Playing the waiting game...

So, I meant to update my blog once I found out whether I've been elected as secretary of Wandering Minds. But I haven't found out yet (I think they're going to send an email out with the voting results for both the secretary position and the shows that were pitched at the meeting...hopefully). So, I'm going to update this blog before the day is over (in my time zone, anyway).
Today was fun because MY FAMILY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED IN LONDON! AND THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING! I spent a good part of my day with them and had a great time! They explored Kensington Gardens, and we had crepes for lunch at this nice little place by the South Kensington station. After they had a nice nap for a couple hours, we had dinner at this Italian place by my dorm. The food there was GREAT- I had this wonderful pasta with spinach, pine nuts, basil, parmesan, and garlic in a cream sauce. NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM. After that they went back to their hotel and I prepared my speech.
I don't know if I mentioned this in my blog before, but I this evening I ran for secretary of my theater group at BU, Wandering Minds. Our current secretary, Sylvia, is going abroad next semester, so we obviously need a new secretary. I've loved being a part of the group during my time at BU, so I was excited to have the opportunity to run for a leadership position there. Send me good vibes!
Tomorrow I'm hanging out with the family again. We're probably going to just do some touristy things- Buckingham Palace, Notting Hill, maybe a movie tour, etc. Should be fun! Mom's taking most of the pictures so you'll have to wait a while before they're posted anywhere.
- Miranda

That's the plan, rule the world, you and me, any day...

So! No blog post yesterday because I was sooooo tired after coming back from the AMS gig. The gig went really well, by the way! I had a great time and the bands that we heard were really good. Tomorrow I'm going to another gig with them, so I'm excited about that.
Tonight I went over to Oliver's place to watch some movies. We watched Dr. Strangelove, Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (I had to stop myself from singing along to every song, hahaha) and an episode of The Simpsons. I had a really great time! It was really nice and relaxing :)
Tomorrow I'm going to another gig with AMS (like I said before) and I also have a field trip with one of my classes- we're going on a Mrs. Dalloway walk around London, which should be nice.
But the big news is that THE FAMILY IS ARRIVING ON FRIDAY MORNING! HOORAY! I'm sooooo happy to see them all! I can't wait!
It's kind of late, so I'll cut this entry short.
- Miranda

Skating!

Hey everyone!
So Oliver had the idea of going ice skating ever since our very first date, but today we actually did it! Now, basically everyone who reads this blog knows that I about the most unathletic person on this planet. So it follows that I'm pretty bad at ice skating. Luckily, Oliver is also bad at ice skating, so we were pretty evenly matched, hahaha. We actually did quite well for ourselves- we only really fell over once, and even then it wasn't too bad of a fall. We then got some ice cream at the skating rink. Now, you would normally think that we'd want to get hot chocolate or something like that rather than something cold like ice cream. However, we were actually quite warm once we exited the rink, and there was a gelato shop right in the skating place (it was actually an ice rink/bowling alley/arcade/snack bar place). So we had some wonderful ice cream- mixed berry and teramisu! NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM. All in all, another wonderful day :)
This is going slightly out of order, but this morning I had a really great croissant for breakfast. When I went to the cafe, they had JUST COME OUT OF THE OVEN, so the one I got was STILL WARM and sooooo good. Hahaha, that was such a typical Miranda tangent.
Tomorrow I'm going to a gig with AMS at Madame Jojo's, where we went earlier last month. I really liked that venue, so I'm glad that we're going again!
- Miranda

Natural History Museum etc. with Oliver

Before I properly start this entry, I want to state that, at the time I'm writing this, the Bills are beating Detroit! If they win, I will probably do a victory dance of epic proportions. I know we're playing DETROIT of all teams, but still. That is all.
ANYWAY, today was really fun, like the rest of the weekend! It was raining this morning, so Oliver and I went to the Natural History museum, which was free, like most museums in London. I was glad that he suggested that because I actually haven't been to any museums AT ALL while I've been here. Everyone keeps telling me to go to them because all of them are free, but I guess I've just never gotten around to it, really. I've been to a lot of author's houses, though, which I find more fun than most museums anyway.
The museum did allow photography, so I probably should've taken some pictures, but I figured I took enough at the parade yesterday, haha. It was pretty standard stuff that you'd see at a natural history museum- dinosaurs, animals, different kinds of rocks and gemstones, etc. It was a lot like the one in New York City, although of course this one was better because it's free :).
After walking around the museum for a couple hours, we got lunch at a pub (the same pub that I went to on MY VERY FIRST DAY HERE, in fact). It was good and it got us out of the rain for a while, hahaha. By the time we were done eating lunch, though, the rain had stopped. Then we walked for a bit in Hyde Park until it got dark. Overall, it was a really good day :) My feet are practically KILLING ME from walking so much this weekend, but I don't really care.
Tomorrow we might actually go ice-skating, so that should be cool.
- Miranda

Lord Mayor's Show!

Hey guys! Today I went to the Lord Mayor's Show with Oliver for our 2nd date (which is basically a parade/fireworks thing). It went really well and I had a great time.
So, let me show you some pictures! First, I'll show you some of the parade:

EVERYONE READING THIS POST: Shut up, Miranda! We want to see pics of you and Oliver!
Ok, fine. Calm down, here they are- one at the parade, and one after the fireworks:


There ya go. Happy now?
ANYWAY, the rest of the day went wonderfully. We had lunch at Pizza Express and ended up walking for a long time in order to get to the river....getting lost...and then taking the Tube back to the river, hahaha. Then we watched the sun set:

(This is one of my favorite pictures I've taken on the entire trip- it ranks up there with the rose one from Hampstead).
Then it was time for FIREWORKS!

Yeah, I'm a happy girl :)

You probably expect this right now...

...yeah, no update yesterday, but as I said in the subject line, you guys probably expected it because it was Thursday and I almost never have time for updates then. So this will be a combined Thursday/Friday entry, like they usually are.
So, on Thursday I had a field trip to Samuel Johnson's house, like I told you guys in the Wednesday entry. We hadn't read a lot of Johnson's work this year, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was actually really fun and informative! We had a really good tour guide, too, which helped. The house was right near the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub that I reallt liked, where we went in the beginning of the year with the Literature Program. It was really weird to go to basically the same place with the same people and see how much we've changed in two months...
Speaking of months...I officially only have 1 month left here :(. Actually, a little less than that, as I leave on December 11th. :( I guess I better take advantage of every opportunity I have, then. I'm of course going to be thrilled to go back to the US but the people here are just absolutely wonderful. I'm definitely going to miss some of them.
....but I'll save all of that gushy stuff for the day before I leave. No use getting all sad now. There are exciting things happening!
....which is a perfect segue into the rest of my Thursday! (Sorry...about the...love affair...with the...ellipses...in this...entry, hahahaha). Last night, I had a wonderful date with Oliver, who I met at the AMS Halloween party! I know lots of you probably feel INCREDIBLY out of the loop about this, but I didn't want to make it a huge deal before anything significant happened. That happens so many times with me- I build something up to be bigger than it is, and when it actually happens it isn't nearly as exciting. ANYWAY, Oliver and I saw Due Date, which was hilarious (even though it was basically a remake of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles). I had a really great time! Tomorrow we're going to the Lord Mayor's Show (which is referred to on the website as "the world's oldest civic procession", so I guess it's kind of like a parade). I'm really excited for that too!
Today I haven't really done much...it's been really cold and rainy all day. I did my laundry, though, so that was good, and did some shopping. That's about it, really.
- Miranda

IT'S COLD

I couldn't think of a subject for my entry today, so I decided to just go with the weather, hahaha. I'm going to have to break out my gloves soon. There hasn't been any snow yet, though, which is good.
The ukelele cabaret was really fun yesterday! I had a great time. It was just full of lots of happy people playing the ukelele. They did ukelele covers of "Back in the USSR" and "You are My Sunshine". Overall, it was a great time. Next Tuesday Charlotte said that we're going back to Madame Jojo's for a gig, so I'm super excited about that because I really liked the gig there. It was a fun venue, and the drinks were really cheap.
Today I have to type up an outline for my research paper, which shouldn't take too long but I'm procrastinating so it still isn't done yet. Meh. It'll get done, though, don't worry.
Tomorrow the literature program is going on a field trip to Samuel Johnson's house. Unfortunately, it's predicted to rain, so I don't know how well that's going to go. Hopefully, the rain will stay away and I can take some good pictures.
- Miranda