We have arrived! I'm in the city where I'll be spending two years going to school and maybe earning a Master's degree, assuming I don't screw it up along the way. We arrived to our hostel later than expected due to a flight delay and a baggage pick-up delay (cops were called to the airport for a suspicious bag, so I heard) so we're just going to hang out here tonight. I don't want to attempt venturing out into the rainy darkness right now, so we're going to save our wandering for tomorrow. I'm hoping to locate the university as well as the residence center. I have to be at a meeting at the res center Sunday night so I'll actually start to meet my peers then. Exciting!
Our last day in London was really enjoyable for me. I'm not so sure Cassandra had a good time- she's been really funny and negative a lot on this trip it seems. I'm trying not to let it get me down though, I worked too hard planning everything to let that happen. Anyway, after getting ready we went to Oxford Circus to meet up with my friend Ben. It was so good to see him again! He and Cassandra seemed to get along really well so that made me happy. We walked to Chinatown to get lunch at a place "the locals" like to eat, and it was damn good food. Just the day before I was whining about how much I wanted Pagoda. After lunch he took us to the National Portrait Gallery, a place I have never been to before. There were portraits painted of all sorts of monarchs and government officials, as well as other important people and friends of important people. Moving along there were more contemporary pieces of random people I didn't know, and then finally we arrived to a photography gallery. I can't remember the photographer, and neither can Cassandra apparently, but that's okay because at the very end we got to see an exhibit of photos taken of Bob Dylan on a tour of Europe back when he was 25. He looked so young and cool, I'm thinking about looking for the book of those photos later when I'm back at home.
Once we were done at the gallery, we decided to walk to a park when all of the sudden Cassandra's arm was hurting. It was the weirdest thing, especially since Ben had JUST told us the remedy of how to fix a hurting arm when we were having lunch. According to a little girl who fell onto her arm when playing on playground equipment, the only thing that would make her arm feel better was ice cream. So there you have it. We decided to test the theory Ben told us, and it worked! Cassandra and Ben enjoyed their ice cream and mended arms while I had a coffee, and we walked off into St. James' Park. That place was incredible for several reasons, but mostly because of its wildlife. The gray squirrels (which are not rabid due to being on an island or something) expect to be fed by people because it happens all the time. We watched people allow the squirrels to climb on them and search for bits of food. There were also Canada geese, bar-headed ducks, etc. that expected to be fed as well, and they had ZERO fear of people. Ben told me he comes to the park to feed the animals all the time, but he never feeds the pigeons because he and the rest of London hates them. He said it's also forbidden to feed pelicans because they feed at a zoo nearby all the time. It was crazy watching all these animals flock to people. I was afraid of being pooped on.
Once we were done viewing the animal spectacle it was about time for Ben's girlfriend Naomi to get off work. We went to a nearby pub to meet her before going to our show Thriller Live. Naomi was such a sweetheart! I'm really happy that Ben found someone so great, and it was nice that she didn't mind Ben hanging out with two girls while she was at work. I hate it when people get all nervous and jealous for stupid reasons. Luckily there was nothing to worry about.
Thriller Live was a pretty incredible show, but I gotta admit that I was too busy thinking about how sad I was that Michael Jackson has died that I didn't fully give the show the chance it deserved. The dancers were pretty badass though, and I recognized one of them from my Dance Spirit magazine. The singing was really good as well, except there were two singers that Cassandra and I were very annoyed with- I guess one of them won X Factor (the British version of American Idol) and she thought she was hot stuff. That's not what I would expect at a tribute show. Still though, the songs, lights, colors, costumes, and choreography were all very exciting. For one part of the show they took the recording of Michael's 1995 performance from the MTV Video Music awards and recreated it- they even had the part where a man was flipped over after his "gun" was taken away and all the men bent forward to an impossible degree from their ankles. Argh I wish I could have seen the real thing!
So that's it for now. Tomorrow will be a whole new adventure. I am hoping to take Cassandra to a Turkish bath but like an idiot I forgot to pack my bathing suit. I won't be surprised if I find one somewhere though, those baths are very popular here. Eek, then it's off to school! I really hope I'm cut out for it.
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