mouldy in london

hi i'm camille, this is a personal blog to document my trip and student exchange semester in the UK in fall 2019 :))

[user123456789090]

The Cotswolds, England

[mouldyinlondon]

im honestly in heaven rn. tmr is our last complete day in london, we’re planning to go see harrods, go on oxford circus, eat at rasa and see the jack the ripper tour at 7pm! im so excitedddd

[mouldyinlondon]

final packing decisions today, leaving tmr at 6:30pm ahhhhh

[mouldyinlondon]

booked my airbnb for the week from the 7th to the 14th of september! its in the greater london area, and so ill easily be able to get to know the city a bit more! also it was only 160$ :))

[mouldyinlondon]

bought airbnbs and a traveling backpack!

also have to book an airbnb in london cos my dad’s ex has her bf’s family over and the house will b full! im actually excited to b in london alone tbh!

[mouldyinlondon]

bought the plane tickets! holy crap! i’ll leave on the 6th of august w my bf. we have yet to book airbnbs, but ive found several ones that are quite affordable. also, we have reduced the number of destinations so he can spend more time with his family in manchester and so we save on transportation costs. we’ll do london, oxford, liverpool and leeds before finishing with manchester for a week!

aside from the trip, i have now to send my final courses to my faculty (i somehow forgot about that part, lol, they ask me to send it when i get to my university, but i already have the courses and would like to know the equivalences). we also have to buy health insurance abroad/see if im covered on my dads insurance + pay my tuition. ill also have to contact family and friends to ask to stay at their homes a bit lmao london is too expensive for me to book and airbnb for several days

[dubmill]

Finchley, London; 16.6.2019

[thunderstruck9]

Charles Ginner (British, 1878-1952), Highgate from Hampstead Heath. Watercolour and pen and ink, 35.5 x 25 cm.

[mouldyinlondon]

updates!

two important updates!

1. i have my final module selection

i will have 4 classes and they are:

architecture in london I: 1600-1837

the black death: a global history of catastrophe and transformation

medieval london: pubs, plague pits and cathedrals

the world that jane austen knew: women, gender and culture in england

i selected these classes more because i knew i would only be able to get them at my host university than at my home university + they satisfy my medieval history cravings

2. i accepted my student accommodation offer!

i just did the damage deposit and i will be staying in pooley house, which seems to be a very modern building with spacious rooms. ill have my own personal bathroom (which seems tiny but im just happy ill get to poo and shower peacefully and alone lmao)

the date of my trip + exchange is coming closer and closer. we will buy our plane tickets next paycheck (which is a week and a half away) and from then we’ll book our airbnbs + train/bus tickets to the cities we want to visit. my boyfriend will leave england in the first days of september, and since school only starts on the 14th for me (it starts on the 3rd of september for my bf), ill have to stay with my mother’s cousin in thames for a week, and then at my dad’s ex’s who lives in a suburb of london the other week. lets hope she can take me to ikea (i wont bring linens or kitchenware from home) + drive me to uni on the first day so that i dont have to drag my two suitcases around london and install myself in my home for the semester. exciting!

[speciesbarocus]

The mummified head of the philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham. 

For more than 150 years, his body has been kept on public display in a glass case at University College London, however after a mummification mistake, his head was deemed too distasteful to show, and is now kept in safe where it is removed just once a year to check that skin and hair are not falling off.

[x]

[mouldyinlondon]

just did my schedule for my home uni and filled out the form that allows me to complete the registration to my classes as an exchange student. basically, i just had to write out the courses i wouldve taken if i were at my home uni and then write out that the credits will have to be transfered!

also got a bit of an issue, because one of the classes ill b taking in london is only available at my home uni in winter, but ill already be taking it in the fall, and the preliminary course to it is only available in the fall. ill have to fill out a form when i get back that allows me to take said preliminary class + the third year class that is supposed to follow the class ill be taking in london. big complicated mess but when u have a thicc gpa im sure it makes it a bit easier to get what u need. i do NOT want to take another semester j for one fkn art history class lmaooo

[mouldyinlondon]

o also forgot to add that i dont need a visa, unlike what i thought when i wrote the post before my previous one, cos ill b in the uk for less than 6 months so there are no problems with like the whole traveling before the semester thing which is extremely relieving

[mouldyinlondon]

update:

planned where my bf nd i will go on our trip! 

it will b: london, oxford, cardiff, caernefron, liverpool, leeds (w quick day trip to york) and a week in manchester, where he’ll visit his family !

also literally j applied to my classes! queen mary university asks for your preferences for 8 classes and then they assign you to four or five i think?

here are my preferences!           -art history from 1900 to 1950 (i need it for my                                              art history major) 

                                                   -london’s architecture from the 17th to 19th c.                                                         (you get to go out with the class and explore!)

                                                   -the black death and its history (v keen on that                                                       one)

                                                   -medieval london

                                                   -women, gender and culture in england

                                                   -history of medieval islamic societies

                                                   -arthurian lit

                                                   -medieval objects

needless to say im excited to see what my schedule will look like and about our trip w my bf! will defo b worth working most of the summer lol

[offendedpaws]

King’s college in the rain. 

Cambridge, United Kingdom

[bluely9]

[mouldyinlondon]

signed up for student accommodation

found out i wasn’t officially accepted to my exchange by my current institution even though i was accepted to queen mary (i accidentally gave the wrong document and its in french so no one knows lmao)

found out i cant travel and stay in the uk because of my student visa, so it is likely that ill travel w my bf, come back home to pack everything good nd proper and then leave a week before my term (which is when my visa allows me to get into the country).

[floralls]

London by  by Ksenia Skos