This is going to be a boring, chocolate-induced post.
At this exact moment, I am noshing on a Hershey's LARGE chocolate bar that darling, love of my life (platonic but pure), incredibly wonderful Adri gave me before departing. As I mange, I keep thinking about how Mom Savarese (her Mom) said that I could put the bar to good use by eating some of it before going out, seeing as sugar puts me in a good mood almost without fail. And when I'm in a good mood, I generally am friendly. Or more friendly than I usually am. Which is sort of obnoxiously friendly. This morning I said "bless you" to a construction worker that I was passing on the street, and he very kindly grinned at me and thanked me. I was pleased with myself, and then noticed my professor chuckling, and when I shot him a sort of inquisitive look he informed me that "people in this country are not used to such friendliness." So I told him that people in the Illadelph aren't so friendly, either, but that it's all my mother's fault for socializing me so effectively as a small child. He laughed again. This whole exchange then led to a conversation with Chase about snow(ice)balls being thrown at Santa etc. BUT, point of this story, I am happy to report that I don't even NEED the chocolate bar to be obnoxiously friendly and to meet people. Oh, happy day!
When I titled this post, I was listening to Kodachrome. I think I was listening to it when I wrote yesterday's post. May even have mentioned it. Am now listening to Cat Stevens and am getting into my Peace Train groove. Which is really just as groovy as Paul Simon.
I think I'm a little delirious. Three hours trekking around London enjoying the architecture is exhausting, and then speed-reading Henry IV before class in the afternoon and then three MORE hours, this time spent sitting in a warm, comfortable classroom talking about Shakespeare... well, it's enough to make any person a bit zonky. I intended to come downstairs to nap (and to get away from the boys' argument about whether or not Jimmy Page stole his music), but then came the chocolate, and the Paul Simon, and now I just don't know. AND NOW BILLY JOEL!!!! Come out Virginia, don't let me wait....
Anyway. Back to the Globe Theater tonight, this time to see Henry IV. 3 hours standing in the audience. God help me.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The End of Dublin
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| Yes, that is a real rainbow. A double rainbow. If that's not a s sign that you, too, should visit the Guinness Factory if you ever have the chance, I don't know what is. |
I have to say, there was a grave omission in my last post. The omission was thus: the Guinness factory was AMAZING. I didn't adequately convey that in the two sentences I devoted to our tour and tasting. So take my word for it... if you decide to pop over to Dublin, ever, you really must visit the factory to get a real picture of the city. I mean, anywhere downwind of the storehouse, the smell of roasting barley and hops completely permeates. Plus all the really interesting facts about Arthur Guinness himself that are found throughout the 7 STORY TOUR. Plus the entire portion dedicated to advertising. Really it was just incredibly interesting, and I was so glad to have borrowed Dad's copy of "The Search for God and Guinness" this summer (this is a side note, but if you have any interest in the connections between religious groups and the gradual social shift from appreciating beer as a moderate alcohol to the more Puritanical take of all alcohol being inherently evil, READ THAT BOOK).
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| FULL ON DOUBLE RAINBOW. As seen amidst buildings on the Guinness Factory property. |
Anyway. Sunday morning started a new "longest day ever." We had to check out of the hostel at 10:30, but thankfully could leave our luggage in a lock-up and hang out there later in the day. Left and headed back towards Phoenix Park. We ended up splitting up (basically for the first time), and Hayes, John and I ended up enjoying a leisurely morning in the park/lunch in Heuston Train Station/stroll to the James Joyce Center. Eventually, exhaustion overtook us and we headed back to the hostel to wait for the other 3 (we had agreed to meet up at 5), and then began our incredibly exhausting journey back.
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| Foot bridge to town in Holyhead |
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| WWI memorial in Holyhead |
Train got us back to Foggy London Towne around 8:15, 8:30am. Headed back to the flat and PASSED OUT. Once I regained consciousness around 3pm, had to do some classwork (?!?!) and read Mrs. Dalloway. Virginia Woolf is such a cheery writer.
Class this morning, and some really excellent pasta for lunch as I write this. Rocking out with some Kodachrome (Paul Simon, anyone?). Now I get to upload 100000 pictures. In reverse chronological order. Enjoy!
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| So the top floor of the factory has a 360 degree view of Dublin. It's called the Gravity Bar, and it's where I had the most perfectly poured Guinness I probably ever will (I learned on the tour that it takes 119.5 seconds to pour a perfect pin of Guinness). As shown, said beer and said view. |
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| Advertisement |
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral |
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| The rosiest-smelling rose I've yet encountered in my relatively short life. Outside St. Patrick's. |
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| Dublin Castle (the garden had this really cool contemplation maze bricked into a large green. Of course, I neglected to take a picture of said "really cool maze." Typical.) |
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| Just a friendly reminder... :) 5:59 pm in Dublin = 12:59 pm in Phila and 11:59am in Conway. In case you're feeling Irish patriotism that day. |
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| River Liffey in Dublin |
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| John, Me, Chase, Ruthie, Jack, Hayes. Dublin crew in the Jameson Distillery |
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Back to London Pics.
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| The Old Bailey (remember, remember...) with the Millennium Bridge spanning the Thames in the foreground. |
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| Tower Bridge (if memory serves), as seen from the Millennium Bridge |
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| A DIFFERENT full on, double rainbow. This one seen in London. Since I started this post with a rainbow, it seems appropriate to end it in similar fashion. |
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The Last Long While...
OK so Tuesday night, Hayes, Hillary, John, Chase and I went to Soho. Hung out for a while, decided that much of Soho was smelly and generally gross, and headed back to Bloomsbury.
Wednesday was the longest day yet (which is saying something). For art and architecture we went to the British Museum and then to the National Gallery off of Trafalgar Square. Lonnnng class. Back to the flat and then to the river to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe Theater. Which was cool, except for the fact that it's a 2.5 hour long play and we were...standing. The whole time. Looooooong time. Anyway, the wives were fantastic, and the play itself was a lot of fun. Easy to understand, easy to laugh at, good times had by all. On the way back to homebase, we convinced Dr. King to stop for a pint with us. Excellent :)
Thursday we had just one class to get through before LEAVING FOR IRELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(note: I'm sitting in my hostel in Dublin right now, and I'm just as excited now as I was on Thursday. Pretty sweet, if I say so myself) So Dr. King let us out a little bit early on Thurs because he kept us late on Tuesday, and Chase, Jack, Ruthie, Hayes, John and I headed straight to the train station from class. Went from Euston station to Chester, Chester to Holyhead (in WALES!), and then took a ferry from Holyhead to Dublin port. Total travel time: approximately 8 hours (if you include the time that we spent wandering around Dublin bc none of us had thought to bring a city map, and the bus station was sadly lacking in efficient maps). Long day. We stopped at a pub called O'Shea's that was recommended to us by a guy at our hostel, Andy, and had some really excellent food. Came back and basically passed out from pure exhaustion.
Woke up Friday morning feeling much better rested but ANNOYED. Why, you ask? Because there were small children screaming and crying and generally throwing bratty tantrums in the lobby of our hostel. So Ruthie and I woke up from their bellowing (the boys' room was upstairs) and got to enjoy some breakfast before the gentlemen joined us. Headed out around 10:30 and just started walking. In our travels we passed a sign directing us towards the Jameson distillery; who were we to ignore the beckonings of fate? So away we went, and enjoyed the tour of the Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery. A cool thing that they do is offer a whiskey comparison opportunity. In the case of our tour, 4 men and 4 women were selected to do a taste comparison of Jameson, a well-known Scotch (which turned out to be Johnny Walker) and a well-known American whiskey (which turned out to be Jack Daniels). It just so happened that Ruthie, Jack and (DRUMROLLLLLLLL) me were selected to participate! Long story short, we enjoyed ourselves immensely and shared an international whiskey moment with a Swedish guy and his wife, and were surprised with certificates declaring us Irish Whiskey Tasters. After Jameson, we headed to the Phoenix Park and napped (I did at least) under the giant obelisk commemorating (we think) the Battle of Waterloo. According to John, it's called the Wellington Monument. I'm inclined to believe him. Headed to the zoo and decided we didn't want to spend the money to go in. Oh, also ate lunch in a pub called Bakers. Fantastic bacon cheeseburger.
Everyone had dinner at an American 50s style diner called Eddie Rocket's, but I was still incredibly full from lunch so I just had a root beer float. Hung out at the hostel while they digested dinner, and then went across the street to a pub called Doyle's. Met some cool guys, hung out for a long while, generally had a ton of fun.
Up this morning and headed to Trinity College and poked around a bit. Explored an art exhibit there, and wanted to see the Book of Kells but didn't want to pay 8 Euros to do it. Robbery. Then headed towards St Patrick's Cathedral and decided that I would pay to get in (if I can pay for pubs, I should be able to pay for a sweet church. Even if it's Anglican. Kidding. But really.). Beautiful building. Next to the Guinness Storehouse to do the tour and have a beer. The most perfectly poured Guinness and the most delightful beer head that I've ever experienced.
For dinner, John, Hayes and I headed to an Italian place that we had passed the day before. I had this amazing Penne Marinara (calamari, mussels, tuna and prawns in a tomato sauce with penne pasta). We were way under-dressed, but oh well. Now all the kiddos are clamoring to use this computer because it's the only one we've got with us. So on that note, fare thee well!
PS. I forgot the cable to connect my phone (thus, pictures) to computer, so pictures will go up when I return to London.
Wednesday was the longest day yet (which is saying something). For art and architecture we went to the British Museum and then to the National Gallery off of Trafalgar Square. Lonnnng class. Back to the flat and then to the river to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe Theater. Which was cool, except for the fact that it's a 2.5 hour long play and we were...standing. The whole time. Looooooong time. Anyway, the wives were fantastic, and the play itself was a lot of fun. Easy to understand, easy to laugh at, good times had by all. On the way back to homebase, we convinced Dr. King to stop for a pint with us. Excellent :)
Thursday we had just one class to get through before LEAVING FOR IRELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(note: I'm sitting in my hostel in Dublin right now, and I'm just as excited now as I was on Thursday. Pretty sweet, if I say so myself) So Dr. King let us out a little bit early on Thurs because he kept us late on Tuesday, and Chase, Jack, Ruthie, Hayes, John and I headed straight to the train station from class. Went from Euston station to Chester, Chester to Holyhead (in WALES!), and then took a ferry from Holyhead to Dublin port. Total travel time: approximately 8 hours (if you include the time that we spent wandering around Dublin bc none of us had thought to bring a city map, and the bus station was sadly lacking in efficient maps). Long day. We stopped at a pub called O'Shea's that was recommended to us by a guy at our hostel, Andy, and had some really excellent food. Came back and basically passed out from pure exhaustion.
Woke up Friday morning feeling much better rested but ANNOYED. Why, you ask? Because there were small children screaming and crying and generally throwing bratty tantrums in the lobby of our hostel. So Ruthie and I woke up from their bellowing (the boys' room was upstairs) and got to enjoy some breakfast before the gentlemen joined us. Headed out around 10:30 and just started walking. In our travels we passed a sign directing us towards the Jameson distillery; who were we to ignore the beckonings of fate? So away we went, and enjoyed the tour of the Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery. A cool thing that they do is offer a whiskey comparison opportunity. In the case of our tour, 4 men and 4 women were selected to do a taste comparison of Jameson, a well-known Scotch (which turned out to be Johnny Walker) and a well-known American whiskey (which turned out to be Jack Daniels). It just so happened that Ruthie, Jack and (DRUMROLLLLLLLL) me were selected to participate! Long story short, we enjoyed ourselves immensely and shared an international whiskey moment with a Swedish guy and his wife, and were surprised with certificates declaring us Irish Whiskey Tasters. After Jameson, we headed to the Phoenix Park and napped (I did at least) under the giant obelisk commemorating (we think) the Battle of Waterloo. According to John, it's called the Wellington Monument. I'm inclined to believe him. Headed to the zoo and decided we didn't want to spend the money to go in. Oh, also ate lunch in a pub called Bakers. Fantastic bacon cheeseburger.
Everyone had dinner at an American 50s style diner called Eddie Rocket's, but I was still incredibly full from lunch so I just had a root beer float. Hung out at the hostel while they digested dinner, and then went across the street to a pub called Doyle's. Met some cool guys, hung out for a long while, generally had a ton of fun.
Up this morning and headed to Trinity College and poked around a bit. Explored an art exhibit there, and wanted to see the Book of Kells but didn't want to pay 8 Euros to do it. Robbery. Then headed towards St Patrick's Cathedral and decided that I would pay to get in (if I can pay for pubs, I should be able to pay for a sweet church. Even if it's Anglican. Kidding. But really.). Beautiful building. Next to the Guinness Storehouse to do the tour and have a beer. The most perfectly poured Guinness and the most delightful beer head that I've ever experienced.
For dinner, John, Hayes and I headed to an Italian place that we had passed the day before. I had this amazing Penne Marinara (calamari, mussels, tuna and prawns in a tomato sauce with penne pasta). We were way under-dressed, but oh well. Now all the kiddos are clamoring to use this computer because it's the only one we've got with us. So on that note, fare thee well!
PS. I forgot the cable to connect my phone (thus, pictures) to computer, so pictures will go up when I return to London.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The River and More New Friends
Sunday afternoon, went for a walk towards the Thames River with Hayes, Chase, John and Laura. Basically just wandered about down around Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, and then crossed the river and saw some street performers under the London Eye (the massive ferris wheel thing overlooking the Thames).
Returned to the flat after our walk and spent much of the night catching up on reading. Finished 1984 and started Animal Farm.
Monday morning we had our first "Politics of the British Novel" class with Dr. King, and after class, we worked on finalizing plans for a trip to Dublin that we're taking this weekend. John, Chase, Hayes, Jack, Ruthie and I are going to stay together (Hayes found a sweet deal at a hostel for 6 people to share a room), so we're headed out Thursday after class! Went to the train station to buy our tickets, and then stopped for some libations on our way back to the flat. I had a fantastic conversation with two little old men in the pub. They told me about how back in the day, Guinness was given to anyone who went to the hospital. I responded that "Guinness is, after all, good for you," and one grinned and informed me that "It's good for your sex life, too." Classy, hilarious, slightly-inappropriate old men; I reiterate... pub-going is a definite study in culture :)
Nothing exciting going today, probably, so I should probably do some laundry. I need clean socks. (See?Life isn't ALL pubs and fun here =] )
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| Trafalgar square at an angle |
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| Hayes (outside) and John (inside) modeling proper use of a London red phone booth |
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| Big Ben! |
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| A brilliant example of the beautiful cars that roam about London (this is for you, Anj) |
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| Parliament and Big Ben from across the Thames |
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| "Headeless" street performers |
Monday morning we had our first "Politics of the British Novel" class with Dr. King, and after class, we worked on finalizing plans for a trip to Dublin that we're taking this weekend. John, Chase, Hayes, Jack, Ruthie and I are going to stay together (Hayes found a sweet deal at a hostel for 6 people to share a room), so we're headed out Thursday after class! Went to the train station to buy our tickets, and then stopped for some libations on our way back to the flat. I had a fantastic conversation with two little old men in the pub. They told me about how back in the day, Guinness was given to anyone who went to the hospital. I responded that "Guinness is, after all, good for you," and one grinned and informed me that "It's good for your sex life, too." Classy, hilarious, slightly-inappropriate old men; I reiterate... pub-going is a definite study in culture :)
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| John. That's all. |
Yesterday, most of the students apparently moved back in to the University of London, so "our" pub was having some good deals. Frugal students that we are, we took advantage of the sales, and ended up meeting more new people! Kavey, Delaney, Antony and another guy whose name (sorry!) we forget are all law students at U of L, and we had a lot of fun discussing the dispersion of American culture (music primarily) into London's. They were lots of fun. Delaney was telling me about growing up in Wales... made me want to visit for sure.
Watched "The History Boys" in Brit L&C this morning, stopped at Sainsbury's (grocery store) on our way back to the flat and I made myself a FANTASTIC tomatoe and mozzarella sandwich on a baguette that was still hot when I sliced into it. Oh yeah. Be jealous.
Nothing exciting going today, probably, so I should probably do some laundry. I need clean socks. (See?Life isn't ALL pubs and fun here =] )
Sunday, September 5, 2010
New Friends!
Last night we went to a new pub, one recommended to us by one of the girls who did Hendrix-in-London 2 years ago, called the Marleborough Arms. Early in the evening, one of the USC girls who lives in our building popped in to the boys' apartment to see what our plans were for the night. Apparently, most of their group headed to Scotland for the weekend, but a few had stuck around London. Long story, two of the girls, Dani and Maria, ended up going out with us, and they were super cool. Both from LA, but different from each other. Maria was what I imagine an LA girl would look like; super together looking and wearing shoes that make me faint even thinking about walking a block in. Dani was uber chill, down-to-earth and my kinda person to hang out with. Their group is headed to Dublin next weekend (as we're planning to!), so we've already promised to go out together next weekend. Some of the guys got their phone numbers (nice work, gentlemen), so we're good to go in terms of contacting them. Fun!
Also, new favorite drink: glitter bomb. Goldschlager and red bull. Try it, you'll love it. Learned it from our bartender friend, Jemma (we met her the first night we were in town, and she's an excellent reference for new drinks, and good deals at pubs around town. Nice.)
Found the Catholic church last weekend when we went to Camdentown Market ( did I mention how cool that market was? because it was phenomenal. so many vendors, so many cool things to buy, so many opportunites to blow through money...), and managed to find a mass schedule online last night, so I hit up my first mass in the UK already today. The priest gave a homily that was completely relatable, and I kept wishing that people who hate on the Catholic church could listen to it and realize that it's not a ridiculous antiquated institution, but a community dedicated to just spreading the love, man! I was thrown off by the songs, though, and the hymnal didn't have the music written, just the lyrics. So I kinda wung it. I think some of the girls are going to join me next weekend, but I didn't give them much notice this morning, so I flew solo for today. In all, a good experience.
Maybe going to head towards the river for a wander about this afternoon, but til then, FOOD!
Also, new favorite drink: glitter bomb. Goldschlager and red bull. Try it, you'll love it. Learned it from our bartender friend, Jemma (we met her the first night we were in town, and she's an excellent reference for new drinks, and good deals at pubs around town. Nice.)
Found the Catholic church last weekend when we went to Camdentown Market ( did I mention how cool that market was? because it was phenomenal. so many vendors, so many cool things to buy, so many opportunites to blow through money...), and managed to find a mass schedule online last night, so I hit up my first mass in the UK already today. The priest gave a homily that was completely relatable, and I kept wishing that people who hate on the Catholic church could listen to it and realize that it's not a ridiculous antiquated institution, but a community dedicated to just spreading the love, man! I was thrown off by the songs, though, and the hymnal didn't have the music written, just the lyrics. So I kinda wung it. I think some of the girls are going to join me next weekend, but I didn't give them much notice this morning, so I flew solo for today. In all, a good experience.
Maybe going to head towards the river for a wander about this afternoon, but til then, FOOD!
Pictures from Stratford
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| Anne Hathaway's Cottage (AKA Shakespeare's home base) |
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| Sitting under an arbor at the Cottage |
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| Man made of vine at the cottage. Clearly hard at work. |
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| Jester statue on the street outside of Shakespeare's birthplace. |
Saturday, September 4, 2010
A Few Days Later...
OK so clearly I'm behind in the times. I've now had three of my four classes, my professors are AWESOME. On Tuesday, we had a crazy busy day. We had our first class, British Life and Culture for 3 hours in the morning, and then spent the entire afternoon in orientations for the Senate Library, for our flats, for the ULU (University of London student Union). Never ending. Everyone was teasing me because we walked by ULU and I caught a waft of the chlorine smell coming from the pool that's in the basement and got EXTREMELY excited. Wanted to swim. A lot. But anyway, I got to see the pool during our orientation at ULU (pronounced "you-loo"), and I may end up swimming every once in a while.... or maybe not. I dunno. I'm in London, so I'll wing it :)
Tues night we had a "social" with our new professors (Susie is Brit Life and Culture, Barnaby is Brit Art and Architecture, and Jean is Shakespeare). Holy COW, it was fun. Jean is hilariousssssssssss, and we decided, over beer/wine, that we were going to get along quite well. Again, it's fun to be able to enjoy a drink with dinner, and even, apparently, with our professors.
Weds we had Art and Architecture, and watched some extremely bizarre short films concerning both modern architecture, and antiquated stuff (mostly stuff erected by the druids, so burial mounds and stone monuments for studying lunar motion). Lunch break, in which Hayes, John and I carried some boxes of stuff for Dr. King (*more on that later), and then back to class for Shakespeare. Jean is an actress, and I swear, she's got a love affair with Shakespeare. She ADORES his plays, and gushed about him for most of class. It was ok though, because she got us really psyched for the trip that we then took on Thurs to Stratford upon Avon (AKA Shakes' hometown).
45 minute walk to the Tube (AKA the Underground... have I covered that already?) on Thurs morning to head to Stratford, mostly taken because we're all trying to be frugal whenever/wherever we can to save up for traveling (lengthy side note at this point: I am SO GLAD that I spent the entire summer working at Episcopal with Mom, saving up and being a bump on a log instead of taking fun weekend trips. At the time, it was incredibly annoying having to say no to invites from people from school asking me to visit them, but now I'm glad that all that money can go to work paying for weekend trips in Europe! And to pubs. Let's be real.). 2 hours to Stratford, and we went straight to the bed and breakfasts where we were staying (as you may realize, one B&B would not hold the 14 students plus Dr. King plus Jean, so we were spread out over 3). THIS is where that "carrying heavy boxes across Bloomsbury for Dr. King during our lunch break on Tuesday comes in: Hayes and I got SINGLE BEDROOMS! So I had my own double bed (fantastic mattress), plus my own bathroom, and Hayes had his own bedroom, but had to share a bathroom with two of the other guys (Jack and Chase) who were in a double in the same place. So the four of us were in our own little B&B, and it was great.
Toured around Stratford in the afternoon, and went to see The Winter's Tale in the evening. Went to a pub called The Golden Bumblebee afterwards with John, Hayes, Chase, Ruthie, Jack and some of the girls ("some of the girls" ended up leaving pretty quickly though, but it was basically all 14 of us for a while there). Hung out for a while and then headed back to the B&Bs through a park and appreciated the fact that we could actually SEE the stars (as opposed to in London, where they look more like smudges on the sky-ceiling). Had a beautiful night's sleep, up at 8:30 to my home cooked breakfast, courtesy of Iain and his wife (our host and hostess; super nice people. The boys and I chatted with Iain for a while after breakfast about American TV, and he told us about how so many people in his neighborhood woke up at like 4 in the morning to watch the finale of Lost... it was broadcast all around the world at the same time... and how Brits love the show Prison Break), and then walked to Anne Hathaway's cottage to see Shakespeare's house. Bit of a trek, but it was a beautiful day. Actually warm, instead of the basically winter weather that we've been doing in London all week.
Back to Stratford this afternoon, and John, Hayes and I went to this Italian place on Sicilian Avenue (it's got stone columns at either end. Nice.) and had the most incredible food. I don't even know WHAT mine was bc they brought me the wrong thing, but I was so ravenous that I just ate it anyway. But damn. Some kind of chicken, and the way it was cooked, it had a crisp crust sort of thing (not a breading, just the way it was cooked), and was in this wine sauce, and had FRIED POTATOES ON THE SIDE! Fried potatoes, like HOMEFRIES. But cooked with rosemary. Oh. My. Goodness. Beautiful.
Now am back at home base. Everyone's upstairs playing games (I can hear them through the floor), so I'm going to head back to society. Thanks for listening :)
Tues night we had a "social" with our new professors (Susie is Brit Life and Culture, Barnaby is Brit Art and Architecture, and Jean is Shakespeare). Holy COW, it was fun. Jean is hilariousssssssssss, and we decided, over beer/wine, that we were going to get along quite well. Again, it's fun to be able to enjoy a drink with dinner, and even, apparently, with our professors.
Weds we had Art and Architecture, and watched some extremely bizarre short films concerning both modern architecture, and antiquated stuff (mostly stuff erected by the druids, so burial mounds and stone monuments for studying lunar motion). Lunch break, in which Hayes, John and I carried some boxes of stuff for Dr. King (*more on that later), and then back to class for Shakespeare. Jean is an actress, and I swear, she's got a love affair with Shakespeare. She ADORES his plays, and gushed about him for most of class. It was ok though, because she got us really psyched for the trip that we then took on Thurs to Stratford upon Avon (AKA Shakes' hometown).
45 minute walk to the Tube (AKA the Underground... have I covered that already?) on Thurs morning to head to Stratford, mostly taken because we're all trying to be frugal whenever/wherever we can to save up for traveling (lengthy side note at this point: I am SO GLAD that I spent the entire summer working at Episcopal with Mom, saving up and being a bump on a log instead of taking fun weekend trips. At the time, it was incredibly annoying having to say no to invites from people from school asking me to visit them, but now I'm glad that all that money can go to work paying for weekend trips in Europe! And to pubs. Let's be real.). 2 hours to Stratford, and we went straight to the bed and breakfasts where we were staying (as you may realize, one B&B would not hold the 14 students plus Dr. King plus Jean, so we were spread out over 3). THIS is where that "carrying heavy boxes across Bloomsbury for Dr. King during our lunch break on Tuesday comes in: Hayes and I got SINGLE BEDROOMS! So I had my own double bed (fantastic mattress), plus my own bathroom, and Hayes had his own bedroom, but had to share a bathroom with two of the other guys (Jack and Chase) who were in a double in the same place. So the four of us were in our own little B&B, and it was great.
Toured around Stratford in the afternoon, and went to see The Winter's Tale in the evening. Went to a pub called The Golden Bumblebee afterwards with John, Hayes, Chase, Ruthie, Jack and some of the girls ("some of the girls" ended up leaving pretty quickly though, but it was basically all 14 of us for a while there). Hung out for a while and then headed back to the B&Bs through a park and appreciated the fact that we could actually SEE the stars (as opposed to in London, where they look more like smudges on the sky-ceiling). Had a beautiful night's sleep, up at 8:30 to my home cooked breakfast, courtesy of Iain and his wife (our host and hostess; super nice people. The boys and I chatted with Iain for a while after breakfast about American TV, and he told us about how so many people in his neighborhood woke up at like 4 in the morning to watch the finale of Lost... it was broadcast all around the world at the same time... and how Brits love the show Prison Break), and then walked to Anne Hathaway's cottage to see Shakespeare's house. Bit of a trek, but it was a beautiful day. Actually warm, instead of the basically winter weather that we've been doing in London all week.
Back to Stratford this afternoon, and John, Hayes and I went to this Italian place on Sicilian Avenue (it's got stone columns at either end. Nice.) and had the most incredible food. I don't even know WHAT mine was bc they brought me the wrong thing, but I was so ravenous that I just ate it anyway. But damn. Some kind of chicken, and the way it was cooked, it had a crisp crust sort of thing (not a breading, just the way it was cooked), and was in this wine sauce, and had FRIED POTATOES ON THE SIDE! Fried potatoes, like HOMEFRIES. But cooked with rosemary. Oh. My. Goodness. Beautiful.
Now am back at home base. Everyone's upstairs playing games (I can hear them through the floor), so I'm going to head back to society. Thanks for listening :)
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