Michael Goes to London

Well this is awful. I don’t think I can comprehend that I’m actually leaving. Even though I’m going home, I feel like I’m leaving home.

We had a final banquet last night where we gave out superlatives that we all had voted on and we had dinner with the teachers as well as Charlotte. Everyone got dressed up and we had a great time. I don’t have the pictures for this yet, they’re on other cameras. As a group we pitched in a little money each and we got Charlotte flowers, a card, and a gift card to one of her favorite restaurants. Afterwards, we came back to Madison House… for the last time. Many of us hung around in Flat A until around 1 or 2 in the morning, and people slowly trickled off as they had early flights in the morning. That was the last time I saw most of the people here in London.

I could barely sleep last night. I woke up at 6 and kept waking up every 10 minutes after that. I’m not sure why. When I finally got up at 9, almost everyone was gone. The place is empty; Charlotte and some students took down everything yesterday. All the walls are bare. Everything is gone. There’s only about 10 students left here. Some are staying in London a little longer, some are going to Paris, and the rest are going back to the USA. We’re all just finishing packing and cleaning out the flats.

I’ll see some people next weekend, when I visit JMU. I’m really looking forward to that. I’ll meet up with Becca at the beach throughout the summer, Katie, Candice, and I will visit each other’s home towns, I’ll tour DC with Sarah, and I hope to see many other friends back in the States as well. But this is all just so weird. I’ve spent the last 3 months, every single day, with the same 28 people. I’ve seen the same people in the morning when we argued over people taking too long in the bathroom, every day for class in the same classroom, and all over Europe while we traveled together. Every morning when I woke up, on the way out to class I always stopped in Charlotte’s office to talk to her, see Mariah, and usually meet up with my friends for the morning. We complained about the same classes every day, and looked forward to some great classes as well. We were constantly busy, JMU had 90% of our time planned for us, and we were all overwhelmed but having an amazing time together. And now after seeing the same faces every day, there’s only a few left here, and we’re all flying all over Europe and to different locations in America.

I hope to keep in touch with these people for the rest of my life. Being here and traveling all around was incredible, but it was definitely because of everyone in this group that is was as amazing and unforgettable as it was.

Last night Katie, Candice, Meghan and myself went to The Comedy Store in Picadilly Circus. I wish we had known about this place earlier in the semester. It’s very famous and many comedians have gotten their starts there, like Robin Williams. Tickets were only £10 for students.

We arrived at 6:30 for happy hour. We saved seats in the front row. The show started at 8:00. Tuesday nights are “The Cutting Edge” team, which is 5 or 6 comedians that, for the most part, have to make impromptu jokes about topics in the news that the audience shouts out.

Being in the front row, the comedians whose to pick and call on Candice and myself constantly throughout the whole show. There was the two of us plus an Austrian woman and a guy named Greg that sells margarine that they made jokes about for large amount of the show, it was hilarious… especially after Candice’s third Strongbow that she had snuck in. 

The Irish looking comedian had a lot to say to Candice about her and our being american. Also, he asked her what her favorite movie was. She said The Sound of Music. He then asked if she liked Obama. After she said “um” he badgered her saying that that’s why she liked The Sound of Music. They were absolutely hilarious.

The show ended with each comedian singing a song that they had to make up, which the musical comedian played some blues chords. The comedian that picked on me the most sang a song about me, and Greg got a song about himself as well.

It was a great night, we just only wish we had known about how cheap this place was earlier in the semester!

It’s finals week. I’m done with my internship and half my classes are cancelled this week. I had 5 papers to write and I’ve written 4 of them. We just took the Politics final which was significantly easier than I expected. It’s great that this work is almost done, but we’re all dreading leaving London. That’ll be rough. I can’t wait to see New Hope, but I’m not ready to leave here.

Yesterday was a scavenger hunt that Social Committee had planned. People made teams of 3–4 people and they were to try and get as many points as they could throughout the city. The night before there were 4 teams that we knew of, and Flat E was mapping out the whole hunt. The winning team won £10 each to My Old Dutch, a crepe restaurant down the street. We really wanted to win, so Katie, Candice, Meghan, and myself left the house at 10, determined to get the most points. Some of my favorites…

10 points: Running with the cart into Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross Station

We met up with Martie for lunch, where we were able to complete many points. I ate fish and chips in 3 minutes for 20 points, we chugged a pint as a team for 15 points, and Katie kissed and god kissed by a stranger for 15 points each.

15 points: Kiss a stranger.

We struggled to get on top of a lion in Trafalgar Square…

And then 15 points: Planking a lion in Trafalgar Square.

10 points: At 221b Baker Street dressed at Sherlock & Watson

There was 20 bonus points awarded to the team who pets the most dogs.

And 20 more for the team with the most planking pictures…

“I’ll be a stool and you can plank me.” — Candice

The scavenger hunt deadline was to meet at the London Eye at 4:30. Without bonus points, we had already won 175 points. Well, as it turns out all the other teams slept in and we were the only ones that did anything. Nonetheless, there was a lot that I wanted to see in London that I got to that day that I hadn’t yet: the Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park, taking a picture in a phone booth as a team, Platform 9¾. It was a fun day and we each won £10 to My Old Dutch, where we’ll be going tonight for £5 Monday crepes.

Social Committee had planned a London Eye trip for everyone, so about 25 people had met up there for this.

Upon returning to Madison House we watched hours of Downton Abbey.

Last weekend in London. Success.

On Saturday, having finally finished all my essays, I spent the day with Shannon going to the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street and to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The museum was alright. It would have been better if there were less tourists, but it was absolutely packed in this small apartment and there wasn’t much room to walk or look around, let alone take pictures. There was Sherlock’s, Watson’s, and Mrs. Hudson’s rooms as well as the common rooms. They were filled with trinkets from the stories and Watson’s notes from his cases.

From here we went to the top of St. Paul’s. I wanted to go during a CBD outing, but the top was closed due to stair maintenance. However, it reopened on the second and I wanted to go before I left.

It first took you to one landing, the whispering gallery. This is the biggest circle in the dome. You can whisper on one side of the dome and people will here you on the opposite side due to the curve of the wall. After this, you head up another flight to the second landing for a view of London. Finally, you head up more stairs to the very small top for a higher view of London.