Second class this morning and.... it was MUCH better than the first - I actually was interested in this movie and had NO troubles staying awake. We watched an Alfred Hitchcock movie ("The Vanishing Lady") and then had a discussion afterwards which, though it was two hours long, was legit fascinating and I really enjoyed it. The movie itself was black and white (love that!) and basically a classic. Prof is fantastic and very very interesting... he asks awesome questions and can definitely hold my attention (go him) especially since this is really a subject that I know little about.
After class, I came upstairs, grabbed something to eat and then we headed out to go to Victoria Station to get our young person rail cards. This was defnitely a fun experience - Victoria Station is really cool! There are a whole bunch of different shops and places to eat - it smelled fantastic. We didn't get anything, but it was neat to see. The railcards were decently easy to get - just a matter of standing in line (or, in 'que') for a bit and then giving all the info. They apparently are going to get us discounts on trains and such for when we want to travel (especially out of Lancaster). The girls decided to go shopping - the guys decided to go home (not surprising!). We ended up heading to Oxford Rd. to find cheap department stores. Katie and Amanda both wanted to get another set of towels. We went into Top Shop - a massive clothing store - to see if we could get directions to the dept. store. Jess and Jenna got sucked into the shopping at that store, so we left them there (after checking the hilarious 'rack o' hair' and wishing we could have a fashion photo shoot) and headed for department store area. We found a store, John Lewis, and the towel section - which was INSANE!!!! They litterally had every color imaginable (and apparently change/update the colors every 6 months). The girls got their towels (not bad, only L4) and we set out for the Tube. We decided that shopping was mildly overrated due to the crazy expensive prices. The Tube has be very very difficult today because of a strike that the workers are on (starting at about 4pm today). We stood at one station for 20 minutes (a rarity, considering the longest I ever stood on a platform was approx. 3 minutes)
*Our power just went out - we have to stick the key card in a little slot to keep it on.... kindda weird*
ANYWAY.... so yes, the Tube was not cooperating. Apparently they're hoping to have all the problems worked out by Friday.... until then, we're stuck taking the bus. The bus, though, isn't as horrible as originally thought.
So... we got home after mini-shopping trip and i grabbed some dinner (woot strawberry jelly and bread!) Around 5:15ish we met downstairs for our first experience on the bus. There's a bus stop just around the corner on King's Rd. (very convenient) so Leo, Amanda, Steve, Dave and I hopped on that (Jess and Jenna stayed out shopping and decided to head right to the cinema from where they were). We got lost. Not majorly lost.... at least not lost beyond finding ourselves.... but nonetheless, lost. We transferred buses well, but got off at the wrong station and quick hopped back on the bus. Then, when we got off at what we thought was the 'right' train station, we found ourselves in a residential section of Notting Hill... definitely not a place for the electric cinema. After a call to Prof. and a map check later, we fiiiinally got on the right road and power walked for about 6 blocks (city blocks... Dave thought we should "slightly jog" but, we vetoed that idea).
The electric cinema was pretty awesome. We got there with about 10 minutes to spare.... went in, sat down (they had these huge individual chairs (deeap and comfy) and leg rests in front of each - seperated by small end table kind of things)... it was dangerously comfortable. The cinema itself was nice.... fancy curtain and lights in the front and a screen that pops out from behind the curtain. The previews lasted about 20 minutes (they were commercial-y..... weird). The movie was called "Hallam Foe"..... very Freudian. Boy's mother dies, boy blames stepmother, boy sleeps with stepmother, boy meets woman who looks like his mother, boy runs away from home, boy is obsessed with woman who looks like mother, boy stalks her, boy sleeps with her, boy tries to drown stepmother, all is better. It was bizarre.....hopefully we talk about it in class tomorrow because I'm really not sure how to write a review/what I felt about this movie other than that it was weird. I fell asleep for about the first 15 minutes of the movie - the chairs were just soooo comfy after that intense walk! But I saw the rest of it, so it's all good.
After the movie, we walked through Notting Hill to get to the correct bus stop. Driving home on the bus with the entire group of us was much fun.... our group is great in that we can all hang out together and have a good time without anyone feeling awkward or out of place (even if we do have our own little gangs that we go everywhere with). Prof and his wife were on the top deck of the bus behind us.... the buses get so close to each other when they're driving here, we could literally wave - practically talk to - them from out bus. Once we got back to Sloane Square, we walked down King's Rd. and hit up Tesco (the grocery store just down from IES - it's open til 11pm - late night around here). We all wanted munchie kind of things so we thought it would be the best place possible. I got two chocolate chip cookies from their mini-bakery section. They were delicious!!!! After the Tesco run, we came home, ate foods and are now reading articles for class tomorrow. We're watching a Beatles movie in the morning, BFI tour in the afternoon/evening and then Amanda's birthday tomorrow night! - should be a crazy time, we're planning on having massive drinking at Cadogan's! woot!!! we'll see how that goes..... maybe even an invite to prof?! that would be very much fun!!!
