Episode 13: How Having No Class Led to Souvenirs

My class was canceled today because my teacher, Anna, is sick. Of course, I didn't know this until I was already awake, but who needs to sleep in anyway? I can do that tomorrow when I don't have class until 2. Anyway, Lyanna came and told me about this and suddenly I had a whole free day looming ahead of me. Since Carlie also didn't have class, I asked if she wanted to do anything. We decided to go to the British Museum.

I took a shower and got to use my blow dryer. It's so tiny! I swear the entire head fits inside one square of my hummingbird quilt. Not even the border around the purple square, but inside that square. And it's very powerful and hot. My hair was dry inside of seven minutes. And I have thick hair. I'm not sure how much it actually helped the oil issue, but it feels marginally better. Now I was ready for the day.

However, before we set out, the cleaning people came by to change the sheets and provide new towels as well as taking out the trash. Now, when they did this last Tuesday, I came back to an emptied garbage and a newly made bed. Today, I guess since I was here, they just left the replacement sheet and duvet cover in the hallway (along with more toilet paper. I swear they must think we pee a lot or something. I haven't even finished one of the two original rolls and now I have two more).

But since they did some heavy duty cleaning in the kitchen (got rid of the ants and cleaned the stickiness from the floor) I guess it's okay they didn't change my sheets. I'm not really that much of a princess (probably). As a side note, while I like the idea of a maid, I'm not sure I could ever have one. I feel like I'm in the way when someone is there to clean for me. Plus, I kind of feel bad for not helping.

So Carlie gave me a hand making my bed. Which was especially helpful because a) the sheet wasn't fitted; you just tucked it under and b) I was unaware that the blanket on my bed was a duvet and would have simply put the cover on my bed thinking that it was rather flat, but oh well. Seriously, I am not a housewife-minded individual. I'm not exactly ready to take care of others. Me, I can deal with what mistakes I make, but, well there's a reason I don't cook Mac and Cheese for Meghan anymore.

Now I have the dilemma of what to do with the old cover, sheet, and pillowcase, as well as the old towels. Right now they're sitting in a pile in my room, but do I throw them away? Do they get cleaned by the university? I'm confused. But they're not exactly in my way, so I guess I'm okay to leave them for now.

After we ate lunch (peanut butter and banana sandwich, yum. And Carlie is totally right: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (and by extension peanut butter and banana sandwiches) just taste better when squished) we walked to the bus stop so we could get to the train station. And for once, the bus showed up right as we were arriving! Yes, it was amazing. And okay, it meant we had to wait for the train when usually we catch the train right as it's about to leave, but still, the wait wasn't too bad.

Then at Waterloo we caught the Northern Line to Tottenham Court Road, which has really pretty mosaics in it (which I actually don't have pictures of). Old, rather abstract mosaics, but pretty ones nonetheless. We escaped and, using Carlie's handy little map which she is very adept at reading, made our way to the British Museum.

Now, later we would find that we hadn't actually entered through the main entrance (believe me, you know when you enter the main entrance; it's quite grand). But our entrance had lions, so I call it an even trade. In any case, we picked up a map and then tried to find the Egyptian section, which had mummies. This meant we climbed about a bazillion stairs. No, seriously, I'm not exaggerating. There were a ton of them.

But the mummies were really cool. They had Cleopatra's mummy which was awesome and they displayed her with the casket box they'd found her in. I find it amazing how much time was spent decorating things that were being buried and would never be seen again. They even had mummified cats there and a mummified fish, which Carlie and I guessed was a meal for the cat in the afterlife.

One of my favorite parts of the Egyptian rooms though, were the Shabti. These were little statues that were placed in or with the sarcophagus that acted as attendants for the deceased in the afterlife. There were a lot of them for each deceased and I don't know why, but I thought they were awesome.

We also went through the Greek and Roman rooms, which were pretty cool. My favorite part of Greece is always going to be the mythology, so I was drawn to the statues of the gods/goddesses and the pottery that depicted mythological scenes. I also really enjoyed a section that was devoted to Pompeii. It wasn't very big, but there were all these artifacts that they'd recovered from or near Pompeii. It was cool. Plus, Julius Caesar's head! Okay, it was made of marble, but still.

After Greece and Rome, we went to Medieval Europe. In which I saw one of the first chess sets! Seriously cool for a chess nerd like me (by the way, I have no clue why I'm so drawn to chessboards. Yes, I like to play every now and then, but I'm not an aficionado or brilliant player). We also saw a lot of the jewelry from that time. Especially the diadems/tiaras. And one other thing I thought was neat were the ceramics that pertained to Greek Mythology. I saw one of Pygmalion and his statue, and another of Leda and the Swan. Cool.

On the way out, we passed through a room about the Enlightenment. It was like a gigantic library with statues and other pieces in it. I found it rather cool. But then again, I always love libraries, of any shape or size. Even if the books in it are particularly ones that I could see myself reading any of the books in it.

We were going to head over to Leicester Square since we both wanted to look for souvenirs and I'd seen a couple shops over there, but lo and behold before us was a souvenir shop called Fancy That London. Quite a neat little place actually. And in one place, it had dragons. Riding motorcycles. This has been your epic moment for today. You're welcome.

So I got a couple things for Mom and Meg and we were headed back to the tube, when I spotted another shop that had a tee shirt I wanted. So we went in, because Carlie is lovely and patient with me. Here, I got something else for Meg and something for Dad, as well as a couple of tee shirts for myself. This shop was manned by Oblivious Insulter, and his friend (who was nice).

Now, Oblivious Insulter at first seems to be an okay guy, if a little, uh, enthusiastic. Carlie thought about getting a sweatshirt, but decided not to and told me she was going to wait outside while my purchases got rung up. I'm not sure how it happened, but Oblivious Insulter tells his friend that the friend "can go with her because she's not beautiful" (***Note, I am not posting this as a pity party moment. I know I am never really going to be considered traditionally stunning. I'm cute in my own way and really it's my quirkyness that draws people in or scares them away, depending on who they are. Just wanted to make sure you know that I don't have a self-image torn to shreds that needs to be repaired now)

I laughed it off, looking at OI (because that's what sort of went through my head, as in Oi, what's wrong with you) and saying "Oh, ow." His friend was a nice guy though. I think. Maybe. God, Mom has made me paranoid. He asked how old I was and if Carlie and I were best friends. They he asked me for my "beautiful signature" on the receipt. See, seems nice, but could actually be a creeper.

Since our need to go to Leicester Square had been negated by the shopping trip outside the museum, Carlie and I headed back to the tube station. Where we walked down The Creepy Spiral Staircase of Ominousness. Most tube stations have an escalator or two you ride down to the bottom where the train is. This one had the shady spiral staircase that went down forever and gave off horror movie vibes.

But we made it safely to the subway car, even snagging a pair of seats (score!) and headed back to Waterloo. Then we got on the train to Surbiton, which didn't make any stops before Surbiton. However, it was packed with people heading home from London. We got lucky and found a pair of seats together, getting back to Surbiton in about fifteen minutes (which is good for a train from London to Surbiton).

But then of course we had to wait FOREVER for the bus back to the dorm. No, I'm serious. Both the K2 and 71 buses (both run by the city as well) came twice before the K3 bus. And then that bus was freakin' packed. The voice that announces the stops kept telling us to move further into the bus when there was nowhere further for us to go. I actually heard the driver tell people the bus was full and no one else could get on. Glad that wasn't me. I'd be ticked after waiting forever.

Got back, ate a sandwich for dinner and chatted with Mom a little on Yahoo. Now, I just have to go upload pictures from the day. And I'm going to have to buy more bread tomorrow before class. Good thing class isn't until 2.

Today's lesson: Nice cute guys can make up for their challenged friends. And don't be a princess, make your own bed. Ciao