London Calling

See what I just did there?

Anyway.

You know how a lot of times I start out a post by apologizing for falling behind on blogging? It's kind of like, with each passing day that I don't post about something that happened, I feel this looming presence ticking off the days that I continue to drop the ball. Well, I found the source of my discomfort.

FACEBOOK. It's like living in a perpetual pressure cooker.

So here's what happened to me eleven days ago. Actually it was ten days ago. On Saturday July 21, I went to London for one of the official day trips put on by the program. I spent the day with Kelsey, Jenessa, and Taylor. We just hoofed it all over town and checked some sights off the list. What list? This list:

• British Museum
• Trafalgar Square
• Buckingham Palace
• Westminster Abbey
• Parliament/ Big Ben
• Globe Theater: Richard III
• Misery. All alone in the moonlight. 
• Walking all day + groundling/ peasant tickets (meaning two hours of standing) + my general indifference to Shakespeare => exiting the theater at intermission. I feel like I got as much of the experience as I needed to.

Perfect Moments

Do you ever have those perfect moments? When you are just at peace with everything and everybody and if time froze right then you'd be perfectly content? Well that happens pretty often around here, and I think two of them in particular are worth mentioning. 

Oh by the way, Jimi Hendrix used to shop here.

1) I grew up playing the piano and the trumpet, so band was a big part of my life for awhile. Concert band, marching band, jazz band, you name it. Some of my dearest friends were in band as well, and we all had about as much fun as any middle/ high school age kids can have. Hayley played the saxophone (several varieties), and Kelsey played percussion. And as much as I loved my trumpet, I was always a little jealous of Kelsey, and I have always entertained fantasies of being a drummer in a band. So when I was walking through London last Saturday and I passed by this great little music shop, I thought - how cool would it be to get a pair of drumsticks in London and finally pursue my dream of becoming a drummer? So I did. Hats off to Kelsey (trifecta Kelsey, not band Kelsey), for the encouragement. Since then I've been playing a little bit in one of the music practice rooms at King's College. It's bliss. 

2) After I got my souvenir, we went in to this little book shop where Kelsey found a hymnal from 1927. It had some really great stuff in it, so she bought it. Later, while at Green Park by Buckingham Palace, the four of us sat for awhile and read some of the verses from the hymnal. It was a nice time. You can read her blog if you want to taste some of those words. 

And if case you're feeling picture starved, here's a few to tide you over. 

Thizzin with Easter Island.

Channeling the gift of tongues with the Rosetta Stone.

That guy.

I was greeted by this sight after I left the Globe at intermission.
Obvs it was the right choice.

Onward and upward.