Snow!

Snow has come to London!! It's been lightly snowing for the last few days now which has got everyone in a flurry of excitement. Snowball fights abound, mini snowmen and cups of tea in the kitchen while gazing out the window have made me love the snow. Tube closures not so much. London can't handle even an inch or two of snow, which seems so strange to me. I thought Philly was bad, but this is on a whole other level.

Before the snow, Amanda and Dara came to visit for the weekend. After a rather rough Wednesday I promised myself a few nights, which I obviously never got because they came to visit. Thursday was Thanksgiving and Brandon and I went to dinner with Madelaine and her family which was really nice. Then I met Amanda and others at the Absolut Ice Bar which the bar made entirely of ice. It was overpriced but it's definitely a fun experience to have had, and provided many photo ops as we got to wear these silly capes to keep us warm.  I looked ridiculous I'm sure, since the one size fits all principle rarely applies to those under 5'4. We went out after Ice Bar and it was a fun night with lots of Penn kids. Other highlights of the weekend included the London Eye, introducing Amanda to the concept of wine on the tube (classy...), lunch in Chinatown, dinner on Brick Lane with Lauren and Sonali & Kristina who were also in town for the weekend, and a trip to Chipotle!! [The Brits do many things well; Mexican, or even pseudo-Mexican, is not one of them. I kept wanting to go to this elusive Chipotle since it's the only one in all of the UK I think. It was heaven.] As noted, I went out every night which did terrible things to my voice and my health, and by the end of the weekend I sounded like a man. This wasn't helped I'm sure by the random grimey place we went on Saturday to some jungle music party that was fun, but very strange.

Following the weekend I've made myself take a few nights off and do some work. Somehow the snow has made it okay that I've had to be a real student. Madelaine and I have been little library elves, actually managing to get ourselves there and make ourselves write essays. Tuesday Madelaine, Caroline, Brandon and I spent way too long in the library, but it was productive, and I felt a little bit like a real person again. Plus, as we sat there we could watch the snow falling outside, which didn't hurt.

Other note-worthy events of the last week or so:
-Saw The Train Driver, a play about post-apartheid South Africa, which I really enjoyed
-Saw Fela! last night. It was such a great show to go see and for parts it just felt like a really great concert. The dancing in it was absolutely amazing and it really made me wish that the extent of my dance ability wasn't just 2nd grade ballet and awkward frat dancing.
-Two Club Sandwiches (to reiterate, not sandwiches I ate, but rather the weird club night at the student union). Always ridiculous, always fun. But also a sad reminder that I've leaving in less than two and a half weeks!
-Had my first full English breakfast with Ollie. I decided that it, not unlike standard American breakfast of fried eggs, hash browns, bacon and toast, is great hangover food.

Now I'm slightly better rested, pretty much over being sick, and facing a considerable amount of work between now and Monday. Word on the street is that my main man Michael Feinstein finds himself in London this weekend, so hopefully I'll get to see him. And hopefully when I next write I'll be done with my 3 essays and just able to enjoy my last bit of time.