Merry Christmas

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. It looks like my promise to myself to keep updated with this blog has not gone over very well, so I apologize. But it is the season for reflection on the past year and the looking forward of all the wonderful things ahead.


From the last time I left you in Paris, school really started to kick into high gear. In the first week of November I got to take my first big class field trip to Torino, Italy. There was an art fair in the city and we got to stay for 3 nights. It was a wonderful trip. We stayed in the old Fiat factory building in a nice hotel that was next to the art fair, which was held in the speed skating arena from the Olympics. We ate loads of pizza and pasta, so much delicious food! We visited the old city and all the buildings were so beautiful and the museums had so much great art. One we visited was in an old castle and there was a piece in one of the great halls that was a living tree. The art fair in my view was the best one I have been to so far, the quality of the art and vendors mixed with the great layout of the building definitely made for a pleasant trip.



Back in London my main focus has been school so I haven't gotten into too many activities or sights. Amanda, Dre and I attended a wine tasting at the Saatchi Gallery (two of our favourite things of course go well together). And I did get to see Harry Potter at the theatre where they have all of the big openings which was cool. With school there have been a couple of big projects to do and some really great tours and gallery visits this semester. Tours are usually in small groups of about 15 so we get to see good views and listen to the tour guides. My favourite I think so far was visiting the Tate Stores. Its the warehouse where the museums of the Tate (Modern and Britian) store all of their art collection. IT'S MASSIVE! There are a massive network of hockey rink sized rooms just filled with art. AND its not even all of their collection most of it had already been to another location. It was fascinating to see crates of all the famous artists just stacked upon one another. And the brackets with all the paintings mixed from Turner to Warhol. The guide taught us all about the packing and shipping protocols, complete with stories of travelling through Russian borders and stolen crates found among collections of mobsters.

At the end of November I visited my friend Ali (who I lived with once in Victoria) and her boyfriend Menno in Holland. We visited Amsterdam for a night and saw some markets on the saturday. I saw my first European snowfall there, it was beautiful. Then we trained to the Eastern part where Ali and Menno live, Enschede. It is a lovely little city right near the eastern border to Germany. We spent the Sunday in Germany in Munster at a Christmas market that winds its way around the centre of town in every little square surrounding the Church. We ate bratwurst in a bun and the sun was out but it was freezing.




The beginning of December was a little hectic with all of my school work but I enjoyed doing a group project and got some papers completed. We finished on the 14th and then I worked on my internship stuff, however now I am enjoying the city.

The city is beautiful with all of the lights and sights of Christmas. Every department store has lights and decorations up. Harrods was beautiful and the shopping wasn't too hectic, unless you are in a grocery store. I am thankful I am not traveling this holiday, with all of the disruptions. A few of my friends have lost flights and are only rescheduled until after Christmas. I am sad to be missing my family and home during the holidays but am thrilled to be spending it with Amanda and Dre. Amanda's friend Alicia flies in Christmas morning, though she is already delayed in Philadelphia. But there is no snow here, it is just cold. Dre is cooking us a turkey and my friend Sasha is also joining us for dinner as her flight had to be rebooked. There is lots of Christmas cheer in the house.





Tonight (Christmas Eve) Amanda, Dre and I went to Royal Albert Hall to see Carols by Candlelight, which was also had a sing-a-long section part. There was an operatic singer, a person reading A Christmas Carol and lots of music by the Choir and Mozart Orchestra. They were all dressed as Mozart/Beethoven and the conductor was a very comical entertaining fellow. Now I am drinking some of Amanda's delicious homemade mulled wine (our house smells like Christmas) and eating my home-baked shortbread.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
Love and prayers
Alyssa

Paris!

So just as in university in Canada we get a week off aptly named Reading Week...this is of course the perfect time to skip the books and head across the pond to enjoy some french culture. Paris is definitely such a lovely city. The Eurostar to the Gare du Nord takes no time at all. We visited Sainte Chapelle which was stunning with the light coming through all the stained glass. We climbed the steps to Sacre Coeur with Hagen Daz and listened and watched street performers in the late afternoon sun. Friday we took the train to Versailles to check out the grandeur and ornateness of the palace while confronted with the juxtaposition of Takashi Murakami amongst the busts and portraits of Louis and Marie-Antoinette. The gardens astounded and thwarted us with the thought of walking and losing our way in the gardens. After a full omelette lunch we ventured to Marie Antoinette's village and farm. We napped among the ruins in the glorious fall sun before returning to the city of lights. In the failing light we floated on a cruise down the Seine to see the sights with a bottle of delicious french wine. For our evening meal we feasted on fondue...my experience of Paris is bread and cheese....ooooo delicousness. There was a meat portion too but that was minor given the amount of melted cheese available. Saturday morning we got our art on at the Louvre and at the FIAC (french art fair/read: art trade show), the best part of the day was sitting in a cafe in the Louvre eating a quiche and chatting with the girls. OR sitting in a cafe near the tuileries having wine with Libby and eating a Chocolat Lava Cake and Lemon Tart! On Sunday I took the metro to the Arc du Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elyseees, only stopping in Louis Vitton to visit their exhibition of artists investigating Peter Pan. Then it was off to the Musee d'Orsay and the Centre Pompidou before heading home to finally have Dre in London!

Fall in the City

Well its officially starting to get cooler out there...the rain threatens everyday and the wind sends a chill down your spine. However, I love this city. Everything is moving at once and there is always a million things to do and see and explore. Luckily we have our home which is a haven where its quiet and comfortable. We love this place, and my mom approves too. We are still waiting on Dre but he will arrive next friday the 22nd.
Its already October time is flying by. School is definitely the right place for me. I am pretty much into a routine, but school definitely keeps me on my toes. The house is getting set up properly, once Dre arrives we can put some good little touches to make it our own. I have finished my first paper, it was a struggle to get it going but I am beginning to remember what it is like to write a paper again. The best part about school is the field trips. I have seen some absolutely fabulous amazing things and these trips are the best ways of learning. My first week of school we went down to the South of the country to visit a sculpture foundation which helps emerging artists get their starts and help to fund their creation because materials such as bronze are very expensive. The Cass Foundation was created by a couple with strong ties to the art world. We got to walk around the grounds checking out all the artists and their monumental artworks. It was absolutely stunning. We also visited a historic town with a large church and well known art gallery. It was lovely to see the countryside and the beauty and greenery of the UK.


We also get to go on some weekly trips in the city visiting some galleries and learning about how businesses are run and the strategies employ. I have visited everything from Old Masters to a Contemporary gallery that is built inside an old riflemaker's shop. I have also been to see some of the preview of sales at the Sotheby's Auction house. I also had the pleasure of visiting the USA Ambassador's house which is located in Regent's Park and was given a tour with only 20 of my classmates by the Ambassador's wife. It was a wonderful experience to see their exhibition of post war American art placed in the setting of a very ornate old Victorian house. They had all the big names which was cool to see how they all worked so well inside this house.
The other really great field trip was a very long four hour bus trip to Chatsworth house in Derbyshire. Sotheby's has a sculpture sale and they place all the works for sale in the gardens of the estate, the house and the gardens are absolutely stunning. They filmed parts of the new Pride and Prejudice there. The sculpture of with the head of butterflies was bought on the first day of the sale from a collector who flew into the estate on his helicopter...



This week has been really busy, Mom and Carla flew into London for the week on Saturday, so I have been visiting with them and touring the city a bit while trying to maintain my classes. Also the big art fair called Frieze is in the city. Its the trade show of the art world so it is a big deal and a lot of really great events are going on for it.
Next week is reading week so I have a week off of school which will involve writing another paper, catching up on my readings and going to PARIS with a group of friends to go to the Paris Art Fair for 3 nights. Lots is going on but I am having the most wonderful time.
Hope all is well.
Lots of Love Alyssa

Address

For those of you who would like to send me things and care parcels

Flat 4, 306 Seven Sisters Road
London
N4 2AG

my mobile for now is 07790409119, landline to come soon


It started raining tonight...tomorrow there is a tube strike on...so not excited about getting to school in the morning.
Lot of Love from the UK

Welcome to the UK

Hello All,
I know its been awhile since I have arrived in London but its not easy setting up a life here, but I better start from the beginning so you can see what I mean...
I arrived safely with no hiccups in my travels. I even ran into Amanda at the border services counter in Iceland. Amanda for those of you who do not know is one of my best friends. She has also entered the Sotheby's Institute of Art programme but she is doing the Masters of Contemporary Art while I am studying Art Business. On arrival we contacted her Great Aunt Ceeta and took a cab to her house in Wimbledon where we stayed for the next 3 nights which definitely helped with the cost of living. We were treated like queens and served many a delicious meal. I was even treated to a Caribbean specialty, Goat Curry. Believe me its good. Our next days were filled with pounding the pavement trying to look for a place to live. If I thought looking for a place in Victoria was hard...pfft. London rental are vicious and expensive. It was not a pretty sight to see us looking for places. We got acquainted with with the Tube quite easily our Oyster cards help us out and make things cheaper and more efficient even though they run out quickly. Searching for a place to live is complicated. The market is crazy, especially because we happened to land on the day that the high school exam results were released so EVERYONE who did well (and it was a good year for that) were looking for places too. Anyways our first day we saw a couple places and tried to not get lost. The first place we actually made it to on time....well lets just say I wouldn't let a rat stay there. From there we say a couple of other places. Nothing we were too keen on though one was quite liveable, however we would have been on top of each other.
The next day was a saturday so there were not a lot of new places to look at, and everything gets snapped up in an instant. We called and called and called for places. We went to agencies who looked at us like we were mental. Seriously, we would give our details and they would immediately tell us there was nothing. They would say that it wasnt even worth us leaving them with our details as there were so many people ahead of us or had more of a budget than we did. It was brutal and we were beginning to get really discouraged.
The next day was a Sunday and we couldn't do a whole lot of anything so we did a bit of sightseeing. We also had to get a hotel that night and moved into the area near our school so we could get a feel of the borough. Its gorgeous in Bloomsbury, the afterwork crowd packs themselves into the pub and all over the street and will drink pint after pint. Its quite a lively area.
By Monday Amanda and I went back at it and on our way to a place we finally got a call back from an agency. He was really nice and took our details and asked a lot of questions, we booked an appointment for that evening. We saw a couple of places but nothing was really suitable and stopped in a couple of agencies that shot us down. By the time of our meeting we were feeling pretty low. But once we arrived at the place (Foxtons) our guy Leo said he had some options for us. Foxtons is the biggest and the glitziest letting agency. We were just happy to see one place let alone the 4 he had to show us. He drove us around in the company mini to all the locations, our first stop was the instantly likeable and all except one were viable options. But we decided to go for the first one. It has a large reception/kitchen with high ceilings laminate flooring white leather couches and a roof terrace. We are on a main road but its not too loud and the best part is that our view is of the park that is directly across the street. We have two double bedrooms and built in closets and the view from these bedrooms are of traditional British brick houses (think the Chimney song from Mary Poppins) there is even a Church spire in the distance. It is however a 4th floor walk up but hey I need the exercise.
There are so many things to set up here, you have to have a tv license, council tax, gas, water, and electric all changed into your name. I cannot even describe to you here the crazy frustration that it has been to set up our internet/cable/landline. I dont even fully have it yet we broke down and bought the portable sticks\moblie broadband to have internet in our house but it makes us happy and we dont have to go to the sketchy internet cafe where I have been hit on while checking my mail. I have a broadband box, but the systems are so archaic that I wont get my activation until next FRIDAY! That's right, its why we miss Canadian speed of service. Seriously, The companies will flat out lie to you just to get rid of you and there is no way of speeding up the service, even if they have messed with you.
But luckily school is starting on Monday. This week starting on Wednesday we had our orientation. Thursday we had a full day of lectures and lunch and tea breaks. Then everyone was delivered to the Sotheby's Auction house for a cocktail reception. However Amanda and I missed half of the party....A couple of new friends and Amanda and I had gone up to use a different bathroom in this lecture building that our institute was using as our full university would not fit in any lecture hall in our institute. We got ready and started to head to the buses but Tiffany and I realized we left our folders upstairs so she and I jumped back into the elevator to go back up. HOWEVER, the small sketchy elevator didnt reach the floor, it just stopped. right in the middle. It was pretty freaky. We started to call the buzzer and no one answered for awhile. Amanda luckily heard us and asked the people at reception what was going on. This elevator was completely closed in with no ventilation. The security told us that an engineer was coming shortly, but according to Amanda they quoted an hour and a half. So Tiffany and I waited in our party attire for an hour. They kept telling us that someone was coming but after an hour we started to get impatient, I started to jiggle the door and the elevator started to bounce a little. Finally we agreed to open the door together and low and behold we just had to step up a little and crawl out. (Yes I know you are never supposed to try to open the door incase the elevator moves but it didnt and I was just relieved) One of the staff were waiting with Amanda in the lobby and the IT guy came to get us in a private car hire so we made it to the party, headed straight for the bar (sorry Gma but I deserved this) to get ourselves a glass of Champagne. The servers made sure my glass was always full to ease the pain. And I got to meet and talk with a couple of the professors at the party and the director of the entire school.
I am really excited for school to start, after my friday orientation my professor handed out our first essay paper...I havent even been to class yet.
On Saturday Amanda and I visited the National Gallery, it reassured my reasons for coming to London, seeing all the artwork I have only read about or seen on a slide, so many famous pieces. I cannot wait to hit the books.
Well I think thats about all I have of any real interest. Just email me if you have any questions. I will update as much as I can but I am not promising anything. Hope you are doing well. I hear the weather has been decent there. I am very jealous, we have had only a couple days of rain but when it rains it doesnt stop. Oh ya there is a planned tube strike this week, which I am not thrilled about. To get to where I go to school its a 15 minute tube ride and I do not have to transfer at all. Its also only a 2 minute walk to the tube station from where I live and a 5 minute walk to school.

Lots of Love
Alyssa