Another gorgeous Monday!

Friday we had our “free” Indian meal with anyone in the program who wanted to go. 2nd time with Indian food, 2nd time absolutely loving it! We started off with some big round tortilla looking things that we dippped in a few different dips (sweet, spicy, mango and one other one). We then moved on to the onion baaji’s – so good! Out came the naan next! Wow – it’s a big slab of the most amazing bread ever i think! Then we shared a mango chicken curry, a lamb curry and 2 different vegetable dishes with rice! It was a fantastic meal and we ate so much that we didn’t have to make dinner that night! :) We were supposed to go on a tour of parliament after this but because of something with the upcoming election here, they had to reschedule it. So instead we were given 15 pounds to use on any touristy attraction we wanted. Erica Jackie and I decided we wanted to check out a show that night so we went online to see what we felt like going to. We found STOMP – a combo of theatre, dance, comedy and percussion where they use pots, pans, garbage bins, matchboxes, lighters, anything you can think of to make music. It was really good and so funny! We laughed the whole time!

Saturday, Jackie and I went up to Oxford street to check out a few shops and make some returns. It was quite the experience to get there though, as the 2 major tube lines we usually use to get everywhere in the city were down for routine maintenance. Talk about frustrating! But we eventually found the right bus to take us to Marble Arch! The rest of the afternoon was spent on homework/chilling out at Vandon.

Sunday there was St. Patricks Day  festival at Trafalger’s Square so Erica jackie and I decided to go check it out. It was crazy! They had the whole area enclosed and they had live Irish Music playing, vendors were selling traditional food (including a hot dog that jackie got and she said it was disgusting :)) and beverages – guiness and such;) Then there was a parade that went through part of central London and ended at Trafalger. It was not a parade like we have back home – no candy. But from what i gathered, each county in Ireland was represented and different groups of people just walked through. There were a few bands, a few groups of bagpipes :) (loved it) and even a few group of Irish dancing! There were people of all ages – from little toddlers holding teddy bears in front of bands to elder couples smiling and waving at everyone watching. It was very different from back home, but it was cool even so!

We then walked through St. James Park where we stop to take  pictures in the newly sprouting flowers! Erica does some pretty cool things with her camera (she’s an art major) so we had a little mini photo shoot! When we got back to Vandon we decided it was time to get some “pub grub.” We went to a pub called Strutton Arms – a very popular place for people to go to watch football and rugby games! Jackie and I ordered our Chicken and Chorizo pies and erica had the fish and chips. It was pretty good! Jackie and I headed to Hillsong for the 6:00 service and a group of others decided to check out the London Eye at night. yet another great service!
Monday, oh monday! So gorgeous out! I  decided to take advantage of the weather and go for a walk around the parks. I came back and broke out the capris! We definitely hit 50 to mid 50’s today. Spring has finally sprung (knock on wood:)) Another plus, I finished my Media Review for one of our Central Classes. A big burden out of the way! We leave for Ireland thursday night so i gotta get as much done in the next 2 days as possible! We had our “family dinner” tonight. I was in charge of this one (kinda) and people voted for a breakfast for dinner theme. What better breakfast than an eggbake right?! So i emailed mom for her recipe and we dominated the eggbake! It was a huge success with our bacon and red, green and yellow peppers served with fresh fruit! Team Vandon won yet again :)