London: 2 S Club: 0

Night two in London was one for the books. After sharing a delightful dinner (that we made... see mom, I told you we'd cook), we departed for the streets of London. The men of the group had desperately wanted to go to the carnival in Notting Hill, but somehow we managed to convince them that we should probably try to expand on the S Club by meeting some of the people in our program. So we went to the Imperial College pub where BU was putting on a quiz night. Chelsey, Ally and I were quite delighted to have our first taste of snakebite which I believe is a combination of foster's, starbraman (sp?), and grenadine. It was REALLY good, I promise. The S Club did in fact succeed in making new friends, but they weren't exactly from our program. They were in fact native Londoner's in many forms. First was a group of students who are about the same age as us (they're the ones in the picture). I'd have to say, they were a very... motley crew. However, we had great conversations with them because they were equally curious about American culture as we were about British culture. They even told us that they loved our accents, which I personally think is ridiculous considering that we sound like whining donkeys in comparison to them. However, they said we sound 'cool' and even practiced their American accents by trying a few different phrases for them. They also taught us some of the British slang, which for the sake of those who read this blog that did not graduate from college in the 21st century, I'll be keeping those to myself (it's ok dad, I'll tell you what they taught us if you tell me what you did during Woodstock...) The next British friend we met was a kind gentleman, probably around 30 years old, named Tim. Tim works for the Museum of Natural History and had a lot of advice for us regarding different areas to visit, festivals to attend and how to travel. He also showed us our next destination, Janet's Bar, which is one of the only bars/pubs open past 11 pm in London. This is most likely because it is owned by none other than Janet, a busty blonde native New Yorker who moved to London 20 years ago. Janet's bar was definitely more expensive than the other bars we had been to, even with the impromptu 2% American student discount she offered us. I'd have to say that what will stick with me regarding Janet's Bar will not be the alcohol or the pricing... it would have to be our next new British friend, a 70-83 year old man by the name of Uncle Timmy. In the picture that I have posted here, you will see that it appears as though Chelsey, Ally and I are on the verge of tears/slightly uncomfortable. Well, this is because after Uncle Timmy began buying us bottle after bottle of champagne (which we didn't really want, but simply could not refuse), our new friend broke the ice by bringing up some pretty... graphic... topics of conversation. I'd have to say, I would have been very annoyed, if not offended, if it had not been coming from this seemingly harmless man. However, because it was Uncle Timmy telling us these inappropriate little diddies, it was somehow ok. No, not just ok, it was HYSTERICAL. I honestly have not laughed that hard in a long time and can truly confess that tears rolled down my cheeks multiple times in the hour or so that we were in the company of Uncle Timmy. Fortunately, Chelsey, Ally and I were able to escape Janet's Bar and the captivation of the elder British man. The boys however were not as lucky and were not seen again until this morning when we crawled out of bed to go to the Royal Geographical Society where our orientation lectures were being held. I must add one little tidbit... being the fact that my fellow ladies and I have decided that by the end of the semester we WILL get into the bar near us ( I believe it's called Borgis ) where the celebrities are often spotted... and by celebrities I mean Prince William. Yea. So we have to get on that as soon as possible. Last night we were about to attempt it, but to Ally and Chelsey's dismay, I convinced them that we were nowhere near dolled up enough to be trying to earn the presence of the future king of England. So we headed on home for our second night of sleep in London only to find our second morning waking in London to be just as... difficult... as the first. Yet, we somehow made it to the lectures at the Royal Geographical Society and wasted a day dozing off to the broken record sounds of British people telling us that pepper spray is illegal here and that you can't buy marijuana in Amsterdam anymore if you're not a permanent resident (which I didn't know until today actually). I won't lie... most of us fell asleep more than once and I don't even feel bad about it. Normal Calais would feel extremely guilty. However, jet-lagged, pub-worn Calais did not feel one pang of regret as she came back to consciousness after dozing off once... twice... however many times it took for me to maintain energy for my soon-to-be political science professor's lecture at the end of the day. At least I showed up, right? Well, tonight Ally and I had dinner with our hall, which has quite a few Wake Forest students, a few random UNC or other university students, and minimal BU students. We met a few new characters, which was definitely refreshing. While I love the S Club, I hope we are able to continue to branch out throughout the semester so we aren't curb-stomping each other come December. Tomorrow will be another day full of lectures then Thursday is our first day of class. I feel extremely unprepared, as I really don't know what is going on with this schedule or anything. However, it's kind of liberating not knowing what's coming next and I know I will get my life together in the end. Maybe I should try using my European cell phone too? Ehh... no... I'm enjoying being un-contactable far too much. I hope all is well in the states or Africa or South America or main-land Europe for all of you and I'll be sure to continue keeping you updated!