THE CHOIR: Celebrating the End of November

I would have to put this weekend at the top of the list of most productive and most enjoyed weekends in London. Then again, the list is very long.... and most weekends are tied for number one. As I said, there were a bunch of Wake Forest people visiting from all over the world for Thanksgiving. Although it was stressful to attempt to satisfy the group, the company was wonderful and we ended up accomplishing a lot in a short amount of time. (See Thanksgiving pictures at the end of the blog post).

After a great day at work on Friday, where I treated my co-workers to Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes (my favorite), I joined Evan and Caroline for some yummy leftovers then got ready for a night on the town. The whole Thanksgiving crew gathered together and went to Punk, a club in SoHo. It has been a while since we went out to a club so it was really fun to get dressed up and go out together. I also had made a few new friends throughout my travels earlier in the semester, so it was great to continue developing those relationships through the art of dancing to loud techno/pop mixes. By about 3:30 am, we had shed all of our Thanksgiving calories by dancing the night/morning away and retired to our beds. (See some pictures from Punk at the end of the blog post).
On Saturday morning, Louisa and I woke up and grabbed some breakfast at a cafe that I often go to near the Gloucester Road tube station called Cafe Forum. We then strolled around Hyde Park and over to Kensington Palace until the other girls rose from their beds.

A group of us ended up going to a quick lunch in South Kensington then headed over to the Natural History Museum. The museum is actually a five minute walk from where we live, but I hadn't gone yet so it was great to finally see what it looks like inside.

We explored the human biology and mammals sections of the museums and also got to see the new Darwin Centre which houses hundreds of animal/evolution researchers. Afterward, we went downstairs and took the ice at the beautiful seasonal Ice Rink outside of the museum.

As I'm sure very few of my... very few... readers... know, I used to figure skate when I was younger. However, after good old Planet Ice closed in 2000 or 2001, I was forced to quit and stick with dance. I'm pretty positive that I have not iceskated since then, but shockingly enough my muscle memory kicked in and I didn't fall on the ice once the entire time. I was pretty excited about that especially since, as Kendall noticed, everyone else on the ice was 'dropping like flies.'

After we spent an hour iceskating, we grabbed some hot chocolate and headed back to the Crofton for a little relaxation. We ended up bracing the cold rain and going to Wagamama for some Asian noodles for dinner, but after grabbing a quick dessert at Whole Foods, we headed back to the warmth of the Crofton. I ended up taking some time that night to work on the papers that I have due next week and fell asleep quite early.
On Sunday morning, the visitors from America departed. Kendall, Louisa, Rebecca and I went to the Brick Lane area and walked around the Spittlefield Market, which is a covered market just down the street from Liverpool Street. We braved the rain for a bit, grabbed some crepes for lunch at Crepe Affair, then headed back to South Kensington where we showed the girls our favorite cookie place, Ben's Cookies, then brought them back to the Crofton to relax before heading back to Florence. Although the weekend was not jammed and packed with travels and raging and wandering, I felt completely fulfilled come Sunday evening. It had been a beautiful few days full of new and old friends, new experiences in London and a first look at the 2009 holiday season.
This week will be my last week of work in Parliament, then next week will be my last week in London. I have a lot to accomplish, a lot to see, and a lot of studying/paper-writing to do. Yet, I hope these two weeks do not fly by too quickly. Who knows when I'll be back to this beautiful town? Hopefully sooner than later. Anyway, that is all for now. Be sure to check out some more pictures from the weekend below!

Kendall and I in our Thanksgiving Chic Outfits