Out on the Town and the Thames Festival

Let me just say that although I did not experience a whirlwind shopping montage like Mary-Kate and Ashley, lots of fun can be found around here if you know where to look. I'd been told by many a previous London student that London can be extremely boring as pubs close at 11 p.m. And I thought this was the case... until last weekend.

Saturday night began at the magical Thames Festival. My friends and I checked out the most important event... DUH the Feast on the Bridge!!! We started at the beer stand because we're Americans of course! But, that actually turned out to be a bad decision as whatever they served me was surely the worst-tasting liquid ever brewed. Then came the fantastic, the marvelous, the French... Nutella crepe. If you've never had a Nutella crepe, you haven't truly lived. If you don't know what Nutella is, how on earth do you find the motivation to get up in the morning? Anyway, you might have picked up that it was frickin AWESOME! After chowing down for a while at the banquet style tables, we moved to the mostly-cheesy concert that was going on. We attempted to copy the really intense people who'd come dressed up and with years of dancing experience, but mostly we just made fools of ourselves - in the most fun way possible.

From there we contemplated walking back to the dorm as most of the festival had finished for the night (by 10 p.m. - so those nay-sayers did partly get the early thing right). But, we ended up finding a bar that was open past 11. There we met a whole slew of delightful (and not so delightful) British characters. One, who we decided to refer to all night only as David Beckham, had some killer dance moves, by which I mean that Carlton would have been proud. But, he did have that Beckham look, so no one cared. Another guy ended up showing us around various bars and clubs all night, which an adventure on a scale I didn't know London had. Overall, (and that was definitely a SHORT summary), perhaps those past students should try London over again because I think they missed it. I also went back to the Thames Festival on Sunday and watched the Carnival (like as in Rio) and the spectacular fireworks. They were shot off from a boat on the Thames and everyone was squishing in trying to get the best view from the bridge. It was amazing to watch them go off right in front (or rather above) me.

On a final and side note, I made tacos! So that can be added to my three-item long list of things I can cook! Hooray!