Last week in London

Just thought I'd update on my last week in London--

it's been a busy week! wednesday night I had my presentation, and thursday I had my final, but now i'm done! This week has been crazy with people trying to check off the last few things they have left on their 'london' lists...part of me feels like i wont fit it all in, but so far so good...

Friday I had to go to Farday to help set up the photo exhibition for the end of the year party that night, all the photo classes had pictures hanging (pictures of the pictures and everything else mentioned to come once i upload my camera), and then I ran to borough market really quick, which I had only been to once before...it's basically all food...so i got olives! almond stuffed olives to be exact...delicious! The market was all decked out for the holidays, there was even a high school band of french horns/trumpets/etc. playing holiday music...it's getting me excited to come home and have some christmas meatballs!

After Borough I ran back here and then headed back out to Faraday, where they were having the end of the year shindig, which included a huge chocolate fountain...oops! I think it's the first time ive had chocolate in London...everyone yells at me for not having tried 'Cadbury' chocolate before, but then I just yell at them for never having tried Thai Sweet Chili chips before...to each their own.

Today was dedicated to Portobello Market...for the last time. Dana, Brendan, Arielle and I headed down, determined to eat all of the food we always say we're going to get, and never do, because, well, in my case, i always end up with a doughnut in my hand...but not this time! Today I got pizza, then walked a few blocks, tried some Seafood Paella, then walked a few blocks, picked up some produce for tomorrow night's stir-fry, got an apple streudel, and then called it a day...and then i didnt feel good for the rest of the night. The phrase of the week has been "go big or go home"...and we're going home soon...so, this week its just..."go big"

Tomorrow we're headed to Hampstead Heath which i've heard amazing things about but still haven't been--and I think the plan is to get Tea, which is good because I still haven't done that either! I'm also excited to see Hampstead Heath because I just watched Notting Hill a few weeks ago and one of the scenes towards the end was filmed there.

Besides Hampstead, all that's left on my "list" is this photo exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery, possibly Oxford for an afternoon, and going to the Wimbledon museum, which, by the looks of it, looks really cool and something I feel like I should do while I'm here. I think I'll be able to fit it all in--as far as packing goes, I packed one suitcase tonight...scary! I was actually able to fit more in it than i thought, so i should be in good shape space-wise for the rest of my crap.

(yes mom, dont worry, i'm leaving my socks here)

i've been making a mental list of things i'm excited to do when i get home--don't judge me

1. sit in a car...it doesn't even have to be moving...just sit in a car
2. watch real television, not the arabic crap we get here
3. guitar hero...dont judge!
4.bagel bites
5.roam the aisles of Target just looking at all of the "stuff"
6.guitar hero
7.panera

looks like it'll be a productive winter break!

Happy December!

I cannot believe it's December already, where has the time gone?

With only 10 days left in London, the pressure's on to see and do everything I have left on my list! Luckily, after 3 p.m. Friday I am done with classes and finals, which gives me 5-6 days to make the rounds in London.

This week is the last week of classes, but since I don't have any finals during finals week, I have a presentation for my 'sauce' project Wednesday night ,and then my sociology of sport final Thursday afternoon, then i'm done!

The past week has been insane, full of visitors, get togethers and absorbing the last bits of London. I'll back track to last Wednesday, when my roommates/other drama friends were all in the play "The Bird and the Two Ton Weight", to commerate the 20th Anniversary of Pan Am 103, a flight that went down in Lockerbie, Scotland full of SU Students en route to JFK after their semester in London. The play was amazing, and people from all over the UK came, US Embassadors, people from the town of Lockerbie, parents of people on the flight, etc. It was great to see the support for it over here--one week a year there is "Remembrance Week" on campus where the commemorating bench/statue area on campus is flooded with flowers, but for the first time, SU London drama students performed a play about it, written by a former student of the SU London program. The weekend before the play the actors went to Lockerbie, Scotland and performed the play 3 times for students and the community, and apparently it went really well--they got to meet people who were there when the plane went down and got to hear first hand stories.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! It was funny because it felt like a normal day in that I got up, went to class, etc...but it was different because our kitchen was full of cooking roommates concocting things to bring to the festivities later. Our friend Mackenzie arrived from Strasbourg on Thursday afternoon, which was amazing because this was the first time I was seeing her in a year--she was abroad last semester on Semester at Sea. So between her and patty being here, it was already shaping into a good Thanksgiving. We headed to Sarah's that night where there were about 20 of us...so much food! It was funny to see everyone in the kitchen stirring gravy, and cutting the turkey-we all felt really "old"!

Overall the whole night was amazig, if I couldn't be with my family for Thanksgiving, there was no where else I'd rather have been. Everyone really stepped up their game and spent all day cooking, getting ready, and it all paid off. It was weird not being home, but it was great to spend the day with 19 other people who were all in the same situation. It was most of our first holidays away from home, yet we resorted to things that most people do on Thanksgiving--we had a before dinner toast, a post-dinner "what are you thankful for" circle, and then watched a movie to try and fight the exhaustion.

Friday morning we were off to Windsor Castle! This was the last SU Friday-field-trip, so I felt like I should take advantage of it, plus I was able to sign Patty up, so it was a nice "day out". The castle itself was really cool, reminded me a lot of the Edinburgh Castle from the outside. Inside we toured where the Royal Family vacations (apparently the Queen was going to be getting there for the weekend while we were there!), and the chapel were many of the royal family have been married. The town of Windsor was so quaint, I don't blame the Queen for spending the weekends there, we decided she probably frequents the Pizza Hut across the street for her late-night cravings.

After Thanksgiving, everyone had such a good time that we decided to get everyone together again the next night at our flat--we're all feeling the crunch of trying to spend as much time together before we leave! The night turned out to be a lot of fun, and it was also Patty's last night so she got to meet new people/say goodbye to the rest--overall a good night.

Saturday morning I got up to say goodbye to patty and sent her off to brave the tube system! After a few more hours of sleep we headed out to show Mackenzie Portobello Market, after stopping for a late lunch at this amazing Thai place we'd been to once before. The market was great, but by the time we got out of Thai Rice it was dark and freezing! It's weird to know that I only have one more Saturday left here for Portobello!

Saturday night we had gotten tickets to this concert--Monday was Arielle's birthday, and Mackenzie was here so we figured it'd be a fun night...it would have been, if the band didnt cancel! We didn't find out until we were already inside for an hour and Maggie asked someone...the venue itself was really cool though-it was in Camden which is an area I hadn't explored yet, and the venue was a converted horse stables? so each stable had couches and tables, etc. and there was a large dance floor in this room that also doubled as an art gallery, with photography all over the walls...very cool. Anyway, we decided to leave so we could get our refund, and then ended up at this "diner", which was the first diner i've seen in europe, and was basically like a swanky, clean Prestige...and yes, I got the "lumberjack special" pancakes and eggs! mmmmm...we ended up sitting at this place for like 3 hours just talking and hanging out, the perfect way to end a hectic, yet amazing week/weekend.

Sunday morning I got up and went to church for the first time in London--I had been to Mass in Paris and Galway, but I've only been in London for a handful of Sundays, so I decided to try it out with Amanda and Missy. It was actually very interesting, I was really thrown off by the British accent in the church setting for some reason, I guess it's because I associate church with being "home", and it was strange to hear the different accents, yet interesting that people all over the world do the same thing every Sunday that I do.

After church it was time for Ice Skating at the Tower of London--AMAZING! This was an event run by SU because this weekend was "SU Loves London" weekend. It turned out to be so much fun...a few times I just stopped and looked around me, to my left the tower of London, in front of me the Thames River, and ice skates on my feet...when again is this going to happen? The group of people that also went was really fun, so it was a good afternoon, minus the scars I got from the bright-blue-ice skates.

Overall, this was probably my favorite week in London...good people, good food, and great memories.