Sherlock. Egrets. Brains. Phantom.

What do these four things have to with each other? They just sum up my past two days -- debatably the best two days I've had thus far. Yesterday (and it feels way longer than yesterday! My days are so packed) I decided I wanted to go to 221b Baker Street. I mean, it was already in the top three of my must-do's while in London, and I had nothing planned! So Amanda, Whitney, Jared, Natalie and I joined forces and journeyed to the fictional residency of a fictional character.
(So, way after the fact, I decided to upload pictures since I documented every step of my excursion. Enjoy.)

le tube stop

What even...?

I was literally jumping for joy.

SO EXCITED IT'S RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET AAH

There, in all its glory!

Asian lady gettin' all up in my picture

Finally. :)

Here’s the thing: I feel like I'm a phony Sherlock fan, because I've only read a few of the books. However, I adore the movies and am absolutely IN LOVE with the BBC show. For those of you who haven't watched it -- WATCH IT. It's the best show on television. (This kind of goes along with how I hate myself for not having read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it’s officially my summer reading project. I’ve read The Hobbit though.)

After me jumping up and down in excitement, browsing through souvenirs, buying postcards, and taking hundreds of pictures (which are literally taking hours to upload), we went on a walk through Regent's Park! That place is heavenly. It is so quiet and peaceful that you forget you're in the middle of one of the hugest and busiest cities in the world. Refuge. Natalie walked like an egret, Whitney charmed us all with her laugh, Amanda danced, and Jared documented it all with Nat's camera. Seriously though... He went to town with that thing. There are so many photographs. I love that kid.

After a lovely stroll through the park, Whitney and Amanda decided that they wanted to get lost in the city, and Jared had to meet some others for a play, so Nat and I went to Primark! Think H&M, but with lower prices and five times as many customers. Bleh. We didn’t even attempt to go into the dressing room, but I ended up buying a few things regardless. We also found a cute store called New Look, which was wonderful because a) it was also cheap, b) it had equally cute clothes, and c) WE WERE TWO OF FOUR CUSTOMERS THERE. That is happiness.

And I thought that was the best day of my life – until today! I guess I’m just going to have multiple best days. Every day is a good experience, really. Today we took the tube/walked to the British Library. What’s in the British Library, you ask? The coolest things. They have a treasure room, which contains things like the original hand-written Magna Carta; original versions of pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, and Haydn; the napkin that Paul McCartney first wrote the lyrics to Yesterday on, as well as the original scrawlings of lyrics to Ticket to Ride and Help; Jane Austen’s writing desk (just a desk, though… Meh); the original manuscript of Jane Eyre; and many, many other treasures. Seeing Beethoven and Mozart’s work moved me to tears. Sometimes I just forget that those were real people who had to sit down and note by note, write out these magnificent pieces. It’s incredible. The biggest thing I gathered from all these things was that I am so, so lazy. I have no drive! There were Da Vinci’s notes on architecture from when he tried to figure out what fissures were. Fissures. He couldn’t google it or look it up in a dictionary, he just thought, drew, and wrote until he understood. These people had such passion, dedication, and incurable curiosity. I want to be more like that.

While at the library, I realized that I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by people. With 40 other people constantly surrounding me, it’s hard to get alone time. So I decided to walk home on my own. I didn’t know where I was going, so I decided to just walk until I got to a bus stop. On the way, I saw a cool memorial to people who died in a tube bombing (I think), some ghetto areas of town, and an overgrown crypt. After about 40 minutes, I found a bus stop and hopped on the 30 to Marble Arch. I opted for the bus instead of the tube because I’m sick of being underground and not knowing where I’m going. It wasn’t long until I was immediately intrigued by a museum that I saw out my window and found myself wishing that the bus would stop. 10 seconds later, the bus stopped (fate!) – so in the spirit of living in the moment, I ran off! Luckily for me, the museum had free admission. Yippee. This place was so cool. It had an exhibit on brains, one on old medicines and remedies, one on obesity and diet books, and other cool things! It was so random and so interesting. I only had a few minutes though, as I had to get back to the Centre in time for dinner (which didn’t actually happen – I was 45 minutes late. Heh), so I didn’t get to look at the exhibits in much depth. I’m going to go back ASAP. I wish I was better at communicating so I could accurately convey how I felt by myself, at this crazy museum, not caring that I’d be late getting home, not really knowing for sure how to get home, and just being in the heart of London. I heart London. Sigh.

Late night jam sessions with Romm and Natalie make my life.

There hasn’t been one night that I’ve gotten more than 6 hours of sleep. I don’t know how I’m surviving.

Today, I consumed my weight in Nutella. Please don’t judge me when I come home 10 pounds heavier then I was before.

Ants are overtaking our bathroom, one tile at a time.

Have I mentioned I really like the people in this group? I really like these people.

Movies I want to watch: The Great Mouse Detective, 101 Dalmatians, and Anastasia.

Someone asked me if I believe in the Oxford Comma. I do.

I used my major today by explaining that the word “knight” didn’t mean what it means today. It wasn’t someone noble and revered. It was just an average military dude. I love my major.

OH. I SAW PHANTOM OF THE OPERA TODAY. In the first act, I was disappointed with both the Phantom and Raul, but I think during intermission they took some singing pills or got really pumped because they were much better in the second half. I loved how loud the music was. I always want to be overwhelmed with sound when I go to things like this, and the orchestra is seldom loud enough. But they were tonight!

I’m going to Paris today… Paris. Paris! Sometimes I can’t believe my life.