Fancy Shmancy

Oooookkk. Thursday we went to the Middle temple, which is society of the Knights of the Templar. I didn't know much about them (and honestly, I still don't), but it was cool to be somewhere cool like that. Haha. Mostly I only know what the Da Vinci Code says about them, and the man at the church said that they got a lot more crowded after that book came out. Funny.
We ate lunch at the Middle Temple Dining hall, where many rich and famous people have dined in the past. The table I sat at was original- it had been there since the 15th century. THAT'S OLDER THAN AMERICA. And they had to like float it down the Thames to get it there I guess. I dunno, it was just really cool ok? I sat across from where Queen Elizabeth and Prince William sat when they ate there recently, So that is neat. And the meal was so fancy, it was the kind of thing were they put your napkin on your lap for you, and they set the table with 10 untinsels per person. We all had to dress up too, and we finished with tea. I loved it- but right when we exited the building I felt like I needed to trip people and laugh and stuff because I had been polite and well mannered for so long. (Don't worry, I turn 20 soon, and THEN I'll act like a grown up.)
It was a really rainy day so we all had unbrellas and I thought it was SO fun, it was the first time it had really rained hard. I wore my wellies so I could walk through puddles.
Then we went to Charles Dickins house, and we walked through the rooms and saw his handwriting and learned a lot about him. He actually wrote Oliver Twist in this house. Can you believe they wrote everything by hand back then? I have not a clue how. My hand always kills when I write letters or write in my journal.
Friday I had class allllll Morning, and I got dumped on with homework and reading to do. It was actually really stressful. But it's ok because then we went to the Mosque and learned a lot about Islam. A while back I wrote about how I loved the Islamic Middle East section at the V&A, and I loved their Mosque too. Seriously most of my classmates were dozing off falling asleep during the whole thing, and I loved it. I think they have so much of the truth, and such awesome beliefs, it's terrible the misconceptions people have about their religion. But I loved it, and I'm going to research it more. I want to interview cousin Meredith all about it too.
Then Reesa and I ate at Nando's, and can I just tell you, that place is amaAzing. They are all chicken and their peri-peri sauces are just the best. Everyone, eat at Nandos.
Last night, Reesa and I felt a dire need to exercise, and since we didn't want to get kidnapped in the park, we decided to do the deck of pain. For all you lucky people who don't know what that is, you assign certain work outs to each suit of cards, then you do the whole deck. So like, Jack of spades, Jack= 11, spades= stairs, so we went up and down the stairs 11 times. It really was tiring by the end.
Now I'm finally to today, where I have been ooberly productive. I woke up at 7 and ran through Hyde park, and it was just one of those mornings where I was like "daaang I'm glad I'm up!". It has been really cloudy and rainy for a week, and today was sunny and blue. So it was a good way to start the day. And PLUS, first song on my playlist was "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" By the Darkness, and that song just does it for me.
Then we went to breakfast at Cafe Diana for my roomie Sarah's birthday. I had eggs. I miss eggs. I love eggs. I ordered eggs and hashbrowns, and they gave me eggs and fries. I thought that was wierd.
Then I went to the Natural History Museum. It was SO fun! It was a nice break from the art museums, I felt like a kid. It was huge, so I'll have to go back next week. I saw lots of cool rocks and volcanoes, and birds, and bugs, and some craaazy fossils, and I even found a picture of the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers. Looks like Moab is making it big time over here eh? ha. I got this wierd fuzzy feeling inside, kind-of like muscrats running around in my stomach, and I just had to take a picture. I just kept picturing myself in a boat floating past that very spot. sigghhh...
Then we walked. We walked wherever we wanted. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, so warm! We walked across Tower Bridge, and hung out by a man doing an Irish Jig. And we went to London Bridge too, and we went to Borough Market, my favorite. We had this amazing Malasian chicken curry, and tested cheeses and jams of all sorts. And we ate it outside of a Cathedral in the garden, (reminder: in the sun).
Europeans dress so well. They are much better dressers than the average person in America. Male and Female, I will miss their cool outfits.
Moab is on my mind a lot. I catch myself daydreaming alllll the time. I get nervous and exited all at the same time everytime I think about it. The girls here all talk about their boyfrinds and crushes- I talk about Moab.
It is so important to learn everything. So often, I come across things that I wish I knew more about, or that I had paid more attention to in high school or something. Being here has taught me that I have so much to learn. There is unlimited learning in this world. Lets all learn more.
A cool thing about London is how you'll be walking, and all the sudden you randomly look to your left and there is an ancient crazy looking building that is huge. Or a super old church between two stores. This place is like a huge time warp, all the different centuries are mooshed together.
Everytime I see pastries and ice cream and candy, I want it. But don't worry, I am strong.
I'm half way done with all this. That's NUTS!