This was a really fun week. It started off a bit stressful with an exam, but ended really well. Monday we had our human pathology spotter test. We didn't really know what to expect, but we did expect more description of actual bones and less knowledge of what organisms cause diseases. So I think I passed, but I don't think it will be me best test ever. It is over though, and that's what is great! Then Monday night my friend made us apple pie. She makes pretty much the greatest apple pie ever and was suppose to make it for Easter dinner, but decided to go home, so she made it on Monday instead and it was delicious as usual. And it gave us a chance to all hang out without stress before everyone started leaving for home.
Tuesday we had our very last class for our master's degree. That seems ridiculous as I don't feel like I know nearly enough to be half done. After class I came home and me and Danielle went looking for hams to cook for Easter dinner. They have stuff called gammon here, which looks kind of like ham, but isn't exactly right. We really wanted the bone-in ham that you find in the US, but couldn't find it in two different stores, so we finally ended up with some gammons with less fat around the outside. And we found a cool recipe where you boil them in Coca Cola so we're going to try that. The recipe also told us that gammon is uncooked meat and ham is what it becomes after you cook it. Interesting I guess... For dinner on Tuesday most of my classmates and I went out for dinner to celebrate being finished. We went to an Indian place that one of my classmates always raves about. It was good, but not as mind-blowing as he always describes it. Then me and Stine got a ride home, which was nice because the bus there didn't run after 7 so we would have had to get a cab.
Wednesday I did pretty much nothing of use. I went to McDonald's for lunch with some friends because I had been craving it. Then I attempted to get some work done for my dissertation, but didn't get very far. Then I met some friends for dinner at KFC and then we went to see How to Train Your Dragon. It was AWESOME!! I recommend that you see it. After that we came home and I had to pack for our trip to London the next day.
Thursday I had to get up really early because we had to catch a bus to school at 6:15 to get to school for 6:45 which was when the buses were suppose to leave for our field trip to London. Of course they didn't leave anywhere near on time, but we got there in plenty of time. We were going on a field trip for our human anatomy class to the Hunterian and Wellcome anatomy museums at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. The Hunterian museum is made up of the comparative collection of John Hunter, who was a surgeon in the late 1700s. He collected human and animal specimens and preserved them in jars or kept there bones. It was a huge collection and was apparently bigger until part of it was destroyed in the bombings during WWII. I always find it weird to think about how scary WWII must have been here with the actual threat of being killed hanging over your head all the time. You see little signs of that everywhere and when you read descriptions of things it sometimes mentions it. Very different from the US where it's just there in history, but you don't really feel it in your day to day life. Anyway, it was cool to see the animal specimens with the human specimens so you could see how they were alike and different. There was also a giant human skeleton that was 7'7" I believe. Crazy. The Wellcome museum was less cool as it was only human stuff and a lot of it was soft tissue. Some of it was very neat to look at, but it wasn't particularly relevant to me, so it was more just browsing around. For lunch we walked down the street to a Dutch pancake place. (crepes, basically) I figured it wouldn't be anywhere near filling, but I couldn't even finish the whole thing. It was really good though. I had pepperoni, chorizo and cheese. It was kind of like a thin pizza.
After we were finished at the museums me, Stine and Melissa stayed behind. We got a cab and headed to me and Stine's hotel. We were suppose to be sharing a room, but they had had some sort of mix up so we each got our own rooms. That was nice, but they were the smallest rooms in the history of the world :) They were pretty comfy though. We hung out there for awhile and then headed out for dinner. We had a reservation at a Brazilian BBQ place for 7, but we were pretty early. They gave us a table though and we got drinks. Melissa's friend was meeting us for dinner but wasn't going to get there until after 7 because he was at work. So we vowed just to get some salad and eat slowly, but it's an all you can eat place where they bring different cuts of mean on skewers to your table and cut pieces off for you. So at first we turned them away, but eventually we couldn't resist and just started eating. So by the time he got there, we had eaten quite a bit. But he caught up. It was delicious. We were there for probably about 4 hours and then headed down the street to a bar. We got some drinks there and then finally headed back to the hotel about midnight. It was a really fun night out.
Friday me and Stine got up around 8 and then got breakfast in the hotel. Just rolls with butter and jelly and coffee, but it was free, so it was fine. We decided to head to Camden to look around the market there since it wasn't raining. We got tube tickets and headed out. We weren't super early, but early enough that not everyone had all of their stuff set up yet. Stine wanted a dress at one booth and the guy was talking to us about it. Then he asked where we were from and when I said the US he said that he always wanted to marry an American girl, so he would give Stine the dress and he would keep me. Not bad, 10am and already a marriage proposal :) We kept wandering and I tried on a coat, but didn't love it so I didn't get it. The market was really cool though because it is built in old horse stables and an old train station I think. It is a very cool area. When we were on our way out of the market and heading for lunch we had to cross a bridge over a river. We'd crossed it on the way in and saw some old locks. I had figured they were no longer used, but on the way back there were boats in them being raised. I made Stine stand in the rain with me and watch them work. They were old, so people had to push the gates open and shut and then turn a level to let water into the lock to raise the boats. Then they had to open the gates again to let the boats out. It took a long time for as small as the locks were, but it was so cool to see them in action in real life! I took a whole bunch of pictures of it.
For lunch we went to a Sushi restaurant. It was cool because they had raised the floor so you sat on the floor on a cushion, but your feet hung down under the table as if you were sitting on a chair. But it looked like you were just sitting on the floor eating. Now, I am not a fan of fish so I got a Bento of chicken teryaki and tempura shrimp. But it came with some salmon sushi rolls. So I tried them and they weren't too bad. I think it's more the idea of sushi that I don't like because I would eat one and think, "that isn't too bad" but when it came to putting the next one in my mouth, I would hesitate and think, "I don't know, I don't really like fish..." So yeah, it was interesting and I'm glad I tried it. After lunch we headed down to the Thames to sight see. We thought about going on the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel that lets you see the whole city, but it was expensive, Stine doesn't like heights and the line was really long. So we wandered around the city instead. As we were walking the strap of my purse broke. Luckily I felt it fall and caught it. But that sucked. So I had to just carry it around the rest of the day.
We were pretty beat after all the walking so we headed back to our hotel to rest for a bit before dinner and going out. I actually fell asleep and didn't wake up until about 8:30 or 9. So we decided to go find some food and have an early night. Stine had a flight the next morning at 9, so she was going to have to be up early to get to the airport. We found a Lebanese restaurant that was delicious. The only problem was that their door didn't close properly so every time someone went in or out the door wouldn't shut and a breeze would come in and we would freeze. We stayed there for a long time though and didn't get home until about 12.
Saturday I had a coach booked for 1 so I got breakfast at the hotel, checked out and then went to the mall down the road for awhile. Then I had to find my way by tube to the bus station. This would have been easy, but one of the lines wasn't running so I had to take a different one that required changing trains partway through my journey. I got there with plenty of time though. When I got back to Poole I went to the store with Danielle to get the last of our ingredients for Easter dinner since the stores aren't open today. Then we had Thai food for dinner. We also watched the new Doctor Who!! It was so great. I love that show. We also started looking for a hotel to stay in when we go to Edinburgh at the end of break.
Today we are having Easter dinner for all the people who didn't go home. Me and Danielle are cooking two hams and I'm making green bean casserole. Everyone else is suppose to bring a dish as well. So it should be good. So I suppose that's all. Here is the link to the pics. Talk to you soon and Happy Easter!!
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