Eat. Cook. Eat?

Okay I know I am terrible at updating... because I've gotten busy... but nevertheless I will try to be more motivated to update more!!

So this post will basically be about how I manage to eat in the UK... haha I will try to post a video blog sometime soon! I know that my family has requested me to do so, rather than boring posts. I hope that you all continue to read this blog! I will try to update every two days... :)

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Living in a self-catered accommodation has taught me how I would eat without a dining hall and my mom's cooking. If I had the choice, I would be eating toast, rice, and other things.

The problem is -- I didn't want to buy a toaster or a rice cooker for the few months that I am in the UK. So I had to improvise. Can you imagine what people, in the old days, used to make some of the foods/meals we have today? There were no such thing as household appliances!

As a person of Asian descent, I feel that rice is a big staple food for me and for many Asian dishes. I've learned that you can actually cook a lot of things using one non-stick pot.

Boiling water has many uses in meals and can help create many dishes such as ramen, dumplings, boiled vegetables. Instead of buying a frying pan, I can still fry eggs and sausages with the same pot. I've also learned to toast bread with the same pot! A thing I haven't tried is cooking rice... by boiling it with water. So over time, I learned that I can be frugal with buying one pot to create various dishes.

I suppose that if you saw my photo album about food in London then you've already seen most of what I have cooked. I believe the British sausage isn't exactly suppose to be burnt black... but I think this is the downside of using a shallow pot to cook it..

Other than that, handy food items that I recommend buying to make your self-catered status better:
Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Nutella
Raspberry Jam
Oyster Sauce
Soy Sauce
Cornstarch
Butter
Bread

^ these items are great in the sense that you can create marinades for your food, add toppings to your toast, and make food more fun to eat!

Well that's all folks! I'm trying to update more, but I suppose this is a result of socializing with more people and not having the chance to write up my experience! Life at UCL pictures to come... :)

xoxo,
Kristian

Living in the UK Tip #11

This is a post that was suppose to be published on Friday... but it wasn't complete. So here it is completed. :)

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Life in the UK has been pretty much uneventful or at least I can not think about major significant happenings in my daily life here. Time seems to be passing by faster each day. I can't believe that it's Friday already? I've already been here for a whole month.

One of the things I do remember about my week and should be Tip #11 of Studying Abroad in the UK is that you should try to make friends with people who have been studying/living in London longer than you have. Precisely, I mean make friends with people who are from the UK or lived here for at least a year because they know all the best restaurants and things to do in London.

This girl, (who lives in the UK), brought me to a place called Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) to eat for lunch. The food was amazing! I simply had a classic cheeseburger, fries/crisps, and an oreo milkshake. All of this for 7 pounds. This is a pretty big deal because meals in the UK tend to be closer to 10 pounds... GBK actually offers 40% off the total bill for students. So I was happy and would not have known about this place without her invitation.

Another girl (who has been at UCL for a year) asked me to eat with her in Chinatown after our History of Art class at the National Gallery. We went to a yummy inexpensive Chinese restaurant. From there, we were able to have conversations about the best Asian restaurants, what to do in the city, etc.

Overall, I've learned so much from the people I've met. I'm so excited and happy to be in London and I am glad to be learning from a new city.

Side Note: I know that for some people it might be hard to make friends/acquaintances. So I recommend showing up to class about 5-10 minutes early and start randomly talking to the other early birds in the class. I believe that this method works well because there are less people in the class and most people won't be distracted by the lecturer. You can simply strike up a conversation regarding the lecture, etc. So it won't be too bad!

Never fear! There is happiness in London...

Yesterday I went to Camden Market, located on the "Camden Town" underground stop using the Northern Line. And guess what I found?? Affordable food and shopping!! I couldn't be any happier. If you ever go to London, Camden Market should be the place where you buy all of your souvenirs for people back home. There are tons of shops and make sure to look around for the best prices.

there are a bunch of random horse statues here..

these fish are banned in the USA!! Should I try a pedicure from them? haha

this is definitely a crazy "futuristic" store and had random professional dancers...

pictures weren't really allowed :(

Camden Market is like a bunch of NY Chinatown stalls put together... like a swap-meet... like a food bazaar... it's kind of like a farmer's market except with food and anything you want to buy. You can haggle at most stalls which is a bonus! It's a large collection of markets and you will definitely find something you like! The downside is that you're always worried about finding a better deal and whether the quality of the item was worth the price. There are also a ton of designer knock-offs... this makes me wonder if all Londoners shop here for reasonably priced fashionable clothes and accessories...

The prices of food here is amazing! The cheapest I've seen so far. Even thought it's not a restaurant, sit-down-for-a-date kind of place, I think it's worth it. I suppose you can simply call it "street food." There are so many varieties such as Mexican, African, Peruvian, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Polish, Italian, etc. Everything that you can probably crave when you're in London... cause the quality of food usually isn't so great... but Camden Market seems to be okay! There are actually decent sized portions there...

There are so many differences that I've been noticing/noticed while being in the UK,
- the expiration dates of food/drinks finish so quickly! Every time I buy bread, milk, meat, etc. The expiration dates come insanely fast... like within 5 days... even if you look for a longer shelf-life. I kind of miss food in the US because of this...
- Also everything has to be "consumed within 3 days after opening"... even water?? I don't get why.
- there are a ton of "beware of pick pockets" signs everywhere. It must happen so often that it's regulated to be on every part of the city...
- you get your picture taken about 200+ times a day because of the CCTV cameras everywhere. This makes me feel safe, yet worried about having a bad shot... haha

Alright -- that's all for now folks! Coursework is makes it hard for me to update more often.. :(
Kristian


Tips for Studying/Traveling to the UK #10: Understanding the Meaning of College, University, and School
In the UK, higher education after "high school" is called "university." College is a term used to describe A-level education and high school. School is used to describe middle/grade school. So it can definitely be confusing to explain that you attend "college" in the US, when you actually mean a type of "university." I don't think that this will be a big problem when talking to others. You will probably just have to explain how many people in the US use university/college/school interchangeably.

Why is Everything in the UK Expensive?

UK Studying Abroad Tip #8: Shopping to live in the UK!
In the UK, Oxford Circus is a famous area for shopping -- mostly for high end fashion and department stores. Of course, it is an expensive area to go shopping, but for good reason! This tip will mostly be about knowing where to shop in the UK for cheap and smart deals. I wish I had someone to guide me to these places or at least tell me about them. I could have saved more money and could have felt better about some purchases. Since I lived and went to college in MA, I have great respect for students who are able to move from their home country/town to a new place that they do not know anything about! Learning the good and bads of places to shop is a hard thing to do.

This will seriously be a great tip for those studying abroad in the UK in the future!!

When you're studying abroad in the UK, you have to buy your own bedding, cutlery, cookware, and groceries, if you live in a self-catered hall -- which most likely would happen. The following three stores are awesome about having nearly everything you need at good values:

1) Argos, http://www.argos.co.uk/
Price Range: Under Ten Pounds = Under $15
When you first move into your hall, it's always a good idea to make friends with your flatmates so that you can share the cost of cutlery and cookware. Argos is a SUPER bargain home-ware store. There are a bunch located throughout the UK, but in central London, Argos is located near Holborn and another one near Oxford Street. It's a catalogue based store, so when you walk into the Argos store -- you have to look through pages of the catalog, write down the product number, and check the inventory in their little calculator. From there, you take your list of product number and go to the cash register to pay for the item(s). Because I found out about this store so late and September is college/university move-in season, everything inexpensive was/is pretty much sold out. Tip to avoid this upset, check online to reserve the items you want!

My fellow flatmate managed to share dinnerware sets of folks, spoons, and plates, etc. for only a couple of pounds/pence with other people. The same for a cookware set that come with 5-6 pots/pans and they simply split the set amongst themselves. Individual pans/pots were sold out, but not big sets of them. I wish I had someone to share the costs -- I ended up buying items separately which were a little more pricey.  In comparison, buying everything individually is more costly then splitting up the price for sets from Argos.

2) Primark, http://www.primark.co.uk/
Price Range: Under Ten Pounds == $15, homeware can be under Five pounds == $7
While researching online, I saw that Oxford Circus was a great area to shop and thought that buying things from department stores would be a bargain. I was totally wrong. Primark is a company from Ireland that sells clothes, bags, and homeware (bedding, linens, duvets, duvet covers, etc.) for bargain prices. They are located on Oxford Street, closer to the Marble Arch underground and past Forever 21.

Shopping at Primark can be crazy. There are tons and tons of people in the store every single time I've been there. The clothing seem to be of okay quality and there are a lot of tights (since this is a fashion staple in the UK). The bag collection is huge, but some of the bags are not great in quality. Accessories are very inexpensive and cute!

I bring up Primark because I know that everyone has to buy their own bed linens when they study abroad, unless you have them shipped over. In the UK, they have this interesting combination of bedding needed. Instead of buying a comforter, they have a thing called duvet and duvet cover. The duvet is simply the cotton inside a comforter and it is stuffed into a duvet cover like an envelope. Primark sells very inexpensive duvets/duvet covers and they are pretty cute too! I wish I knew about Primark earlier, I bought bedding from John Lewis, a department store. I got them for a good value, but Primark is even cheaper than for how much I initially bought my bedding.

3) Tesco, http://www.tesco.com/
Price Range: Under Ten Pounds == $15
The UK has many chain grocery stores such as Costcutter, Sainbury's, Waitrose, etc. but I believe Tesco has the best bargains. They also have a rewards program, so you can sign up online for a card to accumulate points. After a while you can cash the points for coupons to use on your next visit. But overall, it doesn't matter where you go grocery shopping, you just have to keep an eye out for bargains of the food you eat. :)

I guess this is a tip to help you get started in living in the UK. Of course, you can still shop on Oxford Street at Topshop, H&M, and Zara, etc. for fashionable clothes. Argos, Primark, and Tesco are just shops I wish I knew about when I first arrived in the UK. This whole experience is a learning process and I'm glad! :)

Til Tomorrow!

xoxo,
Kristian

Tips when going abroad.... to the UK at least :)

Today I feel soo much better than before! Sleep definitely helped.

Throughout the night, my mind was anxious about writing tips on my blog-- so here I am at 11am in the morning... just so that I'll remember them for the future and I am sure you all would like to hear for your futures of going abroad to the UK!! :)

1) Bring Pepto Bismol

• an upset stomach happens when going to a new place with new foods...or when you are on an uncomfortable plane ride...this will be your best friend in helping you through... haha

2) Lacking Internet Connection? Locate a Starbucks

• when you lack internet connection, starbucks is better than going to an internet cafe. So make sure you have a registered starbucks account to use their free wi-fi services! To register, you have to have those starbucks giftcards loaded with $5 or 5 pounds (here in the UK).
• I think this tip only works when you go to a country with a starbucks though...
• **BEWARE** Free wi-fi will definitely be slower than connection rates at colleges/universities... also it won't be a "secure" connection. So you will run into trouble with logging onto your gmail account. Google and their security settings will prevent you from logging onto your own account.

3) Always exchange money before you leave the airport or the states

• Barclay's is a UK bank that has a sister relationship with Bank Of America. So definitely locate their cash machine before even stepping out of the airport.
• This will prevent you from using your card per transaction and accumulating fees and bad exchange rates. You can simply make one withdrawal from an atm.

4) If you lack internet connection to contact home, get a sim card
I am a big fan of technology in the sense that one will be able to contact home via skype, email, facebook, twitter, etc. BUT this can only happen with an internet connection.

• So what about those times when you forget your user id (which is located in your email) and you don't have an internet connection to find it? You can call home via sim card to ask your family to retrieve your userid.
• The UK has a bunch of sim card deals, so make sure to bring an unlocked international phone to use them.

So far, these tips came from the worst day ever. I know that I should stay positive and will learn to love London... haha I'm already excited to go shopping today! Hopefully I will FINALLY post pictures.

Thank you for reading and I hope those tips will be helpful to you some day. IF you have tips for me, just let me know!! :)

Real-time updates via twitter @ktran13 or email me!

xoxo,
Kristian