Last week of term!

Now as you may recall, last week I mentioned that there was a nasty virus going around the school. Well, on tuesday the decision was made to close the school to day pupils to try and reduce the amount of people getting it. On Tuesday alone there were over 100 students with the bug, and a good chunk of the staff too! So with only 30 kids boarding, and that number decreasing daily as parents came and picked up their kids, my week was spent in mainly in my room (away from the nasty bug-carrying kids) and I only left to get food, or do some work which was pretty much supervising the remaining kids in the evenings while they watched movies and the staff kept their distance.

I somehow managed to miss the virus, much to the envy and admiration of the staff who had not been so lucky, they all said it was because i'm a kiwi and we're built tough (I think it was because I voluntarily put myself in isolation as soon as it started getting bad)

Needless to say it was an interesting and unexpected end to my first term, but not really a bad one because I pretty much got a week off work!

So on Friday I made the now familiar trip from Frome to London, but this time with a big suitcase because I won't be back at the school for another three weeks. I had stupidly forgotten how many stairs there are in train stations when I packed, so I had to drag my (overpacked) suitcase across London which was not enjoyable in the slightest. I spent the rest of friday recovering from the journey on the sofa, and before you say anything, yes I did need recovery time – that suitcase is really heavy!

I see the inside of train stations far too much for my liking..

On Saturday I did what any normal 18yearold would do in London (in my opinion)  No I didn't go on a pub crawl, I went to the British Museum (personally I think I have my priorities right). I spent 3 hours wandering the museum in a state of mind that could only be described as pure happiness. After having a lot of practice with museums and queueing, I knew to get there as soon as it opened, so for the first half an hour, the place was nearly empty. 

Now as you may know, I took Classics for two years in school, and it was by far my favourite subject, so when I walked into the “Parthenon Galleries” room, there were tears in my eyes. I cannot explain to you how seeing statues that are broken and missing pieces can mean so much to me, but after studying them for months in year 12, and then having to wait two years to be able to travel to the other side of the world to see them, they are pretty special. I spent over an hour just walking around that particular gallery, taking in every metope and frieze, and wondering how people can only spend 5 minutes there, glancing at the pieces, and then leaving to sprint around the next room.

Other than the Elgin marbles, I saw vases from Thebes, mosaics from Carthage, and enough nude sculptures to last me a lifetime!

Puts Te Papa to shame...

Mosaics from Carthage! I had a freak out on the stairs in from of a Chinese school group.. 

The sculptures from the Pediment of the Parthenon 

A Caryatid from the Erectheion. Again, a freak out in front of a German school group this time..

That afternoon I went shopping. I know this seems to be a common thing for me to do, but this time it wasn't just shopping, it was retail therapy. After a week of sick kids, Zayn leaving 1D, and the car I learnt to drive in being sold, I needed it (so no judging). So I ventured out to Shepherds Bush, and spent a couple of hours there (half the time was shopping, the other half was trying to find my way around – that mall does not have a sensible layout!). After I had finished shopping I headed back to the Slades house, and I actually did come cooking! It wasn't anything amazing, but considering I haven’t cooked anything myself for a very long time, I was quite proud of my salsa (and thankful that the recipe was easy to follow). 

Sunday morning was spent at another museum, this time it was the Dulwich Picture Gallery and it was amazing. I was in awe of the paintings because they all looked like they had been printed, not hand painted, and as I cannot draw to save my life I was seriously impressed. There was a cool competition running while we were there – one of the paintings had been swapped with a chinese factory copy, and you had to try and guess what one it was (there was a 1 in 257 chance you would get it right) personally I had no clue, but there was one of Jesus that looked a bit too good to be real in my opinoin.

Whenever I go on a double decker bus, I have to sit at the front of the top floor..

That afternoon I headed into the city again, this time to meet up with some more gappies. I hadn't met either of them before (yay new friends) so we spent a couple of hours chatting, comparing jobs, pay and school (I definitely won, not that it was a competition). Between the three of us, there was a kiwi, an Aussie and a South African, which made for interesting stories about life back home. After an hour of us three chatting, two Aussie blokes walked in and sat at the table next to us. They were hard to miss because they were covered in green and gold from head to toe, and were very happy because they had won the cricket. As soon as the Aussie gap saw them they started chatting, and moved to our table. They were hilarious, and despite being 10 years older than us they were so easy to chat to (which made it easy for them to give me grief about NZ loosing the cricket). After 2 hours talking to them, we left and I had the task (yet again) of showing the Aussie around London, because he had arrived that morning, and hadn't seen anything yet. I must say I am quite proud of myself because I didn't need a map to get us across the city on the tube, and then around the city on foot! They kept saying I was pretty much a local, which feels weird because everything still feels so new and exciting here. 

Sadly the massive blue chicken has been replaced by what seems to be a Thestral wearing a bow

There are actual flowers out now! Hopefully the leaves will soon follow 

And now we're back to monday! This morning I was a fangirl and went to Baker Street (221b, to be exact), because you can't not go there! 

 It was such a nice morning that I got the tube into the centre of the city and just walked around in the sunshine, which was lovely compared to yesterdays rain and wind..

Now it doesn't take much for my maturity to disappear – a bit of snow, a theme park, or a childish joke will do the trick. So it will be no surprise to you when I say I spent over an hour in Hamleys, playing with the demonstration toys, looking at the Harry Potter section, the Lord of the Rings corner and the Game of thrones shelf. I very nearly bought a lot of things (wands, badges, Gandalf's staff that was taller than me) but thankfully my maturity resurfaced and I didn't (thus saving myself over a hundred pounds...) Once I managed to pull myself away from the toys and out the doors, I slowly made my way back to the train station, and then back to my room for a couple of hours, until I went on a walk around Nunhead Cemetery with Charlie and friend, and Sarah's Dad. It's one of those cemeteries that looks scary, even in daylight. Everything is over grown, and half the graves are cracked, but it was a nice walk (and I was fine, because in the horror movies bad things only ever happen at night).

I feel like I should congratulate you if you made it past all the spelling mistakes and gramatical errors and got to the end!

(congrats)