The past week has been pretty uneventful.  I'm finally starting to feel at home here, which is exciting.  I have also been here for a month, which means I only have 2 and a half left here. Time is absolutely flying by!

Tuesday night a friend and I wandered around Trafalgar Square and unexpectedly ended up in front of Parliament/Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.  London is prettiest at night when everything is lit up.  The London Eye was glowing blue and Big Ben is stunning.  We were also excited to realize when we got to a pub after our walk that we were outside Parliament while they passed a bill for gay marriage! (Yay England!!)

Thursday our program organized a Fish and Chips lunch.  I am not the biggest fan of fish, unless its sushi, but I figured I'm in London and what kind of London-er would I be if I didn't try it!  The fish was huge and delicious.  I was a little grossed out to find that they cooked it with the skin on! Of course, my favorite part was the fries and Fosters beer.  I tried malt vinegar on my 'chips' and was surprised at how good it tastes.  Might have to start requesting it in the States. 

Friday we took a trip to Oxford, which was very pretty.  I took lots of pictures of buildings I can't

Harry Potter Hospital Wing

identify but I paid special attention to the buildings where scenes from Harry Potter were filmed! (Will there ever be a post without a HP reference? Probably not)  The Great Hall was modeled after Oxford's hall and outside on the staircase Professor McGonagall lead the first years to the Hall to be sorted!  Another building was the site for the hospital wing and another the set for the scenes in the Restricted Section of the library.  Unfortunately we were not allowed in those buildings.  For lunch we went to the Turf Tavern where Bill Clinton "didn't inhale" (haha).

Waiting to be sorted!

The Great Hall

 Friday night a few of us went to Piccadilly Institute, an insane asylum themed club.  It was really crazy.  There are 6 rooms all with different themes.  One had baby dolls in the bar, another had hospital beds and wheelchairs as seating, and on certain floors drinks were served in pill bottles.  We had a lot of fun!

Saturday I decided to skip out on the Camden and Little Venice trip.  It was cold and rainy, per usual.  I spent the afternoon being lazy and watching, you guessed it, Harry Potter.  The best part of the day was taking the bus to get Chipotle with a couple friends.  It didn't taste the same as at home, but it was still amazing and I really enjoyed indulging in American food.  That night I went with a friend to her cousin's going away party.  She is moving back to the States after working in London for the past few years.  The party was at Zenna Bar in Soho.  It was a trendy place with delicious (but expensive) drinks.  I ordered the House Nectar, which is orange with a mysterious fruit in it.  I have no idea what was in it but I really liked it.

Sunday was the Chinese New Year (it is now the year of the snake), so a few of us went to Trafalgar Square for the parade.  Again, it was rainy and cold.  Better than snow though, right?  The parade was really neat.  They had really ornate dragons and costumes, and the drummers from the Olympics performed!  After the parade, which was shorter than the Tobacco Days parade if you can believe it :) , we went to Chinatown.  They had decked out the streets in lanterns and decorations, and there were people everywhere!  I got hit in the head with lots of umbrellas.  We stopped at Canton, a Chinese restaurant, for lunch.  Like most things I order here, I have no idea what it was that I ate.  My dish was fried noodles with veggies and I'm assuming there was a sauce involved.  It was very good and I ate it with only chopsticks! (A great feat for me)  I spent the rest of my day procrastinating and Skyping with Adam, my mom and my dad. 

Olympic Drummers