Got up at regular time this morning (7:30am.... regular time for school? oof.) but i, surprisingly haven't been too tired fist thing in the morning.... i must just sleep better here. We watched "Once Were Warriors" in class. this movie is probably the most violent, hard to watch movie i've ever seen. it's a new zealand film about the maori life - including domestic violence, rape, gangs and a slew of intense subjects. it was a very well done film and we had an excellent discussion afterwards, but it was reeeally difficult to watch.
After class, we had a half hour for lunch (banana and peanut butter woot! - i'm sooo addicted!). We left IES around 1:10 to head for the Temple station (off the circle/district line east). At the station, we met our tourguide - Richard - who was.... quite... gay. And not the really cool, fun kind of gay... this was the really stuffy, knows it all kind of gay. ANYWAY - not to judge.... we started the tour and got to see a lot of the spots from the movie and the book (he definitely knew his stuff, if nothing else). We ended the tour right outside the hourseguard quarters and watched the changing of the official horseguards. It was pretty cool - got video of it (for some reason, though, the camera will not cooperate and put the video on the computer... will work on that.)
After that, we made our way to Vicotria station where we bought our rail tickets (well... gettysburg bought them technically) for Leeds castle on Friday. Then, Prof. said bye and we made our way home.
We got off at south kensington and started walking toward IES when we walked past the hummingbird bakery. Now, we walk by this place EVERY day... and EVERY day we say something to the effect of "we should stop in there sometime"... Well, today as we were walking past i said "we should stop there" then katie said "i'd be up for stopping there".... by the time we got to the corner of the block, we had decided we HAD to stop there so Jess, Katie, Steve and I turned around and went back. They have cupcakes!!!! (had yet to see a cupcake in England).... granted, the cupcakes (your basic, bake sale cupcake) was L1.85 and a glass of milk was L1.20.... BUT it was worth it to have a little taste of home. That, and we decided to open the Jim Udden Cupcakery in London.... and make a MINT off of it!
Anyway... after, the cupcakes, we made our way back to IES, had some dinner and did some work - I got a film review and readings done - actually felt productive for once! I also heard back from IDS about my psychodrama major. They tentatively rejected it but made some suggestions and highly recommended i re-submit after looking it over again. I emailed Profs. Wilson and Chris to see what their thinking is.... will wait a hear back from them before i go ahead with making changes.
Finally, around 9 we all decided to go to the sports bar in picadilly circus. This place has a free cover night with L1 pints.... not a bad deal (esp. if you like beer.... which.... i don't) but, i went along for the atmosphere and to get out, if nothing else. We all went.... which.... was interesting. I almost didn't go in because Amanda forgot her ID and i didn't want to leave her by herself (we were going to go get milkshakes... which, in the end, we probably should have done) but.... we got in (with the help of Jenna's ID for Amanda - i had mine, so all was good)
Inside, I got a strongbow and drank only about half.... it's gross. I've decided. I really don't like it. Not going to waste money on that again. Everyone else was putting back pints like it was their job so.... everyone was decently drunk (except amanda.... she and i tend to be the sober-est ones in the group.) We had a good time, and got lots of fun pictures! At around 12 Amanda and I decided to head out.... Leo and Dave came with us. We took the picadilly line (it's open until 12:45). While on the line, we got a call from Steve. Now, i've been getting pretty close to steve... he's been confiding in me a lot and it's great to have a guy friend on the trip. It turns out, he left by himself and was wandering around trafalgar square (bad idea) i talked ot him for a bit and tried to get him to get on a bus... his phone was dying so he had to go. still waiting for him to get home. Then i find out that jenna and katie left without jess (this was after we had left) so.... i currently have no idea where my roommate is... but there's really nothing i can do, so no use worrying yet. hopefully everyone will get home in one piece...
Then i get home and there are messages from mom "contact us as soon as you're in, no matter how late" - now.... i don't know about you, but i panic when i read stuff like that... i was sooo worried something had happened to dad. so, i get on the video chat and everyone's all worried looking and sombre..... my panic gets worse..... as it turns out, dad's okay (thank heavens - sigh of relief) but david committed suicide. everyone's holding up okay and they're going to stay at the beach (they have to do an autopsy and stuff so.... no real use going home) they're just kind of frazzled and shocked. i think seeing me might have been a help......
so yes
it's been quite the rollercoaster of a day.... hopefully it will all be alright in the end.....
i've decided, though, that england has done wonders for me..... i don't think i've ever been this calm (sincerely calm) under all this pressure in my life..... find yourself in a place and you'll be able to go anywhere from there.
