May 18

Thankfully our group activity for the day wasn't until 1:15, so I got to sleep in Wednesday morning. We took a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral, and it was National Organ Day, or something weird like that so the organ was being played the entire time we were there. The tour guides were getting frustrated because no one could hear them over it, but the horns in the back of the church went off, which is something that they had never heard before. The horns were put in for a visit from the Queen a few years back and they were so loud they scared her and she demanded that they never be played in presence again because they were so loud.




The tour took about an hour and a half and then Brooke and I climbed to the top of the dome. It wasn't nearly as bad of a climb as St. Peter's in The Vatican, but it was pretty high up there. The spiral staircases had me getting really dizzy, really quick. The view from the top is one of the best views of the city. We went back down and met up with Sean and Kathryn and we went to Starbucks. I got a chocolate marshmallow frappuccino, without coffee, because they make them like milkshakes here, and that's what I wanted. It was only 1.75 pounds! I was so shocked. We just happened to come during happy hour, half off frappuccinos from 3-5 until May 22nd. We stayed in Starbucks talking and staying warm and dry for a few hours then we parted ways. The 3 of them were going to the Globe Theatre to watch "The Taming of the Shrew." I would have gone too, as it was with FSU, but you have to stand outside for 3 hours while the show goes on...rain or shine. I was cold already and I knew it was going to rain later, so I skipped out on this one, and I have no regrets. It sounded like it was miserable.

Some of them came back early, because it was gross outside. They came back to our apartment to watch "10 Things I Hate About You," which is based off of TTOTS. While all of this was going on, Brittany decided they needed popcorn. She set off the fire alarm. She didn't just burn the popcorn, it was on fire for a few seconds. Everyone that was home at the time had to evacuate the building and walk across the street before we were given the all-clear. This was super strange to those of us from Valencia, because when a fire alarm went off there, nobody moved, we never went outside. This was an experience.