Day 44:

Today was our "London Study" day. We all went to the cabinet war rooms where Churchill and his most important leaders worked, and sometimes lived, during the Blitz on London in WW2. It was from here that he broadcast some of his most well-known speeches to the people of Great Britain and where he kept in correspondance with President Roosevelt. There were living accomodations and offices for Churchill and his wife and many information and military leaders as well as bunks for typists and other employees. It was so interesting!

Danny and I playing the what-happens-if-you-push-this-button game - Mallory got him to make a cool face WITH her..

A lot of people decided to go on the London Eye (I just didn't want to spend the money on it) or the temple (I had kitchen duty tonight and wouldn't make it back in time). So I decided to go to Covent Garden to get tickets for the Chinese acrobatic ballet, but THEY WERE ALL SOLD OUT! Completely! I was bummed, but I wandered around, just enjoying the feeling of being in the wonderful city of London. I ended up getting myself a ticket for a hip-hop/theater show called "Into the Hoods" (a spoof on Into the Woods).

Then I went home and wrote my whole Political Science paper in one sitting... Cha-ching! I had my first day on dinner crew which was really not bad at all. Then I went to "Into the Hoods". Hannah came with me to try and get a ticket, but couldn't so we split up. It was weird being at a show by myself and even weirder getting home by myself (story later). The dancing in the performance was incredible! I am SO glad I went. I have been inspired to get my hip-hop groove on when I get back to P-Town. I happened to come during the couple weeks where 14 year-old George Sampson (?) was in the performance. He just won "Britain's Got Talent" and is thus somewhat the equivalent of David Archuletta, except he's a dancer, not a singer. You can imagine how many young girls were there and what the theatre sounded like each time he came on stage... danced... turned his head... blinked... Out of control!

On the way home I convinced myself not to be nervous because there are people everywhere and so I could always be safe in the crowd. However, my mom has trained me to be a worry-wart and so I couldn't help but be extra up-tight. Well, these two probably drunk guys started talking to me at the tube stop (plenty of people around) about American politics. Go figure. I'm grateful that I even know who the two candidates are, but I really don't know hardly anything else (a fact I am now DETERMINED to remedy). Well, they kept asking me about who I was voting for and why and what I would do if McCain was democrat and if I care more about the figurehead or the party, blah blah blah, and I smiled and tried weasle my way out of answering but they would persist until I just made up stupid answers and then they would ask me why and so I'd have to try and think of another satisfactory answer so they would leave me alone and let me ride home in peace. Well, this of course only added to my tight-strung nerves, but I was so focused on getting away from these two nice, but extremely overbearing guys that I went 3 stations too far and suddenly realized it mid-sentence and said as I ran off the train "Oh no, this is my stop..." I hear them yelling after me, "No its not, don't you want to get a drink and talk some more. This isn't your stop you just don't want to talk to us." I'm convinced I kept hearing them all the way down the hall and throught the throng of people that was moving toward the central line, but I never looked back, and have a feeling I probably just imagined that they followed me off the train. Well I made it, sweating bullets and on the verge of tears, to the correct train, realized they were no where around, and got on all the right trains until I made it home. I realized, once I was sitting peacefully on the RIGHT train, that I was being totally irrational to get so nervous and that I was completely safe and in control of the situation the whole time, I just made a mistake in my unnecessary stress and went a few stations too far. So really all I have to say at the conclusion of this long and unexciting story is "Thanks a lot mom."