Essay and Break

Well, Saturday was spent in a marathon on my independent study essay. I started at about 10:30 AM, and besides a long break for lunch and a shorter break for dinner, I worked on my essay straight through to midnight. However, I did not finish it, though I did finish the notes for the historical dates.

Sunday I went to class, went to church, went back to my room to work on my essay some more. I got all my notes typed up and went to print it out so I could edit it more easily. At this point it was 16 pages, but with the longer paper here and double sided, I got it on 7. However, this began an adventure as the computer lab near the House did not have paper in the printer. So I had to go all the way down to Augustine House where I did manage to get it printed. I then folded it up and put it in my purse and went in search of lunch, as it was now getting close to two. I was trying to find a shop that I'd seen, but I found a guy with hamburgers first. I have discovered that I rather like onions on my hamburgers. :) Just because, I went into two of the little bookstores on High street, and lo and behold, I found the first two Harry Potter books! I'm only missing the fifth one now, and I'm okay with buying that from a chain store if I have to.
Then back to my room, but it had turned into such a beautiful day that I changed into shorts (!) and grabbed my towel and laid out in the courtyard to edit my paper. Three hours later I'd gone through it twice and managed to make it a bit smaller. I'd also managed to get the top of the back of my thighs sunburned. Yep. I got sunburned in England. That my friends, takes dedication.

Today I returned to London, for the final time (unless something weird happens) to visit two museums. I finished up the Natural History Museum in morning. I got to see lots of rocks and fossils, but I also went to the Sexual Nature exhibition (I got you a postcard, Mom). The exhibit was actually fairly tasteful, except for the random videos that made me feel like I was back in freshman health class.

I then headed over to the National Gallery. It sits facing Trafalgar Square, and the scaffolding was down, so people were everywhere. There were lots of street performers. There was a dude playing the bagpipes, a Charlie Chaplin, a gold statue man and some acrobats.

I can now say that I have seen a Degas, a Da Vinci, a Raphael, and a Van Gogh in person. It was so amazing. I'd wind up standing there just looking at some of this stuff thinking that these were actually painted by some of the best there ever were. I love Degas, Van Gogh, and Renoir and they had a bunch of their paintings. It was so cool to see them in person.

After wandering through the museum I went out front to take some pictures of the Nelson Column and the lions around the bottom. Then I headed back to Charing Cross station where I just missed a train to Canterbury. I wandered around the area for a little while then got on the next train. I was standing at the platform when it pulled up, which was a good thing because there had been fire or something on one of the lines so lots of people were being forced to take that train to get to somewhere to swtich. The train was packed. I actually fell asleep on the train for a while, but I made it back to Canterbury. I've now made and eaten dinner and semi planned my trip to Bath tomorrow. I just have to look at trains. I'm going to go early and get back late.

I'm now going back to working on my essay. I want it done! I figure I can sleep on the train to Bath and I can sleep all day Wednesday if I like. :)