The school work has begun and the adventures have slowed down some. While we are still having a blast at the Eckerd London House, we have had to buckle down and do some of our school work.

1. Explored the Dickens House

For my London in Literature class we had to read A Christmas Carol. After a lackluster discussion on the topic of Dickens' London, we went on a walking tour to his home on Doughty Street. We learned about the early years of his life spent in this particular home and about his various homes across the country. The collection of items within this museum were his belongings from various of his residences. I was astounded to learn about the downfall of his marriage to Catherine Dickens. He fell in love with a young actress, but the plaques in the home seemed to blame the downfall of the marriage on Catherine's postpartum depression. I would be depressed too if I had his ten children and he was sleeping around with younger women, and possibly my sister.

2. Flipped My Mattress

I may be having a great time, but I hate my mattress with a passion. It has seen years of students and had a dent in the middle from all the bodies that had laid upon it. I figured that flipping the mattress, as you are supposed to with spring mattresses, would aid me in my search for a good nights sleep. This proved to be a feat with the heavy mattress, slanted floors, and narrow room. Once I finally got the mattress back down, it was better. Not perfect, but better and my back hurt less. I was able to move without falling off the bed or falling into the worn indent. I now have a mattress pad, which makes the bed super comfy, and this morning I did not want to leave its lushness. That was the sleep I had been searching for.

3. Finally Washed My Clothes

I finally worked up the courage to come down stairs and do my laundry in this washing machine I am not used to. The washer and dryer are in an old WWII bomb shelter under the street, which makes the experience really amazing. I never thought I would stand in one of those shelters, let alone do my laundry in one. Now I have clean pants that smell fresh, and a hamper that I found in the laundry room.

4. Wrote a Ton of Papers

It really was buckle down time this week and I had to write five papers. They were of various length, but they really got me in to the styles of my professors. I now get to see how these professors I have never had before like to work, and how these classes in a common room are done. We are all adjusting to the strangeness and the workload we were not expecting, but I do not really think that this has detracted from the experiences we are having.

5. Got Lost in Camden Market

We were on the hunt for a post office. There was supposed to be one not far from the Camden Town tube station. We found two things, neither of which was the post office. We found The World's End Bar, which we did not go into for some reason. We also found Camden Market, which we did get into and, like the header suggests, we got lost after hours of perusing the stalls. I say that this adventure was like walking through Etsy. There were handmade crafts and vintage clothes. I bought a pair of pretty cool vintage sunglasses that were only 10 pounds. I also bought some handcarved tea lights because they were so intricate and the shop owner was the nicest lady I've met so far in London.

6. Saw a Play Called Nice Fish

It's a comedy about Minnesotan ice fishers. Most of the lines came from Louis Jenkins prose poetry. Mark Rylance played a character named Ron and there were some exesitential points made during the comedic moments. If I am honest, I found some of it funny but not as funny as the rest of the audience did. I thought the Minnesotan accents were well done and the props were accurate. I won't say much about the puppets because I hate puppets. All in all, I got what they were going for and I think for the English audience they go there, so it was a success.

7. Saw Lego Batman

I will begin by saying that I hate the Lego movies. I have never understood the purpose of them, but my best friend wanted me to go so I got off my ass and went. I will admit that I laughed, and there were some jokes about Brits that were funnier because we were in an almost entire British audience. There were deep moments and the Voldemort Lego was in the movie, as well as Ralph Fiennes, the voice of Voldemort, but he voiced Alfred Pennyworth not Voldemort. In the theaters here, you can drink alcohol, so I was even more okay with the movie. I will say that 4 pounds for beer does not fill the cup is dissapointing. I will also inform you that the ODEON does not do buttered popcorn. They have 3 flavors: Salted, Caramel, and Mint. Make your choice pre-register so that you are not stared down by the cranky man that does not believe you are 20 even after checking your ID twice, as I was.

8. Played Cards Against Humanity with My Professor

One of the best moments this week was a late night game of Cards Against Humanity that our Professor joined in on. He sat with us on the floor as we played the UK version of the game. Things got weird, as they usually do, especially when we had to google the region specific cards. It was a great night.