Its Hard to Dance with the Devil on Your Back

Last week we went to Florence and the Machine at the O2 in North Greenwich. It was the best concert experience I have had yet in my life (which is saying a lot because Coldplay was unbelievable). 

She is a great performer- running around, talking (but not too much), and singing better than she sounds on the album. It was neat to see her in her hometown, and we could tell she was happy to be surrounded by 10s of thousands of people. She explained that she had some of her best hangovers and wrote some of her best songs here in London (thanks, Florence.. haha) 

The pictures don't do the set justice, very cool!

My friend Kate's birthday was over this weekend! We had to wake up a bit earlier than we would have liked for a meeting with our Graduate department. Afterwards, a few of the girls in our program went to a restaurant on High Street Kensington called Giraffe. Then we went to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland! For all you peeps at home its like a giant Silver Dollar City on crack at Christmas! Rollercoasters, restaurants, pubs, rides, games, etc. You could definitely feel the holiday cheer and the winter cold! 

Lisa and I went on one of the scary looking roller coaster rides that spins on a big arm and also spins on the separate cart you are on! So we had a pretty good view from three hundred feet up- we saw Big Ben, Parliament, and St.Paul's! Then the ride started moving and we were suddenly seeing the London skyline from right-side-up, upside-down, and right-side-up again in a matter of a second from 300 ft in the air. INSANE! We couldn't stop laughing as we plummeted to the ground spinning. 

Kate wanted to go on a more chill ride- but don't worry, it was still insane! I also learned a very important lesson... Never sit on the outside of a ride that goes really fast in a circle! Oh the bruises..

Another thing:

I'm sure most of you have read and seen it on my facebook, but the squirrels around here are a little different than the squirrels at home. Here, I can be walking on the sidewalk and see a squirrel running in the park next to me thirty feet away. I make a noise with my mouth and that squirrel will start running towards me and come right up to sit and stare at me. One time, a squirrel even started crawling up my leg in Austria! This is no joke, I really have no explanation for it! They all do it. Its really weird. I can't wait to try it on the squirrels at home!

Watch the Squirrel charming video here:http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1795315995684