Changing of the guard woes

So since I last wrote I took a cruise on the Thames and had a wonderful time. It was a great farewell from the Study Abroad Office, Jen, Philip, and Alison were all there, and Jen of course was in party mode. Philip's eyes widened a few times at Jen dancing... hehe. Love Jen. The tour went up past Hampton Court Palace, and past it for about an hour, turned around, and then went past Teddington, and then turned around. Good times.

Of course the next morning came really early. I was up around 9am for some reason, and I decided I might as well get up. Elyse and her cousin Jen were going into London, and to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham. It's at 11:30am, so I got there around 11am. UM with the amount of people there I was sure the Queen was going to make an appearance. It was insane. I called Elyse, and asked where she was, and we played the fun game of trying to find each other. We did, of course, and it wasn't hard. They were pretty close to the gates. They were amused to see me, who gets up at 9am on a Saturday???

Anyway so the Changing of the Guard on Saturdays has a band! The guards and band march up from some street, or maybe from another the Palace, not sure, and they march into the gates, do a few songs, come out, go around the gates, go back in, and repeat. It's basically so everyone can see them... I guess. But when we could see the guards, Elyse, Jen and I basically got molested. Someone had their arms around Elyse's head to take a picture, someone was using my shoulder as a camera stand... argh. It was pretty annoying. And of course being me, very annoyed, I said, "They don't even have the coolest guard uniforms... Athens wins there." I got a few looks for that, but it's true. Yeah the black hats are funny as anything, but the Athens guards are in skirts, funny hats and puffs on their shoes. They win. Elyse recorded a few of the songs that the band played, but then the two of us couldn't handle it any longer, so we got out, and retreated to Green Park to wait for Jen. We sat on a wall, and just talked. It was cool.

When Jen joined us, we went over to Westminster, and she went into the Abbey. Elyse and I went into a pub to wait for her. We got some chips... it was really cool. Elyse and I haven''t hung out that much, so it was nice just to sit and talk.

When Jen joined us, we got lunch, and it was sooo good. Just a BLT, but it was yummy. After that, I took her on the touristy tour of London: Downing Street, Horse Guard Academy, Trafalgar Square, Pic, Leicester Square, and some of Soho. I showed her Chinastreet. After that Jen asked if we could go to Abbey Road. ARGH. She mentioned this during lunch, and I had texted Jenna to see where it was. I had a feeling it was up by St. Johns Wood, but my level of caring was pretty low.

So we went up to St. Johns Wood... and it was pretty easy to get there. We were looking for it, and I saw this wall with a lot of writing on it, and I thought 'um... this might be it'. For a second, I looked at Abbey Road Studios, and I thought 'hey the last shot of Lord of the Rings was shot here, and Gladiator was scored here'. I cared for a little bit, but then good feeling was gone. Jen and Elyse did the walk, Elyse almost was dragged, and I refused to do it. There was a bunch of guys sitting on the wall by the crosswalk, and I'm sure they sit there all the time, and just laugh at tourists.

After that, I went home. Elyse and Jen were going to Harrods, but that was out of my way, so we went our separate ways. Actually, we went on the Underground together until Green Park, and then we separated. I took the train to Surbiton, and then the bus to the Wick. I love doing that, I think it's about the same time, but I like the switch between the train and the bus. On the bus, I always sit on the top in the front seat... it has my name on it. All 281 buses have my name on my seat.

Sunday I started studying for my Global English test. Fun times. On Tuesday, I redid my myspace page instead of studying, and it looks amazing. For the Boosh fans out there, they love it, for those who have seen the Boosh they think it's over done. It's amazing. But I will have you know, that I think I aced the exam, it was actually somewhat easy, and half of what I studied, I didn't need. That is why I hate tests... give me a paper.

Tomorrow I start working on my Children's Literature paper again. I started a week or two ago, but had to give up, so I could concentrate on the exam.

Oh well, it's about midnight, I should get going, I have to clean the floor.