HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!

Sending birthday wishes all the way from England to Sacramento- hope you have a great day! :)


On with the bloggage: Two days ago, a group of the USC kids were hanging out in one of the gardens after class and chilling. It’s so beautiful outside, and it was a really nice and sunny day. The British are really big on upkeep of colorful gardens, so when it’s bright outside it makes it that much prettier. We continued after dinner too and transformed it into a midnight garden party. We’ll have to actually do a picnic out in the garden before we leave with sandwiches and wine :)

Yesterday, I almost overslept because my alarm clock didn’t go off, but luckily I only woke up 25 min late and was still able to catch breakfast. After class, Jeff, Rex and I went out on a run through the countryside out to Grand Chester, which is about 2 miles away from Selwyn College. It took us through some of the residential streets, and the actual trail ran through a lot of meadows, lakes and trees. I swear, I sound like a broken record but everything here is just gorgeous in its quaint little Cambridge way. We had a low-key night afterwards, hanging out in my room. A group of girls who live on my floor also stopped by and chilled with us, which was fun.

This morning I got to sleep in because my A class was cancelled. Instead, we had a field trip to the Fitzwilliam Museum, which is a Cambridge arts and antiquities museum. We only got to spend about an hour there looking at ancient Greek and Roman artifacts, which was really interesting, but I would like to go back to see the other collections. Tonight, I think the boys and I are doing a pub crawl, starting the Gallon Challenge. You have to drink a pint in eight of the different pubs in Cambridge over the span of two weeks, and are ultimately rewarded with an ugly XL t-shirt. Sounds worth it to me!

And we solidified the travel plans for the weekend! We are leaving for London tomorrow, taking the train sometime in the early afternoon, to check into our hotel (Holiday Inn at Regents Park- terribly exotic, I know). Not sure what sightseeing touristy kinds of things we’ll be doing, but we for sure want to see some musicals, Avenue Q and possibly also Spamalot. Saturday is when we get to see King Lear at the Globe, so we’ll have that also. And of course, experiencing the London nightlife! I’m ridiculously excited as I have not yet spent a decent amount of time in London, so I’ll be sure to blog all about it when I get back Sunday night!

shopping, eating and clubbing. (no wonder i love it here...)

Sunday Jeff and I met up with a group of the FL girls (the pic is with Taylor, Stephanie and the two of us) and we ate lunch at this cute little Italian restaurant called Bella Italia on the south side of campus, which we had not explored before. It’s right next to this really pretty lake where there was more punting, naturally. We walked into town and did a little bit of window shopping at Grand Arcade, which is basically the Cambridge mall. I didn’t buy anything because it mostly consists of high-end European retail stores which will suck away my money. That night was the first time all week that we didn’t go out, haha. Instead, we spent some time in the game room after dinner, which has, amongst other amusements, a set of huge Jenga blocks, so that provided massive entertainment. I also beat Corbin repeatedly at Connect Four. Afterwards we chilled in Chase’s room for a while until it was past our respective bedtimes.

Yesterday Jeff and I went shopping again, and this time I actually bought some things because we went to H&M which is relatively cheap (although it still makes me cringe every time I do the mental conversion of pounds to USD), and got two shirts, a sundress and a top for going out for £14- not too bad, right? We grabbed sandwiches at Pret a Manger, a little café slash takeout chain which is delicious. Last night, we went back to Revolution, of which I've included a pic of its daytime appearance, and had what I think was our craziest night there! The pic is of Lindsay, Laura and me- yay Helenes!


Today I’m going to Wagamama with Jeff, Lindsay and Laura (who’s visiting her) and then tonight we’re planning on having our own garden party in Selwyn J I also wanted to go to tonight’s lecture on the American presidential election, I think it would be interesting to hear about it from the point of view of a British academic. Tomorrow Jeff and I are determined to actually run and go out to Grantchester (I have no idea where it is and he partially remembers from last year, so it’ll be an adventure). We’re also trying to arrange for a group of us to go to London for the weekend, since we’re seeing King Lear at the Globe this Saturday anyway, we might as well spend more time there. Hopefully it all works out!

garden party + rest of wkd

Friday I went to the garden party with Corbin, Jeff and Chase. It was in a different College the name of which escapes me at the moment, but we passed by the flat where Darwin once lived when he was at university here (literally, it's marked by a placard that says "Darwin lived here"). There was a pretty garden there with paths that we walked around in, and being the rebels we are, we ran across the grass there since there were no signs disallowing it. (Everywhere in Cambridge people are very stern about staying off the lawns, I suppose to keep them meticulously well-kempt. There are signs prohibiting it in Selwyn and Kings, and I'd say it's forbidden to tread upon approximately 90% of the total lawns in this city.) Here's a pic of Jeff, me and Corbin (pretty well done for me holding out the camera, if I do say so myself):

Yesterday I chose to sleep in rather than go to the walking tour, but others who went on it said that it was really interesting and that they got to explore Trinity College and St. John's, both of which are well-known for their prestige and beauty, so I'll for sure have to visit that later on. A group of us then went into a carnival in town- you know, one of those campy ones with cheesy bad rides and food vendors. But this one was really cool 'cause it was in Cambridge :) so that was fun, then we had a punting tour again, and our guide actually let us try it this time! I didn't quite pick it up, but I'm determined to master it at some point during my sojourn here.

My room has sort of become the social center, partly because it's the biggest and partly because I'm the original bridge between USC and non-SC people, so that's actually been fun, we've been hanging out here after dinner and before we go out. The last two nights we went to Revolution, and I can foresee that becoming our staple night dive (Jeff said that's where they went the most last year too.)

Today I intend to do some reading (haha), but I think that Jeff and I are going into town as well, to eat at one of his favorite noodle bars Wagamama, and also do some shopping. Tonight will probably have to be more low-key or else my body might literally collapse from exhaustion!