I can’t believe I’ll be going home in 38 days!  As much as I complain about London (which is a lot) and as ready as I am to go home (which is REALLY ready), I’ve had a blast these past eleven and a half months.

Since Berlin, I’ve spent a lot of time in the gym, seen the last Harry Potter, finished up a couple classes, and done a few London-y things.  Last Saturday I competed with my friend Andrew in the Great Urban Race.  It’s an American thing, so maybe you’ve heard of it, but they give you clues and you have to decipher them, then find the place they’re pointing you to and get a picture or complete a task.  The race started at noon and we crossed the finish at 4:49.  It took FOREVER!  I don’t know how some people finished in 2 hours.  But we were hindered by our lack of 3G coverage.  We basically went all around West London, from Notting Hill to Hyde Park to Knightsbridge to Kensington and back.  Tons of fun.

The next day I went to the BBC Proms, which is not a school dance that they air on BBC. Here in the land of hoity-toits “promming” is standing, and the deal with the Proms is that it’s classical music for a couple months that you can go see day-of for £5 if you stand.  Well we didn’t stand, we got seats for £12.  And the show was music from BBC’s Human Planet series thing.  The orchestra music was awesome, and then they had some groups from different parts of the world that “sang” or “played instruments,” and some just made weird noises.  Cultural experience for sure.

And last Sunday Andrew and I set off to eat at the UK’s one and only Taco Bell.  I’m still baffled as to why they did not open it in Central London, as opposed to the terrible mall they put it in in Essex.  It took us about an hour total to get there between the tube and the train, but it was worth it to have a taste of Taco Bell.  Not perfect, but still hit the spot.

Then yesterday we went to Buckingham Palace to see the State Rooms, which they open for a few months every year.  Worth it for a one-time trip.  We started by watching the Changing of the Guards, which was not very impressive to me.  Then into the Palace to see some rooms.  It’s super beautiful in there as you could imagine, but pictures were not allowed.  They had a bunch of the Queen’s faberge collection on display, as well as Kate’s wedding dress.  Obviously we’ve all seen the dress, but it was cool to see it a little closer and see all the detail.  After that we went to get some delicious food at my favorite London restaurant Byron, then we went to Trafalgar Square to see the Olympic countdown displaying 365 days.

Other than all that, I’ve been searching for and applying for jobs as much as humanly possible.  Nothing like a graduation date looming 3 weeks in front of you to give you cold sweats and stress headaches.