a rock and roll greeting

David and I headed out to Trent Park at around noon with all of his luggage because he would be leaving to the airport after lunch to catch his flight to Spain to begin his study abroad term. We were sitting outside the mansion building, admiring the beautiful grounds and the forest that lie across the pond when the silence was interrupted by a loud propeller plain that was passing over head. We looked closer to see that it was trailing a message; after reading the message trough a couple times, we both couldn’t contain ourselves from laughing hysterically. “Bon Jovi says have a nice day.” Read the banner. How random.

I let David get on his way to Oakwood Station and then to Gatwick airport, he had become an expert of the London underground while here, so I had confidence that he could find his way.

I headed back to Enfield town on the bus, again it was the exact time that school was letting out, so I was surrounded by unformed school children on the upper level of the bus, they are so funny. There are usually a group of 5 in the back of the bus listening to some British rap, and then a group that likes standing on the bus stairs – a pretty rough ride since they almost fly down the steps when the bus slams on its breaks.

I headed back to Ted Lewis and met a group of people to celebrate Megan Vizina’s birthday – she is a senior CSU student. We went to a small Italian restaurant that was on the corner of the street. It was a ton of fun – we had 12 people crammed into the tiny candlelit room. The owner greeted us at the door, a native Italian. There was complimentary garlic pizza bread as appetizers and I ordered Marinara spaghetti, which was pasta with shrimp, oysters, clams and baby octopus – incredible. I sat with Rob, a student from Devon England, George, a student from Cypress, Cristobal and Cassie from CSU. We had some great dinnertime conversations, everything from the explanation of English sports to the movie Love Actually. Rob, an Englishman, said, “Whenever I feel worthless and sad, I just put in Love Actually, and everything is right in the world.” Despina was sitting next to Chris, and she scolded Rob for lighting his cigarette off of the candle that was on the table, noting a Greek saying that every time you if you light your fag (cigarette) off the candlelight, a sailor dies. Needless to say, a couple sailors went down last night. The dinner lasted for about 2 and 1/2 hours – it was great to not be rushed like you are in so many American restaurants, it gave everyone enough time to slowly enjoy their food and make solid conversation with everyone.