I was surprised when I woke up this morning and found my Internet connection still working. I expect it will go out any day now. I ate some breakfast down at Ramsay Hall. The hash browns, which are usually pretty good, were terrible this morning. Thankfully I had brought my trust Kellog's Corn Pops. Once breakfast was over with we went to class.
Yesterday and today I've been quite stuffed up. I think it is sinuses related to the weather in Southwest England, although I may be wrong. My head actually hurt a bit today and I started feeling sore after I took a nap this afternoon. Class was all right. We filled out our evaluations of our teachers and the program itself. I feel Dr. Martin has done a great job teaching us and I've loved her class. The program has been nice, although I feel the facilities are really lacking. If my math is right, at six meals a week costing 5 pounds each from Ramsay Hall, we spent 30 pounds ($60) a week on meals, which comes to 150 pounds ($300) on meals during the entire trip. Considering the poor quality of the food, I think this was a total rip off and I made a suggestion for fixing it. I also have not enjoyed taking a shower every morning in a tiny box and having to re-use the same towel for a week. This, too, I made mention of. But, I did have to say the location has been great and the dorm rooms themselves are not bad at all.
Once I was done with lunch, I came up to my room and messed around a bit before going to Dr. Martin's classroom and organizing our newspapers. I also gathered my information for a paper I had to write in her class. I then went back upstairs and went to sleep for about forty-five minutes. I had to get up soon and go down to the Indian YMCA where we had a meeting about our plane rides back home and what was and was not acceptable at the airports. I had purchased a small, second bag to be checked while I was out this morning (and I negotiated with the merchant on the price of some scarves, which I got the price I asked for). I ended up packing the bag later this evening.
After the meeting, we walked a few feet over to Fitzroy Square and took a group photograph. We then made our way back to Astor College, went to the lower ground level TV room and had wine, took photographs, and prizes were given to groups for their work on the scavenger hunt. I forgot to turn my photos in. Oh well. I also didn't drink the wine. After that was over with, Donald, Gideon, and I went out for dinner. We walked down to an Indian restaurant called Lord's, which was closed until 6:00 p.m. It was closed yesterday (Sunday) when Gideon and I went as well. So, we walked down Tottenham Court Road and stopped at a suitcase vendor, where Donald purchased a suitcase. The vendor (who I had bought my suitcase and scarves from earlier) was a bit annoyed when Donald asked for another bag because the one he was given had a bent wheel. The wheel still spun, but Donald was not comfortable with the idea of having a bent wheel, and I can understand that.
We then walked back to the college, dropped off the suitcase and some newspapers we bought while we were out for Dr. Martin's class, then made our way to Lord's. Lord's was a very lovely, quiet place and we enjoyed the meal quite a bit. I had Chicken Korma and both Donald and Gideon had some chicken dishes as well. Everything was quite tasty and I wish I had written the names down of the dishes, as I can't remember any of them. We all enjoyed our meals though. They also brought out some mint chocolate after we payed, although I was the only one who ate mine. Once dinner was over with, we all made our way back to the dorm rooms.
Which brings me to right now. So far I've finished off the two papers I had to do for Dr. Martin's class, and now I've updated my blogs. Today was a good day, although I feel like I did very little. Tomorrow I'll have the entire day free to roam around and I plan to finish off a few things I have been meaning to do. Anyhow, I am going to get some rest and try and take it easy.
Photos of my time in Taunton can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8494714@N03/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8494714@N03/page2/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8494714@N03/page3/
