Life in Putney...Continued!

Greetings,

Looks like my posts are getting less and less frequent. We keep spending time doing other fun activities instead of coming to the restaurant and blogging. Last week when we were here, Tuesday, we planned our trip to Dublin, Ireland for next weekend (1/31-2/1). Jenna and I will be going with two girls we met in orientation and a guy that works on my ward that has never been to Dublin and has made a New Year's resolution to travel more. So we will have tons of people to enjoy Dublin with! We will do things similiar to Bath, and leave Saturday morning around 8 and then get to Dublin around 10 am and have the whole day and most of the day Sunday (we leave around 7pm on Sunday evening). We plan on definitely doing the Guiness factory, but no other places for sure yet. Any recommendations welcome if you've been!

After spending Monday out for Dirty Dancing and Tuesday night at the Putney Station, we took it easy on Wednesday evening and did laundry and relaxed in our rooms. It is nice to just lay around sometimes, but you can't do it too much b/c there is no tv or common room so things get boring quickly in the small bedroom. Things with clinical have been going well. I enjoy all the people I work with and have been learning a few things along the way. Like I've said earlier, the pace is awfully slow compared to back home, but I think this has a lot to do with the patients' conditions. I have acquired a few patients that I'm leading treatment sessions with and getting more involved altogether. It has been a good learning experience, but I have mostly been watching a variety of patients and even OT and Speech therapies. I feel there is so much to see in this setting that I will be watching and putting my input in more than I will be leading large amounts of treatment sessions (which is a little odd for one of my last 3 rotations). But, I'm learning some and mostly spending my time having a blast enjoying Europe!

On Thursday, Jenna and I went out with Laura and Georgia (the 2 girls who will be coming to Dublin) and had a nice dinner and a drinks. It is so fun to go out with people from here because you always hear new things or learn things about their culture that we never knew. They learn tons from us too! We stayed out later than we should've on a "school night" but managed to get out of bed on Friday and make it through the day. Friday night, Jenna and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire which was a great independent film. I believe it is out in the states too, so if you get a chance, check it out. A little harsh to watch during some scenes, but overall a good flick to see. Our dinner before the movie was at TGI Fridays...which was amazing b/c we had boneless buffalo wings and I had a caesar salad (two things it's been very hard to find around here). It amazing how quickly you can get tired of certain things and really start to crave the things you're used to.

Saturday morning we slept in a little then headed out to Borough market, which is known as a great eclectic food market near central London. Unfortunately, much of the tube line we use and many of the ones towards the market were closed, so it was a long out-of-the-way trip, but proved to be well worth it. The market had butcher stands, fresh produce, bread, specialty items, coffee, sweets, grills and stands making food, everything! The best part was that the majority of the stands were giving samples of things, so we ate tons for free. Jenna and I were in love and we found a few things to buy and take home including feta dip, cheese with cumin seeds (taste like chili), fresh mozarella, and garden fresh tomatoes. After the filling time at the market, we walked along the Thames and saw the reconstructed Globe theatre (where Shakespeare did plays), did a quick trip inside the Tate Modern museum (Jenna and I both can't appreciate modern art and were making jokes about the works so we quickly came and went), crossed the Millenium bridge over the Thames (a modern looking steel bridge constructed in 2000 and had to be repaired early b/c it swayed too much), and went to St. Paul's Cathedral (where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married and it holds the crypts of The Duke of Wellington, Christopher Wren [designed the cathedral], and Andrew Fleming [founder of penicillin] including others). Despite the busy day so far, we started to walk some more and found the Bank of England, stumbled upon Chinatown and Soho, and saw The Ivy where all the stars go to eat when in London. We kept on from there and saw the theatre where "We Will Rock You" is running right now (the play featuring songs of Queen)...we decided to be spontaneous and found they had standing room only tickets for the evening's show for only 15 pounds! We bought them, headed off for a great tapas dinner that was recommended in one of our guide books, and then went back to the show. It was an amazing rendition of all the songs and the storyline was decent too. We enjoyed standing in the back, most of the time, because the view of the stage was great and there weren't any heads to block our view. It's a show I would definitely recommend to any one wanting to see something lively and fun while in London. After the exhausting day filled with 12 hours of walking, we came back home and crashed!

This morning, we slept some and decided we would take the Tube down to Wimbledon to see the area. As you may expect, right as we went to leave, it started to pour! We waited things out, caught the tube and began another day filled with walking. After about a 15 minute walk from the station, we got to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (also known as the stadium/area that holds the Wimbledon Championships each summer). We decided not to take the tour, but ventured in the shop and at least can now say we've been to Wimbledon. We found a nice lunch spot and from that have come to the conclusion that the only thing we like to each here is Mexican or Spanish tapas..which aren't always easy to find. During the time in Wimbledon, we got lost a few times b/c we were without a map, but enjoyed the trip for Sunday. Now we have made it to our destination here at the Putney Station and will start another week tomorrow.

No big plans for this week, except preparing for our trip to Dublin. Hope all is well back home!!!

P.S. Suzette...yes the bathrooms are community. Get ready for the fun!!

P.S. Angie...I'm so jealous of your warm trip to Puerto Rico! Tell Adriane hello and that I hope she feels better soon. Also, the respect for "physios" here seems to be generally good .