Good Afternoon!

Oh gosh, so much to write about!

For the record, I did not go on the London Eye. It was unfortunately closed. I was secretly very happy about that : )

Crystal, Eissell and I did manage to explore Westminster on Saturday, and viewed the buildings of Parliament, the beautiful River Thames, and Buckingham Palace. There was lots of frustration, however, when our map of London was misleading, and we were all hungry and looking for cheap eats. Alas, we finally found a cheap little place and I got my new favorite British dish: The English breakfast.

After our adventure, all three of went to our first British pub, called The New Globe located right off campus. They stopped serving alcohol interestingly enough at 11, after the bartender ran this bell.

Sunday is when I took care of everything I should have taken care of days ago: bought a phone from tescos, bought some plates, cups, etc...the boring stuff. Couldn't figure out my phone, so went over to a friend's house. Asked his flatmates for help, but no one seemed to understand how to activate my phone! So instead, we gave up and went up a few floors to meet up with some real British Queen Mary Students omygoshtheyexist(up until this point most of my interactions inside campus have been with other Americans)! And they're chain smoking and drinking wine out of the bottle and yes, they do use the word "wanker".

Monday had to sort out some scheduling issues, so did not go to class. Monday night I went on the Thames Boat Cruise, which was stunningly gorgeous. I sat on the top part of the boat, despite seemingly freezing temperature and the occasional pouring of bitter rain, but the city at night is so gorgeous how could I resist such a view! I unfortunately ran out of battery so no pictures. We went past Tower Bridge (we took off from the Tower of London, which I will explore very soon!), Parliament, that tall egg shaped building, other beautiful bridges, Millennium Bridge (aka the bridge that breaks in Harry Potter 6). Towards the end of the night, when the cold got too much, had some beer and danced with Eissell and some others.

Last night, free pizza and wine at a Restaurant on Campus, cheap wine run, chatting with Eissell and overseas date with the boyfriend. Overall a quiet night.

Exploring London tonight though...