Obama Says Hi!
Monday was a good, good day. Damien and I went to a variety of stores and purchased THIRTY-NINE different types of candy standard in the UK but virtually non-existent in the US. We ate our way through fourteen of these types (seven candy bars each, with milk on the side) watching the first disc of Tenth Kingdom, and rating the chocolates on chewiness, crunchiness, creaminess, tastiness and 'overallness.' After a gym break (we felt gross) there was some home cooked curry and super cheesy nan, apple sourz with IRN BRU, and then Hayfields. Kev and Haider had drinks called 'Death Cocktail Number Three,' and I feel that they sort of lived up to their name but maybe not quite the 8 pound price. After we left Hayfields, we took turns riding Haider's bike down the street, stopped into Halal Bite or something along those lines (Haider wanted a kebab) and then spent a bit of time in Haider's room setting up his speakers- Liam, Damien and I were having issues as Haider kept 'helping' by unplugging things, and then we finally got them working and Haider was blasting music, so his flatmates had to come yell at him. It was funny.
Kevin and I finally planned Scotland on Tuesday, and Carly and I also booked Ireland, which is good. We found wicked cheap flights for both- Ireland was only thirty quid roundtrip. Kev and I hit up Brick Lane for dinner- we went down the LEFT side this time, and ended up at Spice Brick Lane, where they use ice cubes shaped like stars. After a record-time meal (in and out in under an hour!) we headed over to Abbey Road- no Beatles-style photo yet- to see if we could spot Barack and Michelle. They were visiting the American School in London, and we saw their convoy go by. They waved to us! Kev even has a pretty decent picture of Michelle, who was on our side. It was pretty cool.
After seeing our president, Kev and I went over to Damien's and watched the second disc of Tenth Kingdom and rated more candy bars (I think we have like twelve left now? Still a lot to go. I woke up Wednesday morning with a chocolate hangover).
Wednesday, Kev and I went to the Science Museum- they had some COOL STUFF in the math area, man. Like a GIANT MACHINE that solves differential equations. It was so cool, it took me a little while to figure out how it worked. After that, we turned right out of the museum, trying to find Kensington Gardens. We ended up eating at a Nando's, where I downed five cokes, then wandering around for two hours somewhat lost. Along the way, we found the house Hitchcock lived in, and a secret park we really wanted to go into, but it was locked and for residents only, and the girl with the yoga mat did not seem like she would let us follow her in when she was unlocking one of the gates.
We eventually found Kensington Gardens, and sat by the pond for a while and watched a puppy jump in after his stick, and then wandered up to the Albert Memorial, cooing over a dachsund that was keeping pace on the grass to our left. We parted ways at the tube station, and I went in to Heathrow and met Mum, Gram, Jan and Gramps and got them safely to their hotel, and was rewarded with a LAPTOP!
I stayed up late last night setting up my laptop, finding out I registered for courses today and not tomorrow, and also discovering that we got a sixman pick time, which is fab.
Today, Kev and I walked up Regents Canal to Victoria Park and walked all through it; they had a cute Old English Garden, and a really cool children's play area, several woodlandy ponds, a deer enclosure (with deer!) and a model boat pond that was devoid of model boats (apparently that starts up on Easter). After a poor showing at a game of frisbee, we headed back to Mile End. I met up with the family at the British Museum after my summer SAP interview, and we found our way to Shakespeare's Head (don't tell my sister, she'll be jealous we were in her neighborhood without her) for dinner. FYI, Wetherspoons curry is not that good.
I've just registered for courses- I signed up for Combat Film AND Costume Design, and will decide which I prefer to take soon- and am crashing hardcore, and need to get up at six am for a tour tomorrow, so I'm thinking bed now.