Well, this was my last week of freedom before I have to study for my final exams. On Monday, CEA had organized an outing to go to the House of Parliament. There were only two of us and a guide, so it was very intimate. The House of Parliament is where the bills and laws are passed for the entire country. It's divided in to two houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. If you're interested in learning more about what the two houses do, there's plenty of information on Wikipedia. Anyway, we went into the House of Commons (after a rather long wait) and sat in on a few debates. I thought it was going to be very boring, but it was actually very interested. Especially when Gordon Brown (the Prime Minister) and Alistar Darling (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) came in to the room to speak about how they plan to loan £50M to the banking system to ease the strain on the economy. I really enjoyed it and wanted to stay until that debate was over, but it was getting late and our guide had to leave.
Tuesday was rather interesting too. After work, I went with some of my co-workers for "a night with the dogs" at a Greyhound race track. The poor pups. I wanted them all to win, so it was kind of sad but a little fun at the same time. There were 14 races and I was able to bet up to 9 of them. I had my whole strategy going strong and I was doing well, but the strategy failed and I started to lose, so once my £10 was gone, I was out. It was a nice experience, though. We had a three course meal and a few beverages. The meal wasn't good at all and ended up being the butt of most of the jokes for the night. But it was a really good time and fun to bond with some of those that I work with.
The rest of the week was rather dull. It was Rowan's birthday this weekend and we were SUPPOSE to go to Alton Towers, but Rowan decided he didn't want to go because there wasn't enough interest from some of his other friends, so I ended up missing out on the Wales trip CEA had planned for us. I thought it was going to be better going to Alton Towers (it's a theme park), but ah well. Instead, Dan and I went to the Borough Market... one of the most famous markets in London. At this market, they had a lot of FOOD. Yumm. We went around and tasted a variety of really delicious cheeses and salami's... and had a venison burger for lunch and a delicious brownie for dessert. I'm looking forward to going back there one day.
Before that, we walked along South Bank. It was the first beautiful day of the year and I was able to pop out the Spring dress for the first time. The walk down the South Bank was lovely. It's right along the river and there's lots of buskers and ice cream vendors. This weekend was special because there was a Dutch festival celebrating Queen's Day in Holland. Dan's roommate, Weijer, works for the consulate so he was there working the festival. There was live music and lots of Dutch food, etc. It was a beautiful beautiful day.
Sunday... wasn't so beautiful. It was rainy and a little colder. Ah.
So, I have been making a list of things to expect when traveling to London over the past several weeks. I find the list to be very interesting... as I hope you will too. Since the next month is going to be VERY boring as far is news is concerned (since there won't be any because I will be studying all month for my finals on the 27th), I thought that over the next several weeks, I would list a couple of them in separate installments. Stay tuned for more! And if you haven't seen the pictures from Venice, check them out at www.denisefoy.com.
Until next time...
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