Foggy London Town

---

Hello again!

This weekend I spent three days in London, which was everything I expected and more! The weather, not surprisingly, was rainy and foggy, but we still had a blast, despite getting a little wet. It was a welcome break to be in an English-speaking country, and it made all of us really miss the US!

The hostel that my friends and I stayed in was really cool...it was in an area called Swiss Cottage, and it used to be a children's hospital. That sounds really creepy, I know, but it was actually a really beautiful place. The neighborhood looked like what I imagine Boston looks like.

I'm sure most of you have been to London, so I won't bore you with too much detail, but the first day that we got there we saw all the touristy things, naturally. We went to Buckingham Palace, and coincidentally arrived right as the changing of the guard was starting; however, we couldn't see anything, so we decided to leave. As we were leaving, though, a police office cut the line off because the show was starting, and we ended up right in front, somehow. Good luck, I guess. That police officer seemed very embittered to me, I found him hilarious; he kept saying, "Are you enjoying the show?" We also went to Rain Man at the Apollo that day, starring Josh Hartnett (*haha, I couldn't help but be reminded of Dara's old obsession...*) and Adam Godley. I thought it was great. It was obviously very high budget, because the set-changes and entire mis-en-scene en general was really impressive.

The next day we saw Big Ben, Parliament...and we went to the Tate Modern, where we saw a couple modern art exhibits, nothing too crazy. We also went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park; I wish we could have ice skated, but it was raining pretty hard, so we just wandered around the festival. Later that day we went to a bookstore call Hatchards, which was founded in the 1700's, and explored the 5 stories.

Other than that...just 1 1/2 weeks of classes left until finals! Gigen is coming on the 14th, and we are going to travel for two weeks to Madrid, Paris, Brussels, Bruges, and Amsterdam. It should be quite an experience, to say the least!

I still feel my Spanish improving every day. Today a car pulled over to the side of the road, and the driver asked me for instructions...and I pretty much managed, without any confusion. I felt like that was a turning point, considering that giving instructions is never easy, even in English!

I miss you all a ton! I can't wait to be home!
Amy

---

Photos

Tiles in the Baker's Street Tube Stop
get it?

Arriving on the Gatwick Express
my friend Angelica's reflection