Grace Coffee

Today was busy.

I had oh so much going on, and yet, I feel like I really didn't do much today. I guess I absolutely NEED to go running. I just NEED to. Sheesh.

Let's see. This morning my little travel clock woke me up right on time. I had cereal with fresh strawberries in it. :) I also made some coffee this morning and got all cuted up. By 'cuted up,' I mean that I checked the weather and dressed appropriately. In other words, I wore a sweater with my boots and a scarf. I'm telling you - it's not cold yet but when it gets cold I'll be really cold. :(

I had British Life and Culture today. We discussed Virginia Woolf's book Ms. Dalloway. I enjoyed the book and the discussion was nice. I really wanted to spend some more time on the World War I poetry that Susie gave us. I like how all my professors over here can just spout out random lines of poems. I know this sounds nerdy - but I want to pick some verses that speak to me especially and memorize them. Haha. How's that sound?

Anyway - class was pretty intense because we had a three hour discussion. We did get to take a break in which I went to the bathroom. Why should I bother telling you about my necessity for the facilities? Well...The bathroom in the building in our classroom was extremely cold. Literally I thought I would turn into an icicle. Then I remembered Dr. King telling us that the Brits like to leave the bathroom windows open all the time to, well, keep things 'fresh.' Too bad fresh over here is freezing. :)

I'm not THAT cold. Today, however, was rainy. I think I broke my umbrella with the gale force winds, but I'll keep using it anyway. It has cherries on it. Tomorrow I have to take the tube in the morning to get to my British Art and Architecture class and I'm nervous because it'll be rush-hour. I'm just starting to build my confidence about the tube, leave it to rush-hour to get me down.

After class Kemper and I went to go get the proper version of Shakespeare's Henry IV part 1. I spent all day reading it. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but there are a lot of people fighting and they are sort of hard to sort out. Did I mention where we went to get our copies? We walked all the way to the globe to go to their bookshop. The book's weren't that expensive and it wasn't too rainy. In fact, on our way back we walked by St. Paul's again. (I don't know what's wrong with me but I forgot my camera. :( Sorry about that.)

BUT...remember the quaint little coffee shop we found called Grace? Well...we got some coffee there. It was cheap and absolutely delicious. Apparently they have their coffee beans especially roasted just for their shop in Italy. The mocha I got was so smooth and creamy. Man. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

Anyway, I forgot to mention that on our way to the Globe we walked by King's College on Chancery Lane. That building was gorgeous. We found ourselves winding around these windy streets and an interesting staircase that went through this quaint little brick archway. I'll have to go back so you can see it, the architecture was beautiful and the street wasn't all that busy because it had the appearance of the dead-end. Of course, the secret stairs proved that assumption to be wrong. :)

I made a great sandwich for lunch with my special bread and I had fresh grapes. (I don't know what my strange need is to tell you my daily menu - but oh well. Maybe it's for Jess my little cook?) After lunch I laid down in the hallway (I HATE desks) and read Henry IV. I am now making a character list to be sure I've got everyone straight. I've got to be sure I do well in this English class - it's a big deal. I don't want to be ill-prepared.

Let's see...OH YEAH. I went to a show called Punk Rock tonight at the Lyric Theatre with my British Life and Culture class. The show was interesting. It's about how the pressure of the school systems over here (basically getting into university) can be overwhelming. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the actual play itself but I enjoyed the acting for the most part. The play left a huge twisted knot in my stomach and makes me think I'm not a fan.

Kemper and I have been working on our Newspaper project for the British Life and Culture class as well. Each of us bought an issue and on our forty-five minute ride to the Lyric Theatre we each read a section. I ended up reading what is termed the Guardian's "Education" section. I had no idea how big of a deal getting into school was - well Uni. I feel like we have problems in the states but I think it's more complicated over here. Something like 190,000 students didn't get into Uni this year. That's a big deal. The government put a restriction on school's recruiting rules, so...I don't know. I sort of feel guilty for studying over here. I wonder how I personally affect the thousands of upset University-less 18 year olds.

ALSO...I'm still trying to wrap my mind around their school system in general from the beginning to the end. I thought Little Rock was crazy constantly changing the public school system from a junior high to a middle school back to a junior high and zoning and so on. NO. Well...over here it's much more complicated. Don't even get me to explain the difference between a public and private school because there's nothing to explain considering that they are the same thing. Hmmm. Interesting. I'm definitely interested.

Anyway, I feel like Kemper and I were blending in on the tube more so than usual. We were reading a news publication just like everyone else. I was all excited. Then I was devastated because I don't want to end up like everyone else over here. Then I had to laugh because as I was thinking this our train just completely stopped in the dark. That's never happened to me before. At times like these I have to remember that I'm me, and weird things happen to me. Luckily we arrived to the theatre on time. We even popped into cafe nero to chat for a bit before we went to take our seats. I took a couple of pictures - ummm...The quality is not the best.

I'll be updating you guys again tomorrow. For now I'm off to take a shower and enjoy the comfort of my blanket and stuffed animal. What can I say? I'm a big kid at heart. Miss you guys.

Cheers.