March slips away.

I am very sleepy, but I could not sleep anymore. I just have too much to do in the next few days. Of course, I'm not in a position to do any of it anymore, so I'm going to burn off some energy by recapping my week.

Thursday
Saw Juliana perform at Bush Hall in Shepherd's Bush. She was fantastic, and I met her afterwards. I didn't think to bring my camera and don't have my camera phone with me here, so I am without pictures. However, here is a picture of the autograph I got.















Friday
The best of intentions went awry, and none of my work got done. Still, lots of panicking took place. Also talked with Sherril for awhile.

Saturday
Met Andy on Oxford Street. Oxford Street is insane on Saturdays, and should never be attempted except by professionals. Still, managed to find him in swarm of tourists and amateur shoppers. We drank Starbucks and reminisced about favorite childhood books. There's a Monsters At the End of This Book is in fact the greatest kid's book ever, and we both agreed.

Afterwards we found a pub and I had a half pint of something very strange, and then he ran off to his brother's birthday party and I headed back home to get ready to go out.

Danielle and I met Claire in Camden Town and we hopped on a bus towards Angel. We were going to visit an Irish pub with a punk rock atmosphere called "Filthy McNasty's." It was apparently once owned by Jonny Depp. I liked it, and would probably make it a haunt if it were closer. We only stayed for a few drinks since Claire had an early morning the next day. Hopped back on the bus to come home and ran into Robyn and some of her friends. Completely random and cool. Danielle and I headed home, and made it an early night.

Sunday
Absolutely HAD to get work done. Couldn't put it off any longer. Couldn't write a word. Was very depressed and frustrated.

Monday
Class in the morning. Then went to the British Museum and met Josee and her sister Veronique on the steps. They had just arrived from Chicago that morning, and had already been to their hostel in Southwark, up the Thames, across the river, seen St. Paul's and visited the British Museum. It was noon when I met them.

I took them the meandering route to the bus, showing them campus, and then we rode up to Camden. We ate lunch at the Stables Markets, and then I brought them back to my flat where they promply fell asleep on my bed for about an hour.

While they slept, I poked around and found that there was allegedly a free Franz Ferdinand show going on that night at Koko. That seemed like a fun thing to do with them in London, and I scrambled for details, but they were few and far between. Still, I arranged to meet people down in Camden that night. They went back down to their hostel, near Borough Market, and checked in. I hung back and then met them back in Camden, where we found out all the tickets were gone. So we grabbed a drink at a nice loungy place called Oh! bar. I then took them back up to my place and made them dinner. We had fun being silly and playing around my room, and then I shipped them back down to their hostel.

Tuesday
Had class all day. Learned fascinating things about Books of Hours. It was definitely nice to finally figure out what I'd been handling at the Newberry for two years. ;)

More panic about unfinished coursework in the evening. Managed to square away one essay. But I'd already considered that one done to begin with. It just needed some tidying up and an introduction and conclusion. At least it's now done done.

Wednesday
Class all morning. Very pointless, time consuming class. Time would have been better spent working on the coursework for said class.

Afterwards, hopped on bus towards Leicester Square. Sat in traffic for an unbelievable amount of time and should have just walked.

I met Andy inside a Starbucks, and then we grabbed sandwiches and sat in the square and people watched. We then hopped on the tube towards Kensington and went to the Natural History Museum. It was awesome. First off, the architecture is amazing. It looks like a giant cathedral, and there is so much detail on the inside. Andy kept pointing out all the little stone monkeys and other animals crawling up and down walls and perched in the windows. It was great!

My favorite room was the dinosaur room. There was a giant animatronic T-Rex, and I snapped a photo. I think it is a scary photo!



We saw meteorites, stuffed animals, a giant blue whale hanging from the ceiling, a huge cross-section of a sequoia, and loads more. It was definitely the most fun museum I've visited thus far.

We took a tea break, and then headed back towards Westminster. Andy wanted to visit the Westminster Cathedral, and I was happy to follow. It was very beautiful, and we were lucky enough to see a rehearsal of the Philharmonic Orchestra preparing for their performance of Mendelssohn - Elijah that night. I watched from the side with goosebumps. It was a splendid soundtrack as we walked around looking at the architecture.

Then we headed over to Westminster Abbey, but it was just closing as we arrived. Just being outside it was impressive enough, however.



I also turned around and snapped a picture of the Methodist Central Hall across the way. Just because...



We then turned the corner and walked along the side of the Houses of Parliament. Andy pointed out an MP we were walking by, and a BBC correspondent going through security. I recognized neither, but it was still pretty cool.



We then headed around the side and looked out onto the river.



Very, very cool.

Up the tube we went once again and up to Oxford Street, where we ate dinner in a Japanese noodle bar. Very yummy.

Then I headed home because I have a presentation today and needed to know what I was going to say. I had an extraordinarily fun time, though, getting to see more of London. I needed the break from the constant panicking and stress, and a reminder that this isn't all about coursework and deadlines. It's about being in London too. And it's all the more fun with a good tour guide.

This upcoming week is packed solid. Today I meet with Josee and her sister again, and will play with them until we are all exhausted, for tomorrow they go home. :(

Then it's crazy work work work.

Sunday I hopefully get to see Anna from Sweden for a bit! Very exciting!

Next week I turn everything in, and finish up classes.

SHERRIL GETS HERE WEDNESDAY! YAYYYY!!!!

Then I'll finally get to play for a week. All fun and no work. It's very, very, very, very much needed.