We are St. Pat's, we are St. Pat's....

Cheers everyone!

Last night at 3am I was jolted awake by what sounded like 800 people singing the St. Patrick's anthem. It was sung to the tune of "When the Saints Come Marching In." (St. Patricks is the hall that I live in.) It reminded me of the boxer runs that occur during the first week at SPU. They were SO loud that I actually thought they were in my room for a second! Here are pictures of the dormitory and room that I live in:

I didn't really bring any decorations, so it's a bit sparse...

In other news, yesterday we went into London again, this time to have tea at a fancy department store called Harrod's. It is the largest in Europe; so elegant!! We were served unlimited mini-sandwiches, desserts, and scones-my kind of place!


We also went to the National Gallery, which holds Britain's top collections of European paintings. There were paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Leonardo Davinci, Michelangelo...you name it, they had it!

There was a special "love" exhibit, and I enjoyed what they had written as the description:

"Love is by far the most complex human emotion, both instinctive and inexplicable. For a visual artist to convey love is a formidable challenge. But the incentive is great, because love presents the richest of subject matter."

Inside the exhibit there were all sorts of paintings that have been done throughout the centuries in an effort to capture a visual representation of the mysterious thing called love.

My favorite was a painting called "Bouquet with Flying Lovers" by Marc Chagall:

Other tidbits for you to know:
--Pizza Hut is treated as a nice sit-down resturaunt. I am talking mood lighting, fancy silverware, the works. It's so funny to see "Pizza Hut" associated with fine dining!

--I am consistently amazed at how politically and socially aware the college students are. Sometimes I feel a bit sheepish about how little I know about my own country; more than once I have been introduced to a British student, and within three questions he or she is drilling me about our foreign policy. Yikes! I am challenged to work on becoming more aware about what is going on in the world, and especially in the States. I saw this quote in a shop window, and it sums up what the general consensus is on our politics:

"It's an American election but a global affair. The results will affect us all."

--Finally, I will leave you with a vocab lesson. My new favorite English word is "dodgy", which means "sketchy" or "strange". Pronounced "doh-gee". For example,

"Hey James, doesn't that lamb and wild boar pie seem a bit dodgy to you?!"

Until next time! :)