Whoops! I guess I haven't blogged since the U2 concert....Yikes! Well, what has happened in a month?
The last two weeks of August consisted of me going to work and coming home. Nothing too exciting at all. The first two weeks of September however have been crazy busy and utterly fantastic! I think I'll start with the Bank Holiday weekend that was at the end of August. Pretty sure I didn't leave the house until the Monday, but what a day it was!
Started by going to the Notting Hill Carnival. I didn't want to go, but I knew that it was something that you have to do once in your life. It is the second largest street carnival in the world. It's a carribean festival with parades, steel drum bands, jerk chicken and 1,000,000 people over two days. When we got there we had to walk a bit from the tube station and as we went there were tons of boarded up shops. I learned that the people tend to riot so the shop owners have learned their lesson....It was stupid busy and we couldn't get close enough to the parades to see the costumes very well, but I did get a couple of pics and they are on facebook. Just as we finally were able to get to the very front of the crowd to see a parade we got the crappy section of the parade. It was just a few trucks with steel drum on them, and everyone on the trucks were eating lunch....So we just watched a bunch of people eat jerk chicken on the back of a semi....I'm glad I only have to do Carnival once.
After Notting Hill I went to Aimee's for her birthday BBQ. Such a nice night, just a few friends sitting in the garden eating and laughing. So chill and really relaxing. When I got home I was greeted by Eduardo, the giant spider (again, pics on FB) to this day I am greatful that I saw the web before I walked into it. (this hadn't been the case on the previous Thursday or Friday and spent my whole workday convinced I had spidewebs on me) HUGE spider across my front door and have been fighting with him daily every since. I now take a stick from the hedges and wave it up and down until I get to the end of my walk. The neighbours must think I'm bonkers!
Fast forward to the next Friday. I had my first outing with the students. We took 100 students on the tube (for some it was their first time, so it was.....interesting) to Tower Hill to go on a Jack the Ripper Walk. Over all fairly successful, definately choatic, but I didn't lose anyone....I think. One girl almost passed out (from the combination of gruesomeness, jet lag and dehydration I think) so I missed a lot of the tour as I was going back and forth between our three groups after that to make sure that no one else fainted. Had a night in the college bar afterwards which was a great success. Really busy, and now the bar manager loves me and tells me to bring more students down all the time.
The entire first week of September was crazy busy at work (actually the entire month so far). We had most of the students arrive by Monday and all last week was the Fresher's Fair, so lots of new faces, events and parties! Wednesday night they had a party on campus to welcome all the new students and as I would be encouraging students to go on trips and buy tickets to events I had to be there....Well, I accidentally got drunk (I was only going to stay for an hour, but one of the RA's convinced me to sleep in her dorm room so all restraint went out the window!) and at the end of the night (11 pm) I was talking with my boss about the afterparty at a nightclub. He asked me if I was going and I told him that I didn't think so as the cover charge was £20 (which is something that I defiantely cannot afford) and I had to work at 10am the next morning. He replied, well take the 20 quid out of petty cash and come in at noon. I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!
So two RAs, a German student and I went down to this club, but it was so packed they weren't letting anyone else in, we stood there for an hour then decided to just go home. Actually this is the point that the RA (the lovely Karen - girl from Lebanon) suggested I sleep at hers, so I really did get accidentally drunk.....
Saturday was my first day trip, again with 100 students, to Bath. What a beautiful town! I had a lovely time, but was anxious to get back to London because Mama Kat arrived just as I was departing the college. I did have a wonderful time hanging out with the RA that came along (Solvi - boy from Iceland). But the best part of my day was going to see my Mama!
So now my Mom is here until October 1 and we have lots of great stuff planned. We walked a little bit around central London on Sunday (saw Big Ben, Parliment, the eye and the inside of a pub) then went to Windsor yesterday and had a really great day. Today we are going to Buckingham Palace, taking a bus tour that Liz and I took and then having tea at the Dorchester. So excited for tea!!!
That's pretty much all the exciting bits from the last little while....oh, except for getting violated on the tube twice in one week. The first time some creepy guy was pushing his erection into my thigh during rush hour and then a couple of days later there was a guy that kept pressing against me fully and when I told him to stop it, he called me a bitch. Hooray for public transport.
Sorry it's been so long! I'll try to update a bit more frequently!!
