Today for history class we had to explore the Imperial War Museum. The museum was very good, and I enjoyed my visit. They had a bunch of different kinds of tanks from WWI on, and it was interesting to see how the tanks had evolved over the years and changed into purpose-built machines. I really liked the "home front" exhibit, which had posters and items from Britain during WWII. My favorites were two posters. One was blue and pictured a woman and child running in a foggy street with the inscription "Carrots keep you healthy and help you to see in the blackout" and the other showed a beautiful lady surrounded by military men with the words "Keep mum she's not so dumb!" Ha! We also learned that before becoming the Imperial War Museum, the building used to be an insane asylum known as Bethlehem Royal Hospital, or it's more popular slang name, "Bedlam."
After the museum, my friends and I came home and started frantically getting ready for our farewell dinner, which was supposed to be a secret, but we all knew already that it was to be held on a boat on the Thames. It felt like Prom again! We had so much fun running from room to room for curling irons, shoes, nail polish, and everything else. I will really, really miss most of the girls I live with. We have so much fun together! Eventually we made it to Foundation House where they took pictures of us then loaded us onto a coach bus and took us down to the boat. I'd forgotten my camera, but my friends all took millions of pictures so I'll post them as soon as I can. On the boat, tables were all laid out with appetizers and we were handed a glass of champagne as we walked in. Elegantly dressed folk sat at some of the tables but we had an entire side of the boat to ourselves. My appetizer, an eggplant and veggie dish with goats cheese and walnuts, was incredible. I ate my friend's too when she couldn't because she's allergic to nuts. They brought out wine then, giving a bottle to every other person so that everyone had half a bottle to themselves. Oh dear. Honestly, some people were already tipsy from the champagne on an empty stomach and they did not give us water so lots of people were drinking the 13% alcohol wine as if it were water which really, really wasn't good. One girl was falling over before the main course even came, and another was nodding off into her lamb and barley. Anyway, I'm smarter so I was fine. My main was chicken breast in a creamy mushroom and tarragon and cinnamon sauce that was just amazing. I will need to try that this summer. The friends who had ordered the lamb weren't as pleased with their dish, and the barley it came on was strangely cooked. It was still kind of rawish inside, so it was almost crunchy. Strange. By this point in the evening, most people were pretty tipsy. The friend I was sharing a bottle with had polished off almost the whole thing in the time it took me to drink one glass. She wasn't doing so hot by the end of the night! The really bad thing was that they never gave us any water so everyone was guzzling the wine. Well, thank goodness for common sense (which really isn't so common, I'm discovering) that says "don't chug wine on a boat."
After dinner, we went up on top of the boat as we went past the O2 Center and the Thames flood barriers, which was just amazing. It had been cool enough to see Big Ben and the Tower and all those from the boat in the light but now it was dark and everything just looked magical. It was chilly but not terribly cold, so we could enjoy ourselves on the roof of the yacht. It was soooo much fun! When we finally went back down to the tables to warm up, our dessert had been set out and oh my goodness! I had layered mousse on mango sauce with a big white chocolate bonbon on top. It was even better than it sounds! SO good!!! Someone had gotten a bottle of champagne which was being consumed so everyone was pretty jolly by that point and some were starting to look like they needed a nap. A singer came out and started singing cabaret style songs and we all went up to dance. It was beyond fun. Even our professor came out on the dance floor! We went back up on the roof as we passed Tower Bridge on the way back and it was just surreal. I do not want to leave this wonderful city!!!
We stayed on the roof of the boat talking and laughing and trying to keep the drunks from falling in the river till the boat's crew kicked us off. Then we decided to go to this Australian pub that some of the guys had found a few days ago that they promised us was "right across the road." 30 minutes later, we finally found it. We herded everyone in and started dancing again. It was a blast. By this time, though, people had really started getting sick so I left a little early with some friends to get my roommate home after she was ill. It was after midnight so I was ready to leave. We made it home by 1 and hung out in the kitchen for awhile before bed. I love these people so much and it's going to be so strange not living with them. Tonight was just the best night ever, watching London light up at night and dancing till I dropped and enjoying a great meal with great people and even coming home and stopping at every stranger to try to hush my poor wine-soaked friend as she bid them "Hullo stranger! Have a lovely evening!" and hearing "Wait! My shoe is over there!" and "You guys are the best. I love you Noel, I love you Amanda, I love you Katie. Will you hold my hair? I need another newspaper..." This has just been the best semester ever.
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