Two Tales of One City: bloggerton shire (hi laura!!)

Being in London makes me constantly think about LOTR and Harry Potter. Not that I don't normally do those things...but yeah, the surroundings/accents really bring it out. Just the other day I went to the Tate Modern with Shweta and Katie, and we saw the Millennium Bridge (the bridge that gets wrecked by death eaters in the HBP film). Not to mention that I live right by Tottenham Court Road. Okay but enough about Harry Potter.

It's becoming apparent that I'm terrible at blogging. I constantly forget my blog exists, and then when I try to write a post I usually procrastinate it. But I guess that's a good sign, because London is so AWESOME that I can't be bothered to take the time to write in my blog. Right?

The last week or so has been awesome, and I guess I'll just give some highlights. On Monday we went to Tiger Tiger (typical) for Shweta's 21st birthday! Definitely got me excited for my own birthday that's rapidly approaching. It was quite a fun night, but definitely made waking up for my presentation on the Great Leap Forward a challenge the next day. (see, Mom and Dad, I do attend classes here!!)

Dinner at Tiger Tiger with Casey, Taylor, and Shweta

Another notable event during the week was a trip to the other side of the Thames (southside) to visit Susie and Sarah Ross (who was visiting for a day or so), and we participated in our first ever real pub quiz! The basic gist of a pub quiz is that you form a group, and pay an entrance fee (in this case, 2 pounds per person) in order to do the quiz and hopefully win prizes or money. The first round, luckily for us, was USA. Everyone else in the pub was hatin' on our American-ness due to the fact that we knew what parallel separates the US and Canada (what's up, 49th), and other useless information like that. The second round was Miscellaneous, so we didn't do terribly, but when the third round was announced as Sport, it became very evident that our chances at doing well were shot. Sorry I don't know anything about boxing, and that I assumed that Hulk Hogan would be an appropriate answer for one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Apparently boxing and wrestling are different. My bad. The "Quizmaster" took pity on us and actually gave us an answer to one question. I will definitely be returning for more pub quizzes, and hopefully we'll actually manage to win sometime.

Almost forgot to blog the best part of my week. The SOAS Student Union sends out an email every day announcing club meetings, guest lecturers, etc, and one day what did I see but the SOAS Veg Society going to a talk by Jonathan Safran Foer?!? For anyone who doesn't know, he is the author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Everything is Illuminated, and Eating Animals. If you're a vegetarian or looking to become one, I can't recommend Eating Animals enough. If you're a meat-eater and plan to remain so, avoid this book. It's truly awesome, in a gruesome and horrifying kind of way. The talk was amazing, and I also got to meet JSF (!!!!) and get a copy of Eating Animals signed by him. Just in case that wasn't enough to make my night, Ayenat and I went to the SOAS pub to grab a drink afterwards and stumbled upon an impromptu jam session. We just sat there, taking in the awesomeness that is SOAS, and listening to music.

My new BF

The letdown of the week was the time we attempted to do the Circle Line Pub Crawl. Last Saturday we were planning on participating in the epic pub crawl that involves taking the Tube to every stop on the Circle line (27, in case you were wondering) and getting off at each for a half pint of beer at a pub nearby. My friends from Arcadia orientation (Kate, Lisa, Lizzie, Hunter, Jordan, Hilary, and Michele) and I met up bright and early (1 pm...) only to discover that the Circle line was closed for pre-Olympic renovations. Womp womp. That brought our first attempt to do the crawl to an end, and we ended up just finding a pub for some lunch and catching up instead. We'll try again, hopefully with more prior research to make sure we can actually do the pub crawl.

At lunch post-failed pub crawl with Lisa and Kate

Promise I'll actually try to blog more consistently so I don't forget each and every exciting detail of my life. Oh, also went to Buckingham Palace this week but didn't get to see the changing of the guard. Guess I'll be returning! My other artsy/cultural experience of the week was a trip to the V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum. Other fun nighttime excursions included the Ministry of Sound with Ayenat and some friends from Arcadia orientation, and Ayenat and I also went to a SOAS party at a nightclub that uses heat energy from the dance floor to power the electricity...so SOAS right now. And that's enough of this incredibly long catch-up entry.