Palaces, mushroom trees, free hip flasks, and countless impressions of a prof

So, Thursday night we tried another Chelsea pub around the corner. This one had more people our age in it, and it was pretty crowded, so we had to initially grab a table in the corner of the pool room and share stools. Eventually they closed the upstairs and we were able to get a table downstairs. Most of us had a cider called Strongbow, which is really good for all those who don't really like beer but aren't quite ready to be seen in an English pub with a Cosmo. I liked it a lot, but I also tried Guinness, which was a huge difference, obviously. Alison did have a cosmo, but when she ordered it, they laughed at her. Also, it had something like giner ale in it, which is just strange. It was a large group of us, 7 or 8, so we were conspicuous, but we didn't get any dirty glances like at other pubs. The pub closed at 11, though, like most pubs do, which we still think is weird. The "young people" here go to a pub, starting around 7 or 8, stay there until closing time or just before, and then go to the clubs, which are open until about 3am. After we got kicked out, we wandered around briefly and decided we were going to get on the tube and find some place to go. We all get our Oyster cards (basically like the ChicagoCard, for public transportation) and go outside, making it half a block down before it starts pouring. We made it about 10 more steps before turning around to go home and stay in for the night. Most people, including myself, didn't have an umbrella, and so we came back in completely soaked through. We all changed into our pjs and met back in my room, and just hung out until about 2am. It was actually a lot of fun, and we did lots of impressions of our professor and TA, who are total characters. Katie does the best of prof Von Nolken, who we love the most and have started calling her affectionately by her first name. We've decided that we are going to become BFF (best friends forever) with Christina during our trip to Cornwall next weekend.
Because we were up late, none of us got up to go to the Royal Courts of Justice, which none of us really regret. There will always be another time to giggle at people in wigs. We all met at the Waterloo station at 1pm to go to Hampton Court to see the palace and the gardens. There is a train that goes out there, and then the palace is a short walk from the station. It is this big, crazy palace that Henry VIII built and used. It has all these crazy chimneys and Roman emperors randomly stuck, gargoyle-like, along the exterior walls. Parts of it are as old as 1236, it was also used by Henry VII and Thomas Wolsely. Other parts were added on throughout the years, so it is an interesting comglomeration of architecture.
You can walk through many of the apartments, which are floored with either marble or hardwood (the picture to the left is of one of the interior ceilings, which I shot right before the guard yelled at me for taking pictures). I've decided that I like Hampton Court much more than Buckingham palace. It is not as ornate, or at least it is in a less flashy way. There is also so much more atmosphere. You can imagine Henry and his numerous wives using the palace (even without the random people standing about in costume), and they even have his velvet padded privy on the second floor open. The gardens are huge and there is also a fun shrubbery maze. It was raining sporadically throughout the day, but really started coming down the minute we were far enough into the maze not to be able to get out again. We all opened our umbrellas only to find they don't exactly fit, so the entire time we were in the maze was this incredibly comic scene of us getting stuck, trying to raise the umbrellas above the shrubbery, and getting wet. Not to mention the fact that Christina made an appearance and started hopping throughout. They also had this weird recorded woman saying in a creepy British voice stuff like, "So, its to be this way is it?" and "There's someone behind you!" We were there for about 15 min, but it seemed longer. Afterward, we decided to go eat at a pub across the street. The waitress was really nice, and patiently explained things to us, like what "chip butty" is (a sandwich of chips - fries - with butter I think). They had amazing apple blueberry crumble, and I had chips with vinegar. And, horror of horrors, I left my umbrella! I'm very upset about it, because it has lasted me longer than any other umbrella I've had, and it matched my bag. In fact, I bought my bag in the color I did because I had that umbrella. Sad day.
After eating, we went back to the palace for a bit longer, and I finished up looking inside while everyone else wandered in the gardens (where the trees look like giant mushrooms) and took pictures of ducks. It was much more eerie going through it alone (minus the occasional guard), at dusk, when there wasn't really any electricity on (it closes at 6). Supposedly Catherine Howard haunts one of the hallways.
We made our way back to the dorm, and half an hour later went out again, this time to celebrate our good friend Jack's birthday. Jack Daniels, that is. In all the tube stations, there are tons of advertisements for it, and several pubs in Leicester Square were giving away free hip flasks for every two Jack Daniels drinks. Of course, anything involving the word "free" automatically lures the college student into a trap, so we decided to make it into an event. We started out with four of us, and then grew to six by the end of the night. We started out at one pub, where the middle aged people sat downstairs, and the young people were upstairs. We sat downstairs because there were no seats upstairs, and everyone in there looked at us like they all knew each other and didn't want intruders. The next pub we went to was just down the street, and much more crowded. It was much prettier, too, with mahogany paneling and mirrored walls with frosted designs on them. Then we made our way to a pub/club, after stopping at Tesco (something like a minimart) for the much craved salt and vinegar crisps (chips) that we are all now completely obsessed with. Whenever someone buys a round, they have to buy the crisps as well. Anyway, this club was pretty cool, and played a crazy mix of music, from Prince to Kanye West, and everything in between. It was really fun, but British people don't dance! Even on the dance floor, its mostly them just bopping and bobbing about. We got a lot of (good) attention for actually looking good on the dance floor, something which wouldn't happen stateside. Finally, at 3 am, we got home.
I slept in today, and then did some laundry. I only had enough change to do one load, and I realized belatedly (as in after it all started) that I had bought fabric softener instead of detergent. Also, there is a little drawer for detergent on the side, rather than just putting it in with the clothes, because its one of the washers that opens on the side. Luckily, there was enough left in there from the person before me to get my clothes clean. Then, the dryer took forever and didn't dry my clothes all the way, so they are hanging on every available surface in my room in hopes that they'll be dry before I have to wear them tomorrow. I've just got to finish my reading for Monday tonight because we've got a full day tomorrow.