London, 11 am, January 31
I’m at work right now, downloading a load of pictures from this internet site, so I figured I’d type up something to post later.
It’s sunny in London today, which is nice. I think I’ll stand on the sidewalk for half of my lunch hour, soaking it up. I don’t miss it too much yet, but I feel like I”m paling out considerably, ack! It’s like being Michael Jackson... almost.
I guess there is a lot to write about since I haven’t really posted in over a week. . . but it’s always difficult to write about things so far after the fact.
Thursday after work, Kate, Bart, Erin, and I met up at the O2 center, next to Kate’s office, and went to see Harry Potter. Afterwards, we went to the Sainsbury’s on the LG level and I almost cried - - it was giant. Bigger than Big Y, and a heck of a lot bigger than Budgen’s - - thank god. I didn’t know they had real grocery stores here. We got stuff to make chicken parm with penne mmmmmmmm. Of course it was 11 o’clock by the time we got home and ate, but it was worth it.
This weekend was good. Friday night we went to a bunch of pubs near us. There’s a really nice place around the corner called Squared Circle. It’s sort of nowhere, and was really empty. They hav music sometimes, and I guess that’s when it fills up. Being so nice, it was of course a little more expensive - but definitely worth it. It’s low light and all nice clean lines. They had 6 or so little fireplaces and all these benches and big square comfy leather love seats and chairs. Mmmmm. It was rainy and it was a very nice place to start the evening. I want to go back there every single cold wet day I am here, and drink hot chocolate. Then it was off to The Surprise, which is about ten feet from our front door. The bartender, Ellen, knows us. It’s like that. Next it was the City Pride, which was great and classic pub-like, and then to Sir John Oldrich, which is a JDWetherspoons pub. Wetherspoons is a chain here, and they’ve got just about the cheapest drinks anywhere, and they’ve got tons of food. We made friends with the bartender, Jamie, and filled out applications to work there (they’re hiring).
We haven’t heard back from the manager yet. I would looooove to work at a pub one night a week. Maybe two if I had to, but that would be pushing it . . . I’m not sure if I’d do it. One night would be good fun, I’d get to meet tons of people! It would be a little extra money, which would be fun, but I don’t need it.
Saturday we went to the British Museum, which was cool. We saw the Rosetta Stone, which is all I wanted from life Saturday. It was pretty cool. I will admit to having nearly teared up at the sight of it. I guess it was all that time we spent studying Ancient Egypt in sixth grade . . . But it was just an amazing thing. All of the artifacts they have there are, they have a lot more stuff than the MFA or anything. The Rosetta Stone was just such a great discovery, it’s how they deciphered Hieroglyphics. Okay, I really don’t know why, but it was cool to see. They had bunches of mummies, and usually in museums they might have them opened down to the last layer of wrapping, but at this musuem they had one that was down to the body. It was really strange. It was just some unidentified woman. The museum also had statues from the parthenon and all kinds of other things from Greece, along with statues and sarcophogi (sarcophoguses?) from Egypt. That was really only where we spent out time. The museum was free to get into (most of them are!), so we can go back anytime. Next we went to Harrod’s and it was hell. Well, maybe not quite that bad, but I didn’t find it to be anything more than a giant Macy’s or something. Plus, their big sale was still going on, so people were ransacking those areas. We saw a £600 pashmina. Ridiculous. It wasn’t that nice. I guess I was expecting great big wonderful displays, or something... but it really wasn’t like that. Bart and I went to Tesco’s and bought food and we all made dinner together. I knew if I went home with everyone else, I just wouldn’t get up and would end up maybe having a bowl of granola for dinner. Dinner was YUM. Saturday night we all just sat around the flats, but it was fun.
Sunday we sat around till late and then went to this place called Paperchase which was AMAZING. Three floors of cards, giftwrap of all kinds, gifts, and art supplies yeeeeeaaaaaaaayyyyyy! I bought bunches of stuff to make some valentines. Tesco’s again after for some real shopping, and then home. I worked on valentines and went to bed.
This week has been the usual. In clas Monday we watched L’Appartement. It was good. That’s the benefit of a 3 hour class - you can discuss, watch a movie, and discuss some more.
Tuesday night we went back to the pub to see our new best friend Jamie, who invited us to a club with him and some blokes Saturday night. We’re to go back Friday and find out details. Then some boys well no they were definittely like 27, (so “guys”?), came over and asked us to help them out on this computer quiz game thing. I dont think we were all that much help, but it was fun. It was just fun to finally be meeting people and interacting. The pub was hopping.
The rest of the week has just been work so far. It’s been good though, I’m getting to know the people I work with and they’re joking around and stuff, so it’s all wonderful. The internet is insanely slow today though, and I’m stuck doing pics, but it has to be done.
Lots of love to you all, I’ll try to be better about emailing. Please write.
xoxo