Team Rally Holds It Down

It's always the nights that start out quietly that end up being the most fun, and last night was a prime example.

Three of my flatmates (Ashley, Katie, and Steph) and I went out last night to a pub up by Notting Hill called the Old Swan. The Old Swan, along with many of the pubs around town, is running a sale this January of £5 meals. The pub was great. It was a really cozy place with leather couches and booths, and we settled into a corner for a great meal. After a filling dinner, we were all feeling a little sleepy and just about ready to head home and have a quiet evening.

On the way home we decided to stop at another pub, the Churchill Arms, mostly because it was named after Winston Churchill, and also because (as my flatmate Steph pointed out) there was an Irish flag hanging outside. It was another great pub. Katie and I tried pints of London Pride, which was delicious. I'm becoming a fan of the more bitter, traditional ales. We were debating our next move when Steph got a phone call from a friend saying that a bunch of people were going to the University College of London bar called The Rocket. It sounded promising, especially when two other friends told us that they would be going there as well.

We decided it was time to rally.

We shed our post-dinner sleepiness, and ran back to the flat. After getting ready, we made it over to The Rocket. The place was fantastic. It was full of students from all over London, the music was blasting, and everyone was dancing and having a fantastic time. I love the music that they play over here. It's a great mix of 90's US hits, modern main-stream, and throwbacks. Last night we heard everything from The Black-Eyed Peas (Pump it-- I thought of you, Mary!) to The YMCA and Sir Mix-A-Lot. There's a lot of techno too, but fortunately The Rocket didn't play an overwhelming number of techno songs.

I had a great time dancing the night away with my friends, and we'll be sure to make it back there at some point soon.

This morning we all slept late, and then got up and decided to go out to brunch. There's a place around the corner from us called the Muffin Man (no, sadly, it is not on Drury Lane). We had a fantastic (and inexpensive) brunch and tea.

Another quick note... I forgot to talk about the inauguration this past week. Our administration had a viewing at our classroom building and it was nice to be with such a large group of Americans to celebrate such a historic moment. It was also very cool to see how excited the British people were about our inauguration as well. We went over to Imperial College that night to have a celebratory pint, and everyone was buzzing about the inauguration.

The media over here really talks a lot more about international politics than our news at home, and a large majority of the people I have spoken to are better informed about American politics and policies than many US citizens that I know.

It's actually okay to be recognized as an American right now because so many people are excited to ask you what you think about Obama. But, as one of our lecturer's told us at the beginning of term, everyone is especially interested in Americans right now because of the changes that are (hopefully) going to happen in the next four years, and as such it is a time for all of us to be very aware that the way we act is a representation of our country.