Friday, January 8, 2010

Retroactive Blogging is Hard - Guy Fawkes Day and London Field Trip

Once again I'm going to start this post off with I SUCK AT BLOGGING! But now that I'm back in the States I'll probably keep it up a little bit better while I'm procrastinating my dumb LTU work.

November 5th is Guy Fawkes Night in Britain - if you don't know what it is, look here. Anyway, you burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes and read the poem and all that jazz. Our bonfire was the night before. I don't know why.

That's JR with our massive bonfire and Sara's beautiful Guy Fawkes effigy. Anyway, it was miserable outside, raining and being just generally crappy. After braving the elements for about an hour, most people just migrated to the Bistro. I had a lot to drink that night - I think we counted seven Newcastles. Heather walked me back to my room. Good form, right?

That Friday, we had a British Studies field trip to London. We were supposed to go to the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and St. Paul's Cathedral. We were split into two big groups by alphabet, and my group went to the galleries first and then St. Paul's. We spent about 20 minutes in the Portrait Gallery before we decided to hit the National Gallery. Sam had to go to the bathroom but Chris and I thought that everyone was behind us -- anyway we got separated and Chris and I were by ourselves, which was kind of cool because we actually looked at paintings. There was this group of school kids who were getting a tour so we followed them around so we could learn stuff, and this little 8 year old girl told the history of the Tudors from Henry VII until Elizabeth!! We were wishing we could bring her home with us so she could take our British Studies test. She knew way more than we did. We felt stupid.

So after we learned about 'The Ambassadors' and all that fun stuff, we ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in Trafalgar Square and photobombed some Asians. Then of course we realized that we had a half hour to walk the Strand and Fleet Street before our tours. So we pretty much ran to St. Paul's -- remember the scene in Home Alone in the airport, when they're playing 'Run Run Rudolph?' That was Chris and I. He was way faster than me, I was in a dress and boots. We made it just as the bells of St. Paul's struck 2pm.

I went with DG's group because there was no way in hell I was going with Kingsley. The first thing he said when I got there was, 'Now, we are group A. I'm sure you alllllll got A's on your British Studies exam.' So I did the little sneaky slidey move I'm so good at and slid over to group C. We wandered around St. Paul's and learned stuff. It was interesting, it's a church but it's all military-oriented. Then we climbed up to the top, walked around the dome and got a great view of London. I've climbed so many stairs in Europe - my butt is definitely in its best shape ever.

After that Jessica and I had to walk back to Trafalgar Square to meet up with Kelsey, Anne and Alex, but it started raining. So, yes, I walked from St. Paul's to Trafalgar Square in the rain. It sucked. A lot. And my feet were soggy. But whatever. We met up with them, went to dinner at which Kelsey got drunk off of ONE glass of wine (it was awesome!) and then we split up. Kelsey and Jessica went to see We Will Rock You, and Anne and Alex and I went to see Dirty Dancing.

It was the best/worst thing I have ever seen. The acting was terrible, but the music and the end scene totally made up for it! My mom would have been crying. I tried to call her but she wouldn't answer - bishophead.

After the show we went and caught the 11:30 coach back to Harlaxton. We didn't get back till about 2am, but it was a pretty kickass field trip all in all.

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