Updates and a story

Why hello!

I really don't have a lot of incredibly cool, important things to say today other than to give you a few little updates on the things I have been doing of late.

Last Thursday on a study visit (field trip) for one of my classes we went to a Krishna Rajaram Temple to learn about the Hindu culture and religion. I found it really interesting as we got to speak with a woman who was from Poland, raised Christian, but has now been studying this religion for 17 years. She answered so many questions and taught us a few new yoga moves, which was really great in my book.

This weekend was really relaxed, which I definitely was grateful for. A few of the girls were in Greece, Heather and her mom (who is visiting!) went to Scotland, and Veronica and I stayed back, hung out and went to Greenwich. (Pictures below.)

This weekend we also went to the Aquarium Bar on Old Street (a short walk away) and apparently it was '70s night. We did not know this so we were dressed way too normal. We did get these great flashing lights to try to fit in a little bit, though!

Yes, we (Kelsey and me) did wear them on our heads all night. I'm not actually sure why, though!

It is so interesting having a mom stay at our flat for a few days. I had forgotten how intuitively mothers end up cleaning. Monday night a few of us were home with Heather and her mom. Her mom started wiping our counters while all of us just kept telling her that "The cleaning ladies come tomorrow! You don't need to do that." I promise you our flat is NOT that dirty, especially considering there are 5 really busy girls sharing this small space. And we always do clean up our things before our flat gets cleaned on Tuesdays, there are just a few crumbs that we don't care about sometimes.......but one thing is constant, and that is the mounds of laundry on racks, couches, chairs, beds, etc drying, as our washer/dryer all in one package doesn't really dry.

One last little story for the day: We have all started to think about our journeys back home and what that will mean and be like. I have just finished a paper for my online U of M class that is concerning this exact topic, so it was all I could think about today. The only instance in my life that I can relate it to is the day I came back from Japan with Sammi. We had gotten people to switch seats with us on 2 of the 3 planes we had to take, and at the end of the last plane we were SOOOO excited to see our families again that we were literally BOUNCING off the walls, eating Oreos and drinking Coke. I remember this especially because we had drank so much Coke that when we got off the plane in Sioux Falls we had to make a little stop at the bathroom before meeting up with our families. Finally, after even the pilot had gone down the escalators, there was Sam and I, happy as could be, just bouncing down to greet our families. It was such a great moment that I really will always remember. (And I couldn't forget the really awesome surprise welcome home party my friends threw me, too! Even after my flight had been delayed multiple times. What great friends!)

Since that story had been on my mind all day I finally went down to the off-license (convenience store) that is in the bottom floor of our apartment building and bought Oreo's and Diet Coke. I am all set for a night of homework!

Hope everyone is doing great!