Feb 12th

Monday we didn't have class, instead we met outside the Houses of Parliment for a tour. Cynthia almost didn't make it because someone pulled the emergency lever on the Tube and they took her train out of service. Once we got inside, things were pretty interesting. We walked through the entrance that the Queen takes when she come to open up the session of Parliment. The crowning room, which is the first real room she comes through, is decorated with various scenes from Arthur's code of chivalry. There are only five of the seven panels completed because the man carving them literally worked himself to death over the ten years he spent carving out all the figures on the room. The entrance to this room right off the stair is also unique in the whole building. Its the only place where you will see the colors red, green, and gold in the place. The colors are symbolically divided with the powers in each house. So, green only appears with the commons, red with the Lords, and gold with the royals. Fun fact. There are also symbols in the midst of all this that represent the various parts of the empire. There is a symbol for each of the coutnries of the Uk and two roses inside one another. The roses represent the civil war and something else which I can't remember right now. We walked through the House of Lords, which is an amazingly intricate place. The carving and scroll work is absolutley everywhere. Very impressive. THey also have this big thing called the Woolsack. This contain wool from all parts of the empire to represnet the power of Britain and to emphais the role textiles have played in its formation. Pretty cool. We were just getting ready to go into the House of Commons when an alarm went off. We had to clear out of that part of the building and we went into the chapel where they had displayed deceased members of state and had trials in the past. I realized that there was a problem and that when we probably wouldn't be going in when a security gaurd with an assualt rifle entered the building past us. Oh well, we were scheduled to go back and tour commons and get a presentation about the average day of a representative.
We were going to go to a pub for lunch, but that broke down when people found out that slection would be pretty limited and so they wanted to go somewhere else. We were then going to go another pub that had a better selection, but they didn't open for quite a while later. So that plan broke down and we came back to the flat. I made some food and learned how to play a game called 500. Its kind of like hearts, if you've ever played that. You make bets on how many hands you'll win and get points if you get that many hands or lose points if you fail too. Its a fun game and I played it for quite a while before going for a run.
When I got back from run, Cynthia had showed up and made us food. She was throwing a birthday party for eveyone who had a birthday on the trip and got just a ton of food. She got us scottish eggs, samosas, springs rolls, cheese, bread, fruit, veg, smoked salmon, bangers, and many more things. She also of course got cake and ice cream. I ate a lot of food, free is always the best. After that I did some homework and got to bed early since I had to work the next day.