WWTCGD: What Would the Chatham Girls Do?

This weekend has been absolutely ridiculous...and by the that I mean completely Chatham worthy!

On Thursdays I have my International Security Studies lecture at 10 and then the seminar following it at 11:30 until 1 and then I have my second class, Third World Politics at 6 pm until 8..(my professor for this course is your quintessential English man...he would start swearing mid lecture when he got really into it...so funny!) So in between killing the time in between the classes and then the tube ride back to the flat I was completely exhausted...but the minute I got back I got a text from my friend Jackie who lives one floor below me (I'm on the 2nd floor of our building) to let me know that of course, we were all going out. The great thing about the people I'm living with is that they all have this great energy to go out and we always have a great time together...it also makes going home real easy since we're such a large group.

Anyway, so I had about 10 minutes to grab food since I hadn't eaten all day and change my shirt and shoes and look a little going out worthy. In London a lot of girls go all out...but since its still cold I haven't really done that yet but that fashion styles here are phenomenal. My friend Daisy loves to wear this bright pink trench coat when we go out with pink lipstick and a pink headband. She has be most adorable sense of style I've seen here yet!

So we all meet up in the front lobby and head to this Irish bar, O'Neils in Leicester Square near Oxford Circus, it's a quick tube ride away from the flat which is nice. The first floor of the bar is a club, the second is the bar with live music and the third is the roof access. We stayed where the live music was and the band was awsome. I got a ton of great pictures and so did my friends when they used my camera for me, especially one of the French students Olivier who went crazy taking everyone's picture while we rocked out.

Fridays I don't have class so I slept in a little, went for a run and got groceries of which I was in dire need!
Then me, Jackie, Laura and Katerina made dinner together and had some girl time, thinking it would be a night off from all the going out madness...but no

Around 10, Carlos, who lives down the hall from me came into the common room to let us know we were going to Camden Town to this bar called The World's End which is supposedly the largest bar in London. To say the least it was amazing! We finally were able to edge our way to the bar which was basically a shrine to every type of alcohol imaginable...I got a shot of Jack (which is my favorite now) and a beer and we all toasted to a fun night out. We headed into another room and hung out for awhile, drinking and people watching. We heard there was club called The Underworld having an 80s night right next door so of course we headed there next and danced like mad to every known work of 80s pop. I went to the bar and there were these two guys standing there who looked like the singers of MGMT...very messy hair, thin, hipster types and being the tipsy one who was I to keep any thought to myself at this point. Their names were Jack and Tom and they introduced me to the rest of their group, Mark, Johnson, and Simon. Jackie had joined me at the bar and the guys had a great time hearing our American accents (they really love them in England, its pretty sweet). So we all headed back to the dance floor and around 3 it was last call so we grabbed our coats and left to find the night bus that takes us back to Highgate where we live.

Saturday was our friend Cory's 23rd birthday so of course we needed to celebrate. We all (and when I say all I mean about 10-15 of us) headed back to The World's End where we met a few more people, Luca and Rolfe who were from London and they came with us to this other bar called The Salon. It wasn't too crowded so we were able to get a table and by then it was the two boys, me, Daisy, Wayne, Josh, James, Joe, and Raz. A few of us were a little belligerent (Joe and Josh got sick on the way back to the bus) but yet again, it was an incredibly fun night.

One thing about men in London, at a bar, if you make eye contact or show interest of any kind, they WILL come over to you and probably offer you a drink. In most cases, if you accept its almost like an obligation to stay with that person the REST of the night.

When we got back, me, Daisy, Raz, Olivier and his friend Charlie and girlfriend Christine who were visiting from France were up until 6 playing Kings which was hilarious since every time someone lost Daisy would yell out "drink bitch!." By 6:30 I decided I needed sleep (surprisingly) and passed out the minute my head hit the pillow.

But seriously....this weekend was legendary!

Today I'll probably just take it easy and hang out with people in the common room. I've got some reading to do for my British Economy class tomorrow so I need to get that done as well.

love,
al