HP 4 Lyfe

Good morning! Some of you may be asking yourselves, "what is that Clare Goeken girl doing with her life?" Ha, okay maybe not but I'm about to tell you anyway! Tonight, I made one of the best decisions of  the trip so far... Mom and Dad, skip to the next paragraph: I went out instead of studying! Well, that decision led me to a wonderful night. Tonight we went to a pub called the Firehouse. It was so beautiful and quaint, and had the best pizza I have ever tasted! Cool huh? Well there's more....J.K. Rowling actually based the Leaky Cauldron (from HP) after this pub and did some of her writing there as well. So, as I sipped on my cider -- a British staple -- and chatted with my new friends, I was overwhelmed with the need to write a great piece of work... aka this blog. [Author's note: my next destination to check off is the street she based Diagon Alley off of. Also, rumor has it that the professor she based Professor Snape off of still teaches here. Needless to say, I will be sitting in on many Classical Studies classes until I figure it out!]

                                            We found some pink carnations...shout out to Gphi!!!

For those of you who haven't heard, I went to London this past weekend to visit my good friend Margy and her friend/my new friend Sarah. It was a blast!!! They were possibly the best tour guides I have ever encountered! My saying for the day was, "7 pounds for a lifetime of memories!" I was able to see Big Ben, Parliament, the Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, the London Tower, and understand the London Tube system all in one day. It was very exhausting, but it was definitely worth it especially after we got home and consumed one of the best pieces of lasagna ever.  The next day we went for a stroll around Hyde Park and then we visited heaven -- the chocolate room of Herrod's! [Side note: I just realized how much I talk about food in this blog, but at least you don't have to be concerned about me being anorexic over here!]

 

Matching trenches <3 looking inconspicuous meandering throughout the city!

On a final note, I heard back about club basketball from the team captain. The good news is that I'm more than welcome to join. The bad news is that they already sent in registrations for the team so I wouldn't actually be able to play, unless it was in another person's name. One of my flatmates and I are going to check out a practice on Thursday. Otherwise, I'm going to have to find a new hobby to pick up. Let me know if you have any suggestions! 


Hope all is well with all of you! Miss you!