The Third Week

Day 20 (Saturday) Electonic Meltdown Avoided

Actually, since before departure for London, I had been experiecing some strange problems with popups and freezes on my laptop. The beginning of the week brought about the complete failure of my Villanova Dell, also known as Lappy - yes, I name my laptops. While hanging with the guys in flat 13, the screen went blank and things started blinking. Not a good sign at all.

Thank goodness for UNIT and Villanova’s TechZone. They answered my e-mail plea for help almost instantly (considering the time delay) and deduced that the problem was my battery and A/C adapter. I sent them my address and help was on the way! They told me that everything I would need to fix my “baby” should arrive in London in 2-3 days. Problem #1 was solved.

Little did I know that problem #2 was just beyond the horizon. Before my battery and adapter could arrive, my beloved ipod, Metatron - yes, I also name my ipods - broke down. After a hard reset of the device also failed, I looked up the nearest Apple Store, not so conveniently located we determined, on Regent Street. I made an appointment with the Apple Genius Bar, hoping that they could resurrect the now lifeless, pink treasure chest of musicality.


In pursit of the actual location, we accidentally found another Muji. For those of you new to this blog, Muji is a store similar to Ikea that is frequented one of my favorite people, Alan Rickman. Unlike the one I found on my second day here in London, this store was open and I took the opportunity to take a look inside. I knew that I would buy something there, even if it was just a way to get the bag, but I had no idea I would find so many cool things in the store. After a good twenty minutes of browsing, I left with a Vanilla Spice candle and the promise of returning to check out the store more later.

Later that night, Andrew and Tuche accompanied me on our return trip to the Apple Store for moral support should my ipod be beyond saving. Unfortunately, that was the news we received. Thankfully, the Apple rep ignored the fact that my warranty had just lapsed. He replaced Metatron with a new pink model and even threw in a 90 day warranty. Needless to say I was thrilled. Tuche has loaned me his music library, and when I get back to the States, I'll be able to recover most all of my favorite tunes. Welcome my new ipod, Jamie, into the world! Thank you tech support! Thank you Regent Street Apple! Thank you Andrew and Tuche.

Day 19 (Friday) The Magnificence of St. Paul's

After a wonderful morning sleeping in, and no classes, a group of us headed out to tour Saint Paul’s Cathedral, one of the sights that I had been looking forward to the most. We had already been given time to look at the magnificent exterior during our walking tour of London two weeks ago, so I couldn’t wait to explore the interior of the space.

The moment we walked into the church, I was amazed by its beauty, especially the mosaics that decorated the ceilings. While my fellow group mates made a mad dash for the stairs that led to the upper levels of the dome, I took my time at ground level, savoring the unique styles of the paintings and sculptures around the main altar. After walking around the church for about half an hour, putting my art history knowledge to good use and feeling as though my neck were about to fall off from the constant gaze skyward, I embarked on the steep climb to the whispering gallery of the dome.

The trek up the spiral staircase was somewhere around 375 steps and incredibly disorienting, but the view from the top was absolutely worthwhile. Not only could I get a closer look at the large statues that seemed rather miniscule from the ground, but I was able to view the church from a whole new perspective. I’d never had an opportunity like that, and I found it incredibly peaceful. I’ve always learned that churches of this time period were built with such impressive domes as to force a person’s eyes towards heaven and be reminded of God’s glory, but actually being there was something entirely new.

Although there were people up there around me, the quietness and solitude of just being that high up in the building really heightened my senses and enriched the experience. I could have stayed in that church forever, exploring every nook and cranny it had to offer, but we had plans to go dancing that night, and I had to get ready.

After having a blast getting ready with Krista while belting one of our favorite Katy Perry songs, Waking Up in Vegas, the group headed out to Imperial College to take advantage of their dance hall. It was just like the high school dances I had loved back at Notre Dame, but this time with strobe lights and bouts of European techno. Of course pop classics such as Britney Spears and The Spice Girls were played, which only boosted our already skyrocketing energy levels. After dancing non-stop for what must have been at least three hours, we made our way back to the flats, completely exhausted but having possibly the most fun we’ve had as a group since arriving in London. What a great way to start the weekend! To say more wouldn't be right.

Day 18: (Thursday) Sharing a Feast

Well, tonight night was our big collaborative dinner for the guys in flat 13. Between Amanda’s chicken parmesan, my mac and cheese, a fruit course from Jen, Dennis’ garlic bread, and Abby’s Oreo truffles, we had a huge feast for twelve, which we all devoured in what seemed to be a matter of mere seconds. After playing several hours worth of catch phrase we got to sleep late, feeling quite overfed, but tomorrow would take of this soon enough.


Unbeknownst to us we had planned a "fun filled" but strenuous day of exercise, so to speak, to take of the extra calories we had consumed.

Day 16: (Tuesday) Obama In Wax and at the Whitehouse

Today is Inauguration Day back in the old U-S of A, and even England is making a huge deal out of it. To celebrate the day and its newest wax figure, President Obama, Madame Tussaud’s was offering free admission to all Americans. Needless to say, it seemed as though every American in London was there! Fortunately I didn’t have to wait too long in line with Krista and Tuche, and before we knew it we were face to face with stars like Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp, two of my personal favorites. We were struck by how realistic the wax figures were, and were occasionally even creeped out by them.

As we got more comfortable with the figures we took more and more pictures, making our way through rooms of movie stars (Sean Connery to Alfred Hitchcock), sports legends (Tiger Woods to Lance Armstrong), the royal family, historical figures (Charles Dickens to Pope John Paul II), musicians (Christina Aguilera to Jimi Hendrix), and contemporary world leaders (Bush to Kennedy).

After reaching the “oval office” with the new Obama figure, we opted to snap some pictures ourselves instead of waiting in the incredibly long line to actually get in a picture with him. The line to take pictures "with" the Royal Family was surprisingly short, and many in our group took advantage.

We continued through the exhibit and became slightly anxious when we found ourselves going down a very dungeon-esque staircase with the sounds of heart beats coming from behind the walls. We ended up in a very dark chamber with wax models representing various methods of torture and execution. Very spooky. When we were all thoroughly freaked out, we were told that we had to make a choice between the scary or normal way to enter the next part of the tour.

Being teenagers with under developed frontal lobes, we chose the scarier option of the two. As we waiting to be shown through, and actor who was clearly from the realm of the undead set some ground rules for our “journey”. First, it was going to be completely dark except for some strobe lights. Creepy setting? Check. Second, the people in the exhibit were real actors and we were not to touch them. In return we were told they would not touch us, no matter how close to us they got. Absolutely petrifying and vague promise of a terrifying experience? Check.

With those parting words and a final menacing cackle, we were pushed into darkness, where Krista immediately took hold of my hand. I certainly am fortunate to have built up a better tolerance for horror since my childhood when I was scared of almost anything even related to Halloween! As we walked through the darkened corridors, undead actors came out from nowhere and got right next to our faces growling at and talking to us. Krista made the unfortunate mistake of saying “hi” to the first actor that appeared, who proceeded to follow her for the next minute. Good thing I was standing behind her! Soon enough an actor came up to me, clearly noticing that I wasn’t freaking out.

After asking me the now famous question “why so serious?”, he growled and went on to terrorize his next victim. As we neared the exit, I noticed what appeared to be a wax figure standing nearby the door, although I had the sneaking suspicion the “figure” was about to come to life at any moment. Sure enough, he lunged forward snarling at us as we exited into the next part of the “hall of horrors”, which featured a life size guillotine.

We went through the final room, demonstrating how the wax figures were created before heading out of the museum and back to our flat to watch the Obama inauguration. We were thrilled to share in this momentous occasion in American history even from our new London home. All in all, it was a great inauguration day. Congratulations President Obama.