midterms already??

this is me not doing my midterm papers or studying for my midterm exams. and realizing that its almost halfway through the semester? what? i leave thursday for fall break - barcelona, venice, florence, rome, athens, and santorini. 10 days and i'll be home on halloween! seriously cannot wait. i've been having a lot of fun in london the past two weekends though. well, lets be honest, weekdays too. here's what has happened in the life of laura since my last post, sorry its a lot...

- sat 2/10: daytrip to greenwich with alex. went to the market, saw the prime meridian line, explored the town a little, and walked around the set of pirates of the caribbean 4 while it was being filmed.

- sat 2/10: went out to find a club in the east end during a torrential downpour
- wed 6/10: saw JERSEY BOYS with alex, jed, and sam. sam and i had seen it before, but we all went crazy the entire show, it was fantastic. we went last minute for student rush tickets and they gave us a box! great view, bottle of wine at intermission, and of course the necessary dance party after the curtain call.
- thur 7/10: lunch in chinatown with the girls + jed. also went back to a store we had found that has a small section of american food you cant find here: jiff peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, poptarts, all sorts of cereal, goldfish, oreos, m&ms, etc etc. it is glorious, but so so expensive. the only thing i spent money on was precious root beer. if only it were ibc.

- thur 7/10: ICE BAR LONDON. sooooo cold, but so worth it. literally a room and bar made of ice, even the glasses for our colorful drinks. the robes were probably the best part though, we need them for syracuse.





- fri 8/10: friday SU trip to dover castle and dungeness. dover castle was fun to explore, with a great view of the city and shoreline below. it was such a beautiful day too. the wartime tunnels were creepy but also fun to explore - i love that kind of stuff. i was obviously the one wandering into dark corridors just to see where it might have gone. also, i was really determined to find a secret passageway. i could only find a few sealed-off doors. after the castle, the bus took us to dungeness, which is england's only desert. really not that exciting, other than the world's smallest public railway.

- fri 8/10: sports cafe for the phillies game. a very touristy, american bar in london. i was one of a few rooting for cinci. gotta rep my state! played and won a game of pool. there was a dance floor too, but there no one else wanted to dance.
- sun 10/10: east end markets with alex for lunch and some vintage shopping.
- tue 12/10: sports cafe again. this time we danced. also had to wake up super early for class the next day. so bad, but oh so good.
- thur 14/10: los locos restaurant in covent garden for emily's birthday! great group of people there were so many of us there splitting cocktail pitchers and conversing over our mexican dinners. most people went out to oneills after, but some of us were a little too tired.

- fri 15/10: friday SU trip to canterbury and leeds castle. the cathedral and town of canterbury were very very similar to salisbury. i feel like once i see one cathedral i've seen them all. however, this one is where king henry IV was buried and where thomas becket was murdered. i felt like i should have known so much more about the town and history from reading canterbury tales but, big surprise, laura doesn't remember anything she reads. oh well. leeds castle is known for its beauty, rightfully so. the castle itself was very different than dover, it was a tour of a home rather than where battles were fought, so it was much more pretty, but less fun. the rest of the area there made up for it though. there was a maze that reminded all of us of harry potter, which ended at a tower in the middle so you can laugh at everyone who is still lost. there was an aviary, which was hilarious because alex hates birds. and to top it all off, there were peacocks wandering around everywhere.

- fri 15/10: out for some quality food and drink with friends. the court never lets us down.
- sat 16/10: pasta dinner and power hour hosted nextdoor with a ton of friends here and some from the madrid program. never again.

which brings us to today. i have 2 exams and 2 papers due all on wednesday. too bad i started watching madmen from the beginning and im already half-way through the second season. also trying to stay caught up on all my other shows (house, lie to me, greys anatomy, desperate housewives, glee), watching everything online serves as great procrastination. so does blogging, obviously. im the biggest (and best) procrastinator i know, but i think it may be time to really get started.