"LONDON, BABY!"

Well, hello again! Apparently I only write blogs on Sundays now… I’m not entirely sure how that happened. Sorry about that! I’ll try to get more regular with these…. I wish I could have some fantastical story to tell you, in which wild and unimaginable things happened that prevented me from writing on my blog! But, alas, I’m still just a poor college student living in England, and that really is all.

Anyway, it’s been a pretty good week, all things considered. Nothing overly exciting, just, y’know, going to class (or not), shopping, studying, doing homework, watching movies… that sort of thing. Oh, but life is good: I got a package in the mail from one of my friends who is stationed w/ the US Air Force in Leeds and it contained my much anticipated green chile (thank GOD!) and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, which thanks to him, I didn’t have to order off ebay! (Thanks again, Baine!) Anyway, the day I got it, I was all excited, and the postman could tell, I think, because I’ve gone into the post room almost every other day for the past two weeks telling them that I’m expecting a package, and I keep getting other stuff (or nothing at all) and now the postmen know my name. They don’t even ask me for my campus card anymore! Its kinda funny… Anyway, the day I got the package I left the post room with a gigantic smile on my face, and I made mac & cheese WITH green chile almost as soon as I walked in the door, and it was like heaven in a bowl! *sigh* I was happy.

So that was Monday, and then on Tuesday Lucy and I went shopping and I bought a new belt. At least I think that was Tuesday. I don’t really remember. Did I already tell you about my new belt? I can’t remember. Anyway, my new belt is cool. Its black studs on a black belt, and its groovy. I had to get a new belt because my other black belt is slowly making its way back to the leather gods… or wherever belts go when they die. I liked that belt, but now I like my new one! We did some more shopping on Friday too, and I was able to get some sweaters (or jumpers, as their called here) along with a new pair of trousers. They have this store called TK Maxx, and it is *exactly* the same as TJ Maxx back home, except that this one has Diesel Jeans! I almost bought some, but they were still kind of expensive.

Anyway, class has been good this week, except that my homework load is getting a bit heavier as school draws to a close. We only have two more weeks to go and I’ve got a handful of papers to do and a monologue I need to select, memorize, and perform… all in the last week of school. So I’m not swamped, but I do have homework. It’s a bit odd. I started working on one of the essays last night, and I should have it written by tomorrow night. But I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow because I am officially *completely* out of food. So much so that my dinner tonight was eggs and toast b/c that’s all I had left! It was good though… Cholula sauce makes everything better. Also, Anna's birthday was on Thursday so her mom had a bunch of finger foods and snacky things delivered to the flat so we had a bit of a celebration that night. That was fun.

BUT, the real kicker of the week is that Heather and I, and my friend Emma (not my roommate, but one of my fellow international and theater students from Canada) went to LONDON today! Yes, I have finally gone to London. Some of the international students went today. The university provided a bus for us to take this morning and then bring us back tonight. London is about 2 ½ hrs away from Norwich by coach. So I slept on the way over there (at 8am this morning… so…. early….), and on the way back.

It was a really fun trip, b/c they just dropped us off and then we could do whatever we liked as long as we were back by 6pm to catch the bus back home. So, not really having any idea where we were going or what we were going to do we took an open top bus tour, but sat under the small canopy because (welcome to London) it was raining! Bah, so the first day in London and we get true English awful weather. Oh well, I guess it kind of makes the experience, right? Well, the open top bus tour was pretty enjoyable. It gave us a feel for the city (at least the extremely limited part of the city that we saw), and helped us to know what was within walking distance. We by no means saw the whole of London (which, by the way, is home to an estimated 8 million people), but we were able to see some of the big things like the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and stuff like that. We mostly just got to look at all that stuff from the outside instead of actually going in to any of it, and we figured that that was ok, seeing as it was our first time in London and all of us were planning on going back eventually.

We took a ton of pictures though, and walked around so much that my feet were hurting by the end of it. But I got to see the River Thames (which I’ve always wanted to see, ever since Mr. Kinzer made us know where it was on the map of England back in 7^th Grade), and standing in front of Buckingham Palace was surreal. That sounds lame, I know, but I’ve dreamed of going to London for the past 7 years, and now I’m finally here. I will gladly go back! We went to the trashy little tourist shops, which are ALL OVER, and we took pictures like mad tourists, and even got to check out some tiny little places. We went to an Italian sandwich place which charged us an arm and a leg, but at least we were out of the rain to eat lunch, and we went to the most expensive chocolate shop I’ve ever seen in my life. It was like walking in to the Tiffany’s of chocolate! And we even went into the shop of the Hard Rock Café London. And on top of it all, we walked past loads and loads of theatres and to not be able to go in one and see a show was absolute torture, especially since tonight was the last night to see Patrick Stewart play Macbeth!!! BUT, I think Emma and I (Canadian Emma, not roommate Emma) might go back and try to see a show. That would be awesome! Anyway, we didn’t get to ride the Tube at all, though, because we wanted to actually see the city, and going underground didn’t seem to be the right thing to do. I know the tube is half the London experience, but I’m sure I’ll ride it next time I’m over there. It’s only 2 hours and a 6 quid train ride away.

Well that was my day. It was quite fun, and now I’m pooped. I have class tomorrow morning at 10am, and I should probably read the play that the lecture is over. Bah. Well I hope you all are doing well and that Christmas decorations are in full force over there, because they certainly are over here. We’ve been listening to Christmas music over here (and by “we” I mean me and Emma), and Emma’s got her room all Christmas-ed out. She’s taken to calling it “Santa’s Grotto”. I laughed. Well, I think I’ll be off. I might play some poker (which I’ve gotten addicted to on facebook) to relax myself before bed. Don’t worry, its not for real money, mom & dad, so I’m not wasting my college education! Love you all and miss you tons!

PS. I should have pictures up by tomorrow. My internet is running amazingly slow tonight... I'll post again tomorrow with the link! -jm