Friday 4 May 2012

I'm a Lazy Bum that Hasn't Posted in Three Weeks. I Know

BA Word of the Day:  Chunder. It means puke. Vomit. Regurgitate. You know.

 I haven't been chundering or anything. Just a good word to know lol. So... I hope everyone has been doing well. Yea, I didn't post for three weeks. I figured if I am going to procrastinate on coursework, why not procrastinate on everything? Sorry bout that! PS, do you ever notice that when you are procrastinating, you develop a vicious pattern? For instance, I always change environments. Example:  "Oh, maybe if I leave my room I will be less destracted." *Gets distracted in tv room* Oh, maybe if I go back to my room/the office/back to the tv room/the hallway/someone else's room..." See what I mean? I finally found a place in the library that I like. I wrote a paper there in six hours. Mainly because I didn't have a choice lol.

Anyways, I did a couple of fun things. For instance, I got to see a soccer match! My friend Connor and I got to see an Arsenal match. Their stadium is right behind London Met.
By the way, it has been raining here a lot. I guess we are entering the rainy season I don't know. But, where there is rain, there are rainbows! Like this pretty one outside the Castle window.
 I also went on a tour through the National Theatre(s). Which was really really cool. One of the theatres, the Olivier, has this massive turning drum thing to where the set that is on stage can sink into this drum or turn the set to show the other side. Sadly, we didn't get to see the below stage part of it :( but I went on a lovely walk down Southbank and saw this wicked cool cafe along the way.
 By the way, charities over here in the UK do some crazy things to get the word out and get donations. It was cold and raining and this guy was still out there hoping people would toss coins off Southbank to donate to whatever his cause was. Charity workers are always outside of the grocery store that I shop at hoping people will register to donate to them.
 And I got to go to the circus for the first time in my whole life (from what I remember). When I was little, I wanted to be in the circus. I could juggle and ride a unicycle and everything. After actually seeing a circus.... the dream has officially been rejuvenated.
 And I got my hair cut (the reason I say this now is because I think you can kinda see it in this picture. This night I went to bingo. Bingo in the UK is completely different than in the US. First, it's cheaper. $15 when I went in the US. Two pounds when I went here. Second, there is no BINGO with divisions of 15 on the cards. There are about 6 games per page in the UK, three rows on each game, with the numbers in divisions of ten up to 90. The numbers one through ten, 11 through 20, you get the picture, are divided among the six games (so no repeats) leaving blanks on the board. There are three rounds per sheet:  One full row, two full rows and coverall (within one of the six games). They have just local cards being played for a local prize and then they have a national card. If you complete a coverall on the national card in fewer turns than other people playing across the nation, then you win over 20,000 pounds! And guess what. Some lady won the 20,000 at the place we were playing at in Camden! Then we decided to ride Boris bikes to The Rocket, a bar near Euston station, which doesn't run very smooth with ten people, but was still a lot of fun!
 I also went to Notting Hill and Portobello Market. Portobello was nice (but not as cool as Camden Market :)) It was a quiet and cute neighborhood as well.
 Today I decided to go to Leadenhall Market, which was used in a few movies (namely Harry Potter). Leadenhall is much smaller than expected. I think I walked across it in, oh, about 20 seconds.
 Then I decided that if the old Routemaster showed up before the bus I needed to take to get home, then I was going to get on it and ride it to the end and figure out what I would do next. If you look to the right, you can see a bus in the background, that's the bus I was supposed to take home. Hehehe it was fate to go on an adventure!
 The route ended at Trafalgar Square, so I decided to go to Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus. PS only 84 more days until the Olympics... that I won't be in London for.

I got to go into Hamley's, the huge toy store, as well. It was pretty fun just walking around overall. I was exhausted when I got home.

So, a few things I'm looking at doing before I leave. I was going to go to Dublin, but I decided that Dublin wouldn't be as fun without friends to go with, so I found an alternative. Instead, I will be spending the money I would have spent on the Dublin trip on theatre tickets for musicals. I already have a ticket booked for Le Mis, and I still have money for three more. I'm thinking Phantom of the Opera, Lion King, and Wicked, but I'm not 100%, so put your ideas in the comments list. This week, I will get to go to an immersive theatre experience where the audience makes the choice of which characters to follow. I'm not sure how else to explain it, but I'm very excited!

Another thing I wanted to do while I was over here and just didn't do was visit some temples and mosques and learn about other religions firsthand from people that actually practice them, which is something I really don't have much of an opportunity to do in little ole Indiana. So, today, I contacted places of different religions that I thought would be cool to visit. Just the idea that all of these religions exist and have a presence in London is baffling! Here is the list of religions I have asked to visit/learn about/go to a service/etc.

North London Buddhist Center
Shaolin Temple (which is meant to be some sort of martial arts taught by monks...)
Regent's Park Mosque
Krishna Temple Soho (which is one I am really excited about)
London Jewish Cultural Center
Hindu Academy
The  Jain Center London
Central Gurdwara (Sikhism)
Pagan Federation (yes, I asked if I could go to a Pagan ritual. A little nervous about this one)
World Zoroastrian Organization

So I hope I will hear back from some of these places soon. Only 17 more days until Zach (my boyfriend) gets to join the adventures. I'm not sure specifically about the next adventures, but I will definitely write in less than a week (hold me to it, readers!) Until next time, Cheers!

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