Minerals are a girl's best friend!

Hello! I have to say that this blog will be rather short considering I did almost nothing this week! On Sunday I started to feel pretty sick, and by Monday I was miserable. I did not go to my internship on Tuesday or Wednesday because I was so tired. I had this horrible sore throat and cough...so I slept in my bed for most of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

On Monday, even though I felt terrible, I had to attend the play London Assurance for class. I am very glad that I did end up going even if I felt tired in the morning. I was laughing the entire time! It was so much fun, and Fiona Shaw (Aunt Petunia from Harry Potter) was absolutely hilarious...as well as Mark Addy who did an impeccable job (Roland from A Knight's Tale). I would recommend this play to anyone because it was just that good.

On Thursday, I really needed to get out of the house, so a group of us went salsa dancing! There were lessons at the club for 3 pounds for a half hour...it was a lot of fun even though I really am a horrible dancer, but my partner was not very good either so it worked out well. I ended up dancing with some 'advance class' salsa dancers, and that was awesome! They were very good at leading, so I didn't really have to be very good, I just followed. The picture is of Rachel and me before going salsa dancing!

Earlier in the day, we went to Holborn (pronounced Ho-burn). It was a part of an assignment for our seminar class, and it was a great part of London. Very quite compared to the rest. We had to go into a museum called Sir John Soane's Museum. He was a famous architect, and he liked to collect many things...Greek statues, an Egyptian sarcophagus, paintings...all in a tiny house. It was very eclectic, and I really enjoyed it! There was one room full of old books, and I really wanted every single one! We also saw The Inns of Court, the area where barristers practice law. And, I saw the Knight's Templar Church. It is dated back to the 1000s and is the site in The Da Vinci Code. It was gorgeous inside; the stain glass windows were amazing.

On Friday, Michelle and I went to the Natural History Museum. It was really interesting and had some great exhibits. The dinosaurs were pretty neat, and the animatronic dinosaurs were really cool, especially the T-Rex! I also liked the minerals area...some diamonds were there and other minerals that are actually prettier than diamonds, in my opinion. One part that was a little shocking...human anatomy. Now, nothing new to us, but the diagrams (not just drawings, but fake body parts cut into cross-sections) of a particular intimate act displayed on the wall for five year olds...well that's a different story. Michelle and I were a little shocked that there were naked manikins and drawings of childbirth all over the place. I'm pretty sure a lot of that would not have made it into the museums back home.

On Saturday, Michelle, Rachel, and I went to Portobello Road Market. It was a gorgeous day...sunny and close to 50 degrees! A ton of people were out, but I love that market so nothing could bring me down. I didn't buy anything, but I saw some great dresses for 15 pounds, and I might just have to do some shopping there. I'm pretty sure that Rachel and Michelle think I am absolutely nerdy because when we were passing the stands in the streets, there was one with a lot of old books. I headed straight towards it and Rachel commented something along the line of "Oh, of course the English major would look at the books!" I considered buying a really old copy of Jane Eyre, but that book was just painful to get through, so I passed.

I have the play Jerusalem tonight...hopefully it's good! More exciting things coming up this week!

Well Hellooo, Hottie McGoalie

I am sitting in my room after a good day at work, waiting for LOST to load online, listening to Don't Stop Believin' (The Glee Version), and I realized that I could be updating my blog that I haven't updated in over a week! As I'm writing this my pictures are loading on my computer so I can put them up on this post.

Well, when I last left off I was going to see Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the National Theatre. Well, it wasn't good. Everyone in the class was disappointed. The orchestra on stage was great, but the play didn't do it for me. I was completely confused the whole time. There was probably some hidden meaning that I didn't understand.

The best part of the week...Liz came to visit me! We spent a lot of time visiting the London sites. I took her to Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, St. James's Park, Trafalgar and Leicester Squares, Tower of London, and Portobello Road.

We had a lot of fun, but I think the Tower of London was the best. I had not been in the actual tower yet, and being the history nerd that I am, I fell in love! I would definitely go back to see it again...it was worth the 14 quid to get in. I was in awe of the tower...there was graffiti on the walls from prisoners! If I wrote about all my thoughts on the Tower of London this blog would never end, so I will just say that it was amazing! I highly recommend it.

One of the things that we did after the Tower of London was visit the Tate Modern...a modern art museum. Now, Liz is an art enthusiast...I'm not. I do not appreciate modern art at all, but I went along because I thought it might be interesting. I did have a homesick moment while there because all I could think about was how much my dad would hate this! I thought about how we would be making fun of everything in there...especially a guy that stopped in front of a "painting" that looked like paint was scratched off and contemplated it. I got a kick out of that. I counted four paintings and a few photographs that, if they were offered to me for free, I would actually keep. Everything else would end up in my trash. And now everyone knows my strong feelings on modern art.

I went to Portobello Road with Liz on Monday morning. We both had just watched Notting Hill (which we had never heard of) and fell in love with the movie. So, we decided to visit the actual setting. It was absolutely adorable. If I ever came back to live in London, this place is where I would want to live. The houses were so colorful, and the market was fantastic even if the rain made it a little bit miserable. I am going back there when the weather is nicer because I want to explore the area more thoroughly.

I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum on Monday as well. It was so huge, and all I got through was the theatre section for a class. There is so much there, and you can take pictures! I am going back next week, I think, because it is free and has a lot of great art.

Yesterday night I went to my first football match ever! It was actually a lot of fun to watch...the atmosphere was great and exciting. I cheered for Brighton, the away team, because well...they were much better looking. Rachel and I sat together and commentated the whole match...let's just say the majority was not actually about football. :) I nicknamed the goalie for Brighton Hottie McGoalie...no joke. But, I did actually watch the match, and I was so impressed with the athleticism. I have a lot of respect for footballers...their sport is really amazing. Brighton won, by the way. There were over 17,000 people there...on a Tuesday night, in the cold, at a non-premiere league match. The stadium wasn't even full. I can't imagine what a premiere league match would be like. (Video, hopefully, coming soon!)

Caitlin and Maggie are coming this weekend, and on Friday I am going on a tour with Michelle to Stratford, Oxford, and Warick Castle. I'm so excited! Until next time...