An English St. Patrick's Day

This week began by learning all about the National Health Service in one of my classes. The service is interesting and I would like to speak with more people to find out if people in the UK like it or not. On one hand, the fact that all prescriptions are cheap and the same price is nice. Although, the various requirements make it rather hard for people to see the doctor at their own leisure, at least this is what I got out of the lecture. Sadly, I am not able to use the NHS because I am not living in England for longer than six months.
The week continued with a lovely visit from some friends from home. We had a fantastic lunch at Sally Lunn's Restaurant. Sally Lunn's is the oldest house in Bath and I had been meaning to eat there and try a famous Bath bun, a must do on a trip to Bath. Lunch was light and very british, the bun itself was also very light and fluffy. I expected a more dense bun, but it was still very yummy. I really want to go back and try cream tea (scones with clotted cream...yummy) in the near future! After lunch, we toured around the area for a bit and wondered around the shops. It was really great seeing them and discussing all the difference between England and the US.
I had my second week of lab and it went much smoother than the first week. Twelve hours in the lab still creates very long days, but I feel on top of it and I am enjoying my lab partner and all his random questions. I can't believe I only have one more week of lab...very weird feeling. It is also weird that I am half-way done with my semester, it feels likes it just began. I think the semester in Bath is 10-12 weeks or something like that compared to an 18 week semester at Purdue. I am finding that once I got settled into a routine, all my classes are switching time slots! I currently have no clue when my classes meet this coming week, but I'm sure it will all work out...it is very confusing when the professors change, thus affecting the time the class meets. I desperately miss M-W-F or T-R classes...they make my calender look much prettier!
I was able to sneak in a small St. Patrick's celebration on Thursday, but since I had an 8:15 class the next morning...the celebration consisted of consuming a Guinness and finding a Chinese take-away place on the opposite side of town and eating yummy chow mien! I think Chinese take-away is the cheapest meal option in Bath and it's so delicious! At first it surprised me that the English don't really celebrate St. Paddy's Day, at least not like it is celebrated in the US. Someone I was discussing this with made a good point: since Ireland is their neighbor, why would they celebrate Ireland's national holiday? It's not like they would ever celebrate France's national holiday! I think it is more acceptable to celebrate in the US because there is more diversity of cultures.
This weekend I stayed in the Bath area...no big trip. On Friday night I attended a program for exchange students. The event was at a local pub/bar and it was advertised as having free food, so of course why wouldn't I go! They served fried mushrooms and they were so good! There was so much extra food, but the servers wouldn't let us take it home :( I finally got to sleep in on a Saturday. When I naturally woke up, I worked out, took a shower, had breakfast and then spent the day in Bristol (which really doesn't count as going anywhere) shopping!!! It was a very relaxing Saturday. I was slightly disappointed in the shopping experience, but my wallet is probably happy. I managed to only buy some accessories and some necessary basics.
Saturday night became an adventure by riding the bus all around Bath for about two hours. I was trying to make it to a friend's house who lived on the outskirts of town and ended up on a bus that never got there or if it did, I didn't know the area well enough to explore in the dark and I really didn't want to get stranded on the other side of the city on a Saturday night. Finally, after two very long bus rides, I arrived at my friend's place. We made dinner...yummy fajitas...I miss mexican food so much, the first thing I want to eat when I get back in the states is mexican food! Overall, it turned out to be a really fun evening! At least I got to see a whole other section of Bath that I probably would had never seen if I didn't take the first bus.
This coming week, I am going on a lab tour of Johnson Matthey Sonning Technology Center. It should be an interesting tour and give me further insight of the chemical industry, plus I get a free lunch! This coming weekend I am going to finally see Stonehenge!!! I will also get to spend some time in Salisbury and maybe even see the chalk horse on the hill....it is over in that area, but I missed it on the way to Portsmouth. The count down to Barcelona is two weeks and I'm so excited! Well this was a shorted post, but I guess that is because it was a low key weekend...that also means there aren't any new pictures (sorry mom!). On a side note, it is sad I can't watch any of the NCAA Tournament...it's the only part of the basketball season I follow...anyway I am still cheering for Purdue, BOILER UP!!!