It looked a little gray outside when my alarm brought me into the real world. So I got up, put on my favorite pirate outift and did my hair with Bellatrix Lestrange in mind. I went downstairs and made a nineteen layer chocolate cake for breakfast, then gathered up my things and rode my giant pet goldfish to wizard school. Wizard is a universal, gender-less term now, just in case you had questions. You're welcome.
Welsh lesson in action for the morning: Gwnes i ddim yn y llyfergell ddoe, ond gwnes i i'r ysgol yn yr bore ar pysgod. Mae pysgod hyfryd gyda fi. Sion mae e. Caedd e ddim coesau, ond mae e hyfrid. :)
We didn't have any tours or traveling planned for the day, so we were told to come back to the classroom when we finished lunch. Lowrie told us that the museum has a bunch of really amazing art, so we were all very much for going.
We have frequently passed a cheap little food shop as we have walked the streets of Cardiff, called Greggs. Conner was telling us all one night how good the steak bake pasties are there, so Miya, Abbey, and I ducked in and picked some up, for about a pound twenty each. They were okay, still nothing close to the first pastie flavor I had (I'm still on a mission to recreate it when I get home), but it wasn't bad. More than anything, I think I was just super craving meat. I've had plenty of protein and a lot of chicken, but my American cravings for beef have needed to be pretty much suppressed this whole trip, so it was good to have a little bit of dark meat again.
We ate as we walked to the museum, in order to not waste time, and finished as we hit the great marble staircase out front. I we walked in and turned left, to the staircase that lead to the art, and I stopped. I had seen that same white staircase two nights ago...in Sherlock. :)
So we went upstairs and spent an hour looking at the gorgeous paintings, ceramics, carvings, and statues that this museum housed. I found a gorgeous painting, called 'The Last Bard' that I think earned the title of my favorite painting in the building. There were a few obscure but gorgeous Preraphelite paintings that Abbey found, so she sat and looked at those for a while.
As I wandered around a little bit, I found the sculpture room, and spent the rest of my time there. They were exquisite. While I'm not the biggest fan of preraphelite paintings, I absolutely love preraphelite carvings and statues. They just convey a ton of different emotions so perfectly, and the lines used in them are so fluid that it always looks like the figure has been frozen in the middle of a very powerful motion or movement. It's ironic, but they really are frozen movement. Abbey came in after a little bit and pointed out that most of them had been done by the same man (I'm a dork though and forgot to write it down. George B?) who was an apprentice to a full-fledged artist in the 1700's. My favorite was of Hhera in battle. I spent the majority of my time studying the lines of the arms, shoulders, legs, and feet, as that has been the focus of my sketches this last week.
When our time was up, we left the museum rather unwillingly, and walked back to class. We sped through two full units that afternoon. I am reading and pronouncing my words much better now, and am starting to get many of the rules memorized, but I'm having a hard time remembering what a lot of the new words mean. Conjugations are coming along pretty well, now that I have a few of the charts memorized, but it's tricky remembering all the different ways the rules have to change. No worries, I'll get it.
I was also a little bit naughty, as I spent a good amount of time during class trying my hand at the details I observed on the statues. To my surprise, they came out on paper pretty well, better than I thought they would. I really need to consider my proportions better though, as I keep messing my legs up by having too short of calves or too small of feet. Right, that's why I believe in practice, so its all good. :)
Fortunately, we voted to not have a tea break, so we were able to leave class early, at like 3. I drilled conjugations and verb endings with Calysta as we walked home. She would give me a random sentence within our vocabulary, mostly past tense and with places, and I would have to figure out how to piece the rules together. She is definitely the best in the class though, so she was able to correct or confirm my answers. It helped a ton!
When we all got home, Josie and Theresa went to the 3 store to see about improving our internet, and the other girls went upstairs to chill in their rooms. It really is nice having a whole room to ourselves. I took a shower, changed into shorts, and went to my favorite sunny spot on the couch and watched a movie. Okay, it was NCIS again, but only because there aren't any other TV series loaded on the iPad.
After the show ended, I did some journaling. I kept looking outside though, as a small war went on in my head. It was such a lovely day, and oh yeah, I'm in WALES. Why am I bumming around inside? Shouldn't I go out and do something? Cue second voice (don't even worry about it): Well, you're tired, and you just took a shower, so you're hair is wet.
First voice: Nope, my hair is dry now.
Second: Fine. Well, you're hungry. You won't buy food when you have plenty right here.
First: Okay then, I'll go make something to eat.
With that, I got up, chopped and seasoned some potatoes, and made some American chips. Just as i was pulling them out of the oven, Lydia came in the door from her class. She said that she needed to go into town and get some more things before the program ended and that today was her best day. She asked if I would go with her so she wouldn't have to go alone. And with that, the decision was made. I told the second voice to stuff it as I changed clothes and Lydia and I split the chips. Within a few minutes, we were walking down to the Hays.
The weather was gorgeous and sunny. Everything was turning a deep gold color as the sun made its way to the horizon. We went to a bunch of little luggage shops, but everything was starting to close (shops here close so early in the evening!) and she didn't find anything she liked enough to buy. I found a really nice London leather wallet (I've been meaning to replace mine), but I wasn't willing to pay the ten pounds for it. I actually regret it a little bit now, as I haven't been able to find any other wallets that I like as much, but I'm sure something will turn up. I actually found another little gift at another stand to bring home, so that was exciting.
As we were walking out of the Hays, Lydia said that she really wished we could have eaten at Giovanni's, but we wouldn't be able to since we had plans every night for the next four or five days. I said we might be able to come back after we got back from Scotland, but as we kept walking, we both already knew what had to be done. We gave each other a look, nodded, and then turned around and headed to the restaurant we had spent three hours standing outside of. And we smiled the whole way there.
The simple smiles turned pretty ridiculous by the time we actually got there. We were so excited to be where Sherlock had been filmed! We were shocked at how expensive it was though as we checked the menu on the outer wall. It was crazy, like 16 pounds for a full pasta dinner! But, fear not, gentle reader, something great was about to happen. We saw that a starter soup was only about four pounds, and the salads were two, so we figured that was a lot better than the next cheapest meal of 16 pounds. With that, we walked in, were seated in the far left corner (where the massive light from the filming was shining from the outside!!!!) and ordered our soup and salad. As we waited, our happiness levels were through the roof and it took a Herculean amount of self control to not do something completely ridiculous. For the most part we succeeded, unless you consider over-smiling and mouthing yells of happiness to each other inappropriate. If so, how were we ever friends? (and I mean that in the kindest of ways, of course).
The inside was super cool, I totally understand why they would pick such a quirky place for a scene of Sherlock. It was pretty dark inside, with very dark wood walls, little lighting except for a light over each table, dark red tablecloths, and a lattice of fake grape vines covering the entire ceiling. There was plenty of light coming through the big front window, and the gigantic wall-length mirror on the back wall we were sitting by reflected the natural light back into the room.
I learned that day that Giovanni's is retartedly expensive because I honestly believe that nothing made there comes out of a can. No joke, I've had minestrone soup many times, and that put every one of them to shame. Big time. I swear it was homemade broth stock, because that was insanely good. And while Lydia got a super fancy Caesar salad, I got the pepper salad, which was a plate of absolutely delicious sautéed peppers, zuchinni, summer squash, and onions with a ton of high end balsamic vinegar. If you're thinking 'oh, stir fry,' that's not right. I don't really know how to explain it, but it was different. And a LOT better.
Well, for ordering two starters, we walked out completely full. (I'd say stuffed, but that actually means pregnant in the UK. It's actually hilarious how many words mean very different and potentially embarrassing things over here).
Matt and Connor had been at our house by the time we got back. we knew this because we saw two sets of boxing gloves and punching hand-shields that we figured must be the guy's, and Theresa was home to tell us. They were all out picking up some dinner from a local Chinese hole-in-the-wall place. So Lydia and I had some fun trading off the gloves and the punching shields until they walked in. Maybe it was because I had just had gourmet Italian food, but their stuff didn't look super great. My suspicions were confirmed when Lydia smelled the orange sauce on Josie's chicken and loudly exclaimed that she was sure it was just hot Fanta. Nice.
Once everyone was settled in the living room and we got the projector set up (Connor has it down to a science now), we put in the first episode of season two of Sherlock. Miya and Abbey had been talking about the cliffhanger all day, and I had a little bit of fun agreeing with their incorrect guesses, just to keep the day interesting. No, i didn't lie, I just misled. :) So when the solution was revealed, Miya had words for me, which the whole group (and probably our neighbors) heard too, and I loved every bit of it. This, dear reader, is exactly why great surprises are one of the very greatest parts of being alive.
Tom and Katy came home just as the great puzzle was getting 'un-Sherlocked', so they met their house full of teenagers first with a slight shushing, and then a big bleated welcome home ten minutes later when all was made well with the world by the Holmes boys and ever-incredible Dr. Watson.
After we sent the boys home (which is good because we need to sleep, but bad because Connor is our current internet provider), Josie and I did an outfit swap for the next day, then I finished off the day, and went to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment