Yesterday was my last day of classes at the University of Westminster.  It was bittersweet; I'm genuinely going to miss the intellectual stimulation, but I do feel like it's time to move on and experience a new side of London.  I'll leave for Richard's house on Monday sometime, and Kristine has offered to help me move.  Hurrah!   I was so worried about transporting two suitcases, a huge packpack, and a computer case.  (Why oh why did I bring so much?!?)  I'm also thrilled about Dylan's upcoming visit.  There's so much to do here in London (I'm still going strong!), and I've been trying to figure out how I can show my little brother as much as possible in a single week.  Mom and I have provided him with plenty of "study material" (British literature, art history, etc.), and that kid is going to have the time of his life!  I've found that everything means so much more when you know the historical and cultural value of what you're seeing.

Now I've got to navigate away from that tangent and back to the subject of my last day of school.  :-)   Our class discussed "The Sign of Four" (a Sherlock Holmes) today.  We talked about why the detective story is innately urban, and a lot of interesting points came up.  Then, for the remaining class time, we watched movie interpretations of some of the texts we've been studying.  We saw 1940's versions of "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield," as well as the recent BBC version of the latter.  The interpretations were so different!  Finally, we watched a 1980's "The Sign of Four" release.  I really couldn't say whether it was interesting or not because I have to be honest and admit that I fell asleep.  ;-)  What a way to end my last day of classes, huh?

Around 1:30, everyone made their way to a nearby pub for the university's farewell bash.  Crystal, Jesse, Jill, and I climbed directly to the second level where we found an honest-to-goodness food feast!   They were offering all sorts of sandwiches and meats and funny little fried things, but I was most impressed by the vegetable egg rolls.  Delicious.

After eating, Jill was feeling sick-ish and tired, so the two of us headed home together on the tube. We chatted for awhile about the trip and about our plans for the rest of the week.  Jill leaves to go home this weekend which is too soon for her.  I know how she feels.  I definitely get homesick now and then, but I wouldn't cut off this five month experience for anything.

I had been planning on just running into the apartment with Jill, changing quickly into something warm (it was CHILLY yesterday!), and then going to the science museum.  Unfortunately, my bed sheets looked so cool and delicious that I had a nap instead.  :-)  When I awoke, it was almost time to meet Kristine at the British Musuem.  I grabbed my things and headed out the door.

It took me awhile find the British Museum (just like last time!), so I didn't arrive until about 5:10.  I waited on the front steps until 5:35, and I was just about to give up and explore the museum alone when Kristine came bouncing over.  Apparently, she'd been waiting at a different entrance.  Oops!   It was so good to see her again; I got to hear all about her adventures in Oxford and Gloustershire and show her all my favorite spots in the museum.  We amused ourselves by selecting victims from the crowds and asking them to take pictures of us posing like museum statues.  :-)  Unfortunately, my camera blurs things easily, and about half the pictures were so bad that I just had to delete them.  Oh well!  We certainly had fun posing!

I also took Kristine to the Parthenon room (yes--Britain actually owns part of the original Parthenon!) and the place where the 3,000-year-old man is kept.  Poor guy; I wonder what he would think if he knew that thousands of people are staring at his shrivelled body and admiring his in-tact skin, teeth, and hair every day.  The whole thing is a little morbid.

We also went exploring and discovered dozens of new galleries that I didn't see the first time I came.  Our favorites were the Asian galleries; we had such fun posing in front of Indian shivas and admiring the musical instruments.  There was also a room brimming with colorful Chinese festival costumes and an incredible library full of the vast-and-varied royal collections of King George III.  Among his books, we discovered one entitled "The Great Salt Lake Valley."  Hurrah!   We also found a replica of the Rosetta Stone where a crowd was gathering to hear a woman speak. We listened to her for awhile and learned a lot about the origin of the stone, the way it was deciphered, and the meaning of the symbols it contains.  ("The stone ought to say something magical; it ought to tell us something wonderful about Egyptian life.  It doesn't.  It's only a tax agreement drawn up during the reign of Ptolemy."  Boo!)  After about fifteen minutes, the woman took us over to see the real, true Rosetta Stone which has been housed in the British Museum since the early 1800's.  Wow!  I saw the Rosetta Stone the first time I came to the museum, too, but it's so much more impressive when you know the complete history.

Kristine and I were supposed to go to a ward picnic after browsing the museum, but Kristine had forgotten her phone, and she didn't know where the picnic was being held.  Oh well!  We decided to keep exploring the museum instead.  Just before the guards kicked us out (around 8:30), we met a British boy attending school at the University of London. He ended up offering to give us an insider's tour of his campus--the University of London--and he soon found out that we are "Mormon."  After talking about the church for awhile, we started talking about our majors.  He is science major and he poked fun at us a bit for being music majors.  He was doing so in fun, but I don't like being patronized, so I stood up valiantly for the arts!

Anyway, after taking us into the University of London science laboratory and shooting some pictures of us in front of the main building, our new friend showed us to the tube station and said goodbye.  

Since neither Kristine or I had eaten dinner, we stopped quickly at a restaurant for a bite.  As we ate, we had a thoroughly in-depth, girl-to-girl conversation!  No one can believe that the two of us have only spent a few hours together because we act like we've known each other for a lifetime.  And since we both live in Utah and both of our dads work in Salt Lake, there isn't much possibility of us never seeing each other again.  What fun!

By this time, it was pretty late, so Kristine and I headed home on the tube.  When we reached Victoria station, Kristine asked if there were any close internet cafes, and I offered to let her just use the internet on my laptop.  Not five minutes after we'd walked into my room, Maria knocked on the door, and I was able to introduce her to Kristine.  As it turns out, neither of the girls have ever watched "Pride and Prejudice" or "The Importance of Being Earnest," and they're dying to see both.  So we turned out the lights and watched the first half hour of "Pride and Prejudice" together.  We weren't able to see the whole thing, though, because I was getting very tired and Kristine needed to catch the tube before it closed down for the night.  I hope she made it home safely!