Oxford and everything since July 4

So, on July 4, I did the British thing. Ignored the fact that it was July 4. I went to work (bitter because I knew all my friends back home were sleeping in and getting ready to bar-b-q for the evening. It definitely made me feel pretty homesick. It was nice, though, because my boss at Bell Pottinger sent all of the interns from the U.S. (there are 4 of us in the office) an e-mail wishing us a Happy 4th. I thought it was sweet of him. But, apparently some people in Britain decided that July 4 was a day to be down right mean to every American they came across...lucky me. On my way home from work, I apparently was not walking fast enough and got pushed into a light pole by some person. Not hard or anything, just kinda shoved out of the way. After I got home (obviously pissed), Jessica and I went to Waitrose to get some stuff for a spaghetti dinner and a bottle of champagne to celebrate the 4th and the fact that Jessica's internship sucks. While I was warming up the disgusting oven, our kitchen started to fill with smoke. There is so much crap burnt on to the sides and bottom of our oven that it smokes when heated. Quite annoying. So, instead, I made our garlic bread in the toaster--it was classy. Jessica, Jason, Lauren and I ate dinner while ranting about the various things in our internships and this trip that were pissing us off. We spent a lot of time laughing about it though, which probably helped our moods. Jessica, Rachel and I topped off the night by sitting around in our room and finishing off the bottle of nasty champagne.

July 5, marked 1 year until JR & I get married. YAY!!!!!!! I spend the day giddy as anything at work (and counting down to the end of the day) and then came home to talk to JR. We were able to talk for a little while, but then I had yet ANOTHER meeting to go to (I really hate meetings killing my evenings) and then went out to celebrate the 1 year mark with a good ol' hen night at a pub called Babushka's. It was nice. I spent too much and drank too much (lesson learned, never doing it AGAIN), but it was fun to have a night out with my friends in London.

On Friday (July 6), our group toured the Tower of London. It is definitely made up of more than a tower, but it was pretty awesome. During the tour (which was way too many people for one man's voice to reach), another tourist started to cuss at me for responding to questions that my chaperone was asking me about my cell phone. Britt came to my defense and began to basically kill the guy with kindness. She couldn't believe that the man just turned at me and started to cuss me out when I was being polite and responding to Britt's questions. And secondly, I wasn't even talking over the guy, he was finished saying the important things. The man apparently woke up with his panties in a bunch that morning. After the tour, we went to look at the crown jewels--which are AMAZING! I cannot believe the royals (past and present) have so many jewels that they wear! Honestly! I think one plate in the vault could buy the state of West Virginia! Afterwards, we went over to Piccadilly Circus to do some shopping and then over to Trafalgar Square for the first-ever Opening Ceremony for the Tour de France in London. It was amazing. We did not realize how many people were there until we left (after seeing and cheering on Team Discovery Channel of course). It was amazing.

Yesterday was our trip to Oxford. We spent the day wandering around the city and the various colleges that make up Oxford. I had previously thought that Oxford was only one, big, prestigious university. Turns out that it is actually made up of all these small colleges around the city of Oxford. It was a lonnnnnnng day. The city is nice. There are a lot of things to see. Harry Potter fans be jealous--I have been to Hogwarts. I have walked through the Great Hall. I have walked the same stairs as Harry Potter. Okay, so I didn't walk the EXACT same stairs...I walked through the places that inspired the locations in the movie. Its still awesome. That place, in case you were wondering, is Christ Church. It is a college and cathedral in Oxford and home to the largest quad in Oxford. Its really pretty. After walking around for the tour, we tried to go to lunch at The Eagle and Child pub, which is the place where J.R.R. Tolkien (genius behind the Lord of the Rings) and C.S. Lewis (genius behind The Chronicles of Narnia) met and discussed their work. Pretty awesome, huh? Well, it turns out that the place is pretty popular, so we couldn't eat there, but we did get to go in and have a look around. We went to lunch at a pub called O'Neils, where I was carded for being under 21 TO EAT. I couldn't understand that. I finally got up the guts to try the world famous Fish and Chips, which was really, really good. And I definitely got my money's worth of fish--I think they went for the largest piece they could find for me. After we ate, we walked around Oxford more and did a little bit more sightseeing. We tried to go up into the tower at the cathedral to see the view from up there, but there was a really long wait. Instead, we went to a couple of shops and to a museum that holds the blackboard where Einstein explained his theory of relativity.

After we got back to London, Eric, Jessica and I booked it over to the world's largest Apple store at Oxford Circus to get a new power adapter for Jessica's computer. On Friday night, the adapter started to smoke and spark and, essentially, died. She was REAL happy. And, on top of that, the IES dorm restricts what websites we can go to and so we could not look up the Apple website on my computer to see about a replacement. So. Jessica put in an emergency call to her mom, who was able to find out all the information we needed to know. We got to the Apple store before closing and Jessica was able to order the part that she needed. In the meantime, she had to buy a new adapter to use and bring that back to Chelsea with her since the part wouldn't be in for 7-10 days. But the good thing is that she can return the adapter she bought when the replacement part comes in and get a full refund for her money.

Once we left the Apple store, Jessica and I were craving Chinese food, so we made our way through Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square over to Chinatown. It wasn't all that great. The food we got was good for the price and tasted good at the time, but after it started to digest....well, lets just say I still don't feel too hot from it. We decided that that place is NOT the place to eat again. When we went to take the Tubes home, the Piccadilly line was backed up for some reason, so we decided to go around and take the Northern and District lines home. Later on, Eric came up and told us that there apparently was yet ANOTHER suspicious package left in the tubes and so the Piccadilly line had limited service. I was GLAD that Jessica and I went around.

Today is our first truly free day we've had since we arrived in London. Jessica and I took advantage of the day by sleeping in first of all. After we woke up, we got a few groceries and I made stir-fry and rice for her, myself and Eric. It actually turned out pretty well. We have spent the day relaxing and updating our pictures and blogs. Tonight, the group is going out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant near the apartment--I'm not turning down a free meal. I plan to spend the rest of the day getting caught up on some things and maybe getting a little laundry done after dinner tonight.