Thursday!!!

Today has been such a great day. I slept in and woke up to get some packing and other stuff done (other stuff being watch SVU in the computer room...). Then around 5 Sarah and Paige came over and we walked to M&S to buy dinner stuff and headed back to my dorm to cook and eat dinner together.

Then at 6:30ish we walked to Tower Millenium Pier (with about 100 other LSE students) to go on a boat cruise on the Thames! I cannot think of a better way for the dorm to throw an annual party. It was such a great trip. I just got back which is why I am talking about it so excitedly but I really had a great time. The boat was just for us, had 2 floors. The bottom floor was more quiet and had seats to hang out and relax, the top floor was a pub/dance floor with an outdoor deck. We spent most of the time on the deck enjoying the fantastic views of London. We took a bunch of pictures that will eventually be on facebook but I found a couple online:

Tower Bridge at night:



Big Ben and Parliament:




We took the boat from Tower Bridge down to Westminster then turned around and headed past Canary Wharf to Greenwich. Then we headed back to the Tower Millenium Pier. The whole trip was about 3 1/2 hours. It was a perfect amount of time to have a enjoy the sunset and the city lighting up at night, have a few drinks, and have good conversation. Paige and Sarah are always such good company and I'm so glad they came with me. We talked about the usual stuff, but what I think is funny is that our conversation always drifts toward Sociology. We talked about gender roles and feminism and had a really good discussion about it (starting with an analysis of the Sex and the City 2 movie). I think it shows that we are good Sociology students and deserve our Master's when we talk about Sociology outside of school :)

The weather has been nice and warm so the evening was still warm but with a nice breeze. The city is so gorgeous from the Thames and I definitely got a bit sad thinking that I won't be able to see this much of the city again-until some time in the future when I come back. I'm really going to miss it here, I've gotten to know my borough and I have favorite places, parks, and museums. I know my way around the tube and the city on foot and it's been very influential on my independence here, knowing my way around and deciding when and what I want to do. I'm really going to miss it.

Of course we had a moment of sadness about this night being one of the last few we will all spend together (for awhile anyway) and it was fun to reminice about this year and the fun times we have had (and awful times aka LSE). It's gone so quickly and I'm glad for the chance to be here and to live in London and to make the friends that I have. The boat cruise on the Thames was a perfect way to begin to say goodbye to London.