Thursday Sept 13: 11 am -- Tour of the Senate House Library with several people. Incredible old building, being completely renovated. The books just killed me! I think they said 19 floors of books, only 5 of which are open to the public! anyone who knows me must understand how i was ITCHING to get my hands on some of those "secret books". God, they had journals that were over 100 years old, that you could just handle! God. Had my Introduction to Theatre in London class, was pretty cool. MY MOM CAME TO VISIT!!! I went to go see her hotel, which is about 4 blocks from the Res Hall and we got some food and chatted. Then I had to go to see the first dramatic production of the semester for Theatre class: Elling! So funny. Great acting (John Simm, Adrian Bower). Afterwards, a bunch of us -- me, Brandon, Katie, Mary, Michelle, Molly -- decided we didn't want to go back to the dorm, so we called some people to come meet up with us at Leicester Square, and then wandered around until they got there. We met a very offensive bouncer and some really cute guys outside a club called Oxygen, who basically begged us to come in (hand kissing and everything). Then we found out that they were 18 years old, and were shipping out in the army in 2 days. As someone put it; all they want is ass. 
SOOO we left and met up with Ian and Devin, and we all went looking for a club that was NOT Oxygen. Whats kind of cool/annoying about London is that club promoters approach you in the streets and beg you to come to their place, its a great deal BUT you can always talk them into a better deal, which is cool. So we went to a club called Sound, where everyone proceeded to get wasted and dance. I enjoyed the FREAKING EXPENSIVE long island iced teas as much as i enjoyed the bonding experience.
SOOO we left and met up with Ian and Devin, and we all went looking for a club that was NOT Oxygen. Whats kind of cool/annoying about London is that club promoters approach you in the streets and beg you to come to their place, its a great deal BUT you can always talk them into a better deal, which is cool. So we went to a club called Sound, where everyone proceeded to get wasted and dance. I enjoyed the FREAKING EXPENSIVE long island iced teas as much as i enjoyed the bonding experience. Friday Sept 14: Got up early, met up with mom for some breakfast. Then we went to do the most touristy thing we could think of -- Bus tour around London!!! Yep, we braved the shiny red double-decker bus to get driven around all the landmarks and tourists traps in the city. 
Got some pretty nice pictures, learned a good deal of history, but basically just got ferried around for a few hours. Then we got off, and went to visit Buckingham Palace! It was incredible. Just looking at the design and architecture made me wish I was a princess like I haven't since I was 7 (don't lie, you did too). There were hidden passages, hidden symbolism, and I'm sure there was hidden treasure too, but they left that out of the tour. There was also a huge display about Queen Elizabeth's wedding, as it was her 60th (Diamond) wedding anniversary. The wedding dress was there, and the jewels she wore/received... it was amazing! Then we tried to get back to the bus... ended up get stopped by police since about 12 blocks of street and tube were cordoned off (for suspicious reasons that were never explained to us). So we had to try and get around it by going through Hyde Park. While Hyde Park was beautiful, we did manage to traverse (practically) the width and breadth of London to get back to the hotel. Then mom took me and Val out to dinner at Bella Italia which was muy delicioso. Then that night a humongous group of us decided to brave the clubs again. We all got separated on the subway but managed to find each other later on.
Got some pretty nice pictures, learned a good deal of history, but basically just got ferried around for a few hours. Then we got off, and went to visit Buckingham Palace! It was incredible. Just looking at the design and architecture made me wish I was a princess like I haven't since I was 7 (don't lie, you did too). There were hidden passages, hidden symbolism, and I'm sure there was hidden treasure too, but they left that out of the tour. There was also a huge display about Queen Elizabeth's wedding, as it was her 60th (Diamond) wedding anniversary. The wedding dress was there, and the jewels she wore/received... it was amazing! Then we tried to get back to the bus... ended up get stopped by police since about 12 blocks of street and tube were cordoned off (for suspicious reasons that were never explained to us). So we had to try and get around it by going through Hyde Park. While Hyde Park was beautiful, we did manage to traverse (practically) the width and breadth of London to get back to the hotel. Then mom took me and Val out to dinner at Bella Italia which was muy delicioso. Then that night a humongous group of us decided to brave the clubs again. We all got separated on the subway but managed to find each other later on. 
We went to this bar called Fudge, where we all got free shots and I double-fisted it with 2 smirnoff ices. Then we headed next door to a bar called Zoo, where Sonja proceeded to bargain with the bouncer and managed to get all the girls in for free and the guys in for 7 pounds (as opposed to everyone pays 10 pounds each) !!! Long story short, we all get smashed, there was some bar-top/pole dancing involved and a few random make-outs. (see picture with the pole)
All ended well, except that Gretchen and I got our coats stolen. Only me :( . On the whole though, a VERY fun night.
Saturday Sept 15: Got up early AGAIN, met mom. Thank god no hangover. Got 
breakfast and just kind of wandered around Trafalgar and Leicester square for a while. Bought myself a pair of those really cute pashmina thingies. Then we went to go see Spamalot! Hysterical! Loved the stage and the actors (esp. Lancelot). Great music, great show, great time. Got dinner at Bella Italia again, cuz mom fell in love with it. Went to bed, exhausted.
breakfast and just kind of wandered around Trafalgar and Leicester square for a while. Bought myself a pair of those really cute pashmina thingies. Then we went to go see Spamalot! Hysterical! Loved the stage and the actors (esp. Lancelot). Great music, great show, great time. Got dinner at Bella Italia again, cuz mom fell in love with it. Went to bed, exhausted. (Me and mom in front of Spamalot!)
Sunday Sept 16: Slept in, went to the Tower of London! 
LOVED IT! I just fell in love with the ravens. There's this legend that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, London will fall.
LOVED IT! I just fell in love with the ravens. There's this legend that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, London will fall. 
So the Tower people decided to clip all their wings so they cant fly away, which I kind of think is cheating. But anyway, I kept taking pictures of the ravens (See above) and my mom thought I was crazy. But we actually spent about 5 hours at the Tower, there's just so much to see! 
Then we had fish and chips, and then dinner (At Bella Italia AGAIN... the waiters there knew us by name) and then we went to go see the fireworks at the end of the Thames Festival! Fantastic! We stood on the Westminster Bridge and watched all the fireworks over the river.
Then we had fish and chips, and then dinner (At Bella Italia AGAIN... the waiters there knew us by name) and then we went to go see the fireworks at the end of the Thames Festival! Fantastic! We stood on the Westminster Bridge and watched all the fireworks over the river. Monday Sept 17th: Mom leaves :(. I wander around, do some window shopping, get some 
laundry done, did some food shopping. Walked up and down Kings Road, looking at all the stores, cringing at all the prices. Got some gelato at the Valerie place that my roommate insists is named after her. The usual.
laundry done, did some food shopping. Walked up and down Kings Road, looking at all the stores, cringing at all the prices. Got some gelato at the Valerie place that my roommate insists is named after her. The usual. (me and my mom before she left)
Tuesday Sept 18: No Bloomsbury class today, so Val and I get up to go shopping on Oxford Street! I got a REALLLLLY cute long sweater (very london-esque) and Val finds some really cute tops. We go back to the Centre (after a mad dash for MacDonalds), just in time for Creative writing. AHHHHH freewriting kills me! I ended up trying to write the Greek alphabet and any Latin that I could remember. I also ended up writing "I don't know what to write" at least 12 times. Then we got to the writing activities, which were more fun. The most constructive criticism I received was that I tend to lose confidence in my writing near the end, but who didn't know that? Anyway, have to hand in my first assignment next week. Then on to Brit Lit into Film. Love the professor, he's so nice and he's been to dc! he told me he liked the metro system there, it was just like "a smaller Tube system, only quite a bit cleaner!" Talked about Joyce's The Dead. Pretty interesting stuff. Exhausted by the time we get back. Dinner and then bed.
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Wednesday Sept 19th: ummm slept in, was late to class. Had Shakespeare though, love that man. He had us watch Leo DiCaprio in "Romeo + Juliet". How can you not love it? Then on to the National Theatre for our tour and then our weekly performance. The tour was AMAZING!!! We got to see a rehearsal of "Saint Joan" in the Olivier Theatre, and now I am DYING to see it! I might go stand in line tomorrow for tickets, we'll see. Then on to the Lyttleton and the Cottesloe Theatres. Also cool. OH, and I found out that the His Dark Materials books had been made into not one, but a two-play series!!! I'd just missed it! :( so sad. Then we grabbed some refreshments and headed back to the Cottesloe to see Chatroom and Citizenship, two short plays that reflect on teenage issues today. Both were pretty hardcore, I was sobbing by the end of Chatroom. Then we hopped on the tube and made our way back, walking part of the way through the rain. Then everyone else hopped a bus, while I managed to get myself left behind, and had to walk ALL the way in the pouring rain. Oh well. It's my fault for wondering what had happened to the London weather (side note: since I'm pretty sure I hadn't mentioned it yet, the weather up until this point had been in the mid 70's, sunny and GORGEOUS every day).
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Thursday Sept 20th (today!): Had a ridiculously bad migraine this morning, had to go to class anyway. Went to Intro to Theatre, discussed Elling from last week. Went back to the dorm, had FAJITA NIGHT with Val and Sonja (but most just Val cuz Sonja got lost) and just kind of chilled in the res hall. lots of pictures, sex talks, and spontaneous dance parties. Mary and Ian each killed their own bottle of wine, but only Mary really needed any help by the end of the night. A fun, chill night was just what I needed after such a sucky morning.
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So now you are all caught up (those of you who made it this far). I'll try to post pretty regularly, once every day or so, so keep checking back. And comment! so i know who is actually reading this and who's just stalking me :) later
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