What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare...

Have you ever just stopped and looked around you? Like say you are walking home, have you ever taken the time to stop and take a good look at where you are? To see what is around you and to appreciate the fact that you are so lucky to be there?

I did that for the first time today. Life is always such a rush, especially in London. These three years have gone by soooo fast. I feel like I need to take my time and enjoy everything as I experience it.

Tonight as I passed Trafalgar square, I looked at the fountain and I thought to myself, Wow - In high school, I never thought I'd be here. I then walked up to Waterloo Bridge and I thought, let me go see the London Eye and the Big Ben from the bridge. I walked half way across the bridge and I stopped. I stopped and stared.

Now some people may call this a waste of time, most people in London see this view everyday and to them its no big deal. But it IS a big deal. There are approximately 4.5 billion people (maybe more) around the world that have never seen the view that I saw tonight. So there I stood on the bridge staring at the view for 5 minutes and...I felt lucky. I felt lucky to be in London, to be able to see this beautiful view and to be given the many opportunities that I have been given through out my life.

There is a poem by William Henry Davies, the first two lines go something like this:

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

This poem describes perfectly how we walk through life taking advantage of everything and not really seeing all that is around us. We don't always notice the details of which there are so many. Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to stop in the middle of the road and stand and stare every where they go. We all have a lot going on, every day there is something to do. But sometimes, when you have the time, just STOP. And take a good look around you.

Believe me when I say, its an amazing feeling. =)

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New Layout

My Layout is super duper boring so I'm going to be editing it...soon. When I get the chance =P So watch this space!

Also, If you have any ideas/comments on a new layout please let me know. Thank you =)

Movies

I LOVE the movies. Just as much as I love Music!

But Movies - they are totally awesome. I could spend a whole day at the movie theater. =) The best part about movie theaters in London is that you can get student discounts on weekdays. Best student offer I have ever seen is Cineworld 2 for 1, with student discount that comes up to 3 pounds per ticket! (Found on Student Beans Cineworld 2 for 1 is valid Monday to Thursday only)

Why do I like the movies so much? I don't know. I guess its kind of an escape. But its also just FUN. I love going for good and bad movies. Good movies you can enjoy because they are good and bad movies you can enjoy while you mock them. Its perfect entertainment. I also love popcorn and nachos and those are two things that you can usually have at the movies. If your up for breaking the rules, you could totally sneak a Subway sandwich in your bag.

I like watching all kinds of movies. Comedy is the best. Romance - ehh okay, depends on who is acting (can get too cheesy at times), Horror/Thriller - depends on my mood, Action - totally awesome!...what other genres are there?

Anyways, point is I love going to watch movies on the big screen. =)

Its like I wrote, every note...with my own fingers

What does music mean to you?

I love music. Not just like a regular person loves music. I LOVE music.

Its hard to explain sometimes. Its difficult to put into words. Have you ever been in a bad mood? Have you ever had a horrible day when you were really upset about something and it was hard to get rid of the feeling?

I believe that music can cure that. Well most of the time at least. Its all about finding the right song. The one that fits your mood perfectly and brings you out of it. Its like for 4 minutes and 5 seconds, your problems are not so bad any more. For 4 minutes and 5 seconds, there's hope.

Have you ever heard a song and just felt like everything makes sense? Music inspires me every single day. It keeps me sane, it keeps me going. Music means the world to me.

For those of you having a bad day, take a deep breath and just LISTEN.

CRAZY AND AWESOME stuff

I don't know if any of you watch the tv show, How I Met Your Mother. If you don't, you really should cause it totally AWESOME!

Barney Stinson is a character on the show and he is probably the most awesome and funny character ever! He does the craziest, most outrageous things and that is what makes him AWESOME. =) Like Barney, I want to do awesomely crazy stuff in the last few months that I have here. Things that don't need a reason or explanation. So far I've come up with a few things that I think are crazy awesome:

1) Go to every tube station on the map and take a picture
2) Place crazy and funny posters and signs up around uni
3) Write stuff on post-its and stick them in different places around uni/London
4) Go to a club and play wingman/woman for a friend using Barney Stinson's magical ways - "Have you met Ted?" Youtube it if you don't know it, trust me when I say you'll love it.
5) Prank someone at uni
6) Dress up as a superhero and walk around uni/London (maybe even take pics with people)
7) Pretend to host an online tv show and then ask random questions to people at uni/on the street
8) Watch 3-4 movies in one day
9) Walk in to a random lecture at uni and start screaming how sorry you are for being late. Sit down and listen to the lecture for 5 mins and then get up and start screaming about how sorry you are for being in the wrong lecture.
10) Walk into a lecture before a professor/teacher does and start teaching something totally random until the actual professor walks in.
11) Throw a proper surprise party - you know one where the person is REALLY surprised and not faking it because they already found out
12) Break out into song and dance in a public place - just like GLEE (you should watch that too if you don't already)
13) Write "Ranz was here Class of 2010" in 5 to 10 different places around uni.
14) Create a large mural/drawing and have people write messages/sign it - that's not crazy but its totally awesome
15) MAKE SOME MOVIES (i.e. a video resume, a fake music video, etc.)

You may think, why in the world would I want to do all that stuff and do I really have the time to do it? Well I probably don't have time to do everything on that list but my aim is to at least do between two to five things on the list. I really need to focus on my coursework and my final year project as well as my graduate program applications and job applications. But I will definitely make time to do as many of the things on the list as I can.

I will try to document some of the stuff too with pictures. =) So watch this space!

Updated List

My first ever reader commented on my first post! Granted I know this person and told her to read my blog, it still counts right? I have a reader!

Anyways, this reader suggested something cool and so it is going on the list!

1) Museums - Science Museum, Tate Modern and the British Museum (I've passed through it but never had the chance to actually see the exhibitions.)
2) London Aquarium (it sounds cool =p)
3) Outside of London - Stone Henge, Cambridge and/or Oxford
4) Shakespeare's Globe
5) A couple of West End plays/musicals (I have seen 'The Woman in Black', '39 Steps', 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!'and 'Dirty Dancing' and I loved them all, I love the theater.)

6) Walking tours

I love walking especially in London and so a Walking tour sounds perfect. =)

Restaurants

I'm a vegetarian and so sometimes its hard to find a good place to eat. Although I have to say that most restaurants in London always have 1/2 vegetarian options.

However, using the Happy Cow website, I have found a variety of vegetarian/vegan restaurants all over London and the plan is to visit as many as I can and maybe even right reviews on them if I have the time.

Here is the List of Restaurants (some I have already been to):

1) Loving Hut
2) The Poetry Cafe
3) RedVeg - best burger ever, sadly London branch has closed down =(
4) Peking Palace
5) Veggie Inn
6) Maoz Falafel
7) Veganroutes
8) Veggie Vegan 222
9) Woodlands
10) Vanilla Black
11) The Vegetarians Paradise
12) Chutney's, Diwana's, Ravi Shankar - all on Drummon Street
13) Itadaki Zen
14) Haha Veggie Bar
15) Greens and Beans
16) Saf Restaurant
17) Rainforest Creations
18) POGO cafe
19) Jashan
20) Chennai Dosa

I probably wont get the chance to eat at all the restaurants above but will definitely make the effort to go to a few of them whenever I get the time.

Readers - if you have been to any of the above, please tell me about your experience. If it was good/bad, if I should bother to even try the food. Or if you have been to any good vegetarian/vegan friendly restaurants that are not listed above, tell me about it and I'll add them to the list!

Thanks for reading =)

6 months left to London - places to go

6 months left to London - well less than that if you take out a month for Easter and the fact that its already February.

The plan is to make the most of the time that I have left here in London. I want to visit as many restaurants, tourist spots, museums and sites that everyone should see when they are in London.

I have done the basic tourist stuff a couple of years ago when I came to London with my parents on holiday. So I have seen Buckingham Palace (saw the changing of the guards), The Big Ben, Parliament, London Bridge, the London Eye. I took one of those Red Bus tours and that takes you to the main places. So to me, seeing those things again is not really a big deal especially since I see a lot of these places when I'm going around London.

I go to uni on the Strand which is right next to Somerset House and Waterloo bridge which has a great view of The Big Ben as well as the London Eye. Uni is also 5/10 mins walk from Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, China Town and Piccadilly Circus.

The thing is, all these places I've mentioned are very typical for visitors to see when coming to London. I see all these places pretty much on a weekly basis. I want to go and see places that are different, I want to make sure that by the time I leave, I have truly experienced and seen London (and a few places outside of London).

Here is a very small list of a couple of places that I want to see in the few months that I have left:

1) Museums - Science Museum, Tate Modern and the British Museum (I've passed through it but never had the chance to actually see the exhibitions.)
2) London Aquarium (it sounds cool =p)
3) Outside of London - Stone Henge, Cambridge and/or Oxford
4) Shakespeare's Globe
5) A couple of West End plays/musicals (I have seen 'The Woman in Black', '39 Steps', 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!'and 'Dirty Dancing' and I loved them all, I love the theater.)

Clearly that list is super short and so I need your help readers (If I have any?). If you live in London or have lived in London previously or have just visited briefly - tell me what places you have enjoyed the most in London and why you think its worth it for me to go there.

Until then, I will start with the list I have and will be writing about my experiences. =)