my totally British weekend

I checked off quite a few things on my to-do list for London this weekend.  I started off my weekend seeing Carmel, a friend of mine who lives in London and was an exchange student in Richmond last fall.  We went to Westfield, which is apparently the largest shopping mall in all of Europe.  Needless to say, I was in my glory!  There were so many stores that I absolutely loved and I know that I will be making quite a few trips back there this semester!  We also went to the food court for lunch.  Unlike American food courts, this food court didn't serve typical fast food and was very posh.  Everything was served on actual plates with actual silverware.  There were tons of stations, including fish and chips, meat pies, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, etc.  I decided to get a check on my to-do list and order a mince and onion pie with mashed potatoes.  After lunch, it was back to more shopping.  :) Then, after a long and tiring shopping trip, Carmel and I tried to get on the tube (London's underground system) back to her house, but due to a trespasser on the track the line was closed at our station.  We had to take two buses to get to a different tube line to finally get to her house (which is adorable, by the way) nearly 2 hours later.  We were obviously exhausted at this point and decided to take a nap in Carmel's bed, which was a million times more comfortable than the bed in my room.  I fell asleep instantly and we both slept soundly for quite a while, until Carmel's mom came in to wake us up. 



Westfield-- apparently the biggest mall in all of Europe!



After our fabulous nap, we continued checking off my list of British things to do and we went to a local shop to get fish and chips.  The man who worked there put extra salt and vinegar on the chips for us... yum!  We brought the food home to eat with her mom and younger brother, who were both so sweet and friendly.  After dinner, her mom made us a pitcher of pineapple raspberry martinis and the three of us (Carmel, her mom, and I) watched X factor.  After an incredible day and evening, I took the tube back to the East End.  On my way back, some friends texted me to meet them at a pub right near campus.  I finally order my first pint and got yet another check on my to do list. 

Finally, after my long British day, I crawled into bed and had a real night's sleep-- something I hadn't had yet since arriving. 



a proper Sunday roast

I woke up this morning ready and set for another very British day.  My friends and I went to the Globe Theater to see Shakespeare's Henry IV.  Tickets were actually sold out for the earlier performance, so we decided to buy tickets for the later show and to eat a British meal and then see the show.  They found a great pub called the Mudlark right under the London Bridge.  The Mudlark had quite a menu with meat pies, fish pies, and proper Sunday Roast.  As it was a Sunday and as I had already had fish and chips and a meat pie the day before, I decided the only way to top up my British weekend was to have a proper Sunday Roast and a pint of London Pride.  The roast beef was served with potatoes, broccoli, carrots, gravy, and Yorkshire Pudding, which none of us was exactly sure how to eat.  We tried to ask the waitress at the pub, but she was from Poland and not sure either.  I typed it into Wikipedia when I got back and realized that we were actually wrong on what we even thought the Yorkshire pudding was... oops! 









  



London Pride







After our delicious British meal, we made our way a few blocks over to the Globe Theater.  We had Groundling tickets, which meant that just like in Shakespeare's times, we stood on the ground in front of the raised stage.   Although standing for a three hour play was tiring, it would have been better if there was not an intermittent rain (there is no roof to the theater because in Shakespearean times there was no electricity for stage lighting, and the open roof allowed sunlight in).  Once the play had ended, we were all freezing cold and could hardly feel our toes.  Luckily the tube station was nice and warm and after a little incident of one of our friends getting shut out of the tube because she didn't walk on quickly enough, we made it back to Pooley.  I turned the heat up in my room, made a hot cup of tea, and crawled into bed to get a good night's sleep before my first day of classes.

Outside the Globe Theater

Globe Theater stage

there is no roof to the Globe