The Chocolate Diaries

In an effort to make the most of my time here, I have decided to catalogue my chocolate eating. As I said in a recent post, this benefits me in two ways. 1) I get to eat too much chocolate and 2) feel like I am accomplishing something. Here is my research thus far:

Day 1: Kit Kat Chunky

You know the pieces you break off on the KitKat? Imagine one GIANT one of those, with better chocolate! I had had these before (always with Lemon Fanta... yum!) and loved them. All the chocolate here is just better-- imagine a KitKat, made giant, with much creamier, thicker, smoother chocolate.






Day 2: Starbar

I originally chose this because the description reminded me of a Snickers-- nuts and caramel. The inside, though, is the texture of caramel and tastes like caramel, but with peanut butter blended in. So it's very smooth. It's good, but I think I'll stick with snickers.

Day 3: Twirl

If you like Cadbury... wow. Just, wow. They basically took Cadbury chocolate and piled layers of it on top of each other. It looks a bit like ribbon candy, if you squished it together. The inside is just squiggly layers of chocolate with air in between them so the texture is really fun, and for some reason it makes the flavor better. 

Day 4: Poppets

Okay, so as if it's not enough that these things are called POPPETS, they are also SO TASTY.  They're a bit like Milk Duds, but instead of being caramel on the inside, they are toffee with the texture of caramel on the inside. Poppets are like Milk Duds' hotter brother.

This is why I will be three million pounds when I come home. I really hope you will all understand.

Shopping thus far...

Primark:
Everything that I WISH forever21 was. Same price range, so nice and cheap, but the clothes are British fashions so it is much, much cuter! The problem is, it is huge, very busy, and VERY overwhelming. I spent an hour in there and ended up not buying anything because I just couldn't process everything. But I will persevere!

H&M:
More like the NYC H&M stores of America than some others I have been to-- reasonable prices, but generally more tasteful fashions. You won't find very many graphic t-shirts here. I got an awesome black dress for about $32.

I'm still trying to get the hang of British fashion. It doesn't help that it's so gloomy outside that I just want to snuggle in my PJs the entire day. The one thing I have down is the long black belted pea coat, which pretty much every single person in this city has. Thank you 'Bela and Pop-Pop!

Iceland:
The cheapest grocery store. I got giant bags of vegetables for 1 pound. Amazing!

Sainsbury's:
The best for every day shopping, in my opinion. They have a great lunch deal where you can pick a sandwich from a pretty wide selection, a bag of crisps, and a drink and it only costs 3 pounds.

Brixton:
Caribbean area of London! So cool. They have wonderful spices and seasoning mixes, as well as all of the foods you were obsessed with on your trip to Jamaica but could never find again anywhere else. And a giant tray of cow feet (ew?). Really cool to check out if you're a foodie.

Tesco:
Very small, express grocery store that stays open late. Has all the basics (milk, eggs, a few vegetables, cereal, bread, and of course CADBURY!)


I have decided that every night I have to try one new chocolate thing. This way, I can eat an obscene amount of chocolate with the excuse that I am achieving something in the name of research.

Anything that can go wrong, will.

Greetings from merrye olde Englande!

Well, after a robbery, an incorrect class schedule, a few days without internet or a mobile phone, a minor explosion, and a first degree burn (unrelated to the explosion), here I sit in my lovely flat with a Sainsbury's sandwich and a glass of diet coke having returned from my first day of my theatre course... loving London.

Some first impressions:

1. Everyone is so friendly! Every single person I have interacted with from across a checkout counter has seemed just overjoyed to be there. Love it.
2. I think everyone should know that the first English person I spoke with upon arrival was my taxi driver, who strolled around the cab in a newsboy hat to greet me with a cheery "'ello!" in a cockney accent that lived up to all of my preconceptions of the hilarity of British vernacular.
3. It is much, MUCH warmer here than at Colgate (hah.)
4. It is much smaller than I think I expected-- the city itself is huge, but the distance between where we live and anywhere we were interested in visiting so far has been walkable!


I have explored the city pretty respectably these past couple of days, but I think that the best decision I made was to just ditch the group with my friend Mike and walk around the tourist-y area of London.  Shamelessly took pictures in front of Big Ben. Shamelessly stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk to look around. Shamelessly had a nerdfest of art historical joy in every room of the National Gallery (I'm talking audible squeaking).

As we walked, I noticed a damaged piece of a building that I could just see over a tall wall that had a beautiful statue and looked like it had once been under an arcade or something. It looked like a ruin, and also looked like it had been burned. We thought maybe there had been a fire, but now I wonder if it was from the Blitz?

Outside the National gallery, there were several people giving out "Free Hugs" like in the video. I got a big hug from a very nice lady. Good start to an awesome semester :).