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I'm going to get lung cancer just from sitting here posting this entry

That's right, it's another update WITH photos!

Ooooh it's been quite a lovely time thus far. thursday night, Laryssa, Diane, and I hung out at Starbucks (I know, exciting eh?) for the purpose of booking D and I's brussels trip! Eeek, I'm quite excited. Eleanor Washburne, a friend I graduated with from FBA, is now going to school there, so we're going to stay with her which is extremely wonderful! I cannot wait, oooh.

Friday, Laryssa and I headed to the British Museum. Which is, of course, amazing. I plan on going back several times because A) it's free B) it's so big I didn't see all of it C) it's near my house D) I found something to send Christy and m0...heehee.
Walking around all that history made us exhausted, so we hung out at a coffee shop across from the Museum, then walked down to Oxford and met my roommates + visiting friend of Bethany's to check out this huuuge sale at some random store. Unfortunately, everything was way too big for me to spend money on. Sadly...I took a photo of what I tried on in the dressing room though, haha.



From there, Rys and I headed to Russell Square station to meet SH4WN AND LESLIEEEEEEEE! I was sooo excited to see them, haha. We went to this place called "Ultimate Burger" where I had an eggplant/pesto burger (amazing), Rys had a cheese lamb burger, sh4wn had a minted lamb burger, and Leslie went for a boring
veggie burger (just kidding!) It was quite quite good. Some guy walked in wearing a Titans jersey, that was strange. From there, we walked around a bit, then headed to my flat to pick up my laptop, ran into my roommates where the edgells extoled their knowledge about Yo Sushi!, then went to Starbucks so I could graciously allow everyone to check their email. I know, I know, I'm sooo unselfish. Riiight.

After that, we basically wandered alll around. Took the tube to the river and had a photoshoot in front of Big Ben. I must say, some of the images are prettty dang good. We were going to try and find a pub/dessert place to hang out for a little bit
but all the pubs were either full or closed. So we ended up parting without any unhealthy sustinence, hence why I felt compelled to buy a Lion bar before going to bed.




This Saturday has been glorious. Laryssa, Diane, and I met Sh4wn and Leslie plus a friend of mine, Rachel, from Creative Writing to take the train to Brighton. What an amazing day trip to take! I'm jealous that Mawk actually grew up there (although I'm sure that feeling would be different had I actually grown up there.)
We first acquired lunch at this little pub (can't remember the name) and consumed HUGE but amazing sandwiches-- mine being mozzerella/pesto/red pepper-- and chips and salsa! Diane was particularily excited about that bit. After stuffing ourselves silly, we headed to the beach where it was absolutely beautiful. Very rocky and windy
but gorgeous. So of course, lovely photo ops there. =) Around 2 ish, sh4wn and Leslie headed off to meet Mawk's mum (I'm jealous) whilst the rest of us wandered up the beach. There was quite a lot to explore-- random metal donut-shaped sculture with the continents on them. An old "penny arcade" with games from the early 1900's that you use old pennies to play with. It reminded me of the old games that Spaghetti Warehouse had. Quite spiffy. Then we explored the pier which was crrraaazy. There were all these stands selling "american doughnuts" (that were really good but unlike any donut I'VE ever had in the States), random casino with 14 year olds smoking, ice cream, etc etc. Oh, and roller coasters, but they cost three pounds to ride, which is essentially six bucks. Not gonna happen.

From there, we headed back to downtown Brighton and saw the royal pavilion which was beautiful, went in the Brighton Museum for a few minutes (lots of retro furniture), and searched for affordable Vans shoes in Diane's size. (didn't work out, sad day). Overall, we were quite exhausted by five so it was back to the train station via a
very roundabout way, and back to London on the train! Lovely scenery on the way back, by the way.

Saturday night wasn't that active-- basically stopped by the Hard Rock Cafe for Laryssa, then caught dinner in Chelsea near the Petersons (excellent omlette and salad for only 4 GBP), followed by massive usage of wireless internets (mmm).



Sunday was busy busy, though. Rys and I took a quick trip to Camden, then met the Edgells + leslie's brother and attended the evensong (sp?) service at Westminster Abbey. Absolutely beautiful; it sent shivers down my spine when the choir sang, as they were on one end of the room, and the "caller" was on the other side. So these musical calls and responses were echoing all about. It was surreal. Walked around a bit and caught a drink at a pub (found a new Pimms drink called Pimms Winter with Ginger Ale...amazing), then found this small Anglican church as a alternative worship service called "moot" was being held there. Sh4wn and Leslie had found out about it on the internet, so we decided to check it out. It was really really cool. There were only about 13 people there and the service that evening was about God's presence, so there was a lot of silence...but like I said, it was cool. And so was the church building.

AND, strangely and freakishly enough, I met a lady there (who is currently associate pastor of the anglican church, I think) who is from Russia but lived on my street IN DALLAS. AKA SWISS. Yep, she was a DTS student. It was extremely extremely surreal to hear someone with a russian accent talk about the barnes & noble on nw hwy whilst in London... yeah. Also, Sh4wn had once attended a talk by another guy who was there-- in Nashville, like two years ago. I know, it was strange. After the service, everyone went to this pub and had a drink (in us American's case, we had fish and chips as we hadn't had dinner). It was really great to FINALLY chat with some british people and have meaningful conversation. Very cool, I think I'm going to go back the Sundays I'm actually in town.


Anyway, so now it's Monday morning and I'm sitting at a Starbucks at Victoria Station. I just dropped Laryssa off at the Gatwick Express, and in a couple of minutes I need to head home so I can actually go into work dressed like a normal human being and out of my Belmont Ice Hockey t-shirt and Limited Too sweat pants. I hope everyone is doing well!

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posted by Marion M. @ 8:24 AM Comments: 8