After I took the audio tour at the Banqueting House, I walked up the street a few blocks to Trafalgar Square, had a picnic lunch by the fountain, then took the Tube to St. James's Park for the tour. Rather ironically, the first part of the tour followed essentially the same route that I had taken earlier in the day. :) I got quite a bit of additional historical information, though, and we wandered further than my little tour had, eventually hopping on a bus over to Saint Paul's Cathedral and finishing by crossing the Millennium Bridge on foot. Our guide was really sassy and had the great dry humor that I appreciate, which was such a great change from most of the interpersonal interactions that I have had over the last week. (She is a Battersea girl as well, so she knew all about my internship site.)
This evening, we had the EUSA welcome reception at The Big Chill (the pub down the street from Nido). It was probably the most overrated event I've experienced in a while...ah well. Most of the other participants who are still underage in the states seemed more excited about the free drink vouchers we received than our internship placements (both of my vouchers were spent on Diet Coke, because I'm awesome like that...although one of my goals for this trip is to order a Pimm's in a rough, working-man's pub), and by the end of the two hours, it was too cold and smoky to really enjoy the surroundings anymore. My experiences with some of the other EUSA participants has helped me start the mental list of universities that I will not allow my future children to attend, at least. And the small group of Midwesterners can easily be identified: we're the ones saying "Please," "Thank you," and "No, after you...". (I'm starting to think that the Midwest might be better known as "Little Canada"...)
Tomorrow is our first Professional Development Seminar. I'm not really sure what to expect...I hope that there will be some information that I have not heard before, but my hopes are not too high (no offense to the program, but I've just had really great professional preparation through my department so far). I'm staying open to the possibilities, though, and fortunately it will be over by 1:00, so I will still have the afternoon to go museum-hopping. :)
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