Waiter Dude - "Whut ees dees?" Claire - "Exact Change"

I don't particularly enjoy rude. Today was my first Monday of a first full week of class. It was exciting in many ways and yet, so frustrating in others.

Let me begin by saying that apparently I have to take forty-five minutes to get dressed every morning. Why can't I just roll out of bed five minutes before class and show up on time, like I did for Feminism last year? Well...there's nothing like a city full of such posh, trendy, sometimes snooty-looking people to motivate you.

So this morning I took forever but decided on a cute skirt with tights and a sweater and a scarf. And my boots. Good thing I went with the boots because it was our first real dreary London day. It was immediately raining as soon as we all made it into the classroom this morning. We had our Politics in the British novel class with Dr. King this morning. Honestly I was absorbed in the material. We spent the class talking about Orwell's works Animal Farm and 1984. I think this could end up being my favourite class.

I am always getting so bogged down in the class struggle and Marxism, but the resistance against totalitarianism gets me every time too. :)

Anyway, after our excursion into political thought, it was time for class to end. Claire and I decided to take an alternative route back to the flat to sort of expand our horizons. We managed to do just find walking around and I think I am beginning to really know where I am when I open the door from the flat and walk off the stoop.

I had this brilliant idea that we should eat lunch out today - because it's Monday. We agreed early on that we would try and eat lunch out instead of dinner because lunch is less expensive and usually they have all these great deals for students in the form of discounts. So we tried this Indian restaurant that we picked out.

WELL..our experience was less than pleasant. The food was alright - nothing to write home about. However, the service was horrible. I don't know if it's because Claire and I are young, American, or a combination of the two, BUT, our servers treated us horribly.

They refused us the discount and threw a couple of plates down on the table. Also, when we got the bill, we decided to count out exact change to make the transaction easier. Well, when the waiter came to get our bills he looked at Claire's money and said, "Whut ees dees?" gruffly. Claire was flustered as was I and said, "It's exact change." He grumbled something about leaving us exact change and when he came back he threw the plate that had the change literally at Claire. WHO was his MOMMA?! He needed to be brought up with manners. Sheesh.

Anyway- I felt kind of bad because it was my idea that we go out today, however, at least now we know not to go there. Then, I did a little bit of homework and chilled in the flat. It was cold and plenty rainy today.

Claire promised that she would go to the post office with me - because I knew that I would need moral support for sending Johnny his birthday present. I say this because sometimes the people here have such a strange accent that I would venture to say that they are not even speaking English. However, we made it through and I managed to send him his gift. I think we spent a total of thirty minutes in there, trying to communicate with the mail man and the people in the long line were not all too happy with me. WHATEVER! I bet they don't have a special someone to send the most perfect gift to for their twentieth birthday now do they? I hope he likes his gift. I just know it's perfect.

After that, I was feeling a little down and homesick because I do best when I have all sorts of things to do. I've been really bad about planning afternoon things to do. However, Heather, an RA from Hendrix who's also a junior and studying at a philosophy program in Switzerland this semester came to visit today before her term starts. She got in around three and wanted to go walking.

Even though we've been to Big Ben, you just don't really tire walking down the Thames and along the bridges and by Westminster Abbey. I mean to tell you - it's somehow more gorgeous with a dreary background. And so we trooped off to stroll along the streets and I was pleased to know that Claire and I were sort of leading the group. We only looked at the map once.

I am planning on possibly going to Brighton this weekend to visit one of my professors. I am really excited - they have a neat pier as well as an ocean there. :)

Also I'm seeing The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe theatre this Wednesday. These are just upcoming events I'm looking forward to. As for me - I think that's really all I've got in the way of blogging tonight. I'll catch you guys tomorrow. Enjoy the silly pictures we took to cheer up on this dreary evening. (Gramner - love the rain jacket. It's perfect.)