Happy Mum's Day here in England!

"All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." 

-Abraham Lincoln

St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patricks Day everybody.

Last night I was pretty tired so I went to bed at 10:30 and woke up at 9:30.  I don't think I have gotten that much sleep in over a year.  I definitely needed to catch up on sleep though.  After taking my time eating breakfast and getting ready for the day Aylea, Kaylee, and I went to Camden Market for lunch because we wanted to try another stand there.  We settled for mexican.  Bad idea.  Let's just say the British are not known for the burritos.  Our first clue should've been the two employees: one looked Native American and the other Chinese.  Oh well, it felt good to have something out of the ordinary.  On our way home we stopped at the deep fried stand.  I split a deep fried toffee crisp with Kaylee.  Good thing too, they weren't that good.  The lady was really surprised when we told her we had never tried a deep fried candy bar.  She said "really, in America? You guys eat deep fried hamburgers and deep fried (I can't remember what food she said but it was one that we would never deep fry)."  Do deep fried hamburgers even exist?  Glad I've never clogged my arteries with one of those.

Tonight I ate at my first authentic British pub.  In honor of the holiday I went with Kaylee, Christi, and Annie O. to the Kings Arm, a pub on Moscow Road.  We beat the rush at 6 p.m. and shocked the waiter when we said we wanted tap water to drink.  He probably thought we were crazy to be eating at a pub on the best day in a beer lovers year drinking tap water.  Silly Mormons.

(photos stolen from Kaylee's blog)

I guess this man absolutely didn't want his photo taken.
 Little did he know we could care less about having him in the photo

Annie and me

Canary Wharf and Fentons

Only 15 students are here this weekend.  The rest are traveling.  We wanted to take advantage of the empty centre so most everyone was home all morning.  But we needed to get out at least once even though the gloomy weather wasn't too inviting so Christi, Kaylee, Aylea, and I rode the DLR down to Canary Wharf.  The DLR is like the tube except it goes above ground and there isn't a driver so if you sit in the front, which we did, then if kind of feels like you're on a roller coaster but definitely not as fast.  It was chilly outside so we basically got off the DLR and walked around for 2 minutes and then got on the Jubilee line back home.  On the way home we stopped at the new ice cream parlor next to the Queensway station.  They actually have AMERICAN milkshakes.  People probably thought we were idiots for eating milkshakes in 45 degree weather, but oh well they were delicious.

I'm pretty "showed" out for this week.  I've seen 3 in the past 7 days and watched a 7 hour mini series for European Studies.  So tonight I think we'll just stay in and hang out.  Sounds perfect.

Great day to be alive in London!

This morning I decided that no matter what I was going to make the most of today.  And I did.  I woke up early, took a shower, did breakfast duty, and headed to class.  In between class on Thursdays we have 3 hours, which may seem like a lot of time but having a class at 2 P.M. on Thursday afternoon kinda puts a dent in your plans because it's basically the weekend.  So after English I hopped on the tube to find the Cath Kidston store in Marylebone.  What should've been a two minute walk ended up being a 30 minute walk because I may have gotten lost.  Oh well, I strolled down Harley Street and it was beautiful outside so I didn't mind one bit.  I decided to give in today and buy a bag.  Definitely no buyers remorse on this purchase.  It was more money than I would usually spend on a bag but it's my big souvenir I'm bringing home.  I've been so excited to buy this bag that I practically skipped back home just to head out again.  A couple minutes after coming home I packed up my new bag and went down with Aylea, Christi, and Kaylee to get Singin' in the Rain tickets.  We thought we knew where the theatre was but couldn't find it.  Shucks.  We had to run back for religion class so we ended up just having a nice little walk in Piccadilly Circus.  

We got a little treat in religion class today.  Savannah Stevenson came with Brother Jones to talk to us.  I had no idea who she was until we watched one of the Church produced Bible videos online.

She is a member of the Britannia Singles Ward who plays Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the most recent church films.  She has also been in a couple of productions here in London, including Mary Poppins and Gone with the Wind.  She was Scarlett O'Haras understudy when on the second day after opening the real Scarlett got a throat infection and couldn't perform.  So without ever rehearsing with the cast she took on the role of Scarlett in front of 2,000 people.  I don't think I could ever do that.  I can't even do that in front of 5 people even if I have practiced.

Tonight I got Anna to cover kitchen crew for me so I could go see Singin' in the Rain.  We didn't get as lost this time and found the theatre 30 minutes before show time.  We bought "restricted" seating but the seats were actually amazing and on the 6th row.  It ended up being perfect because we were close enough to see the dancing (w/ water) yet barely out of the water's reach.  The dancing alone made it worth my money.  My description of this musical does not do it justice.  I absolutely loved this show.  I really dislike the movie because it is so long, so I wasn't planning on seeing it live.  I hoped I wouldn't be disappointed and boy, I sure wasn't.  If you ever get the chance to see this DO.  I'll admit I loved it way better than Wicked even.  It probably ties with Les Mis on amazingness.  We couldn't stop smiling the whole way home.

"Exhilarating...with infectious brolly-twirling glee"

*****

"Genuinely makes you feel better about life...an evening of pure joy"

- The Daily Telegraph

Check ✓, Check ✓, and Check ✓

I need to accept the fact that I don’t need my coat everywhere I go anymore. My coat has taken indefinite residence upon my arm when I go out because the weather has been good enough that I don’t usually need it.  I should start leaving it home because lately it’s only been ruining the quality of my pictures.  Including the ones from today.

After classes Aylea, Sarah, and I went over to 221B Baker St.  Don’t know what that is?  Why it’s Sherlock Holmes house, of course.  I'm not a huge Holmes fan and I've never read any of the books but I really liked this museum.  It was filled with pointless junk if you asked me but it was cool none-the-less.  In one of the rooms there were about 8 wax figures from the Sherlock Holmes stories.  Well at least I thought 8 there were eight figures.  In reality it was only 7.  I was startled when I realized the one sitting down wasn’t fake.  He was 100% real.  I’m still not positive if he was an employee of the museum or if he was just some old guy who got fatigued and wanted to take a nap.  He sure looked like a visitor who just got tired and decided to sleep for 45 minutes.

He's alive!

Tonight I saw Lion King.  This is the one musical I was most eager to see because it’s my all time favorite Disney movie.  I was excited to see how they would portray the animals.  The costuming was amazing.  The acting….eh, not so much.  I definitely wasn’t blown away but I wasn’t disappointed either.  The little Nala and Simba annoyed me though.  I think I would like it better if it was a different cast.  Overall I enjoyed it, however you just can’t beat the Disney version.  You just can’t.

This weekend is another open weekend here at the center.  That means a bunch of the kids are traveling.  Some are going to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day.  Part of me regrets not joining in but the other part of me is glad I'm staying here because I have so much left to do in and around London.  I'm planning on not wasting one minute of it.  I need to get as much crossed of my list as possible because

TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

Great Expectations

Sorry about the downer post yesterday.  I was in a bad mood.  But things are looking up here now.  At least my day didn't stink as much as the center did.  Apparently the sewer backed up which spread the stench of porta potty throughout the house for most of the day.  They've fixed it but the smell still lingers in the hallways.  Thank goodness for windows that open.

Other than the smell my day has been pretty good.  After class we went to the Charles Dickens museum.  I might not have had great expectations but I did have some expectations.  Not gonna lie though, this museum was a total bust, even Nick Mason admitted it.  Kaylee, Christi, and I spent about 15 minutes in it and then left.  In our defense it was a mandatory group outing and the museum wasn't very informative.  There weren't any plaques to explain who people were or what the significance of stuff was.  And he only lived there for two years, which we didn't know until after when Nick Mason told us.  Lame-o museum.

Anyway, other than that I finished ALL of my homework (100+ pages of reading) and even got ahead of the reading schedule so tomorrow afternoon I can go out and do something.  Also I just need to get out of the center more.  It seems like I've stayed in a ton lately but that is not my fault.  Yesterday I was sick and the last two nights we had to watch Middlemarch for class.  This is a seven week BBC mini-series that we crammed into two nights.  Not exactly how I like to spend my nights but oh well.  I also realized I need to make the most of my time here because in exactly 1 month I'll be leaving this place maybe forever.  Hopefully not, that thought depresses me.  But now that I have so little time here I keep thinking to myself, "what have I been doing with my time?  There is still so much to do."  I really don't have a ton more I want to do before I go home but with only 30 days left I feel I can fill those days doing fun productive things.  

I really only have two more weeks here though because all next week we'll be in Scotland 

and the Lake District.  It's funny how time flies now that I want it to slow down!

Vent session coming your way

Yesterday I posted about things I miss mostly because I didn't have anything else to post about.  Today however I'm really genuinely missing those things.  Some days are better than others when it comes to homesickness and today is definitely not a better day.  Maybe it's because I have a wicked headache and it's never fun to be sick especially away from home.  But today my mood is down in the dumps.  I know my family will say "forget about it, take advantage of the time you have in London.  You'll be home soon enough."  I know I'll be home soon enough but I didn't anticipate being this homesick ever.  You probably have noticed that I'm a homebody by now but being on this study abroad has made me realize how much of a homebody I am.  It's been a blast being here in London and experiencing a different culture but sometimes it's hard to embrace it.

The things I miss most about home though are American accents, home cooked food that is edible, family, but mostly my bedroom.  This sounds stupid but my bedroom has always been a refuge for me.  A place to go to get away from everyone, which is badly needed in a house of 50 people.  The problem is I can't even escape to my bedroom anymore because every time I walk into it I feel like I've walked into a disaster zone.  My room is so dirty it makes me sick.  I now know that the cleanliness of a place really does effects your mood.  I'm definitely a happier person when the space around me is clean.  I just keep telling myself 4 more weeks and I'll be home.

Hopefully this sickness will go away soon and I can get out of the house tomorrow.  I may be feeling sorry for myself right now, but I know tomorrow will be a better day.