I Will Always Hate Shakespeare

After going to bed very late on Friday night/early Saturday morning (despite my intentions to go to bed early), I woke up bright an early to take the coach to London for the day. The trip to London was a bit odd for me because I had already been in London for 4 days before coming to Cambridge. I had already seen a few touristy sites and had purposefully not gone to other touristy sites because I'm leaving those for when I travel around after the programme ends. So I basically just went to a few random places throughout the day including Buckingham Palace (I know, not so random and very touristy but I'm planning on going back again for a more proper visit) to see the changing of the guard. Unfortunately, I couldn't actually see anything so pictures over other peoples heads have to suffice and I almost got trampled to death (I'm really not exaggerating all that much) when a mob of people pushed forward as the procession passed by. After that, I got some lunch and walked along the Thames and then everyone on the trip went to see Henry IV (Part I) at the Globe. For those of you who don't know, I absolutely hate Shakespeare so although I was glad to have the experience of seeing a play at the Globe, I was not thrilled about having to stand for three hours to watch a show that I did not find entertaining or interesting. I was literally falling asleep and had to catch myself a few times as I almost fell over...my friends really got a kick out of that. The actors did do a pretty cool dance at the end though. After that, a few of us went to Covent Gardens with Ruth and Oli (two of the PA's) for dinner. The Tube ride to Covent Gardens was one of the scariest things that has ever happened. As we got onto the train, we were greeted by 3 very drunk young men who reeked of alcohol and were swearing, screaming out racial slurs and just saying very crude things. One of them had a dog. I don't know if that is even allowed. As the last PKP student got on the train the one with the dog said something to him and this student must have said something back, but I'm not sure exactly what was said. But as soon as this exchange took place the drunk guy started flipping out. He was screaming and telling the PKP kid that he was going to kill him and "knock his bloody block off." As the rest of us started to get a bit nervous (and as I personally started hoping that this guy didn't have a gun and wasn't planning on shooting us all), another PKP student (who is apparently an idiot) told the guy to "just calm down" which is probably the worst thing to do in a situation like that. The guy started flipping out even more. Luckily some British guy intervened and managed to calm the guy down a bit until we got off the train. So that was certainly the worst Tube ride ever. Once we got to Covent Gardens we had a great time with wonderful food and entertainment. On the train ride back to where the bus was waiting, however, we had another interesting (but far less dangerous and scary) experience. A group of drunk guys were singing very loudly and being generally silly and of course they followed us and were getting on the same train. We managed to get into a different car than they did, but they also got off at the same stop as us and their singing followed us for awhile. At least they were funny though. Apparently the Northern Line should be avoided when possible. Our bus was waiting for us right near the London Eye so I got some nice pictures of it and I saw Big Ben as we drove past. I'm really looking forward to getting back to London to ride the Eye.

Today I slept late and then met up with some friends for brunch. Later in the afternoon we headed down to the Pembroke Sports Grounds for Sports Day which featured a PKP vs. UCSS football (soccer) tournament and a barbeque. It was pretty fun. I didn't play in the tournament, but I got to kick a ball around for a bit and I enjoyed a typical British burger that tastes more like meatloaf than like a hamburger. Tonight the PA's took a bunch of us to see Inception. Movie theatres here are alot different than those in the US. If all of them are like the one we went to tonight, then they are way better than the ones in the US. First of all, you have to reserve seats which is a fantastic idea. So I purchased my ticket online and picked a seat which was then reserved for me so there was no need to rush in order to get a good seat. Upon entering the theatre we went up a few flights of stairs to the area where you can buy snacks and drinks for the movie. If you go up another flight of stairs, you come to the bar. Yes, there was a bar in the movie theatre so you can buy drinks and bring them into the movie. The women next to us had a bottle of wine and wine glasses during the movie. It was pretty cool. I can't picture Showcase Cinemas selling you a bottle of wine and giving you wine glasses to take into the theatre with you. The movie itself was incredible and definitely in my top 5 favorites ever (I can't bring myself to say that it tops Evita for the number 1 spot, but it's definitely up there). Go see it right now.

Cheers!