The Quiet After the Storm

So for as crazy as Monday was, yesterday was a lot more tame. We started with class at noon in which we leisurely made our way through Kensington to Holland Park, a little gem of green space that wasn't too overcrowded. It was a peaceful sunny day and I felt at home among the trees and playful screams of children playing soccer (or football as it's called here).
We eventually made our way to a sunny clearing where we all sat in a circle and just had discussions about things like what the last few things we'd like to do in London are, as well as some of the logistical speculations behind the future of the journalism department at IC. We sat back and soaked in the sun; Laura rolled a cigarette. It began to settle in on me that we were going to be leaving soon; that this fantastic pseudo-vacation (as I like to call it) will be coming to an end and it will be time for me to return to the states and pick up my life exactly where it left off. I almost feel like this trip was just long enough for me to fall in love with London, and now I'll have to leave it; Like having a really good dream in which everything goes right and is just the way things should be, then waking up to realize that it's Monday and you have to go to work and everything is, in fact, not perfect.
It's been a fantastic journey, though, and I'm happy for that. I've gained experiences these past few weeks that are never going to leave me.
Anway, by about 2:30 we picked up and headed back to our separate ways. Allie and I made a path to the London Aquarium where we could see all fish from around the world that had been gathered. On more than one occasion I was so intent in my gazing and into the atmosphere that a particularly scaring-looking fish (or shark) would swim right into my view from behind the wall and I'd jump back, quelling the urge to squeak in fear. It was a really nice little aquarium and I got a very pretty glitter tatoo on my arm that I'll be sad to see fade away.
Wandering more, we found an EXCELLENT arcade that was in the upstairs area of the same building. It was everything fantastic that an arcade should be, plus it had bowling, billiards and a bar. We looked around and played a few games and decided that we're going to bring the whole group with us next time to make use of the giant bumper car ring in the middle of the labyrinthine complex.
After that we had enough of flashing lights and loud noises we headed back to the South Bank where we walked along, stopping occasionally to stare out at the Thames, which, to me, flows and ripples more like satin than water. As we walked the familiar chords of the song "Hallelujah" (most famously known by Rufus Wainwright) struck our ears and we stopped to enjoy the playing. The voice belonged to a Slovakian man named Peter Strakos who put such feeling into his music that by the time he was finished playing for the day (we certainly stuck around and listened) I had tears in my eyes. Allie and I each bought a CD and wished him the best of luck with his future as a musician.
We met up with Tristan at the Embankment station after having a nice conversation with a man from India and Pakistan who was trying to break into the buisness of script-writing. We had an enjoyable evening of pubbing, where a group of men a few tables over serenaded the entire restaurant with rousing choruses of Bon Jovi and other rock artists popular in the states and called it a night with a few rounds of the "IMDB Game."