castle on a cloud

i've had quite the busy fast few days. obviously. i've been pretty MIA from this little booger.

saturday was a blast. liz and I went into Camden (incidentally very close to regent's park--where i'm staying) for the afternoon because we were going to see a show. the band Every Avenue played at "The Underworld," a venue underneath a moderately famous pub called "The World's End." We waited in line for about an hour but cut in front of the entire line because some really nice mom with an ugly daughter and her ugly friends were waiting in line and she just let us cut. too sweet. not trying to be mean about these girls but seriously. woah. and what are the odds that I would see one of them whilst walking around Leicester Square today (2 days later). slim. but it happened.

i had never heard of the 2 opening bands so we decided to leave the show and get drinks up at the pub above. i had my first Snakebite (beer mixed with grenadine). IT WAS AWESOME. except it was wicked awkward when I went to order one last night and the poor kid behind the counter didn't understand what I was saying because apparently they didn't serve them at this other pub. whatEVER. the show turned out to be a blast. they seemed to have a lot of energy as it was their last night abroad. I attempted to hang with them by introducing myself as a friend of one of their friends but I was either the least attractive girl in the history of the planet or they simply did not have any interest in speaking to me. perhaps a combination of the two. nevertheless, liz and I went home early. at least we tried. someone fell (or mayyybe was pushed) onto the train tracks that go from central london to surrey and died :( the train was delayed.

sunday was my last morning with the brodericks. it was spent watching the season finale of LOST (on DVR), which I will not go into details hating on right here because my mother is reading and she has respectfully requested that I refrain from any specifics but can I just leave it as FUCK YOU LOST, I HATE YOU (sorry for the swear words mama, love you). but seriously. worst end to a great thing. worse than when Frodo and Bilbo sailed off into another world. that was so sad. stupid lost. what a waste of 137 minutes. (yes it was that long and the UK shows less commercials than in the states.)

i had to repack my absurd suitcase, mr. B brought it down the stairs (strong like ox I told him) and luckily it fit in the car. liz and her mom spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out the easiest way for her to drive me into the city to get to my campus. I'm not going to lie, I was fighting back tears when I said goodbye to her.

I was guided to my dorm and then up to my room which I share with 2 girls, Melissa and Becca. Melissa is from outside of Richmond, a rising 3rd year History major who is taking this class "just for fun." Becca is a rising 4th year from Leesburg majoring in Sociology and MY NEW BEST FRIENDDDD. i was informed that i would love her (she's in the same sorority as some of my friends) but you can never be positive. she's the funniest human being alive (right up there with my new aforementioned English friend Jackie). we all bonded pretty quickly and then bought food from the Refectory (aka the dining hall) and ate in a picnic forum in Regent's Park. i got 2 spider bites. I am in pain.

we then explored the area briefly. a bunch of the kids and the precious married program admins were going to a nearby pub so we hung there for a bit and came home. in an attempt to bond with the campus better Becca, my name rhyme bff Kelsey, and my new friend Kayla and I went down to the "lounge." it consists of 6 computers and a TV that shows 6 stations, none of which are "the good ones." we settled on Robin Hood (the one with Kevin Costner) until a girl said her friend was bringing down The Hangover (scoreeee!!) that never happened (bitch) so we just talked shit about her and went hunting for vending machines. that turned out to be a hilarious journey because neither of the 2 we found would let Becca buy the Doritos because they were "sold out" (but they weren't because...they weren't) and Kayla's weird English Gatorade Drink was leaving out of some invisible hole. we then nicked an italian food menu from the guys at the front desk and proceeded to read aloud the strange foods and heinous spelling and grammatical errors. disgusting British food that we would never eat includes "brown sauce" (can we bit a touch more specific?), "burger sauce" (this will never happen) and "doner meat" (def just threw up a lil bit). the grammar issues are too irritating to list.

the night ended around 11pm when we all got sick of our menu and kevin costner. i woke up at 2am with the taste of gross chemicals in my mouth (still not sure what that was all about...) and then again at 4, 430, 5, 530, 6, 645, 715, and finally at 815 when I meant to. that sucked. first night in a new, twin bed (which chemicals in my mouth apparently).

today was craaaaazy busy. we got up at 8:15, down to breakfast at 9:20, college orientation at 10, class at 11, quick tour at 1145, picked up snacks for the day and Becca and Kelsey bought European cell phones, lunch at 12:30, and then all met at the Tube station at 1pm.

we first went to St. Paul's Cathedral where I walked approximately 400 billion steps to the very top. after some quick but lovely picture taking I decided not to push my luck with the whole "fear of heights" business and make my way back down to the main hall of the cathedral where I had to take lots of pictures in stealth mode because you weren't allowed. i got a lot :)

we then made our way over the Millenium Bridge (any Harry Potter fans? this is the bridge that the dementors fuck up in the 6th movie in the very beginning--I'm famous!) and into the Tate Modern Museum. We walked through an exhibit called "States of Flux" that had cool pop art by Andy Warhol, some Picasso and Matisse, some AMAZING photograph collections, and other dope stuff.

We then continued our trek along the South Bank of the Thames and saw all the huge historic buildings as we made our way towards Parliament and Big Ben! THEN we walked over to Leicester Square near Picadilly Circus for LES MISERABLES! I hadn't read the book since 10th grade or something and honestly, who would understand that book when they were 15 years old, so I was little foggy on some of the details but the music was UNREAL (I dreamed a dream anyone? here's lookin at you, Glee!) Despite the fact that I was exhausted and only moderately refreshed from my dinner at "Bella Italia"--a quasi delicious moderately priced Italian restaurant on the same street as the theater (let's be real, the restaurant was chosen because no one could feel their feet and it was about 4 steps away)--I was soooooo impressed by the musical. Except for the dude who played "Marius." he sucked. his vibrato "sounded like a bleating goat" as Becca puts it and she's quite right. It was distracting and goat-like and I really wished he'd stop but alas, main characters tend to sing a lot.

I was so tired when we got back to school that I tried to use my Oyster card (the card I bought for the month to use on the Tube) instead of my school i.d. to swipe in. it did not work.

so now I'm tired. and would like to go to bed. and hopefully with not get chemicals in my mouth. more tomorrow! (we're going to see The Crucible in Regent's Park's theaterrrr!)

missing you all from home. wish I could squeeze every one of you. CK.