Catch Up

It's been awhile, my apologies! I've actually been busy with school believe it or not. Last week I had a group film project that I was working on. My group liked to joke that we were the international group because one girl is from Bermuda, one from Kenya, two from China, me, and an English girl who was off to Paris for the week. We got the brief on Monday and had to pitch an idea on Tuesday. The pitch was a little shaky but we talked it out and settled on something to shoot. After countless shots that we didn't take at locations like Aashni's house, Buckingham Palace, China town, and my room, we finally settled on a park right next to the London Eye. China town was fun to walk through seeing as it was Chinese New Years when we did. Our film was taken from the child's perspective so after a lot of shoots my thighs had had quite the work out. The project was supposed to be about choreography, design, and sound and had to be taken in one shot, not cuts. I posted the video on my vimeo site if you want to know more about it and see what we ended up with. We basically worked on it all day every day last week so it was exhausting. The video below is me documenting the video we made.

Last Wednesday I went out to YO! Sushi with Paige and Kinne. It was the cutest little place that had the food come on conveyor belts! So you could just sit down and eat right away. I got the most delicious dessert: Chocolate Mochi. It literally melted in my mouth. After that we went to the student bar at King's college just across the river. It was on the 4th floor and packed with students. It had a great view of the river and the skyline on the south bank.

Thursday I tried teaching myself how to use Final Cut Express to edit the sound to our video. I learned enough to mess with it and get it somewhat to what we wanted. I bought a bus ticket to York and headed off the next morning to see my beautiful girls :) 

The bus ride was about 5 1/2 hours but it went by pretty quick. There weren't many people on the bus and it was pretty silent most of the ride. I arrived around 6:40 where Grace, Kaitlin, and Jessie picked me up. We walked back to their apartments and hung out before we went to Professor Bratt's house to hang out with the rest of the group. Later we went to the student union where they had an Oompa band (I have no idea how to spell it but thats what it sounds like). They were a German band and had everyone dancing and singing, it was entertaining and I'll probably post the video I took of it later. After that we went to a little pub but didn't stay long and went back to catch up on life. 

Saturday Kaitlin and I roamed the city of York and it's beautiful city walls. We walked on the surrounding wall and took pictures outside to the York Minster. We picked up lunch at the most delicious little bakery and both ate toasted sandwiches of mozeralla, tomato, and pesto. Then we got dessert at another bakery, a chelsea bun (basically a cinnamon roll, so good!). We walked past this fudge shop where we got called in to take samples, which we gladly did to our pleasant delight. We watched them make it for awhile and then continued walking around. Jessie and Grace met up with us later and we got sucked into H&M and later went to Caffe Nero. Jessie and I shared a Belgian Hot Chocolate that was to die for. We also walked through The Shambles, which is what Diagon alley in Harry Potter is based on!

We eventually walked back to the apartments to rest before we went to Evensong at the York Minster. It was stunningly gorgeous on the inside of the cathedral and we were seated in chairs that looked like thrones lined across the walls. It was three rows of stadium seating on either side with the audience facing each other. The boys choir paraded down the middle and lined up on both sides as well. Their voices were beautiful and even though it was very drafty I enjoyed it very much. The priest would pray and the choir would sing amazing sounding Amens and we finished by singing a psalm altogether. The intricacies inside the church was astounding and you couldn't help but look up. After Evensong we walked back to the apartments to shower and eat. The girls made really good pesto pasta and finished with a scrumptious chocolate cake. The rest of the night we hung out, played games, talked and were later joined by other members of the Calvin group. 

Sunday Kaitlin was invited randomly to eat with the Bratt's and graciously took me with her. They apparently pick 4 random Calvin kids to have over every Sunday. They made us chicken, rice, salad, and beans and ended with apple pie with ice cream, SO good! I was very happy to have a home cooked meal and spend time with people from back home. After that it was time for me to say goodbye and head back to London. The girls walked me to the station and waved me off. I can't wait until they come to visit me! 

Yesterday was a long day at school. We had another briefing for a really cool project. We have to design an advertisement for an online show that this guy is trying to promote about how everything is designed. It was really intriguing and hopefully I can come up with something good. Then I had lunch and we sat around and waited until the final critique at 3. We watched everyone else's videos and the documentaries behind them. Saw some very interesting stuff, cool to see how everyone takes a brief differently. 

Today I went for a run outside because it was beautiful! Sunny, absolutely blue sky, and 50 degrees. I ran to and across Westminster bridge and ran along the Thames, simply gorgeous. Thanks for being patient with the redesign of the blog! I might be doing it again soon... we'll see. Don't forget to keep checking out my photos and videos because I try to update every now again :)