In case you've been living under a rock, I've been living in the UK for about 3 months now. It all feels like some sort of surreal dream that I will occasionally submerge from into blinding reality, that yes, I AM living in the UK right now. And for those few moments I’m so contently happy, I’m this daredevil adventurer and the world is my oyster, ready for the taking. All very cliché but all very amazing as well. My time here has flown by in a flurry of food, rain (but mostly sunshine), creativity, and posh accents; a blur of living on my own, sightseeing, and getting lost in thousands of years of history, art, and culture. So forgive me dear readers, I had every intention of keeping you up to date on my adventures but I was busy and lazy and too afraid of not writing something “good enough”. And of course the only time I would want to write something would be the week before a major project was due that required me to attack a mountain of work. So it’s really no surprise that I’m only getting around to this until now. Expect for the fact that I have another major project to complete in the next week and a half. Oh joy. So despite what you may be thinking, it’s not all fun and games here (it mostly is though). But to show that I am sometimes doing serious things let’s tackle the first topic: education. It is so invigorating to be in such a unique creative environment. The tutors and technicians have been absolutely incredible. It may help that I’m an innocent little exchange student which means they’re extra nice, but who am I to question the system. And it’s not just the faculty; all of the students have been so welcoming, sweet, and friendly. So many of them took me under their wing and helped me out. I went on fabric shopping trips to London and random 2 hour conversations about everything under the sun. The girls that I have met and befriended here have just made this whole experience that much better. And while I won’t go into too much detail about my last project so I don’t bore you, I will say that it was lovely fun to spend so much time on a project and to finally be able to develop it fully. I also worked with real leather for the first time and I loved it so much that it may make an appearance in my fourth year collection. (Spoilers!) The garment I created married my inspiration of beautiful, soft, flowy, and a wee bit creepy roses, with the bad-ass aspect of biker jackets, spikes, and thorns. The dress above is what I ended up with. My current project is basically a self-directed study that will end on April 4th and then I will be officially finished my term here. I can’t believe how quickly it has all gone by and how comfortable and happy I have been here. I don’t think I am the same person now that I was in December before I left. I was terrified of leaving, imaging all the worst case scenarios, and all the horrors of having to talk to new people. But it has been a wonderful adventure and my British lifestyle here will be sorely missed. And hopefully, in writing this, I will give myself incentive to continue this story. Because I doubt many people are happy with such a measly blurb after such a long drought of silence.... So please bear with me!!