It's been a while since my last post, and I seem to have fallen into the habit of doing one long post a week. I think I might try to post more often so that there aren't as many HUGE blocks of text to read.
Anyway, last week we had a reading week which was nice because we had time off from class. A lot of people from my program went to Paris because there was a big art fair there this past weekend (FIAC). I actually read some great things about the fair. Apparently they had a few very high priced, museum quality pieces on sale. I should double check and see if any of them actually sold.
Wednesday Randi and I spent most of the day lounging around the flat and such. A bunch of people were getting together at this bar in Covent Garden (which I'm pretty sure is a chain of bars) called B@1 for happy hour. Betsy was in town from Wednesday up through Sunday so she met up with us as well before she went out for dinner. It was really great to meet up with her and hang out, especially since every time we had hung out before had always been around the boys back in Boston, so we got some girly time! After Betsy left the bar to head out to dinner, Randi and I stayed behind with some people from school. We all had a great time ordering drinks and befriending the bar staff. Once happy hour was done a bunch of us went to grab food at this pizza place around the corner. It was a really fun night!
Thursday I was planning on doing a ton of work on my Research Methodologies object report paper (which was actually due this morning!!!). We had to choose a piece from any Sotheby's sale in London from September 1st- October 16th. This meant that we could choose anything from art, to wine, to rugs and daggers! The whole point of the paper was to learn how to use our online resources and analyze the data that is given to us. I chose a photograph from the Contemporary Art Including Arab and Iranian Art sale. The photo is called Bonding and it is by Shirin Neshat, who is probably one of the most well known Iranian artists right now. However, on Thursday my computer decided that it didn't want to recognize the internet connection in the flat which was quite frustrating. Alex and Randi's internet connection was fine, but my computer wasn't even seeing the network. I decided to run down to Regent Street to go to the Apple store to see if I could get it sorted out. When I got there they told me that they were all booked up for appointments up until AFTER my paper was due and that they could put me on standby for an hour and a half. I told the guy talking to me that I had a paper due and my computer wasn't connecting to the internet and he told me to try connecting to the network in the store, and of course it worked. He was very nice and told me that if I wanted to I could do my research at the store since he couldn't help me out anymore than he had. I decided to make a run to the Starbucks around the corner, grab a chai latte and a panini and plopped down in a chair (next to an outlet!) for 4 hours and did work! I was very proud of myself. Of course when I returned to the flat, my computer picked up the internet connection, no problem.
Friday morning I woke up to find that my internet, yet again, was acting up. So I brought my computer over to Roma Cafe (where I did my earliest blogs, pre-in flat internet) and did work there until my battery ran out. I then went home and worked on my paper some more, until Betsy and I were scheduled to meet up and get "up to no good." We decided to eat dinner in Chinatown and then meet up with some people from school who were at the Cuban Bar in Camden. Betsy also had some friends meet up with us! The place was very hot and stuffy and the music was extremely loud. Also, the drinks were kind of expensive and were not very strong at all... I'm saying that and I'm a lightweight! After a while Betsy, Randi, Betsy's friends and I all decided to try out another bar. Betsy's friend ended up leading us to this place called the Lock Tavern, which was awesome!!!! Some people from school also decided to head over after they had had their share of the Cuban. We all ended up having a really great time, dancing and hanging out. Once the bar closed, we decided to try to find a kebab place nearby because some people in the group were hungry. This is when Masa and I realized that we DESPERATELY had to go to the bathroom. She and I went on a quest to every place in the nearby vicinity asking if we could use their bathroom. No place would let us in to use the toilet and kept pointing us in different directions to another place that might let us in. After going around in circles we headed back to the group. After a few minutes someone in the group yelled "Sam, follow Masa she found someone who will let you use the bathroom!" In a fit of joy I sprinted across the street (in heels) to follow Masa and this guy to the fried chicken restaurant that he worked at. After a few minutes of the guy arguing with his coworkers to let us in to use the bathroom, they finally let us behind the counter and downstairs one at a time. I let Masa go first and after she came back up the stairs she leaned into me and whispered "Brace yourself." The bathroom was pretty dirty, and I'm sure if Masa hadn't warned me, I would have been shocked, but since I had been warned, I was ok... plus I was just SO happy to find a bathroom at all! After that we all dispersed to our respective Night Buses and went home. Betsy was spending the night and the three of us got home at around 4 am. We quickly got ready for bed, and Betsy and I snuggled in and ended up talking until about 5 am.
On Saturday morning we woke up at around 11:30 and decided to get breakfast at Plan 9 around the corner, which was also nice! After we dispersed, we made tentative plans to maybe meet up later that night, as she had a dinner to go to, and I had made plans to meet up with Ben at a bar/club because a friend of his was having a birthday party! So Randi and I met up with our friend Ali at this bar/club called Digress where Ben and his friends were. It was really fun, the DJ was awesome and we danced and talked and just had a great time. Our friend Ivan also showed up for a bit which was great as well! We decided to leave the bar a little bit after 2 am because our feet were hurting a bit. We had left with the intention of going home, but first decided to find a place to eat. On the walk over we bumped into a group of Irish guys (who had tickets to the Pats game at Wembley the next day) and ended up talking to them for a good half hour on the sidewalk. One of them actually escorted us to get food, and then escorted us all the way back to our bus stop, which was quite nice! After all these shenanigans, Randi and I didn't get home until 4 am, again! Though Sunday we changed the clocks back so it was nice to sleep in and feel like I didn't waste my entire day!
Then Sunday Alex, Randi and I did our usual Sunday routine: breakfast at Porridge (Chef's special and cinnamon, brown sugar, butter porridge for me and Alex and a full English breakfast for Randi), grocery shopping, and a good cleaning of the flat!
Monday was our first day back at school and there isn't really much other to report than that. The same goes for Tuesday except for the fact that I was totally exhausted because I had stayed up until 3:30 am working on my paper the night before. So I took a nap in the afternoon, finished my paper, edited and did all the nit-picky stuff one does once finished with a paper, and went to bed at 2:30 am. Needless to say, I've been pretty bad about getting to my morning workouts this week!
Today we finally turned in our papers, and after class as a celebration a large group of us went to B@1 for happy hour (again)! It was a great time, and was very funny because Randi and I showed up late, after everyone had been drinking for a little bit! After a few hours out with our buds, having a grand ol' time, we headed home to have some DELICIOUS turkey burgers that Alex had made while we were on our trek home! All in all, a very fine week!
Ok sorry for the insanely long post (yet again). I will really try and work on maybe updating more often, thus having less to read with each post. Now that this paper is done, I should have time to pay more attention to it! xoxoxoxoxo Love and miss you all!!!
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