Lately

It's been busy around here...we only have one week left. When I think logically, I should be spending my time studying for finals and out seeing London instead of sitting on my computer blogging...but I can't move on with life until I know I'm not behind on recording it. So here's what has been going on this week:

I discovered Whole Foods on High Street Kensington. It's like heaven...actually. I think it is heaven in grocery store form. How did I not go here earlier in the semester? I vote Olympia gets one, it's the most liberal greener city-we should have a Whole Foods.

Let's see... Saturday April 3rd, our room went to Hardrock Cafe to celebrate Margaret's birthday, the big 20. Since there were a million other Americans who wanted to eat there, we looked around the shop and museum while we waited for our buzzer to go off. I saw this guitar and thought of my brother Dave...it's Steve Vai's.

Here it is, in all its glory. There were a ton of others...like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jimi Hendrix and Queen and Kiss. Shveet.

On Tuesday April 6th we went to the London England Temple (the official name includes England...) and it was exactly what I needed.

It is the most beautiful little temple, about an hour outside of London. That makes it nice because it's away from the city. The daffodils were in bloom and there were gardens and a reflection pond, as you can see, and it was just gorgeous. I love going to the temple, it is the perfect escape from the stresses of school and busy schedules and just being overwhelmed. That happens a lot when you live with forty girls and share a room with seven of them. Every time I go to the temple I just feel the strongest sense of peace and relief; I'm so thankful we got the chance to go.

We had an early start on Wednesday April 7th so we could go to the Houses of Parliament...Home of Parliament! Westminster Hall is the oldest part of the Houses, built in 1099...pretty old. It's the best example of a hammer beam ceiling! Thanks to Classics class, I think that's pretty interesting too...Anyway. Our tour guide was a funny old British man who told us a ton about everything, and we went through the House of Lords and more rooms. I liked it. Moving on.

The Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum! These were actually my favorite part of the day. And I think in the top three for museums I've been to here. The Cabinet War Rooms were an underground bunker and headquarters for Winston Churchill during WWII. And when the war was finally over, they turned off the lights (for the first time in six years-crazy, right?) and left everything as it was...and years later they turned it into a public exhibition. So everything is as it was during war time. Churchill is one of my few heroes-he pretty much saved the world from Hitler and without him we probably wouldn't have the freedoms we do today. He was sent from God to help the world. So of course he's my hero.

After dinner we celebrated Sarah's birthday... we went to Frog. It's our favorite place to go-they have really good frozen yogurt.

Sarah's mom had sent her a package with birthday presents and she even put in something for us roommates ...sticky hands, the things where you blow into them and the paper uncurls..no idea what they're actually called...and spongebob armbands. I think everyone could tell we were American. It was a good night.

Then on Thursday April 8th I saw Legally Blonde...the musical. After sitting through a long day of classes (the last of them!) it was nice having something fun to look forward to. And fun it was, oh boy! The music was annoyingly catchy and the UPS guy was hilarious. My favorite song was "There! Right There!"...they were trying to find out if a guy on trial was gay or European. That was pretty funny considering we're in Europe and it really is hard to tell if most guys are gay or just European. I was really happy that I went...I didn't want to leave London without seeing it.

And alas, we have come to the point of our last London study as a group. On Friday April 9th we took a boat along the Thames to Greenwich. It felt like summer outside, it was actually hot. Not just sunny...but hot. It was probably only sixty degrees...but it felt soooo warm.

I picked the wrong day to wear black...oh well. If we had spent all day on the boat I would've been so content. Only I would have turned off the speakers that were right behind us that broadcast the driver's voice telling us about all the sights. We passed the Tower of London and I realized that it had been so long since we had been there for our first London study. That was the very first week and now it's the last...time has disappeared!

In Greenwich I stood in the Eastern and Western hemispheres at the same time. That's right, I found the Prime Meridian! I can check that off of my list of things to do before I die now. I was in two places at the same time.

The market in Greenwich was cute for a lack of better words. Everyone was so sweet who worked there and in the food section there was a stand of Argentinean cakes! That made me happy...maybe that's weird. But it did. There were alfajores and I was so excited to know what they were. (Alfajor: a traditional confection that is found in some regions in Spain and countries in South America. Its basic form consists of two round sweet biscuits joined together with dulce de leche or jam, and covered with powdered sugar) Now that we all know what an alfajor is, I saw them and you know what I'm talking about now.

We took the DLR overground train back to Notting Hill, which was really fun for some reason. Oh wait, I know what reason that is. Because there is no conductor's box at the front (I wonder where the conductor is then...?) so if you sit in the very front seat it feels like you're driving a car. Or going on a ride at Disneyworld. Either of the two, they're both fun. I spent the rest of the night doing homework because beloved finals are coming up fast. I should be stressed and really scared because I have all of my finals on one day. This will be my schedule:

8-10 am: Classic Civilizations

11am-1pm: Religion

2-4 pm: International Relations

*Break for dinner*

7-9 pm: British Literature

That means I have eight hours of test taking to look forward to on Wednesday...yikes. At least I'll get it over with in one day I guess. I'll be optimistic even though I think I'm going to die.