The Final Stretch

You know those mornings when you wake up and dread doing whatever you have to do that day? Sunday morning was the first time I’ve woken up with that mindset in London. First task: laundry round 2 at Bobo’s. Long story short (I’m sure you all don’t want to hear me complain), 2 hours later I was back in Courtfield with all my DAMP clothes. Either the washers don’t have a strong enough spin cycle or the dryers are worthless; my guess is as good as yours. I should have followed Carolyn and gone to the full-service place on Gloucester, but I of course was too lazy on a Sunday.
Before I had left, Carolyn had made her way down to the basement, MacBook in hand, determined to write her marketing paper. About an hour after I got back, she had finished! I was incredibly impressed, as no work had been started on my end yet. But a few cups of coffee and a chocolate bar later, I found (some) motivation to create my group’s PowerPoint presentation for International Management. By the time dinner came around, I had pretty much finished. Carolyn and I took a much needed break for a leisurely dinner with flat-mates, hearing about their exciting weekend at Oktoberfest! Then, at 6:45 we had a mission: book fall break! Only 10 days away, we didn’t have our flights or hotel planned and time was ticking; but, an hour later and we were officially passengers of Alitalia! We’re leaving the Tuesday afternoon of break for Florence to visit Brittany and Pam, then taking the train Thursday night to Rome to spend the weekend! I can’t wait to get back to Italy (and eat pasta, pizza, and gelato to my heart’s content!). A little more work (and some more chocolate) rounded out our Sunday night before heading to bed. This last week of classes is not going to be fun!
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Monday morning’s alarm was unwelcomed for three reasons: it was early, it was dreary out, and it was COLD. We’ve been having a heat issue, you could say. And by heat issue I mean it’s like an ice box. We’re not sure what the issue is, but Christine and I both sent in maintenance orders so hopefully the issue is sorted out soon.
Classes were more bearable simply because we knew it was the last week; on the other hand, Carolyn and I both have an extra class on Friday, meaning a total of 20 hours of class, multiple presentations, and a couple of papers in a matter of 5 days. Yikes. This whole “school” thing is a lot more than we bargained for! I, however, did manage to escape South Ken for the afternoon by heading on a field trip with my European Capital Markets class to the City, the financial district of London. We started with a walking tour, seeing the Royal Exchange (the center of commerce founded in 1565), the Lloyds of London building (SO COOL), and standing at the base of the Gerkin. We also got a feel of what the City was like in the olden days, meandering through narrow alleys and hidden courtyards. I think the highlight in everyone’s minds, however, was seeing Leadenhall Market, AKA Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter films!

Leadenhall Market/Diagon Alley!

Bank of England

Our tour ended up at the Bank of England, where we had a lecturer explain the structure and history, followed by a short video and a quick look around the museum. I got to touch one of the gold bars England holds in its reserves: it weighs 28 pounds and (today) was valued at over 330,000 GBP! By 3:30 we were able to head back to Courtfield and start back in on our work. Carolyn had been diligent all afternoon preparing for her advertising presentation tomorrow. We both had dinner with Maggie before I headed out to a group meeting at Harrington. When I returned, I managed to work on my International Management term paper for a couple of hours before calling it an early night. Tomorrow I am going to be VERY productive, I promise!
xo LC