Only one week left?!

Exactly one week from now I will be boarding a flight to Amsterdam, with my semester of study abroad in London completely behind me. Right now I am saying good riddance but that is only because I have a 40 page paper to write and 2 final exams to study for. Ah procrastination at its finest. Of course I am kicking myself now for not working on my dissertation throughout the entire semester but I am sure it will all turn out fine. I only have one week of hell to endure, after spending nearly 3 months in a sort of heaven. Not to mention, I get to travel all around Europe for 3 weeks starting on April 1st.

Since the last time I updated my blog, Cole has visited me. He got here on Tuesday night of last week. I thought I was going to have to call my parents and tell them that he just didn't show up, because he must have been the last person off his flight. After waiting around for a couple hours for him, we made the journey back to my flat, nearly an hour away, in Central London. We didn't do anything that night because it was past midnight by the time we got back and I had work the next morning.

While I was at work on Wednesday, Cole managed to entertain himself by walking around the market on the street parallel to mine, getting himself a nice classic English breakfast, and just being lazy I guess, until I got home in the early afternoon. By that time, the sore throat I had the night before had turned into a fever and what I later found out was tonsilitis (which I am still suffering from). But i didn't have any time to be sick, as we had to make our way to the House of Lords for a wine reception in the honor of the Hansard Scholars Programme. Cole was pretty amazed that he was able to take wine and hor douvres in Parliament. And yes, he did enjoy his red wine. He was actually in the background of quite a few pictures, since he was standing next to the Lord Speaker (the equivalent of the Senate Majority Leader in the US) as she was delivering her speech. He will most likely be on the Hansard website once they post the pictures, so I will be sure to post the link when I find it.

After the reception I took him to a local pub so he could have some proper British fish and chips. We stayed for a bit and had a beer or two but I had to go home early since I was feeling so sick.

The next day we did our London sightseeing. First we went to the the Tower of London, which has some of the remains from the Roman Empire when they occupied the area nearly 1,000 years ago. Inside the castle is the exhibit of the Crown Jewels, which Cole and I were equally amazed by. I tried to serve as his tour guide as best I could, but I haven't exactly become an expert on British history and politics since I've been here. You can only learn so much in 3 months, but I hope it was enough to give him a bit of culture while he was over here.

After leaving the castle, we took a couple pictures in front of Tower Bridge. Tower Bridge is the one that everybody thinks is called London Bridge. London Bridge is actually just a normal looking bridge about 1/2 mile up the Thames River, where most pictures of Tower Bridge are taken from.

After that we walked along the Thames since it was such a nice day and we then walked across Millenium bridge, which is a suspension bridge built for the Millenium celebration back on NYE 2000. After a few pictures there we took the Tube (subway) down to Parliament so that Cole could meet the girls I work with. We had lunch with them and then I did some work for about half an hour while Cole nearly fell asleep on the couch in my office.

We were going to take a ride on the London Eye, which is the gigantic Ferris Wheel overlooking the city, but the line was too long and I wasn't feeling very well. Instead, we walked over to Westminster Abbey, where most of the Kings and Queens, as well as other historical figures, are buried in tombs throughout the Church. The architecture in that building is simply amazing. I knew that Cole would love seeing it, as he has always loved that sort of stuff.

Later that night, we met up Mary and James for dinner at nice Italian restaurant in Notting Hill. Cole not only drank more red wine (yes he is of legal drinking age in London for all of you who were just collectively gasping), but he also had carpaccio for his appetizer. Talk about cultured!

The next morning, we were supposed to go on a bus tour of Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle, but I felt terrible when I woke up. My fever still had not gone away so I hadn't gotten any sleep. Cole was perfectly fine with just staying in and being lazy all day. It was his vacation after all, I'm sure he didn't want to wake up at 7 am each day. We went to a 3 level brewery/bar later that night and I stayed for a drink or two then pawned him off on a couple of my friends. I still wasn't feeling well but I didn't want Cole to have to suffer. He came to London to have a good time, and sure hope he did.

The next day I was feeling much better, which was convenient because we spent the day in Cambridge with James. He was a great tour guide and seemed to know all there was to know about Cambridge. The obvious highlight of our trip was punting. In case you aren't aware, punting is very similar to riding in a Gondola in Venice. We were in a long, unstable boat and the method of steering was to stand on the flat part of the boat in the back and push along the bottom of the river with a 10 foot pole. Cole and I got up there for a few minutes each and it was obvious that we were Americans. Not only because we were struggling with directing the boat, but because James was sure to tell everyone that we passed that we were Yankees and that we might fall in at any minute.

After a long, but fun day in Cambridge, it was time to go out for Hayley's birthday. Hayley is one of my good friends from Northeastern who is also in the Hansard program (I'm not sure if I mentioned her before). After a successful session of early drinking, the few of us who managed to make it out went to a club down the street. Cole had never been to a club before and I am sure that he will tell all of you he was a bit overwhelmed and completely surprised. European clubs aren't like the ones in the States. This place was huge and Cole's eyes grew just as big as he walked through the doors. He seemed like he had a great time and to finish off his London trip we got some authentic Bratwurst at a local food stand at 3 am.

Since he has left I still haven't been feeling much better. I don't have a fever anymore but the tonsilitis is still lingering. Not to mention I woke up the other morning with pink eye. I guess it's better to get sick now, than when I am traveling starting next week. Let's hope all this clears up in time for me to leave on April 1st. And let's also hope I survive with my sanity through this paper and finals.

Oh yeah, and GO 'CUSE!!!!