BES Journal 6

      I didn't do much during the week aside from going to class, but I did go out Wednesday and Thursday night. After class on Wednesday, I came back to the flat and took a nap. After my nap, I felt like the day was wasting away and there was much of London to see. I felt like going out on my own and exploring. When I've been inside for too long I always get restless and need fresh air. I left Woburn and just started walking, going into tourist stores. I went into Primark and bought some clothes because I can never resist shopping. It was nice having alone time and just doing my own thing for a bit.
     Thursday night I went out with Kiley, Jooson, Hannah, and Kate to a bar/club called the Zoo to celebrate the Chinese/Korean New Year. It was really fun and they played lots of good music, including Spanish songs, which made me happy.
     Sunday we continued with the festivities and went to a parade that was going from Trafalgar Square to Chinatown that was still celebrating the Chinese New Year. The parade was fun and very colorful. There was a dragon as well as little children dressed in karate uniforms practicing there karate, which was very cute. There were men and women wearing colorful, elaborately designed costumes and masks.

     Chinatown was very nicely decorated with paper lanterns stringed over the streets. It was beautiful. The streets were also extremely crowded. People were pushing back and forth. At one point, we couldn't even move, and I being claustrophobic sometimes, was starting to panic. I'll admit I pushed some people trying to get out because there was a creepy man behind me with his hand on my back.

      In Chinatown we went to a Chinese buffet and were luckily at the beginning of the long line. I was hoping the food there would be good because I usually don't really like Chinese food, but I've decided to try everything before I completely reject it, and I'm glad I did. The food was really good and left me full. I definitely plan on returning one of these days. We walked around Chinatown, going into souvenir shops, and when we walked out of a bakery, we literally walked into a parade. A man dressed as a dragon was dancing right in front of us. We immediately pulled out our phones and tried to record as much as we could before he moved along. That was pretty cool. After that I came back to my flat for some Netflix quality time, ha, and that's about it.