A Lazy Day In

We get a good chunk of our Fridays free, and so I took my free day today as an opportunity to sleep in and be lazy, as to get over the little bit of jet-lag that I have left. I woke up at 6:00 AM, which I thought was really quite obnoxious. But I slept a bit more and didn't really get up until around 10:00. Then I moved my laptop over to the bed, grabbed my newly-acquired copy of Jane Eyre, and opened up iTunes and began reading for class.

I've run in to a bit of a snag regarding my internship, but as I am on strict orders from Martin, the AHA coordinator, not to think about this mess for 48 hours, I won't go in to detail right now. I'll update once a conclusion has been reached.

However, I will say that I may be either rearranging my class schedule or adding an extra class. Either way, I am now going to take 19th and 20th century British novel. We're reading Jane Eyre, Great Expectation, Mrs. Dalloway, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and The Buddha of Suburbia. There weren't enough copies of Jane Eyre, so I was sent out to find my own copy of Jane Eyre last night, and AHA will reimburse me for my purchase. We get to keep all of the books that the school supplies for us.

Speaking of classes, I have been to each of my classes now. We have been to the British Museum twice now, once for Britian Today to learn about early British history, and once for the art history class, to look at the Greek statues from The Parthenon. I've seen all of this stuff before, when I went last year, but it was still very fascinating to see it again. Last year, I saw the Parthenon sculptures before we went to Greece. This time around, I had a new perspective, as I have now been to the Parthenon itself.

Once classes were finished up and I had been given the task of getting a copy of Jane Eyre, my novel teacher told me that I could find bookstores at Russel Square or Charing Cross. I intended to take the tube to Charing Cross, but as it was rush hour and the tube was ridiculously packed, I decided to get off at Holborn and transfer over to the Picadilly Line, which goes by Russel Square, instead of getting off at Tottingham Court Road and transferring to the Northern Line. I also know Russel Square better, as that's right where the hotel I stayed in last year is located.

I wandered over to the shopping centre, with absolutely no idea if there was a bookstore in the area or not. I didn't see any, so I pulled out my iPhone (such a convenient tool in my pocket!) and searched for bookstores. Turned out, there was a little used bookstore called Skoob Books located behind the Waitrose grocery store that I was standing outside of.

Unsure if I could cut through the grocery store, I walked around the building along the street. I entered Skoob Books, and literally was standing at the top of a stairwell. I stood there for a moment thinking "now what?" and then headed down the stairs, which was really all that I could do. A few flights later, I found myself in your standard used book shop: very little room for anything but, well, books. I found what appeared to be the only copy of Jane Eyre in the shop and made my purchase, then headed home on a ridiculously packed tube.

Today, after spending a few hours in bed being lazy, I went downstairs and fixed myself breakfast, which I ate while watching Frasier and Will and Grace. After that, I came right back up to bed, my laptop (Rufus), and Jane Eyre. Around 1:00 I decided that it wouldn't hurt to go do something, so I got dressed and went out for lunch and some shopping.

I stopped for lunch at the Whistle Stop next to the tube station. There wasn't much left, so I had a sausage on a roll with butter and ketchup. I wasn't brave enough to try "brown sauce", because I don't know what "brown" tastes like. It was a tasty little sandwich, though. Then I caught the tube and headed in to Harrow, which is two stops down the line. I went in to the little shopping center and wandered around for a bit, where I purchased a few items and treated myself to a scoop of Baskin and Robbins (which wasn't quite as good as it is at home).

Now I'm back in, still reading Jane Eyre (we're supposed to have chapter twenty read by Monday, and I also have to read the entirety of Twelfth Night and the first chapter of my art history book). That's been my absolutely exhilarating start to the weekend! No plans yet for tomorrow, but I may wander in to Central London tomorrow. Picadilly Circus could be fun.

At some point this weekend, I need to write up an article for The Mast back home, too. Any suggestions on a topic would be welcome.