Days 11-14 : In Which Time Slows & Seasons Change

Sunday:
Today was a mix of both laziness and ultimate stress. I slept in a bit and caught up on necessary sleep, and then proceeded to try and book my first trip with Kalie. What an experience. Seriously, I'm pretty sure we were about to bang our heads against our computer screens and then fling objects out our window. Booking a trip is not an easy task, especially on such late notice and a student's budget. Geez. But- we succeeded. One late night train ride, a 4 hour ferry trip, a small delay on the French coast, and then another train ride into Paris.... and we shall have made it! Goodness me. The great thing is, all those stops and jumping around plus the cost of the hostel for 2 nights remains less than a roundtrip on the Eurostar. What utter nonsense. Anyhow, got to skype with my Dad for a bit, which was lovely, and I might be going home for Christmas, which is an exciting thought. I returned to a delicious Asian food place for dinner, went to "house church" since I slept through normal church today, and now I'm off to ignore homework and watch Cruel Intentions and 10 Things I Hate About You with some of the people in the house. Lovely way to end the day and weekend!

Monday:

Weird night sleep last night- I think it was the first time I actually woke up repeatedly. Ugh. That definitely didn't help with my 9 am this morning. I feel awful, cause it's actually an interesting class, and yet I could barely keep my eyes open because I was up on the hour, every hour, last night. Blegh. Oh well, I get to sleep in tomorrow. This afternoon was relaxing- finally figured out all my plans and tickets and whatnot with Kalie, so we're going to Paris this weekend to meet up with some of the Lausanne kids! Woohoo! Super excited about this. I got to skype my lovely friend Emily (hopefully I'll be visiting her in Scotland soon), and got in an episode of How I Met Your Mother (love that show), then hit up my 3 hour fine arts class in which we attended a small lecture and then checked out a museum with a Grace Kelly collection (you would have loved it, Mom). That was followed by a return to the house and a movie on Turner's paintings, during which I think I fell asleep multiple times simply because of my current state of exhaustion. After that was completed, we woke up a bit then dashed to group dinner at Byron, reputedly the best burgers around. I found them quite good, although Five Guys and In'N'Out still own. The onion rings, however, were bomb. Yay for fatty foods. After that I went back to the house and finally hit the gym! I feel like I'm falling into a pattern now. Not so spontaneous during the first bit of the week, but that's ok. I can use some slower, more planned out days to catch up on sleep and relax. We can get crazy again on the weekends. Love it. But yeah, after the gym Kalie and I went to a pub, socialized a bit with the group over a glass of water (actual water this time), and then moved upstairs for a chick flick movie night. 

Tuesday:

Finally got a deliciously good night of sleep. I definitely needed that. Woke up to my roomie squealing over the new baby DGs (Bid night was last night), so I proceeded to hop on that train and stalk some of the new baby Thetas, although it was made rather hard by a lack of a list, so stalking must wait for another day. Had Convo today, got introduced to this homestay thing where I can go live with an English family for a weekend and get a real feel for the British life. Totally going to do that, especially since it's paid for (other than travel expenses). I feel like that is an absolutely awesome opportunity. This was followed by a little break before our 3oclock museum visit, then some Paris errands for Kalie and me, and finally "secret dinner" (basically the large group breaks off into smaller groups and tries out dinner group dinner restaurants) at a Persian place. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was delicious. We got this great flatbread and kabobs and rice and it was lovely. This was followed by another workout at the gym, then a failed outing to find a pub, but at least we have next Tuesday! Sheep mentality ensued on our journey back, as over half the group meandered off into who-knows-where, but we got back on track and figured it out. Oh London, how you remain interesting! And, honestly, I don't mind the random adventures anyhow. I love getting to know this city.

Wednesday:

Wow... I still don't think it's hit me that I'm living here until April. Really... this is craziness. Today, somewhat sleep-deprived, I made my way to History class, went to this really awesome museum section on Islam (honestly- museums and galleries for class? How can this "school" get any more awesome?) and made my way back to the house. Kalie and I then bought our final tickets for our epic Paris adventure this weekend, and I was hit my crazy deja vu at the train station, before I realized- I'd been there before! Exact same train station that I went to with my family when we were here last time. How id I recognize it? Well, it seemed vaguely familiar, and then I noticed the Toni and Guy. Yes, a hair salon was my point of reference for recollection. Gotta love it. Following our ticket purchase, we finished our laundry, made some food and hung out in the kitchen with some of the other kids in the house, has some lazy afternoon time before hitting up Humanities class, which was followed by dinner at an Indian restaurant (again, roll me away. I swear, all I do is eat here). I absolutely love all the different kinds of places we're trying. I mean, how often do we really go to all these random place at home? Very rarely. It's really quite a treat. You know what else is a treat? The weather. It's like high 60s, low 70s (don't even get me trying to convert to Celsius. I refuse, just like I refuse to try and convert my weight or distance on the treadmill). It's so nice and warm and sunny here that Kalie and I got ice cream cones today. Seriously... I'm in love. Oh, and I totally booked my Barcelona trip today. Win. So dinner concluded with a lovely walk back, where our group was sorely disappointed by the complete lack of Cheddar flavored goldfish. I don't want pizza flavored, or parmesan. No, I want the orange bag, please. Thanks. Once we returned home, Kalie (much to her chagrin) realized it was the first day of fall, so we youtube'd "fallish" music, which became more irish/celtic-festival-like music (which was remixed with Nat King Cole singing about falling leaves at one point) because we are that awesome. Right. I opted out of the going out tonight and instead made further friends with the gym and a little peace and quiet after chilling with some other members of the house downstairs. It was a nice slow-down and change of pace, especially considering the shenanigans that will undoubtably ensue this weekend. Paris- here we come!