Week 5 Recap by Rachelle Nicolai

Hey everyone! As usual we have had a very eventful week. We started off with a bang…we all found out more precisely what our internships would be like and what night next week we have to refrain from the pub/club scene in order to seem respectable for our interviews. That night we celebrated Andrew’s 21st at Roadhouse, which was an attempt at an American bar, but as Steve said, they didn’t have beer on tap. But they did have a good happy hour, good music, good company, and Andrew successfully made it past 21, what more could you ask for?

Wednesday night ended up being another late night: our first paper was due Thursday. Needless to say, morning class Thursday was rough. That afternoon we ventured to the British Library for the London: A Life in Maps exhibit. They had maps showing everything from Roman settlements to cholera breakouts to Google Earth on display. We all revelled in our reprieve as we were informed we could have class time Friday to write the other paper due this past week. Being studious, responsible students, we of course finished well before the new due date of Monday night. In our Contemporary England class we were pitted against each other as we debated over the abolition of the monarchy. We prepared ourselves by watching a real Parliamentary debate, and because most of you have not seen such a spectacle I’ll brief you. There is a lot of avoiding the question by instead wittily insulting the other person, lots of finger wagging, lots of cheering from the peanut gallery, and lots of “I got you good” smirks. In our best attempt to simulate such a debate we attacked each other’s reasons for keeping or abolishing the monarch. I think we decided that the British like the Queen but have absolutely no idea what she does with the £35 million they pay her annually. In the end we weren’t quite sure if it was so much an educational experience as funny for a British professor to see Americans pretend to be knowledgeable about the monarch.

That night a large group of us ventured to Tiger Tiger, of course making it in just before the cover. It was unlike other places we’ve been. It had a live band for a portion of the night, a restaurant, a lounge, an upstairs bar, and a downstairs club. After realizing that the number of people crowded in the place was going to make me have a panic attack I ended the night earlier than most. Saturday began by a bit of shopping. The sheer number of people in any given store was suffocating. The best purchase of the day was Andrew’s robe. Saturday night was a bit more relaxed: we hit up a local favourite, Kavanagh’s. Sadly we missed Australia day celebrations a week ago, but a few of us were fortunate enough to witness some of the New Zealand Day celebrations occurring Saturday. Most of you should now be aware of what a pub crawl is (think Sasha’s birthday). Ambitious New Zealanders (and people who like to have any excuse to party) dress in all black, jump on the Circle Line on the underground, and pub hop around the 26 stops. I have no words but “impressive.”

Sunday found Nicole and I wandering around a Brick Lane-ish area getting wrong directions and successfully making circles around Spitalfields market, our hoped-for destination. We finally made it and wandered around a bit before freezing when the sun disappeared behind the clouds again and headed home. That night we had big plans to head out to a bar for some Superbowl action, but we didn’t quite make it out. We did manage to wander down to the common room to catch most of the game. We were fully disappointed to discover we didn’t get to see any “epic” commercials, and that Prince would not be performing enough of his classics. On the upside, we got to hear commentary from a tiny British man, a rugby Neanderthal, and a token American.

As for Monday, people have been winding down, getting back to business of classes and preparing for interviews. The first few of us had them today: so far, good things! There will be news to come shortly on those…. A few people went to see Twelfth Night, a few of us had reading to catch up on; all in all it’s been a quiet night around Metrogate. Just a note, for those of you who are really attentive, we should have gone to Cambridge today, but due to internship interviews the trip had to be postponed. Hope this note finds you all well, and expect exciting news about upcoming trips.

Rocki