SPRING and FINALS

It is officially spring time here - today is the first day I have left my flat without a jacket! AND im wearing flip flops! Unfortunately, though the weather has been and will be very nice, I am spending the day in studio working on my final interiors project which is due tuesday. I had my "final" photo project - basically just printing out a couple exhibition prints which were displayed at the end of the semester party yesterday (free food, CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN, music, people etc in our student lounge) and a final paper and project for my design history class this week. I also have a final multi-design project group project due monday which is DONE - so all I really have to focus on is interiors. 

The past few days have been fun though, during our final Design history class where we presented our projects our teacher, who is basically the image that comes to mind when you think of an older British man (pinstrip suit, tweed vest, suspenders, neckief, cane, bowler hat, cane...), brought in gin and tonics for us. All part of taking in the culture you see. Yesterday I helped my photo teacher hang up prints for the exhibit and while we were working he brought us beer and insisted we drink. Meanwhile this is in school which is definitely not allowed, but British people dont really seem to care about rules. 

Anyways in between the photo stuff and party I was working in studio with a bunch of designers and when school was closing we decided to go grab a drink. It ended up being about 10 of us going to a nearby bar/bowling alley which is stuck in the 60s and really cool - it has old movie theater seats, karaoke, old leather furniture, and 8 bowling lanes. We ended up having a competition between two teams and was really fun. Now most of us are back in studio tryna get our work done! Although we do have a lot of work it is necessary to take a break and have some fun every now and then. Tomorrow I am also taking a day trip to Brighton which will be fun.

Last friday we went to Bath, which was fun but we had really terrible weather - rainy - so we didnt get to see the "beautiful" Bath that everyone talks about. But we did get to see the Roman baths, which were pretty cool. We had these audio guides with explanations including an option to hear audio from Bill Bryson which I thought was pretty cool (and I thought Dad might enjoy that). We only had a few hours but we enjoyed just walking around checking everything out. 

Another nice thing I did recently was go to the symphony with my art history class. I guess it was to see the modern architecture of the Royal Festival Hall but seeing a performance was fun too. My professor, Norman, is ridiculously old and a complete character and most of the time really embarrassing but he wanted to buy us all ice cream which was really cute. 

So I'm looking forward to this next week - finishing up projects and school, maybe seeing a ballet or musical with my friend Sarah, and enjoying my final 5 days of freedom in London. There are a lot of things I want to do - markets, museums I haven't been to, walking around and checking out pubs/bars we never made it to during the semester. Its a bittersweet ending, I'm definitely ready to go home and be back in my comfort circle and not have to deal with public transportation and a musty flat but I will miss a lot of things. Its been really fun hanging out here and getting to know people I only slightly knew before. Next year will be fun when all the design majors are moving into the Warehouse and we'll actually see each other. 

Ok! Back to work.