In other news... I had a fun Valentine's Day. My flatmates and I went to Brighton and painted pottery (I did a cereal bowl with pastel stripes. I also managed to explode a black paint pen but not get it on my clothes or the outside of my bowl. skills, I know.), had an early dinner at Pompoko's, a delicious and cheap Japanese restaurant, and went to see He's Just Not That Into You, which we all really liked. Afterwards we walked to the ASDA (like Walmart with more groceries) and bought wine, crisps and chocolate to enjoy once we got home. After all, what Valentine's Day is complete without chocolate?
I had some good nights out this week. On Wednesday night I went to see Fame, the musical put on by SMuTS (Sussex Musical Theatre Society). It made me miss Wash U theatre. Not that it was bad, but if you go to Wash U and are involved in theatre in any way, PAD or student-run productions, please don't take for granted the talent, enthusiasm and dedication of the people you get to work with. We are lucky. On Thursday I went out for curry (I did have curry, but I've also found that British people tend to refer to Indian food in general as "curry"), which was delicious. Ooh, and that just reminded me that I have a leftover piece of paneer naan in the fridge. Mmm. On Friday Audrey and I went to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which really makes you want to go to Barcelona. I would really like to organize a weekend trip there during summer term.
Yesterday Wash U sent us to Greenwich for the day - thanks, Wash U! It was fun to also hang out with Wash U students who are at other schools in London. We started with a boat tour on the River Thames in order to get to Greenwich, which is just outside of London. It was a lovely day, cool but sunny and clear. At Greenwich we toured the Painted Room and the Chapel, beautiful rooms which were originally part of a king's home but now make up part of the University of Greenwich campus. The Painted Room had a ceiling reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel (in style, if not content) and the Chapel had all Grecian-inspired architecture and design.
After lunch my group got a little lost, but we eventually made it up the hill to the Royal Observatory, where we saw impressive panoramic views of London and stood in two hemispheres at once! Yes, Greenwich is the location of the Prime Meridian, which divides the world into time zones. I learned that 15 degrees of longitude equals an hour time difference, so if you know either between two locations, you can figure out the other. We had free time for the rest of the day, so I went with a few other Wash U girls to Greenwich Market, which was fantastic! A feast for the senses. There were booths with vendors selling everything from jewelry made out of silver spoons to puppets to paintings. Then there was an entire food section with vendors selling food from France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and the U.S., to name a few. I bought some mini Turkish doughnuts, which were crispy on the outside but melted in your mouth on the inside and were completely soaked in honey; banana chips; and clotted cream fudge, which has a fudgelike consistency but tastes more like caramel. Delicious!
My food bliss experience for the week came from yogurt. Organic Greek-style yogurt with honey, to be exact. I don't think I've ever tasted anything creamier, and I will probably be buying a lot of this from now on. Scratch that, I WILL be buying a lot of this from now on.
Unfortunately I will not be doing anything exciting today after all, but I've been needing to do laundry anyway. Oh well. Goes to show that no study abroad experience is perfect, and hopefully I will be able to go to Stratford with my parents over break anyway. I'm upset, but there's nothing I can do. Time to move on.
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