Whoa. Mind The Gap!

So I've been in England for a good while now. Let me catch you up. Our first night here was pretty uneventful... just class meetings and trying to get all settled. On our first full day we toured the city, poured over maps, and mastered the tube. Once we had the lay of the land we set out to find platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station (there's a fake platform there with half a cart sticking out of the wall). It wasn't in plain sight and we getting pressed for time... so.... we had to walk up to a worker and ask them where platform nine and three quarters was. It was hilarious! but I think it helped us all to identify a little better with Harry's confusion in finding the place. Later that night we tried to go check out Big Ben and Parliament but got derailed by a peace rally which was broken up today.
On our second day in London we decided to take a weekend away (weird I know, but we only get 2 free weekends to travel and this was one of them). In the morning we boarded a train the the Lake District, its a beautiful national park with lots of historic sights, neat little towns, and outdoor adventure right smack in the middle of hundreds of lakes and amazing mountains. We completely winged the trip. No reservations for anything and absolutely no clue where we might stay. When we got to the lake district we chose a little town called Windermere and were lucky enough to get the last two rooms at one of the inns. It was all amazing. Our innkeeper was a sweet little old man named Andy and was very interesting to talk to. The town was so beautiful that I wasn't sure which way to look until I almost ran into a swan that is. There are tons of very bold swans in this place, they walk right up to people and around the streets. Our second day in the Lake District was all hiking to a waterfall. The falls were astounding and inspired us to get brave and climb some rocks around them to get a better view. My friend Brad was so inspired that he stripped down to his basketball shorts (in the 40 degree weather) and swam beneath the falls. All in all the Lake District was quite an adventure.
On Sunday we got up and went to church at Westminster Abby. The service was nothing like a Baptist service back home but it was very pretty, especially the choir singing. After lunch we decided to visit Harrod's. Most of us literally got lost in there. That place is huge and incredibly extravagant. There was even a live opera singer there to entertain folks on the escalators. We spent Sunday night at a local comedy club. It was one of our best nights so far! The MC asked who was from out of town and while most of the gang didn't plan to admit my friend Bo, with his thick Texas twang spoke up... needless to say the comics really enjoyed interacting with us for the rest of the evening.
Yesterday I went to check out the Tower of London. That was pretty awesome. I used to read about that place when I was younger and it felt surreal to actually be standing in the midst of all those stories. After the tower we went on a scavenger hunt our prof gave us for the science museum. It was all about the history of medicine and it was really interesting. There's just so much to look at in there that I think I'll have to go back. After dinner we thought It'd be nice to go wander around Parliament while it was all lit up. What actually happened was we found our we could go in to watch the evenings debate. We spent about about an hour watching these guys go at it in the House of Commons over the Academies Bill. It was really cool to watch and gave us a glimpse in the their government and concerns. By the end we had all taken a side on what the Brits ought to do, I side with the opposition myself.
Today we went to Cambridge, University of C.S. Lewis and the 1st man to climb Everest. It was beautiful, maybe I'll see what they offer for graduate work...haha joking... kinda. Anyway, the thing to do at Cambridge is to Punt the Cam, Punting being something like rowing with a giant stick and the Cam being the river that runs through the University. We all took a turn and it was great. Brad zig-zaged us the whole way, Julian crashed us into bridges and a few willows, Nicole lost the stick (lucky for us another boat was able to grab it after a bit), and I just spun us in circles for a while before I got the hang steering the boat and stopping the boat. All in all it's been great. I love London and I'm feeling pretty comfortable here. Hopefully now that things have calmed down some I'll be able to do a better job on this blog. In the meantime, I apologize and I'll have pictures up as soon as I can.