Travel Diary

Monday, December 10, 2002

The day began with my final set of classes. A 9:30 history presentation was followed by an 11am physical science class. After a short break, we had our last BLC class. This would be my final class of the program. Books were closed. Homework was done.

Well, not quite done. Turns out my little holiday during the semester interfered with some assignments, so to keep my good grades, I'd have to do some makeup work. I KNEW I should have taken these classes for credit/no credit. Lesson learned...too late.

To make up my missed film class, I needed to see the movie, The Quiet American. Kalaine was also interested in catching this movie so we headed out with Garrison around 6:30pm to locate a movie theatre playing this flick. However, this would be no easy task. Piccadilly Circus is a big area and we had no luck after a half hour of searching the location. The freezing cold also hindered our quest. Around 7:45, we located a theatre playing Bowling for Columbine. Since it was now so late, Kalaine and Garrison opted to see that movie instead. But I continued my quest. Though I didn't have high hopes. I began walking down a street and happened to glance down the right ally and there was the theater, the Odeon. I trotted over to it and as luck would have it, the movie was just starting. I bought a ticket and headed inside. It was a smaller theatre and attendance was low, but I enjoyed the movie and took notes. Assignment completed!

Tuesday, December 11, 2002

Today I would meet with Rachel and visit the Tower of London. It was one popular spot that I hadn't seen yet. We took the Tube down there and exited into the chilling cold. I began to wonder why this London program wasn't offered in the Spring. We were bundled up nicely but the weather was just so harsh. It would be no easy morning. The Tower was only 8.50 pounds for students and worth the price. There weren't many people visiting on that cold Tuesday morning. Still, we braved it all and toured the place. A tour guide led us around to a few spots. He was quite funny and full of good jokes and peculiar humor. After the tour, the rest was self-guided. We saw suits of armour, cannons, and chopping blocks. Around 1pm, we headed back to the Dilke House.

I spent the rest of the day writing papers for classes. Tuesday night was my final swing-dancing event. No one would be coming along this time. I guess they got it out of their system. Stacy didn't show up this time. This was unfortunate, since I wouldn't be able to see her again. But such is life. I did manage to meet a nice girl from Spain. She was a far better dancer than myself and was free to offer corrections. I learned a few moves from her and headed home around 10:30pm.

Wednesday, December 12, 2002

It was 9am when I met up with Elika to wait in line for tickets to the Royal Ballet. The line had already started when we got there at 9:20, but it never grew much beyond another 15 people. During our wait, a lady came by and offered to sell some tickets. We paused on buying her tickets. It was hard to know whether the seats were any good or not. A couple of others ladies decided to accept her offer. That was fine. This way we'd at least know where we would be sitting. At 10am, the line moved inside and we got our tickets. The cost was 11 pounds per tickets and we'd be seated in the upper center balcony.

In the afternoon, Gardner and I finally had a chance to play a few games of pool. I was still out of practice, but faired okay. I lost the first game and won the second. I figured playing sober helped a little. I vowed to practice more when I got back to the States.

That night, I met up with Elika for dinner and the show. For kicks, we walked over the Leicester Square to see how the Lord of the Rings screening was going. Apparently, some of the actors and such were making an appearance. The crowd was thick and it seemed like most of those thrill seekers there wouldn't even be able to get a view of any celebrities. We observed for a few minutes and strode back to the Royal Opera House. For dinner, we settled on bar food. It's cheap and tasty. I finally had an order of fish ‘n' chips. They're rather enjoyable on an empty stomach.

When dinner was done, we went to the Royal Opera House to get our seats. Many flights of stairs were taken to reach the upper balcony. As always, the opera house was immaculate. The main curtain was red velvet with gold all around. Hundreds of mini chandeliers decorated each floor. The place is a marvelous spectacle in itself.

Swan Lake turned out to be the best show I had seen in London. I would say the event is nearly worth a trip to London in itself. The downside is that all dance events I ever see from now on may pale in comparison to it. We thoroughly enjoyed the show. Afterwards, it was back to the Tube for home.

It's a funny thing about a ballet like that. Most would assume that the ballet isn't a very masculine place to go. However, I would argue that. For anyone interested in spending several hours watching four dozen of some of the world's most beautiful women, the ballet is everywhere you want to be.

Thursday, December 13, 2002

Today would be our last full day. Final papers were handed in. People met and chatted at the Dilke House. I finished packing all my things.

Elizabeth and I were walking around and decided to meet Kalaine and Raquel for Tea at Harrod's. I hadn't been to Harrod's, so I figured it would be worth a trip out there. The place was essentially just a very pricey department store. Some people get a kick out of outrageous prices. Call me crazy, but I do not get such thrills. We toured around and finally found the place to have tea. "Tea" wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I figured we'd be at a nice restaurant and just order a cup of tea. Well, this placed gave scones, desserts, and mini sandwiches along with tea. And they only charged 18.75 pounds--or roughly $25. Ha! Well, I figured we'd be doing a 180 and heading out. But no! Everyone was down for that. I was nearly in shock. Figuring that all three of them had misread the decimal point, I pointed out the price once again. No, they understood it. I looked around for some sort of special mind altering gas being sprayed into the air. I didn't see it. But I knew it was there. Fortunately, I was impervious to the poison, yet the others were not. And there was no rescuing them. But I opted to have just a cup of tea and pass on their special meal deal. They served some nice looking food. Everything appeared to be finely made and I guessed the tastes to be divine. However, divine snacks still aren't worth $25 to me. I happily sipped my cup of "Earl of Grey" tea. Yum! And it only cost me 3.75 pounds ($5). Wahoo! Yes, $5 for tea may not sound like a great price, but I survived the poison "pay $25 for tiny sandwiches" gas.

After tea, I found myself holding things while the girls tried on clothing. So I let the girls do their shopping and returned home. I had a final small meal with my homestay folks and then headed out to town. The class was meeting at O'Neils for a final bar night. It was there that we said goodbyes to many of the students. Some were staying in London, and I knew I would most likely never see them again. At 11pm, the bar closed.

I was ready for home, but a few girls had me going to a club with them. Well, why not? It was my last night. I visited the girls' apartment to leave my bag and coat. They offered me a drink. I accepted. Then they gave me a shot of Absinth. It packs quite a kick. Afterwards, we walked over to the Richmond Dance Club. Wow. The place was alive with energy. After a lot of sweaty dancing, we headed over to the guys' apartment to join a party in progress. Their place was pretty banged up. I surmised that deposits weren't going to be returned there. But it was fun to see how the apartment people lived. It was surely different than life in the homestays. After some time there, it was 3am. Elizabeth was ready to head home. Since I had no clue of where the buses would be, I went with her. A final night of uncertain travel in London.

The home rides went without much trouble and I finally found myself riding on the second level of the Double Decker bus. I had now done everything I had planned to do in London. Well, okay, there are many things left to do on my next trip over.

I got off at Muswell Hill and walked home for my last time. The night was chilly. It was now almost 4am. Inside, I packed some more and killed time until my 5am shower. I wouldn't be sleeping that night. I could do that on the plane.

Around 8am, the taxi finally came. I said goodbye to my host and rode to the airport. The breakfast didn't settle well in my stomach so I just barely was able to survive the taxi ride. But I must say it was quite a close call. Once at the airport, my stomach calmed down. I watched the others have a go at Burger King.

My seat on the plane wasn't a great one. But the plane had a very nice entertainment program. I had my own monitor in front of me and could choose from 40 movies to watch. Virgin Airlines really does treat its passengers well. During the ride, students chatted and exchanged contact information. We cruised across the sky at 556 mph and at an elevation of about 40,000 feet. The sun would never grow dark since we were chasing it the whole time.

It was stormy weather that we touched down to in San Francisco. People waited at the luggage carousel for their bags to arrive. My bags came early, so I said my final goodbyes and parted. The program was now over. My study abroad in London was done. The time went all too fast. But wow, was it ever so wonderful.

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