Paddling Pond

Day 12
May 21, 2010

Today I woke up to the cleaning lady trying to come into our room and quickly shutting it after seeing us still in bed at 11 am. After Nicole and I actually woke up, I made eggs for us. We both had a nice breakfast of eggs, toast with jam, and tea while we planned our day.

Then I went to Susana's room where she and Erin where hanging out. Erin then proceeded to tell me this story:  Erin texted Katie but Katie gave everyone the wrong number which was, in fact, Yaniv's number. Yenive, Erin found out through a string of text messages, a 21 yr. old male who is French but currently interning on Goodge Street. This street is literally 3 blocks away. He also commanded that Erin add him of Facebook and then fall in love with him. This was probably the best story I have heard yet on this trip. And Erin is quite the good storyteller, might I add.

Then they went to shower once we all decided to go to the Queensway Market. Major let down. Once we got there, it was sketchy rooms 20% giving manicures and haircuts for 7 pounds and the other 60% selling hookas. Probably 20% were either electronic or souvenir shops. So after meandering through this place, we stopped at a chinese place to eat upon my request. I ordered roast pork and fried noodles. When my food arrived, I swear it looked like it could crawl off the plate. The pork did not resemble pork. However, it was quite tasty and didn't taste slimy at all. Plus, it was on a bed of crunchy noodles. Overall good choice since I left full.

After that, Susana, Nicole, and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Erin had already been so she met Kelundra and Bridgette in Hyde Park. Once we walked the underground thoroughfare to the museum from the tube station, we went to the museum. The downfall to this, however, was that everyone was stuffed from lunch. We started to drag in this massive hallway of statues. We also went into a fashion exhibit which had designer dresses throughout the past few centuries. I found myself sizing up the attractiveness of the dresses, but it was intriguing to see how the silhouettes have changed. Even though everything was absolutely stunning, we decided to hit a couple more rooms then head home. After the photography exhibit, we went outside to the courtyard. This was probably my favorite part of the day. We took pretty pictures and sat with our feet in the "paddling" or wading fountain. The relaxation and sunshine were so nice.

The rest of the evening was spent back at our flat, mostly online, looking up things for trips, getting hostels and flights sorted out. Of course, we had a surge of people come into the room. It's so nice when everyone powwows in one room. It gets pretty loud but it's fun. We can hear what everyone's plans are as well. Most of them decided to go to the Duck and Dive which is the pub in the ULU building where we have classes, but Nicole and I stayed behind. While they were out drinking, I made a rough budget (after making a rough estimate of all the money I've already spent. Holy cow.) per week for the remaining month we're here. I took a shower and decided to write my blog. :) Tomorrow:  Hampton Court Palace with Nicole and Erin and possibly Susana