"An Oggsford [wo]man"

After my amazing 3 week journey in London (I stayed a bit longer than anticipated) I am now in Oxford. And after being here a few days I have decided that Oxford is the perfect balance between the busyness of the city and the calm of the countryside.

We went punting on Saturday
- punting is when you get into a long-ish boat and you use a long pole to paddle yourself up and down the river. It is an absolute ball unless you fall in, which- luckily- I didn't.

It was great to see just how relaxed uni life is in Oxford and I must say it has got me super excited for university. That's not to say that this year should rush by though.

The best part is that the family that I am staying with, lives very close to town, so I can take a 10 minute bike ride into town whenever I feel like it and it is absolutely safe, and easy. I have cycled in to see some of the museums and galleries and just to experience city life.

I have already met some amazing people and I will have the chance to meet many more. I have a few seminars and a conference lined up because: "when in Rome," right? (By this I mean because Oxford is a university town, I have decided to learn things while I am here.)

My ticket out of London and into Oxford. The call the bus the "Oxford Tube" so as to confuse people into thinking that Oxford is just a few minutes away when actually it's about an hour.

We went for a picnic by the river, the same one that we went punting on and I was reading my book (Frankenstein, my absolute fave)

I made this all by myself.

This is me fixing my flowery bracelet. How summery everything looks! 

i'm not sure how clear this is, but it is a pub that's called the Cape of Good hope. Sort of makes me miss home. 

Another hopefully more clear picture of the pub.

the lovely family that I am staying with.

The exterior of the Natural history museum.

A sign that says: "Natural History museum"

I thought these were quite cute, they're little people on a little wagon.

Who needs air force ones?

A little snippet of the punting river, the tip of a punting boat and my shoes. 

Be prepared for more info about Oxford and some of the cool stuff that I will be doing. Even though I am only staying a week, I am sure that I will be up to plenty of things.

*also, the title of this post is a reference to The Great Gatsby, so if you have not read it then the blog title will not make sense to you. 

That's all, Bye! :) x

Mouth Watering Experience

Now the title of this post may be slightly misleading because it may seem as if I am going to do a review of a meal I had or something, but I'm not. I am going to be chatting a bit about some work experience that I... experienced during my last few days in London (you're probably thinking that this makes no sense but patience child, it is a virtue, or so they say.)

Basically I somehow met someone who used to work at a production company and she was able to set up a work experience sort of thing for me where I spent two days on the set of a food commercial, (ahhhh, now the title makes sense.) Basically, a company (I don't know if I can say who) was doing a whole food campaign and the production company that I was at, was filming it.

The most amazing part for me was how long it takes to prepare the set for each dish and each scene. The director was absolutely mind blowing, I mean, the attention to detail that he paid was extraordinary. He made sure that every little reflection and shadow looked perfect and it is mind blowing how amazing everything looked because of this. I was hungry like half all the time.

The set although you cannot see the glorious food, but the ad will be on air soon and I will point it out.

The beginnings of the set. 

And some not real ice... This is the most amazing thing in the whole world. 

It was such an amazing experience and I met some amazing people. The great thing is that they all had so much experience in the world of film, TV and advertising and they were always willing to answer whatever questions I had. I even did a coffee run, so I was basically running the whole show. 

That's all, Bye! :) x

Craving to be cultured: National Portrait Gallery

So as you may guess by the title, I've recently (today, a couple of hours ago)  done some more cultured things that I would like to share. Because I am in London, I have access to all these amazing galleries and museums and the best part is that most of them are free (I am not going to lie I am quite a bit (very) stingy when it comes to spending money on stuff.)

Here are some pics, because "pics or it didn't happen," right?

I went to the National Portrait Gallery with some family friends and it was really amazing, especially because it puts into context just how much history England really has. The Gallery has all these portraits of historical figures from early times, to the present and that means basically anyone who is anyone, has a portrait in this gallery. It was an interesting history lesson for me although some of the time I was kind of thinking how many dukes and, knights, and kings, and queens, and count/esses and Earls can one country possibly have.

There was also a very modern section which showed some portraits of famous people, with some sort of influence in british culture, one of them was Nelson Mandela (Go South Africa).

Overall it was an amazing experience, and I can say that my journey to being cultured doesn’t have too far to go…. Well, you can never be too cultured I guess.

That’s all, Bye! :) x

CappuDays #5

Another Cappudays in London (I’m getting back into the swing of this.) I already did a post about my tour around London and I guess this is kind of an extension of that. During my excursion, we went to dinner in china town at a Chinese restaurant (obviously, but you never know hey)

I didn't necessarily have a cappuccino, but it was the closest thing they had and it’s all part of the experience. I had a jasmine tea, which was really yummy, I’m sure I had about 1000 000 cups +/-. The décor was obviously very oriental and there was a lot of gold and red which was beautiful and there were these amazing (not real) dragons on the pillars round the restaurant which was really exquisite, and oddly, quite elegant.

So here it is Cappudays 5: The (something Dragon) - china Town

My Jasmine tea and some strategically placed chopsticks. This photo would be really cool if my shadow didn't just magically appear and ruin the whole thing. 

me taking a picture of my phone taking a picture of China Town.

This is me with China Town as a backdrop just outside the restaurant that we ate at.

This is the dragon-pillar thing that I was speaking about.

An obviously, me drinking my cappu(Jasmine tea)ccino

Rating (/10)

Decor: 8 (there were dragons everywhere so yeah.)

Cappuccino: (Jasmine tea) 10

Bathroom: didn't see one

Service: 8 (well I can only assume because when they spoke Chinese I had no way of knowing whether they were just chatting or speaking about the customers.)

Overall vibe: 7.5

WiFi: I didn't even need to check my phone…

Basically it was an incredible way to end off my tour of London. I will be making a video about my tour and its already edited, it just has to be exported which is a real pain.

That’s all, Bye! :) x

London Tour

I am forcing myself to do this or else I will completely forget everything and then the post will be a lot worse than it usually is so I guess this is best. I am still in London (or as some like to call it: The Black Smoke, which it isn’t really) and I have been up to a lot of cool stuff.

Currently I am at an advertising agency that is right on Oxford street so I am in the hustle and bustle of the city and I am absolutely loving it. Yesterday, after work, I was taken on a little tour of London by two natives (Sandy and Thomasina) and they showed me all the touristy things that London has to offer.

We went on the London eye early in the evening and my word, London is even more beautiful from up there. It is crazy when you realise just how big the city is and how many important buildings there are. I also had a camera with me so I was filming the whole journey which is great, but it also means that I have a whole lot of editing to do :/.

We then drove around for a bit and we went past Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, South Africa House (\ J /) and a whole lot of other amazing places with incredible buildings. If ever I were to become an architect I think that I would draw most of my inspiration from all the old buildings in London, to be an architect I’d actually have to be able to draw so…. (That’s not happening anytime soon) but you get the jist.

To end off the evening we had some dinner in china town which was the perfect way to end of my tour of England. We had a whole lot of food, which tasted amazing, but it was too much to eat. We drove home and it was dark so I got some really cool footage of London at night which will look really cool once I actually decide to edit all of it.

Overall London has been one of the most amazing experience of my life, and I am still here for a few more days- enough to soak it all in and maybe do some shopping.

That’s all, Bye! :) x

Cappudays #4

As you may already know, I am currently in London and because I have been so busy, I have neglected this blog. (Oops!) But what I will do in order to put everything in one post, is that I will sort of mix my Cappudays post with a general post about how it is being in London. Sound good?

This Cappudays isn’t super original because it was Starbucks. What is original though is that this was the very first Starbucks that I have ever had in my entire existence. (Don’t act too surprised there.) The reason behind this is that we do not have Starbucks in South Africa and the last time that I went Came to the UK, I just never thought of trying it. (Probably because I was too busy being a tourist.)

I had a normal Café Latte (Kinda Boring, sorry) but with Columbian coffee beans which was exceptionally good.

So here it is Cappudays 4: Starbucks

Rating (/10)

Decor: 9
Cappuccino:8.5 (it was a latte but still)
Bathroom :things are too fast paced in London for bathrooms)

Service: 6 (The lady kinda sneered a little when she was doing my order)
Overall vibe: 7.5
WiFi: Didn't stay long enough to find out.

A strategic placement of my work gear to show that I am all classy an stuff. Also this is the only picture I have because I don' think people would appreciate me taking photos all over starbucks.

Now about London. Holy cow, WhereHaveIBeenAllMyLifeThisPlaceIsAmazingH. *takes deep breath*. Let’s try that again. Literally, it is such an incredible city and despite all the bad stuff about Londoners being such and such, I am honestly having such a great time. I have a ritual already which consists of taking the tube, getting to work, getting a coffee and lunch, and heading back home again. (For the purpose of my stay in London, home is with some family friends in Clapham South.)

I have always been a city girl, although I really do appreciate the country side. It is great just to be in a place where everything is so fast moving and you’re kind of like on a mission to do whatever you are doing. You can’t imagine my joy when a few days ago a lady asked me for directions to the tube and I was able to tell her. Which means that I am no longer a tourist. J

I’m sure there will be more to come on my stay in London. I am currently doing my internship at a very big Advertising agency here which is cool. People are really nice which is always great. The best part is that our office is on Oxford Street which means that we are basically in the middle of everything and if I really wanted I could go shopping whenever.

That’s all, Bye! :) x