Enchanted by my Wildest Dreams
This was no weekend in Cambridge.
My Friday morning started out on Oxford Street (the best shopping in London) with Hayley.
We got off the tube and started at Topshop and progressively made our way up the street. I purchased a dress to wear in Paris (which I expect you’ll be seeing in later posts) and a clutch to go with it (and other outfits). After our little splurge for ourselves, we came across the London Disney Store! Of course it was like any other Disney store, except that it had two floors of magic-ness. We found Cinderella’s coach/pumpkin and her glass slipper!
After we were done taking pictures, we bought some souvenirs for some cool people (wink wink fam). We also found a London souvenir shop where we bought a couple more gifts (but not too many, because the stuff there was tacky and not quality and would probably be ruined before we even got home).
Hayley needed a slip for a dress that she had so we made our way to Victoria’s Secret, which was on Bond Street. So we were now on Bond Street… which got more and more ritzy with each passing store.
I have always been a fan of Victoria’s Secret (I mean I get at least 3 catalogues a week to my house), so coming to the Victoria’s Secret in London only increased my love for the company.
The windows were lined with past fashion show lingerie worn by Candice, Lily, Karlie, Alessandra, and other angels. The stair case (yes, stair case, because there were 4 floors) was made of mirrors that looked like large crystals (or maybe they were large crystals that looked like mirrors). There were people everywhere, but I didn’t mind the traffic, I was in awe.
We made our way to the top floor, to find a lounge like area. Both Hayley and I had to go to the bathroom, and luckily this was the one store in London that had accessible bathrooms for its customers. Before going into the bathrooms though (which were beautiful, as well) I looked around the lounge area. A copy of the “Angels” book was sitting on a coffee table. The photographer of the Victoria’s Secret catalogue had published the “Angels” book and it was a couple of the VS Angels modeling in black and white (and nude). But it was so tasteful. I reckoned that if I had a coffee table (and a home) I would want that book on it.
Also, in the lounge, was the dress that Taylor Swift wore at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show when she performed there in 2013. It resembled the British flag so it made sense to have it on display in the London VS store.
Once we had both used the beautiful restrooms, we made our way back down to the main level. Hayley bought her slip and we were on to the next store, which was Tory Burch.
Oh, Tory Burch. Fellow Theta and designer of well-respected clothing, shoes, and accessories. It just so happened that the London store was having a sale and it took everything in me not to buy something (because it’s irresponsible to do that when you’re a student in a foreign country where the national currency converts to much more in American dollars). So, we window shopped and looked around for far too long before making our way onto the next store, which of course was Tiffany and Co. and then Ralph Lauren (where there was also a sale, but everything was 500 British Pounds and higher).
We decided to stop torturing ourselves and went to get dinner and then headed back to Regent’s.
Everyone in the program (who wasn’t traveling) decided to go out for the night. Unfortunately, we all didn’t go together because some of us wanted to go at 7 and others left at 6:30 and we never met back up because trying to contact people while off of wifi doesn’t usually work around here.
So, Charlie, Hayley, Claire, and I headed out to Camden. Claire had been wanting to go to a bar called “Brewdog” for awhile, so she led us toward her destination. While on our way there, we passed a couple of young children standing on a street corner (whether they were working it or not, I don’t know). As we were passing by them, a girl asked me “where’s your top from?” Feeling flattered that this 12 year old gypsy child was asking me where my top was from, but sad that she couldn’t get it because it was from Buckle (of course), I answered “Oh, I got it in America, I’m sorry.”
All she replied back was “oh,” so I turned around to catch up with my friends. As I started walking away, she said “stupid bitch,” and her little posse of future hookers all laughed. At that moment I again questioned humanity and having kids in the future.
Of course I laughed it off, though, because the thought of a 12 year old getting into it with me was too much to handle and I started off with an IPA at Brewdog. Charlie and Claire got some flights to sample some of Brewdog’s beers and Hayley enjoyed a glass of wine.
We decided to change the scenery up a bit and headed over to The World’s End pub (which is indeed from the movie “The World’s End). It was a bit of a younger crowd, but they were all punk-ish, so we still didn’t fit in. While ordering our drinks at the bar, we noticed tip jars with little notes attached to them. A few read “tip or we’ll play U2″ and “One Direction murder fund :)”. I didn’t have any cash on me to tip, but I did spiritually.
I got a Heineken and everyone else got whatever they got and we ventured off to find a table, where we talked and laughed for the rest of the night.
Saturday came real fast, and what came even faster was the Taylor Swift concert!!!
Hayley and I had just assumed that it would start at 7:30, but we found out that it was actually 2:30, or it was
advertised that it was.
So me being the girl I am, decided to wear wedges with my dress because I thought it’d be cute. And it was. But I was slowly regretting it throughout the day.
It started off when we arrived at Hyde Park and had to find where to pick our tickets up from. Cue a 15 minute walk.
Once we had gotten our tickets, we were told we had another 10 minute walk to get to the North Entrance. So we started our 10 minute walk, until a security guard stopped us and told us to go to the South Entrance because it’s “basically the same thing”. We headed toward the south entrance, made it through two security checks, when we were stopped by the ticket scanners and they told us that we had General Admission and this entrance was for priority admission and they turned us back around. So, cue the 10 minute walk we should’ve taken in the first place.
The time was now 1:50, and we were told general admission would not be let in for another hour so we sat and waited in the general admission line and waited for 3:00 o’clock to arrive.
Once we were let in, we found multiple stations for food and drinks. It was like a mini village.
We both got something to drink and headed towards the stage and made our way to the front of the General Admission area. We stood there and waited. We sat there and waited. And then finally around 3:30, there was some activity on the stage.
The name “Rae Morris” popped up on the main screen and a woman, that sounded like Shakira, started singing a song. She wasn’t half bad and was really getting into her music, but I didn’t know the words so I wasn’t really getting into her music.
After her, there was a 45 minute-isn break and then the name “Vance Joy” popped up on the main screen. He did a cover of “Stay With Me,” originally by Sam Smith and also sang “Riptide.”
John Newman made an appearance after another long break, and then Ellie Goulding. Ellie Goulding was super cool and her performance made me want to be her friend. I wasn’t really enjoying it though because the people around Hayley and I were very obnoxious, and my feet were hurting (but my wedges were helping me see the stage so I wasn’t really complaining).
After another 45 minute wait, Taylor FINALLY came on stage. She opened with “Welcome to New York” and I could not stop smiling (it’s actually ironic because I really dislike that song but I was seeing her live so I didn’t really care).
After her first song she, as always, was in amazement at the amount of people in attendance.
She announced that it was a sold out show, and that there were 65,000 people there. Sixty Five Thousand. Throughout the night I kept thinking about how unreal it was that I was 1 of 65,000 people but Taylor made me, and others, feel like her friend.
She stopped to talk so many times, and everything she said was so relatable and made me so happy.
Taylor was talking about her wishes for her fans (or friends as she called them/us) and at one point she said:
“I wish you never had to wait 4 hours for a text when you know that person is holding their phone… And I wish when you asked someone if they want to be with you that they said yes or no… Not I don’t know, because you don’t deserve that answer.”
And I thought how everyone in that general area had felt like that at one point or another. We have all had our “wtf” moments when a guy won’t text us back and you know that they’re by their phone. Or when you let your guard down and the other person isn’t reciprocating your feelings.
Another thing that touched me was when she said:
“You are your definition of beautiful and worthwhile, no one else’s.”
Sometimes, in this big and tough world, you need to be told that.
Other than her uplifting and motivational speeches, she gave one hell of a performance. On top of singing songs from her album “1989,” she sang “Love Story” and “Enchanted.” Hayley and I smiled throughout the numerous performances and both agreed that the long wait (and sore feet) was worth it.
OH! And also, Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Martha Hunt, Karlie Kloss, Serena Williams, and Cara Delevigne all made a guest appearance while Taylor was singing “Style”. At that moment, my life was complete.
There’s nothing special to report on today (Sunday), just catching up on rest and watching some Romantic Comedies and eating chocolate.
So cheers to a great weekend, so many great experiences have come from this trip and I thank my lucky stars everyday.
I really couldn’t be more grateful.
