The next weekend Sept 18 &19 I went back to Cardiff to visit Dan and Dave again and get my sweater, which is still in Cardiff. This time I took Tori, Christina, and Lauren met us on the train and came with us. We ended up going out to eat at Franie and Bennies which is Italian american and it was pretty awesome! We all ordered drinks since we don't ever drive anywhere we don't have to worry. We went back to Dan's where mikey and some of the boys from Dan's home were sitting in the living room. We had about 12 people shoved into a room and we were all talking and before we knew it, it was time to leave. We had to get back to the train station before the last train left. We made and I am pretty sure I saw a girl who was about 30 pounds too heavy to be wearing the underwear and top she had on. Yes, only underwear and a top. She lost her tutu we think. She looked to be my height and weigh a good 160 -175. it was an awful sight scared into my memory much like A Room with a View. lol Good times in Cardiff.
week 2 of the pre-sessional. monday starts with more lectures. it was actually a very empty day for me since I only had 3 lectures in the whole day. Monday's were not very busy for me, especially now that I am in classes for only 4 hours a week total. This is going to make me a very lazy student by the time I get home. Tuesday had to be my favorite of the lectures. We learned about Wales, Bond and a film called Scandal which was based on real facts. Highly entertaining movie as well as being politically interesting since the people were real. That night i had to pack up everything in my room and get it on a bus the next morning. that was a challege. But I managed somehow. So Wednesday we load up which took forever and barely had enough seats and space for the luggage. It was a bit ridiculous but we lived and Bath was beautiful and completely worth it! I loved Bath and I wish we had had more time. I hope to get back there before I leave the country but it will depend on whether or not I can get papers done. Rather unfortunate that instead of tests in January which I won't be around for, they just extend my paper or assign another one. ugh. So Thursday was the last day of lecture.And the longest day of my life it felt like. It was completely crazy how long I had to sit in a classroom and listen to Dr. Willcock lecture. We stayed in class from 9 am until 4 pm. I wanted to shoot something by the time it was over. It was awful having to sit that long. I made it though and I finished the paper that was due in a little over a week the Friday before it was due. That paper was so hard to write and luckily I had no classes the next week or I would never have survived. I have never worked so hard on a piece. It was only 2500 words and I can't believe I finished it early at all. I am still waiting on the grade but I think it was a decent piece of work. That weekend Tori and I headed to London for a couple days. We were going to see London Fashion Weekend. Now that completed my European experience and I have yet to see Rome or Paris or Dublin. We literally went to spend one day wandering around the place looking at all sorts of amazing fashion. I bought a few purses for gifts and a wallet I couldnt resist. We also got a bag that had goodies and mine came with Juicy Couture Perfume. It smells amazing and I wish I could afford a real bottle. The Catwalk was also pretty amazing and getting to see a real runway show after all the years of watching ANTM was pretty much the best thing! I could have died happy. So we return to Swansea and my life became consumed by the paper. I think during that week I hardly left the house because I couldn't get together the layout of the paper so I wasn't sure I could write it. By the time I was done I just wanted to run and scream I finished. So stressful. lol I am so thrilled to have to write another 10,000 words before I go. I wish one of them could be over my experience while i am here. Now that paper I could write. Where was I? Friday Oct. 1st, Christina and I went to London for the day. This was a long day lol We got on an 830 train and were in London by 12. It was pretty great to be back. I love that city. We went to the British Museum first and spent about 3 hours looking at all the things, I took more pictures there than anywhere else. I was so happy being in there. It was great. Next we went to Kensington Gardens and Hyde park which are basically the same place and miles long on the perimeter. Well we wanted to walk and saw the peter pan statue from the movies and Princess Diana's memorial fountain. It was a beautiful place, just not in the rain. I think by the time we got to Victoria station for the play we were frozen. Literally, Physically frozen. I was so cold I didn't think I would feel my fingers again. But it was totally worth it to see that statue. I love that movie and that was amazing to see it in person. So after de-frosting and eating a crispy creme donut I was happy again, well except for having to pay to use the loo. That was a bit ridiculous. I was so ready to collect my tickets for Wicked it wasn't even funny. I was ready to jump up and down. I have been trying to see this musical since Anita Hughes first told me about it while planning the Quiz Bowl National trip to Chicago in like February of 2005. 5 years I have waited. I wish I had had the opportunity before but sometimes things happen for a reason. Because now when people ask what was your favorite memory so far it is always going to be seeing Wicked in the West End of London. How much better does life get? Christina and I weren't seated together so we found our seats and I listened to the soundtrack (yes i had it on my ipod) while I waited. Then the announcement to turn off cell phones began and my world took a brief backseat to the musical that has taken top spot on my list of favorites.
Okay it's over and we are both jumping with joy and screaming about our favorite parts. We then had to catch a train back to Paddington station and then back to Swansea. we had what we thought would be an easy layover in Cardiff, for about 3 hours. Little did we know the train station in Cardiff is closed until 430 am. Well we arrived about 2:40... yeah that was a trip and we got hit on by more random people than I thought was possible. I also wished I was old enough to carry a concealed weapons license. I was so ready to kick them all in the balls and walk away. So annoying, so very very very annoying. But I just turned my back and let them try and talk to Christina who handled there retarded advances better than me. lol We finally got back into the train station and only had another hour to wait. At that point I had been awake about 23 hours and I was dying. The adrenaline from the play had warn off and I was ready to get to my bed and pass out... We got on our train which left by like 5:45 and were back in Swansea about 6:50... we took a cab back to the village. By the time I hit my bed I barely had enough conscientiousness left to change my clothes before passing out... So after an extremely long, tiring, amazing day my week ended.
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