Final Blog

Last week was nice with more activities with Jenna's family. Wednesday we had tapas and Thursday we went to a Mexican restaurant that I had been to the previous weekend. On Friday night, Jenna and I had a quick dinner and then stumbled upon an interesting Australian pub. They had rugby on TV and we couldn't believe how the sport is still legal. With no pads or helmets, I can't believe most of the people walk off the field intact each night. Jenna then headed to her mom's hotel to get ready for their early flight. I went to sleep early as I had decided to venture to Oxford on Saturday and meet up with Gina, a girl from the Physio department at RHN, and her friend.

The trip to Oxford was a very easy train ride and it was a beautiful day when I arrived. We decided to do the hop on/hop off bus to take us around the loop of the city so we could learn some and get oriented. We then got off at the "Christ Church" stop and ventured into the Church and college grounds. The dining hall and stairs were used as inspiration for Harry Potter movies, so I was very excited about that. We then walked to St Mary the Virgin's church, which has an interesting balcony 120 stairs up, that proved to be wide enough for a small child. It wasn't very easy to move around the other people and was quite scary! It did have great views of Oxford, so definitely worth it. We then moved on to a pub recommended by Gina's friend, called the Turf Tavern that was down a narrow alley and would never be found by tourists. It was a really cool pub and great for my last weekend here in the UK. After the pub we went to Jamie's Kitchen, Jamie Oliver's new "chain" of fabulous restaurants he's opened up in the UK. Tons of food and drink later, we had fallen in love with Jamie's! I got back on the train after that and made my journey back to London.

Sunday morning I wasn't feeling very energized after my crazy fun day in Oxford, so I decided to lay around until around noon. I eventually got motivated and went into London to see a few more museums (Victoria & Albert's, History, and Science Museums), but nothing was catching my attention. I think I was officially museumed out! I had planned on catching an afternoon tea, so I made my way, but was sidetracked by seeing Harrod's. It wasn't in my plan to step into this "posh" department store, but felt it was something to see since I was right there. It was very cool and very ritzy, but the "food hall" was something I've never experienced before. It had a special room for teas and chocolates, butcher area, fresh fish with an area to dine, prepared meals, sushi, everything you could imagine. For me as a "foody" I loved this. It alone was worth my 1/2 hour inside. I carried on to the hotel for afternoon tea and it was all I could've imagined. They first came out with my choice of teas, then followed with a selection of crustless sandwiches. How cool! I then had my sweet selection of home-made scones with cream, tarts, etc. I was stuffed at the end and was so happy that I fit this in at the end of my trip. I ventured back to the dorms and had to call it a weekend after this.

This week has been a little sad, as I've been counting down my final things here in London. Yesterday, Jenna and I went to a nice Mexican place (Crazy Homies) we first encountered a while back near Notting Hill. Also, I had my final session in hydrotherapy with one of my main patients and did my final load of laundry in the dorm facilities. Also, we had to present an inservice to the entire department so it was great to get it over and done with, but proved that the time is coming to a close. Tonight we are here at The Station, posting our final blogs. It's amazing how quickly 8 weeks can go by! We will do farewell drinks, at the Station again, on Thursday with some people from the hospital and get ready to head out for the States early Saturday morning. I will continue the blog through my clinicals in Colorado and Birmingham, but I'm afraid they might not be as interesting, but stay tuned. Thanks for all the love and prayers while I've been abroad!!!