they tend not to care about the rules of the road–our tour guide put it best when he said “the biking vikings take no prisoners”. All near-death experiences with bikers aside, everyone was super nice–and so pretty! Maybe it’s because they don’t see that much sun so their skin is just really nice, maybe it’s because everyone is very tall and blonde, or maybe it’s because everyone dresses like a model out of an H&M catalogue.

Sweden: Just because we could, we decided to get lunch on Sunday–in Sweden. It was only a half-hour train ride to Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city, from Copenhagen, so we were able to just make a quick trip over. We probably should’ve realized that, like many European cities, most things are closed on Sundays, but we found a big shopping mall so we were set!

The entrance to Christiania

Christiania: Where do I begin with Christiania. A self-declared free city, Christiania is a community in Copenhagen founded in the 1970s that is most famous for its “green light district”, also known as Pusher Street. The rules? No photos (because what they’re selling still isn’t legal in Denmark), no running (it incites panic), no hard stuff, and have fun. The Danish government is well aware of what goes on but doesn’t really care–it’s a sort of crazy social experiment that while isn’t universally liked in Denmark, is still fascinating to visit.

And of course, there was the food–but that’s too long to fit into one post. Next up: what I ate in Copenhagen!

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

10 London Things

I can’t believe that it’s already the third week in March. Mainly because it means I only have ONE WEEK OF CLASSES LEFT. Yup. One of the craziest things about UCL is that unlike at Penn State, where I would’ve just been coming back from spring break, I will have no more official classes after this week. I have a four week break (!) before term three, or the examination period, officially begins. Many full-time students haven’t had any sort of exam all year because it all comes down to one exam per subject during this period. Luckily for me, I only have one exam to prepare for (which is 100% of my grade for the course) and one essay. Such insanity coming from a school with 16ish week semesters. Most British unis are like this, but some are even worse–Oxford and Cambridge only have eight week terms! So as you can probably imagine, I have some pretty major plans for that time.

Before coming here, a common thing that I heard from people who had studied here in the past was that I shouldn’t forget London. After all, I didn’t just come here to jet off to other European countries every weekend (well, not entirely)– I came here to experience London. I’m so incredibly lucky to be living right in the center of London, where I can casually walk to Soho or Covent Garden to go shopping, pop into the British Museum after class, or be in Notting Hill or Shoreditch in less than 15 minutes on the tube. I’ve fallen into a routine here, so sometimes I have to step back to pinch myself and realize that I’m actually here. I realize that I haven’t really written about the city much (I hope to change that) and that I’ve mainly been focusing on my trips, so here are just 10 amazing things I’ve done in London in the last three months!

Shows, Shows, Shows!

It was on my to-do list to see a west end show, and almost three months in, I’ve seen The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Wicked, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Bend It Like Beckham The Musical. It’s definitely possible to get reasonably priced tickets for most shows, especially if you go on a weeknight–I paid less for all of those shows combined than I did to see the Book of Mormon in Chicago. We also went to the ballet at the Royal Opera House, and ironically it was one of the cheapest activities I’ve done in London at only £4 (for literally the worst nosebleed seats in the entire place, but hey, you get what you pay for!)

Shoreditch/Brick Lane
Brick Lane

Shout out to Ouarda Paluzzi for being the first to show me the wonders of Shoreditch and what a unique place it is. Home to awesome street art, the best Indian food in London, my favorite chocolate joint Dark Sugars, rainbow bagels, the famous Cereal Killer Cafe, and probably hundreds of vintage stores, Shoreditch is a hipster’s paradise and is one of my favorite places to just walk around because the surroundings are always changing.

Holland Park and Notting Hill

Portobello Road in Notting Hill

It’s not the biggest park in London, but it’s a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle–and it’s also the only park I know of in London to have peacocks roaming around. It’s in Notting Hill which is probably the prettiest (and most expensive) neighborhood in London, with its iconic ivory and pastel houses and Portobello Road market.

Soho (always)

Because of how close it is to where I live, my friends and I find ourselves there multiple times a week. Whether it’s to eat, grab a drink, shop, or just walk around, all roads seem to lead back to Soho. My favorite street is Wardour Street, which is packed with restaurants that all look SO GOOD (including a Hummingbird bakery and one of London’s only Chipotles).

Covent Garden

Another place that I can walk to (which is awesome because the tube station there is always a nightmare), it’s my favorite place to shop in London. It has any and every store you could think of, including iconic British brands like Cath Kidston, Barbour, and Jack Wills.

Sky Garden
Sky Garden

Don’t buy tickets to the Shard’s observation deck–make a free reservation at Skygarden! On the top three floors of what is affectionately known as the Walkie Talkie (I have no idea what the actual name is), it’s a huge urban garden on top of a skyscraper with panoramic views of London. There’s also a restaurant and bar, and I’ve heard they do morning yoga there sometimes!

Markets!

Borough, Old Spitalfields, Southbank, Covent Garden, Greenwich, Leather Lane, Camden Lock, Columbia Road, Portobello Road–the list goes on. Exploring different markets is my favorite London activity, and each one has their own unique vibe. Markets will get their own post soon!

Westminster at night

It’s great during the day, but on a weeknight the crowds are gone, and you’re free to walk around and enjoy the most iconic London landmarks all up in lights, from the Houses of Parliament to the London Eye.

Bakeries

I don’t know how much weight I’ve gained since I’ve been here. I don’t want to know how much weight I’ve gained since I’ve been here. Calories aren’t supposed to count while you’re on vacation, so I’m extending that to apply to study abroad as well. That being said, bakeries! London has so many! I watch too much Bake Off not to try to go to as many sweet stores as I can, and some are dangerously close to my flat. Lola’s Cupcakes, Ben’s Cookies, Hummingbird Bakery, Kontidor and Cooke, and Choccywoccydoodah have been some of my favorites!

Greenwich
The Prime Meridian

I love Greenwich because while it’s still in London, it feels a million miles away. It has a cute downtown area with tons of restaurants and shops, and a beautiful park that has spectacular views of the city if you climb to the top of the hill. It’s also where the Prime Meridian, or Longitude 0, passes through, so you can stand with one half of yourself in the eastern hemisphere and the other half in the western.

That’s all about London for now–next up, Copenhagen!

Location: London

Glasgow, Fife, Scottish Borders, and The Highlands

(I promise, this is the last post about Scotland!)

We were lucky enough to experience a lot of different areas of Scotland in such a short amount of time, thanks to two excellent bus tours and quality public transportation. We spent the better part of one of our days in Edinburgh on a guided excursion to the Scottish Borders, south of Edinburgh towards the border of England. It’s some of the best Scottish countryside, green rolling hill after green rolling hill. We were on a Rabbies bus tour lead by our very enthusiastic guide Ewan, who told us all about famous Scots like William Wallace and Walter Scott along the way. We stopped and had lunch in a little town called Melrose, famous for its Abbey, and found some friendly sheep! We then drove through the Tweed Valley to a village called Roslin, whose chapel became famous in The Da Vinci Code. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but the detail of the carvings inside of the church was beautiful. It’s said to have links to Freemasonry, the Knights Templar, and the Holy Grail, but I don’t think anything has ever been proven. Although, there’s apparently a chamber below the main church that goes down at least as deep as the chapel is tall, but the family/trust doesn’t want it opened…

We also spent a day around the East Neuk of Fife, about two hours north of Edinburgh. I never really understood why Nova Scotia has its name–I would’ve thought a place called “New Scotland” would be filled with rolling green hills and lots of cows and sheep. I could definitely see if the part of Scotland they were referring to when naming it was Fife, because the whole region gave off an east coast fishing village feel. Our first stop was in St. Andrews, the biggest and most well known town of the region. It’s famous for its university and golf, and even though it was a chilly day it we had a great time walking along the beaches and (possibly trespassing on) St. Andrew’s golf course. We had heard about a fish place that we could not miss for lunch, so we hopped on a bus and headed 15 minutes down the coast to a town called Anstruther. The town was pretty dead (the amount of closed ice cream and souvenir shops indicated that it was more of a summer getaway than a February excursion), but Anstruther Fish Bar was packed (you can read more about it in my ‘What I Ate’ entry for Scotland).

Our last stop was Pittenweem, a cute town with an even cuter name, only a few minutes drive from Anstruther. All of the fishing villages are actually connected by the Fife Coastal Trail, and if I ever went back in the summer it would be amazing to rent a bike and ride to each one. Thankfully for us there’s also a hop-on-hop-off bus that was the better choice for winter. Most things were closed, but we walked along the docks and the coastline (which was much needed after our lunch) before catching the bus back to Edinburgh. I’d definitely love to come back in the summer and head to the beach, and see the puffins that make their summer homes along the coast.

After four days in Edinburgh, we hopped on a train and headed an hour west to Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city. I liked Glasgow, but it was too similar to London–there wasn’t much of an unique old town like in Edinburgh. We didn’t spend too much time in the city, however, because we spend a whole day on a trip up to the Scottish Highlands.

Glencoe

When I thought I saw Nessie

The highlands aren’t exactly close to Glasgow, but it was definitely possible to get a taste of them in one day. We departed from Glasgow, heading up Loch Lomond and making stops at viewpoints along the way. My favorite stop was Glencoe, a valley in the west with a tragic backstory but gorgeous views–it was even in Skyfall and some of the Harry Potter movies. I’d seen pictures of it in the summer, but it was stunning covered in snow as well. We finally reached Fort Augustus where we stopped for lunch, which sits on the end of Loch Ness, and took a lake cruise. I always thought the story about the Loch Ness monster was a bit farfetched, but the thing about the loch is that one, it’s extremely big (it’s almost 1,000 ft deep and holds more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined), and two, the peat soil from the surrounding land turns the water black, making underwater visibility almost impossible. I won’t say I believe in Nessie, but I wouldn’t go swimming in the loch either. After our cruise we started our journey back through Inverness, admiring the beautiful countryside the whole way back (at least until the sun went down). Our tour guide was great, even blasting classic Scottish songs from Scotland the Brave to I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).

Heilan’ Coos

The next day was our last in Scotland, but we had the whole morning and afternoon before we had to head to the airport. Our only goal? Finding Heilan’ Coos. Highland Cows are almost like Texas Longhorns, but with a tuft of hair on their foreheads that makes it look like they have bangs. In short, they’re as cute as they are delicious. We had to see them up close, so we headed to Glasgow’s Pollok Park in the pouring rain, where they keep a small herd. It took a while, and we even ended up on a Downton Abbey-esque detour to the country manor Pollok House, but after trekking through the woods and mud, we found them. It was awesome (I’ll let the picture speak for themselves).

Scotland was absolutely amazing. I had always wanted to go, and might’ve even studied there had Penn State offered more programs. It’s definitely a place I want to go back to again–as much as I enjoyed the beautiful British February weather, something tells me that I might like it even more in July!

Until next time!

Location: Loch Ness, Scotland

All About Edinburgh

We managed to do so much in Scotland that I had to break it up over multiple blogs! We spent the most time in Edinburgh, so I think it deserved its own post. That being said, Edinburgh was absolutely stunning. It’s definitely one of my new favorite cities–I could’ve spent weeks there! We stayed near the Royal Mile, a stretch of the old town filled with bagpipes, kilts, and whiskey shops, capped on either end by Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The old town

In the Edinburgh vaults…

definitely has a dark vibe–the grey stone buildings, narrow alleys (known as closes), and almost constant cloudy skies alone contributes to that, but when you learn about the sinister history of the city (think grave robbers, underground crime cities, public torture and execution…) it’s even more chilling. I always thought ghost tours seemed cheesy and theatrical, but we took took one into a series of underground chambers called the Edinburgh vaults, and it was absolutely terrifying.

On top of Arthur’s Seat

The scary underground of Edinburgh was a must-see, but the hills around the city were even better. The best view of the old town has to be from Calton Hill, which takes less than ten minutes to reach the top of and is gorgeous at sunset. For the more adventurous there’s Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano overlooking Holyrood Palace–some legends even say it was the site of King Arthur’s Camelot. It took us a little under an hour to reach the official summit, which was quite snowy and rocky. On a clear day you can see for miles, out over the sea to the east of the city and even the beginnings of the Highlands to the north.

Victoria Street

The bathrooms at Elephant House Cafe

Edinburgh is also where J.K Rowling wrote a lot of the Harry Potter books, and all around the city you can see where she took inspiration. The Elephant House Cafe is a now-famed spot where she would sit and write, and if you ever go there to eat, it’s worth checking the bathrooms–they’re covered in Harry Potter graffiti. Not too far away (and right next to our hostel as it happened), Greyfriars Kirkyard cemetery has a McGonagall, a Moody, and even a Tom Riddell buried there (and was also home to a dog called Bobby, whose story is so adorable and sweet it’ll make you forget all about Edinburgh’s dark history–check it out!). Victoria Street was also said to be the inspiration for Diagon and Knockturn Alleys, and we went into an antique store that I would definitely believe was the inspiration for Borgin and Burkes.

My next post will be about the side trips we took to the Scottish Borders and the Kingdom of Fife! Stay tuned! 🙂

Location: edinburgh

What I Ate: Scotland Edition

While writing my previous blog about my trip to Scotland, I realized that if I was going to talk about all of the food I ate then it would’ve been a mile long, so I decided to dedicate an entire post to all of the delicious (and not so delicious) things I tried while up north:

Haggis:

Haggis balls featuring Irn Bru: basically Scotland in a nutshell

Probably the most infamous of British dishes, Haggis is the lovely Scottish delicacy that consists of minced sheep’s pluck (heart, lungs, and liver), oats, and spices. It’s unfortunate that I knew what it was when I went to take my first bite, because if I hadn’t I probably would’ve gone in for a second. We ordered it as an appetizer, so it came in little fried balls rather than in the traditional sheep’s stomach casing (which was fine by me)…and it was not terrible. I only took one bite, but at the fault of my brain and not my tastebuds. The spices were pretty tasty (they do make veggie haggis–I would try that sometime), but the texture was not especially appealing. An interesting experience, but not one I particularly want to have again.

Irn Bru:

Irn Bru earrings: in case there was any doubt of how much the Scots like this beverage

Scotland is one of the only places where Coke is not the best selling soda on the market, and it’s because of Irn Bru. A fizzy orange drink, it looks almost like Fanta, and some people say they just taste citrus when they drink it. In my opinion? It tastes like bubblegum and battery acid. It’s acidic but not in a citrus-y way and is so reminiscent of that Hubba Bubba bubble tape I used to eat in elementary school that I think it would make a way better candy than a drink. It was, however, oddly refreshing to just keep sipping–I finished my bottle.

Salmon:

Salmon

I’ve only been eating salmon for a few years, but this was by far the best I’ve ever had. Scotland is known for their salmon and I’ve just never had any that was so fresh. It was also a nice break from all the fried pub food I had been devouring!

Fish and chips!

Fish and Chips:

Fish and chips is definitely not just a Scottish thing, but the fish and chips I had there took over as THE BEST, in my opinion, fish and chips ever (a title previously held by The Codmother in San Francisco). It was in a little fishing village in the East Neuk of Fife called Anstruther, at a restaurant called Anstruther Fish Bar. The village is pretty much dead in the winter but this place was packed with locals on their lunch breaks. The fish was unreal. I’ve never had fish that was so good and fresh, and you could look out the window and see the fishing boats that brought it in. It’s about a two-hour bus ride from Edinburgh, but I believe that it’s worth making the trip for Anstruther Fish Bar alone.

Hot toddy:

Hot toddy

I’m not a huge whiskey drinker, but when in Scotland you can’t not have at least a dram. I became familiar with hot toddies at the pub down the street from my London flat, but unsurprisingly, they make them better in Scotland. A mix of hot tea, whiskey, lemon, honey, and spices, it’s the perfect winter warmer after being outside all day (and was much needed after a terrifying Edinburgh ghost tour we took)!

Brazilian Crepes:

Brazilian crepes in the making

It might seem about out of place, but when a bunch of locals told us about a food stand in Edinburgh that had the best crepes in the Scotland, we couldn’t just pass it up. Tupiniquim sells sweet and savoury Brazilian crepes, which are naturally gluten free because they have a tapioca base instead of traditional flour. We had just eaten lunch so we opted for a sweet sugar, cinnamon, and banana crepe that was out of this world. It was similar to a regular french crepe but lighter and a bit more sturdy, which made it excellent street food!

I also had an amazing dessert, but you can read about it in my post on Hot Chocolate! More about my adventures in Scotland coming soon!

Location: Edinburgh

Hot Chocolate

Dark Sugars

I’ve done a lot in the past month and a half. I could write about all the crazy things I’ve done in London, my day and weekend trips, or my life at UCL. But for some reason I really just want to talk about one thing, and that is hot chocolate. I don’t know what happened, but my friends and I have somehow found ourselves on a quest to find the best hot chocolate in London, and maybe, the UK. It all started the chocolate store Dark Sugars in Shoreditch. I’m a chocoholic. It’s my favorite food. I eat it every single day. And I’m telling you this store changed my perceptions on chocolate, and possibly even MY LIFE. Maybe it was the insane

Dark Sugars

generosity when it came to free samples (and this store isn’t exactly cheap), maybe it was trying the raw cacao beans they have in store, maybe it was the pink champagne or gin and lime truffles. But their hot chocolate is a chocoholic’s DREAM. We tried just the plain flavour (but they had several spice flavors like cinnamon and chili). They take big blocks of dark, white, and milk chocolate and chop and grate it down, mix it with warm frothy milk and cocoa powder and put even more shavings on top. When you get about halfway done it turns basically to thick, melted chocolate. This store is truly my happy place.

While I’ve yet to find a hot chocolate in London that has surpassed the one at dark sugars, that hasn’t stopped me from trying to find one. The most memorable are as follows:

Choccywoccydoodah

-Choccywoccydoodah, Soho: this place is insane–the vibe is a mix of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory, the tea party in Alice in Wonderland, and a Hot Topic. With a name like Choccywoccydoodah, we knew it had to be good and it didn’t disappoint. I got the dark chocolate and cherry hot chocolate and a slice of their six-layer taster cake. Need I say more?

Chin Chin Labs

-Chin Chin Labs, Camden Market: I’ve heard that this is the best place in London for hot chocolate–while I don’t think it topped my Dark Sugars experience, I can definitely see why it has such a good reputation. The place gets points for location alone– smack dab in the middle of Camden Lock Market, one of the best street food scenes in London, and their Nitro ice cream is supposed to be phenomenal. Their hot chocolates were delicious and not too sweet, and the dollop of bruleed marshmallow fluff on top made my day.

Mary’s Milk Bar

-Mary’s Milk Bar, Edinburgh. Okay, so this one isn’t in London, but I couldn’t not include it. This little place wasn’t far from our hostel in Edinburgh’s grassmarket neighborhood, and is Buzzfeed and Insta famous. They serve their hot chocolate as floats, with a scoop of any one of their homemade ice creams. They suggested the salted caramel. It was a good suggestion. The only thing I didn’t like about this place was their limited hours so we couldn’t come back and get it again!

Said

-Said, Soho: This was a bit of a different take, but was still great. Served in an espresso mug, this little shot of chocolate was intense and super thick, and it tasted like drinking brownie batter. Heaven.

Location: Wc1x 0hd

One Month Later…

I’ve really been slacking on my blogs. I know. I thought when I went to study abroad I would be blogging non stop, but I’ve been busier than I ever thought I would be. This is a big reason why:

This is a map of every place I’ve been since I’ve last blogged. List wise, it goes like this: Oxford, Dover, Cambridge, Salisbury, Bath, Paris, Edinburgh, Melrose, Roslin, St. Andrews, Anstruther, Pittenweem, Glasgow, Luss, Glencoe, and Fort Augustus/Loch Ness–in short, I’ve been exploring England and Scotland and I went to France for a weekend. Whew. I’ve no idea how to go about describing all the incredible things I’ve done over the past month, so I’ll give a list of a few of the highlights.

-Scotland. Just Scotland. I hope to get a blog up on my week excursion up north soon, so stay tuned!

Dover

-Climbing the Cliffs of Dover: It may have seemed like maybe not the best idea to head down to Dover in January, but the weather that day was 100% on our side–which in England means any day that is over 40 degrees and not raining! We climbed along the tops of the misty cliffs and it was absolutely breathtaking! I still haven’t gotten all of the mud off my shoes though!

-Cambridge: Cambridge is simply gorgeous. The old buildings, the boats punting along the river, and the random professors walking around in full academic regalia is an amazing change of pace from London, even if it’s only an hour away!

-Drinking the water from the Roman Baths in Bath:

Bath

don’t worry, it was the filtered stuff at the end of the museum, not the algae-riddled water in the main pools. It certainly wasn’t great–something about the taste of sulfur and iron is generally not refreshing. Did I mention it was warm?

-Theatre in London: We saw the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Wicked in London’s famed west end–relatively inexpensive tickets are not as difficult to come by as one might expect in London!

Champagne at Louis Vuitton

-Paris: Paris isn’t a new city for me, but it was awesome to go with friends (and to get away from the pound for a while– it might not be great for the global economy but the state of the euro right now is great for a student budget). Croque monsieurs, steak frites, macarons, french onion soup, crepes, champagne, the Mona Lisa, and the Eiffel Tower at night is how I want to spend every weekend ever.

-Market Crawling: Old Spitalfields, Borough, & Camden Lock markets are a foodie’s paradise–aka my paradise. You can get full on samples alone, but it’s impossible to leave without picking up something amazing.

-Pub culture and Icebar: I’m really going to miss being able to drink when I go back to the states. Pub culture is just awesome, sitting back and enjoying a pint with friends is a great way to end a day. Some friends and I went to a bar in Soho called Icebar (I believe they have multiple locations), and everything inside was made from ice, from the bar itself to the cups we were drinking out of! A poncho and gloves were included, seeing as it was around 25 degree in there–but as chilly as it was, it’s still warmer than Penn State.

That’s all for now–cheers!

Location: wc1x 0hd

Hello From the Other Side!

I can’t believe that two weeks ago, I was lugging my 60lb suitcase up my flat’s five flights of stairs. My cab had just dropped me off, I received my keys at reception, and I began my first day of 180 in London. Since then the time has flown by, but at the same time I feel as though I’ve been here for months. I’ve made a great group of friends (including some fellow Penn Staters!), enrolled in classes at UCL (which was in no way a simple endeavor), and have been surviving without a meal plan (!) for the first time ever.

I live in Bloomsbury in the borough of Camden, which has long been the academic hub of London (you may have heard of the famous Bloomsbury Group, which included British intellectuals like Virginia Woolf and John Maynard Keynes). It’s a great area within itself, but it only takes a few minutes on the tube to reach popular tourist stomping grounds like Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, and Soho.

University College London

University in England is more different from Penn State than I ever could’ve imagined. For one, British uni students only go for three years, and gen eds are a foreign concept all together. They’ve come into college knowing what they’re going to study, and then are given their classes (no waiting lists at all). The biggest difference, by far, is the level of independence that it expected of students. For most classes, you’re given a reading list of an average of 60 titles (including articles, books, and full textbooks) that you’re expected to read–there’s no homework or reading quizzes, but essentially how well you do on your assessments is tied to how widely read you are. My entire course grade (depending on which class) is based either on two 2,500 word essays or a single two-hour exam in May. For what will transfer as 16 US credits, I only have eight hours of class a week (and no class Fridays!), and I get a no-class “reading week” in February and four week break in March/April before exams (but after this break I also do not have any more class!). Ultimately, I haven’t decided if this way of operating stresses me out more or less than at PSU, but it definitely allows for time to travel around England and Europe. Because I have so much free time during the week to do schoolwork, I can fill my weekends and breaks with trips–and I’ve got quite a few on deck (stay tuned!)

Tower Bridge

So far it’s been nothing but a dream, and I have a harder time thinking about leaving London than I do missing America. I’m extremely grateful to my parents for supporting me while I’m on this crazy adventure of a lifetime, and it’s crazy to think that the next time I’ll be in America I’ll have lived abroad for almost half a year.

I want to take advantage of everything the city has to offer, because this will be the only time I’ll ever be able to live as centrally in London as I do now. I want to take advantage of everything that Europe has to offer, because I could never book a week vacation to Scotland from the US for less than $150. I want to take advantage of this adventure that I’ve literally been waiting my whole life for, and I want to be able to look back and say that I went to bed every night absolutely exhausted.

Cheers!

Location: WC1X 0HD

Adventure Is Out There

In less than 24 hours, I’ll be embarking on the trip of a lifetime, one that I’ve been looking forward to my entire life. What am I doing to prepare? Watching Penn State football of course! Never mind that my clothes that are lying on the spare room floor have yet to see in the inside of a suitcase. This is the last football game of the season, and the next time I’ll be watching the Nittany Lions I’ll have had 5 ½ months of living in one of the world’s biggest and busiest cities under my belt.

My name is Bella Fordyce, and I’m taking a break from my Penn State public relations coursework and spending my sophomore spring semester (and then some) at University College London. It’ll be the longest I’ve ever gone without visiting home back in South Elgin, Illinois, and my first time visiting the United Kingdom. I’ll be learning how to navigate a big city, how to independently travel, how to cook for myself (bye bye, campus meal plan)–all across the pond.

And I can’t wait.

It honestly doesn’t even feel real–I’ve wanted to study abroad all my life and tomorrow it’s happening, after nearly a year of preparing, seemingly endless applications and forms and a Living in London Pinterest board later. Tomorrow is the first of 160 days I’ll spend away from the US, and I look forward to sharing my experiences in London and Europe with you!

Location: South Elgin, IL, USA

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