Weeks 4-6
Woops! Time really has been flying. I’ll stick with some high lights, since a lot of the past few weeks has been classes, work, and errands. Not very exciting.
On September 29, we had a welcome dinner with my college. The university here is split up into 4 colleges and ours, Froebel, hosted a formal dinner in the Portrait Hall of one of the main buildings. Everyone dressed up and we took lots of pictures. There was a cocktail reception, followed by three courses - a salmon thing I couldn’t eat, duck, which I shockingly liked, and cheesecake. Most of us went to the bar afterward. I only stayed for one drink since I had class at 9 am the next day, but it was fun to hang out with everyone.
That Thursday, I officially dropped my Writing Multicultural Britain class. I was sad I had to do it, but the more I talked to the people in the English department, the more I knew it was the right choice.
The day after that, Serena and I went into central London for the afternoon. We started out with a trip to Primark, a chain store located here that sells clothes at an incredible discount. I picked up a skirt, a tank top, a blouse, two pairs of tights, and a scarf I wear ALL the time for about 40 pounds. We went to a much nicer than we were used to Pizza Hut after, then sat in Hyde Park to watch the sunset. Just before the sun was totally down, we went back to Hammersmith and watched The Intern. It was such a cute, fun movie!
At the beginning of week 5, I began feeling really ill. I had barely been able to sleep Monday night because of my neighbors and how poorly I felt. I stayed home that Tuesday in hopes it would help me feel better, but on Wednesday I had a walk planned along the Thames for a group project. It was a rainy, miserable day and we walked for three hours. By time I get home, my body was completely giving up and sore.
I felt awful for most of the rest of the week, but got up early on Saturday for a trip to Brighton. There were some train issues getting there, but it was lovely to be on a beach again. It’s been a few years. We walked around a bit and sat where we could - neither Serena nor I had gotten much sleep and the cold meds were only helping me so much. Brighton’s a cute little town, but there’s not much to do, especially in the off season. We ended up heading back earlier than planned.
Once again, I felt even worse after going out. I spent two days barely leaving bed until I had class again on Tuesday. After class, I went to Asda and stocked up on cold meds for my whole flat since most of us were feeling awful. Of course, once I got my hands on cold medications, I started feeling better.
That Wednesday, the 14th, Serena and I went to see The Book of Mormon. It’s actually cheaper to get decent seats here than it is in the states. The show was funny, but some of the content was rather offensive.
The next night, I went to see Les Miserables by myself. The theater was beautiful and the show was incredible. I had actual chills several times. And of course when I got home, the Mets were playing the Dodgers in Game 5 of a best of 5 series, so I stayed up to watch it - fortunately they won, so it was all worth it!
Last Sunday, Serena and I went out to Abbey Road Studios. We had some travel snafus that ate up a decent chunk of our day, but it was still cool to see. After that, we went to Camden, which is famous for its market. By time we got there, it was late afternoon and we still had to eat. We only had time to stop in a couple of bookshops before we needed to head back and the market was closing anyway.
This week has been pretty quiet...because we’re leaving for Dublin tomorrow! Serena and I both have most of next week off thanks to Reading Week (but both of us have our Wednesday classes). So we’ve been buckling down to get all our assessments that are due this week and next week done and staying in. But tomorrow afternoon, we’re getting on a plane to Dublin from Heathrow, coming back Tuesday night, going to class Wednesday, then I set out with a different friend to Munich on Thursday! Finally taking advantage of my proximity to...all of Europe, so there’ll be plenty to write about next time!









