16 Mar

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to soon top the experience of yesterday, though I know my trip to Spain with my parents will come awfully close, if not actually surpass it. Court Cultures was entertaining as always. I’m really going to miss Rivkah Zim. She’s just so funny and such a dear old lady. This was our penultimate class and the 3^rd years are getting a little excited and nervous about the months ahead. This is their final semester of undergraduate college, after all. I asked one of them, Sam, what she will be doing after college, and she answered “more of the same, probably.” She also noted that most people go to work directly after obtaining their BA. I know the situation is more or less the same back home, and I think my number of grad school prospects is slightly clouded by the type of friends I have.

Today is Lainey’s 21^st birthday! When looking for a place to eat with Andy and Jess, I came upon this little Italian placed called The Blue Olive that I decided to scope out before we met there. Good thing I did too! Though nothing of the sort was mentioned online, the place was boarded up! Seeing that I thought, great, Plan B. Except I didn’t have a Plan B and Lainey was counting on me! I went back to the dorm and looked up some more places. I found a service called TopTable that conducts online reservations at restaurants all over the UK and in some places on the Continent. I signed up with them and tried booking a place called Amaretto on Tottenham Court Road (near the British Museum). TopTable had a special arrangement with the place in which a party could get 50% off the total food bill if everyone (max 20 people) ordered at least 2 courses (main+ dessert/appetizer). I sent in my reservation request with these guys, but since they were taking so long and I wanted to make sure we had a place to go, I called Amaretto and booked it straight out for 10 people at 18:30. It wasn’t until 17:20 that TopTable got back to me and informed me that I had the discount. Score!!

Lainey came back around 16:00, already quite drunk. She had gone to the KCL bar after class with some kids from her seminar and a couple of JYAs. They just kept buying her drinks…She managed to sober up a bit before we headed for dinner. I had to send her friends directions on how to get to Amaretto. It was pretty hilarious.

The place was a small, cozy, family-run place and the portions were big and delicious. Most of the people opted for appetizers while Kate, Gregg, and I chose dessert. Talk was fast and fun and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I had a “mint chocolate bomb” for dessert that was wonderful. It was a core of liquid dark chocolate surrounded by mint ice cream that was covered with a hard, thin layer of dark chocolate. It took a couple of pokes to break the surface, after which some of the inside chocolate started oozing out. Lainey, who was sitting across from me, said, “It’s bleeding!” Thanks for that imaginary, dear.

Soon after we left the place, I realized that we hadn’t sung for her. So there, on the sidewalk in central London, we started singing “Happy Birthday” nice and loud for all the passersby to hear. Hardly any of us drank anything (some of her friends split a bottle of wine) but I’m sure the people around us must have thought we were just another bunch of drunk college kids. Oh well, it was fun and I’m sure Lainey liked it. We had just missed the next train back so Gregg and I decided that we should just catch a bus from Elephant and Castle instead. Upon leaving the station and reaching Waterloo Road, Sarah spotted the 176 and shouted “there’s our bus! Let’s run for it!” And so we did. It was hilarious. After we reached the stop, we noticed the 68 right behind the 176 and since it’s slightly better, we hopped on that instead. The bus was extremely crowded but we managed to find six seats nearly together in the back. The ride home was pretty fun.

After we got back to KCH, we were determined to gin Lainey. I’m sure I’ve explained the process before. She tried to resist, but agreed to a half ginning. She was a trooper through it and finished it off without a problem. (Again, I am soooo glad I've already had my 21st birthday!!) As she settled, Sarah and Gregg ordered some drinks to keep her company. Kate and I had work to do, so we bade her good night and happy birthday before heading back to our rooms. After I got back, I finished my reading for class and talked with the family at home for a while.

All in all, it was a great day. HAPPY 21^st BIRTHDAY LAINEY!!! Cheers!