We interrupt this broadcast...

Hullo, lovelies.

First, a quick update about London life. Club Neon on Thursday

was AWESOME. They had amazing music and glowstick necklace things and glowing paint it was suh-weet!

If you needed proof that the night was awesome, look above. That is how many glowy necklaces I managed to accumulated, mostly with the help of Kun-Wei. :) I had a great time!

We went to Brick Lane for Indian food on Friday (Anjali, Meredith, Meredith's friend and her flatmate). It was so tasty. So so so damn tasty. For those of you not in the know, when you walk down Brick Lane, restaurant proprietors come out and try to get you to come into their restaurant. Then you bargain. Luckily, Meredith's flatmate has been here for the year and was a total Brick Lane pro. We got a drink, an appetizer, papadum, a main dish and naan for £9.00 in total. It was delicious and economical, so...extra awesome. I could live off of naan for

the rest of my life, it is so good. So so so good.

Ok, now I need to quickly interrupt this update to be annoyed about something. I just read an

AOL article titled "Your Career is in the Cards (of Destiny)." It was so silly. I mean, it would be

cute silly if it were just a stupid joke, but, it certainly wasn't presented as such. Basically, what

the woman that the article cited was saying is that when you map out a deck of cards on a

calendar like this one...

...which you can then use to find out about your personality and what jobs you'd be best suited for and the like. WHICH DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. Why in the world would playing cards have anything to do with determining personality? Like, once playing cards were invented the universe decided, OH MY GOODNESS, Imma base everyone's personality and stuff based on these things arbitrarily matched up to a calendar! Finally a fool proof way to figure this stuff out! I mean, really. REALLY. Gah, this annoys me, probably more than it deserves but it's so indicative of the complete lack of critical thinking pervasive in our media and the general public. It's just so so so dumb. Oh well.

Much love and cheers!

It's a Thursday, so naturally I'm just waiting to party

Hi,

I'm sorry that I've not been as updating as regularly as I should. My bad. I promise to try harder, I just keep putting it off. Which I realize is completely unacceptable.

Sunday was lovely. :) I walked to the Victoria and Albert Museum which is INCREDIBLE. Like podcasts, it is free and there is so much to explore, which basically makes it one of my favorite things ever. I will be going back there because I don't think I even saw a quarter of it. I was going to take a bunch of pictures but then I decided to just enjoy myself and absorb it all. However, I did take a picture of a dress that I really like though. I wish I had a Colonial Period dress. They are so pretty.

It's so pretty!!! I think I just really like Jane Austen novels. :D Also, after I left I saw this...

...which I thought that my mother would appreciate. So, there you go, mom!

On Tuesday for class we went looking for the old Roman Forum and Basilica. This is where we found a fragment.

It was in the basement of a haircutting salon. The salon people seemed rather annoyed at all the people, but they have an ancient monument downstairs so...they're just going to have to deal with it.

Anywho, I will update when I have more to update about.

Much love and cheers!

More catching up!

Ok, so, man voice is pretty much gone at this point as is all the sniffling. Yay! After my amazing 6PM-6:30AM sleeping festival they really didn't have much choice.

On Tuesday I had Evolution in Science and Culture and London Before the Great Fire. I love my evolution class so much. So so so much. It's actually like someone was like, "Let's make the perfect class for Kelsey...let's see...what would make her super happy?..." and then they made it into a class. Oh my goodness, it is SO COOL. And SO INTERESTING. And just SO AWESOME. London Before the Great Fire is pretty sweet too. We went to the Museum of London and checked out some ruins. We saw the ruins of part of the old Roman wall around Londinium (that's the name of London when it was run by the Romans) and the ruins of a Roman fort. We actually got to STAND in the ruins. It kind of takes one's breath away. I mean, the sheer weight of all that history is rather awe-inspiring. Something about standing at that site and then getting to look at all the Roman artifacts really hit me, and I found myself contemplating my place in history and our current time's place in history and the fact that someday, our society will almost certainly not exist in the way that Rome's Londinium no longer exists... It was interesting.

Part of the assignment for touring the museum was that we had to check out the gift shop at the end. The gift shop had tacky recreations of artifacts, fake aliens guns that made obnoxious noises, more candy than you could shake a tapestry at and lots of books-some more relevant than others. The shop also had these:

Dear Sameera, oh my god, can you make these please???? How cute are they? I know the answer! The answer is too cute. Way way way too cute. Like, the cutest. Ever. OH MY GOD THEY ARE SO CUTE! *Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel*

Ok, so after the museum, Kun-Wei and I walked back to UCL. On the way, we stopped at St. Paul's Cathedral. You know, because it was just on the way. No big deal. :P

Ok, so Wednesday was basically the best day EVER. We had classes which we cool, Cellular Neurophysiology and Developmental Neurobiology are pretty alright. Also, classes totally don't feel like they last an hour...but apparently they do? I mean, they definitely do. It feels like we aren't in class enough. Not that I'm complaining! But...yeah...it's straaaaaaaaange. After class we had plans later on so I decided to chill out in the area for a few hours. So. What does one do when you have a couple of hours near the UCL campus to kill? The British Museum!!! Seriously, one ten minute walk from campus later and I was hangin' with a crystal skull and stuff from 2,500 BC Mesopotamia. Woah. It was so cool. I love that place so much. After spending some time there I left and read in a park with a fountain for a while. Mmmm, the fountain made me think of Pomona. I felt so at home. :) It was a beautiful park and the book ("The Girl Who Played with Fire"-another of Meredith's books) is delightful. In a somewhat disturbing sort of way...

Why hello Mr. Skull. Were you made by the Aztecs? No, not at all. Do you have magical powers? Lollerskates. Nope. But it's ok! You are still really cool!

Necklaces! Super old jewelry stuff! Woo! God, this stuff is SO COOL.

FOUNTAIN!!!!!! It is a FOUNTAIN!!!!

After all that I went back to campus and met the other Pomona students at out liaison's office. We went with her to THE MOST DELICIOUS AND FILLING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. We had English Afternoon Tea at the British Museum (twice in one day, woot woot!) and it was INCREDIBLE. I'm going to go ahead and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Yes, that is three layers of PURE METAPHORICAL GOLD. And it came with a pot of Earl Grey Tea. That I put milk in. Because I'm learning how to be English!

Scones with jam and clotted cream. Soooooooooooo delicious.

Classy finger sandwiches filled with things like cream cheese and cucumber and smoked salmon. And other delicious sandwichey things.

I feel like this layer doesn't even need explaining. I hadn't eaten lunch and it was 4:30 when we had this but I still couldn't do much more than waddle out of the museum afterwards. It was such a satisfying fullness. This is the best meal I've had here. And it was free for me! Yay! I will definitely be dreaming of this years from now. I certainly still am now. :D

We also went out with the neuro students again. It was fun, I learned how to play Cheers Gov'ner which was rather entertaining. We were going to go to a club but an hour or so of waiting in line was enough for me so I headed back and slept. This was in the midst of my cold so I think I made the right choice. Probably. Actually, definitely.

Thursday I slept the epic amount. Then on Friday I went to a UCL neuro students birthday party! It was my first socializing event without other Pomona people around. O.o I keep waiting for the day when I'm not incredibly awkward with new people. I mean, it shouldn't be that difficult, right? But then I wind up overthinking everything and getting worried that speaking too much will be an unwanted imposition for those around me so I wind up being the awkward, silent girl who smiles a lot but doesn't really say much of anything. Which is more awkward than talking but...easier, I guess. Uuuuuuuugh, I'll figure it out eventually. Right?

I drew a cartoon for you guys! It's all about me being awkward! Yay?

Much love and cheers!

Superman-voice Returns

I am so sick right now. There is some serious congestion going on up in my face. Oh my goodness, I am sneezing so much right now, it's rather unfortunate and has been making life a little bit difficult. Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh. Needless to say, man voice has hit HARD. And it's not roguish, jazzy man voice (although I'm not sure it actually ever is...), this time it's like the Brawny guy had a baby with a muppet. Nasally speech is so not cute and man voice is not so cute so together they are NOT SO CUTE. Oh well. I'm going to try to sleep a bunch.

Update: I didn't manage to post this before I fell asleep at 6:00 last night and woke up at 6:30 this morning. Dear god, I needed that.

On Monday Steven, Meredith, Meredith's friend Mia and I went to Chipotle! They have brown rice! I haven't seen that before but it was DELICIOUS. Also, their beef is "farm assured" so...that's good. I got a vegetarian burrito. Unfortunately, it was almost £7. And they don't have a difficult enough time folding the burrito! It was way too easy which clearly means that it was way too small, seeing as how the charm of Chipotle burritos is that they are ENORMOUS and then you get two good meals out of it! Actually, this one was still pretty big.

Ok, I'll update more later today. I have class soon and need to get ready.

Much love and cheers!

London Shorts #2: Telephone Booths

Looking at a British telephone booth and seeing the insides plastered with grossly inflated boobs and lace: £ What shreds of childhood wonder and innocence that Disney and a fervent love of crayons had preserved.

Accidentally making the same mistake again and seeing a plain notecard with the word "Transsexual" with a phone number underneath: £ Priceless

Weekend Update

Hullo!

Sorry for not having anything terribly exciting to report, this weekend was pretty chill. Well, that's kind of a lie. Friday was actually pretty awesome. Ok, REALLY awesome. We got to meet the UCL neuro students over some pints, which wound up being really fun. It turns out

that UCL students are pretty alright. Shocking, I know. :P Seriously, it was really lovely to meet them, they seem like great people, and to have Pomona or UCL or whoever spot us some drinks was suh-WEET! It turns out that Guinness isn't as bad as I previously stated. I mean, it may have been the two pints of hard cider tasting...but the pint of Guinness I had was quite enjoyable. No more stupid faces or gagging. Yay!

I woke up on Saturday with the uncomfortable sensation of my hips and legs protesting all of the walking that I've been doing. With the exception of the unfortunate feet incident (which was admittedly very unfortunate) the increased walking around hadn't really been a problem for me. I've actually really enjoyed it. However, it all kind of hit me Saturday morning and I decided to bum around my dorm area for the day. I panicked a little, thinking of how much I want to see and do before my time here is up, but I think staying in for a day was the right decision. No more unpleasant stiffness. I felt so ooooooooooooooooooooold, but now it's all good. :)

Today I went for a run in Hyde Park! I passed Buckingham Palace around 10:45ish and was perplexed to see a bunch of people milling about the front. I ran three miles in the park itself (so so so pretty) and then as I was walking back I got to see the Changing of the Guards! I forgot that happens at 11:30 everyday. I had not yet had the distinct pleasure of seeing it so today was a delightful surprise. It turns out there is really nothing better than coming back from a run and seeing these guys marching towards the palace (this isn't my picture, I found it online; next time I'll hopefully bring my own camera):

I want a hat like that. Seriously, they have the COOLEST hats ever. I'm not going to lie, as a former orchestra student, I've always had a certain amount of distain for marching bands (take THAT bandies!), but these dudes are awesome. They also had impressively shiny shoes. Well done, sirs and madams. (Quick note: I should probably admit that band was way more intense than orchestra. I realize that musically and perfomanc...ally band was definitely more legit than orchestra. Hell, I was in orchestra for the international trips. But unjustified rivalries are fun! Right guys? Speaking of which...suck it, Madeline, our blivalry is still TOTES on.)

Other than that I've been chilling again today. I purchased a can-opener for a mere £1.80 which I was unjustifiably proud of and consequently used in the making of a yummy tuna and cheese sandwich. I considered walking down to UCL to go do dinner in Chinatown with Pomona folks but I'm still kind of tired. Also, Meredith was awesome and lent me her copy of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" which I have been devouring. I had forgotten how much I love crime fiction. It made me nostalgic for my Agatha Christie days. Oh dear, now I'm thinking of the rather silly Doctor Who episode with Agatha Christie. Oh man, now I really miss Doctor Who. Sadface.

I also saw two miniature schnauzers today. I'm rather looking forward to the day when seeing them doesn't break my heart a little. I mean, it passed fairly quickly-London is an excellent distraction-but I miss Zoe. More than I think I care to admit.

Anywho, I should go to bed. Early rising to get to class tomorrow! Woo hoo!!!

Much love and cheers!

And I would walk 500 miles...

OW.

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch.

Ok, my feet hurt so badly right now. I didn't quite make it to 500 miles today but my feet certainly feel like I did. In reality I actually walked approximately 15 miles today. And over half of that was in shoes that I have since realized were not really meant to be walked in that long. Or half the long. Or...well, you get the picture. Let's do the math really quick...

To school: 3 miles

From school: 3 miles

To school: 3 miles

To pub: 1.5 miles

From pub: 1.5 miles

From school: 3 miles

Total: ~15 miles (probably a bit more actually)

So, I walked to school this morning for Evolution and Science and Culture. We covered Darwin's biography, which was absolutely delightful. Did you know that Darwin made a pros and cons list (well...marry/not marry list) when he was considering whether or not he should get married? Did you know that his "marry" list included "object to be loved and played with -better than a dog anyhow" as well of "charms of music and female chit-chat...but terrible lost of time?" I didn't but I'm so glad to know now! Seriously, it's pretty freaking awesome. Darwin...such a romantic. *sigh*

After class (which my friend, Steven, is adding because linguistics is not nearly as cool as evolution or something like that), I wandered around a tiny bit, idly considering heading back to my dorm. I wound up walking through the Waterstones Bookstore near campus. There is something so inherently relaxing about bookstores. I think it's in large part due to the smell. New books have a very comforting aroma. It was nice. :) Steven texted and we grabbed a quick sandwich and then I headed back to my dorm (room doesn't really communicate the experience). After bumming around for a while, I headed back to campus, this time wearing a very smart ruffled skirt, fishnet sort of tights and my black boots. This was a mistake. I found that out later.

I WENT TO SKEPTICS IN THE PUB. I WENT I WENT I WENT. More people were supposed to go but it wound up just being Steven and I. It was held at The Monarch Bar in Camden (~1.5 miles from campus) and featured a talk by Chris Snowdon, author of The Spirit Level Delusion. It was a really interesting discussion about practices in the social sciences, and data skewing. I enjoyed it immensely.

And I drank a Guinness. That is a one time thing. Because Guinness (and beer in general) is really really gross. But I drank the whole pint. Steven tried a sip but I drank the rest of it. Is it terrible that I'm proud of that? Because I am. I did it for skepticism. And for the experience.

After that I walked back to the UCL campus with Steven and then stubbornly decided to walk back to my dorm. It was a "Oh I Can Probably Do This What the Hell" kind of thing that very quickly turned into a "Why the HELL Am I Doing This to Myself F*** F*** F***" of thing that I insisted on finishing because I had started it. Good lord. Sometimes...just...sometimes, man.

So that's where I'm at. London is still lovely. Classes are lovely. Walking is lovely but my feet aren't (sorry for the graphic picture I'm about to include). Skeptics are lovely. Guinness is not lovely but ordering a pint in a pub is. Life is generally lovely!

Much love and cheers!

I actually can't believe I did this to myself. Ow. Never again. What the pictures do not show is the matching blister/callus hybrid thingies on the balls of my feet. OUCH.

London Shorts: #1 Reading

I've begun reading internally in a British accent. I realized this whilst reading an article for Evolution in Science and Culture. I just mentally heard the word "status" as state-us. It then occurred to me that all of the words prior to that had sounded British in my head. Awesome.

Welcome to My Lair OF DOOM: Goldsmid Hall

Or really nice dorm room...like modern art it's completely up to your interpretation.

So, first things first. Where is Goldsmid Hall? This is a good question. A veeeeeeery good question.

See that adorable little A? That is Goldmid House. Cute, right? The next good question to ask is where is it in relation to UCL and other UCL housing? To answer you there I will provide another map (I love maps now! yay!). Here it is.

Where is it though? There's no longer a little A to mark it's place! Don't worry, beloved reader, it is easy to find still. See the little dot near what has been marked Victoria? It is the southmost dot? Yes, friends, that is Goldsmid House. It is approximately 2.9 miles away from UCL and 3.5 miles away from where at least some of my Pomona friends live. Now, at first I was rather nervous about this. I mean, I like walking and all but...3 miles? I was pretty sure that I was going to end up a loner and lost and in a terrible state but...I gotta admit, I kinda like the walk. One of these days I'm going to stop being so lazy and take pictures along the walk to school for your viewing pleasure but right now suffice it to say that my walk is beautiful. I pass Buckingham Palace, parks, Trafalgar Square, the National Portrait Museum (I think) and some other really cool stuff. Seriously, it's a lovely time. And it's excellent exercise, very invigorating.

This is the street I live on! Gillingham Street. It's this little baby street with probably the best name ever. Seriously, say it out loud. Gillingham Street. So cute!

Ok, onto my actual room. Pomona is paying for our linens and boy are they fancy. And by fancy I mean airplane quality with these classy covers to prevent you from dwelling on the fact of their...specialness. But I can't really complain. The bed is comfortable enough for me to sleep and the covers aren't too warm which I actually really like (Minnesotan blood, word). Plus, we didn't get to chose ANYTHING, but blue and green happen to be my favorite colors (er, colours?) so yay random good fortune!

Cecil was sleepy so I tucked him into bed. Now, one of the things that I love the most about my room is that I have my very own private bathroom. It indulges my germophobic tendencies, which I certainly appreciate. Basically, instead of a proper closet, I have a bathroom complete with shower, toilet and sink! Woo! You can't see it but the shower is teeny tiny. But it's mine...all mine. :D

Please note: If you have difficulty viewing messes (of the clothing pile persuasion) skip these next few images. They're rather graphic and will probably give you nightmares or something.

I have a box of a closet (I don't actually know what that's called) with one shelf and 5 hangers. It's actually a pretty decent set up for me. I put my socks and other stuff in my desk drawers as there aren't any proper drawers in the clothing thing. It functions well enough!

Lastly, we have my desk. It is currently home to my laptop, chargers, rosemary and sea salt crackers, makeup, nail polish, eye care stuff and piles of paper that are probably important. I think.

All in all, this room is pretty alright. I like the walk and the tube ride isn't terrible. The tube isn't sketchy like the subway in other places (*cough* New York *cough*). My room is comfortable and totally functional. I have yet to figure out how to shave my legs in the shower as there is no space (sorry if that's tmi) but it's nice to have one of my own (bonus points, it has a movable shower head!). The kitchen is clean and really nice. And now it is time for me to go to bed. I've got to remember that I have class in the morning and need to be responsible! :)

Good night and cheers!

Sunday: Third Post in as Many Days

Hello yet again!

I feel like I'm on a roll. Quick note: DO NOT EXPECT THIS TO ACTUALLY BE A THING. Not the blog, but the constant updating. I think it's going to slow down quite a bit when classes start tomorrow. That being said, I'll try to post little tidbits throughout the week. A couple sentences about something random here and there. We'll see. The "that being said" having, in fact, been said, let's get onto the events of today. :)

I slept in again today which was nice. Perhaps I'm finally coming around to a normal sleeping pattern. It was dodgy there for a bit, voluntarily waking up at 5:30AM is generally what I consider the first sign of the apocalypse. I've overshot a little now and will hopefully get on a solid schedule this week. Yay! I think I'm also going to try to totally cut caffeine out of my life (aside from the occasional Starbucks) because, quite frankly, there are a lot cooler things I can be spending my money on and it messes up my sleep cycle. So, there it is, perhaps a semi-public declaration will force me to actually stick to the change. I guess we will see.

I met Kun-Wei and Anjali at Hyde Park today. I love that I can wake up, get ready, and then just stroll along to Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. It takes...10 minutes? Maybe. It feels like 5 but I think it has to be more than that. We went for a lovely stroll along a long lake in the middle of the park. My map calls half of it The Serpentine and half of it The Long Water. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that it is lovely and awesome. Growing up in Edina taught me to appreciate walking around lakes and it's rather comforting to know I can do that here with relative ease. I love Pomona dearly, but Claremont is rather lacking in the lake department. There's something so relaxing about strolling around a decent sized body of water, watching the reflections and gentle ripples. The swans are also pretty sweet. Apparently, swans (mute swans, that is) are considered property of The Crown in England and to hunt them is illegal. Which really sucks for me because I was totally planning on doing that. :( Curse you English Law and your unreasonable restrictions! Seriously, they are way to graceful and elegant to even want to hurt. I solemnly swear to Her Royal Majesty that I will do my very best to avoid maiming, killing or even bothering a swan (but only of the mute variety!) while I am a delighted guest in her country. There. Now that's all sorted, so here are some pictures!

I love water when it's not falling from the sky. :) And today had just the right amount of wind. I like a good breeze. Mmmmm...

Woah! It's a giant reflective surface! I'm fairly certain that there is an ancient law somewhere that states that if friends are exploring a city and come across a giant reflective surface, they are legally obligated to take a picture of themselves in it. Bonus points if it's all at the same time. Now...WHERE'S WALDO? If by Waldo you mean Kun-Wei, Anjali and I.

Did you find us? If yes: good and congratulations! If no: I'm sorry but I really can't let you continue to read until you do. Good luck, suckas! Next up: me at Hyde Park in my super badass leather jacket...from Gap, a statue of Peter Pan, and fairies conversing with what I'm pretty sure is a ninja squirrel. Oh yeah, they have ninja squirrels over here too. Although they seem less ninja-y than the ones at school. I will have to think of a new name. Maybe I'll take submissions. Sooooo...suggestions?

Ok, this next image is the closest I've come to finding the Doctor in London thus far. I hadn't really noticed when I was looking at the reflective side (I was probably too distracted by my smokin' reflection :P) but this thing TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE IT COULD BE ALIEN IN ORIGIN. I'm going to let you judge for yourselves, but I think it's a spaceship disguised as a cool piece of artwork to entertain park-attendees.

See?? Do you see? It is an alien spaceship. And if I stand by it everyday, all day I will probably see the Doctor. Preferably the 10th Doctor. But really I'll take any of them. Yeeeeeeeeeesssssssss...good life plans brought to you by Kelsey. Let me just say right now, self, you are welcome. Ok, now that's over, here are some more park pictures.

Ultimate conclusions from today. The park is pretty. It will be a repeat destination. I will be returning there quite frequently I hope, perhaps with running shoes. After the park, we took the tube back to Kun-Wei and Anjali's dorm where we watched "The Holiday" (cute in a rom-commy sort of way) with Rachel and then got Indian food to go. It was nice to have something other than a sandwich. Really nice. I walked back which was lovely and did not get lost, mugged or even pickpocketed which was even lovelier. I think if I force myself to walk a bunch now, it'll be second nature soon. Even when my legs are tired, I've found walking to be...both exhilarating and relaxing. I don't know. It's just all around awesome. I'm liking city life.

Much love and cheers until next time!

Saturday in London Town: Natural History Museum Edition

Hello again mates!

Blogger champion of the year award goes to me? Yeah, this is my second post in as many days. Of course, it's one of four or so posts so far so maybe it's just blogger champion of the week. Wait, nope, blogger champion of the year. That was an incredible amount of "so"s in that last sentence. Three straight, every other word. Day-um. In terms of an update schedule, weekends will probably be fairly post heavy-or maybe Mondays will be. Weekends will be adventure time. Weeks starting on Monday will be class time.

Also, editorial note: I was informed by an avid reader (who may or may not be my mother) that I accidentally said that I flew to Denver in my last post. That was incorrect. As I wrote a sentence or two later, I actually flew through Detroit. This is a very important point. There were also probably some grammatical errors. My b.

Now, onto the real meat of this post. Today was a fantastic day of adventuring. I got off to a bit of a late start (yay sleeping in and not waking up randomly due to jet lag), but the day was still full! I had my last nectarine, tried to figure out my UCL email (no success, I forgot my password...oops) and then was off. Upon consulting my fancy, laminated map of London (please read that last bit in a pretentious voice, I'm mad proud of my map), I decided to see if I could get myself to the Natural History Museum. It's closer to me than UCL but in the opposite direction. Lesson of the day: mapquest kinda sucks. Next time I decide to use it or go somewhere, I will definitely be double checking against my fancy map, or I will try to figure out my own route with said fancy map. Exciting second lesson of the day: I am now capable of reading a map. That's right, I can look at a map and understand what it is telling me. This is a huge personal accomplishment. I bet if I looked at a map of Minneapolis I would finally understand how the highway system works. Mmm, that is definitely something I should be bragging about...

Back to the point! After a good deal of wandering around, going the wrong way and staring confusedly at street signs, I got to Cromwell Road. I walked past the Victoria and Albert Museum-which I fully intend on visiting soon-and arrived at the most glorious building I've ever seen. Seriously. It is BEAUTIFUL. Breathtakingly beautiful. And good news, I actually took pictures this time. And not with photobooth...with a CAMERA. Wooooooooooah.

Still not convinced? How about now?

That is how many people were queuing to get into the Museum. Quick side note: queuing is apparently a huge thing here. They queue for everything. And are very very serious about it. A couple of us Pomona people got sorted out at a restaurant queue for doing it wrong. It was hilarious. This line moved remarkably fast. Yay well-established and efficient queuing! After a couple minutes of alternately standing and walking and a quick purse check to make sure that I wasn't carrying any sharp objects, I was in. Yeah, I was awed by the outside...turns out that the inside is just as amazing. How amazing? Let me save you the thousand words...

See? See how pretty the inside is??? It's gorgeous! I guess I was expecting it to be a little like the Science Museums that I've been to but it is so much more. This will be a place that I will frequent. I think one of the guide books said that we should frequent a pub and get friendly with the bartenders. Pub people? Become a regular. That's it. I think I'll become a regular here though. There is so much to see and read and explore and look at. Speaking of which, whose this smexy man?

Oh yeah, it's Charles Freaking Darwin. *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAL* Sometime soon (I hope) I will be traveling to Down House-the house where Charles Darwin lived, raised a family, wrote On the Origin of Species, WAS. Oh my god, I'm so so so excited. Here are some of the shells he collected on his travels:

Yeah, I freaked out a little. He collected these. Which means he touched these. Darwin touched these. He held them. They were his. Ooooooooooh my god. Now we can't have a picture of Darwin without a picture of his Bulldog, the wonderful Thomas Henry Huxley. Mmmmmm...so awesome.

Why so serious, Huxley? Oh yeah, because you are so busy defending evolution. Hellz yeah. These statues made me so happy. Probably unjustly so: I may or may not be a huge spaz, but it's really nice to see Darwin and his pals seriously appreciated here. If anything has made me feel at home, it's been that.

More from the museum. I learned about human evolution and birds and ecology and bugs and whole bunch of other stuff. Cool new fact: the earth is baller. That or a creeper from the 60s.

Hey, wanna see an awesome segue? It'll be super smooth...

DINOSAURS

Oh no! I totally almost got eaten by a dinosaur! A bodiless, floating dinosaur! Crazy! Those are the ones you really want to watch out for. Note the look of absolute horror. Anyways, the Natural History Museum was great. I'm glad to live close to it (1.5 miles). I love how walkable this city is. Oh man, I love walking.

There was also an ice rink outside the museum. :) Daaaaaaaaaw, it is significantly classier than Highlands Rink, if you can imagine that. Unfortunately it costs something like £13. And I'm trying really hard to budget my resources responsibly. Woot sandwiches!

After leaving the the Natural History Museum (not by choice, I should add but rather due to museum hours) Kun-Wei (she met me at the museum) and I headed back towards Victoria Station. We ate a...dun dun DUNNNNNNNNN...SANDWICH and then walked towards the Thames. One 20ish minute walk later and we were at...

Westminster Abby! I can't wait to go back during the daytime to actually get a peak inside but it's lovely at night. :) Shortly thereafter we saw...

BIG BEN!!! Kun-Wei was my picture taking partner in crime. In fact...there is a very good chance that she took more pictures than me. Which is actually rather incredible. I can't imagine this needs to be said, but yay unnecessary verbosity! Big Ben at night is absolutely stunning. It's all lit up and spectacular, although I'm sure that it will be just as pretty during the day. We then walked a few minutes to the Thames and saw the London Eye. The river and eye and everything were...you guessed it...gorgeous. I'm so happy to be here. We also saw the House of Parliament. Because it's right next to Big Ben. I love being near so many amazing things. AAAAAAAAAAAAH EXCITEMENT!

Kun-Wei took the tube back to her dorm, I walked back to mine with a quick grocery store stop at the largest grocery store that I've seen yet. I got stuff for...SANDWICHES. Plus grapefruits and carrots. Mmmmmmmm.

So, that was my day! It was action filled and thoroughly excellent. I can't wait for tomorrow. One more day of freedom to explore and chill without any school pressure! I think I'm going to check out Hyde Park. Maybe even go for a run in it! Although my legs are starting to get worn out. Perhaps I will leisurely stroll through the park. Perhaps I will have a picnic. Perhaps I will bring a sandwich. Perhaps I will read a little Dawkins whilst enjoying my sandwich and Hyde Park. I guess we'll see.

Cheers and much love!