Last Friday was a relaxing day around home, not much going on. I've been working hard on my applications for summer internships. They're mainly biology labs, and I'm applying to ones close to home first, since I'm sure I'll miss it after not seeing my family and friends all semester. I've got almost maybe 5 done, and I'll keep going as long as there are ones that work with my qualifications and the due dates don't pass! Danielle, Sheena, Ashley and I ended our exciting night by grabbing some milkshakes. Then Ashley and I almost got hit by a bus heading to The Big Chill (the closest pub to home) but left after maybe a half hour. I'm going to miss the crazy adventure just getting to my tube station everyday is. King's Cross is always mad. It was fun, but going out with a big group is definitely more fun!

I was glad to get a good night's sleep because Saturday we went to Windsor! We went through Paddington Station, which brought back memories of my last trip to London there-The Hilton, sleeping on the floor, the Sushi boat place. The train ride was only about 20 minutes which went by really fast. I remember seeing Windsor Castle as I was flying in-it's hard to miss! It's the largest inhabited castle in the world. The distinctive round tower and enclosed garden were definitely memorable. The GSE gang went through security, got our uber-nerdy audio guides (somehow by the end we were rather affectionate with them), and headed into Mary's Dollhouse to start. Everything in it is authentic-the mini vacuum works, the mini table settings are made from real silver, the mini crown jewels are real jewels, even the PLUMBING works. We all agreed that the dollhouse was about the size of our dorm rooms. We then saw a photo/memento exhibit about the royal family. I definitely learned/was reminded of a lot, like how Prince Charles served in the Royal Air Force. Also, they save mementos of EVERYTHING the royal family does haha. Then we went in the main rooms. They were absolutely gorgeous, with amazing gold, tapestries, paintings, furniture, and clocks everywhere. There was the original King's bedroom, dressing room, drawing room etc. as well as large banquet rooms that are still used for functions. There were enormous armory rooms with huge displays of guns and swords to traditionally show how well the crown is protected. The bullet that killed Lord Nelson was on display as well as many a famous figure's personal guns/swords. A large portion of the castle was burned down in a fire in 1992 and had been restored. We then walked further along to St. George's Chapel where many monarchs including Henry VIII are buried. Since we were starving we then headed into the town of Windsor to get some grub before heading out. Overall, an amazing experience that I highly reccomend. One of the GSE folks, Jessie, who has already been here for a semester, brought along a friend who was from Saratoga! Small world.

Sunday I met up with Alex and Jessie to catch the end of a Tottenham vs. Arsenal match. Gotta get into the sport while I'm here! Sadly, the game was a bit disappointing since it ended tied 0-0. We watched at a cute place called "A Friend At Hand" in Russell Square. I stopped by Angel on my way home for some quick grocery shopping before meeting back with a group that planned to go to The Hard Rock Cafe. It's actually the original one. However, the wait was an hour and forty minutes since they had a big group so we decided to skip it. We were by Hyde Park so we knew we could find some other restaurants. We ended up wandering into a little area that suspiciouly said that the police knew that a brothel was operating in the area and to call with any information. I then looked up and noticed that there were indeed red lights in a cluster of the windows. Don't you think that would be the police's first clue? Every day is an adventure here, I swear. We had a quiet Italian meal in a little hole in the wall before heading back to Nido. We all got in our pjs and went on an odyssey trying to find a TV lounge that was unoccupied and had a working TV and DVD player. It was harder than you think. We finally found one and watched National Lampoon's Family Vacation. If only it was European Vacation!

Monday was my first day of Intro to Computer Programming. It's made up of three parts. A one hour lecture, a one hour tutorial, and a one hour workshop. It doesn't really make sense to me why these all need to be in different rooms, but I guess it's good to get up and stretch. We just familiarized ourselves with some terms and did some basic making shapes and moving them around. The teacher seems like a nice one, though pretty much who you would expect to be teaching computer programming :) My roommate then introduced me to The Office and I think I still hurt from laughing. I wish I had time to watch more shows!

That brings us to today! Today we met up at a rainy Trefalgar Square to see the Renaissance paintings in the Sainsbury wing of The National Gallery. It was definitely good to get a refresher on the background as well as really thinking about the differences between the early and late periods. Need to do my writeup asap! Thursday before physio maybe I'll head into the library early and do some research. I was definitely excited to see Michaelangelos, Botticellis, and the Arnolfini portrait. Afterwards I headed over to city campus for my second printmaking class. Today we took a look at a TON of different types of prints and then were instructed on how to start making our first ones. If you have any ideas of stuff I should print, let me know! Getting back home was horrendous, however. There was some sort of signaling error on the tube which caused everything to be majorly mucked up. I had to take three different trains and it took way longer than it should have. Everything was super crowded. Oh well, it happens. It's weird what you slowly get used to here. I'm definitely starting to walk on the left side of sidewalks and stairs now, that habit will be hard to break when I come home, I'm sure.

Tomorrow will be some major application work, then hopefully on Thursday I'll be seeing The Sound of Music! Saturday I'm returning to the National Gallery and the Tate Modern. Should be fun! Love and miss you all.