Then later on Monday night we also had our first required production entitled "Once Bitten" and the Orange Tree in Richmond. The play was supposed to be a comedy and it was actually quite funny. The themes of the play included adultery and the murder of a dog, which I guess makes for a hilarious production. And the only thing that could make this better was ice cream, which I had during the intermission... :)
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I would normally have my internship where I would work from 9 - 5 on both of these days taking the tube to Canary Wharf, but because of my background check not being completed I still have these days of the week off as well.
I did practically nothing on Tuesday, except try to stay out of my room from 11 - 3 because it was to be cleaned. I did try to prepare a budget for my time in London but that went nowhere...
However, on Wednesday I went out with my roommate Anna to Camden Market. Camden Market is very different from central London where Vandon House is located. Its a little bit grungier and the people who work there are of a much more diverse background. The first market that we went into was just a series of tents and stalls where clothing, handbags and other accessories are sold. It was a bit disappointing because we had heard that it would be more impressive than this.
Eventually, we walked further on down the street and we found a HUGE open air market with tons more stalls. Outside were many Chinese food stalls, and the people working were giving out free samples to try to entice customers to buy from them. Well let me tell you that the samples were DELICIOUS and since I heart Chinese food it was difficult to resist. But I found the strength to move along and look at what else was for sale.
We found some adorable shops (most of them run by adorable little Asian women). Many of the shops sold beautiful handbags...and anyone who knows me knows that I love them!!! So it was difficult not to buy but it just wasn't a good enough deal. We did find a bunch of vintage stores with my kind of clothing as well but I didn't get anything there either...I did buy a pair of earrings though. I couldn't help myself!!
The market was so big it took us about 2 hours to walk through, but it was a really good time. On the way back to the tube we also stopped by a local food market and I drooled over the strawberries that they had for sale. I didn't buy any because I already have some oranges left to eat, but they just look sooooo good!!!
On Thursday, I had my remaining classes start, British Experience Seminar (BES) and Contemporary Britain (CB). I think I will enjoy BES because it manly deals with our feelings and experiences while in London, but I am not so sure about CB. The class is mainly focused on history and issues in the media. I am not generally interested in these subjects. I hardly ever even read the paper, but maybe this will get me into the habit of keeping up on current issues...I will just have to wait and see.
Today though, was probably the most exciting day of the week. The whole group took a walking tour of Cambridge on a day trip outside of London. We took the train to get there, starting at 9:20. It was an early morning, which wasn't helped by the fact that we walked all day long. The walking tour took about 2 hours, which seems like a really long time but with a good tour guide it doesn't seem as long. During this time we walked by a historic pub, a couple of the colleges that make up Cambridge, and went inside a beautiful chapel, among other things.
Some of the things we saw on our walking tour.
After the tour we were allowed to go out and explore on our own. So of course we went shopping for a bit, before actually exploring. Eventually, we were coerced into taking a punting tour on the river Cam. And this actually turned out to be the best part of the day. Punting is where you are on a boat and you use a long stick to push off of the riverbed and move yourself along. Well, it was really windy today so our punter, Johnny, had a hard time of it, with 12 people on the boat. But he was very funny and knowledgeable on the tour and I took a bunch of pictures!! For as windy as it was it was still very beautiful and I am really glad that we went on it.
Sights from the river Cam
As a side note: On the way home on the tube we saw an adorable puppy who was perched on his owner and he was just took cute. I didn't get a picture because that would have been really creepy but it made me think of Louis and how adorable he is as well!!! So cute....
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