I still haven't found my camera cable so my apologies, but this is going to be another picture-less post. I honestly have no idea where it is at the moment, but I'm hoping it'll turn up soon..
Happy April! My time here in London is flying by so quickly. I honestly cannot believe I've been here for three months already. The first month seemed to almost crawl along, but once February started, time appeared to have sped up. It really needs to slow down again because there's still so much to do and see.
With that said, I spent this past weekend in London. Traveling to Windsor and Oxford definitely whetted my taste for exploring other cities; however, the fact that the weather didn't look too promising, coupled with the several trips I
may have planned for the upcoming weekends, convinced me to stay put and enjoy my immediate surroundings. Truth be told, I've probably only seen a fraction of London since there's truly so much here. I've sort of made it a personal goal to not spend two weekends in a row in London though, but we'll see how realistic that is since my pockets just aren't
that deep.
On Saturday, I visited the Natural History Museum with Jonathan. The museum was pretty interesting, but the Museum of Natural History in D.C. is more impressive. We didn't have time to see all of the exhibits, so there's a slight chance we missed the better ones. We saw the dinosaurs, of course, but we didn't visit the mammal or human biology rooms. I'm thinking I'll have to go back to explore those areas.
One of the girls from my church group, Sarah, returned to London this past weekend. She had worked in the UK for six months through the same program I'm doing and then spent several weeks traveling Europe. There was a surprise dinner for her that I was hoping to attend, but it was rainy and cold and by the time I got back to my room, I didn't want to venture out again. I wish I had gone, but at the same time, it was nice to just relax and catch up with people here.
On Sunday, Azrai, Lucinda, and I were planning to go to Greenwich; however, things changed and Lucinda and I ended up meeting Kay and Mara for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Kay, Mara, and I wore the t-shirts and sweatshirts we bought while we were in Oxford so we were very happy when Oxford won. The pub we went to was in an ideal location right where the race ended, but it was so crowded. Nonetheless, I’m glad we went because it was a really fun day. I'm glad I'm a vegetarian because I wasn't tempted to buy the £4 burgers they were selling at the concession stand. Afterwards, we went to church.. but not before we stopped at Hummingbird, which is the most adorable cupcake café. If I ever find my camera cord, I'll put pictures up here. Later, Heidi, Mara, Kay, Enoch, and I got Japanese for dinner.
Yesterday evening, Azrai, Lucinda, and I ate at a Thai restaurant in Bayswater. It’s funny because I walk past there every day on my way back from work, but I've never taken the time to see the area. It’s a pretty cool place and definitely worth returning to in the future.
Tuesday is my favorite day because each week, I meet with a group from church. We usually meet at the flat of one of the guys and eat, pray, sing, and just hang out together, but every so often, we have a "social." Tonight we ventured to Fulham and got dessert at Del'aziz. It's a cute restaurant with MASSIVE cups of coffee and tea and the most delicious-looking cakes, cookies, and pastries. It was a good night.
I'm grateful to have this core group here because there are times when I do feel rather homesick, and it's nice to know I have people I can count on seeing each week. Even though I've spent rather lengthy periods of time away from home, I've never been out of the country for so long (even though it hasn't been
that long). Strangely enough, I think that's made a huge difference on some level. It's odd because I'm not typically the "homesick" type, but I do miss home and everything associated with it. Family. Friends. Pets. Even some silly things, such as my bed and own room, Kashi cereal, Stoneyfield yogurt, and my mom's washing machine and dryer.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. It's definitely time for bed. Chao for now! xo
