ok, so i know it's really tedious listing what i do each day, but since i'm keeping this blog more as a journal for myself (since a grand total of two people read it), i'm gonna do it anyway...

going back to last tuesday: went to reduced shakespeare company's version of "the complete history of america," which wasn't that funny, but made me want to see "the complete works of william shakespeare," which is supposed to be much better. after that, we went to trafalgar square because will had the crazy idea to commemorate the death of admiral nelson, whose statue is on top of the huge monument there. we danced around and sang songs for about an hour, and climbed up on the large metal lions. totally something that jefferson choir people would do (remember when we just laid around in a parking lot until 3am?).

wednesday: vito decided that it would be cool to visit highgate on a dreary day, but it would have been cooler if the western, overgrown part of the cemetery was open. that night, went to ministry of sound with kate and her friends. good times...

thursday: our themed dinner party was "breakfast for dinner," so we made breakfast foods and came in our pajamas. it was pretty successful, we had plenty of food, our friend dan made breakfast burritos, and the party even spilled out into another flat. but since when did half the rugby team decide to invite themselves over to eat free food and not help out? and since when did it become okay to let me and vito do all the dishes? some of these boys are so ungrateful, we should start charging at the door. after dinner, will, meredith and i spontaneously decided at 8:50 to go see a sneak preview of "intolerable cruelty," which actually started at 8:40. but i relied on the fact that there are usually 20 minutes of previews and we only missed the first 5 minutes or so of the actual movie after sprinting for 5 blocks. but it was worth it, and it was nice to see a movie that wasn't silent or russian.

friday: the first of our "freebie" days. after class, we went to the natural history museum (free), ate dinner back at the flat (pretty much free besides paying for groceries), and went to a comedy club (free with these vouchers that they were handing out on the street). the comedy was actually good, except for this one guy who filled his entire half-hour with pun after pun. at least he did it quickly. but the rest of it was great, and felt even better because we didn't have to pay.

saturday: went on the arcadia trip to canterbury and leeds castle, which would have been better if we had more time. but we had less than two hours in each place and we were rushing everywhere. but canterbury was a very cute town (mere and i got fantastic donuts that tasted like funnel cake at the street festival), and of course we saw the magnificent cathedral. leeds has been described as "the loveliest castle in the world," and while i wouldn't go that far, i'd say that it was the homiest castle i've ever been in. people lived there in the 40s, so it was well-decorated and relatively modern. and the grounds were beautiful, with ducks and swans and even peacocks strutting around. but the best part was the hedge maze. in an effort to redeem myself after getting hopelessly lost in one maze in vienna with mv, i used all my directional skills (meredith calls me GPS because i'm always the navigator in the city) so that meredith and i won. take that, hedge maze!

sunday: went on another day trip with meredith, warrick, and vito to bath, which was lovely, but would have been nicer if i hadn't gotten sick the day before. plus, it was really cold, so while we were wandering around the roman baths and through the cute little streets of the town, i just wanted to be curled up in my pajamas with a cup of hot chocolate. when we got back, meredith fed me soup and i went to bed at 8:30. since i got about 13 hours of sleep, i woke up feeling much better, but my throat is still messed up. everyone here is sick and it all gets passed around (it doesn't help that we share everything). like right now in the lab, someone coughs about every 10 seconds. i'd better get another good night's rest and i should be right as rain tomorrow.