Week 7: Short & Sweet...

Good day everyone!

If you were successful in reading my blog last week, you will understand why this one will be much shorter.

I essentially spent the first part of last week recovering (and reminiscing aka typing the blog) about my exciting weekend in Paris. I was also very happy to see that my package from my best friend back home arrived on Tuesday (2/27).

My relaxation did not last too long because I did have to finish my paper for Organisational Behaviour. I chose to write 2000 words on the content and process theories of motivation as they apply to workplace. This may not sound too exciting to you, but for me – this is extremely interesting! As Mia Reyes would say, my words “oozed” out of my fingertips.

I had planned on catching up on more sleep on Thursday (3/1), but my wish to get out got the best of me. (By the way, WHERE did February go????) I joined Julie and Becca for a “short” trip to the post office. Well, knowing us, it did not end up this way! I brought them to pick up post cards at Leicester Square, which turned into some souvenir shopping. (Just looking, because we plan on saving London souvenirs for last!) While walking around, we walked into Lush, a homemade cosmetics boutique. We had encountered one before in Bath, England and we can’t get enough of how *fun* it is in there. We spent some time smelling, touching, and experimenting with the soaps, creams, bubble baths…you name it! We finally pulled ourselves out of the store, only to pass by Trocadero, a plaza that Julie and I have been into. We just *had* to bring Becca inside! We discovered floors to this arcade/shopping area/food court that even Julie and I didn’t know existed! Our maturity level went from cosmetic-shopping sophisticated young women to bug-eyed racecar-driving teens. The only thought that comforted us as we walked out was that we definitely had to bring Rasa and Cloud back…so we can be an even bigger GROUP of bull-riding, slot machine-playing, bumper car-riding gals having a great time. On our way down Regent St., our maturity level dove all the way down to pony-wanting, tiara-wearing princesses as our jaws hit the floor when we entered Hamley’s (basically toy heaven). We must have spent at least 2 hours in there going from section to section, finding a new friend we desperately wanted to take home. Finally, we made our way back to the dorms because it was time for dinner. I had planned on getting some sleep after dinner, but I couldn’t resist a nice stroll with Rasa to Kensington Gardens. Our MP3 players in ear, we circled around, walking past multiple Embassies (including the U.S Embassy) before heading back to the dorm.

I finally slept in a bit on Friday (3/2). After lunch, Becca, Julie, and I made the short walk to the Natural History Museum where we had hoped to see the giant squid on display. Unfortunately, the squid was…booked! I never thought I would ever say something like that, but yes, we shall return to see a giant squid. (I should mention that the squid is just one thing on display in the Darwin Centre, which is the wing that in fact needs prior booking – not just the squid itself). Since we were already there, we definitely enjoyed our time seeing what else the museum had to offer. We trekked through the dinosaur exhibition where we came eye-to-eye with a “teenage” T-Rex, waved hello to mammals (including giant ones and scaly ones!), kissed a giant blue whale, and cuddled (well, almost) with Chi-Chi the panda bear. And this was only through the animal portion of the museum! We held, hugged, and carried the world before ‘ascending’ to the core of the earth (see pictures). Obviously, we were in the “Earth” portion where we not only learned about Earth, but also the other planets (Becca and Julie decided that Mars would barely be suitable as another home). And if you can believe it, we spanned the billion of years in 15 minutes as we passed through Earth “From the Beginning.” Those of you have taken BIO 5 with Dr. Stark should remember the video that compressed the Earth’s ‘lifetime’ into 12 hours and stated that humans appeared 20 seconds before noon. It was something like that, but with exhibits! As always, we perused through the gift shop before exiting. (No worries, we were able to control ourselves from buying dinosaur heads with moving jaws.)

The only highlight of the weekend was Saturday (3/3) night where delays and closures of the Tube led Julie, Rasa, and me back-tracking, bus-waiting, and jay-walking (which is legal here) before finally meeting up with Cloud and Becca at TGIFridays. What can I say? We were in the mood for a taste of home. We made our way to Piccadilly Circus in time to watch the lunar eclipse before catching the N9 bus back to the dorm. Click on the first picture above for a closer view of the lunar eclipse.

It is that time of the semester…midterms! Four to tackle before hopping on a plane this Thursday evening! I apologize in advance for not posting another blog until the week of the 18th. Trust me, however, when I say that my blog after Spring Break will not disappoint! In the meantime, I hope you all keep me up to date with your spring break plans!

Missing home,
Danielle