Weekends around here are busy/crazy. That’s not an excuse for not blogging (ok, it is) but it is also a fact. There always seem to be a million and twelve things going on. Now that classes have started, homework occupies a decent chunk of time.
On Friday we went on a trip to Stonehenge and Bath, but I will save that blog for when I can have the corresponding pictures to assist with the recounting of the adventures.
Saturday started out very lazily. We slept in, ate a bit of breakfast/lunch (we got up around 10 or so), then got ready for the day. Most of the group opted to stay in and do homework (yes, homework. On a Saturday!), but my intrepid friend Hayley decided to join me in exploring Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day, as far as British weather goes. The sun was shining, birds chirping, and Londoners were taking full advantage of it. There were people EVERYWHERE. Picnics were going on at comfortable intervals all over the park. People walked around enjoying the day, soaking up some much needed Vitamin-D. As we ambled along the Serpentine (the small man-made river that runs between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens), we saw dogs frolicking in the water, blissful to be out of the house.
I FINALLY got to search out the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens! I’ve wanted to see it since my first trip here, but have never quite managed it.
After that mission was accomplished, we wandered over to the very lovely quartet of fountains at the head of the Serpentine by Marlborough Gate. By this point we opted that it was time for a bit of homework, so we settled in to do some reading/homework.
Being my mother’s daughter, I couldn’t help doing more people-watching than actual work. One of my favorite parts of London is getting to observe the various cultures and conglomerations of people. In one small place, there were families (with adorable and heathenish children alike), couples, friends, strangers. There was evening a wedding party taking photos around the fountains. Listening to the conversations of the grass-loungers around us, I heard many different dialects and accents, most of them not British.
Living with the same 21 people and only interacting with them 24/7 can get a bit old, so on Sunday I went to visit the England branch of the Mommy Mafia, the lovely Tara Allen and her family. This required me taking the tube by myself for the first time ever (moderately scary) and figuring out how to get a ticket to take a train out to the little town they live in, about 50 minutes from Waterloo Station. (Just FYI, Waterloo Station is scary, busy, and really confusing). But I was completely victorious and was rewarded with good company, homemade cookies, wonderful Thai food (chicken pananaag- Yum!) and advice on how to make finicky and confusing British appliances to work.
Today is a day for reading for British Life and Culture class (Watching the English by Kate Fox) and attempting to work on my sadly neglected writing. My novel is going well, but my Angels and Demons story is proving to be a difficult undertaking.
Tomorrow or Wednesday, I will try to post about Stonehenge and Bath, as well as update pictures. The internet here at our lovely flat is too temperamental to attempt to upload a significant amount of pictures.
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