Waistcoats and wife-beaters.

So far, this trip has been a huge success.

I'm having fun, making friends, seeing sights... I don't feel homesick, I haven't spent all my money, I haven't gotten ill, and even my course is interesting sometimes (when I am not just daydreaming about going to Stonehenge or Oxford Street). But I would say that one of my favorite parts so far has been the plethora of emails and comments and youtube messages I have received from British people giving me lists of things to see or places to check out or food to try - especially the ones who leave out the touristy places or the obvious spots and just tell me quirky stuff or their personal favorite things about this city. One person even told me about a giant maze I could check out if I wanted to perhaps pretend I was a Triwizard champion for an afternoon - YES I do.

I had a very lively, busy week, and even though it's been a blast I am very happy to have a nice quiet weeked at Alex's house. He came and stayed with me at my campus last night which as fun - we went out for Indian food with my friends Sarah, Rehka and Brie and then hung out in my little flat (it's a dorm, I can't help it. Sorry England). This morning we got up and booked train tickets to Edinburgh with the same three girls (where I get to see Eia and meet Liam wooo!) and then we left the University of Greenwich for the weekend.

We hopped on a train, and got out at the Victoria station where Alex tried to show me Google headquarters (that was a very short lived adventure when they turned us down at the front reception desk) but unfazed, we got back on the Tube, excited to get to East Ham so Alex could show me "The Who Shop" (a store that sells everything you could ever want that's Doctor Who themed). We got out at the station, walked across the street, and to our horror, the shop had a big metal thing pulled down over the front, a "For Let" sign hanging on it, and the inside was obviously cleared out.

We had a moment of panic, but then we checked on Alex's phone and apparently it had only moved to Upton Park (one station backwards). So that's where we went and I got to see a life-sized tardis and dalek and bought miniature versions of each. :)

Really silly things kept happening all day and I kept making note of them on my iPod so I wouldn't forget to write about them later, but I've forgotten what they all are so I need to look it up.

Right, so Alex and I got into a conversation that went something like this:
Alex: "That design looks like something that might be on a waistcoat."
Me: "What's a waistcoat?"
Alex: "Kind of like this *shows me a picture*"
Me: "Oh, that's a vest."
Alex: "No, this is vest *shows me another picture*"
Me: "Yeah, that would be a wife-beater."
Alex: *horrified* "What kind of name is a wife-beater???"

I thought that was pretty funny.

Also, we got to Barking station and I leaned over to Alex and said "Did you know this station is haunted?"
He just looked at me, unimpressed with my attempt on educating him about his own country.
"No it's not," he said.
"Yes it is!" I argued back. "They wrote a whole book about it."

I'll let you click the link and work that one out on your own.

I also spent part of the day rating Alex's yawns on a scale of 1-10 and I think he's probably ready for me to go back to America already. xD
I'M HAVING FUN IN LONDON.

That's all for today. I found out there was a Doctor Who film released 1996 (I was 8 years old!) and even though Alex absolutely refuses to watch it, I am going to go work on convincing him for awhile now. I'll let you know tomorrow if I was successful or not. Anyone seen it?