Final sprint + Visits from friends

I'll be leaving in London one month and two days and returning back here in who-knows-when. I've already started having nostalgic conversations with friends about how fast this year has gone.

Next week I have three exams and one in the following week, and so I've had my nose to the grindstone. My statistics exam was kind of a disaster, but I think these shouldn't be so bad (knock on wood, er... touch wood, as the British say). I should be working on my dissertation during this time as well but these exams are the first hoop to jump through.

Outside of the bubble of my own academic stresses, the streets of London have become a lot more crowded with the annual summer visitors. I hosted my first guest of the summer, my dear high school friend and fellow journalism junkie Fallon. This was her first time crossing the pond, and we spent several of her days walking around the city. Walking through the park on the way to Buckingham Palace:

With the traditional guards in the background.


Fallon also met one of her celebrity idols, Zac Efron. I took this photo right before they left on a date in Kensington.


Alright, so I lied: this was actually taken on our trip to Madame Tussaud's famous wax museum. I had been there once about three years ago, but the displays had been updated a lot (including High School Musical, as pictured above). The star attraction was the Oval Office with our new U.S. President, Barack Obama. The line was so long that we only got a photo of him between people.


So I had to settle for a photo with a slightly less popular leader :P


Fortunately, I got blessed by the Pope in a line that wasn't as long.


And took a photo of what might have been if I'd had a camera on that night last November...

Kind of a big tourist trap, but it make for a fun afternoon. We also saw Peter Pan performed in Hyde Park at a huge tent sent up just for the production. It was a great way to celebrate her last evening here.

Arriving the day before Fallon left, my cousins Michele and Alicia also came for a visit! It was also their first time crossing the pond, but fortunately I didn't have to fit them both in my jail cell-sized dorm room. Taken with their iPhone:


We have had several meals together, but they have been really good about letting me go to study when I need to. Fortunately, they have found a lot to do in London, like a bus tour and visiting the Tower of London.



They are currently in Edinburgh until tomorrow morning, so I've just been studying. On Saturday morning, we are taking an early Eurostar train to PARIS for just over 24 hours. More updates on that later.

Happy June, everyone.