"You're radiant, I can't take my eyes off of you"

My last post was little more than a week ago, but it feels like so much longer because it was about Paris, and that was in fact forever ago. Nearly a month now. And I feel like a slacker, and I promise that for the last 17 days (yes, I admit that I'm counting down) I will do much better.

Since I've been back from Paris I've done a few things other than go to my internship. I hang out on the weekends, and go do and see things, and one weekend my darling Joanna was here to play with and show off London to, and last weekend I went to Leeds and stayed with a family for Thanksgiving weekend. So lets go back, and see what we can do about relaying all my experiences in the correct order.

Tuesday right after I returned from Paris I had a short meeting with Vas, a man who works in the Metropolitan Police Department who just finished a London First Secondment program with us. He gave me an overview of the Met and offered to put me in touch with some other officers within the Met. It was really useful, and after my meeting with him, I spoke with Stuart Wratten, an officer in the homicide division and he invited me out to the station in Barking to get an overview of what the homicide division does. So I went out there on the following Tuesday and got a really great rundown on how things work out there. I spent a good 4 hours in the station that day. They told me how they run their cases, showed me clips of Nightline, and showed me crime scene pictures and autopsy pictures of victims. It was a bit gory, but lets be honest, it's the kind of thing I live for. I learned a lot, and hope to have a chance to get back out there, and what would be really cool, is Stuart said that if he got a call for a homicide and I was around, he would let me come along. I think that would be incredibly cool and interesting to see something like that, but I feel weird saying something like, "I hope it happens" because then I would be saying that I hope someone gets murdered for my own benefit. That's pretty awful.

That thought actually inspires a memory I have of that following Friday (we're up to Nov. 16^th now). Some people from the office were going out for an after work drink and I was invited along as well, so I went. I needed some cash, so I set off in search of a Barclays, and found one on the far side of Leicester square. On my way there a man asked me for directions and I couldn't really help him. But he noticed my accent and started asking me about myself. He was kinda dirty and older, and I'm not certain if he was a bum or just a dirty European (am I allowed to say that?) but I wasn't too keen on prolonging the conversation. Anyhow here is roughly what followed:

Him: Are you American? (he also had an accent which made him hard to understand)

Me: Yes

Him: Why are you here, are you visiting?

Me: No, I'm studying for my university. I'm just here for the term.

Him: Oh, what are you studying?

Me: Justice (he looked a little less enthused at talking to me at this point..hmm wonder why, creepster)

Him: Oh that's cool. Want to be a lawyer?

Me: No, I want to be a cop or in the FBI or something. (looks even less enthused, but carries on all the same)

Him: Why do you want to be a cop, do you like putting handcuffs on people (and I am certain he was going for a dirty and less appropriate meaning).

Me: No. I like protecting people.

Him: Oh, that's nice.

Me: Yeah. I have to go, bye.

Yes, this actually happened. It was interesting to say the least. As for the rest of my night that night, my co-workers were very interested in the differences in our cultures and the different things and things. They were particularly interested in my drinking habits, because I said that my limit is usually 2 or 3 drinks, because I don't really enjoy drinking beyond being social these days. I've gotten over the being drunk thing already and I haven't even reached legal drinking age in the states. So backwards.

Also on Friday I got to see my BIG!! She had a 5-6 hour layover in Heathrow on her way to Cairo to see Timmy, and we met up and had lunch. It was so amazingly good to see her. I also met up with Joanna on the way because she was in town that weekend visiting. The three of us did lunch in a pub and had fish and chips (Joanna had sausage and mash though, I think) and Melissa brought me peanut butter m&m's. I was in HEAVEN because you can't get those over here, and I missed them so much. She brought me 2 big bags, and I just finished them this past weekend. I need more!!! She also brought Hershey's chocolate for Angelica. We were soooo thankful. We had a really great lunch, and it was really sad to say goodbye, but I'm very glad for the time I did get with her.

Friday evening after I had drinks with my co-workers I met Joanna and Justin (her friend she was visiting) and we went to a club called AKA, that was really neat. Well, the club itself was kinda lame and a bit expensive, but there was some really good entertainment. They had like, floor shows and one woman ate fire, and another did an act on a rope. You know the ones they made you try to climb in gym class? One of those. She did all sorts of acrobatics on it. So impressive, especially considering I couldn't even get halfway up the damn rope in high school when I was in the best shape of my life (so far).

Saturday morning I headed for Borough Market, and met up with Joanna and Justin once again to show it off to them. It was my third trip to the market and Justin hadn't been yet, so I got to show it off to them a bit. I went hungry and prepared to gorge myself on the delights that the market had to offer, and I was not disappointed one bit. Joanna and I started off with Nutella crepes, one of my new favorite things to eat. We then walked around a bit to get a lay of the land and choose what we were going to have for lunch. We tried loads of cheese samples (not all of them were good..blech) and a few chocolate samples, and even a bacon sample and a gin sample!! Joanna ended up choosing a bratwurst from a German stall, and I helped her eat it, the end that was sour kraut free that is. Then got myself a falafel, that was mmm mmmm good, but I had trouble eating it all because of the brat. After the market we took a tour around London School of Economics, where Justin goes to school, and played in the leaves and had a good time. We walked through the strand, to Trafalgar Square and then up to Piccadilly where I finally left them to head for South Kensington once again for basketball practice. Practice was intense because my legs were tired from walking all day and my feet were already sore. So then I ran around for 2 hours and we scrimmaged for quite a while and basically I was dead. After practice I got back to the flat, did a quick rinse-off and then got ready for another night out. I met up with Joanna and Justin again, this time in Leicester Square and we went to a club called the Zoo Lounge. Apparently this place is kind of famous? Or at the very least, very popular. The place was packed. The upstairs was fairly small, but once we ventured downstairs we found that the place was absolutely huge. And still packed. There were 6 big rooms downstairs and 3 bars and the place was jumpin'. I was really glad we had Justin with us because guys were hitting on me and Jo left and right, and Justin protected us from the more sketchy of them. Until he decided his objective of the evening was going to be, and I quote, "I'm gonna get you some ass, Sarah." I'm not sure why he decided this must happen, and why he thought I needed ass, but apparently I needed it, so he tossed as much at me as he could. Which is a weird thought if you think about it. Usually people only talk about getting guys girls, but this time it was the other way around. I was just interested in dancing with the least sketchy people possible because the more sketchy they are, the more likely it is that you'll be touched and fondled, and I was not ok with that. Clearly. I do not want random men to touch me, and I don't know why they think its ok. I don't know them, they don't know me. What if I was a mass murderer picking out my next target. They have no idea who I am (I'm ranting, sorry). So the best story I've got from that night is the Christiano story. This guy claims he was 23 (I'm sure he was older) and he's half Turkish half Italian (I think, I don't remember). He told me I was 'radiant' and he couldn't stop looking at me. Hmm..creepster. I decided he was polite though, and said I would dance with him. We had to have a few hand checks, but nothing too bad. He offered to buy me a drink, which I turned down because I had decided to be sober that night (and I was having loads of fun). He was a little disappointed at that, and then said, "Sarah, may I kiss you." At this point I laughed in his face (and said no), because, really, you think after 5 minutes I'm going to let you kiss me? I don't think so. About a minute after that the song was over and he said he would leave me alone. Fine by me. A few minutes later I heard something that made me laugh and very glad I told this guy no. He was talking to another girl and I distinctly heard the phrase, "you're radiant, I can't take my eyes off of you." It was a really fun night, as you can tell. Haha.

Sunday Joanna and I played in the leaves in Hyde Park (for a total of 5 minutes because it was FREEZING) and then went and explored Harrod's. We then went to Ben's Cookies and got cookies and milk and had a really lovely snack. Then it was time to put Jo on the train so she could head for the airport. For the rest of the day I did homework and other things and hung around the flat.

Monday my BLC class went to the British Museum, and this time around I did get to see the mummies!! They were really neat, and so incredibly well preserved. It was kind of weird to stand there and look at them through the glass and just know, that inside those wrappings was a human body that is hundreds and hundreds of years old. And I kind of had the weird thought of, "I wonder if it smells." Haha, I'm so gross.

Tuesday night we had tickets to the London Eye, and it was really cool. It takes about 20 minutes to go all the way around and is really neat. Our tickets were for 6:30pm, so it was dark when we went and everything was all lit up. Very impressive. I have loads of pictures, and I’m behind on those and I’m sorry. I’ll work on it.

That’s all for this blog, more to come on my internship, and then my Thanksgiving weekend and this week.

Cheers!