To cover the most important bits in my memory:
The week after Halloween was big because it was the Wuthering Heights paper deadline. Lots of energy went into preparing for that and I think the paper I wrote turned out to be darn fine. I'm hoping for a much better grade than what I got on the first one for Bleak House.
During this week, a little historical event happened in the United States: Barack Obama became the first black President of the United States!!!!! It was such an event and I SOOOOO wish I could have been in Chicago for it!!! I would have been at Grant Park, or at least somewhere on campus enjoying the CNN coverage with a bunch of people. Instead, I was stuck in England watching at midnight for the earliest reports and homesick for my city!!! And I got so tired, too, that I actually went to bed around 2:30 am because I couldn't handle staying up any longer! Once Ohio went to him, I thought it was dunzo anyhow. Plus, I couldn't handle being in the lounge anymore with some of the people in there. Many of them were not at all interested in the election and were appearing to steal food that was provided, and this one guy kept being an obnoxious jerk in support of McCain. Of course, this obnoxious jerk is an obnoxious jerk every day, so this was not surprising. But I just didn't feel like being crowded on anymore by people. But I was really upset that I couldn't stay awake because around 5 am the big cheers and whoops and hollers broke out because he was officially the winner and was speaking in Chicago at Grant Park and I wasn't there, nor was I present to watch it on TV and I felt like a loser, all because of the stupid time zones!
But I was of course awake from the celebrating going on in the dorm and didn't sleep well because I had to wake early for my class, so the night following the election was interesting because I went to see No Man's Land, a Harold Pinter play with Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) and David Bradley (Filch) in the lead roles. I think because we were all so tired, some more so than me, we pretty much waved goodbye as the meaning of the play flew over our heads. The beats to the play were really strange and the point of the play never seemed particularly clear. It just didn't work for me. But, Dumbledore was brilliant and I was mondo impressed. And I also found it hilarious how he has this jaunty skipping step that he showed off at the end. It was pretty funny. Just wish he would put the kind of intensity I saw on display in the play into his role as Dumbledore. Though, not like he has a lot to do anymore, being dead and such.
Last weekend, in between writing my paper for Helsinger on Wuthering Heights, I popped into the Tower of London with Ali, but found that for 14 pounds, it's not particularly worth it. I mean, it's interesting, but I'm not a big enough history buff to be enthralled and not care about my money. Also, I find audio guides are very helpful and make it feel like more of a tour worth your while, but they were 4 pounds for them, so that wasn't happening. Ultimately, I did find my mom a souvenir in the gift shop, but still no luck finding souvenirs for others.
The next day was all about writing the paper, and then packing for the Edinburgh trip. We left on Monday, November 10 for a 9-hour bus ride to Edinburgh. Oddly, I snoozed enough that it didn't feel too long. We arrived in the rainy, COLD, windy city with no idea where to go for our hostel, and very hungry. After finding the hostel, the sketchtastic place that it was, we went out looking for food and took far too long looking. I resigned myself to charging a night or two at the Balmoral and paying it off for the next few years if anything scary happened at the hostel, or I was unhappy enough. But luckily, it was okay enough.
The first full day was nice and the weather was so much better! Edinburgh Castle was the first stop, and was also quite breathtaking because of the views. But again, you start to feel like 10 pounds is a lot of money to simply walk around a place that is so old. It's actually a very good thing that I have put off visiting all the museums in London -- they're all free!! I won't have to spend money and they'll take up plenty of time now!
Anyhoo, back in Edinburgh, we also met up with Ali's friend who is at University of Edinburgh, so she showed us around some. We ate at some Rowling haunts, particularly The Elephant House for dinner. That is the cafe which Rowling wrote most of Philosopher's Stone at. We walked to a student pub to join members of the Chocolate Society of the university in chocolate carving, and I was NOT carded when I ordered a pom pom drink, whereas Katie and Ali were. Ha!
Wednesday was my favorite day because we visited Holyrood Palace, the place of business for the queen these days. It had so much historical significance inside to ooh and aah about, though it is a shame we can't take pictures. But all the same, it felt more worth my admission price. We saw Mary Queen of Scots' room, Charles II's room, the Queen's bedchamber which is permanently protected by glass and low lighting now, and also the room where Mary's secretary was stabbed 56 times. This place had an audio guide and I feel like that helped.
Afterward came my favorite part of the trip: Climbing Arthur's Seat. A 825-foot highland hill, it's a very wild and mountainous hill to hike, and quite an adventure and exercise. But I have some sort of wild mountain outdoorsy side to me, and I handled the hike like it was nothing. My friends, on the other hand, had a more difficult time playing the outdoor explorer. They say I must have been a shepherd or goat or something in a past life. Either way, getting to top offered some extraordinary views. It was a great feeling.
That night was a little less fun, though, because places in Edinburgh close around 5 or 6 pm and there's very little to do if you don't know the city that well or if you're not interested in drinking or clubbing. So we had Indian food, and the menu was written with a Scottish accent attached to the words, so it was weird to follow. We then stopped at The Elephant House again for dessert, and then spent the rest of the night talking in the kitchen at the hostel.
The final day in Edinburgh on Thursday was a little rainy and also not so much fun. We'd exhausted the tourist things pretty much and went around window shopping and roaming Topshop. I found a dress I really love but am not prepared to spend the money on. Then, I left on a bus to the airport alone because I had an earlier flight back to London whereas the others were going on to Dublin. There was a surreal moment thinking how a few years ago I never would have imagined myself being the world traveler and going around a foreign city alone and just being independent and not afraid. It was a nice feeling.
I got to board the plane from the tarmac instead of from a gate tunnel, which I've never done before and thought was cool. I then had quite the journey back from Luton airport because the Tube doesn't reach it. That was annoying and rather pricey.
I spent the rest of that night eating A LOT and uploading photos to Facebook.
My Friday was supposed to be a work day for my classes and I was going to be productive. BUTTTTT, after climbing Arthur's Seat two days before, I was absolutely exhausted still and I totally stayed in all day working on more photos and just generally being lazy. But, since I knew Alan Rickman's play that he directed was ending this weekend, I checked to see if there were tickets and I found a standing ticket for only 7.50 for Friday night. I bought it and decided it was better than chancing Saturday. As it turned out, not only was the play brilliant and I enjoyed it a great deal (nothing like what my roommate was suggesting it might be like), but the standing ticket didn't matter at all. The theatre is so intimate that it was a better view than pretty much all of the previous seated tickets I've had in the past. I was truly impressed by the acting and the set and the beats and the flow and everything about it. It was also quite funny.
As it goes, whenever I like a play, I buy the program, because in London they are always 3 pounds and not free like they are in the US. For this night, how it worked was this: I visited the bathroom and waited in a bit of a queue for several minutes. Then, I rummaged around for the coins for the program. This took some time. But somehow, this correct amount of time had me paying for the program right when Alan Rickman, the fantasy love of my life, was walking up the stairs. I saw him for only five seconds or so, barely anything, but it was enough, because I was a scared chicken and did not follow him into the bar, his destination. I couldn't handle the idea of being in there and being the fan in front of people. Had I been on the stairs as he was coming up, I would have been perfectly fine with saying hello and giving my praise of the play and also throwing in a "You're Severus Snape and that's just awesome!" comment. But he had disappeared into the bar and all I pictured was me looking awkward and having to tap him on the shoulder while people looked at at the fangirl spectacle. I also heard on IMDB of someone's bad experience of making a fool of herself by interrupting him in a conversation and badgering him for a picture and generally being too flippant about him. I did not want to risk a potentially poor experience like that. Had he been on the stairs, or had I met him coming in the building while I was going out, I think I would have been perfectly fine. When I saw Ralph Fiennes, I froze and stared like a gaping fool. I just had "It's Voldemort" flashing in my head. But when I saw Rickman, he just looked like your average guy, and you know, if you didn't know what he looked like well enough, you might miss him. And because he just appeared so apart from his characters, and looked so normal, it made him seem approachable. Well, seem; I didn't approach, now did I? But that was more me than him. Again, I think it would have been fine had I been on those stairs ten seconds earlier.
Perhaps there will be another chance encounter in my future. You never know, I have three weeks left and the man uses the Tube. I could be on the right car one day. Or I could just hope for the day he films a movie in Chicago. Or that I'll be in NY when HBP has its premiere finally. Something.
Anyhow, Saturday was a nice day because my friend Alison was visiting from her Rome program with her roommate, so we spent the day roaming the city. Westminster Abbey is overrated, because it's 9 pounds to look at stone plaques that say someone famous is buried nearby, or to look at really impressive memorials that say something in Latin about someone buried nearby. And you can't take photos. So you spend an hour and feel like you didn't really get your money's worth. Again, such a good thing that all the museums are free and they're the last things for me to do, other than visit some parks.
Also, visited Camden Market which was a definite funky experience. Also took a really crazy trip in search of Abbey Road. It was nice to travel with some different people, and especially someone I've known for a while now. Had that amazing cheeseburger again at the Borough Market and took them to My Old Dutch. Also had a glass of wine at the Hung, Drawn and Quartered and was not carded there either. It's good to be recognized as someone over 18.
And so my account of the past two weeks concludes. I have a LOT of reading and work to look forward to in the last three weeks, particularly this week. But it'll all be over. In fact, three weeks from this very moment that I'm writing, I'll be home! And we're all very aware of how many weeks are left. It's not that we don't love London, it's just that London is missing the important people we want to share the experiences with. I am so homesick for Chicago it's actually surprising. But again, we all are. So I'll be home in three weeks and probably eating Taco Bell in between a breathless account of my trip, and counting down until move-in day back in Chicago. That sounds about right.
