Boredom, Scary Clubs, Bath and London

Sept 28-Mon
Monday I woke up and got ready for class. I didn’t leave as early since I got there too early last time. My first class went well; we mainly discussed the reading in a class of about 30 students, everyone just chiming in and such. That was what is called a “seminar” vs. a “lecture” where there is a larger group and you sit and take notes. After that class I had about 10 minutes to get to my next class which was downstairs. I ate a rice crispy treat as I walked; it was my “lunch” haha. My next class was a creative writing one and we had a lecture for an hour then my group could leave since we stayed for workshop last week. But we had to go somewhere so we went to the refectory (cafeteria) but only stayed for like 20 minutes. I then went to the learning center (library) to print stuff, then left. When I got back I realized my bread went bad, so I had like nothing to eat. Sad day. Then one of my flat mates let me have some of hers, yay! That night I stayed in with Dani and watched Merlin and also watched her flat mates and Kelsey play drinking games then get drunk and go to the club. Very entertaining! Oh yeah, we also got our allowance for the next two weeks. Yay for having money to buy food! That’s about all there was for Monday. Dull! Oh yeah, I had fun explaining what Connecticut is to two boys in my literature class, haha.
End Day 18

Sept 29-Tues
Tuesday I walked with Dani to class and it was ½ lecture and ½ seminar (discussion) and it went pretty well. My next class was one where I had to bring work in for everyone to workshop and we all gave feedback on everyone’s work. Thankfully they liked it and offered constructive criticism and compliments. Yay! After that Nick (another BCA-er in my class) and I walked back and I had lunch. I realized my need for groceries then, since my bread grew hair and my milk was going to expire the next day. I was too lazy to go though so I decided to eat my mini donuts and Pringles for a few days or so. Then when I went on facebook, Jesse, our British friend, messaged me on the chat thing and we talked for a while. Then I invited him to come out with Dani, Kelsey and I to eat dinner at Yates. There was a deal for 2 meals for £6.95 so that worked out well. Then we came back and I went with Jessica, Stephanie, Grant, and Katelyn to the Christian Union. It was really good to be able to share prayer requests and pray for each other. Then I came back and talked to Jesse some more on facebook and he said he hadn’t had people be so kind to him since he got here. We decided we need to bring him around more often. Then I went to sleep because the internet was down and I had nothing else to do,haha.
End Day 19

Sept 30-Wed
Wednesday I woke up earlier than usual because I went to sleep earlier. After I’d had breakfast and I got ready, Jesse messaged me on facebook and asked if he could come up to my room to hang out. I said sure so we hung out with my door open and other people floated in and out of my room to chat. Eventually I decided that I needed to go buy food because now I was out of cereal, so Jesse said he’d take us to Lidl-another market in town we hadn’t been to. So Jesse, Liz, Dani, Kelsey, me, and Liz’s friend (Sarah?) went to Lidl. It is basically the Costco of Cheltenham. So cool! That’s when we planned to make quesadillas for dinner, because Liz, Jesse and Sarah had never had them (no one in Britain has, apparently). So now that we restocked our cupboards we came back to prepare the quesadillas (or cheese-wrap things, as Jesse called them). They were a big hit, especially with salsa on them, even if they weren’t sure how to eat them,haha. After dinner we sat around and talked then watched a movie, then played Monopoly, the electronic and British version. We all quit after about 30 minutes,haha. Then Kelsey got a text from Sonny, asking her to meet him out at a club, so we helped her get ready. Then I went back to my room to shower and Skype with the family.
End Day 20
P.S. I did homework today too, yay! Finally,haha.

Oct 1-Thurs
Thursday was extremely uneventful. I did nothing but homework and writing assignments and I was bored out of my mind. Kelsey, Dani both had class from 2-5 so I was stuck in my room online and going crazy with boredom. I even resorted to dancing around my room and singing loudly to my music. Finally they got out of class and we went to the Chinese food place next door for dinner. After that we came back and Dani went to choir and Kelsey went to a movie with Sonny. So I was bored again. After they got back we got ready to go out to Blush and ended up sharing clothes because we were running out of outfits. We plan to shop tomorrow. Blush was fun, except when Dani and I got left by ourselves and these creepy, buff guys started dancing with us and groping us. No exaggeration. I have never felt so violated and scared. They were strong and it was hard to push them off of me but we got away and ran to the loo where Kelsey and Hannah (her flat mate) were. Then we found all the guys we came with, Greg, Sonny, Jesse, Mike, Ryan, Jake, Alex, etc.. and stood with them for protection. The creepy guys came back and tried to do it again, but we hid behind Greg and they backed off when they saw him. I hope to never have that happen again and I never want to be touched like that ever again, except by my husband. We learned a valuable lesson, never to be alone at the club, even if just for a few minutes, without a guy. Not safe! We ended up staying until nearly 2:30 and my feet were killing me. Good thing we get to sleep late tomorrow.
End Day 21
P.S. Kelsey made me take a shot of Vodka with her. Nasty! I was a little dizzy, giggly, and happy for about an hour or so. Yes, I am a lightweight, so sue me! It was more than I’ve ever had, EVER!

Oct 2-Fri
Friday I slept super late because of the night before and I didn’t really do anything until about 3pm when Kelsey and Dani and I decided to go clothes shopping since we realized that we need more options for going out instead of wearing the same two outfits. I bought some skinny jeans for £10 (shock of all shocks: I don’t ever wear skinny jeans) and they fit quite nicely. I also bought a small purse to bring out so I don’t have to bring my backpack (nerdy). After that we came back to the dorms, made quesadillas again, and introduced them to another British kid, Alex, who also loved them. Then Dani and I watched Glee and we went to sleep because we had to get up early the next day. Quite and insignificant day, really.
End Day 22

Oct 3-Sat
Saturday we had to be up early and down in the courtyard at 8:30 for our BCA trip to Bath. I looked up the weather for Bath (thankfully) and was well prepared with my black heavy jacket, scarf, gloves, and rain boots. The famous dreary English weather made its appearance today. It was about 58 degrees with 30 mph winds (which made it like 10 degrees colder) and on-and-off rain. Lovely. We started the trip going to Sally Lunns, the oldest tea house in Bath, for coffee, tea, and the famous Sally Lunn bun, which was like a round huge bun of toast, and it was delicious. After that we had a tour of the Roman Baths and we got to wander around them and learn interesting facts about them from the audio guides they gave us. After the baths a group of us (Amy, Rachael, Dani, Nick, Kelsey, and I) went to the Jane Austen center and museum. It cost £6 for a tour and we all did it except for Kelsey and Nick. It was interesting and cool, but I’m not sure it was worth £6.

After that we walked around some more before the weather drove us into a few shops. We spent hours (far too long in my opinion) in a very small bookshop, then left to seek shelter and warmth in Starbucks. We spent the rest of our time in and out of shops and being a little bored and cold since we had too much time to walk about. We left Bath and the terrible weather to go back to Cheltenham and make dinner. Then Kelsey, Dani and I hung out in Dani’s room and talked about random stuff then decided to go to bed because they were both feeling sick (I think I gave it to them) and we had London early the next day.
End Day 23

Oct 4-Sun
Sunday was London day! Woke up to catch the 8:45 bus into London. Kelsey decided not to come because she was feeling so ill, so it was just Dani and I on our own. In London. Scary. Kelsey gave us her London map though, to help our “navigation-challenged” selves. We were sad that she felt so sick not too come. It felt weird and empty without her. The “coach” dropped us off at Victoria Station and from there we made our way to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Bridge. It took us a couple of turn-a rounds before we realized we were headed in the right direction. Buckingham Palace and the street were packed with people and we could barely get through, not to mention we had no idea what was going on. I think half the people there (all foreign because most had European accents) had no idea what they were standing there for. I swear half the city was there. We realized that it was the “changing of the guards” but it was too crowded to stick around and watch so we took pictures, got a video of the guards playing music and moved on to see Big Ben, Parliament Square, and Westminster Abbey. We walked through a pretty park and then found Big Ben! We used the map some but there were also helpful signs with arrows. I looked up and saw Big Ben all of the sudden and we got excited. We then decided to get lunch at Churchill café, which was good and inexpensive, and is exactly opposite of the Cabinet War Rooms. After getting a second wind from food, we headed across the road to Westminster Abbey then saw the Eye and headed in that direction.

We paid £17.50 each to ride the Eye but it was worth it and we decided that we should do it since we aren’t in England forever. After the Eye we bought souvenirs and watched entertaining dancers and performers in the Jubilee Gardens along the Thames. We then used our awesome map reading skills (follow the river, stay left) to find the Millennium Bridge (from Harry Potter 6). We found it fine after stumbling across the Clink Prison Museum under London Bridge. We paid £3.50 to tour the medieval prison (dates back to 1400s) because Dani has a morbid fascination with medieval torture. We then found the Millennium Bridge and as we walked across, we saw the Tower Bridge in the distance, so we headed there. We came across Shakespeare’s Globe Theater on our way to Tower Bridge but didn’t get to go on a tour since it was 4:30 and tours ended at 5 and are 40 minutes long. We kept walking to Tower Bridge then decided to cross it to find the Underground station to go to Kings Cross. We found the station with good navigating skills also and I asked for help so we wouldn’t end up lost. We paid £4 and got on the Circle Line to Kings Cross. Once there, we found Platform 9 ¾, after almost missing it, and took nerdy pictures with a cart, or trolley, they stuck there that looked like it went through the wall.

After a nerd moment we found a cheap and nasty place to eat dinner, but by that time I was almost out of money so I didn’t care. Then Dani’s good bus watching skills helped us find the right bus and bus stop to take back to Victoria Station to catch our coach home. We got back to Victoria Station, which is huge and had some trouble finding the Coach Station, but after I asked one of the parked coach drivers on the street, we found it. By that time our feet hurt, Dani had a bad cold, and I had a migraine. Also, it was 9:30 and our bus was delayed 30 minutes. Needless to say we slept on the ride back to Cheltenham and we got back around 12:15. We wanted to give Kelsey her bear that we bought her, dressed as a palace guard, but she was sleeping and we were too tired. I then stretched my achy legs and went to bed. All in all it was a great trip and I was proud of Dani and me for not getting lost, seeing everything, and conquering the Underground and buses. Yes! Success!
End Day 24